It's 10 years late, but any chance to post a Prince video, works for me.
Happy New Year everyone!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Next Before Last
Sometimes, people give me shit for being such a total cynic, and expecting only the absolute worst from people. Well, let me tell you a little story;
Once a week at least I process a bunch of purchases that have been made using state funds under highly structured state guidelines for purchasing. And without exception, every week, I have to process questionable charges. Really unbelievable shit sometimes. And it was bad enough before, but with all the state cutbacks, and shrinking budgets, shortfalls, and being paid for a position that is THREE levels below the work that I'm doing, it just seems more and more outrageous. Usually I just bitch quietly to my close friends, but fuck it...
On the eve of a second furlough that thousands of state employees are forced to take, I am sitting here procesing a charge for DVDs. Now first, a little background; last month I spoke up when someone bought a BluRay to test new BluRay players they were installing. Apparently, you can never be sure a new BluRay player would work, so you better have a Special Anniversary Edition of the Matrix to properly check brand new equipment. This month, I thought maybe things were getting better... charges came through that the same group bought "used" DVDs at least, so that the technicians could have a DVD in their tool kit so they could test machines, out in the field. Okay... sure... However the next charge was for DVD RENTALS... again, to test a specific, new, high-tech conference room located in this groups offices. A look a bit closer however, shows that they rented two Christmas movies, the week before the holiday. Apparently we needed to make sure the DVD player in that room would be able to playback both BluRays AND standard DVDs. You can never be too safe. Now... I would have thought that the DVDs previously purchased by the same individuals would have been good enough for testing, but perhaps there is some techie complication with actually being able to play holiday movies so suspciously right before the holidays?
Yeah... fucked up, right? Not even. Because after picking up some movie rentals, then "we" went across the street to buy some plates, knives, cups, and napkins "for team meetings". Oh yeah, and it didn't make it into the email, but they also, oddly enough, bought a big ass jug of Kool-Aid. I'm guessing that was for testing the reliability of the cups that they bought for team meetings. I mean, you don't want to wait until you're in the middle of an important meeting, to find out that the cups you bought, do not support the type of Kool-aid drink you bought! The horror!
I really try to not post work-related bullshit on my blog, because, who knows who will bitch or complain or read your post and try to nail you to the wall for it. But you know what!? Go fuck yourself! Try me... I'm sitting here with a whistle and a long ass list of "questionable" purchases and activities. I document EVERYTHING. You never know when you might need to blackmail someone, and too often you come up against someone with more "power" than you, so it's good to have back up. I want Governer Ritter to read this, and then ask me to his office to discuss a budget review - I know the perfect cups to bring if he's serving Kool-Aid.
This is but a small example of the bullshit that goes on in this incestious state system. Anyone want to talk about the economics and morality of using state funds to buy $200 8GB iPod touches to use as a "storage device", rather than a $20 8GB flash drive?
Once a week at least I process a bunch of purchases that have been made using state funds under highly structured state guidelines for purchasing. And without exception, every week, I have to process questionable charges. Really unbelievable shit sometimes. And it was bad enough before, but with all the state cutbacks, and shrinking budgets, shortfalls, and being paid for a position that is THREE levels below the work that I'm doing, it just seems more and more outrageous. Usually I just bitch quietly to my close friends, but fuck it...
On the eve of a second furlough that thousands of state employees are forced to take, I am sitting here procesing a charge for DVDs. Now first, a little background; last month I spoke up when someone bought a BluRay to test new BluRay players they were installing. Apparently, you can never be sure a new BluRay player would work, so you better have a Special Anniversary Edition of the Matrix to properly check brand new equipment. This month, I thought maybe things were getting better... charges came through that the same group bought "used" DVDs at least, so that the technicians could have a DVD in their tool kit so they could test machines, out in the field. Okay... sure... However the next charge was for DVD RENTALS... again, to test a specific, new, high-tech conference room located in this groups offices. A look a bit closer however, shows that they rented two Christmas movies, the week before the holiday. Apparently we needed to make sure the DVD player in that room would be able to playback both BluRays AND standard DVDs. You can never be too safe. Now... I would have thought that the DVDs previously purchased by the same individuals would have been good enough for testing, but perhaps there is some techie complication with actually being able to play holiday movies so suspciously right before the holidays?
Yeah... fucked up, right? Not even. Because after picking up some movie rentals, then "we" went across the street to buy some plates, knives, cups, and napkins "for team meetings". Oh yeah, and it didn't make it into the email, but they also, oddly enough, bought a big ass jug of Kool-Aid. I'm guessing that was for testing the reliability of the cups that they bought for team meetings. I mean, you don't want to wait until you're in the middle of an important meeting, to find out that the cups you bought, do not support the type of Kool-aid drink you bought! The horror!
I really try to not post work-related bullshit on my blog, because, who knows who will bitch or complain or read your post and try to nail you to the wall for it. But you know what!? Go fuck yourself! Try me... I'm sitting here with a whistle and a long ass list of "questionable" purchases and activities. I document EVERYTHING. You never know when you might need to blackmail someone, and too often you come up against someone with more "power" than you, so it's good to have back up. I want Governer Ritter to read this, and then ask me to his office to discuss a budget review - I know the perfect cups to bring if he's serving Kool-Aid.
This is but a small example of the bullshit that goes on in this incestious state system. Anyone want to talk about the economics and morality of using state funds to buy $200 8GB iPod touches to use as a "storage device", rather than a $20 8GB flash drive?
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Festivus 2009
It's complete bullshit that I have to work on Festivus. I suppose it's my own fault though, it is snowing, and I totally could have pulled the work-from-home card today. I actually have no idea why I didn't... oh well, I did need to come down to civilization in order to get some espresso bean for the long weekend!
Last weekend it warmed up enough for some outside riding. Just barely though... it was around 40 degrees on Saturday when I met up with Craig for a ride in Golden. Always hard to motivate this early in the off-season, for an outdoor ride, in pretty cold conditions. But still, it was really nice to be outside riding. Even better when the recovery meal was some cheesesteaks at South Philly Cheesesteaks. Not the best cheesesteaks, but even better, I had some Tasty Kakes and they even sell Amoroso's rolls for home consumption.
So after I was tired from riding, and way too fat from eating more than I had burned off on my ride, I had a new toy to build up! I've been itching forever (since before we actually had a local velodrome) to build up a track bike. And now with the promise of doing some more riding at the track this off-season, I had a reason to build one up. I had most of the parts, and picked up a Motobecane for a song.
It came out pretty sexy and I can't wait to test it out. Unfortunately with snow and ice making up the roads at my house, it wasn't really even possible to take a tiny spin.
Sunday Seth had a small test-opening of Rise and Shine Biscuit Kitchen, that we got up early and went down for. It was great to finally see the shop, and to get to test out some menu options. Bonnie says that even Canadians like biscuits;
A test-run, hot and fresh out of the oven;
Looking like an opening day of January 1st... so go get a biscuit to cure that New Year's hangover!
And as an added treat this week... after years of searching, I came across the brake I've been searching for, and managed to snag it at a "reasonable" price. So very awesome, the infamous MRC McMahon delta brake.
I knew I should have bought that pair the shop had back in 1996, but I just didn't quite need the pair back then... just a front one. Well, now I'm back to the same, needing a front one, and there it is. I should be 2 full seconds faster in a 40k TT now, or if Zipp would have made it, it would likely be worth 2 minutes in the same race.
...I wonder if that brake will save anytime on my trainer rides. That's the only riding that's going to happen the next several days, and I'd love to get off the trainer sooner, if it's possible for the brake to save me some time.
Last weekend it warmed up enough for some outside riding. Just barely though... it was around 40 degrees on Saturday when I met up with Craig for a ride in Golden. Always hard to motivate this early in the off-season, for an outdoor ride, in pretty cold conditions. But still, it was really nice to be outside riding. Even better when the recovery meal was some cheesesteaks at South Philly Cheesesteaks. Not the best cheesesteaks, but even better, I had some Tasty Kakes and they even sell Amoroso's rolls for home consumption.
So after I was tired from riding, and way too fat from eating more than I had burned off on my ride, I had a new toy to build up! I've been itching forever (since before we actually had a local velodrome) to build up a track bike. And now with the promise of doing some more riding at the track this off-season, I had a reason to build one up. I had most of the parts, and picked up a Motobecane for a song.
It came out pretty sexy and I can't wait to test it out. Unfortunately with snow and ice making up the roads at my house, it wasn't really even possible to take a tiny spin.
Sunday Seth had a small test-opening of Rise and Shine Biscuit Kitchen, that we got up early and went down for. It was great to finally see the shop, and to get to test out some menu options. Bonnie says that even Canadians like biscuits;
A test-run, hot and fresh out of the oven;
Looking like an opening day of January 1st... so go get a biscuit to cure that New Year's hangover!
And as an added treat this week... after years of searching, I came across the brake I've been searching for, and managed to snag it at a "reasonable" price. So very awesome, the infamous MRC McMahon delta brake.
I knew I should have bought that pair the shop had back in 1996, but I just didn't quite need the pair back then... just a front one. Well, now I'm back to the same, needing a front one, and there it is. I should be 2 full seconds faster in a 40k TT now, or if Zipp would have made it, it would likely be worth 2 minutes in the same race.
...I wonder if that brake will save anytime on my trainer rides. That's the only riding that's going to happen the next several days, and I'd love to get off the trainer sooner, if it's possible for the brake to save me some time.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
The Corpse of a Tree
The dark clouds dropping lower and lower can only mean cold weather and snow are on the way. The only thing to do in such a situation is to open up my bottle of Weissenohe Monks Fest and sit around the baby-Jeebus tree, waiting for his birthday celebrations to begin!
...The Weissenohe was "okay". Nothing spectacular. Great color and head, but a mediocre nose, and not nearly enough spice for a beer of this type. Very drinkable though!
...The Weissenohe was "okay". Nothing spectacular. Great color and head, but a mediocre nose, and not nearly enough spice for a beer of this type. Very drinkable though!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Baby Jeebus Carols
You have to love sitting back, and singing some lovely Baby Jeebus carols to get into the beautiful spirit of the season...
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