The word of the week is frustration. Because we all feel it, sooner or later, at various intensities.
Dec 13 – Flossing Cars
One of those strange days today: leave the house at 10am and don't get back until 5pm... *sigh* I went into town( early )for a dental appointment, where I was told again what nice teeth I have( all the better to bite you with! )but of course to keep flossing.. is there anyone out there who flosses every day? The rest of the day was spent trucking around various places, some shopping, some bill-paying, etc. I'm still not thrilled with the idea of purchasing a second vehicle, considering that I really want to move back into the city proper and so take advantage of the bus system / cycling paths. Second cars aren't cheap – there's a Plymouth Neon down the road for $1,700 but I'm really, really leery of that particular brand...
Dec 14 - Escapism
I won't go into why today was so frustrating, other than that a combo of work-related stupidities and personal emotional states made me want to label today 'Monday Too' ... it sucked, but it eventually ended, as all days do. Having a home to retreat to, a place of refuge safe from the world( until the phone rings )where you can put all those Things That Bother You outside the door and lock it tight: that's nice. There's a show on Shaw cable called Man Caves that I've yet to succumb to subscribing too; it's tempting, but I'm not sure I want to know how much these guys have spent on their retreat.
Dec 15 – Early Again?
Today I did the early-for-work thing again, spending lunch( and some small monies )at McDonald's. It was a rainy day, clouds frowning down from above, right up until I left. Then the sun smiled down on me while I walked to work – it was nice, I admit, yet would have been nicer to bask in while I waiting in the windows beside the Golden Arches. Can't have it all, I suppose – it was a quiet, pleasant lunch, all the more so because my timing meant that the place wasn't crawling with kids as it usually is. Understandably, it IS McDonald's, with a giant play area, so crowds of tot-toting parents are inevitable... but the occasional day without is something to be enjoyed and remembered.
Dec 16 – Telus Resolution
The crazy cell-phone saga looks to be something that will be resolved shortly, thanks to a few more phone calls this week, including one to my lawyer. Seems that Telus neglected to mention that once the LG IQ phone is 'officially' received by their Returns Depot, then the $500.00 charge on my account will be removed. AND the contract will be revoked, returning me to a month-by-month plan – which is what I wanted anyway since this all went south. Once that's done with, all I have to do is figure out how to get a new( -er ) phone without paying through the nose for it for something that I don't really plan on using more than a year or so, until the tablet market really takes off. So we'll see; I just want this stupidity with Telus to be over with and forget about the LG IQ entirely.
Dec 17 – Knowing Things
Do you know a lot about a little, or a little about a lot? If you're the latter, then you can be considered a 'Renaissance Man' ( or woman ). I'm all about the latter as well; I like to think it makes me a more well-rounded person, as I don't have my nose so deep in one speciality that all I can smell is the ink on the pages of a professional journal. Sure, it's not easy to make a living like that... but you won't be at a loss for conversation at a Christmas party, either. For those of you with an iPhone( or follow the PC links )you can look at these apps for those who need to know everything. Some fascinating stuff in there; brings back memories of Trivial Pursuit from my youth... does anyone still have that game?
Dec 18 – Vultan Lives!
Though they're doomed by the rise in smartphones, standalone GPS devices still do what they do very well – the Nuvi 250 I bought when I arrived in Victoria got me around handily until I got to know the area. Updating maps is VERY expensive for the things though, to the point where it's almost cheaper to buy a new GPS every 3 years or so. Still, there are some cool things you can do with your GPS, depending on the device brand... like adding Brian Blessed's voice! TomTom owners can hear his stentorian tones blasting out directions as they drive, as though Vultan from Flash Gordon were sitting next to them in the car. Makes you wonder about having other celebrity voices added in the future...
Dec 19 – Laptop Suicide!
Wake up, laptop... wake up! Laptop? Are you OK? Uh oh... my 2-week only drive has futzed itself, refusing to boot Windows( not that I blame it for that ). I couldn't do much until I returned from a busy work day, but a little diagnosis revealed that the drive boots up, things it's blank, and sits there – no sign of the 500 gigs of data stored on it. So... tomorrow it's a call to Seagate Tech Support to find out why their product has decided to suicide to quickly after my purchasing it, and what the recommend for getting my system back. I think I may also make it a dual-boot, so that if one OS decides to take a dirt nap, I'll still have the other one available – pretty easy to do that these days. I'd be freaking right now, if I didn't have a full backup saved from 2 weeks ago that I can use to restore the thing... in about 8 hours. I hope.
This blog was written entirely on a hand calculator at McDonald's and transferred upside-down to a notepad Monday afternoon for posting online. Don't ask about the spell checker. :-) It's a brief blog too, due to the original copy being lost on my futzed laptop... and the fact that I don't have a whole lot to say this week, really. No pictures either, for that matter.
