I had a dream early this morning where I was debating whether to give up mochas and instead buy donuts. I think I even woke up and gave it some serious thought.
But I bought my first mocha in eight days. Longest streak in several weeks.
Asma's grandma is coming in today from Iran. I get to meet her tonight. Eek.
I need to get paid more.
I'm entering some Spanish articles into the system and I can sort of read them, which is annoying because now I want to be fluent in it.
Chimes and AARP are now requiring all consultants to complete a background check form, which includes their rights to do drug tests and take fingerprint samples. Poop.
It's a standard thing at a lot of companies, I'm sure. I've just never had to do one, I don't think. So it seems a bit heavy-handed.
I gotta list my employers for the last 10 years. Should I include Burger King?
In today's Express, at the bottom of the front page, I found this:
THE DARK SIDE | Darth Raider Darth Vader was a frequent sight at many movie theaters across the country this weekend. But the Dark Side was especially strong with one man wearing a Vader mask at a Springfield, Ill., theater, who used the Force in slightly more physical terms, shoving an employee out of the way, grabbing cash and fleeing. Police have no suspects in the robbery at the theater, where "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" was playing.
Yay for Lincoln.
Yesterday we were surprised to find that GEICO stands for Government Employees Insurance Company. The GEICO headquarters is apparently in Friendship Heights, and the big stone sign at the entrance spelled it out for us. Kinda cool.
I was sitting on the ground reaching for the X-Acto knife last night, which was on the entertainment unit roughly 18 in off the ground. Not sure how it happened, but it made a nose dive right into my knee, about a quarter of an inch deep. Kinda weird.
Song of the day “What You’re Up Against” by Hey Mercedes
How does the time still go by so fast when you’re doing nothing? Well, not exactly “nothing”, of course. There is the 54 hour work week, the requisite TV watching, and then there’s that other thing that’s been taking up a lot of time lately… So, while it’s not quite doing “nothing” it’s more “not doing what I want”. The funny thing is, I don’t even remember what that is anymore.
I asked someone recently if they were happy with their life, (Note: Asking a question like that of someone kind of implies that you are not happy with yours). My friend responded that given the lives that other, less fortunate, people around the world have, she would feel guilty saying she was unhappy with her life. I can see the logic behind that answer, but it still doesn’t work for me. Maybe it’s because I’m an only child and a self-centered asshole, but I think the evaluation of my life should be based more than on the relative quality of others. Honestly though, I’m 24 and in some ways more confused about life than when I was 18. Might this be the beginnings of a quarter-life crisis?
Superman stands for “truth, justice and the American way” (note: just for the sake of saving time, let’s assume that the “American way” Superman is talking about is a good thing. Not the Hegemonic, neo-Christian, commercialized globalization monster that it seems to stand for these day. Hmm…maybe that didn’t save time at all…). Then there’s Spiderman, who’s famous for the “with great power comes great responsibility” thing. Meanwhile, what do I stand for? iPods and alcohol. As good as it sounds, it is a little unfulfilling. Then again, maybe my problem is that I’m 24 and still using imaginary comic book characters as my role models.
So, back in the material world, I have a fresh batch of wet clothes waiting to be dried downstairs, but all of the dryers are full of completely dried clothes. Now, when I went into the laundry room at 10 am, the lights were off and all of the washers were empty. This leads me to believe that the clothes in the dryers have been sitting there overnight. I really should just take them out of the dryers and put my stuff in, but I don’t. I don’t know why. I really shouldn’t even care, given that they could possibly be the same clothes of whoever stole 2 of my 3 Netflix movies.
Anyway, here’s your posting. It was random and probably unsatisfying to anyone not named Derek Bergmann, but here it is. Hopefully, there’s more to come. And sooner rather than later.
What's the difference between Episode I and Episode III?
Six years ago, I had to wait in line at the only theater in a city of +100,000 that was showing Episode I. Now, I can order tickets online weeks in advance and, thanks to my geography, am in a town with one of three theaters carrying the flick. Not to mention the many other theaters in the Washington metro area.
There was something fun about standing in line a few hours before the opening with your friends. I went with Hasan, Andrew, and Joel, and we ran into many other folks from school. I had my AP Physics in tow because the test was the following morning, thinking that I actually needed to review (pssh…Joel, Andrew, and I rocked physics that year).
Tonight, Asma and I will watch The Daily Show and leave 30 minutes before the opening.
Technology + affluent suburb = no challenge.
Speaking of technology, my mom was asking about Asma's wedding ring – and if she could see a picture – and talked about maybe going to Atlanta when she visits Tanya to find some jewelry for Asma. I said I could look for her online. She asked me what the email address was for the store, and after explaining to her that there are a lot of online jewelry stores, said to send Hasan some of their numbers.
Cute.
I love Shirin and Papaya. I am sad that they do not like to be held.
Jenn was on to something.
Asma and I are getting married in 4 weeks and 6 days.
Why? Because the timing seems right, and because I need a qualifying event that allows me to get insurance through Aquent now and not in November.
But really, the former. It's just going to be a very small ceremony to officiate things. Apologies to those we could not invite – the big celebration will still be next summer.
I want to rent an elephant for that, like a real Bengali sultan. My Persian princess would rather have a camel.
I bought an HP 8450, months after the Canon PiXMA mishaps, and it's just as bad as those. How can these printers with good quality prints have such shitty paper handling?
I don't want borderless printing, so don't do it. I want the margins to be even, so don't push the paper half an inch over.
This is ridiculous.
I wish I had money to drop on a Canon i9900. It's the last of the i-series that anyone sells on a regular basis. Very solid series. Sigh.
I just realized last night, by accident, that variables in a module are treated as static. Which means that I shouldn't feel bad about importing the same module from several different places because it's not reloading the module each time. At least, that's what I'm left to assume. I should find a Python ‘guru’ to see if my guess is correct.
It makes sense. I should've realized this a long time ago.
Handling the unexpected can suck.
A Nine Inch Nails single being the best song on the album? Though the last song is also nice.
Oh, and there is big news boiling in the background. More to come in like five weeks.
A measurement of heat for peppers and such. Tabasco is at 5000, and people on some show about hot sauces on Food Network are trying a drop of The Source rated at 7.1 million. Capsaicin, the chemical that causes the heat sensations, is rated at 16 million.
Hot.
Uh, I am starting to burn out.
I got a nice hefty check last week because I did overtime. But I do not want to think about work for a day or two but it is unavoidable but at least I want to be able to work from home.
This site needs a fixing. This summer, maybe.
Also, I am responsible for putting up AARP's biggest report of the year online. Yeah! I am so important. (It's currently 9:10, and the CMS is being stupid, so all related reports are coming up as missing. What good fortune that this happens at the tentative deadline.)
After reviewing my paystubs online, I saw that I was getting dental subsidies. So I'm like, ‘WTF? Subsidies?’
Now I'm looking at the benefits guide and I see that I get an hourly subsidy, so my $90ish/weekly full-coverage costs would drop to $20 or less if I work at least 30 hours a week.
Instead, I opted out of Aquent's health plan and I'm stuck paying $75 a month for crap coverage.
What an idiot.
Shirin and Papaya can never coexist peacefully.
We tried an experiment yesterday, letting our two babies out in the same room. Once Shirin became full aware of Papaya as another living thing, she began to bite her, keeping up as Papaya tried to run away.
Asma screamed, we both managed to break them apart, Papaya was very scared and aggressive, things settled down, the end.
Also, Dietmar sent me an email this morning, which was very surprising. That made me happy. I was thinking about emailing him before the semester ended since he's retiring. Rock.
I don't know why they do this, but want to sign up? You just need a PayPal account to get paid; no giving address or phone number. Worth a shot.