Here in oregon, it rains alot, as you may have heard.

It hadn't rained all summer, and even with what few remaining forms of life there were dropping in scores due to the parching heat, I couldn't have been happier. It was lovely.

Until yesterday.

That's when the sky found where it had misplaced the rainclouds, and kindly put them back where they so obviously belong - hovering over our once-fair state.

Now, I'm not usually one to bitch about 2 days of rain, that's pretty trivial. But I know better. I've been in this state for a long time, and this is 2 out of nearly 275 continuous days of rain I get to look forward to....not interrupted by snow or anything like that (thanks, global warming), just lots...of...rain. It's what I call the Non-Summer, really because there's little difference between Fall, Winter, and Spring here. Everything just gets progressively soggier.

So what will I be doing to cope with the rain? Simple. Pretend it doesn't exist. But how? Well, over the years, I've become more and more proficient at never going outside. At least between September and May. Sure, I'll have brief, vunerable moments where I'm dashing to or from my car, but always well-protected by my jacket, and usually not without at least some bitching. Beyond that, I'm happy to stay inside, play my video games, make out with a beautiful girl, drink, and hang out with Cousin Rico. If I want to experience the "Great Outdoors", I'll take the trash to the curb. Otherwise, see you next summer, Nature.

I hate how slashdot has the journal system set up, ultimately, I have to blame losing my journal entries, on user error, but a better UI couldn't hurt.....

Anyway, I wrote a long and clever entry as to why I didn't write anything this week. It amounted to:

-I'm lazy.
-I had better things to do.
-My tire went flat, and I lost my hood ornament.
-Robin's visiting, I'm glad.
-Sun is weak.

Not as entralling as the original, but I'm tired, it's time to go home......

Ahh, friday.....

Last night, while I skipped out on doing server maintainance to play Dynasty Warriors with Nathan, all the other IS guys were here, breaking one of the servers. Sounds like they had a long night fixing it. So I'm pretty much alone here today. Which is fine, things have been quiet.....but it's boring.

Yesterday I went to get Mo's stuff from her "pseudo-grandmother". Waaaay out in BFE. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get lunch, but then I just snuck out later and got a burrito (yum), so it all worked out in the end.

I was tired yesterday. Of course, I'm tired today. And every day this week. But I'm sue it has nothing to do with me staying up until 2am talking to a certain girl......when I have to wake up at 7am....Bill Gates once said "640k should be enough memory for anybody", and I say "5 hours of sleep should be enough for anybody - but it's not, you fucking shitheads!" I become less personable when I'm tired.

Me=broke as shit. I've got like $15 to last me the weekend. So much for having fun. Thank god my paycheck should be here on Monday. But seriously, the weekend should be cool. I hope that it doesn't decide to continue raining (it did a bit last night), because Robin and I are supposed to go camping on saturday.....in the back yard.....and Mo will finally be flying up to PDX that day, too. Fun times.

And dammit, her computer is nicer than mine. But that's because I'm neglectful and haven't upgraded it in almost two years. Maybe sometime soon.

I can't believe it's only 11am, how the fuck am I going to get through the rest of the day....I need some coke. Of course, I don't do coke. But if I did......yeah....

I guess Tazoberry tea will suffice.

Well, now I'm one of those people. I filed my first-ever PayPal dispute form. But, unlike sweetabbyscloset, I've got a real reason to. It's been two weeks since my video card was supposed to arrive, and more than three since I paid for it. Now, it was one of those "factory pull - may not work for shit" kind of auctions, but I figured, for $7 plus shipping, it's a deal.

But not if it never shows up.

I mean, I wouldn't be pissed if it arrived and didn't work. I expect that. But if it doesn't arrive at all.....that's robbery. At least if it doesn't work I have a new nice-looking coaster. Right now I just have and empty mailbox and $16 less in my bank account. So, hopefully, PayPal can get this fixed for me. Which only proves my point - when on eBay, read your item descriptions carefully, and anally document everything. Because since I did, they've got no recourse against me. Rock.

What is your problem SPARCstation? Did I offend you when I opened you up. I gave you more RAM, I gave you a hard drive that was twice as big, I gave you a new CD drive. I gave my all, and yet you sit there and taunt me. I've done all I could. I've gone through the laborious process of a text prompt install, I cleaned your media, I even made sure the fan on your heat sink was in good shape.

So why won't you just install Solaris?

You are a valuable member of our Network Operations Center. You are the console that lets us control all of your Sun bretheren. Your job is very important. And even though you aren't an UltraSPARC driven machine, doesn't mean that we don't appreciate you. That's why we gave the job to you, Fun, and not one of the newer machines, like Chococat.

I'm not mad. I'm just tired. I've had things not work for me all week, and I'd like to feel like something was finished at the end of my day. But I go home in just two hours, and I don't think you'll change your mind by then.

Please, SPARCstation, give me my sanity back.

I really did try.....

I tried to be productive. I accomplished things, I finished projects, I researched. But somehow I don't feel the fufillment of having dome anything. Mondays are like that, I guess. Especially this one.

Well, at Joe's insistance, I went out at about 4:00 for a break (much needed, i was practically asleep). I stopped by the post office and sent off the drive to the guy in Switzerland who bought my old IBM 701c thinkpad (coolest little thing ever, but -so- slow). Then I grabbed my Moca Malt from Starbucks. On the way back, I realized something--In a city of a million people, in the busiest part, I see the same people all the time.

Like the guy who hangs out by the Downtown grocery. Or the girl who was in front of me in line at the post office but on Friday was behnid me in line at Subway. Or even the gorgeous blue Volvo 240 that was parked 3 blocks away from where it was last week.

Only a few coincidences, but remarkable considering I probably share that small are with 200,000 people.

Mmm....coffe make eveything better. Now I have the energy to get through the last 30 minutes of work. Hee hee.

The W32/Nachi.worm was discovered today, using the same RPC DCOM exploit as the W32Blaster (covered on today's Slashdot front page). Hilarious that someone uses the same exploit, but this worm ends up fixing the damage inflicted by its predecessor. I think this is awesome, and encourage all 1337 #4@x0rz to think about uses like this for their skills.

You can continue to make fun of Bill Gates, though.

My boss Joe isn't in today, said he was feeling "under the weather". Like my job wasn't easy enough, now I get to go all day without realy doing anything. The workaholic in me probably won't let me do -nothing-, but I'm not obligated to accomplish anything.

Listening to Electrokid - Liven 2Step Funky. It's cool.

Taking advantage of my freedom, I went out at about 10:30 to go grab a bite to eat. Of course, as my luck would have it, I found all of the other IT guys out at the Bagel Shop, slacking equally as hard. Sweet. I got a toasted bagel and cream cheese. Tasty.

Though I should note, I didn't used to be a big fan of cream cheese, and even now it's 50/50 whether or not I'll like it on any given day. strange since I love cheese so much. Just a little aside.

Mountain Dew is slowly coaxing me into full consciousness........

In the stairwell on the Mezzanine level I saw an empty can of 211 Steel Reserve - the kind of cheap beer even Satan wouln't drink. I can just imagine someone slamming that nasty floor stripper in the stairwell during working hours. Ha ha. Maybe I'll try that sometime....yeah fuckin right....

Unless, of course, it was Bull Ice. ;-)

Twice now has Slashdot lost my journal entries.....I'm seriously considering asking for a full refund. *L*

DJ Rap - Bad Girl (hybrid remix)

A silent conversation passes through the world
A million voices who are never really heard
A thousand reasons why our self-esteem can't stand
A million women let it slip right through their hands
Don't show me anger 'cos your anitudes could change
That glass ceiling should be radically erased
I'm trying to show you that as friends we'd get along
Respect my body 'cos that's where you came from

This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song

Oh you gotta be a bad girl in this world
And you've got to make waves
Gonabeabad girl tobeheard
Assen your wicked ways
Gone be a bad girl in this world
And you've got to make waves
Gona be a bad girl to be heard
And that's what I say

It's just on loan to you it's my identity
I'd love to love you if you give it back to me
Don't criticise me 'cos I know it's overdue
I've learned my lessons my lessons well by following your moves

This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song

Oh you gone be a bad girl in this world
And you've got to make waves
Oh you gotta be a bad girl in this world
And that's what I say
That's what I say
This is not a love song

I don't mean to presume that I am actually old relative to other people, but I can defintely say that I've been feeling old recently. I mean, just a few years ago, I could stay up for the better part of the week without any detrimental effects--I'd even be productive. Now I'm sitting here at my desk job, exhausted because I slept 6 and a half hours last night. All because I stayed up to watch Charlie Rose on pbs-- WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING WATCHING CHARLIE ROSE?????? I swear, add the heartburn that's been plaguing me for the last few days, and you've pretty much got the profile of a 52-year old man.

Shit.....

I'm calling dibs on this.....

My Cousin Rico is probably one of my favorite "people" to hang out with. Unfortunately, every time we do kick it, I get insatiable munchies. It's the only drawback, really (I don't even want to hear about learning problems, memory, or lung cancer).

Well, they say necessity is the mother of all invention. Well, I -need- to stop snacking so much. I'm liable to get way fat.

Enter Munchie Shake.

I don't know what it is, or how it works, but this thing would be awesome. A delicious shake (no, not like the Slim-Fast shit, I wouldn't lie about "delicious" like that), that not only contains "special enzymes" to control hunger, but also cures cottonmouth! (note: I say "special enzymes" because I have no fucking idea what they are. Yet.)

I know I could probably make a billion dollars off of such a product, but I'd be content just having it for myself.....it's either that or I start excersizing......

Nothing huge, though I'm so uninspired I's be half-tempted to buzz it off. But I'm definetly not down with the way it is, which sucks because for only two days after I cut it last did it look awesome. I mean really awesome. Now it looks like crap. So, maybe tonight, I'll get it done. And dye it black.

Without realizing it, I'm setting a pattern of not doing my journal on weekends. Fine with me. I don't ever feel like doing anything on weekends even remotely related to what I do during the week, and that includes typing. Plus, I don't have to come up with as mich filler.

But speaking of weekends......BORING. Only took one word to sum it up. I did clean the house (with help from Barry, who's up here until.....some time......), but the rest of the time I slept, rocked out, and got baked. Kind of a waste, actually. I'll make a point of being more productive during my weekends.

I did go to Value Village, though - always productive.

So, I got a resolution to my PayPal investigation.

I rattled of an email to the person that filed the complaint, who was actually not the wah pedal guy, but the woman I sold my amp to last week (don't worry, I'm still pissed at the other guy - but i still have his $$ for now!). I emailed her on Wednesday saying I'd sent the amp, she filed the complaint -three- business days later - four days before it was expected to arrive! But of course, now it's thursday and it shows up. I get an email from her basically saying "my bad, god bless!"

He may bless me, but I hope he gives you head cancer.

Work is slow today - mornings tend to be, a) because I'm tired, and b) because I haven't really found what I'm going to devote my time to today. I need to keep up with some documentation, but I'm running a giant wget to get an assload of RPMs I'll need to do the process I'm documenting. Eventually it'll go quick, but right now.....ugh. I also need to do other stuff, but it can wait. I'm drinking my coffee, so don't bother me.

Ahh....coffee done, I'm a much nicer person now. Tonight I'll be moving crap around in the NOC, some late-night hours I thought would just be adding to my general wealth, but since Joe can't have me work more than 40 hrs. a week, it ends up being time that I just can't spend working tomorrow. w00t! I'll probably be able to go home at like 2:00. Special cookies, here I come!

Man, those were killer. Chloe's roommate made "magic cookies" for our party last weekend, I had a piece the size of a die (singular dice), and it kicked my ass. When I went to see her the next day, she gave me all the leftovers - like 8 in all. I gave two to Dylan for being so helpful on Saturday, six now live in my freezer, waiting to be enjoyed (mmm....minty).

Yesterday I turned in a timesheet for -two whole days- of work. Apparently, I was just that close to the payroll cutoff date. So on the 15th, I get a check for a whopping $175 bucks. You know what's funny though? In those two days, I earned more than I would in a week of 5am hell at Staples. Note to self: keep doing this computer thing.

This punk-ass bitch "bought" my wah-wah pedal off of eBay like two months ago, and he never paid me or wrote back or anything. I waited three weeks and kept sending him email. Finally I filed an Non-Paying Bidder report on him and relisted it. It sold for the princely sum of $50 to some kid here in PDX. Three days -after that- he sends me a paypal payment of $83. I send it right back, saying basically "sorry dude, you snooze, you lose". It sat there for two weeks. He never claimed it. Weak sauce. So I cancelled the transaction. I'd rather try and work it out later than leave it pending like that.

Well, it's later.

I got an email yesterday from paypal basically saying that he'd filed a complaint and they were investigating and that my ass best pay the man by August 12th. Not a problem, but two things:

1. Fuck you, you pole-smoking bitch, for stringing me along for this long only to then be a total santorum-gulping asswipe and file a complaint. How dare you.

2. I don't trust this asspatriot to take my money one I've sent it to him, and there's plenty of historical precedent to make me feel that way.

So now -I'm- the bad guy, just cause this guy's a flaky dickless pice of shit. This seems to happen too often. I'm not going to involve myself with other people anymore, too much of a pain in the ass :-)

Anyway, keep it crackalackin', ya'll.

Man, I forgot what it was like to wake up at 7.....

I love my job. I get paid to teach myself how to do cool shit, unsupervised. I can listen to music, snack, and chat on AIM. which is what I do in my spare time anyway. But this is way better.

Robin's stuck in Houston for the night, I pity her....

Dude.