BunkBlog

OK, so I’ve finally gotten around to getting Mensa membership. Why did I do it, you ask? It looks good on a resume. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.

Why did I put off doing it for the past 15 years? Every Mensa member I know is an arrogant pain in the ass. So far as I can tell, the entire point of the organization, besides being able to tell people how wonderfully brilliant you are, is to make sure your kids are raised to be equally brilliant. It’s some freakin’ eugenics experiment, I swear.

I have absolutely no intention of ever going to a meeting, and don’t plan to submit any articles for their newsletter. Am I being a self-serving hypocrite? Well, probably, but at least it will be one more line on a resume. Self interest uber alles.

I really need to go to bed.

I have way too much time to waste. I’ve been spending it surfing through Live Journal. Seems reasonable to me.

Apparently, there is some requirement to post a long, interesting only to you, rambling kind of online conversation log in your journal every so often. I’m not sure, but it seems to be mainly observed by the high-school and college-age folks, with an occasional older person posting. Um, why?

I would think that the person on the other end of that private chat usually doesn’t expect you to archive and share that conversation with all and sundry. Perhaps I’m wrong in some cases, but I’d be willing to bet that most of the folks who have posted 300 lines from an AIM log file didn’t ask if it was ok to share.

If you shared someone’s personal snailmail, or recorded a phone conversation for the amusement of others, wouldn’t you find that rude? Are there different standards of civilized conduct online compared to the real world?

Do I need to get some sleep?

This album has been on constant re-play in my car the past few weeks. Well, ok, I did play a little Fuel and Prodigy occasionally, but “Bohemian Like You” has gotten MAJOR airplay…

How can you argue with lyrics like, “Itsy bitsy teeny weenie, ridin’ up your butt bikini” woohoo!
current_music: Dandy Warhols – Horse Pills
current_mood: happy

Cam’s up. In case anyone cares to see me surf and drink Pete’s

MSIE, although better than Netscape Navigator, is an infuriating piece of software.

Why, after 5 years, does IE still not support the progressive JPEG standard, yet proclaims itself to be a standards-compliant browser?
Why, every third web page or so (totally random that I can tell), does my font setting revert to “smaller”, a size I have never purposely set for any reason?
Why is Opera so much better and yet so much smaller a download? The absolute largest Opera download, including all bells and whistles such as email and ICQ messaging, tops out at 9 megs. The smallest MSIE download is about the same. Now, to get all the functions of Opera, you’ll have to download ICQ (3 megs) and an email program (anything but OE which is just a security hole – 3-5 megs).

Ah, the imponderables of the world. But, I’m sure MS didn’t abuse its monopoly power in any way. After all, the best product always wins, right?

Pete’s Strawberry Blonde is much better cold than warm. I guess I’ll just have to drink faster.

As promised (threatened?), I have a new, prettier stats page now.

Noticed another peculiarity: What the heck “browser” is Jennybot? Is Jennifer Ringley sending out her robotic minions? hehe
current_music: So I Married an Axe Murderer

OK, that’s it. I officially have the worst ISP ever. Their DNS servers seem to respond randomly. Now, the virtue.nu server is not found, but it was there this morning. I have a policy of supporting local ISPs, but I’ve never had one that SUCKED before.

Oh, Earthlink…

Yep, Earthlink works. Actually getting a 56k connection on it too, unlike C2i2’s “56k” lines which ran at 28k when they connected at all. Whew. Much better.

OK, so I decided to completely WASTE the day surfing old journals and following whatever links I may find.

Alas, so few people have discovered the usefulness of URL redirection services, it seems. Lots of broken links, all over the place. I guess I’m just feeling lucky that I gave folks the Bigfoot redirection URL before I got my own domain. Shit, the domain fees are due soon. 2 years so soon…

Yes I am a geek. So?
current_music: Limp Bizkit – Rollin’ (Airraid Vehicle)

OK, you absolutely have to go to Sluggy Freelance this week. He’s got some great Madlibs-looking stuff going on, with custom graphics and everything. I know Darkmoon has been playing, but today’s is the biggest yet.

Here’s my version. Gotta hate it when the spiny anteaters bite your gardengnomes off. hehe
current_music: The Offspring – Conspiracy Of One
current_mood: silly

I’ve totally reverted to my behavior from 15 years ago. Cool Ranch Doritos, Mountain Dew, and a computer. Back then, 64 k of RAM and a 270k floppy drive, now 384 M of RAM and a 20gig HD, but still the same online fetish and randomness. 🙂
current_music: Shaggy – Keepin it Real

Yep, the random test stuff has finally made it impossible to resist…

Turtle

Come on out of your shell – in your former life you were a turtle name Gifford. The details are a bit sketchy, but we do have a brief summary based on public records: You were born in a small pond beside a saloon. Despite having an exceptionally athletic father, you seemed to prefer sunbathing and mud baths to more active pursuits. Contrary to the rumor, your favorite color was never green, but actually blue. Few people knew that you were a talented poet because most of your work was destroyed during a flash flood that swept away not only your library, but your entire community. Fortunately you had the pluck to survive, settle down, make some eggs, and live happily ever after with your wife Melinda and your 20 offspring.
current_music: The Tubes – She’s a Beauty
current_mood: silly

OK, how’s this for a completely pointless website update?

I’ve put my webcam back up, now that I’m done moving. The room that I’m using for my computer zone, though, is rather dim, so I end up with a weird-looking capture.

Naturally, I’m interested in how many people have gone to my stats page since I put it up. I’ll run a new batch of statistics this weekend, with a more graphically interesting Analog, and see.
current_music: Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar on Me

Wondering what news she got yesterday. Hope she’s good.

Every meeting with his so-called superior is another humiliating kick in the crotch.

Tell me I’m in the Twilight Zone here. Had to go talk to an HR-type today, who almost instantly talked to me like I was 12, totally condescending and basically calling me a liar. I’m a damned Mensa member, and I’m apparently so stupid that I have forgotten something from 2 weeks ago, while this 800-year old bird has a razor-sharp memory? C’mon! Either of us could have been misremembering whether I actually got this magic piece of paper (not remotely unique either). Turns out, I looked in my stack o’ stuff later, and I did not have it, but that’s irrelevant.

She whined to her boss (regional manager type guy), who called me and told me to play nice with others. Um, I just refused to be treated like a child, and now I’m the one with a reputation for a temper. I’m the most calm person anyone has ever met. Fuck me gently with a chainsaw.

Really, the entire thing is a tempest in a teapot and required nobody to be chastised for any reason. BFD. But, now my team leader thinks I’m a troublemaker, and the big boss is sure of it. All before I’ve even received my first paycheck. Lovely.
current_mood: angry

Why do so many people sound so unbelievably pretentious in their weblogs and homepages? Get over yourselves, people.

I suppose that this is all a common failing among the young, and most online folk tend to be youngish (sorry Rill). Stop trying to sound like the second coming of Yeats and just live a normal life.

Of course, that’s just my opinion, but I’m usually right. 🙂
current_mood: self-righteous

OK, that experiment didn’t work. Apparently, if I’m logged in, I see the different views of “People” vs. “Community”, but if I’m not logged in, then the “filter” shows everything. Grrr…

So, to protect innocent eyes (like any of them read my journal), I’ve stopped monitoring the naughty groups. You may now resume your perusal of my friends.

Possible trip to Melbourne this summer (I suppose winter in Oz). Probable trip to Florida in May. Still haven’t produced anything at work of value and they’re paying me. Woohoo!
current_music: 10,000 Maniacs – More Than This
current_mood: tired

I’ve noticed a rather disturbing trend at my new place of employment. There are a few men there who are disregarding proper urinal etiquette. We have 3 in a row, and a few times I’ve entered the restroom soon after another gentleman. He looks at the three possible options, and stops at the center one.

Now, all men know this is inappropriate behavior. For the women in the group, you must, when possible, leave an open urinal between you and any other man. You must not make eye contact, and you shall not speak while peeing. This is the law of the urinal.
current_music: Apache Indian – Chok There
current_mood: annoyed

Poe is a good singer.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
current_music: Poe – Not A Virgin