LiveJournal Project

Keep it going, keep it going....

Date: 2003-07-03 01:31
Subject: friday night sushi?
ok, so i don't think cory and i are going to be making any vegas runs this weekend, and it was suggested by djskott that there be some sushi and drunkenness on friday night, so i'm throwing it out here for all of you.

anyone up for a group outing this friday? we'll eat raw fish, consume stupifying chemicals in liquid form, and whatever else ends up happening. i don't know where, i don't know what time, and maybe it'll just be scott and i. but others are welcome to express some interest.

Date: 2003-07-09 10:55
Subject: i'm surrounded by idiots
i think that for the most part, i seem to have a talent when it comes to choosing professional services. a talent for picking morons. i went down to my insurance agent's office today to drop off a check for my health insurance coverage that i'd just signed up and filled out all the shit for. and when i get there, i find that they've screwed up, and that the amount of my first payment isn't what they had originally told me. of course, it's higher. now, that part i'm not upset about, but what does piss me off is that the foolios couldn't tell me why it was higher. i know why it's higher - it's because i have extraneous organic insulation (i.e., my ass is big) and therefore the insurance co. thinks i'm a higher risk and thus wants to rape my asshole a little harder. but the agent people are telling me that it's because of my left ankle, which, as some of you may recall, i injured trying to learn how to snowboard. uh, no, assholes, that's not it. if those fucks would've read the letter from the health people carefully, they'd see that the ankle and the higher rate are two separate things. for the next two years, my health insurance isn't going to cover my left ankle AT ALL (so i guess i'd better be careful snowboarding, or at least make sure to fuck up the other side this time) why would they charge me an extra premium for something they're not going to cover? answer: they wouldn't. when it says in plain letters "25% premium" and has the word "build" written by it, they're not talking about compiling a program here, they're talking about my fat ass. and when i said as much to the agent, she disagreed with me. apparently she and her little staffer minions think it's for my ankle. yeah, right, bitch, maybe i should take over your job. i'm sure i already know more about how to read letters from underwiters than you do.

anyway, on to some happier news. deadasleep and i went to see the d'backs pound the rockies last night, and since the snakes scored 8 runs, we got coupons for free chalupas from taco bell. you know what's ironic in all of this? i was all excited about getting my free chalupa, but i have no idea what a chalupa actually is. it's been at least 5-6 years since i've eaten at taco bell.

_purpleglitter_ and i spent a night in sedona this past weekend, hiking around boynton canyon in search of gnomes, vortices, or at least some cool scenery. we had some homemade ice cream, avoided all the timeshare presentation people, and i managed to not get injured, as has been my habit on trips we've gone on which haven't been to vegas.
Music: Psydrop - Fantasy Seeds

Date: 2003-07-12 02:38
Subject: marriage: just say no!
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/scitech/SciTechRepublish_898675.htm

Time: 14:15
Subject: angry ravyn's guide to office politics
a little background information- when i actually go in to work, i work in an office which normally contains three other people. the two boss-types, the secretarial type, and myself. each of the boss-types has his own office, and i also have my own office. a few months ago, one of the boss-types, B, started up a bunch of his own projects and started hiring on some lackeys to do work for him. they tended to congregate in the conference room and really weren't seen or heard from too much. but then another one of B's projects was born, and with it came a new gaggle of minions in need of places to sit. one such minion was placed in the second work area in my office. no problem there, since there is room for two and he's a cool guy. however, as this project continued to grow, another minion decided to take up residence in my office, at my desk. this would not normally be a problem, given that i probably go in to the office 3-4 days out of the month, if that. in addition, i was told by the head minion that it would only be for a day or two while michael (the crony that shall become the target of my ire) set up some laptops, and then they'd have a place for him and he'd be out of my space. well, that was about three weeks ago. since then, every time i've gone into the office, michael and his shit have been all over my desk, expanding each time like some sort of uncontrolled fungus growth. and each time, i get apologies and excuses about how they'll move their shit, they'll get him out of there, blah blah blah. because my office is close to ASU, i keep my mountain bike there, so that when class is in session, i can just bike from the office to class and back, so i don't have to pay for parking. this last friday, i got an email from the secretarial-type person asking me if i could come pick up my bike because the minions in my office were running out of space. or, more specifically, michael the minion. i wrote back and said no. it is, after all, still MY office, regardless of how often i sit in it, and the presence of the extra minions happens only with my graces.

so today i stopped in at the office, because it's that time of month when i drop off an invoice and get paid, and guess what? my bike had been relocated from its standard resting place despite my express statement that this not happen. and michael the minion's shit is all over the place, yet he is nowhere to be found. so i ripped zack a new asshole (he's the other minion who really doesn't belong there) and piled up all of masturbating mikey's stuff on one part of the desk and left him a nasty note, the gist of which is to follow. basically, i've been more than patient and understanding with the continual and gradual takeover of my space, and even with the appropriation of stuff from my desk (which really, really pisses me off - when i'm looking for my notebook and i can't find it, i'm not happy - and then when i find it and it's been hijacked by mr. fuckwit - well, that all makes for an angry ravyn), but my patience has run out. the donkey-raping shiteater (yay for south park!) didn't even have the goddamn balls to ask andrea for my email address to ask me about the bike directly, and then even after i say "no, i'm not moving it and it's staying where it is" the bloody cocksucker goes and moves it anyway. had mr. fuckass been even the slightest bit professional and left my stuff alone, i would probably have had no issue with his continued use of my generally-empty deskspace and life would have continued smoothly along, but there are few things which piss me off more than other people fucking with my stuff. i realize that i don't go into the office that frequently, but when i do go, i like to be able to sit down at my desk, do my shit, and not have to wade through mountains of moronosity. so tomorrow, when i go back down to the office to pick up a paycheck, he's going to move all his shit out of my office and find somewhere else for it, or i'm going to take matters into my own hands and move it all myself. and chances are he won't like the way i do it. the rage is coming, mikey. you'd do well to heed that piece of paper on your desk.
Music: the music in my mind, of someone's bones going crunch
Mood: pissed off

Date: 2003-07-18 08:18
Subject: yoinked from xianaz
so i should be finishing up an essay right now for my gov't. class, but it's absolutely boring and i'd rather sit here and get high off the paint fumes coming from my living room (because, well, there's a dude in there painting). so while i'm breathing deeply, i'll take a survey. woo!

AGE: 27
WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? the sound of a paint roller going over a wall and the meow of a cat.
LAST THING YOU SAID? "you guys can help me move it back when it's all done."
WHAT IS SITTING NEXT TO YOU RIGHT NOW? a pillow, a textbook, and a gray cat.
LAST THING YOU ATE? a bowl of oatmeal raisin crisp
WHO DO YOU WANT TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE WITH? my alter-ego
WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO ON YOUR HONEYMOON? who says i'm getting married again? fuck off!
FIRST DAUGHTERS NAME? no kids for me, thanks.
FIRST SONS NAME? ditto.
WHO DO YOU ADMIRE? nobody. people aren't worth admiring. be your own person.
WHO MAKES YOU HAPPY? _purpleglitter_ and my cats.
HOW MANY BUDDIES ON YOUR LIST? 52 on here and about 100 on trillian (AIM+ICQ+Yahoo combined)
WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO? anything that doesn't piss me off.
WHAT DID YOU DO YESTERDAY? went to the store, the bank, and the post office. stopped by djskott's apartment to feed his cats. worked on my gov't. assignment that's due today.
WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO? the painters.
WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? death, mostly, and sometimes heights.
DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS OR GLASSES? not anymore. got flapped and zapped last year.
EYE COLOUR? blue
HAIR COLOUR? normally light brown, but most recent coloration has been black and purple.
HEIGHT? 5'11"
WEIGHT? 240-250, depending on the day and how much pizza i had last night.
DO YOU LIKE YOURSELF? yeah, i'm fuckin' great. it's the rest of you i wonder about. =)
IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOURSELF WHAT WOULD IT BE? make the belly smaller.
SIBLINGS? some half-siblings somewhere on my dad's side which i've never met or spoken to, so for all intents and purposes, no.
CAREER? semi-retired software developer / network security / web design / general geek.
GOING TO UNIVERSITY? yeah, it's something to do.
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF 10 YEARS DOWN THE ROAD? no idea. i don't even know what i'll be doing tomorrow. but it doesn't really matter - i'm sure wherever it is that i end up will be where i want to be at the time.

HAVE YOU EVER...
LOVED SOMEBODY SO MUCH IT MADE YOU CRY? yeah
DRANK ALCOHOL? yeah, but i don't really enjoy it.
SMOKED? took a couple of puffs, didn't like it.
TAKEN DRUGS? yeah
BROKEN THE LAW? yeah, i think it's obvious by my answer to the above question.
BROKEN A BONE? no.
CHEATED ON A TEST? yeah
PLAYED TRUTH OR DARE? only once that i can remember, but it was kinda silly.
KISSED SOMEONE YOU DIDN'T KNOW? once, but she kissed me so i don't know if it counts.
BEEN IN A PHYSICAL FIGHT? indeed
RODE IN A POLICE CAR? been there, done that.
COME CLOSE TO DYING? i don't think so.
BEEN IN A SAUNA? yeah, and it suxxors. can't fuckin' breathe, the air's too hot.
BEEN IN A HOT TUB? yeah, but don't particularly enjoy it. too hot. see a pattern here?
SWAM IN THE OCEAN? yes
SCARS? on my knee, from plowing into the back of a parked truck while riding a bike.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT...
ABORTION? it's your body, do what you want with it.
COUNTRY MUSIC? isn't that an oxymoron?
SOAP OPERAS? something for bored fat housewives to do instead of getting out and taking the kids to a park or getting a fuckin' job.
AIRPLANES? airplanes are great. they make excellent tools for demolishing buildings.
AMUSEMENT PARKS? weeeeeeeeeeee!

WHAT IS...
YOUR GOOD LUCK CHARM? don't have one.
STUPIDEST THING YOU'VE EVER DONE? let me get back to you on that.
DO YOU HAVE A LAVA LAMP? hell no, the 70s are over.
DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? no, they sleep by themselves.
PRIZED POSSESION? don't think i really have one - everything's just replaceable stuff anyway. i guess you could say my cats, but i don't really consider them possessions.
GOOD DRIVER? yeah, and blessed with an excellent sense of cop-dar.
GOOD AT SPORTS? depends on the sport. if we're playing no-rules basketball, then i'll whoop your ass.
GOOD ACTOR/ACTRESS? yeah, more or less.
DEEP SLEEPER? usually. it's getting to sleep that's the problem.
SHY? i prefer to call it "reserved" and "observant" - or maybe you could just say that i really don't like people and don't have much desire to interact with them in the first place.
GOOD STORYTELLER? not really.

HAVE YOU EVER HAD...
STITCHES? no
BLOODY NOSE? yes
CANCER? not that i know of.
SURGERY? yeah, wisdom teeth, lasik, and tonsilectomy.
HOSPITALISED? no.
SOMEONE BESIDES YOUR FAMILY SAY THEY LOVE YOU? yeah.

DO YOU ENJOY PARKS? as long as it's not recockulously hot outside.
LIKE PICNICS? not really.
LIKE SCHOOL? no, but i like learning.
COLLECT ANYTHING? dust
LIKE TO SHOP? no, i pretty much have all the shit i need. don't need more stuff to take up space.
LIKE TO PARTY? yeah, most of the time.
GET IN TROUBLE A LOT? not anymore, i've gotten stealthy and ninjalike in my old age.
EAT A LIVE HAMSTER FOR A MILLION DOLLARS? maybe if it were a baby and i could swallow it whole.
GO TO A HANSON CONCERT IF YOU HAD A FREE TICKET? i don't think so, unless i was armed with a high-power sniper rifle.
GOT ANYTHING PIERCED? no
WHAT THREE THINGS WOULD YOU TAKE FROM YOUR ROOM IF YOU WERE STRANDED ON A DESERTED ISLAND? my cats (three of them)
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE MOTTO? yo muthafucka weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Date: 2003-07-21 19:09
Subject: kill the bunnies!
with any luck, sometime this week or next all the remodeling shit will be done on my house. i.e., new carpet, new paint, that kind of shit. and in the meantime, cory and i picked up a rather bizarre card game called "killer bunnies" - and we need more people to play it, because, well, with two players it's just not as fun as it could be.

basically, you collect bunnies and carrots, and then kill other people's rabbits, infest their cabbage with maggots, and unleash the ebola virus upon all players involved. and other cool stuff like that. http://www.killerbunnies.com for more info.

so if anyone out there is interested in getting together at our house to give this a shot sometime after all the chaos is done, reply here. oh yeah, and we're looking at ways to turn it into a drinking game, so perhaps by the time the game is over, everyone will be completely sloshed. =)

Date: 2003-07-22 15:16
Subject: fucking shit damn fuck fuckity fuck
go to turn on my desktop machine today so i can have access to the printer, and instead of that happy windows boot screen that i'm so frequently greeted with, i never quite make it out of text mode, and see this happy message:

ST318451LW - Start Unit: Command Refused

in other words, my C: drive has said "fuck off, you bastard, i don't feel like booting today. or ever again!" so after i get back from the gym i get to spend a some ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out if the drive really is fucked or not, and if it is, how to get seagate to replace it, since it should still be under warranty. so much for 1.2 million hours MTBF.

at least all the important stuff, like my documents, source code, and whatnot are on my fileserver, so this isn't really a catastrophic failure so much as a royal pain in the ass. but i'm thinking that perhaps it is a good warning that i ought to invest in some sort of high-capacity backup solution (like a dvd burner).
Mood: annoyed

Date: 2003-07-25 22:31
Subject: sushi goodness!
tonight i met up with psylence and we headed out to his favorite sushi place in gilbert - somewhere that i'd never been before. and, well, let me just say that kona grill, saki's, ra, sakana, and every other place i've eaten sushi at in the phoenix metro area cannot compare to the rice-covered goodness i had at this place. i do indeed believe that i've found a new sushi restaurant, so all of you raw-fish eaters out there are going to have to join me one of these nights for an evening at sekai.

and the best part, for people on a budget? it's not that expensive. sushi generally isn't cheap regardless of where you go, but the bill for garrett and i was only $50, and we packed away a pretty sizeable amount (although probably not as much as nichiyume and i tried to eat last night at sakana).

_purpleglitter_ and i are heading out to san diego tomorrow to escape that bloody fireball in the sky and play in the ocean while avoiding being eaten by crabs. must burn some CDs for driving tonight. yeah, and do some laundry. woo!

Date: 2003-07-29 10:02
Subject: miscellaneous tidbits...
didn't make it to san diego after all. but that's ok, i'm driving up to vegas with shaggy on thursday for DC 11. should provide ample opportunity for drunken mayhem, and take care of any wayward desire i might have to go on a roadtrip for the rest of the year. =/

so instead...

read a couple novels over the weekend (which is an extremely RARE thing for me to do - i used to read all the time when i was younger, but over the last few years i've rarely ever picked up a book that's not somehow related to work or school) - two books in two days. both, i'd say, could make it onto my recommended reading list.

book 1: "ender's game" by orson scott card. this was recommended to me about 12 years ago, but i never got around to reading it, even though it was always in the back of my mind when i went to the bookstore. i'm not really sure if i liked it or not - i'm leaning towards the negative, although i can appreciate the various levels of storytelling and thematic development. it is an INTERESTING book if you ignore certain somewhat unbelievable aspects of it. and it's only a couple hundred pages and is a pretty quick read.

neil gaiman's "american gods", on the other hand, is about 600 pages or so, and somewhat of a sloggy read. i think the reason i liked it is that it's based on a representation of an idea i've long maintained about the existence of deities and how they come about and from where they derive their power and such, but gaiman takes it much farther than i've ever bothered to. so for anyone who considers hirself even the slightest bit spiritually inclined, i'd say it's a good way to kill a few hours or more (depending on how fast you read). on the minus side, there're a lot of asides and little subchapters which don't, IMO, add as much to the book as the author might want you to believe. stormshadowsong, as much as you don't enjoy reading, i think you might like this one if you can get through the slogging.

cool link of the day: http://www.policyanalysismarket.org/

and in other news, the electricians are here right now installing the new ceiling fans and the lighting in the kitchen, tomorrow the carpet, and soon the whole bloody mess will be finished. woohoo!
Music: Three Drives - Sunset on Ibiza (Original Mix)

Time: 20:17
Subject: monsoon!
there's some fuckin' violent shit goin' on outside. hell yeah!

Date: 2003-07-31 22:36
Subject: defcon update #1
well, not really, since the con hasn't officially started, but yeah, anyway... shaggy and i made a noneventful trek up here, got checked in after a bit of hassle at the front desk, and picked up our badges. wandered around a bit, looking for people we might know, but since we both know so few people, that turned out to be a fruitless endeavor. interesting thing about conventions like this - everyone looks the same. they're all a bunch of either a: overweight or b: scrawny long-haired, poor-hygiened dudes with some sort of facial hair that just doesn't seem to belong. ok, so maybe i'm being a bit harsh, but i couldn't help but notice the amazing similarities across the various groups of people we saw. oh yeah, and let's not forget the "i'm doing anything i possibly can to show that i'm different even though i'm really not" crowd, whether it be the girl with the green hair, the fat dude with the mohawk, or whatever.

yeah, so it sounds like i'm already pissed off or bitter or one of those usual ravyn-type emotions, but actually that isn't the case. more than anything, i'm finding that being here is inspiring. inspiring to do what, i'm not really sure, but it's the usual sort of "there's a lot of cool shit out there that i ought to be doing" kind of thing. i dunno if that's a good way to explain it or not - it makes sense in my mind, in any case. so that's about it for now - i'm on a shit-ass dialup connection because it's the only thing i've got that can get me online - hopefully the wireless will be up tomorrow and it'll be a bit less painful to update and/or do anything. if anyone needs to get ahold of me, call my cell phone, as i probably won't be checking too much email until i get back.

Hmm, lots of bitching this month. The heat will do that to people.