http://albatross.org/ ]]> en-us 2010-03-01T21:05:05-06:00 http://albatross.org/journal/archives/002232.html I have managed to get through a full day of work with no complaints. Life is good. The &@!*& I was freaking out over last week? No longer there! First thing I checked when I opened up Outlook. Gone, gone gone gone. *whew* Now if I get canned, it's all my own fault! My boss? Great. Coworker? Patiently showing me exactly what I need to do. Great! I've managed to go a whole day and actually like my job. Yay! So, okay, we've got a snapshot of Day 1 at work, as I happily stroll from desk to conference room... Work Albatross 2010-03-01T21:05:05-06:00 http://albatross.org/journal/archives/002230.html Okay, taxes done, blog updated, FAFSA finished, bus pass considered, bathroom cleaned, desktop organized, faucet replaced, post office box checked, sidewalk salted, next week's paper drafted, laundry done, homework finished, parent teacher conference attended, maps printed, class attended and job lined up for Monday. All that's left is write the Foundation website, update my academic evaluation, build a new Ubuntu server, and pack for this weekend's trip, and I'll be ready to relax! So yes, I have a job, starting downtown on Monday at a good corporate gig at a good rate that, if I can avoid screwing up and... Personal Albatross 2010-02-25T23:15:40-06:00 http://albatross.org/journal/archives/002227.html I was bored... okay, I wasn't REALLY bored, I was actually procrastinating over a paper... and I decided to make up a list of all the ways that the World As We Know It could come to an end. Here's what I've come up with so far... 1) Secession/breakup of U.S. I remain convinced a lot of America's aristocracy look with envy upon the collapse of the Soviet Union. Sarah Palin and Rick Perry would prefer, I think, to be the hegemons of their own countries than to be small fish in a big empire. And corporations, which are replacing... Politics Albatross 2010-02-23T14:06:57-06:00 http://albatross.org/journal/archives/002223.html Okay, so I'm hoping to get work tomorrow. Interviews have gone well so far. Also I have a big assignment that I am hoping to draft tomorrow. If I can get a first draft tomorrow I'll be on track for the Thursday due date. It's just as well I'm getting work now. No, no, not FINANCIALLY. I'm independently wealthy and I only work for the fun of it - I use the cash to light cigars, which I roll out of cash. No, it's a good thing if I get work right now, because I've jammed my non-work schedule so... Work Albatross 2010-02-15T23:49:36-06:00 http://albatross.org/journal/archives/002221.html Seeing as I apparently don't blog any OTHER time, it's arguable that I am indeed blogging for my troll. Ah, but these days and weeks when I'm between jobs all start to fade into each other to the point where I look in my sock drawer, and they're all gone, and I look in my laundry hamper, and there they are all worn and I don't remember the intervening couple of weeks going by. So I have Chet to thank for reminding me to get on here and post something! Thanks Chet! But really, what's to blog? I wake, and... Personal Albatross 2010-02-11T22:03:16-06:00 http://albatross.org/journal/archives/002214.html A helpful troll came by tonight - probably on the heels of a comment I made on the Huffington Post - to remind me that my blog is out here and awaiting further entries. I'm still without work, although I have mentally moved from "on the shelf" to "unemployed," although there is still an outside chance that I'll get called back to the last workplace. Meanwhile I'm working on some other possibilities and trying to maintain a positive attitude, despite being called some kind of loser by a very cool, very suave fellow who posted with a fake AOL e-mail... Personal Albatross 2010-01-19T22:43:34-06:00 http://albatross.org/journal/archives/002209.html I think Mark McGwire is a good role model to today's youth. He demonstrates that when you do something wrong, and when it's painfully obvious to everyone involved that you ARE doing something wrong, and when everyone tries to pretend you're NOT doing something wrong, and when you even testify before Congress that you're not doing something wrong, and when you make huge profits from doing something wrong even though everyone is pretending you're not doing something wrong AND pretending they don't know that you're lying about it, well when it becomes safe to do so, and when your brother... Quick Albatross 2010-01-11T18:14:48-06:00 http://albatross.org/journal/archives/002205.html Not for the first time, I copy a comment from a discussion thread as a blog post. In this case it's not MERELY laziness, but also the fact that I've posted this comment over and over again and I thought it was about time I consolidated it here on my own blog to refer back to later. The issue is that I repeatedly read posts complaining that the news "isn't doing its job" or somesuch nonsense. Some "respectable" news agency (that is to say, nobody expects anything of Fox) posts some biased and/or incorrect information, and everybody screams Oh How... Politics Albatross 2010-01-06T20:55:59-06:00 http://albatross.org/journal/archives/002202.html So I'm "on the shelf" right now. I was brought into this contract with the promise (and the rate reduction) that this was a two year opportunity, only to discover that, well, yeah, it COULD be two years, but FIRST they had to sell the client Board on their proposal to completely rewrite the client software.The client hasn't signed, and the prior contract expired, so here I am at home. On the other hand I have a paper to write by next Friday, so what the hell. I'm working on that. I'm also trying to get to the gym, but... Work Albatross 2010-01-04T10:07:27-06:00 http://albatross.org/journal/archives/002201.html Well here it is, the Tenth Anniversary of my blog. There are a lot of hard-to-believes out of all of this. It's hard to believe that I've been blogging (admittedly on-and-off) for ten years. The think I've learned most of all from blogging is that I forget A LOT of what goes on in my life. Some of my blog entries, even entries that aren't all that old, describe situations about which I can summon no recollection whatsoever. I mean, sometimes I can grasp the hint of a gestalt from those times, something that says "Oh, yeah, I remember I... Holiday Albatross 2010-01-03T12:04:50-06:00 http://albatross.org/journal/archives/002198.html Today's story was inspired by the cards "An old man," "A classified or personal's ad," and "In the dark." Remember by continuing you're agreeing to read but not copy or transmit the following story. Just enjoy!... Writing Albatross 2009-12-15T21:23:41-06:00 http://albatross.org/journal/archives/002190.html In preparation for the Tenth Anniversary of my blog, I'm preparing to do a little housecleaning. Yes, it's been TEN YEARS of blogging here at the Aerie, which would be impressive except that there are people like Asia Carrera (first entry in the Wayback Machine is 3/5/1997 and unsurprisingly NSFW) and James Lileks (12/4/1998 and unsurprisingly SFW) whose blogs are in driver's training class. Both of them have blogs so ancient that the Wayback Machine can't even go back to their beginnings: I hope that they have archived their own early postings for posterity. Okay, I'm SURE Lileks has them... Personal Albatross 2009-11-30T10:22:44-06:00 http://albatross.org/journal/archives/002180.html You can tell Ihave homework to do when alluvasudden I start blogging. Today I have a homework assignment to complete, then I have to start working, hard, on next week's huge 30-point homework project (the final is worth 20 points). Also I have my Mitlanyal paper that I should be much farther along on. So of course I'm blogging. Sitting here at the Brueggers in Eagan where I go with Theresa on Wednesday mornings. She goes off to a class at the Aslan Institute and I sit here and try to make myself work on homework. And end up browsing... Funny Albatross 2009-11-04T09:52:41-06:00 http://albatross.org/journal/archives/002179.html How's it going? So it's been a while, but I figure if I ever want my son to blog again, I'd best start setting an example by returning to the scene of my crimes. Still unemployed on this the eight-weekly-versary of losing my prior abysmal contract (and that one at half time for the final three weeks). I'd better enjoy myself, because I'm going to soon be spending what little retirement money I have. September, which is normally the time when contracts are coming in best, was absolutely dead. One of my job websites posts a "previous month" summary, and... Funny Albatross 2009-10-27T16:56:48-06:00 http://albatross.org/journal/archives/002173.html Did a writing exercise tonight, the first free writing I've done despite being out of work for a month. You'd think I could get more done, but classwork and job hunting eat up my time. For those of you who don't know, and why should you, my wife (the actual writer in the family) made three big piles of cards: Characters, Places, and Stories. The exercise is to pick one card at random from each pile and write whatever story comes to mind inside of half an hour. Tonight I got "The Belle of the Ball," "A Phone Booth," and... Writing Albatross 2009-09-30T22:30:43-06:00