So at about 4.45pm I got an email that there would be a companywide meeting tomorrow at 10am regarding our annual popularity contest.
At 4.50pm I got a frantic phone call from the same person asking if the final results were ready yet.
Well, no, considering there was still a small stack of outstanding paper ballots ... and then an actual human has to look them all over and merge the misspellings. [How many ways can you spell, eg, (e:strip)? Let's see: estrip, (e:strip), ((e:strip)), estrip.org, elmwoodstrip.org, elmwoodstrip.com, Elmwood Strip, and these are just legitimate spellings. If I had a dime for every ballot that said 'Niagra,' I would have several dimes.] Then multiply the confusion and incompetence by 150 awards and again by 1500 ballots.
So I said as far as I knew the raw tally wasn't even ready yet. At this point another individual said we need to know who won so we can sell ads to the winners, and we've only got a week to do it. And I said it doesn't change the fact it's not done. And she said, but we only have a week. And I said, it's still not done. What do you want me to do by 10am tomorrow? I am, after all, just the computer geek.
So they said, split it up and we'll each take a section home and bring them in tomorrow. And I said great, but I've already got plans, I've got to do taxes for me and (e:dragonlady7) , and by the time I was done splitting up the tally it was 5.30pm and everyone had gone home anyway. So it beats the Hell out of me what we're going to be doing tomorrow morning. Staring at the walls and yelling at each other I would imagine.
In somewhat nicer news, this was the first year I have ever actually made money on my taxes. I racked up a nice $7400 tuition bill at the beginning of the year and only got a job halfway through the year, so not only do I have little to no taxable income, but I sneaked in just under the wire for the earned income credit as well. [The EIC is a tax credit intended for those living in crushing poverty; it is only available if you made less than $11,500 all year. Unlike other tax credits, if your tax comes up negative after subtracting the EIC, the government will actually give you money. Jeez, poor people have it so easy. Well, except for that whole trying-to-pay-rent-utilities-groceries-transportation-clothing-and-health-care -on-less-than-$960-per-month thing.]
- Z
Zobar's Journal
My Podcast Link
04/17/2006 23:48 #37305
we call it 'organizational skills'Category: work
04/16/2006 09:35 #37304
IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN!!!Category: easter!!!
SPONGE CANDY AND BLACK JELLYBEANS FOR BREAKFAST!!! BLACK COFFEE SWEETENED WITH MOLTEN DARK CHOCOLATE-RASPBERRY CREAMS!!! IT CAN ONLY MEAN ONE THING!!! IT'S EASTER!!! AND I'M HIGH AS A KITE ON SUGAR AND CAFFEINE!!!
I THINK I'M GOING TO GO HOP ON THE VESPA NOW!!! MAYBE PUSH IT AROUND THE BLOCK A COUPLE TIMES!!!
HAPPY EASTER!!!
- Z!!!
I THINK I'M GOING TO GO HOP ON THE VESPA NOW!!! MAYBE PUSH IT AROUND THE BLOCK A COUPLE TIMES!!!
HAPPY EASTER!!!
- Z!!!
04/12/2006 20:09 #37303
cure for painCategory: music
somebody'd mentioned being a Morphine fan, so here you go: 'Bo's Veranda,' from the Get Shorty soundtrack.
I'm going to try to keep my journal music instrumental, since I often find vocals distracting, and I think pop instrumentals are an underrated niche.
- Z
I'm going to try to keep my journal music instrumental, since I often find vocals distracting, and I think pop instrumentals are an underrated niche.
- Z
twisted - 04/14/06 23:40
Re: pop instrumentals. I couldn't agree more. Thanks for the Morphine drip! In return, I'm posting an instrumental version of Tears for Fears "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." I don't know if there's an audience for this one here, but I find it addictive. Maybe it's the syncopation. Anyway, you may have heard it as the intro on the Dennis Miller show. My friend Steve digitized this from vinyl, so it's somewhat rare in this format. Gather ye iTunes while ye may...
TRACKING NUMBER: 0741234001144899416
(Oh Lord. Someone bounce me off "Latest Comments" before the RIAA finds me, haha.)
Re: pop instrumentals. I couldn't agree more. Thanks for the Morphine drip! In return, I'm posting an instrumental version of Tears for Fears "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." I don't know if there's an audience for this one here, but I find it addictive. Maybe it's the syncopation. Anyway, you may have heard it as the intro on the Dennis Miller show. My friend Steve digitized this from vinyl, so it's somewhat rare in this format. Gather ye iTunes while ye may...
TRACKING NUMBER: 0741234001144899416
(Oh Lord. Someone bounce me off "Latest Comments" before the RIAA finds me, haha.)
04/11/2006 20:15 #37302
wheelsCategory: roller skating
Last summer (e:dragonlady7) and I went to Dick's so she could pick up some work shoes. She spent an hour hemming and hawing over different kinds of sneakers. I immediately found a pair of low-top roller skates 
on clearance and spent the hour whizzing around the store. I did not purchase them, but I was close.
This evening we saw some kid at Anderson's with a pair of Heelys , which I had never seen before. The thing you've got to love about kids is they're always testing out innovative ways to break their necks.
I should just impulse-purchase both of them. For $100 I'd never have to walk again.
- Z
on clearance and spent the hour whizzing around the store. I did not purchase them, but I was close.This evening we saw some kid at Anderson's with a pair of Heelys
, which I had never seen before. The thing you've got to love about kids is they're always testing out innovative ways to break their necks.I should just impulse-purchase both of them. For $100 I'd never have to walk again.
- Z
paul - 04/11/06 20:49
The Heeleys only go up to size 9, that's why I asked. By the way did you get mey email about setting up reverse dns. It is pretty critcial because aol and a couple others are rejecting our emailw without out. According to the dns lookup I did, artvoice doesnt have reverse dns either. I think our upstream host whoever that is, needs to configure it on thier end.
The Heeleys only go up to size 9, that's why I asked. By the way did you get mey email about setting up reverse dns. It is pretty critcial because aol and a couple others are rejecting our emailw without out. According to the dns lookup I did, artvoice doesnt have reverse dns either. I think our upstream host whoever that is, needs to configure it on thier end.
paul - 04/11/06 20:33
Can you fit in a men's size 9?
Can you fit in a men's size 9?
04/10/2006 18:29 #37301
buffalo's geekiest restaurant guideCategory: food
For those of you without an iPod: if you have an Internet-enabled cell phone, our restaurant guide is in pre-beta and available by typing the usual link into your phone's web browser.
If the logo at the top of the screen is black-and-white on a solid orange background [XHTML-Mobile], you're good to go.
If the logo is black-and-white on a white background [WML], your phone is oldish and I haven't gotten to that part of the site yet.
And if the logo is black-and-white on a flowery orange background [XHTML], your cell phone would like to think it's a desktop.
In particular, if you have a super beefy mobile device [PocketPC, palmtop, &c.] I'd like to know which site you get [mobile/desktop] and which site you'd prefer to get.
- Z
If the logo at the top of the screen is black-and-white on a solid orange background [XHTML-Mobile], you're good to go.
If the logo is black-and-white on a white background [WML], your phone is oldish and I haven't gotten to that part of the site yet.
And if the logo is black-and-white on a flowery orange background [XHTML], your cell phone would like to think it's a desktop.
In particular, if you have a super beefy mobile device [PocketPC, palmtop, &c.] I'd like to know which site you get [mobile/desktop] and which site you'd prefer to get.
- Z
> that whole trying-to-pay-rent-utilities-groceries-transportation-clothing-and-health-care -on-less-than-$960-per-month thing
Yeah. That was awesome. It ruled. Let's not do that ever again.