Things I wanted to blog about if I hadn't been sleeping standing up at any given time in the past week.

This past week has been nuts. We've finally moved into our new office, so therefore my free time has been spent sleeping. Laying down, standing up, while driving, wherever. Blogging hasn't exactly been first on my mind. So here's what I ignored this week, intentionally or not.

1. 15th anniversary.

This week Kim and I celebrated 15 years of wedded bliss. You didn't miss much, I was at work. Kim did a nice post about it, short, but well written and full of meaning. I can't outdo what she wrote, so I simply direct you there and say ditto.

2. Kid heading off to Muskoka Woods

13 year old is off to Muskoka for his grade 8 year end trip. 4 days with 500 students at a resort built just for kids. Nice. My grade 8 trip was to Peche Island in the middle of the Detroit river for 2 days. Yippee. The only thing that made that trip worthwhile was the rumours of it being haunted by the ghost of Hiram Walker, who had a house on the island over 100 years ago. Kid's bus left at 5:30 this morning, or as we used to call it, 0:dark early. Sheesh.

3. Taliban resurgence.

The Taliban is moving into Bulan Province in Pakistan, only 60 miles from the capital. Why the hell can't these idiots be stopped? Why did the weak government in Pakistan make a deal with these obviously dangerous morons to control Swat Province? Why should we worry? BECAUSE PAKISTAN HAS NUKES. Worst case scenerio - The Taliban holds one of their now famous show trials in which people are convicted of showing a toe or listening to music and have their heads neatly removed and handed to a relative, (along with the bill for the work). Except it's Isreal, or Jordan, or some other secular middle eastern country. Boom. Think about it. The resurgence of the Taliban is the biggest threat to world peace since Hitler.

4. Kim's fundraising efforts

Kim is raising money for her trip to the Odyssey of the Mind finals in Iowa this May. Today she is working a car wash BBQ, while planning a pasta dinner. They spent yesterday canvassing businesses for support, and managed to grovel up some nice donations. More is needed. Please visit Kim and donate all your hard-earned money.

5. Windsor on strike

Right now in our fair city the following organizations are on strike;

Veteran Cab - the largest taxi company around; the issue is the company wanting to jack up lease fees to cover their shrinking bottom line. Problem - the drivers also have a shrinking bottom line, this demand would create slave labour. 320 out.

City of Windsor Outside workers - Garbage men, parks and rec, maintenance, et al. Demands are pension related. 400 out, and the city now stinks, but parking tickets are optional.

City of Windsor Inside workers - licensing, social services, day cares, engineering, et al. Demands are again, pension related. 1400 out.

Red Cross? Yeah, I was surprised to. I didn't read the story, so hey, my research sucks this morning, give me a break, it's early and I can't read yet.

6. The big Three

So the city is essentially shutting down. Add to that the contract negotiations between Chrysler and the CAW regarding concessions needed in order to achieve a deal to save the company, from the federal and provincial governments. Fiat is in there somewhere, standing in the wings to 'rescue' the ailing company. But this rescue won't be any more than a transfer of technology to help Chrysler build smaller, more fuel efficient cars. Funny, you'd think corporate espionage would have handled that issue a long time ago. If that's all Fiat is bringing to the table, why bother? If Chrysler really wanted to build smaller more efficient cars they would have already done it by now. The fact is the corporate management has never removed their collective heads from inside their collective asses to realize that building massive guzzlers is a bad idea. Want to fix the car companies? Fire everyone making six figures and replace them all with soccer moms. Chrysler minivans are built here in Windsor and the assembly plant employs around 5,000. Spinoff from that line is in the thousands of manufacturing jobs around the province, most of them here in Essex County. I don't care what Chrysler and Fiat agree to. I don't care if they build toasters, just as long as someone comes to some agreement that saves thousands from losing their homes and this city becoming even more of a ghost town than it already is. Whether or not you agree with unions, we need those jobs. Shut the fuck up, cut the budgets, make agreements, and keep this city working.

7. Crappy TV

Why do I bother paying for cable? I have over 180 channels, 50 of which are playing CSI or NCIS at any given time of the day. 50 more are only broadcasting reality TV shows which stink. Another 20 are news channels which are completely depressing, and a few are sports channels that play obscure crap only people lacking in teeth and brain cells would watch. The TV has been taken over the youngest, I'm now listening to Hannah Montana in the background. All day, every day. Shut the damn thing off already.

8. The weather.

Spring has finally hit. I'll end this tirade on a bright note. I sat on the porch this morning with my coffee and a smoke, reading the paper, as the sun came up. Birds were singing, no cars were running, all was right with the world. I actually smiled when I realized I was out of cat food (as Stanley was biting my leg), I had to walk to the store. A wonderful 15 minutes of peace, warm spring breezes, and peaceful contemplation. I hope it lasts. Today should be around 30 degrees. Nice and hot for Kim's car wash, they couldn't wish for a better day. Too bad I have to work today, my bike would be out already.

So there, I've caught up on the week. Hope you've enjoyed sharing my little grey cloud, it's been therapeutic for me. Now I don't have blogger guilt.

Have a wonderful day.

Sunday Stuff

It's a wonderful Sunday, short of the cold rain. Started off with the Shanghai Grand Prix - in the rain. Played a game, did some dishes, attended a friend's daughter's birthday party, and had a wonderful dinner lovingly prepared by Kim. Being that I'm at the end of my posteable items, here's a blast from the past. I completely forgot about this guy until a couple of weeks ago, now I can' get enough of him. I grew up watching him. Too bad he's left us a few years back, the world needs more comedians like him. I've linked one of his best sketches, but he's brilliant at simply sitting in front of an audience telling jokes. Enjoy.

Cheers.

We're moved in!

I started the server up in our new office today. 2 of 12 of us are moved in, the rest will follow in the next week. Now we just need phones! I've spent the entire day moving furniture and rewiring data connections. I'm frickin' tired, time for a nap.

Cheers.

We're moved in!

I started the server up in our new office today. 2 of 12 of us are moved in, the rest will follow in the next week. Now we just need phones! I've spent the entire day moving furniture and rewiring data connections. I'm frickin' tired, time for a nap.

Cheers.

The End

Tomorrow is the last day in my old office. On Wednesday I'm moving to brand new digs, and I can't tell you how much I'm salivating with anticipation. My own office, with nice carpeting, french glass doors, the works. A real kitchen with dishwasher and full fridge, board room with full AV system, security system, key card access, first class all the way. I even have a new desk!

Tomorrow is the last day I have to work in the kitchen.

For the past six years my office has been a cramped corner of the kitchen with the other two members of my design team. Our walls are piss yellow, full of holes and old chunks of tape from years of notes and calendars, the furniture is cast offs from the 'main office', it's hard cold tile floor is not only tasteless and ugly, its tasteless and ugly. The power supply is laughable - a couple of years ago a sales rep plugged a tea kettle in and three of my computers shut down. So without the bosses knowledge I had the landlord install new dedicated outlets in there just to support the computers. When we moved in here, there were three computers, now there are nine. Power is a bit of an issue. While the electrician was messing around in the wall the day he installed it all, he let out a yelp and out of the corner of my eye a bright flash immediately caught my attention. The bare wires inside the wall just three feet from my desk touched the steel studding and arced. Needless to say the electrician was not impressed. Neither was I.

No longer do I have to be privy to every meeting. The only common table in our cramped little paradise is in the kitchen, six feet from my desk. This morning I attended a sales meeting without the benefit of an invitation or even wanting to be there. It couldn't be helped.

No longer do I have to listen to every phone conversation in the building simultaneously. The walls are so thin that it can't be helped. Add to that the gregarious nature of some of my workmates, nothing is ever said in private. I fondly remember the day I closed the kitchen door just to be able to concentrate on something, only be be chastised for 'slamming' it. My simply action of trying to gain a slight bit of privacy was taken completely out of context. The person in question accused me of slamming the door. This person was not amused, and refused my explanation that I was simply trying to concentrate. The argument lasted hours. Kinda useless. No more.

No longer do I have the be the only route to the only bathroom. For six years nobody has done any business without me or my design team knowing about it.

Speaking of the bathroom, now that I'm leaving this shit hole I can finally fess up to something - the hole in the bathroom wall roughly the size and shape the door handle is indeed, my handy work. I never lied about it, I was simply never asked! I opened the door a little too violently one day. Back in the old army days, if someone knocked a hole in the wall they always signed their work. It was a mark of pride. Especially if the wall was brick. Yeah, it happened. There was always holes in the basement walls of the armoury circled and signed by the author, and of course, dated. After all these years, there are still some there. At our last reunion we took off looking for them, only to be escorted back to the mess by some annoyed security personel. I thought about signing my hole in the bathroom, but I thought better of it after I realized I'd probably get the bill for the repair. Who cares now!

When the former owner decided to bring his staff into the computer age he decided not to spend any money to accomplish this task. I was given the assignment of wiring the building to accommodate everyone's computers and data links. I was not allowed to do this with any level of professionalism. Hence bright blue and yellow ethernet wires hanging in the corner of every office, strategically duck tapes into the corner so as to appear slightly less noticeable. Still laughable that he deemed this 'professional'. The jackass was quite happy with it all. As long as it didn't cost him anything. All those wire terminated behind my desk to the main data trunk. Which is of course, just as laughable. Eight ethernet wires are bundled together in the corner, taped to the wall, and tie off at the router, modem and four dlink port expanders all tied in parallel to each other. All of this is mounted to a peg board, and shoved in behind my desk. It's a fucking mess. I shoved it behind my desk so I wouldn't have to stare at it all day. I tried hanging a poster in front of it at one point.

I also won't miss the shitty little fridge that measures 2 foot square. Just big enough for a TV dinner. If you're second in, your screwed. I won't miss the recycling guy wheeling the bin through my office once every two weeks. I won't miss the tied off pipe that sticks up out of the middle of the kitchen floor that I always trip on. I won't miss any of it.

But It won't be the same. I love my job, and am lucky to have one. We do have offices in worse condition than mine, cramped, old shoddy, falling apart. Of our five offices we are combining three into one. The remaining two are on the list for refit, but first, ours. Tomorrow I will pack my things, shut the server down, and pull the stuff off the walls I deem worthy of a new home. (The old Apple posters didn't make this cut). When I walk out of there at 5pm I will take one last look before what used to be my office becomes a storage room. With a smile on my face I will take my chair to the new office.

I may even sign the hole in the bathroom wall.

Cheers.