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Thursday, July 20, 2006

On the Move

Well, the apartment hunt is over, so all that’s left now is to actually move into my new place.  I got a warm-up for this when our office moved over the weekend, from our temporary space into our new permanent office (where I am coming to you now, live from my cubicle, Dear Reader).  I used to be an old hand at moving (in the ten years I lived in Bellingham, I moved no less than 13 times), but I’m a bit out of practice these days.  I also have way more stuff than I used to have.  It’s amazing how it all piles up after ten years.

Phase One, of course, is physically packing up everything I’m keeping, and tossing out that which I do not wish to keep.  In a lot of cases, what’s making the “don’t wish to keep” pile could just as easily be called “too much of a pain in the ass to move.”  As a result, the closets at my new apartment, which I was so excited about, are going to be largely empty when I move in.  But never fear, I’m sure I can fill them up pretty quickly.

Buster has been helping me out with the packing.  Can you spot the kitty in this picture?

Phase Two is less physically demanding, but no less frustrating, and that’s making sure all of my utilities are hooked up at the new place, and that everything at the old apartment gets disconnected and billed out properly.  This fun phase of the move involves many phone calls to 800 numbers and many conversations with disinterested minimum-wage customer service reps, and my favorite trial of all—navigating the 800 number voice mail menu.  Through my job I have become pretty adept at clicking through these menus, but the ones I hate, with the fiery passion of ten thousand white-hot suns, are the voice-activated menus.

Have you spoken to these humanoid-esque computer programs?  The one I hate the most is named “Max” and works for Sony; if you have ever contacted Sony tech support you know Max already and you don’t need me to tell you that he is right bastard.  AT&T (formerly SBC, formerly Pacific Bell, formerly… AT&T, oddly enough) has one of these voice-activated asshole computers answering their phones now and I hate him.  Here is a transcript of our recent conversation:

VOICE OF COMPUTER:  Welcome to AT&T Customer Service!  All right, to get started, please say or enter the telephone number you are calling about.
ME:  (silently taps in numbers on dial pad)
VOICE OF COMPUTER:  Thanks.  I’ll just look that up.
ME:  Take your time.
VOICE OF COMPUTER:  Okay.  In a few words, I need to know why you’re calling today.  You can say things like “tech support” or “billing.”
ME:  Billing.
VOICE OF COMPUTER:  Sorry.  I didn’t understand what you said.
ME:  I said BILLING.
VOICE OF COMPUTER:  All right, tech support.
ME:  No!  Billing!  BILL - LING.
VOICE OF COMPUTER:  Sorry.  I didn’t understand what you said.
ME:  BILLING!
VOICE OF COMPUTER:  I’m sorry, I still can’t—
ME:  BILLING!  BILLING, YOU ASSHOLE, BILLING!!
VOICE OF COMPUTER:  Sorry.  I—
ME:  FUCK YOU!  DO YOU UNDERSTAND FUCK YOU?  (Repeatedly dialing 0 button)
VOICE OF COMPUTER:  All right.  In order to transfer you to an agent, I need to know why you’re calling today.  You can say “tech support,” or “billing”—
ME:  BILLING!  BILLING!  BILLING!
VOICE OF COMPUTER:  I’m sorry, I didn’t understand—
ME:  FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!  (punching 0 button repeatedly)
VOICE OF COMPUTER:  I’m sorry I wasn’t able to help you.  I’ll transfer your call to the next available agent.  Please be aware that your call may be monitored for quality and training—
ME:  MONITOR THIS, COCKSLAP!
VOICE OF COMPUTER:  Did you just call me a cockslap?
ME:  OPERATOR!

And so on until I finally get a human on the phone, whereupon the first thing out of my mouth is “You guys have GOT to get rid of that voice-activated system.”  Every disinterested CSR I have ever spoken to, at Sony or at AT&T or at Comcast or anywhere else these hideous voice-activated systems are in place, tells me that I am not the first to complain about them—everyone hates them.  Everyone I have ever spoken to hates them.  So my question is—who likes them?  Why are they in place?  And why are more companies using them now?  What was wrong with “for tech support, press 2”?  I liked that system.  I didn’t get nearly as hoarse using that system.

Phase Three is the Change of Address phase.  I’ve already filled out my form with the post office, so now it’s a matter of going online for my bank, credit card people, insurance people, Netflix, Amazon.com, student loan company, and everyone else I can think of and notifying them of my new and exciting locale.

The final phase is the actual move, the loading up of boxes and furniture and clothing and transporting it from one place to another.  And then the cleanup of the old place.  If the years have not brought me patience, at least they have brought me some common sense, so this time around I am contracting out the move and the cleanup.  It may cost me some dollars, but it will save me some sense.  Ouch.  I can’t believe you let me type that, Dear Reader.  Do you have no respect for me, or for yourself for that matter?  Puns kill.

Anyway—starting this weekend blogging may be sparse until the new DSL is hooked up, which means there may not be any Daily Trivia next week.  If you get bored, you can always go back and re-answer old questions.  Or you can always come out and help me move.

Or, you can go listen to the Hucklebug—new episode is online for your enjoyment (or not) right now.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

On the Street Where I Live

Okay, people, gather round, here’s pictures of the new apartment!

First, here is a shot of the street and surrounding neighborhood.  There’s an elementary school right across the street from me.  Which could get on my nerves from time to time, to be honest, except that I’ll be at work when they’re at school anyway.

Exterior of the building—it’s actually the one a little further away from the camera.  Two identical little buildings right next to each other.

And there’s the pool!  The very tiny pool.  The identical building next door has an identical tiny pool.

Look, a tiny garden outside my front door!  With little ceramic bunnies!  I’m going to hide Easter eggs here come Easter.

And look, here’s the inside.  This is the living room.  Let me take you on a tour.  Ignore the carpet, they haven’t cleaned it yet.  And they’re painting, so there’s no fixtures on any of the closet doors and so forth.

Here’s a shot of the dining room and the kitchen.  Ceiling fan, symbol of death.  As you can see, there’s a little bar area outside the kitchen where I can put barstools, and people can sit and drink brewskis while they watch me cook.  Like they often do.

Here’s another angle on the kitchen—look, separate oven and stove!  I’ve never had that before.  Both are electric, unfortunately.

And here’s the bedroom.  Tough to get a good angle on it, so it looks tiny, but it’s actually pretty big.  Huge closet, too, with mirrored doors as you can see.  And another ceiling fan!

When next you see pictures of my apartment, I will be all moved in.  Hurrah!

This blog entry brought to you by The Hucklebug, the new episode of which is online for your streaming, dowloading, and/or podcasting listening pleasure.  Tune in and enjoy!  Don’t forget to leave us a comment, we love comments.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Return of the Blogger

All right, I know, I know—I’m a horrible person for not blogging since I returned from Vegas.  I’m so terribly sorry, Dear Reader.  Forgive me, won’t you?  Would it make you feel better if I threw myself in front of a bus?  I’ll throw myself in front of a bus, how would that be?

I’m almost 100% consumed with my apartment search right now.  It’s stressing me out Big Time, in fact.  I have already given notice to my current landlords and have to be out of my apartment by July 25th.  I really should be planning for the movers, and filling out my change of address forms—problem is, I don’t have any place to LIVE YET.  And I’m worried that my poor credit is going to hinder my ability to find a place—everywhere I look, the notes say “Good credit required,” “Excellent credit a must,” and “Don’t even think of applying here, Stennie.”

So I’ve been all antsy about the move and the apartment hunt, and that’s kept me from blogging.  I know it doesn’t make sense, but just go with me on this.

And the good news is, the stress and angst is OVER because I’ve got a new home!!  Just heard from my new landlord a little while ago, and it turns out that the good reference from my landlord trumps my troubled credit history.  I move in on July 22nd—not a moment too soon.  I don’t have many pictures yet, but here’s the outside of the building:

Yay!  Highlight of the week!

So anyway—Las Vegas was great, as it always is.  Lots of gambling (losing in my case), drinking, singing Brady Bunch songs in the restroom, puking in the pool—the usual.  No, I swear—that wasn’t us who puked in the pool.  We weren’t even *in* the pool when that happened.

Anyway—a couple of pictures follow.  But first, an anecdote of sorts.  Every year in Vegas, Flipsy & Krizzer and I bring little gifties for one another (and this year we were joined by Amy, and she joined in the gift-giving and receiving as well).  This tradition started because the first year we went, it was within days of Krizzer’s birthday, so we threw a little “surprise party” for her in the room.

So—this year Krizzer brought us all anklets, which she made with her own two hands.  And I have to tell you something, Dear Reader.  You cannot help but feel a little bit sexy when you wear an anklet.  You cannot help but feel as though you are channeling, just a tiny bit, Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity.  I have only taken mine off to sleep and shower since I got it.

There it is.  Sexy, no?  You can’t deny it!  I dare you to deny it!

Here’s the other Vegas Vixens—left to right, that’s Flipsy, Krizzer, and Amy.

And just for grins, here’s the picture I was most satisfied with from the whole Vegas trip—the Bellagio at night, in between fountain shows.

Normal blogging has resumed and will continue to resume.  And soon, pictures of my new apartment!

Monday, June 19, 2006

Worth a thousand words

I’ve been going through some of the files on my laptop this evening, and I’ve got all these pictures stored in my blog folder that I intended, at one time or another, to post here to the ol’ blog.  But I seem to have never gotten around to them for some reason.  Some of them I remember, and others, not so much.

For example, here is a picture of Johnny Cash flipping the bird.  I know I meant to say something about this picture a long while ago, but then… I don’t know, I just never did.  Great picture, though, huh?

Here is a Norfolk Terrier, which I think won some dog show or another in the last year or so.  He’s a little cutie pie, isn’t he?

I remember this one—I took this picture in the parking lot at work when there were some fires raging nearby.  It may look like a sunset, but the picture was actually taken around 4 o’clock in the afternoon—that darkness is smoke.  The orange spot is not the fire, but the sunlight peeking through a break in the clouds of smoke.

And then, in the movie blog folder, I’ve got some alternate move posters and a few random shots that I didn’t end up using in the blog, including:

...this alternate image from the film The Big Heat.  And one of my favorites:

The many moods of Antoine Doinel—the pencil drawing with the turtleneck is from The 400 Blows, to the right is Antoine circa Antoine et Colette, and in the front is Antoine around the time of Bed and Board, I think.  The actor is Jean-Pierre Leaud, for those who don’t know.

And this is a rather smoldering picture of Charles Boyer.  Just because.  You never know when you’re going to need one.

Then I’ve got this sock monkey:

I don’t remember ever using this in the blog before, but apparently I’ve uploaded the image to the site before, so I surely intended to.  Can anyone remember me using it before, and for what purpose?  Sometimes I see movies that are so old, I can’t even find a movie poster for it.  I’m thinking of substituting the sock monkey picture in that case from now on.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Does this cat look depressed to you?

Here we see Boo in an uncharacteristically relaxed pose—sleeping on his back, tummy exposed.  Usually he sleeps in the fetal position, tail tucked tightly around his nose.  But a few weekends ago I caught him snoozing in the afternoon sun, dreaming peacefully.  It was so out of character for him, to be relaxed and happy enough that he would expose his belly.  That’s something cats only do when they are feeling very secure and contented, and Boo never seems to feel secure and contented.

Boo’s been peeing on the floor a lot lately.  It started a month or so ago, and I’ve done just about everything I can think of to curtail this new habit—new litter, new box, scooping the box daily and sometimes twice daily, offering him extra treats when he does it right.  Nothing worked.  On the rare occasion I catch him in the act, I merely have to say “hey” rather sharply to him and it’s enough to make him turn tail and bolt for the bedroom.

His fear of the kitchen has grown in the last several months, to the point where if I come within two feet of the entrance while he’s in there eating, he will bolt for the bedroom, often without remembering to chew the food that’s in his mouth.  That may sound more like a fear of ME than a fear of the kitchen, but he only behaves that way when he’s in the kitchen—if I walk by him in the living room, he’s cool.

So, pursuant to the peeing and the freaking out, I took him to the vet yesterday.  I have read that cats who stop using the litterbox often have urinary tract infections, so I thought we could just get him on some meds and straighten him out once and for all.  They did a full checkup on him and good news—he has no physical medical problems at all—clean bill of health.  So that’s good news.

But clearly there are some behavioral issues going on here.  Normal cats don’t just start peeing on the floor after a year of using the box like a good kitty.  Normal cats don’t flee the kitchen every time someone walks by the doorway.  Normal cats *purr*, which is something Boo doesn’t do much of.

So the vet decided to put Boo on some medication to settle his nerves a little.  The medication?  Prozac.  Prozac, Dear Reader.  My cat is now on Prozac.

Last night he had his first dosage, and I admit he did seem a bit more mellow overnight and into this morning.  But I suspect he was just pleased to be home after spending all day at the doctor’s office.  I’m sure it’s too soon to see the results of the medication already.  Time will tell.

Oh, and another thing!  I actually had to go to a drugstore to get his prescription filled!  How crazy is that, going to the Rite-Aid to pick up my cat’s Prozac?  As if it’s not embarrassing enough at the vet’s office, where people kinda understand cats, now I have to go share my business with the pharmacist.

Side effects of Prozac include anxiety (the very thing we are trying to rid him of), weight loss, rash/itching, decrease in sexual drive (not sure how much more it can decrease—is it possible to have a negative sex drive?), weight gain (what?  weight loss and weight gain?), and suicidal thoughts.  So now I have to watch him around high windows and take the blade out of my razor every day when I leave for work.

As long as he goes back to using the litterbox, it will be worth it.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Happy Holidays, Y’All

Buster looks chagrined as he opens his present and discovers—it’s Boo!  “I’ve already got one of these,” he whines.  “And I didn’t like it very much the first time.”

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Proof is in the pudding

This week for my lunch, which I take to work every day, I am including Hunt’s Snack Pack pudding as my dessert.  Butterscotch pudding, to be exact, although I am of course a big fan of chocolate pudding as well.  Something about eating pudding makes me feel a little like a four-year-old, but it’s yummy so I don’t care.

Yesterday I had to break up a four-pack to put a pudding cup in my lunch bag, and as I did so, I had occasion to glance at the packaging.  You know, packaging people put all kinds of crazy things on boxes that most people never look at, but fortunately, Dear Reader, I have all the time in the world for minutiae (however you spell that—who has time to look up words?).

The packaging exclaims delightedly that my butterscotch pudding cups are Made with the Goodness of Non-Fat Milk, that they are a Wholesome Treat with No Preservatives, that they are a Delicious, Smooth & Creamy Snack or Dessert, and that I can Enjoy it Anywhere—Needs No Refrigeration (which makes the whole “made with non-fat milk” and “no preservatives” thing suspect, if you ask me).

But my favorite little slogan is right at the top, see if you can read this, it’s a little blurry:

“Tastes Like Somebody Loves You!”

I knew I was feeling a little more emotionally stable and happy this week, but I couldn’t put my finger on why.  Now I know.  Because my butterscotch pudding tastes like somebody loves me.  I don’t know who wrote that little bit of copy, but I hope they got a great big fat raise.

Friday, October 14, 2005

Phoning it in

One advantage of managing the company’s Verizon Wireless account is that I can take advantage of free phone upgrades.  I just got a new phone yesterday, it has a camera built in!  Not the best camera in the world, but I did manage to capture this photo of my favorite subject:

Hello, handsome!  You’re a good looking fellow, you know that?  This is a good boy!  This is a mother’s angel!

PS:  How do you like my penguin pants?  Admit it, you’re jealous of them!

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Tweaking

I knew that Buster hates when I play the guitar, but I didn’t know that he hated the guitar so much that he would stoop to tearing apart my Musician’s Friend catalogue before I’d even had a chance to browse it.  His message is pretty clear:  “You have enough guitar stuff in this house.  No more.  I know you were thinking about getting a ukelele, but you can forget it.  No harmonicas, either.  And you have enough picks.  Why can’t you just sit quietly?”

Today I have spent a lot of time tweaking the code in the new Stennieville design, resulting mostly in changes you can’t even see.  One thing I did figure out, though, is how to code the CSS properly so that I can post an image aligned alongside text.  Earlier this year I had a problem with this—it looked fine in my Firefox browser, but there was just an empty space where the picture should be in Internet Explorer.  All my pestering at the pMachine forums has finally paid off and as you can see above, I’ve got the problem all fixed.

Now, is anyone using Opera or Apple’s Safari browser still having problems?  Or can I forget about this one for a while?

I’m taking advantage of this over in the movie blog, too.  Entries will now include a movie poster (whenever I can find one, which ain’t easy for some of those near-forgotten B films) with the recap.

A couple more tweaks still to come when I have a little more energy to devote to it, but again—most of it will be stuff that takes me hours of cursing and banging on my keyboard and shaking my fists at the heavens, and that you guys probably won’t even notice all that much.  I’ve heard that some people had some problems posting comments, and I think I got that cleared up.  If you’re still having problems, click on that “contact me” link over in the left menu to send me an e-mail and let me know.

Monday, May 23, 2005

Building the perfect beast

Regular readers of Stennieville will recall me mentioning once or twice, or four or five times, my desire to build a computer.  I don’t know why this has been an on-again, off-again obsession for me, really, other than I just wanted to see if I could actually do it.

Well, I can.  And I did.

I will admit that I cheated a little bit.  It’s not an all-new computer made out of all new parts.  It’s sort of a hybrid of new and spare parts, and I put it all back in my old computer case which already had existing drives in it.  However, I did install those drives too, so for all intents and purposes, I have done all the work on this computer.  Here’s a “during” picture:

I don’t have Before and After photos, but they would look identical anyway.  Nice tablecloth, huh?  It’s Christmas in May!  Well, that’s the only tablecloth I have, and I didn’t want to scratch up my glass table top with computer parts.  Also, I did sustain one injury:

No pain, no gain, as they say.  The whole operation took about three hours total, although there was a long break in the middle for a shopping trip.  And I’m pleased to report that it all seems to be working fine, after some tweaking.  So now I finally have my desktop computer back, and I don’t know what I really need to use it for.  Any suggestions?  Right now it’s just storing all of my data (music files, mostly) because I don’t have room on the laptop.