Wednesday, March 27, 2002

I have been recently informed that at least one person actually reads my blog, so I had probably write something here.

Yes, Mistress and I continue to be engaged, and it is entirely possible that our wedding date will be set for January 11, 2003. This means that we had better get to planning.

On that note, we had a lengthy discussion last night of exactly who plans what for a wedding. I have been, and still am, under the impression that Mistress and I mention things to Mistress's waiting cadre of Drooling Wedding Planners (Mistress's mother, my mother, and Mistress's sister-in-law), who then immediately spring into action and go shopping, make phone calls, arrange mob hits, and whatever else is supposed to happen to make a wedding go off. We sit in our glass abode and point-and-click between the choices they present us.

Mistress, on the other hand, seems to think that *I* actually have do something besides provide oversight and approval. We'll see.

In the absence of PostIt notes, I have regressed to scribbling on torn scraps of paper. My desk looks like a refugee camp.

To my left is a Cisco model 7940 IP phone. It's pretty cool--we're completely VoIP in the building to which I'm semi-permanently attached. Yes, it finally happened--my rarely-visited desk has been taken away from me and I have become a permanently floating employee, to forever roam between the Houston buildings, serving where I am needed. Whoopie-doo.

A side effect of VoIP is that when the network dies, so do the phones. This has not happened yet, but as far as I'm concerned, the longer we stay up, the more likely a crash.

I like my current desk. I have one of these on my current desk. I like it.

A fellow IT slave named LiquidMetal let me know that he feels the same as I do about bars and social establishments--good call, dude. I prefer to drink alone, anyway.

Posted by Keeper @ 01:42 PM CST [Link]

Saturday, March 23, 2002

I heard this a while ago, but then I heard that it wasn't true. Now it's cropping up again.

Many people are bashing the guy, but, I mean, come on--if I could piss away twenty million dollars, this is definitely how I'd do it.

I still can't believe I'm engaged. It feels...odd, and wonderful at the same time.

Posted by Keeper @ 03:57 PM CST [Link]

Wednesday, March 20, 2002

/me is engaged!

For more info, go here!

I promise a longer post later. Late for church. Must run.

Posted by Keeper @ 05:40 PM CST [Link]

Thursday, March 14, 2002

Everyone--and I mean EVERYONE--who reads this blog should IMMEDIATELY point their browsers to The DigitalConsumer.org Home Page. DigitalConsumer.org is a group seeking to craft a "Consumer's Technology Bill of Rights", to protect consumers and swing the balance of copyright back to where it is supposed to be.

If you read no other web site this DECADE, read their FAQ page. And use their handy form to fax your congresscritter.

(Link snarfed from Slashdot)

Posted by Keeper @ 03:19 PM CST [Link]

Wednesday, March 13, 2002

...when Keeper struck me down I only became more powerful than he could possibly imagine. Now I have access to the blog. I AM THE BLOG COMMANDER!!!!! All of you will bow down before me and grovel or I shall....what is that? The voices suggest calm. They encourage warm fuzzies and say I should beware the cold pricklies. The voices preach patience...we shall have our day.

Oh, and hello again to everyone. I jumped into the forums awhile ago, but fell right through the bottom and haven't posted since. I hope I didn't alarm anyone, going missing like that. Who'm I kidding, nobody probably even noticed my shreiking passage through the noxious cloud that is the Chronicles forum. I should go read through the older threads and get to know everybody before I start in with my inane carryings on.

Posted by massurah @ 06:20 PM CST [Link]

Mistress went with an engaged friend of hers to a bridal store today and immediately became entranced with veils and wedding accoutriments. My time draws near, for certain. I thought it was cute that she was so interested, and it certainly made me feel fuzzy.

I love her so much. Marriage is rapidly approaching, and I find myself welcoming it with open arms. Signal9 enjoys marriage, and I believe that I will, too.

Roommate is standing over my shoulder peering at the screen. He is attempting to distract me by performing a very plausible immitation of a zombie creature from Diablo II. Little does he know that I am equipped with a +16 Mystic Naginata of Eternal Percing and Utter Obliteration, along with a pointed stick.

Ha ha. I stab him.

Posted by Keeper @ 03:53 PM CST [Link]

Sunday, March 10, 2002

Last night, Mistress (Laura, my girlfriend) and I went out to a club kind of thing with a friend of Mistress and the friend's boyfriend. Before we went out, we met at Friend's apartment and had a few drinks (only one small one for me, the Permanent Designated Driver). We sat around and talked, the four of us, and I came to realize that Friend's boyfriend and I worked for Convergys at the same time. I don't remember him, nor does he remember me, but we more than likely had contact back then. Wiggy.

After talking for about an hour, we then went "out". We drove from Friend's apartment to a club in Rice Village called The Bronx, and there we...sat and talked for three more hours. There were two primary differences between The Bronx and Friend's apartment:

1) There was much loud music at The Bronx and we had to shout to be heard
2) There was much more alcohol at The Bronx

The place was tastefully decorated with New York memoriabilia and many comfortable green leather sofas. Since it wasn't packed when we arrived, we quickly staked out one of the sofas and hung out while the place filled. Over the course of the next three hours, I got to watch as Friend got progressively more and more shitfaced and I got progressively more and more hoarse from having to yell to be heard.

Perhaps there's something wrong with me, but I just don't enjoy "going out," as everyone seems to call it. Mistress and I have been out to a number of clubs before (for you Houstonians, I've hit Fitzgerald's and Sherlock's many times), and I am...totally unimpressed with what is apparently a major weekend activity for tons of people.

"Yay! Let's go out and get drunk and dance around! Whooptie-shit!" I fail to see anything fun about going to a club. I'm much more comfortable drinking in private, by myself or with Mistress and a few friends. There's no shitty loud music in my apartment (except for roommate's; right now, he's blasting ICP's "Dead Body Man" from his room). There's no cavorting crowd of strangers. I suppose I hate that the most--the other people. I can't stand most people ANYWAY--being in a room full of drunken idiots only makes me nervous and anxious to leave.

So, I had a fair time last night, because of the conversation and because Mistress was there. But I have to ask--if the point of the evening was to talk and have fun, why did we ever leave Friend's apartment? It was much nicer and quieter there.

Posted by Keeper @ 03:24 PM CST [Link]

Friday, March 8, 2002

Progress Quest is the coolest game ever. Everyone should IMMEDIATELY begin playing it. It now has a shortcut in my startup folder, and I will play it until the day I die.

Visit the web site. Download the executable. Play. PLAY FOREVER!

Posted by Keeper @ 05:42 PM CST [Link]

I received a little instant-award kind of thing for my participation in an emergency project. At my current place of employment, little instant-award kinds of things are redeemable for little knick-nack prizes--pens, little radios, pocket organizers, that kind of thing. I chose for my instant-award a cool blue light-up pen, rather like the ones we had at the George job.

The pen is battery powered and emits a nifty blue glow when the top is clicked. As I was removing the pen from its packaging, the nice executive assistant lady in charge of dispensing awards told me, "There's a little cover on the batteries. You'll have to take the pen apart to get it out. Let me show you..."

As she was speaking, I noticed the tag that read "UNSCREW HERE TO REMOVE BATTERY COVER BEFORE FIRST USE." By the time she finished saying "Let me show you...", I'd popped the pen apart and was removing the battery cover. She smiled and with wide eyes, said, "Wow, you were pretty quick with that. I have to show most people how to do it."

The words bloomed large in my mind, and I ALMOST said them: "It's all right, ma'am. I'm from I.T. I'm used to reading the manual for other people, so it's not a problem when I have to do it myself."

Fortunately, I did not say this. I merely smiled and thanked her for her help.

Posted by Keeper @ 02:40 PM CST [Link]

Thursday, March 7, 2002

Yes, well, I seriously ought to put something here. My poor, neglected blog.

The Chronicles forums are really clicking on all cylinders. Posting is high, and we're collecting a great set of regulars. New participants are welcome, so if you've not stopped by, please do so. Runaway threads are the norm.

There are so many things to bitch about--Michael Greene's Grammy speech, the SSSCA wending its way through Congress, Afghanistan...but I believe that, instead, I want to talk about the WIPP.

WIPP stands for Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, and the linked page is enlightening, frightening, amazing, and creepy all at the same time. WIPP is being designed to store nuclear waste for one hundred centuries. The task is far more complicated than might be suggested at first glance--one of the largest barriers WIPP must overcome is the inevitable shift of language across ten thousand years. The thought of distant ancestors of ours living in a Mad Max-like world coming across a monstrous wall of jagged, forbidding rocks and encountering carved images of revulsion and disgust makes me feel small and afraid, because time is a humbling thing.

I hereby promise to update regularly.

Posted by Keeper @ 09:14 PM CST [Link]