My So Called Life

::FLUSH::

/ Shane / 2 Comments

Recently my co-workers were giving a demo at a very large company, a fortune 500 company actually, and right in the middle of the demo the entire room heard a very audible very distinct ::FLUSH:: from someone who had dialed in on the conference line.

Obviously you try to be professional and not crack up during a demo, but seriously?? At a respectable place of business you can’t just wait until the demo is over, or at least figure out how to mute your phone? And, let’s be honest, as cool as our product is I think you can stand to miss the demo if you have some sort of bathroom emergency!

That reminds me of a funny story actually. When I lived in the dorms at college, we had a shared bathroom obviously. One time I was minding my own business in my stall when the guy sitting in the stall next to me says, “Hey!” I paused for a little bit marveling over this ridiculous breach of bathroom protocol and I say, “Hey.” I didn’t think I knew him but I wasn’t sure if maybe he was a guy from down the hall or something. Then he says, “What’s going on?” and I reply, “Uhh…nothing.” Given the story above, you can probably see where this is going, but I quickly realize he is not talking to me at all, he is actually on the phone. I felt pretty foolish so I decided to get out of there fast so he wouldn’t see who I was. And I got a little bit of revenge too when I flushed my toilet and I heard him say, “No, no I’m not in the bathroom!  I’m in my room!”

But still, at least he wasn’t attending a software demo. I wonder if it could have been the same guy, all grown up?

Christmas in February

/ Shane / Leave a comment

Today we got not one but TWO Christmas cards! The one was postmarked December 12th. I think the fact that we got two is telling; it’s not like one just slipped through the cracks. It was probably a whole bag they had or something. Unfortunately it is sort of typical of our mail service around here. I remember we didn’t get my mom’s postcard from Japan for like 6 months until our neighbor moved in and got his mail for the first time. It was kind of funny since we had seen my mom a couple of times after she got home before we got the post card, meaning it would have been more efficient for her to hand deliver it. Another time someone sent us a package that they never notified us about and just held onto it for a few months before returning it to sender. This is to say nothing of soggy mail or the way we found a package in the bush one time even though there was no note or anything to say we got one so who knows how long it was there.

Not really a service oriented town, if you know what I mean.

What I’m Doing

/ Shane / 4 Comments

What I’m listening to:

Such Great Heights by The Postal Service

You can also go check out Ben Fold’s version of the same song. Legend has it that he forgot he was supposed to show up on the program. Such Great Heights was the first song on his iPod, so he grabbed a couple of drummers and they used anything they could find in the studio including forks, a wine glass and even one guy playing a box covered in a towel with a wooden spoon (you can see him in the video). I like it almost as much as the original!

What I’m reading:

I’m about halfway through Just After Sunset by Stephen King.

It is a nice change a pace, not too Stephen King-y actually. This is more the kind of straightforward stuff he usually writes under Richard Bachman. The stories are simple and short. Sometimes I think Stephen King can out-King himself, for example, Rose Madder which I thought worked better when it was just about spousal abuse before it got weird. Huh, apparently Stephen King agreed with me on that one, calling it “overwritten” and “working too hard”.

I’ve been listening to lots of Neil Gaiman and loving it, including Coraline (now a major motion picture!) and Anansi Boys. I have not managed to get my hands on American Gods yet, but I’m dying to.

I’ve enjoyed all of them, but I listened to 2 books of short stories that I particularly liked, Fragile Things and M is for Magic. Who am I kidding, I always like books of short stories. They are so varied and if you don’t like one, there is always another coming up. Each story has the sense of promise that you get when you start a new book. Plus, I think the concise nature forces them to be better, not get bogged down. As far as Coraline, I liked it and as I was listening I always envisioned it as anime, so I’m glad to see that it is animated in a sort of creepy style.

I just started Dream Songs Volume I by my other favorite author, George R. R. Martin. The first part is sort of his life story as far as his writing is concerned and it is surprisingly compelling and inspiring. It makes me want to start writing!

What I’m watching:

I was a little disappointed with Wall-E actually. It was a pretty well put together movie, and the stuff they did with with expression, etc. before there was any talking was pretty amazing. I sort of wished the whole movie was sans talking. That being said, I kept hearing how great it was and I don’t know ::shrug:: it’s probably not in my top 20 of animated movies.

The Hazards of Work

/ Shane / 1 Comment

Now I have mentioned that I have seen coyotes at work before, but this alert came out at work yesterday about coyotes:

“…recently a small group of four to five followed an employee who was walking across the site during the evening…the employee was able to enter a building and was not attacked.”

Is that the sort of thing I need to be worrying about at work?? Where I work in CHICAGO? In a major metropolitan area?

Coffee Addict

/ Shane / 7 Comments

When we went to Philly, we stayed at a hotel that had an awesome coffee maker. It was so cool that Sara made anybody who came to visit make a cup of coffee just to try it out. Neither of us were coffee drinkers, but we each had several cups while we were there, if for no other reason than to use the coffee maker. She was so excited about the coffee maker that I wrote down the brand and model number on a napkin when she was in the bathroom and decided to buy her one for Christmas. It turns out that the model was only available for hotels and the like, but the company did make a nearly identical model for regular consumer usage.  I give you the Keurig B30:

Now, there are several advantages to this machine.  First off, since we are not coffee drinkers, we don’t need to make an entire pot of coffee. We just need one cup here or there, as we want it.  Since this makes one cup at a time, it is perfect. Second, it uses these little coffee cup things that have a pre-measured portion in them already.  When your coffee is done, you just throw them away: no muss, no fuss. Third, it is so cool! Even if you’ve never used it before, you can’t mess it up. The first thing you see is a giant “Press Here” staring at you on the front. When you hit that the thing folds open revealing a place for the coffee portion. When you put the little cup in there and close it, another door opens in the back with a blue water drop on it. Logically you add your water there.  When you close that door, a light comes on next to a picture of a cup. When you set your cup in, the Brew button starts flashing in bright blue. After you hit the button it takes a couple of minutes for your cup to be completely heated and brewed, and then the machine shuts itself off. There is nothing to take care of since it uses all of the water every time and the k-cup will be thrown away next time you use it. It is a miracle of modern engineering and it does it all simply without some digital display or screen.

So I was fairly excited to give this gift to Sara for Christmas but, unfortunately, she decided she didn’t want it. “I did love it…at the hotel. But not for our house!” she said. This is why guys have trouble buying presents for girls. I thought this was a sure fire thing. And what kind of logic is that anyway? It reminds me of when I was begging for a TiVo (greatest invention ever by the way) and she argued that we shouldn’t get it because she “would like it too much.”  I knew that if she kept it she would like it, although it is kind of weird to have to convince someone to keep their present if they don’t want it. Still, I think if someone else bought her that she would have been happy with it. I think I am held to a higher standard.

Anyway, she had two main objections: 1) it is more expensive to buy the little prepackaged coffee cups than to buy just regular coffee and 2) those little cups are not recyclable, so you are creating unnecessary waste. Now, in anticipation of those concerns, I also bought a re-useable filter thing in which you can use regular coffee. It is much more of a hassle to use, but does take care of some of those concerns and makes a pretty good cup of coffee. The pre-measured cup themselves cost about $0.50 apiece, but we quickly learned that you can use each k-cup twice, halving the price. Also, we bought them on sale for even cheaper. So they really aren’t so expensive.  

But now the real downside is becoming evident: I am turning into a coffee addict! It is just right there and so available and sooo delicious, I’m drinking like 2 or 3 cups a day. I certainly thought that could never happen to me. Now, when I say coffee, of course I mean “coffee”.  We’re talking two teaspoons of sugar and like an inch of half and half. I’m sure coffee aficionados will be all over me for this. But how long until I turn into one of those people? The other day I was drinking one that Sara made and I had to ask her if anything was up because it tasted weak to me! Next thing you know, I’ll require coffee that has been regurgitated by weasels! I started to get a little worried about my caffeine intake, so we got some decaf, but I’m still a little nervous. Especially since I find myself thinking of coffee during the day and whenever I smell coffee now the first thing I think is, man that sounds good about now!

Well anyway, this was all just an elaborate setup to link to commentor, friend of 25 years, best man and sister dater Hrokay’s new blog “No Cream, No Sugar”.  Of course I hope he knows that linking form here is a big honor and it comes with great responsibilty for quality and quantity of posts.  Of course this disclaimer hasn’t worked for some people I could name…