Case of the Muundays

Ah yes, everyone’s favorite day of the week! Sometimes I wonder how my life became so much like “Office Space.” Maybe I’ll just stop going to work. I would love to stay home and sleep as long as the dog does. Lucky dog.

But I must admit that not going to work would prevent me from my FreeCell streak. I began playing this game after I realized that I had mastered all the other games available on the computer (free of downloading). Although, my Minesweeper times could improve (Beginner: 9 seconds, Intermediate: 54 seconds, and Expert: 196 seconds), the rapid and constant mouse clicks (especially the right click) are indicative of me not “working.” FreeCell requires fewer mouse clicks (plus no right click), and longer time intervals when strategizing.

I used to just play FreeCell not caring about the game number. But one day it occurred to me that I might inadvertently play the same game more than once. Since there are 1,000,000 games of FreeCell and the creator(s) note, “It is believed (although not proven) that every game is winnable,” I began at game 1 and proceeded sequentially. I do not remember the exact date that I started this (definitely less than 10 months), but to date, I am at game 469. Granted, I am not going to try to make it to 1,000,000 in order to prove every game is winnable, but I take comfort in knowing that I am not repeating my efforts. Plus, I did the math, and that is a lot of games per day over many, many years in order to hit 1,000,000. Asians are known to have long life spans, but the point is having a life, and therefore I will not devote it to FreeCell. That is why I only play it at work. It passes the time and keeps my brain occupied from the monotony.

Spring is here!

I know spring and general warm, sunny days have arrived when I roll down my windows only to be hit with a whirlwind of dust and dog hair. Then I have a sneezing fit. I used to always sneeze three times in a row no matter what. But lately, I am finding that the magical number is four.

Anyway, it is Sunday, and I am at work. I don’t usually have to work on Sundays, but I played hooky last Thursday (come on, everyone needs a break at some point) and am trying to make up time/work. Even though I am here, I am not being as productive as I could be because it is Sunday dammit. I am not typically a lazy person, but I do have my moments of taking mental vacations. For example, in lieu of making statistical calculations a while back, I tried to figure out how many words I could spell out on a calculator (when you hold it upside-down). Since 0=o, 1=I, 2=Z, 3=E, 4=H, 5=S, 6=G, 7=L, and 8=B, I was able to come up with 60 words in one sitting. Keep in mind that I am avoiding combinations of words like the reputable, “boobless,” and concentrating on words in their own right. I am sure this list will get bigger, and feel free to help me add some. I really can be a big dork.

The list thus far:
beg
bell
bi
big
bill
bio
biz
bless
blob
blog
bob
bog
boo
boob
boogie
booze
eel
egg
gel
geo
gesso
gill
glee
glib
glob
goo
he
heel
hell
hello
hi
high
hill
his
hoe
hog
igloo
ill
is
leg
less
lie
lob
log
loose
lose
oboe
ole
ooze
she
shell
shoe
sigh
sill
size
sob
soil
sole
zig
zoo

Life’s Little Lessons

When filling gas at a busy station, stop at the pump nearest to you. Do not bother to pull up, so you can block the next person clearly waiting behind you to get into the station. Get out of your car and stare blankly at the person waiting to fill gas. Make them drive around your car to get to the pump you could have pulled up to in the beginning of your gas filling adventure. Unbeknownst to the person trying to get to a pump, your passenger door will be open preventing them from getting around your car. Thus, you force them to wait for you to either close the door or finish pumping your gas.

Obviously anyone who demonstrates this kind of behavior is a fucking moron. Does it come down to the fact that people have no common sense or are just plain rude?

New settings

My lazy ass finally worked on the HTML.

I now have the proper "Comments" option so anyone can comment. The old comments are hidden from public view. So feel free to comment again!

I also have a nifty counter. Oooh...

You can't blame it on Diffusion of Responsibility

The next time you manage to barely catch the elevator when the person inside did NOT make an effort to hold it, just say, “Thank you,” when you get in. The look you receive in return is quite fascinating.

Ah, the social scientist emerges.

Now on to a completely unrelated topic…
Tori Amos will be in town for a book signing tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble in Georgetown. I have already purchased her book, but have not read it yet like I planned. I want to go, but knowing how freaking PSYCHOTIC Tori fans are, I am kind of scared to attempt. I imagine there will be a line around the block, and I will probably be waiting for at least 5 hours. Oh, and it’s supposed to rain.

I also got Tori’s new CD, which is so awesome btw. I have not been happy with the last couple of albums, but this one finally broke the streak. It’s a nice blend of her old sound with the piano, and her new sound with the band. I highly recommend it. Oh, and listen to it with headphones. Loud.

I was going to go to her concert in April, but as said before, Tori fans are PSYCHOTIC and tickets were sold out in like 10 minutes. They usually announce a second show, but it is not looking promising this year. At least I can rest assured that every tour comes in this area because it is her hometown.

I believe that over the past 11 years of being a devoted fan has altered my brain in which there are special neurotransmitters that fire into Tori receptors that resonate nothing but happiness. Good stuff.

My real first post

I started off as a contributor to Sarcastic and Cynical. I managed to post one blog, my first ever. Then she kicked me off. Apparently, I was not meeting her quota of posts and/or comments. So I begin anew on my own. But in case you are curious, I will copy my first post here instead. So there, MKD! I don't need your hot pink blog. So much for being a "nurturer."

From February 4, 2005...
Atypical workday
Just for the record, this is my first blog EVER. Prior to this moment, I was a blog virgin. I never tried out any type of online journal or random thought list or whatever, even though many of my friends have encouraged it. See, I am really bad at keeping in touch, so my friends thought if I had one of these things then they could know what was going on in my life even though they hadn't seen or heard from me. But it's not just my friends that I am bad with keeping in touch with. My mom used to make me call once a month when I was away at college so she could rest assured that I was still alive.

Anywho...on with the topic of this rant. I wore jeans today. Granted, it is Friday and people generally associate this day with "casual" attire day. But not at my office. There are no "casual" days here. My GF has the luxury of wearing jeans everyday (a perk of working in the non-profit sector), and I was hoping for a laid back environment like hers. Hope was thrown out the window when I started here, and I felt like a kid who found out that Santa Claus is not real or some lame analogy like that. Pure utter disappointment because I really like being comfortable and wearing jeans. But no, I am a "grown-up" and have a "real-world" job in "corporate" America (attack of the air quotes!). But after working here for 10 months and the atrophy has sunk in, I find that I could care less about the bullshit office politics. Hence my wearing jeans to work and facing an uptight, micromanaging boss. But I suppose many people have a boss like in the "Dilbert" comic strip and can relate in some sense to what I am saying. I never realized just HOW funny that comic was until I started working full-time after grad school.

The workday became more interesting when I went downstairs to the newsstand in our building for a drink. While I was in there, I noticed that porn magazines are available along with porn DVDs!!! It just made me think of a news broadcast last night (I don't enjoy watching the news, my GF does, which I find a bit weird. She's some sort of news junkie) about computers in the workplace. A big problem is not employees checking their personal email, or writing blogs, or just surfing the Internet...it is downloading porn! So I guess this newsstand is fighting the issue of conserving bandwidth by making pornographic material readily available with no downloading needed. Brilliant!

The radiant "V" on my forehead from the monitor glow has disappeared. I am a virgin no more and I do feel a little different.