I just saw this on a thread over on FARK; someone posted the YouTube link to the original video, and I just had to share. It’s fun seeing greedy eBay sharks get their just desserts. ;-)

Bleh. It’s really been a long and drawn-out week for me. Unfortunately, this week is going to be more of the same. The only difference is that I won’t be out as late this week as I was last week. On Monday, our apps director and a consultant had arrived from out of town, and each night last week (except for Friday) I went out to eat with them and/or get drinks. On Monday, we went to Houston’s for dinner, and had drinks at a local bar afterwards. Tuesday night we had dinner at Pappadeaux’s, and went to their hotel’s pool afterward to have some drinks. On Wednesday night, we met the CIO and sysadmin over at the Cheesecake Factory, followed with me meeting the sysadmin for drinks afterwards. Thursday night, the apps director and the sysadmin had already left for Louisiana, so the consultant and I ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. It’s amusing, in a way… I’d been to the Hard Rock Cafe in London twice, and the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas once, but I had never been to the Hard Rock Cafe in Houston before Thursday. It was fun, though…

In addition to helping the apps director and consultant get a new software package operational, I also was given the fun job of working on getting the new IT area at our office operational. It wasn’t entirely easy or stress-free; I managed to get the office onto the network by Wednesday morning (our official move-in date), but we found out the hard way that some roaches had managed to make the area their own as well. We killed some of them, and arranged for an exterminator to come out. On Thursday I got our wiring people out to cross-connect phone lines, and got my coworkers’ phones operational. (My phone is an IP phone, which plugs into the network.) Also, the exterminator came out to get the roaches dealt with. Things went downhill on Friday, though, as our brand-new AC unit died. :-/ We ended up using two mobile AC units until the AC was repaired, but still… meh.

As for this weekend, it was spectacularly uneventful, other than the fact that I took Mom to the Cheesecake Factory for her birthday dinner last night. I also bought a couple of pairs of Dockers pants for work, but that was neither here nor there. I also FINALLY got around to watching the Ultimate Avengers movie I had rented from Netflix today; it was actually pretty good, though I admit it went a lot faster than I was expecting. On the tech side, I didn’t do much other than remove a couple of unused mail accounts and lock out POP3 access for those people who only use my webmail, and also upgraded WordPress on Sean MC’s and Lemon Jinny’s blogs. Ah, well…

This week should be a little less stressful, though. The two main creature comforts for the office will be arriving tomorrow… namely, the coffeemaker and the water cooler. In addition, the Transformers game should be out on Tuesday, so I’ll probably stop by Fry’s and pick it up. That should give me something new to play this week. :-) Ah, well… for now, considering I wasn’t home until 11:45 PM three days this past week, I think I’ll go relax and then possibly turn in early. It’s going to be a long week.

Okay, normally I wouldn’t be posting during work, but my coworker Brent just showed this to a bunch of us and I just HAD to share it… :-)

Bah. This weekend went by entirely too quickly. A shame, really, considering how little I’ve done.

About the main thing I did of note yesterday was take Dad to dinner at PF Chang’s for Father’s Day. Once again I was smart and had made a reservation beforehand (this time, on Thursday while still at Cardenas). We had enough time to get drinks from the bar before we got buzzed to inform us our table was ready. As we were meeting the hostess to be seated, I got the impression some people waiting were giving us dirty looks. Well, I’m sorry, but that’s what happens when you don’t plan ahead. Anyway, we were seated, and had a wonderful meal. I decided to be different this time and got the chengdu spiced lamb as opposed to my usual Chang’s spicy chicken. I must say, it was quite delicious. Mom’s crispy honey shrimp was quite good as well. What ended up being unexpected was the fact that they served us fried rice on the house. (Their fried rice is generally served as a separate meal considering everything they put in it.) Dad was very appreciative of the meal, and we ended up going straight home afterwards.

Today was more or less uneventful, for the most part. I haven’t really done anything of note save relaxing. I suppose that’s enough, really.

The rest of this week is what will be annoying. I’m going to have to babysit one of my IT coworkers as he installs a new application in our datacenter this week. In addition, I’ll have to catch up on tickets that have been piling up while I was out last week, AND we’re going to be moving into our new offices this week. I swear I’m probably not going to have time for everything. On the bright side, the coworker who is coming in, Brent, will probably be good for some after-work entertainment Tuesday or Wednesday. Also, a former coworker wants to do poker on Thursday, so we’ll see how that goes. I’ll also be scheduling some time to get the windows on my Avenger tinted; I got a check from the people financing my old car last week reimbursing an overpayment, so that money will go to the window tinting. :-)

Ah, well. I’ll go ahead and go to bed in a few minutes, in order to rest up for the rest of the week. I get the feeling I’m going to need the rest…

In a factory complex in Cardenas, Mexico, there lives a dog with three legs. He has no known “proper” name, but the locals refer to him as the Three-Legged Dog. Now, this dog is smart. He always knows where to go to get rides from the trucks traversing the facility. More to the point, he has his way with the ladies. On several occasions, while the other male dogs are fighting with each other, presumably for the right to one of the females… he’s already off to one side having his way with them.

If you have some food, and some time… if you feed him, the Three-Legged Dog will impart his wisdom to you.

Yes, I’m back from Villahermosa. It was a long and sometimes frustrating trip, but all in all I got almost everything accomplished that I needed to.

I arrived in Villahermosa at 9 PM on Tuesday. Once through immigration and customs, I was met by the VP overseeing our Mexico facility and the Mexico facility’s general manager, who ended up taking me to a brief dinner at Bennigan’s. (Yes, they have a Bennigan’s in Villahermosa.) After a small meal (I had eaten at the Chili’s in Terminal B of Bush Intercontinental Airport), we went to the hotel I was staying at. It was the Holiday Inn Express in Villahermosa. All in all, it was a very nice hotel, complete with hardwood floors and a walk-in shower. I ended up setting my alarm for 5:15 AM, as we were leaving for the facility at 6:20 AM, and went to bed.

I woke up the next morning, to see it was 6:05 AM. Apparently I hadn’t noticed that the clock was 12 hours off. Crap. After rushing to get ready, I made it downstairs only a couple of minutes late, and we made our way to the facility. While on the way, the VP told us about the Three-Legged Dog. He ended up becoming a recurring theme throughout my stay there, as he was constantly referenced as an authority on how to get things done with the ladies. (This was despite my saying I didn’t need help as I already have a gf, but I digress…) I managed to get quite a bit done, and at 5 PM we made our way back to the hotel (with a stop at Office Depot for some equipment). I got online and did some work and talked to Misty, and at around 8:30 PM met up with the VP and GM to head to the airport where our CFO was arriving. His flight arrived (30 minutes late), and we all went to… well, Bennigan’s for dinner, which was packed with soccer fans watching the match between Mexico and Panama. After we finished eating, we went back to the hotel to rest.

The next day I got up at the appropriate time, and met the VP and CFO for breakfast. We made our way to the facility, where I completed the network hookup and inventory with one small exception (a print server was malfunctioning and I didn’t have a local replacement, so I wired something up temporarily). I ended up going back to the hotel at 6 PM with a couple of the hands that were in from Houma; later on, I met up with them and the others at Rodizio for dinner. Much fun and joking was had there, especially as one person wanted to meet with some hot women. He even asked the manager to get some over. After doing so, he looked at me and said, “You see, the Three-Legged Dog would be proud.”

I looked at him askance, and replied, “No, the Three-Legged Dog would say, ‘Why the hell are you asking the manager for help in getting women?'”

After we got done eating, we all retired back to the hotel. The next morning, I was up at 4:45 AM, in order to make it to the airport for my 7 AM flight. I was back in Houston by 10 AM… and back at the office by 11:30 AM. Bah. (I hadn’t planned on going in, but my fellow tech/assistant was out and I had to get the replacement print server configured and shipped out by the end of the day.)

So, all in all, it was a very productive trip. I didn’t really want to go, as work had been piling up at the office (and continued to do so while I was gone), but I got almost everything done that I needed to. All I can say for now is that it’s a good thing the other IT guys are getting passports. Now one of THEM can be the one to go when they’re ready to implement the time clocks. :-)

I admit to annoyance.

I guess I should have known this was going to be a terrible week when I was putting the Avenger into the garage yesterday. Despite my being careful, when I opened the door I accidentally jammed it against a support board. I got it unstuck, but it took a small one-inch strip of paint off the door edge. *grumble* I took the parents to dinner at Friday’s last night; on the way home, we stopped by Advance Auto Parts to buy new door edging for the car. Now the strip is hidden, plus the door is protected. I also ended up getting replacement license plate frames for the car, as I didn’t like the ones from the dealership. The new ones are plain black metal, and match the car very well. However, I digress…

I got to the office this morning, and pretty much had to hit the ground running. Over the weekend we had finished a massive upgrade to our ERP software, and I had to deal with many of the post-upgrade support issues. In addition, I had to get a coworker’s new Blackberry operational before he left for China, and before the day was over I knew I would have to go to the datacenter to work on some of the terminal servers. Then, just after lunch, the bombshell was dropped.

Tomorrow evening I’m leaving for Villahermosa, and I won’t be back until Friday morning.

*sigh* I had known this trip was coming, but I had been hoping for a week’s more leeway… especially as I had just gotten back from a two day trip to Odessa on Friday. Still, it annoys me. I had hoped to go to a former coworker’s new house on Thursday to play poker, and that just got shot all to hell. Oh, well… at least I won’t be the only one from the company there. One of the VPs is going to pick me up from the airport tomorrow night and take me to the hotel. It saves me from having to get a cab and trying to communicate with a taxi driver who can’t speak English…

*sigh* Normally I don’t mind travelling. I really don’t. It’s just that the international trips for the company tend to be at the most oddball times and causes me to go to bed very late or get up very early. Neither is very conducive to my peace of mind, as Misty will tell you I need my sleep. :-/ Oh, well… I plan on leaving work after lunch tomorrow so I can drive home and get packed before the flight. I’ll probably post from Villahermosa later this week to discuss how my trip is going. For now, though, I should get to bed. I’ll need my rest before tomorrow…

Well, it’s Sunday evening, and I get to look forward to heading to work in the morning. It’s been a decent weekend, all told… busy yesterday and quiet today, but then again, there’s nothing wrong with that. :-) It all started on Friday night; Misty was going out for the weekend, so it was going to be a quiet chatting night. So, I decided to play some Gears of War with BloodySinner, Total-MK, Sub-Zero27, and Genku. (They’re all #mortalkombat regulars.) It was a decent night of gaming, all told. At around 10:30 PM, Misty called, so that was the end of the gaming for me. After a bit, I ended up going to bed.

The next morning, I got up bright and early, and took the Avenger in to Spring Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge to get the LoJack system installed in it. I also found that the Bluetooth uConnect handsfree set was in stock, so I opted to have them install it as well. Fortunately, I had brought my laptop with me, so I was able to do web browsing and talk with people online while there. When it got close to noon, though, it turned out that my car wasn’t ready yet. Dave was on his way to the house, so I had Dad come pick me up and bring me home. Shortly after I got home, Dave arrived, and we made our way to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch. Once done there, Dave was kind enough to take me over to the dealership, where I picked up the Avenger after a bit of a wait. While at the house, Dave and I played a bit on the Xbox 360, and even Mom stopped in to play some Hexic HD. Eventually Louie arrived, and we made our way to Outback for dinner. After dinner, we made our way over to Barney’s to shoot some pool (and watch the Cavs defeat the Pistons). From there, we went back to my house to watch some bullriding. Afterwards, Dave and Louie left, and I headed to bed.

As for today, it’s been relatively quiet. I pretty much spent the day lounging around the house, getting paperwork and the like sorted for the Avenger, and pretty much relaxing. Tonight I don’t plan on doing too much, other than maybe playing some GoW if the others are online and willing to play. Ah, well… at least this week will be relatively quiet, other than spending Thursday and Friday over at Odessa doing an inventory there. It should make for a nice change from the usual. Otherwise, it’s the same old same old. Ah, well… :-)

Well, this is interesting.

I’m sure everyone’s heard by now of that Atlanta lawyer infected with tuberculosis who is the ultimate representation of self-entitlement and arrogance. In short, if you didn’t hear: when he was advised by doctors not to travel, he went on a trip to Europe. When contacted by the U.S. CDC in Italy and told his condition was far worse than expected, that he was NOT to travel (and in fact put on the no-fly list) and to report to Italian medical officials for isolation, he snuck back into the US. He’s now claiming he did nothing wrong and that people shouldn’t be upset with him, despite the fact that he endangered everyone around him with his selfish “I’m more important than God” actions.

The interesting thing is, my friend Rob had an interesting take on the whole situation on his own LiveJournal. I’ll go ahead and repost his original post here so people can give it a read.

By sure I’m sure everyone who isn’t living under a rock and has access to electricity has heard about the lawyer in Atlanta who did some world traveling while being infected with TB, right? Andrew Speaker. Turns out this was a guy I went to highschool with.

Speaker and I went to Mount Vernon Christian Academy together. I was a sophmore and he was a senior, but we were both in Year Book class together so we saw each other just about every day. Let me tell you, the guy was a douchebag back then, and it appears nothing has changed. He’s a personal injury attorney, so even if he didn’t risk infecting groups of fellow airtravelers, he’s still about as low on the lawyer scale as it gets.

He was also the one senior that none of the underclassmen respected. I wouldn’t go so far as to call him an asshole or anything like that. Best I can describe him would be “obliviously arrogant.” It’s not that he thought he should receive special entitlement or anything, it’s more along the lines of he’d expect special entitlement, without realizing no one else was getting it.

The definitive memory I have of him was sitting in class with him while he was reading the Victoria’s Secret catalog. Our teacher walked by, and took it from him. He raised high hell trying to get it back because he couldn’t understand why he couldn’t read it.

So Andrew, nice to see you’re the same as ever. I take an odd kind of comfort knowing that some things haven’t changed since high school.

Well, it’s official. My 2002 Saturn SC2 is no longer in my possession.

I was out at my employer’s Cypress location yesterday, when my dad gave me a call. He was over at Spring Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge having his own car worked on, and he had seen this black Chrysler 300 that he thought would suit me to a T. I told him I’d go with him and look at it after work. As soon as I got home, we hopped into his car and headed up to the dealership, where he showed me the car.

I was not impressed.

The car simply wasn’t me. The interior was too fancy and I didn’t care for the appearance of the exterior. The salesman there (Reece, if you ever go by there) offered to show us other 300s; we looked, but I didn’t see anything I cared for. So, we continued looking, and eventually moved over to the Dodge Avengers. We took a look at a couple, and tried one or two. I found one I liked, and I eventually went home to get the Saturn. I brought it to the dealership, we discussed price… and now I’m the proud owner of a 2008 Dodge Avenger.

So far, I’ve been impressed. It’s handled smoother than the Saturn, is roomier, and is more comfortable. Time will tell how it goes, but I’m happy for now. Tomorrow morning, though, I’ll be taking it in to get the LoJack installed and also see what it would take to install a Bluetooth handsfree module into the car stereo. After that, I’ll just need to wait for the plates to arrive… so I can then get the new EZ-Tag for the car. (Going through toll booths is starting to annoy me.)

Ah, well. I’m meeting Dave (and probably Louie too) tomorrow, so we’ll see what they say. Everyone else who’s seen it has been impressed, and I’m inclined to agree. :-)

I do have something to admit. I might be rather dismissive of MySpace as a whole, but the sad fact is that I do have a MySpace page. It’s minimal and I rarely update it; I only really keep it so that I can see friends’ pics on MySpace without having to bug them for direct links and the like. After a question a friend put forward in her LiveJournal recently, though, I decided that it might be an idea to add some of my rl friends to my friends list in MySpace.

So, if you recently got a friend request from me in MySpace out of the blue, now you know why. Just don’t expect me to keep up with it too much. :-)