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April 20, 2002
Catfish and Trimmings
At this very moment, my cats are laying on the hardwood floor by the door like -- as my friend Jeanne puts it -- dead fish. Alas, I can't really think of what kind of fish they look like. Maybe a black bass and... well, there aren't any fish coloured like Diva.
Diva, by the way, has the most incredibly soft fur. Petting the two, there is such a marked difference between the sleek coarseness of Hack's fur and Diva's silky feel.
I am loving this Enrique Iglesias video ("Escape") with Anna Kournikova. Sorry, my pool has a shallow and a deep end.
Alright, so far this has been a lot of disjointed little thoughts. Why stop now?
I've been sweating a PS2 for a couple of weeks now. I want it for one game: Virtua Fighter 4. It's a silly reason. I don't have the time to play it and that likely wouldn't change if I got one. Hell, I've got an X-Box now and barely spend any time on it. Mind you, it would probably be more fun if I had a roommate to play with or friends that came by more often. Funny how guys would come over to play games in college and just don't do that sort of thing anymore. Then again, all of my Hoboken friends are either coworkers whom I don't usually hang out with outside of work or martial arts buddies who are usually busy taking classes.
Speaking of martial arts, I finally got off my ass and got a doctor's note so I can take that Jeet Kune Do trial class. I had attempted to take it back in the fall but checked the wrong box on their waiver form and they wouldn't let me take the trial class without a doctor's note. So now I've got one. I'll probably hold myself over on trial classes at various schools until I have the money to commit to one. The frontrunner is still Su Yu-Chang's school, though.
On the topic of kicking some ass, I'd really like to lay a foot into the people over at Fidelity Pacific. These are the people that are the "parent" company of Syonic, the web host where I had placed CTHB.org. I had split on a five year contract with a college friend of mine. Altogether, it was $600. There was a 90-day guarantee where the money would be refunded, no questions asked, if we were unsatisfied with the service. After trying to deal with their technical support a number of times, I was thoroughly dissatisfied with their lack of response. So I bailed under the terms of the agreement. They killed my account access about a week later. True to form, I got no correspondence from them on status. My emails are unanswered. Their phone numbers lead to voicemail, fast-busy (failure to connect) signals or something that sounds like a fax machine. Needless to say, the money has yet to be refunded.
Something for the tech people: a history of Novell Clients available for download at Salford Software.
Finally found some new pens. I had to buy them myself because the office pens were really starting to suck. We used to have some nice Uni-balls, but now all that's left are some crappy bulk Bics and Pilots. Went out and bought some Uni-ball Gel Impacts, the non-retractable kind. Took me a few days, though, since the black 4-paks were sold out for awhile. Yeah, I guess it's kinda sad that I'm so picky about my pens. I have a $35 pencil. Go figure.
Thanks, Dazz, for noticing that it was hot in my neighbourhood this week. We hit a record high a couple of days ago, somewhere in the mid-90's. It's the middle of frickin' April. It shouldn't be this hot, especially when the previous week had highs in the 50's and 60's. I'm dying over here. Put my A/C unit back in the window on Wednesday and it's been much more pleasant since in my apartment. The week's been an exercise in trying to figure out where the best A/C is and how little clothing I could get away with while staying within dress code.
A/C is a strange beast. I think that it is evil. I don't think it's evil when it's hot and I need a cool place to escape for a moment, but I think it's evil because it perpetuates the silly thought among the general populace that it makes sense still to dress in full suits in 100 degree weather. Who in their right mind -- their logical mind would think that, on a day where it's stupid hot and humid as hell, it would be a good idea to put on an undershirt, a shirt, button it up to the top and noose yourself with a tie, then put on trousers and a jacket? Hello? What happened to light, short-sleeved shirts and shorts? That would make a hell of a lot more sense to me, but instead we have people dressing up and therefore require A/C to remain comfortable. Meanwhile, everyone who is sensibly dressed will freeze their asses off as soon as they walk into a building. A/C should be there to temper the temperature to a more sensible level, not to bring it down to the frigid levels. The shock of going from hot to cold and back to hot is probably the most discomforting feeling I get in the summertime.
Furthermore, the cost in energy and chemicals to maintain these A/C systems aren't cheap, as the landlords love to tell tenants when they're cooking in their offices and the heaters are still blowing out hot air. I can't imagine how dropping our temperature at the expense of fossil fuels should make us feel better when that very same use of fuels is what's causing the global climate to gradually warm or move to extremes.
I'm not looking forward to this summer. I have a bad feeling in my bones that this week was an omen of a nasty hot summer. The drought's been severe here. We're supposed to be watching our water consumption severely. We've had so little rain that the pollen has been flying around rampantly, even in the concrete jungle, brought on the wind from New Jersey. My allergies haven't been this bad since I lived upstate.
Taxes are done and mailed off. I e-filed two of them on Sunday night, but I had to wait for acceptance from the tax bureaus before I could print out the signature forms and mail them in with supporting documentation. I'm just happy that it's dealt with. Anxiously awaiting the return now. Time to get back on my feet.
Just watching the Jewel video for "Break Me" and it reminded me of war, which plopped me over to the plight of a friend in Israel. It's been rather surreal reading things from him as he talks about the bombings and then being recalled to emergency duty in the armed forces. He's done his duty, though, and is scheduled to be discharged this weekend. I don't think that means the same thing as it does in the US and Canada, though. Even though he's discharged from duty, it sounds like he's still considered a reservist and could be recalled again in the future. Call it being discharged from this particular mini-tour of duty.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: I have no opinion on the conflict itself, because I have sympathy for both sides, but I have a distinct feeling that I don't know enough about the history behind the conflict and the underlying causes of it. I suspect that most people are in the same boat, but it grates on me when they get all worked up with incomplete information. It also grates on me that the reporting in this country has been so one-sided. I want to hear the counterpoints.
As I can see the sky beginning to grow light, I think I had best slip off to bed and get some sleep. I took a two-hour nap shortly after I had my moment of tranquility, but I think that all that the nap has done is give me a false sense of alertness.
Go Sens.
Posted by KinCross at April 20, 2002 02:11 AM