there'll be no white flag above my door

Things seem to be simmering down somewhat, even though I know it's more like a quiet before a storm than anything else. This week has been pretty wild as far as viruses are concerned and I'll probably be writing a little something about it over at PTnet later, and while that's kept us all on our toes for the past week or so, things will really get interesting when the semester starts and people start flooding back to campus and immediately having computer problems because of the various viruses and worms floating around out there right now. It promises to be a fun time. I have to remember to stick to my promise to myself and take a little vacation as soon as the semester rush period is over.

Starting grad school should be interesting, as a tangent; hopefully in another year and a half or so I'll come out the other side with an MBA to beef up the resume. I haven't really finished my certs like I said I was going to over the summer because money has been so tight, but hopefully I'll get a chance to get around to that sometime soon when I have some more money to toss around. I suppose I should have spent some of the spare cash that I blew on records and gear, but you know, eh-gotta keep my priorities in order.

And now America, page two, I think it's about time for some serious housekeeping in a lot of areas...I like that feeling like I've accomplished something really good for myself, something refreshing and something changing, I like the feeling that something better is impending or just on the horizon, and I like to create that feeling for myself. You know what they say, you can immediately make yourself richer by decreasing your wants, and the best way to invite new and interesting things into your life is to get rid of the old and stale ones. There's a lot to be said for that philosophy. With that being said, I think I need to hit up Ikea and buy some goodies for my room. Although I know I won't, because I told myself I wouldn't buy anything at Ikea until I had my own place to furnish. In the meantime, I'll use the desk that's a might too small for my computer and I'll deal with the surroundings as they are, not that it's horrible or anything. I rather do like living where I am, I just tend to think it's not really as much space as I'd like to have-I keep outgrowing the space I'm living in. When I lived downstairs, I quickly outgrew the room down there, now that I'm upstairs it's nice and all, but I still feel like I'm outgrowing it and want a little more space to move about and put my stuff and have nice things...it doesn't help that I want to get out of the habit of taking out other people's trash and doing other people's dishes, but you know, details.

Anyways, I'm saving my pennies for a shiny new PowerMac G5 to replace my performa and oddly enough the beige powermac G3 that I landed a few days ago, and someday I'll have machines of all kinds sitting on several massive desks in a place that'll be totally mine. In the meantime, I'll keep paying my rent and dealing with people and doing the thing I do, and dealing with the morons at work and in my business life that make every day possible. I wouldn't get paid if it weren't for people not knowing which button does what on their mouse, and I wouldn't be able to feel good about myself unless there are people like the ones at my pharmacy who can't spell my name correctly. I mean, if there's people like that, then there's no reason you or I shouldn't feel good about ourselves, right? Okay okay, that's a bit condescending, but when it takes someone like the state office of budget and management something like 3 months to process my contract and cash my benefits checks because of an error in my social security number. Sweet. In more optimistic terms, the silliness is getting slowly sorted out, I'm obsessively tracking a ton of packages, and hopefully they'll all wind up at my place soon. And tomorrow, all of us at werk are headed to the bar for a few drinks afterhours. Should prove to be a good time for all involved.

...

Okay, we're planning on more than a few drinks. So what? We're cynical IT professionals. After everything we've been through this week, is it any wonder why people in IT drink so much?

Anyways, I'll keep you posted. You rock out to that new Dido track on the radio-it's good stuff. I remember Dido back when she was on the No Angel tour, stopped at the 9:30 Club in DC a long while back, with a lovely lady named Kendall Payne opening for her(who I thought was better, by the way, and have the autographed photo to prove it-wish I had a chance to actually talk with her rather than grab a photo like a silly fanboy) to a sparsely populated house, because we were bored and wanted something to do that night:

Tim: "Hey, let's do something tonight."
Me: "Sure."
Tim: "I hear there's some chick named Dido at the 9:30. Someone said she's alright."
Me: "Okay, let's hit it.

And the rest is history. There was literally almost no one there, and we thought the show was mediocre, and less than a few months later Eminem had sampled her, she'd hit the airwaves around the world, and could be seen at Merriweather Post for something like 45 dollars a pop-far more than the meager 5 bucks we paid to see her that fateful eve.

Kind of reminds me of the time I got a preview copy of the first Incubus album at WMUC and I reviewed it and thought they had some decent sound but they'd never get popular. Sheesh. I should stick to electronica and trip-hop where I know what's good and what's not. Now I think I'll go home and make a place for my new records and try to drag my old CDs out of the closet.