escape to insanity

There's really only one show on television that I actually care about watching on a regular basis. Sure, there's a few that I like watching whenever I get a chance — Mythbusters, CSI:Vegas, etc. But those aren't shows I deliberately set aside time to watch each week, and it generally doesn't matter if I miss one episode; each episode is fairly self-sustaining.

However, there is that one particular show that I want to see every week. And the nature of the show is such that if I miss even one episode, I'm gonna be missing out on a lot of the plot. Each episode has something happen that's crucial to the rest of the series. My one show is Battlestar Galactica. Yes, I'm a geek; I accept that. In any case, it's on at a rather inconvenient hour. Eight o'clock at night on Fridays. Now, that's no problem most of the time when I have a fairly nonexistent social life, but that wasn't the case last night. Last night I went out with some friends, and I knew I wasn't going to be home to see “my show” as usual. It's not an acceptable option to not see the episode, so I set about finding a way to fix that. I asked everyone I knew if they had a VCR to tape it for me in my absence. Finally, after much searching, I discovered my neighbors have a VCR and a blank tape, and were willing to tape it for me. Fantastic.

Except… I don't own a VCR. I don't have anything capable of actually playing the tape. I neglected to consider that. I couldn't record the show myself because I don't have a VCR, but I somehow missed the fact that my lack of said VCR meant I'm also incapable of playing it back. So… I think I'll make a trip to Goodwill today to find a VCR on the cheap. Sure, VCRs are usually dirt cheap even brand new, but… I really don't want to spend more than $5 or so on a machine I'll practically never use.

So yeah… sometimes I'm a moron.

Anyone who knows me much at all knows I'm a big movie guy. I love movies. Among my favorites are of course action movies (like The Matrix, The Rock, etc) and science fiction movies (like Pitch Black, Alien, etc), but really my true interest and loyalties lie with a different sort of movie. That sort is the sort of movie that can make you think, that can get you to step outside of your own existence, however briefly, and consider something besides what's going to blow up next or who's going to get eaten by the slimy space monster.

Into this category falls a good number of movies from a wide range of genres. The Matrix is one such movie — although it has a fairly shallow plot at times, there's more philosophical ideology packed into those two hours than an entire semester of Intro Philosophy. Now, I'm not restricting this sort of movie to merely philosophically lecturing films. If you've ever seen the movie Garden State, you'll recognize it as being the same sort of idea. Without spoiling the movie (if you haven't seen it, go buy or rent it right now and watch it immediately), it's the story of a young man who returns home after living on his own away from his home town for several years. Over the course of the few days he's back home, he begins to realize what life is, and what he's been missing out on. He goes on “sort of a crazy journey” through his life, as he describes it. When I finished watching the movie, I just sat back (or continued to lay back as I'd been doing) and said, “wow. that was fantastic.” I love movies like that, movies that can make you really think. (A similar story is told in the movie Elizabethtown.)

I now have added another such movie to my collection. Following a recommendation by my movie-enthusiast housemate, tonight I sat down to watch a movie called Waking Life. It's essentially the story of a young man who discovers he's experiencing a series of lucid dreams, and as he wakes from one dream into another, he starts to question the nature of existence and the meaning of everything. As he wanders through his dreams, he meets and observes several people, each with their own thoughts on life, existence, death, and all sorts of other abstractions worth pondering.

It's really quite fascinating. I won't bore you with details and such, but if you're into movies that get you thinking, that get you actively following along and thinking along with the storyline and the protagonist, I highly recommend this movie. It's amazing. A quick note about it that makes it even better in my opinion is that it's not done like a typical movie; it's hard to explain, but if you've seen a commercial for Charles Schwab lately, it's done in that style of animation. Gives it a very edgy feel. I'll leave you with a brief excerpt from early in the movie:

And this, this is like my little window to the world and every minute's a different show. Now I may not understand it, I may not even necessarily agree with it, but I'll tell you what, I accept it and just sort of glide along. You want to keep things on an even keel I guess is what I'm saying. You want to go with the flow. The sea refuses no river. The idea is to remain in a state of constant departure while always arriving. Saves on introductions and goodbyes. The ride does not require an explanation, just occupants. That's where you guys come in. It's like you come onto this planet with a crayon box. Now you may get the 8-pack, you may get the 16-pack, but it's all in what you do with the crayons, the colors that you're given. And don't worry about drawing within the lines, or coloring outside the lines. I say, color outside the lines. You know what I mean? Color right off the page. Don't box me in! We're in motion to the ocean. We are not landlocked, I'll tell you that. So where do you want out?

- “Boat Car Man”

I cannot believe it. I really cannot believe it. Yesterday was the fifth of November, and I completely forgot about it.

If you have no idea what significance the fifth of November has, you should go buy a copy of “V for Vendetta” and watch it immediately.

Remember, remember, the fifth of November, the gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.

I wanted to get a Guy Fawkes mask and wear it around yesterday, but I completely forgot what day it was. I am not happy about that.

I've recently been stricken with a highly annoying affliction. I believe its scientific name is something like “lotsa coughingium” but don't quote me on that. I'm no rocket surgeon. It's not a fun time. Don't get me wrong — I just love coughing violently every few minutes, all day and most of the night. It makes for a lovely experience, really. If you ever get a chance to try it… no, on second thought, don't try it.

I've been attempting to rid my body of the invading offenders responsible for my awful condition. I went to the store today after work to select the most appropriate weapon with which to begin the onslaught against the enemy. After perusing the seemingly infinite selection of snake oils and magical potions, I finally settled on a fairly obscure, probably-never-heard of product. Vicks. Certainly no one has ever heard of such a company. Actually, I settled on two variants of the product. There's NyQuil, the “nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, sleep better to feel better medicine” that should supposedly get me through the night with a minimum of coughing. Then there's DayQuil, the “anytime, non-drowsy, stuffy head, sore throat, coughing, aching, fever relief to help get back your energy cold medicine” to get me through the day in much the same way. You can take either one you want, because your cold doesn't care what time it is. (apologies to the master, Lewis Black) I'm hoping that the NyQuil will just let me sleep without first spending a good hour hacking up my lungs, and that the DayQuil will let me get through my workday without stopping to cough every thirty seconds.

But of course, besides the problem of which brand to pick from amongst the thousands of competitors, there's the question of which type of medicine to choose. Do you go with the pill form? The liquid tastes-like-chalk form? The liqui-gel? Choices, choices. For some reason unknown to me and perhaps unknown even to God, I decided to go with the LiquiCaps form. Bad move.

My advice to you: if you like choking, go with the LiquiCaps. Really. If you're into being choked by a horse-sized pill and feeling it inch its way down your esophagus, definitely go with the pill form of this stuff. It'll be a fantastic time for you and your fellow sadists. But, if you're a normal human being, which I don't know if I can safely assume, go with something a bit more liquidy. Like liquid, for instance. I hear it's much easier to swallow, and by “much easier” I of course mean it's possible to swallow it without killing yourself in the process. Now, it should be stated for the record that I'm definitely not a pill person to start with. I've never liked taking pills; pills are usually a last resort when I have no other alternatives besides a rectal suppository or large-bore needle. But then, any pills I've ever had to take have been relatively small. Smaller than a breadbox, anyone?

These LiquiCaps are ridiculous. It felt like I was swallowing a small hamster, or perhaps a textbook. I have a pretty strong gag reflex, and it was all I could do to hold back from yacking that pill right back out. So take it from me: go with the liquid. If you don't mind the chalk taste, go that way.

This public service announcement brought to you by Tigerblade and the pharmaceuticals industry.

I'm about to leave for the first day of my new job…

We'll see how it goes.

I find it amusing that within days of receiving confirmation that I'll once again be gainfully employed, I start to hear back from other companies.

The day after hearing back from my new employer that I'd be starting Monday, I get a call from a woman at a different company that she needs a web developer pronto to get her company online as soon as possible. I of course mention that I would be starting a new job come Monday, and ask if she will still be needing someone to fill the position in three or four months (when my contract with my new employer will probably end). As I expected, she can't wait that long (who can blame her) but she'll keep me in mind for the future.

Also, in the last three days, I've gotten a total of five rejection letters. Two in the mailbox, three emails. Thanks for getting back to me so soon after I applied, guys. Two and a half months later is a great time to get back to someone who was looking for a job.

Meh. Monday morning is gonna hit me hard… I'll have to wake up considerably earlier than normal. But I'll be getting paid again, which is nice.

One of my t-shirts: I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted paychecks.

Finally. Finally things start to look up.

After playing phone tag for a week and a half with this staffing company and the company they represent, I've finally gotten somewhere. This morning I got the phone call that I've been waiting for. The company finally got final approval to hire me on.

I don't know yet when I actually start work yet. They're running a background check on me, so when that clears (in 2 to 8 business days??) they'll let me know. So I could be starting as early as Thursday. Hopefully that multiple homicide from back in '93 doesn't show up on their records. For the record, I did not actually commit any homicides as far as I know.

I find it rather amusing, because last night I started having a dream about having to go back to my old job (which I'm not particularly fond of)… that would not be cool.

For the last two months, I’ve been trying to find a job. Unfortunately, it’s proving more difficult than I expected. Well… a few weeks ago I was contacted by a staffing company representing one of their clients who need someone to do some website work for them. Fairly basic stuff, just moving content from their existing site to a new template.

Had a few meetings, with the most recent one being this last Friday (the 13th). I met with the two people who are actually more or less in charge of the project I’d be working on, had a nice chat, found out some information about the project, all was fine. They said they needed to get final approval to go ahead from their director, and that they’d get back to me no later than Wednesday of this week. Wednesday came and went, no response. I talked to the staffing agent, who told me that they’d been unable to get ahold of this manager, but that they’d call me back by 10:30am of the next day, Thursday. Well, 10:30am Thursday came and went, no response. I call the guy back again, he says he still can’t get a response from these managers. He says if I don’t hear back by noon today (Friday), call back and find out what’s going on. So… I do. He says, again, that he’s going to try to get ahold of these managers and get back to me. Well… it’s 4:41pm and I have yet to hear anything. Ten minutes ago I got to leave a voicemail for him, and now it’s the weekend.

Is it really all that difficult to just make some phone calls and say yes or no? I don’t even care at this point if I got the job or not. I just want to know. I just want a yea or nay. I’m sick of getting jerked around by this company, telling me they’ll get back to me as soon as they can and then never actually getting back to me.

This is getting to be frustrating.

Since the initial launch of this site, every line of code has been painstakingly hand-written by me. Every little bit of it was hand-crafted to do more or less whatever I wanted it to do. It's evolved from a few measly lines of inefficient ASP to several thousand (in total) lines of PHP. I have a custom content management system allowing me to post entries and you to comment on them, allowing me to edit posts and comments, even allowing each new entry to update an RSS feed. I'm proud of it. It's my baby.

But it's still not all that efficient, and it's not very outsider-friendly. Any updates I make are painfully difficult to implement because I have to go through all my code and make sure everything still works. It's getting harder and harder to deal with comment spam, although I dare say I've done a decent job of it so far. So I'm considering migrating all my content to WordPress. I've got it installed already, and I've been playing around with the options. It shouldn't too difficult to switch over. Obviously it'll take me a while to get the theme of the site looking like it should, so I'll be spending some time with the CSS figuring things out. My biggest problem is going to be finding a way to move the entries from my existing database to the WordPress database, which takes an entirely different form. I'm working on that as I type — I'm taking a break from coding a conversion tool to write this.

Hopefully all this effort will be worth my time. If nothing else, it gives me something to do while I wait to hear back from my prospective employer (hopefully tomorrow morning).

In today's headlines, 84% of Americans reject the government's story about 9|11. Yep. Finally, people are waking up to the idea that “the official story of 19 Saudis with box cutters is ludicrous.”

Do you think members of the Bush Administration are telling the truth, are mostly telling the truth but hiding something, or are they mostly lying?

• Telling the truth 16%
• Hiding something 53%
• Mostly lying 28%
• Not sure 3%

So yeah.