IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN!
Share on Facebook  Share on MySpace  Share on LiveSpaces  Share on del.icio.us  Share on Digg
» CATEGORY: Member Blog
 BY: Strike & Co. «
» POSTED ON: 9/9/2013 12:01:21 AM
MOOD: accomplished «
   
  [ Now where'd my Wheel of Morality(TM) go? ]

Ouch. Just about 2 months gap this time? Sorry! (Not that anyone reads these anymore... but I like leaving some sort of paper trail here, since I haven't been keeping any real sort of diary since I moved.)

Doesn't seem like much of import has happened; work is the same old--except for new processes that really are a good thing to have, there's just been a lot to adjust to--which simply means there is a variety of things I'm being pushed to do, as usual. I don't suck at this job, but I try to be too helpful, essentially. That, and people don't understand that wireless is a perk, and it's slow. Seriously, people: don't try to watch HD video on a wireless connection, and don't cry to me when it starts working. There's reasons it took what, forty years to get wireless Matrix? Ah, it wasn't that long really, maybe just 30 before it started showing up, but another ten (and Crash 2.0) before it went ubiquitous, and that's probably Sader-Krupp's fault as much as anything else--but I digress.

In other job-related news, I *have* been doing much better at waking early (or even on time)--haven't had any occurrences in about two weeks. Not entirely sure what to make of that, but I suppose it's a good thing.
Also related to occurrences: there was a recent communication telling everyone to start taking breaks and lunches as scheduled. I still don't think I'm going to do that much (I like a short break at 4, lunch as late as possible, and then the rest of my break just before the end of my shift) as they like scheduling breaks and lunches close together, or very early in my shift. However, they specifically mentioned that taking a break in the final hour of one's shift counts as "call avoidance" which is, presumably, a Very Bad Thing, so I'm trying to take my final break sometime between 8 and 8:30 instead. Ah well.

And now: followup from last post!
1) Still have not done job searching. I suck, and I only have a few months left to land something; though I think I'll have to postpone my "quit" date to Feb 1 in order to take proper advantage of paid vacation time.
2) Just cleaned the bathroom again; 2 months is far too long between cleanings, but it's better than previous...
3) Never did get to see my mum for lunch/chinese, but she and my dad stopped by a couple times so I guess that counts?
4) Ah, so it has been about 2 months since my last haircut! Didn't get to that today, so have to this Tuesday.

5/PS) Did get the Ford Taurus. After repairs the whole thing was close to $3000, which isn't too bad considering it has fewer miles than the Grandam (which cost $4000 en toto).

It still makes clanky noises, mostly due to the sway bar having a loose clamp, or whatever that's called... so far the replaced sway bar links have not broken, which is a good sign. Only one link was intact when I got the car.

Decided to keep the Grandam around as an emergency vehicle (and also since it took /forever/ to get the Taurus finished), which was a good decision because my roommate's transmission finally died a week or so back. So he's driving the Grandam to work and such until he gets back on his feet and can get something better. If that takes more than two months I may make him buy it off of me for a few hundred, but we'll see how that goes down. In the meantime I get to bother him for the upkeep on it.

OK, that's enough about cars :p

New Stuff:

1) Like I said, need to do jobhunting. I think I have a slightly better handle on it, but there's still a lot of anxiety there, mostly because I haven't done any tech job interviews, and don't know what to expect AT ALL.

2) I have an idea for a side data project; I can plausibly do the number-crunching as a Linux script/cron job, but would like to see if I can retrofit it completely to a webpage. Either way, I also want to end up with the 2-day forecast on my desktop, refreshed automagically. That'll be a completely different script, and may have one or two other things to deal with as well to finish setting it up.

3) Ah, right: ninjas. Trying to set up the Chuunin exams. Also trying to avoid having to stat up every single other nin, but there are a couple ways around it--starting with, only have 65 genin present, and not all of them will even be in the second exam, let alone the final. Still, GMing this is eating up a lot of my time. After the exams I'm expecting to ask for a break so I can plot out the next time period, etc etc...

4) Haven't had a chance to work on any setup for AMVs... but I have been catching up on some anime! Got a couple DVDs with good footage for the "HSKT" concept video (which has probably been done before but should be good for a "pure" video). Have to re-rip it though, since it has footage at mixed speeds. Sigh. Seems easier to rip once at each speed than try to have the ripper figure out what speed any particular frame is.

5) Oo, my brother got a weekend job at the Ren Faire! He's pretty amped about it, and I would be too.

6)Brad found the Tri-Stat "cyber punk setting" book , Ex Machina, so I'm borrowing it first, apparently. Not entirely sure what to make of it, aside from ideas on how a setting book should be laid out. Might be worth putting together something in the way of a Tri-stat Ninja setting book. Like I'll ever have the time for that ;)

7) Mostly been playing StarCraft 2, watching anime, and listening to "Welcome to Night Vale" podcast (via SoundCloud but the first link has a variety of feeds). I highly recommend the latter; it's amazingly shiny.

Speaking of anime, I'm currently going through Read or Die (OVA and TV series) and Tim says that BGC 2040 is on Netflix, so that'll be next; got to see the original OVA and the first half of 2040 several years back but never did get to finish it. (And then I'll have to dig up Crash, but that will be for later...) Also intending to try to find the AMG manga at some point; not sure if I can spend the time on the anime of that or not, but whatever.
   
  » NP : random MP3s
  » SHORTY CODE : http://tgbob.com/?856
   
 
I APPROVE!!!!!11one I DISAPPROVE!!!!!11

OPINIONS: 22 PEOPLE APPROVED, WHILE 22 PEOPLE DISAPPROVED
 

 
ANOTHER MONTH, ANOTHER... GAH A TORNADO!!!!
Share on Facebook  Share on MySpace  Share on LiveSpaces  Share on del.icio.us  Share on Digg
» CATEGORY: Member Blog
 BY: Strike & Co. «
» POSTED ON: 7/11/2013 4:54:53 PM
MOOD: awake «
   
  First off--nothing much exciting going on. At least it's not been a full month since my last post... and I ahve gotten a little AI work done on my web-game. Now trying to get out to do car shopping, and the usual ninja stuff.

Until yesterday, at least.

I texted most of my people about this, but got some additional details today and the pictures will be easier to see here.
(I'll "spoiler" the pix just so they don't take up so much room on the main page.)

So:
Yesterday around 4pm, it's almost time to go on break, but I decide to take another call instead. I get the caller's account pulled up and they start explaining their issue, when the people around me start screaming and hiding under their desks. The windows outside is in the next row over, so I can't see what's going on--it looks dark out, but the window is tinted so that normal days still look almost stormy. 10 or 15 seconds later, it sounds like hail is hitting the roof above me, and then the drop ceiling starts bouncing.

This is the point where I decide that something serious is actually happening, and I take cover under my desk as well.
(all this time, the caller is going on about... something. I think they said "router" at some point. I wasn't paying attention anymore; too busy trying to determine What Just Happened.)
The power is flickering off and on; the generator is probably trying to kick in, but it still takes another.... 10 or 15 seconds? (I have no idea how long it was, but wasn't very long) Once the noise dies down and it seems safe to come out, there's a call center manager at the end of the row yelling and waving at everyone to get out of the main room and into the break room.

So I try to calmly tell the caller that we just got hit by a tornado and I'm sorry but he'll have to call back.

And then I quickly-but-not-running get out of there and into the break room. I would've grabbed my bag, but the manager seemed rather urgent, so I left it for the moment.

They end up taking us over to the gym, then back into one of the unused rooms; people are talking about being able to see the sky through the ceiling, funnel clouds, smelling gas, the "smoker's tent" outside is gone, this girl over here got hit on the head by a falling ceiling tile... lots of confusion and "what's going to happen next?" This is when I finally get a chance to start texting people to let them know what's going on.

After maybe T + 30 minutes the police have shown up and we're let outside--fortunately not raining, as my jacket is with my bag--and told to go home. The room I was working in is off-limits till further notice, so I elect to leave my gear behind and try to pick it up later.

My car is fine, everything else in the parking lot seems fine (aside from a bunch of foam insulation debris, and the metal "smoker's tent" being gone). Can't see the flat roof very well from ground level, but the area near the row I'd been sitting in no longer has any overhang. (Thought I had a pic of that, but can't find it now, sorry!)

So after a bunch of texting and trying to get a couple pictures, I start driving home around 5pm.

I pass one building that *does* look like it got hit by a tornado; later I found out that the roof there collapsed partly; from this angle you just can't tell what's happening.

Lots more fire trucks and police cars here, though. And there were even two buses that showed up with "evacuation" as the destination-sign-thing on the front; first time I'd seen that.

So after a lot of driving around lost trying to find a way out that wasn't horribly traffic jammed (considering a lot of traffic lights were out and it's 5pm now so it's rush hour plus the extra traffic) I get back to the condo by 630. No power outages, yay.

And then today I still haven't heard anything, so I drive back to work to get a damage report and try to reclaim my gear.

There are some trees down along my usual route (not on the road, though) and several people out collecting the roof-insulation debris still.

When I actually get to work, I'm told that the roof did partly collapse, and we're probably on paid vacation till Sunday. I do get my gear back, and there's a website posted to check as to when we'll be back up and running. Rumor is that our data center was destroyed, I imagine from rain damage afterwards.

The roof damage is more obvious, and they've got people up trying to fix it:

As points of reference, the smoker's tent was in front of the window at the end of the middle row of cars, and the row I was sitting at is between the two windows there.

Speaking of the smoker's tent, it is now across 270 in a electric line tower:

Not the clearest/closest picture, sorry, but they've got a crane up trying to get it down--it's just a corrugated metal roof on metal poles; pretty light.

There are unofficial reports of a funnel cloud, including at least one picture that I've seen, but we're still waiting to hear officially if there was a tornado or just a "microburst" or something like that.

Oo, just found a good news report about my building and not just the other stuff in the area! The guy talking at around the 1:15-1:20 mark is one of my coworkers... and that's the first I heard about damage to cars in my parking lot. The pictures there are from the NW corner of the lot, though. The broken Teleperformance windows look like they're from the training building across the street, I think.

Oh, and the "smoking shed" referenced at 1:10 or so is the same thing I had a pic of, only they got to zoom in on it :)

...and now that I've wasted a couple more hours of my day getting this all set up >_> my plans for the next couple days off work:
1) job searching
2) cleaning
3) seeing my mum for dinner
4) anything else I need to catch up on while I have some time (possibly including a haircut).
   
  » NP : random MP3s
  » SHORTY CODE : http://tgbob.com/?855
   
 
I APPROVE!!!!!11one I DISAPPROVE!!!!!11

OPINIONS: 22 PEOPLE APPROVED, WHILE 11 PEOPLE DISAPPROVED
 

 
DELAYS
Share on Facebook  Share on MySpace  Share on LiveSpaces  Share on del.icio.us  Share on Digg
» CATEGORY: Member Blog
 BY: Strike & Co. «
» POSTED ON: 6/16/2013 2:11:19 AM
MOOD: energetic «
   
  Wow. It's been 2 months this time? (Or very nearly.) Sorry about that.

Not a ton of stuff to report, though, but here's some of the highlights:

May:

    * Finally settled on an exercise schedule. Not keeping to it 100%, but I am keeping to it. Not sure my heart rate is getting high enough, but it is helping my mood!
    * Got a new roommate (Hi, Bob!).
    * Fanfic reading has mostly been a redo of "Nuke 'Em Till They Glow: Terra in Tokyo", which is a weird story set in the Sailor Moon setting. It reminds me of the crazy stuff I wrote in high school--and that's a good thing!
    * So while waiting on chapters of that to be posted, I went and read the original "Nuke 'Em Till They Glow", which is crazier, more crossover-iffic (not necessarily good, but again, reminds me of the crazy stuff I wrote), and has probably The Best Ending I can imagine. And it would take a story like that one to pull it off and make it work without me totally hating it, because the story really wasn't over yet! (Only now it is.) So it's The Best Ending Ever, but I'm still mad about it ;)
    * Finally found that a chapter of "Reflections Lost on a Dark Road" had gotten posted back around New Year's. I think it's getting close to only that chapter being posted in an entire year... which is sad, because I really dig the XCom/Ranma crossover continued here, and adding Teen Titans to that mix was fun as well. Still looking forward to more.
    * Finished up the StarCraft 2 campaign, and have been playing around on some of the multiplayer maps. Don't want to get pwned so not playing competitive, but survival and tower defense has always been fun in StarCraft..... but I think I'm about ready to put that up and get back to extra-curricular projects.
    * Fallout3 kinda-sorta works, but the DLC/addons pretty much do NOT :( And now it keeps crashing or just not rendering the screen (just has a HUD on a black screen) so I'm gonna be done with that for a bit also. Still want to try New Vegas, though, if I can find money to get that sometime.
    * Speaking of projects: I've ripped Witch Hunter Robin and the first season of Death Note. Watching through Witch Hunter again (slowly) with Jason, looking for footage to try to put something together for tEG's "Flame". Honestly don't know if the footage exists, since I don't have a good feel for the song's intent, honestly. (Hard to match up footage when one just isn't feeling the song.) But we'll see what I get.


June so far:

    * No forward motion on the web-game or on job hunting. Bah.
    * Still mixed signals regarding how depressed I am. Even odds it means I'm too depressed to be able to tell... or else I'm just overworked/underslept.
    * One good thing at work: I'm under 4 "occurrences" now and they've started pulling me of the phones intermittently to answer hands in the training section. (When someone has a question or something, they put their hand up... and I get to wander around a couple rows helping people out.) It's actually fun, probably the only actual fun I've had there after I started taking calls. Now to keep my occurrences down and see if I can actually get transferred to something else at this place that isn't just phones.
    * No news on the car. Probably time for an oil change again (mileage-wise, I need those every 2 months). Still haven't really looked for a replacement.
    * Sundays are now "hang out online and play ninjas with my brother". Which is cool, but it's every week and it's the 8-hour sessions that we did back in Shadyside, so there goes one of my free days. So far it's worth it, though :) And (depending on the results) I may have pulled off one of the defining moments of my ninja career; I'll probably have to post that here once I see the fallout ^_^
    * Just got the $40 rebate prepaid card things from purchasing my computer... so now I have to determine what I'm doing with those. Food budget this month is a little tight, or I could try to pick up some anime for AMVs, or I could look for New Vegas or get some new music... Still undecided.
    * Tues night ninjas is kind of dragging out, partly because I'm not used to 2 hour sessions (or planning for something that short) and partly because I'm not really spending much time on it during the week. I'm thinking of putting it on hiatus after we get through the chuunin exams, but that may not be this year anyway, haha.


Futurecasting:

    * Finally getting my self-debt paid off this month. Haven't been there since I moved out here, so: Finally! Of course, that'll only last till I get another car ;)
    * Gonna start saving up for glasses. The lens coating on these ones has started coming off near the nose, which isn't interfering with vision yet, but they won't last forever...
    * Also trying to work on dressing up some at work. That's still in the planning stages though, apparently; I need to actually survey my current clothing and see what is usable and what all I need to go buy... Anyone want to go clothes shopping with me? x_o
    * Ninjas, ninjas, ninjas! Just wish I could find a way to leverage that better....
    * No one here cares, but: There's gonna be a Megatokyo Visual Novel. I'm gonna get it. There's gonna be a Kickstarter for it sometime soon, and I'll probably actually sign up there.


Well, I think that's most everything for tonight. I have to wake up early to go shopping before ninjas, and that never happens on my days off, so >_<
And I'm not tired enough yet to try to fall asleep, either.
So I'm gonna go find something to do until I can sleep, I suppose. Good night, everyone!
   
  » NP : trying to /stop/ playing, actually....
  » SHORTY CODE : http://tgbob.com/?854
   
 
I APPROVE!!!!!11one I DISAPPROVE!!!!!11

OPINIONS: 18 PEOPLE APPROVED, WHILE 13 PEOPLE DISAPPROVED
 

 
STUFFED UP RANDOMNESS
Share on Facebook  Share on MySpace  Share on LiveSpaces  Share on del.icio.us  Share on Digg
» CATEGORY: Daily Blog
 BY: tgbob «
» POSTED ON: 4/29/2013 8:50:21 PM
MOOD: blah «
   
  No need to wait... Let's do this!

1) I attended a wedding this past weekend, and I ended up catching the garter... So, unless I go the whole Russian Bride route, does this mean I'll be getting a girlfriend soon?

2) I'm not feeling very well today... Sinuses are clogged and my throat still hurts. Hope this medication takes effect soon!

3) Another sign of me finding the perfect job... Me and my supervisor got into a lengthy discussion today on Magic: The Gathering, as he once had a 15,000+ card collection!

4) If one thing could make me any happier, it would be exchanging messages with a much-admired celebrity!

5) Yes, #4 just happened.

6) Speaking of a number happening... I'm wearing my "I Pooped Today" shirt. Just thought you'd like to know.

7) I finished off the last of my delicious spinach noodles today. It was yummy, but yet a little biittersweet, as I have no more, and that makes me sad...

8) I think my nose may very well fall off. After all I've been blowing it today, it is extremely sore.

9) My Minecraft server is back up, for those of you who care!

10) I stopped in Hilliard Walmart today. With a town like Hilliard, I thought the Walmart would be a bit more classy than most. That was until I passed a woman in an aisle who was telling somebody over her cellphone not to kill her husband...

11) I wonder if there are any good open mic spots here in Columbus...

12) There is a clue in #7 as to who the celebrity mentioned in #4 is, as emphasized by the confirmation of #5... Who is it? ^_^

-- TG
  » SHORTY CODE : http://tgbob.com/?853
   
 
I APPROVE!!!!!11one I DISAPPROVE!!!!!11

OPINIONS: 20 PEOPLE APPROVED, WHILE 20 PEOPLE DISAPPROVED
 

 
LINES, LINES, LINES!!!
Share on Facebook  Share on MySpace  Share on LiveSpaces  Share on del.icio.us  Share on Digg
» CATEGORY: WTF Videos
 BY: tgbob «
» POSTED ON: 4/24/2013 9:46:55 PM
MOOD: sick «
   
  ...................................
|
|
|
|
|----------------
|
|
|
_____________________________

See what I did there? I drew some lines! Yep, they're all nice and neat... dotted and dashed and stuff...

It's easy to make them with a keyboard. What about drawing them with chalk? And totally not taking your time on them, but drawing them with one fell swoop? Sounds pretty WTF'n ridiculous to me! ^_^
   
 
  » SHORTY CODE : http://tgbob.com/?852
   
 
I APPROVE!!!!!11one I DISAPPROVE!!!!!11

OPINIONS: 20 PEOPLE APPROVED, WHILE 11 PEOPLE DISAPPROVED
 

<< FIRST
< PREV
NEXT >
LAST >>