Jul. 17th, 2006

bjarvis: (Cosmo)
It's your 39th, n'est-ce pas?

Congratulations on surviving another year, more or less intact. :-)
bjarvis: (Cosmo)
It's your 39th, n'est-ce pas?

Congratulations on surviving another year, more or less intact. :-)

Bleh.

Jul. 17th, 2006 08:58 am
bjarvis: (Brian's brain)
I really don't feel like being at work today.

OK, there's no revelation in that... I'm bored to tears most days. Or in a complete panic meeting someone else's insane and poorly considered deadlines.

Today, the temperatures are reaching towards 100 degrees F with extremely high humidity and "code orange" levels of ozone. In short, it will be unpleasant to be anywhere outside of a meat freezer.

At least there is some good news, of sorts. I didn't login to check work e-mail through the weekend so I was pleasantly surprised that the only e-mail messages waiting for me were automated system announcements: there were no additional oh-by-the-way-I-need-this-yesterday assignments suddenly remembered by various managers on Saturday or Sunday. Further, payday comes up on Friday, which is never a bad thing. And this coming weekend, we'll be heading to the trailer in West Virginia for the first time since May and spending some time with [livejournal.com profile] cuyahogarvr at Roseland.

I will plod my way through the work day without enthusiasm but I will get through it.

Bleh.

Jul. 17th, 2006 08:58 am
bjarvis: (Brian's brain)
I really don't feel like being at work today.

OK, there's no revelation in that... I'm bored to tears most days. Or in a complete panic meeting someone else's insane and poorly considered deadlines.

Today, the temperatures are reaching towards 100 degrees F with extremely high humidity and "code orange" levels of ozone. In short, it will be unpleasant to be anywhere outside of a meat freezer.

At least there is some good news, of sorts. I didn't login to check work e-mail through the weekend so I was pleasantly surprised that the only e-mail messages waiting for me were automated system announcements: there were no additional oh-by-the-way-I-need-this-yesterday assignments suddenly remembered by various managers on Saturday or Sunday. Further, payday comes up on Friday, which is never a bad thing. And this coming weekend, we'll be heading to the trailer in West Virginia for the first time since May and spending some time with [livejournal.com profile] cuyahogarvr at Roseland.

I will plod my way through the work day without enthusiasm but I will get through it.
bjarvis: (avatar)
The drive to work this morning along I270 northbound wasn't particularly unpleasant. Traffic was only moderately dense in this reverse commute direction but even the southbound lanes looked light compared to their usual load. The topic of discussion on NPR this morning was, however, exceptionally uninteresting: I can't tell you what it was anymore as I tuned out so early & completely into the broadcast.

In my boredom, I started to notice bits of debris along roadside in the miles between home & work.

The first to be encountered was the now-two dimensional corpse of a possum. Somehow, he got into the roadway and it ended his life.

Further along, I saw an industrial broom alongside the median. It was undamaged as near as I could see: the light tan wooden handle was intact and the bright orange bristles seemed pristine.

A few miles later, an empty silver beer can rolled along the highway, blown alternately into the third or fourth lanes by passing vehicles yet somehow avoiding direct contact with a car or truck that would flatten or impair its ability to move.

Just before my exit in Urbana, the mangled remains of a small lawn chair were strewn over 50 feet along the left shoulder, clearly the victim of a high velocity impact with the pavement.

These minor bits of detritus aren't just garbage: they're lost bets. Someone surely didn't intend to shatter a lawn chair on the highway or lose a perfectly good broom during their drive. I'm certain the possum didn't plan on dying in the HOV lanes. Someone secured --or didn't secure-- their possessions, gambling that their lack of preparation or care wouldn't matter, that their items would still be in their vehicle when they arrived at their destination. It was a gamble, and they lost.

Perhaps they passingly calculated the effort of securing their cargo wasn't worth the value of the cargo itself. By lack of foresight or from selfishness, they excluded from their cost estimate the effort by others to clean up their discarded items. Bad gambles usually cost twice.
bjarvis: (avatar)
The drive to work this morning along I270 northbound wasn't particularly unpleasant. Traffic was only moderately dense in this reverse commute direction but even the southbound lanes looked light compared to their usual load. The topic of discussion on NPR this morning was, however, exceptionally uninteresting: I can't tell you what it was anymore as I tuned out so early & completely into the broadcast.

In my boredom, I started to notice bits of debris along roadside in the miles between home & work.

The first to be encountered was the now-two dimensional corpse of a possum. Somehow, he got into the roadway and it ended his life.

Further along, I saw an industrial broom alongside the median. It was undamaged as near as I could see: the light tan wooden handle was intact and the bright orange bristles seemed pristine.

A few miles later, an empty silver beer can rolled along the highway, blown alternately into the third or fourth lanes by passing vehicles yet somehow avoiding direct contact with a car or truck that would flatten or impair its ability to move.

Just before my exit in Urbana, the mangled remains of a small lawn chair were strewn over 50 feet along the left shoulder, clearly the victim of a high velocity impact with the pavement.

These minor bits of detritus aren't just garbage: they're lost bets. Someone surely didn't intend to shatter a lawn chair on the highway or lose a perfectly good broom during their drive. I'm certain the possum didn't plan on dying in the HOV lanes. Someone secured --or didn't secure-- their possessions, gambling that their lack of preparation or care wouldn't matter, that their items would still be in their vehicle when they arrived at their destination. It was a gamble, and they lost.

Perhaps they passingly calculated the effort of securing their cargo wasn't worth the value of the cargo itself. By lack of foresight or from selfishness, they excluded from their cost estimate the effort by others to clean up their discarded items. Bad gambles usually cost twice.
bjarvis: (Zoidberg)
The space shuttle has landed safely and intact. Yay!
bjarvis: (Zoidberg)
The space shuttle has landed safely and intact. Yay!
bjarvis: (money)
It took a considerable amount of time, but I have finally uploaded most of my recent photos to clarkcolor.com.

As much as I love digital photography, I love having a print in a photo album just as much. Printing, however, isn't cheap. Clarkcolor.com charges $0.11 USD per 4x6 print, the best price I've found thus far. While I could have sworn at some time in the past they allowed photos to be submitted by CD-ROM, I could not find such a feature lately. Instead, I've had to upload the lot, 645 photos, most of which are 1.2 MB in size, to their web site for processing. While my DSL is adequate for general usage, the upload speed is only a fraction of the download speed, hence the loooooong wait to submit the order.

The photos cost 645 photos cost $71 for printing and $22 for shipping & handling.

This catches up almost all of my photography since the spring, although it doesn't include the recent IAGSDC convention (another 350 photos)... those will wait until another pay cycle. :-)
bjarvis: (money)
It took a considerable amount of time, but I have finally uploaded most of my recent photos to clarkcolor.com.

As much as I love digital photography, I love having a print in a photo album just as much. Printing, however, isn't cheap. Clarkcolor.com charges $0.11 USD per 4x6 print, the best price I've found thus far. While I could have sworn at some time in the past they allowed photos to be submitted by CD-ROM, I could not find such a feature lately. Instead, I've had to upload the lot, 645 photos, most of which are 1.2 MB in size, to their web site for processing. While my DSL is adequate for general usage, the upload speed is only a fraction of the download speed, hence the loooooong wait to submit the order.

The photos cost 645 photos cost $71 for printing and $22 for shipping & handling.

This catches up almost all of my photography since the spring, although it doesn't include the recent IAGSDC convention (another 350 photos)... those will wait until another pay cycle. :-)

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