Category: Pulverbatch

June 9, 2004 /

It’s not online, unfortunately, but trust me when I say that the front page of USA Today has the sub-head

U.S. Olympic hopefuls face drug accusations

Battle looms to compete

which, I… I don’t know, might just be the best ambiguous headline ever.

Geraldine kicked her ride into gear and rumbled out of the gate, into the Istodrome and its ambient thunder. The others were already circling the floor: Dallas Gator and his two-treadle rig, Jingo Smith on her lean ShuttleMatic, and Sam Scarwood’s weird upside-down contraption. Geraldine shook her head. Unless he got with the times and added a double back-beam, he wasn’t going anywhere.

The announcer’s boom brought her back to the arena. “Your final contestant… the Tartan Trampler… Geraldiiiiine O’Maaallleeey!“

Geraldine grinned, checked her trigger action, and shot off a salutatory flare from her Battle Loom’s smokestack. The crowd went wild.

Adkins’s Second Law

June 8, 2004 /

No artistic medium is inherently more or less capable than any other of communicating an idea, stirring emotions, or provoking thought.

Corollary: All media are artistic media.

June 4, 2004 /

After about a year, it finally occurred to me that I work in a cubicle, a space that is in its very nature designed to be modular. I’ve never really liked the way things were arranged in here. Today, I did something about it.

After about an hour of work, some sweat and some very odd looks, my forty-two square feet of space are now much more accommodating. I moved a big cabinet and some shelves I never used into an empty cube nearby, and wiped away a lot of accumulated dust. It feels bigger and lighter, and my workstation is finally in such a position that nobody can sneak up on me while I’m sitting at it. Or walk by and notice that I’m typing in my online journal instead of working. The downside to this is that I may occasionally have to make eye contact with the humans now, but this is a small price to pay.

I can actually use my whiteboard now. I’ve never decorated the walls of this place in any way, as my little symbolic refusal to be a cube-drone; I still don’t know if I will. But this does feel a little more like my own place now.

Inertia is a strange thing. I feel like I just built a house.

I ought to make a subcategory for these

June 3, 2004 /

The lady in the cube next to mine is pretty vicious with her voicemail system; I know this because she always uses it with her speakerphone on. It sounds like this:

CLICK TOOOOONE

BEEP BEEP BEEP

“Meridian Mail. Mailb–“

BEEP BOOP BEEP BEEP

“Passw–“

BEEP BEEP BOOP BOOP BEEP

“One fifteen pm, June–“

BEEP

“You have one n–“

BEEP

“Hi, this is Gary with Midwest Accounts. It’s around ten till one, and I was just returning your–“

BEEP BEEP

“Message era–“

CLICK

June 2, 2004 /

The query still won’t run right. There are like five people on the database and I guess that’s just too much. I wish they’d leave. I’m going to have to come in on Saturday now.

June 2, 2004 /

Fixed my about page. It’s sleek and powerful now, like a lion, or a submarine.

I have not fixed my “blogroll,” which is ridiculously long and makes the page scroll forever. I only found out it was a “blogroll” the other day. I just thought it was a list of peeps I read.

June 2, 2004 /

I’m sitting here at work, killing time until 6:00, when most people will have gone home and I can actually try running my queries because the database won’t be so busy. The Interweb no longer entertains me, and I can’t think of anything interesting to write. I feel dried out and cold. It’s been a long day.

It will be nice to have this done, though (if it works), and not have it hanging over my head. Plus there’s a possibility of seeing Der Flöra tonight, and who knows what will happen over the weekend? There are a lot of people whose company I enjoy in Louisville right now; it’s June, and it’s about time I stopped getting enough sleep.

Ominous

June 2, 2004 /

Overheard just now, from the cube next to mine:

“It’s been a month now, and there’s been no kickback. And it’s like I was telling John earlier: we may have a problem here.”

May 26, 2004 /

I had a busy afternoon. First, I’ve written a few stories for constrained.org, which is as neat as anticipated. I’ve got a couple more in progress, but you know what would be really neat? If you tried one too.

Second, I promised to post about it a long time ago and never did, but there’s a new theme coming up at BlogNomic–it’s still in process, but it would seem that Damanor and I have taken over the world. I’ve been playing since January with only a couple of breaks, and the game remains fun. If you’re interested in getting in at the beginning of whatever happens next, I recommend joining now.

Update 1646 hrs: I should add that Damanor and I may not end up winning, but either way there’s a new Dynasty coming, since the old Emperor has quit. (That’s what I meant by “in process.” I just don’t want to appear overly cheeky.)