weary as water

notes from today

so…I went to Minneapolis. Had a great time (although I’ve been lazy about putting up pictures) and really enjoyed:
1) the weather
2) the free happy hour at the hotel
3) spending more money on alcohol than on food.
4? oh, and hanging out with Lisa, of course!

Today was a really busy crappy hectic day. I spent an hour on the phone with Dell trying to convince them to send me a new graphics card for a machine (no video, put a known good card in and it worked) and the tech said he needed me by the machine (which was back in the lab with the temp video card). Called back around 5 and the rep didn’t even ask me to turn the computer on…just arranged for the part to be sent out. Mental note: It is worthless to try to argue with a Dell rep. Just call back and hope you get someone friendlier.

Lots of people at work have been getting infected with the latest malware. Virus writers are getting smarter – they are writing emails people will actually click on. Unfortunately for me, people are gullible and easily freaked by weird cnn headlines, evites, false mortgage payments, and even a site for the talledega dirt track. (who knew?). C’mon people, just take two seconds to look at the link to make sure it’s pointing somewhere legitimate. Please??

I’m listening to the new album by Brian Eno & David Byrne – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, which is a brilliant title for an album. It’s streaming for the time being at http://everythingthathappens.com/.

Things I’m Not Sure Are Legal:
* The church school up the street that makes the street one-way-only during school dropoff and pickup times. I always ignore the sign (on my bike) because it annoys the crap out of me.
* The Birmingham Public Library downtown’s rule of searching all “oversized” bags before letting you in the library. Seriously, what are they looking for? Usually I just keep on walking and ignore the officer sitting behind the desk, but for some reason Sunday I stopped. Em & I had ridden our bikes, so I had a standard issue Timbuktu messenger bag and she had a sling bag, both of which apparently qualify as “oversized”. The officer said he was looking for “guns, weapons, or contraband” but then didn’t even open up any of the pockets in my bag. Really weird and annoying – so I have to submit to a search to get into a public space? How is that legal?

Agh. Rant off. I’m going to go eat some leftover frittata which I hope is even more delicious cold. Have a good night kids.