September 2, 2004
I’m Half Blind!
Author’s Note: I wrote this one last week, too. My problem really isn’t the writing so much as it is the posting. I wonder what else I’ve got in here…
Played in a little Hold ‘em tourney here amongst some friends. It was the first time I’d ever played no limit (albeit with a relatively small bankroll). It was some of the most fun Poker I’d ever played. Because the pot went to the winner (with entry fee back to second place), there was none of the reluctance to bet with “assured winnings” that we always got in our little poker games back home. Everyone was still in it for the money until the end.
Plus, it didn’t hurt that I won.
In subjectively related other news, my glasses are malfunctioning. It’s come to my attention that the lenses I got at Walmart, which I chose because they were inexpensive, were cheap crap. The left one is not cut correctly, which puts tension on the screw holding it in, and even a slight tweak the wrong way will cause it to spring open, voiding its contents.
Author’s Note: Original title: Glasses Half Empty. Rejected for one which is punny in a different sense.
Solution the First: Keep screwing the damn things back together and hope it doesn’t happen often. I have to give praise to this approach. While I’ve danced the last two Wednesdays in a blur after having my glasses break only minutes into the evening, the rest of the time they’ve held together pretty well. Until now, when they broke again, and I couldn’t get them back together because I didn’t have my little screw driver with me.
Solution the Second: Fashion an eyepatch out of a Post-it note (really), because the world is much more comprehensible when it is all a sort-of pale yellowish color than it is when it is only half-way in focus. This has the downside of coworkers who look at one funnily, but the upside of being an excuse to talk like a pirate, so it’s basically a wash.
Solution the Third: Call around to find out if any optics shops can fix such a thing. Well, maybe they can. The only definitely affirmative response I got was from Costco, where I drove after work. I’m not a member, but I figured that I’d happily buy a membership if they would fix my glasses for me (the next best offer I got was to pay $120 to have the lenses replaced :rolleyes:). It turns out that the subject never came up. So Costco has some serious good karma going for it in my book (but no actual money).
Oh, and he didn’t do anything with the lenses, he just gave me a bigger screw. A gold one. My glasses got bling, now.
Back To School
Hey, I’m going to come visit all y’all Claremont people this weekend. I’ll be staying with Adam, unless someone makes me a better offer (like a bed, for example). Planning to come down Friday after work and probably leave Saturday night or Sunday morning.
So, think of cool stuff to do, like if the Pope was coming to visit, but wasn’t so moral.
One Set of Bugs For Another
Author’s Note: And just like that I fail to actually write anything for another whole day. But, honest, I wrote this one on Tuesday. But then it wasn’t quite done, and I had to prepare for DJing at the Jitterbug Club tonight (Wednesday). I signed up to do so a moon ago, when it seemed certain that I’d have a laptop by then (now). Ha ha ha ha ha. That it is still AWOL, I had to burn cds at a frantic pace to actually have music to play tonight. But it went well.
And, now, without further ado…
I became aware yesterday afternoon that something was not quite right with the world (in general) and my office (specifically). I was in the middle of trying to figure out what was going on in my program–evil spirits is my current working hypothesis–when I noticed a smallish red winged insect striding brazenly across my desk. I placed my coffee cup over him and went on with my business. A few minutes more I noticed a second one wandering over on the other side of my desk. I put my juice bottle on him.
This could not continue; I was rapidly running out of drinking containers. I looked up and saw four more of them crawling up my wall. I leaned over my desk to see where they had come from, but there was no obvious entry point. I inspected one closely. It was red in body, about 7.5 mm long, and posessing long swept-back wings. A quick Google images search confrimed. I walked over to Mike’s office.
<paraphrased>
“I’m not sure who I should tell about this, but there are about six of what look very much like termites in my office.”
“That’s not good.”
I nodded.
“Yeah, I remember Brian having trouble with termites when he was in that office. Every once in a while they called the exterminators. It’s not good. I mean, you shouldn’t have to work with bugs in your office.”
“I was more worried about the building collapsing or something.”
“Oh…Right. I wouldn’t worry about it.”
I am unrelieved.
