More bullshit from another asshole with a blog

I am the slacker, goo goo g'joob
29Nov07

Posted by wafwot

GPS Map I know, I know. It’s been more than a month. Excuse the fuck out of me, I’ve been busy! Okay, I’ve been lazy. Sometimes I don’t feel like writing, or I’m just too distracted. Some stuff has happened in the past month — none of it really that interesting — but here goes.

The image here is a screen capture from a new page on wafwot.com. My new cell phone has a GPS chipset in it, and I’m running a cool little program that automatically uploads my current position to a database on my web server. The web page then plots the points using Google Maps or Google Earth. It so totally kicks ass! You can view my latest trip, or previous trips, or even see my current location! I don’t always have the program running on the phone, however, so the web page may not always show my latest position. The program is called TrackMe, and was written by Luis Espinosa. The web interface was written by jcleek/Slacker, also of the xda-developers forums, and I’ve even contributed a tiny bit to the web code. Check out my GPS tracking at gps.wafwot.com. If you have Google Earth installed, load up my KML file at http://www.wafwot.com/gps/routes/wafwot.kml. It’s pretty damn cool.

As I mentioned, I got a new phone. I’m such a technology whore when it comes to phones. My last new phone was only April of this year, but I was using it for so much, I was getting frustrated at the slow speed of the phone and the Int0rn3ts.

My new phone is an AT&T Tilt. Here’s another picture. This bitch smokes! It’s got more gadgets than Sean Connery and Roger Moore combined! Windows Mobile 6 Professional powered by a 400 MHz Qualcomm processor, a 65k-color tilting TFT touchscreen, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 802.11b and 802.11g Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth 2.0 with support of up to 6 simultaneous pairings, a 3 megapixel camera with 10x zoom and autofocus, built-in GPS, quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 3.6 Mbps tri band UMTS/HSDPA (that’s right, 3.6 megabits per second, baby), 256 MB of flash ROM, 128 MB SRAM, and a microSD expansion slot with support for 32 GB memory cards. I currently have a 4 GB card in the phone, because they don’t make 32 giggers yet. (My god, look at all them Wikipedia links!)

Oh, and it’s a phone, too! Imagine that.

The GPS chipset and large microSD card lets me run TomTom Navigator on the phone for voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation. I was amazed at how accurate TomTom is, at least on roads that have existed for more than a few years. It’s the dog’s bollocks, man! Of course, we drive the same route day after day after day after day after… but it’s nice to have for those trips around accidents, or the rare time I get lost. I’ll be fucked by starving Pygmies before I’ll stop and ask for directions! I’m a guy, damn it! We’re not supposed to ask for directions or the monkeys will fly out our asses, and we can’t have that.

It’s a beautiful thing when I can be secure shelled into work via VPN, chatting on a jabber server, live tracking my journey on Google Maps for the world to see, and surfing the web at DSL speeds — in the palm of my hand — while doing 75 miles an hour northbound on I-5. Don’t get your panties in a knot, I’m a passenger at those times. If I was driving, I’d be text messaging, too! Ha ha!

Okay, enough about my geek toys. What else has happened? I had some work done on my truck. Early in November, I had Les Schwab put on four new Wild Country tires. I bought the truck with the old tires on it, and they were getting a little thin in the tread department. The new tires are nice and quiet, and with winter on the way, it feels good to know my ass (and LDriver’s ass) will safer… because we all know how I worry about LDriver’s ass.

Just before Thanksgiving, I took the truck to Hilltop Texaco here in Oak Harbor. The soul-crushing commutes to Seattle on Fridays were taking their toll on my engine. After doing a hundred miles — forty of which are at 70+ miles per hour — the truck was running rough and felt like it needed a good tune-up. So, during lunch on one of the three days of the holiday-shortened week I worked from home, I took my F-150 to Hilltop. I sat in their waiting room for nearly four freaking hours, tortured by FOX News and watching people shovel popcorn down their esophagus like their name was Moses and they just got back from his little pow-wow with God in the mountains.

Anyway, the mechanics at Hilltop put in new spark plugs, new wires, a new distributor cap, a new rotor, a new serpentine belt, and tuned and scoped the engine. They also checked the electrical system and the brakes. The truck passed all it’s tests, but still runs rough at idle once it’s up to running temperature. Damn it all to hell, I hate vehicles, sometimes. Nearly five hundred dollars, and I still have the “trouble” I took the truck in for. It rides much nicer, sounds better, and even shifts gears smoother… but what the fuck, man?

Speaking of Thanksgiving, Tina and I had a nice holiday. We didn’t go anywhere, or do anything special. We’re boring like that. But, I had a nice nine-day span of being at home, coupled with turkey, stuffing, cranberries, and football. It was a relaxing weekend work-from-home four-day weekend string of days. I wish I could do that more often! Like once a month! Fuck, think of the gas (and money) I’d save. As it is, I spend more than $90 a week in gas.

Okay, there ya go. Not so great, but it catches you up a bit and prevents me from going the whole month of November without an update. December should be a little chattier.

Rocket Science
20Jul07

Posted by wafwot

donerocket.png Just like NASA‘s testing of the early Atlas and Titan rockets of the late 1950s and 1960s, SunRocket has crashed and burned, leaving more than 200,000 customers stranded without reliable VoIP phone service.

If you’ve been a long-time reader, or gave up masturbating one weekend to read through past entries of this horse shit, you’ll remember I tried SunRocket's service in January of 2006. I wasn’t too impressed. I talked a couple of former Kwik-E-Mart employees who apparently couldn’t hack it in the cut-throat Squishee industry, and they kept asking me to spoof my MAC address. I eventually sent their Gizmo back to Virginia after canceling service.

Well, in May, I got an email from SunRocket asking me to come back. The email said they had improved their service and technical support. It offered me service for $19.95 a month, free setup, a free Gizmo with free shipping, and the first two months free. That’s a lot of goddamn “free,” people, and SunRocket had a richer feature set than Vonage. I figured, “Why not?”

I got the new Gizmo, and the service worked flawlessly right out of the box. The Gizmo was a newer Linksys device, and it was a simple drop-in replacement for my Vonage adapter. The service was stable, too. There were no dropped calls with crystal clear audio. Things were as perfect as a virgin’s puckered balloon knot.

Apparently, though, SunRocket’s ass was about to fall out, because they were laying people off left and right. The final blow came Monday when they laid off over 200 customer support techs and put a “fuck off and die” message on their phone number. I’m paraphrasing here, folks. Their web page also has a big fuck off on it (at least at this time).

I have to apologize to Tina. I tried calling her four different times within 10 minutes on Monday evening. There was no answer despite having four (yes, four) cordless phones throughout the house, including one in the shitter. I came home and bitched at her for not answering the phone. She said it didn’t ring, but when I called from my cell phone in front of her, the goddamn phones lit up like I was at a PBS pledge drive. I now know that SunRocket’s demise was the reason why the phone didn’t ring. So, to Tina: I’m sorry for being a grouchy little bitch.

Luckily, I was never charged for service by SunRocket. They closed the doors before my two month trial was over. I also never canceled Vonage. All I had to do to switch back to Vonage was walk Tina through swapping the Gizmo for the Vonage adapter… and she did that with little instructions via jabber. Other people I work with, who were also using SunRocket, weren’t so lucky. They have to find a new VoIP provider.

On a completely different topic, I really hate the west coast for its selection of good food. I grew up in Philadelphia, where food is food! The east coast is where good food was born, apparently. I think I’ve talked about this topic before, but it’s really pissing me off, lately. Cheesecake… why is it so difficult to find a good, deep and rich New York-style cheesecake with graham cracker crust out here on the west coast? Where I work, they like to celebrate your birthday by gathering up the employees who aren’t up to their asses in alligators and sing Happy Birthday to You over a cake of your choice. This Sunday is my birthday. When the “birthday committee” asked me my favorite cake, why wouldn’t I say cheesecake? However, the cake they got was not cheesecake. The girls of the birthday committee do a good job of getting a cake and a card signed by everyone. I’m sure they’re limited by the bakery as to what they can purchase, and I really am appreciative of the effort… but cheesecake does not have yellow sponge cake in it! The cake they got had sponge cake on the bottom layer with raspberry jam between a cheesy cream topping that had the consistency of soft margarine. It was tasty, but it wasn’t cheesecake like I know cheesecake. If you really want to try a good east coast cheesecake, take the time to try my cheesecake recipe.

Most people have never heard of a hoagie on the west coast. They’re called subs here, and only seems to be sold by chain stores, like Subway. On a side note… how cool is Wikipedia for having a separate article for hoagies? I thought for sure they’d lump it in with “submarine sandwiches.” Anyway, Subway sandwiches are not hoagies. I can make a better sandwich with hot dog buns and pre-packaged, pre-sliced, vacuum-packed cold cuts from the grocery store… and I so wish I could punch that faggoty-ass Jared Fogle in the throat. If you make a hoagie the way it’s supposed to be made, you’re not going to lose weight. Processed meats high in fat, oil and/or mayonnaise, and cheese — glorious cheese — make a good hoagie. It’s not supposed to be good for you, which is why a hoagie is so goddamn delicious! Jared’s corporate-paid ass is eating lettuce and tomato sandwiches with a turkey condiment; no cheese, no oil or mayo. Let’s call a spade a spade, eh?

A good Philly cheesesteak is even more difficult to find on the left coast. I went to Arby's last night for dinner, since I got home so late. They had a Philly beef sub advertised at the drive-thru squawk box menu, so I thought I would try it. Big mistake. It was very small for a “sub.” The meat was roast beef, instead of steak. I mean, c’mon… roast beef?! And worst yet, it was loaded with mayonnaise. Mayo? What the fuck is mayo doing on a cheesesteak? It tasted like, well, it tasted like a roast beef sandwich with mayo, not even remotely close to a Philly cheesesteak. Shit! In today’s litigious world, maybe the city of Philadelphia should look into suing anyone that makes a “Philly” steak sandwich that doesn’t use steak and white American cheese or cheez whiz. Roast beef and mayonnaise does not a Philly cheesesteak make!

This isn’t rocket science, people. There’s quite a few million east coast transplants on the west coast that would love authentic (or at least close to authentic) east coast food. I’m not saying you can’t find a decent sandwich out here. There are a few places that have carved out a niche business for themselves, making food that passes for east coast food, but it’s never convenient, and always too far away… Of course, if you want some Taylor pork roll, or Scrapple, or even some Tastykakes and Herr's potoato chips, you have to place an order on the Internet.

Where’s my credit card?

Work Strife
08Feb07

Posted by wafwot

whacamole.JPG I suck at coming up with titles for these updates. If the update covers one topic, it’s easy. If I try to cover multiple topics, coming up with a title is as difficult as fucking a virgin with a flaccid cock. So, “Miscellany” is the best subject I can come up with. I was going to use “PISSED!!!” complete with a full compliment of capital letters and an unnecessary number of angry exclamation points. But I figured the rant that would go along with that subject might cause little grains of sand to become lodged in more than one mangina. The last thing we need at work is a gaggle of gritty fruit baskets whining to management — like mood-swinging bitches with PMS — about the content of my blog. Pussies. Then again… maybe I don’t give a tiny foam peanut-shaped pooplet if some chips fall.

Let’s start with a little story. A friend of mine related a tale that I find somewhat disturbing. He works for a Bank in Portland, and they’ve had some commotion with a fellow co-worker. He tells me that this co-worker (whom I’ll call Pam for reasons of anonymity) has performed her duties satisfactorily, but her reliability is in the porcelain funnel o' shit, as evidenced by this list:

  • One time, poor Pam slept off a bender in the bank (with the alarm off) because she was too drunk to drive home. Ho-ly crap!
  • Another time, Pam requested time off because she needed to cry over being dumped by her boyfriend. I guess Pam isn’t known for crying, or shouldn’t cry because she’s the manly type, or something. Sweet Jesus.
  • While talking to co-worker, Pam called a customer a “cunt.” It wasn’t in earshot of the customer, but the female co-worker was highly upset. Poor misguided Pam was called to the bank president’s office for an ass chewing.
  • Pam also messed up a customer’s bank account which ended up costing the bank about $1000.
  • On more than one occasion, Pam has been caught sleeping at her desk. Could it be all that crying that’s keeping her up at nights? Maybe. I don’t know.
  • And twice, Pam didn’t show up to work on time. No big deal if she was only five or so minutes late. Poop occurs. But my friend said it was four and a half hours one time, and just recently it was more than two hours! Apparently, Pam has a position at the bank that requires her to take… loan application calls from the East Coast starting at five in the morning. If she’s not there, a loan may not get processed, and the bank can’t have that!
  • She went to a customer’s house to help them with their banking needs, and was dressed like it was laundry day in Pamsworld™. Instead of going in banking attire, she was wearing a t-shirt with a worn out Trans-Am iron-on. Her ratty jeans were held up with a length of sisal rope, and she was wearing sneakers!

Worst. Employee. Ever. The only thing Pam hasn’t done is play Windows Solitaire all day long when she should be working. Wow. If we had an employee like that in the company I work for, she would surely be fired. That type of behavior simply doesn’t fly in the IT industry. Our managers won’t stand for such piss-poor work ethics, and you would be shown the door. I’ve seen it happen to several sysadmins. Funny thing however, Pam still retains her job at the bank! Can you believe it? Color me dubious, goddammit! If that list of shit is true, Pam works for the most lenient company in all of Oregon, possibly the entire West Coast! Can you imagine the perception other employees of that bank must have? “Hey, we can dick off without fear of being fired, because Pam’s still here.” I wouldn’t bank with those people if you paid me. Who knows what would happen to your life’s savings?

Continuing on the line of co-workers… If you’ve read this collection of nonsensical bullshit in the past, you know that I’m in a carpool and we have a soul-crushing 200-mile-a-day round trip commute. In our carpool, we worked out a simple solution to buying gasoline: rotation. We each take turns buying tanks of fuel. This has been working well for us, until recently. Yesterday, when it came time for one of our carpoolers to fill the tank, he complained that he only had $25 in his account. Jesus-fucking-Christ! So, an arrangement was made where I would pay for this tank, and he would buy the next tank on Monday. I may be a cranky motherfucker by nature, but I’m flexible and understand being strapped for cash.

We stopped at Costco in Mount Vernon for gas, where I spent thirty dollars even. As we left the gas pumps, we made a detour to EB Games, where the carpooler — who claimed to only have $25 in his account — chasséd his rotund keister into the store and bought an expansion pack to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. What in the Spic and Span hell, man? We can buy games, but not gas? I didn’t throw the bullshit flag until today, ’cause I was too busy stringing an unnecessary number of angry exclamation points together in my head. That shit ain’t right. Gas, grass, or ass, bitch! Nobody rides free! And trust me when I say no one wants any of that ass.

My segues are working out well tonight, as I have another nugget about ass. Have you ever had one of those moments where you suddenly have to shit? It happened to me yesterday, and I’m here to tell you about it. I was at work yesterday, as I frequently am, and had just come back from lunch. I was doing just fine at my desk, when all of a sudden my body said, “hey gallbladder, we need some bile,” and sadly there was no response. My gallbladder went AWOL in 1998, and this behavior is normal at times. Any-way… I clenched my whale eye tighter, and beat a path to the rest room down the hall. I’ll be a sonofabitch if both stalls weren’t occupied. Screw this! With my colon in distress, I headed for the elevators to use the toilets on the third floor. Ten fucking minutes passed before the elevator doors opened. It may have been closer to 30 seconds, but the space-time continuum gets all fuckered up in situations like this… so I just don’t know.

Two floors down, and in unfamiliar surroundings, I start bombing. Then, I hear the restroom door open. I don’t know about you, but I always cough a little fake cough or clear my throat to let the newcomer know that they are not alone. I don’t need some whackjob baby talking to his “little man” at the urinal, or whistling a little tune while taking a piss. “C’mon lil’ buddy. Time t’come on out and do your bidness.” Goddamn I hate public toilets.

Back to the story… In mid-drop, the intruder decides to try the door to my stall. But it’s not a simple little tug, or a knock. No. It’s full-on yanking and rattling like he’s trying to un-stick his garage door after it jumped off it’s tracks. The attempt startles me, causing… the bomb bay doors to close prematurely. Motherfuck!!! I shouted out “Occupied,” probably loud enough for the people at FiberCloud on the 19th floor to hear. All I heard back was an irritated sigh. Excuse the shit, literally, outta me! Holy shit, man! What makes a person think that a closed shitter stall is an invitation to rip the door off it’s hinges? I listened as Mr. Door Shaker used a urinal to take a piss then leave… without washing his hands. I spent the next five minutes going through half the roll of paper to return my sphincter to some resemblance of it’s pre-shit self.

Okay, that’s all for now. All that talk about coming up with a title, and I stuck to work-related topics, and managed to slip in a little bit of corporate toilet humor, too. So, I changed the title from “Miscellany” to “Work Strife.” You probably don’t care, do you?