I should be nervous, but I'm too panicked.

I have an interview tomorrow.

Yup, the application I sent to the moving company has passed the first stage of the job hunting process, and my resume did its job. Now comes the big test: the interview.

I don't interview well. I never seem to know the answer to any question, and I'm sure I look like a buffoon when I try to think of an answer, rather than just being able to rattle one off. So I get nervous and panic, which makes me do worse, which makes me panic, and so on until I slink out of their office dejected and with my spirit crushed.

That said, wish me luck!

Calm before the storm

The gunfire had stopped, for the moment. The platoon leader yelled out commands, and his soldiers spread out in a search pattern. Franklin knew he couldn't hide behind his crate forever, but if he moved, he'd be seen.

Heavy bootfalls approached his mediocre hiding place, getting louder and louder. The gravel crunching beneath them brought up a feeling of dread in Franklin. It sounded too much like bones being broken. The boots paused, and Franklin held his breath.

Unarmed and still dressed in his bright yellow prisoner garb, he would be an easy target even through the rapidly darkening courtyard. Sweat beaded off his forehead and ran down his face. Franklin's entire body was soaked, and his knees had started to shake. He couldn't stay crouched here forever, and if those boots didn't start moving soon, he would pass out from not breathing.

The boots started moving closer.

--

Some random fiction for you. I can write fine here, but I try to work on anything I want to get done, I get blocked up. Lousy selective writer's block.

The smoke clears

And in the end, DOS had saved the day, as it had so many times before. The vicious spectre of Linux had been wiped from the lands of Partition, and all were free to boot in peace.

Turns out that all my fiddling with the Windows 2000 setup's partition software, and the fixmbr and fixboot commands in the recover console was useless, and all I had to do was fire up my old DOS boot disk and run Fdisk.

You'd think that the newer versions of these things would work better than the old ones, but I guess that way of thinking is why I don't have a software job.

Anyway, my brother seems to have reclaimed his laptop. I don't miss it, seeing how I didn't use it for 3 months and just spent most of a day fighting with it.

The laptop saga is over. The status quo has been preserved. My life has become a sitcom. Just without the comedy part.

Oh the pain of it all

I'm still no closer to getting this worked out. I tried reinstalling Mandrake, to see if having the wireless card there for the entire process would make it work. It didn't.

I then spent a good deal of the day trying to get it to work, and eventually gave up on it and decided to try Windows again. I found a way to restore the Windows master boot record, so after doing that it *still* told me I had another operating system in my main partition (even though I can't, because I removed it from the MBR and deleted the partitions). If Windows doesn't take this time, I'm going to have to do some tricky partitioning, or get very very angry.

I like both options.

My insane experiment is over

The wireless crad refused to work with Linux. I t turned itself off, disabled itself, and the entire time the default internet setting was on lan, and I couldn't change it to wireless.

And so, the Linux laptop is no more. I'm currently formatting it for Windows 2000, and I'm really hoping I got rid of the Linux properly. I deleted the partitions, but when I made the new one for Win2k, it told me the current partition contained another operating system. I guess Linux stayed in the boot loader, but hopefully that won't be a big deal.

This laptop was designed to work with Windows 2000, so hopefully my wireless problems will be fixed. Or at least mostly fixed.

Fun on my lap

Remember a while back I put Mandrake Linux on the laptop?

Well, I did. Today I found we have a wireless ethernet card for it, so I plugged it in, and after fiddling with the settings for a while, I have an online Linux laptop. Hooray.

Turns out it comes with an msn client call Kopete. It doesn't look at all like msn, or even like Trillian, but it seems to work, despite its dumb name.

I seem to be having trouble getting web pages to load now. I don't know if something's just not set up right, or if there's a major problem with my router. More details as they come.

What was that about moving companies?

I applied to a moving company.

Now, before Kevin can message me and yell "TIP IT AND RIP IT!", it's not for a moving job. It's an office job, and the description said they wanted somebody with experience in the moving industry. I have that, so far so good.

Then, I noticed that the "advertised until" date was my birthday.

It's a sign from above. If I get this job, I'll gladly take all the zings and arrows of my destiny being working for moving companies, and I'll take them gladly.

If you're wondering about the tip it and rip it, that's a joke about a moving company here in Ottawa, Tippet Richardson. We worked with them a bit during the summer, and because everybody just calls them Tippet, we adapted it a bit.

And no, the company isn't Tippet.

Short paragraphs are the key to interesting writing.

The horror

I just cleaned out the vegetable crisper. I don't know what it is, but we buy vegetables and then don't use them. Out of sight, out of mind I guess. Until you open the crisper next time and there's a deflated cucumber sitting in a puddle of its own liquified insides.

And that wasn't the worst part of it. Bag after bag of drippy, mishapen vegetables. Luckily all the new stuff we bought was in the other crisper, because I threw out some veggies that still looked decent, but no doubt weren't.

My going to bed before 2 am plan is working, somewhat. Last night I was in bed around 2, and woke up at quarter to 10, after only hitting snooze twice. Much better than my old routine, where I'd go to bed at 4:30 and get up at 11, after hitting snooze from 9:20. Hooray for positive change!

Last night I finished the Mega Man X series on the emulator. Well, it was X3 anyway. I don't know if they made an X4 or not.

The ending was a bit of a letdown. After fighting Sigma through 3 games, he gets defeated by an antivirus program. And you don't even get to do it, that twerp Zero beams in and antiviruses him in the back. I just ruined Mega Man X3 for you, and I'm glad.

The entire game is frustrating too. It has ridiculously overpowered level enemies. There are wall climbing enemies with 3 different attacks, which can hit you no matter where you are. Not to mention the fact that the offscreen enemy respawn is a bit too enthusiastic. I lost track of the number of times I'd jump to kill an enemy over a raised section of floor, and when jumping onto said floor, the enemy would be back. Very annoying

That said, the chip system makes it a bit worthwhile. In addition to the regular upgrades (air dash, super X buster, better armour, helmet radar) you can get one of 4 chips that upgrade part of you even more. One lets you dash in the air twice, one gives you even better armour, one gives you a whole new weapon, and the last refills your life when you stand still. The game's set up so you can only get one, except if you get none of them and then find the secret capsule in one of the boss levels, which gives you all 4 chips and makes you turn gold. It's worth it.

That's entirely too much space dedicated to Mega Man X3.

Second post of the day extravaganza!

Today, in addition to being Robbie Burns Day, is my brother's birthday. I don't know if he reads this, but happy birthday!

I'm considering putting up some Google ads on the site. Kevin says I should, and he assumes that Margot will agree with him, but I'm not sure if I want to sell out or not. I'm also not sure if I have the reader base to make them profitable or not.

Drop me a line to tell me what you think. If I got ads, would you click them?

Time to get out of this rut and back in the groove

I've lost the will to do anything.

Maybe it's just been a bad couple of days, but I have no motivation to do anything. I meant to contact all the places I gave resumes to, but never got around to it. I guess I still could, but it'll be close to quitting time, so maybe I'll do it tomorrow. Assuming I wake up in good time.

I need a better sleep schedule. Thus I politely request that if anybody who reads this sees me on msn after 2 am, kindly tell me to go to bed. If I refuse, tell me rudely.

My goal is to at least get into a regular schedule so I can get things done at normal times. It'll mean giving up my night owl status, but it's for the greater good.

Sleep is for the weak

I've been staying up way too late the past couple nights. I've gone to bed around 4:30 all but Tuesday night, and I sleep til 10:30-11:00. I'd like to have a better schedule, but I just have no motivation to do it.

I've been writing a bit. I have a bit of science fiction going, but I still don't have a plot for it. I might abandon it, because fitting a plot into what's currently a character piece might not work. I have a good idea for another story, also science fiction (but less science than fiction this time) that has a good plot, so I just need to get started writing it. Maybe tomorrow.

I'm trying to think of a way to adapt my comic book idea into a regular book, but I just can't. I've pictured it with art, and now I can't unpicture it. Some day I'll learn to draw, once all my other problems are solved.

I looked into going to grad school at Carleton, but I couldn't find anything about specific areas they'll let you study in. I was hoping for a human/computer interaction program, but if they have one they're keeping it secret.

Scotty vs Pillsbury

I acquired a tube of Pillsbury croissants recently, and today I decided to bake them. After fighting with the tube to get it open, and then fighting with it again to actually get the dough out, I discovered a major roadblock.

The directions say to unroll the dough and then separate it along the perforations. No problem, except my dough came out as a solid mass. I could see that it was rolled on the edges, but it seemed that everything but the ends was just solid dough.

Seeing how I couldn't sepearte it properly, I decided to do the only logical thing: bake the entire mass of dough and eat it. Then I got another idea: take pictures.

So, to rip off Matt from X-E, I give you Scotty vs Pillsbury 2005: Bitchin in the Kitchen

There are lots of pictures in here, so click the thumbnails for the full effect. I think. I've never done thumbnails before, so if it doesn't work right, don't blame me. Big thanks go out to ImageShack for hosting these.

First off, a look at my adversary:


And a close up of the impenetrable mass of dough that lies beneath the surface:


You can see on the end that it looks like it's a roll of dough, and not just a lump. It's sneaky like that.


Man that looks awful. After preheating the oven, I slid the sucker in.



Baking was kinda boring, but it smelled awesome. I figured that even if it didn't bake properly and I wound up eating a mass of raw dough, the smell that it made while baking would make it all worthwhile. Here's my half-baked opponent:



13 minutes after the ordeal began, the dough log was baked, and had mutated into a bigger, slightly crispier dough log. I name him Pillsnor. 3 quick pictures of Pillsnor to show how he changed during his time imprisoned in the oven:







Notice how the end is now completely sealed up? Poor Pillsnor, I've disfigured you. As an act of contrition, I'll now devour you, with a little help from my old friend Sinister Sun Mug.



Here's a meal fit for a king, on a coffee table fit for lesser king:


This is our field of battle. The enemy has one advantage: it's too big and floppy to be picked up. However, where's there's a will, there's a way:


Your floppiness is your undoing, my old nemesis.

Cheesy dialogue done with, I took a bite. And got a very happy surprise:


It was baked through, and tasted like pure undistilled awesomeness. I was whisked to a world of supreme happiness, where nothing could ever go wrong, where everybody got along, and pigeons didn't exist.

Then I remembered this was a fight to the death, and I kept eating my enemy's golden baked body.


You seem to be disappearing, Pillsnor. What's been eating you lately? Oh wait, I have!

If you look closely there, you can see divisions where, most likely, the individual rolls were supposed to separate from. As I got to that last one, I got a bit of a surprise:


Evidence that this part of dough could have been unrolled. You can see a ringlike structure in the cross section of Pillsnor shown here. Was this whole struggle in vain, revenge against an entity that had merely shown my own inadequacy? Had the fight been decided before it even started?

I had lost. Even if I beat Pillsnor's baked deliciousness, he had shown my weakness, had that anything I did to him would simply be a futile act of blind revenge and hatred. If I strike him down, he will become more powerful than I can possibly imagine.

Screw it.



A winner is me.

You can't go wrong with Mr. X

I finally got a picture of myself up in my profile. I think it's a really good shot of me. Really caught my good side.

The bag over my head isn't a statement of privacy or anything like that, I just thought it would be funny to put a picture of me with a bag over my head on the internet. Plus it's got a little viewing window so I can see out, and you can see in.

I might eventually put up a real picture of myself, but for now this one amuses me.

Poker? I barely know her.

I'd write up a long, detailed history of everything that happened in Kingston last week, but really not much happened that was noteworthy. Drinking, poker, more drinking, and no good stories. As a result, I'm going to talk about poker.

I managed to win $45 playing poker, stretched over 2 nights. It would have been a lot more, but I decided to call Jay when he went all in, and all I had was a pair of jacks with an ace kicker. He had 2 pair, and I didn't get the ace I needed on the river. I still won $20 that night, so it worked out for the best.

The first night Greg managed to get knocked out on the first hand he bought in for. We were betting, and I wound up with a full house on the turn. Naturally I'm betting a good amount (we were playing $5 buy in, largest chip was a dollar) and he decides that I'm bluffing, so he goes all in. He bought in again after the initial shock and embarassment wore off, and he did much better the second time.

The second night, while I was riding high, I called a guy's bluff. I had 3 of a kind, and he had nothing. I made a strong bid, which he then called and raised by 5 bucks. I'm not normally one to rush into risky situations, but I just knew he was either bluffing, or maybe had 2 pair. Either way, I wanted his chips. I called, and on the turn he bet 10 bucks, after after I called it he went all in (which was only another 2 bucks or something).

I'm pretty sure that winning that hand was the only reason I went after Jay later in the game. I got cocky and stupid.

But the game is over now, I'm back in Ottawa, and I have nobody to play poker with here, so you'll likely never hear about it in this blog again.

Kingstoned

I just got back from Kingston, and I forgot my pillow there. More on this in the morning.

Changes

Kevin finally wrote something, thus breaking the streak of my friends not updating their blogs, which had reached over a week. Good for you.

I'm off to Kingston tomorrow, staying until Sunday sometime. I probably won't be writing anything in here, but hey, you never know.

My parents got a new car. A 2005 Pontiac G6, I have no idea what colour. The were driving back to their place from Calgary, and the car broke down in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. It was a recurring problem that they couldn't fix, so hey, new car. May as well, right?

This year doesn't look so new to me

It's been a slow start to this year. I sepnt New Year's Eve watching Return of the King, and then had dinner at my Grandma's house on the 1st. After that I spent an entire day eating cookies (so it seemed).

And today I did laundry. I can barely keep up with myself.

While playing Scrabble with Greg last night, he got 5 bingos in 2 games. A bingo, for the uninitiated, is when you use all of your letters in one turn, giving you a 50 point bonus. The first 2 came at the end of one game, so I didn't get too upset with it. Then in the next game, he got 3 in a row. 3 turns, 3 bingos, giving him an over 200 point lead. I resigned the game (knowing it was hopeless) and later I found out he had another one ready to go.

So I'm a little wary of Scrabble now.