I realize now that my threat below is that of juvenile form. Therefore, I wish to extend an offer:

To those who have shunned me over the last several weeks, I would like to allow you the opportunity to state your case and attempt to make peace with me. If no such action can be taken, I would request that you completely remove me from your realm of communication and carry on with your life, as I will do mine.

My energy and tolerance for the name-calling, poor attitudes, verbal attacks, and anything else of the nature is waning. Future attacks beyond those outlined in the above paragraph will be promptly ignored.

This last week has proven to be rather trying for me, in terms of the attitude other people have directed towards me. These people are from all different areas, but the majority of them can be split into 2 groups: customers at the shop and people online.

If any of this crap continues, I promise you that I will start using names. The attitudes I've been given have all been completely uncalled for, and I can't seem to understand what started any of it.

If you think you're one of those people, you should know how to get a hold of me, and you're free to do so if you feel you can discuss it with me in a civil manner.

I'm not about to sit here and take it anymore.

I got a letter in the mail today from a company called "Automated Payroll Service, LLC".

This letter is to inform you about a recent theft of our off-site system back-ups that might contain personal information about you. There was a break-in recently at our off-site storage facility in which our back-up devices were taken. The Police have been notifed and are investigating. It appears to have been a random break-in as other unrelated items were also taken. The data is not accessible without the necessary software and cabling which were not with the back-up devices, so it is unlikely that your personal information will be compromised.

Of course, they're going to say that my information "probably" isn't going to be stolen.

I just can't figure out who the heck this company is and what they were doing with my information in the first place.

[2. Trade][Skudd]: WTB [Dinner] - PST!

Lots of people are unsure of why I would want to move to a different geographical area to pursue my career in the IT industry. This is why:

(7:33:02 PM) Alex: dude, move up here. (7:33:09 PM) Alex: i just TURNED DOWN a job for $45/hr (7:33:12 PM) Alex: doing php dev

I can't figure it out, really. I know I've bludgeoned this topic to death, but it pisses me off so bad.

I've interviewed for many jobs. While I was in college, I couldn't even get a job as a lab monitor: I got a job doing clerical work in the financial aid office. I've interviewed for many jobs since then, and even with a degree in computer programming, I can't land a job at a helpdesk.

I'm currently working on expanding my portfolio, barren as it may be, but I just don't feel that anything I do will be what the employers will want to see to hire me.

I was chatting with a buddy in Ohio last night and he said that part of his college classes require him to work in an IT position. My best friend was handed an IT position when he inquired about machine operator factory work. The list goes on and on, too. I just don't get what I'm missing.

At any rate, I'm going to stick to my January 1st goal. If you're the praying type, pray for me with this.

I was just reading CNet news, and I saw something that makes me furious:

The FBI has drafted sweeping legislation that would require Internet service providers to create wiretapping hubs for police surveillance and force makers of networking gear to build in backdoors for eavesdropping, CNET News.com has learned.

Even deeper into the article...

The FBI claims that expanding the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act is necessary to thwart criminals and terrorists who have turned to technologies like voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. "The complexity and variety of communications technologies have dramatically increased in recent years, and the lawful intercept capabilities of the federal, state and local law enforcement community have been under continual stress, and in many cases have decreased or become impossible," according to a summary accompanying the draft bill.

I remember growing up, my mom would make cracks about how the government could watch everything you do through the TV screen. That's not so far off track now.

The internet is a vast wasteland of 0's and 1's. The US governemnt is afraid of it. And furthermore, rather than trying to understand it, they decide to usurp everyone's privacy just so they don't have to be afraid of it.

I'm just too angry to explain this any further. I hope the EFF gets involved with this crap.

This is probably old news, but I just stumbled across this video on YouTube.com.

"Water Fuel for Car!"

1. Apparently DVDShrink will work under Wine
2. Ubuntu has some nice clustering support
3. Ubuntu has a "Live CD"
4. I'm leet.

I just showered for the first time since Monday afternoon. The water softener also cycled today, just before I took my shower.

Salty water + very sensitive and sore skin == Profanity uttered from the shower.

It was hurting so bad that I had to cut it short at like a 2 minute shower. I imagine I've still got soap in my ears.

I just unwrapped the toe. I'll spare everyone the pictures. If you want to see what it looks like just let me know.

But anyhow, several people suggested that I soak the gauze in peroxide to loosen it from the scabbed-over part of the toe. I did that, and it didn't help a bit. Between the fizzing and the gauze still being stuck, it felt like I was ripping the skin clean off my toe. After I got it uncovered, the air hitting the skin made it hurt even worse. I tried to dry it off with a clean washcloth, but when I barely touched it to my toe I nearly passed out.

I'm feeling this all the way up the back of my leg now, and it hurts really bad. I'm going to see about getting something in my stomach for lunch, then I'm going to hit the Ibuprofin and pass out. I'm not even going to consider this Vicodin.

Day 2, I'm actually not feeling too bad. I only took the Vicodin once when I got home, and it didn't do much more than make me tired. Over 24 hours later and I'm still tired, but all in all not in much pain.

I can almost put my weight on the toe, but since it's wrapped in such a big amount of gauze and such, it's quite uncomfortable to do so.

Dad and I were just ouside lighting money on fire. While we were busy doing so, I wasn't paying attention and ended up kicking my toe into my other foot. That hurt really bad. Then, when we were cleaning up, Dad wasn't paying attention and slammed the head of the broom against my toe, which also hurt pretty bad.

Now, I'm sitting in front of the TV with my laptop and I have my foot propped up in front of me. The toe isn't really as sore as you'd expect, but it does hurt. I'm going to try and remove the dressing from it tomorrow night and get ready to head back to work on Thursday.

Oh, and that bit about burning money... We got some bottle rockets and were setting them off in celebration of our independence as a country... Something, that we won't be doing much longer, I think.

What is there to do with a sore toe that I have to keep wrapped, clean, and dry? I'm tired of video games, I don't want to code, and I don't want to sleep the next few days away.

Suggestions, anyone?

About 90% of the way through the movie I was watching (The Transporter), Mom and Dad came running in just as I was about to doze off. They said there was a big storm blowing in really fast and that I'd probably enjoy seeing it.

By the time I hobbled out to the garage door, a fairly good sized funnel cloud was forming off to the west and was headed this way. I came hobbling back in to get my camera, then headed back out to snap a couple shots of it. I wasn't as quick as I would have liked to be, because I missed a couple great shots, but I did get a few shots of it. I'll have to post them later.

As the rain started, I looked off to the south and counted about 4 more funnels forming, and two of them were about ready to touch down. All the telltale signs were there: outflow, inflow, rain free base, wall cloud, lightning, drastic temperature change. It was amazing. I think we probably got about half an inch of rain in a little 15 minute storm, and it was over. Right now there's just some thunder and lightning off to the east, and there's another storm heading in from the southwest.

I wish I wasn't doped up and temporarily debilitated, because I'd love to be running around, taking pictures of this stuff.

The doctor looked at it and said it was ingrown still, and that he wanted to go ahead and take the nail. I was skeptical until after he was done. The nurse showed me the entire nail, and the left side of it was actually curled in around itself, which is what kept it irritated.

I was given a perscription for (Warning: Search engine spam word ahead) Vicodin (Hydrocodene), and the doctor said to try not to take any more of it than I absolutely have to. He wrote it for 1-2 pills every 4-6 hours, and he wrote the perscription for 30 pills. He suggested that I not take it more than 1 per every 6 hours, and I told him that I'd try not to take it any more than I absolutely had to.

I went ahead and took 1 just about 15 minutes ago, and it's already starting to kick in. I pretty much feel like I did at 11:00PM this past Saturday night, ready to pass out, but too wound up to go to bed. I'm having a hard time typing this because of it.

So yeah... I have one less toenail and $126 less money than I did when I posted the last entry, and I'm feeling pretty doped up. As you know, I don't like being doped up or in any altered state of being, so bleh. I'm here and I don't want to be.

I'm supposed to have my toenail removed at 4:30 this afternoon, but I don't think it needs to happen. The way I cut the nail when I removed the ingrown portion, it really had no possibility of becoming ingrown again. Because it had been ingrown, though, a portion of skin that was supposed to be on the "outside" of the nail was actually tucked in under it, and because the nail kept growing it stayed irritated.

When I went to the doctor a couple weeks ago, he pulled that piece of skin back out where it belonged, and since then it has done extremly well. He prescribed some antibiotics to handle the infection, and I think they helped the healing process immensely. However, the infection is still present and I'm sure more antibiotics are necessary, and possibly even stronger doses at that.

As I said, I'm scheduled to have the nail removed at 4:30 this afternoon, but I think I'm going to try and get out of having that done. I'm going to ask the doctor to look at it and see if he's cool with not removing it. I sure as heck would be happier to not have to shell out $150 to have it done, especially since I have a car payment due in a couple days.