What day off? Well, today was a very interesting day. In a nutshell, it was what I had fully expected.

"Short Dude" from work was supposed to work from 8-6 with "Boss Dude" at the south shop. At about 12:30, "Boss Dude" called up to the north shop, which is where I was working with "Friend Dude", and asked if "Short Dude" was there by some odd chance. I told him that he wasn't, and all was well.

A little while later, "Friend Dude" called the south shop just to see how business was going, and "Dude" answered the phone -- "Dude" was supposed to be off today. A little while after that "Boss Dude" called and asked if I could be flexible with a schedule change for this week. My response was "Sure," but I was thinking "There goes my day off."

A couple hours went by, and "Boss Dude" called again to ask if I could work from 12-6 tomorrow at the north shop. I said "yes" and hung up the phone, and shouted an obscenity in disgust.

Prior to the schedule change, my cousin called me. She works at the Indiana Cebreal Palsy clinic, just on the east edge of Gary, Indiana. I had been there before to do some computer work for them, and they wanted me to come back. They have 2 computers that need "persuaded" to work properly, and they're willing to pay me to do the task. I told her I'd be there at 11:00 tomorrow, my day off.

When I told "Boss Dude" about this obligation, he asked when I could make it to the shop to work, and I told him that I was unable to guess and that I could be busy all afternoon. He said that he could handle working solo until I could get there.

So tomorrow, my day off, I have to work from 11:00 until whenever, then from whenever until 6:00. I have to be back in to the shop at 8:00AM Thursday, too.

That's what kind of car?! Around 3:00 this afternoon, 3 county police cars went south of the north shop, lights and sirens going full tilt. A little while later, a Wheatfield town police car took the same route. A little while later, a DeMotte town police car took the same route, followed by a Wheatfield paramedic unit. A little bit later, a Wheatfield fire truck and DeMotte paramedic unit went south and were met by the previous police officer and paramedic, which were headed north with the sirens and lights still going.

I went to the gas station to get a mid-afternoon snack, and someone in there said that it was a nasty wreck just south of where we were. I went back out to the shop, and shortly after that a medivac helicopter was flying overhead.

When I left the shop at 5:40PM, traffic was still backed up, and I had to wait for 10 minutes before I could finally get through. I saw a green car, loaded up on the back of a flatbed tow truck, and from what I could tell, it was an Oldsmobile Alero. That guess was more than likely WAY wrong, because that car was almost anihilated by whatever it hit.

When I could finally get up to the intersection, I saw an 18-wheeler sitting on its side in the ditch. It was headed north, but was sitting in the ditch on the west side of the road.

My guess: The Alero was hauling, blew off the stop sign, and smacked the semi so hard that it got pushed into the ditch and rolled on its side. I also guess that someone is more than likely in critical condition.

I'm Buying a Volvo. After I got about 15 miles down the road from the terrible wreck, I was greeted by the view in my rear-view mirror of a car coming up on the back end of my truck really fast. They stayed there for a little bit, but decided to pass me, just before the crest of a hill, in a no-passing zone which is also an intersection. Not more than 30 seconds later, some (Edited out) in a Volvo did the same thing, WITH TRAFFIC COMING IN THE OTHER LANE!

Not very long after that, I ended up on her bumper (not literally), frustrated that I had to slow down from 55mph to 45mph, because she decided to keep hitting her brakes.

As we got into town, she blew off every stop sign, speed limit sign, and failed to use her turn signals, only to end up at friggin' Arby's.

When I got to the south shop, the first thing I said when I walked in was, "I'm buying a Volvo." "Boss Dude" asked why, and I told him that they're exempt from all laws applicable to motor vehicles. He looked at me with a puzzled look for a little bit, so I explained the above to him, and he started laughing. When I left the shop, my words were, "I'm going home to check prices on a Volvo."

Pfft. When I got home...Er... Wait... Nothing has happened yet. Oh well. That's the end of this entry.

(19:01:45) Tim: i've started something at the shop that is rather humorous (19:01:56) Tim: just walk up to someone, stare at them, then jump up once, and walk away (19:02:06) Josh: ^_O (19:02:15) Tim: that's exactly what the reponse is like (19:02:21) Josh: Haha. I figured. (19:02:35) ***Josh thinks it over and starts laughing. (19:02:39) Josh: Bahaha... Dude, you're not right. (19:04:15) Tim: :-D

Today, as an "employee appreciation" outing for Mom's work, the bank paid for the staff and families to go to Chicago and eat at Ed DeBevic's, and go see the Blue Man Group.

This is my review:

Upon arrival at "Ed's", I noticed that it was a seemingly run-down diner in a somewhat uncomfortable part of Chicago. Waking in, through the revolving door, I was greeted by the sound of loud music, the flicker of a disco ball, and the rude staff. The rudeness is part of the DeBevic's trademark.

For the most part, the experience was the same throughout the ordering, eating, and leaving process. The one thing that stuck out to me was the quality of the food, though. I was very impressed with how good it was! I ordered the chicken fried steak, finalized by a piece of apple pie: It was amazing!

Fast Forward: Briar Street Theater

The bank paid for the tickets for everyone in the group, and got us seats just behind the "poncho section." The price of the tickets was $48.00 a piece.

We walked in, got seated almost right away, and had a very short 30 minute wait for the show to begin.

Rather than detail it, I will summarize it: I was disappointed. For $48 per seat, the show was very short, dull, and almost static. I had expected it to be a very exciting and entertaining show, but it wasn't. Granted, there were parts of it that were entertaining, it just wasn't what I had expected.

If I had to "score" this day, it would be as follows:

Ed DeBevic's - 7/10 Blue Man Group - 5/10

Not very exciting, sorry.

Mom and Dad stopped in at the shop before I came home today. When they did, I told them that I wanted to sit and do nothing all afternoon.

I finally got home around 3:00, because it was very busy today. Since then, I've not been "allowed" to sit for more than 20 minutes at a time, because I am apparently not entitled to the privilege of relaxation. When I have said anything to either one of them about it, the response has been along the lines of, "You didn't work as hard as I did today, so you have to forfeit your free time."

I'm sick of it. And now, I have to go work on my grandmother's computer, which I obligated myself to do, but expected to be able to friggin' relax before I did.

Ariel Atom

I NEED one. Right now. Why don't I have one yet? I SAID I NEED ONE!!!

I've been playing with a lot of 3d modeling before I go to bed each night, and tonight I came up with this:

I've been sitting at my computer desk off and on throughout the night, since about 7:30PM. It is now 11:35PM, and I have a report for you all...

I keep seeing these flashes of light here in my room. I've probably seen about 10: 8 of which were out of the corner of my eye, the remainder viewed directly. These flashes of light are very localized, and are about the size of a basketball. I've heard no noise with them, nor have I felt any sort of shock.

Now that I think about it, I'm kinda worried about my health... Yesterday at work, I was down in the pit, taking care of the underside of someone's car. I went to reach for an oil filter off the top of the storage tanks, and when I went to stand back up, I forgot that the ceiling (the bottom of the actual floor up-top) was only 5'6". I'm 6'1". The customer was sitting in their car, and as soon as I hit my head they said, "That sounded like it hurt." I "konked my noggin'" pretty hard on the steel support beam in the floor, so loud that it could be heard over all the ambient noise of the highway, and inside the customer's car.

So thinking about it, it's quite possible that I've got some minor brain damage, causing me to see these flashes of light.

If anyone is worried about me, here's the problems I've been having since then:

• Headache (duh!)
• Slight dizziness
• Nausea
• Hallucinations

Will I go see a doctor? We'll see. If it gets worse or doesn't get better within the next week, I'll go, at the company's expense.

2 Remington, Indiana convenience store clerks murdered.

Cue paranoia.

I just read over this post again, from way back in February.

There's 2 things that come to mind...

1. That's messed up.
2. I remember the dream, exactly how it was.

Over the last 5 days or so, I've been getting a lot of complaints from people. The complaints are because I am never around when anyone calls, sends me an IM, or stops to visit. Let me give you a little background on why this is so...

My typical workday starts at 7:15AM and ends around 7:00PM. This is ONLY the part of my workday that I call my "day job". I am usually on the clock for about 10 hours and 30 minutes, if not more, so by the time I get home I am completely worn out.

After that, I have work that I have to do to get caught up with my obligations (paying projects, etc.). If you want a detailed list of what I have to do, e-mail me about it. Otherwise, just keep in mind that I am working all the way up until about 10:45PM.

Now, you have to factor in some other things, here... Eating, resting, hygene, family time, other personal issues (job placement, etc.), and the list goes on... By the time you figure in all the time I have to just sit and relax (without being bothered), it works out to about 5 minutes is all.

The reason I have not been returning phone calls or responding to messages from AIM, Yahoo, etc., is because of all that you see outlined above. I'm not trying to be a dick by any means; I just need some time for me, which I have very little of.

There are some options for you to get a hold of me, though...

First off, there's a thing called "e-mail" which anyone who is reading this has. You should know my e-mail address already if you're one of the people who is taking this message to heart.

Second, I work at Quck Hick's Lube Express. I am usually at the shop in Rensselaer, but I also work at the shop in Wheatfield quite often. Stop in and visit me while I work.

Third, be patient! I intend to return all the phone calls and such as I can. You may hear from me this week, you may not hear from me until 2 weeks down the road.

If anyone has any problem with this at all, there's a PayPal button on Skudd.com where you can donate some money to me. I'm not asking for you to, but if you are able to complain about me not being able to be reached during what most people call "normal hours", then donate some money so I don't have to work so hard.

For the last 5 years or so, I've had a subscription to Popular Science magazine. Slowly, during the last 3 years, they have begun adding more and more advertisements for "sexual enhancement products". It is now to the point where the last ~10 pages are nothing but "Improve your stamina!" ads.

Currently, my subscription is up for renewal.

I have a decision to make, though...

I am sick of the growth (no pun intended) of the sexual enhancement ads in this magazine, but at the same time, I enjoy the articles pertaining to science and technology. Plus, I like the fact that I have 5 years worth of this magazine stored away -- It may be worth something in the future!

So, the decision is this: Put up with the ads and renew the subscription, or cancel the subscription and write a letter to Popular Science's PR department to complain.

The Wildebeest now has Apache2, MySQL4, and PHP5. See this post for more details.

No, I haven't been told that I got the job, yet...

However, I had an hour-long interview with the IT guys (IT Director and Network Admin), and they were very pleased with the things that I told them. When they would ask me a question, I would answer it AND the 20 other questions they had, before they would ask the others.

After that, I had 2 hours of testing. That's right: T-E-S-T-I-N-G. They had me do the pattern matching test, answer some questions about myself, answer some questions about ethics, and some math questions. 2 hours later, the HR lady told me that I would hear from them next week.

For the last couple of weeks, I've been hanging out over at the DevShed PHP forum, trying to give my opinion and share my knowledge for the (mostly) elementary questions.

One thing I have noticed, and am really upset about, is that that the majority of people posting these questions have been hired to develop a full web site in PHP/MySQL. Yet something as simple as padding a string is too difficult to figure out? Pardon me while I go regurgitate my lunch.

See, the problem with that is these people say, "Oh, I know PHP," and they get this huge project to do, and they don't even know where to start with the easy stuff! But there's even more of a problem; one that plagues the majority of web-based discussion forums...

It's known as "spoon-feeding". I believe I've covered this, but I can't seem to find it in the archives. At any rate, here's the deal:

The current generation is full of a bunch of spoiled brats who know nothing of respect and working to earn something. This includes research and learning. I see it way too much...

Kiddie: I need someone to help me figure out how to turn a number from 1 to 001, using PHP. Guru: Use the str_pad() function. Kiddie: I don't understand! Do it for me! Guru: Get a life. Read the manual and figure it out for yourself. Kiddie: Please!! This is an emergency! I am getting paid $4500 to build this website, and I can't figure this out!! Do it for me!!

Come on! Think about it: How did Guru get to the point they're at now, knowing the answer at the drop of a hat? Did someone spoon-feed him/her? I doubt it. It's all about working for the answer. You have a glob of gray matter between your ears. Can't you use it? Yeah... that... It's called your brain.

Just recently, I've noticed (and taken part in) a discussion to log all "script queries" on a site. It went from that, to writing to a log file, to figuring out (un)serialized data, and on to "I just need to log the MySQL queries! I'm not a programmer. I just need the easy answer!"

Let me guide you through the proper way of asking a question:

Greetings! I am working with "ProductX", and I need to make a slight modification. I'm not sure if it's possible, and the technical side of it baffles me (I'm not a programmer), so I would appreciate some input. I need to store all the queries made to the MySQL database in a log file, so I can go back and review them at a later time if any security issues arise. Is it possible? What is the best way to do it? What kind of problems might I experience in setting it up? Thanks in advance! -PHPn00b

Now, is that so hard? I bet even people who don't speak English as a primary language could structure a message the same way.

To my generation: Get off your lazy butt and do it yourself. Respect people older than you, because they know more. Oh, and get a friggin' haircut!

Oh man... This band needs to come back to life...

Remember the song, back in the 90's, that went "Ahhhhhh ahhhh ahhh -- My luck is wasted"? That's this band. Big Wreck.

My next purchase will be their 2 albums that are listed on Amazon.