I was just sitting here, working on a web project, and I got this call that said "Please call us back immidately. It is important that you return this call."

I Googl'ed the number they called from to look for fraud, and nothing turned up, so I went ahead and called them back (it was a toll-free number).

When they answered, it was the typical "this call may be recorded" message, then I got connected with a dude that was calling on behalf of Southwestern Bell.

The dude asked for my dad, and I told him that I was able to speak on his behalf. He asked if I had power of attorney or some crap to speak for him, so I said "yes", assuming it was a telemarketer. He said that he was calling to reconcile a long overdue payment for someone with my dad's name, and I suggested that I have Mom call him back when she got home. The guy said, "Okay, that's fine, but I need to confirm your address..."

Turns out, he was looking for someone who lived on Market Street in Kokomo, which is about 90 minutes southeast of here. To the best of my knowledge, none of my family has ever lived there, with the exception of my brother-in-law.

I told the guy that he had the wrong person, and he said, "Yeah, apparently I do. I'm sorry, sir. We'll not bother you again."

(20:09:00) xXloginXx: ohio isn't exactly, "a state" (20:09:04) Tim: haha (20:09:09) Tim: how do you figure? (20:09:22) xXloginXx: it's more like a place no one else wanted to claim, so they had to name the empty space something. (20:09:28) Tim: LMFAO

A friend let me borrow their copy of this movie, and I just watched it. Before he let me take it, he said, "This is not a 'sit down and relax' movie. Don't watch it with that intent."

Well, I just watched it after a very long day, and I have a very different review:

It was not good. It was not bad. It was not marginal. I have one word that really doesn't even come close to covering the movie: wow.

In the midst of migrating to a different ISP, my parents required new e-mail addresses. Sure, we could have paid the ISP to handle notifying all of the past contacts and to forward received mail to the new addresses, but what about the free tools we already have access to?

I'm not talking about any über hardcore corporate applications, mail servers, etc... I'm talking about that little program that everyone uses to send their mail already: The POP/SMTP client.

The process was different for each parent, because they both maintained different kinds of address books, and they both used different software. (My mom uses Outlook Express and my dad uses Mozilla Thunderbird.)

The first time around, I was encountered by the new mail provider, Craftstream, blocking bulk mailings. There was a limit in place as to how many messages could be sent per hour, which was intended to cut down on bandwidth abuse and spam.

The second time around, it was the receiving mail provider's issue. They had blocked access from the sending account.

Before round three started, I got the bright idea to export my parents' address books to tab-delimited text files, parse the file with a PHP script, and send individual messages. At last! Success! One parent down and another to go.

I modified the message, edited the script to read the next address book, and fired it up. OH CRAP! I forgot to change the "From" header to my dad's new email address; I was sending out his message from my mom's address.

After I fixed this error, I ran the script again. This time, I found that AOL and CompuServe had blocked my IP address from sending so many messages in such a short period of time. But these were legitimate messages! They were properly formatted by the RFC821 standard, sent to legitimate contacts, and were not sent more than 4 times!

Okay, so I had problems. I'm past it. It brings up a very valid point, though:

What about the church member that is in the hospital with some life threatening sickness. Let's say the person was about to go under the knife for a highly intensive operation, and someone from the church was keeping a large number of individuals up-to-date about the situation.

The church has approximately 300 members, and 40% of them have requested to be notified by e-mail of the happenings, as they happened.

10:06 AM: Anesthetic 10:15 AM: First cut 10:23 AM: Surgeon's Diagnosis 10:28 AM: Progress Report 10:35 AM: Progress Report 10:38 AM: Something minor went wrong 10:40 AM: The snafu has been resolved 10:43 AM: Progress Report 10:50 AM: Finishing Up 11:05 AM: Surgeon's Final Report 11:30 AM: The Recovery Room 12:00 Noon: All is well

Now, let's say an email was sent to all 120 church members at each point in that little operation. That works out to 1440 messages, total.

Using the same kind of scenario as what I dealt with earlier, the first message would not have made it to all 120 members, because 10 of them were on AOL, 4 were on CompuServe, etc... But wait, that's not spam!

This is the 21st century. We communicate [with masses] through the iternet, using mediums such as AOL and CompuServe... Why can we not keep in touch with everyone? Why are our reports of well-being being labeled as "spam"? Is it because we've all become so worried about getting 2 or 3 extra messages in our inbox? Is it because we don't know how to practice safe computing, and how to keep our e-mail address safe from malicious users?

My personal opinion is that spam blocking rules have become too strict, and that we are all too worried about "privacy", when we get messages about Viagra and Rolex watches. Suck it up, people. I have real e-mail to send, and your whining isn't making it easier.

Well, today was another totally crap day, but it was actually my day off.

I really didn't do much of anything today, so I have no reason to be exhausted, stressed, or angry with anyone/anything. The thing is, I am angry, stressed, and exhausted.

I slept really well last night. I actually had breakfast, lunch, and supper today. I've gotten quite a bit of stuff accomplished with miscellaneous projects. I just don't know what my problem is, though. Nearly everything, regardless of what it is, has been pissing me off today.

A total stranger could have walked up to me, handed me $5 million in cash, and I still would have been pissed at them!

I talked with Mom about it a little, and she said that everyone has been acting the same way today. The best guess I have is that it's weather related.

So anyhow, if I have snapped at anyone, I apologize.

Well, today was another crap day...

The crap started with 'dude' being his normal lazy self. On the daily cleaning/todo list, his initials were on 2 of the 30 items. Mine were on the rest.

I talked with the boss at the first part of the morning, and she told me that things weren't good with 'dude', and that there would be changes coming really soon-like. I know 'dude' knew that, which is probably why he was being such a lazy bum.

Aside from that, the day was going pretty well up until 2:30ish. A girl brought her car in, which was rattling really bad, and said the rattling had just started after she came in for an oil change last Friday. I went down in the pit to listen to it while the car was running, and to me it sounded like a rod bearing had spun/gone out. I pulled the dipstick to see what the oil level/color looked like, and it was all fine.

So after I made my inspection, I attempted to call the boss to see what his ideas were about it, what he wanted the customer to do, and what I was supposed to do about the car. I called the other shop, where he was, and one of the kids working there said "just a minute" and laid the phone down. I waited and waited and waited and waited for about 10 minutes for someone to at least pick up the phone and say, "He'll call you back in a bit," or, "What's going on? Can it wait?"

Well, I ended up hanging up the phone because all I heard was laughing, talking, and the radio blaring in the background. If the radio was turned up, there were no customers in the shop; shop rule. I tried to call the boss on his cell phone from my cell phone, and I got a "This customer is busy" message. When I hung up, I had a voice mail... from him. The message was about the friggin' schedule for the later part of this week! I called him right back, and he said, "I'll have to call you back in a minute, " even though I had said "it's important."

A word of advice to whoever reads this:

The word "important" comes out of my mouth about once every millenia. If you hear me use this word, it must be really serious.

I ended up waiting ANOTHER 15 minutes for him to call back. By then, I was about ready to give up, cuss out everyone, and walk out the door. Luckily, the other guy that works at that shop came in and asked what was going on. I told him, and he took the issue as his responsibility.

'Other guy' ended up getting the boss on the phone, getting his opinion, and getting the customer on her way with a clear understanding that the problem was not caused by us. (I disagree with the boss' call, but oh well.)

Within about 5 minutes after that, a kid brought a new Cavalier in. As I was attempting to guide him over the rails and into the bay, he totally ignored my hand signals, and ended up within 2 inches of the front left wheel of his car sitting down in the pit below. When I got him to stop, I signaled him to back up, which he did, then I tried to guide him back in. AGAIN, the punk totally ignored my signals. I signaled for him to turn to my right, and he turned to my left!

Well, his car finally made it into the proper position without falling in the hole, and he started whining about "only" having $27 on him, which would have been $0.28 shy of paying the bill. 'Dude' ended up adding a $2 discount to his ticket so he would be able to afford it: less hassle for me.

The idiot finally got his car out of the shop, and I took a deep breath and tried to relax.

Later, ANOTHER idiot got the bright idea to ignore my hand signals, do the complete opposite, and pretend like they couldn't see me. They came really close to falling in the pit, too.

And not long after that, some idiot lady decided that she was going to pull her car in, directly behind the previous car, and she came within 6 inches of hitting the other car.

It totally boggles my mind: How can people totally ignore a "STOP!" sign just outside the door of the shop?! How can people claim to not see hand signals when I am standing directly in front of their car, where they are looking as they drive down the road? It makes me not want to drive anymore.

Just so everyone has an idea of what this "pit" and "rails" are, here's a picture:

The above picture was from the 1 year anniversary of the current owners running the shop. The yellow you see in the middle is "the rails", which surround "the pit". It's about a 7 foot drop from the floor to the bottom of the pit. The pit is probably about 3 feet wide.

I'll head this off at the pass... The post below is because of how I feel right now.

First off, it starts with a phone call I got at 9:45PM last night. It was my boss.

I had taken yesterday off, and they wanted me to take today off, because I wasn't feeling well. As far as I knew, I had come down with the flu.

So anyhow, the dude says, "Can you work the Rensselaer shop tomorrow from 8-6? I know you're sick, but I really need this."

I figured, "What the heck. I need the money and if I need to puke or explode in my nether regions, the toilet is less than 10 feet away from where I'll be working," and I told him "Sure. I'll work."

Well, I could see this morning at 7:45 that the dude I had to work with was going to be about as reliable as "Old Faithful" on Alka Seltzer. At 8:00, that thought was confirmed. At 8:03 he pulled in to start his day "working".

Now, that dude has a lot of crap going on in his life. He's a 20-year-old kid, making less than $10 an hour, trying to support his 2 year old son and his ex-wife. Next week he goes to court for custody, I guess. Still, though, that's really no excuse for being THAT late to work on a day that a "new guy" is there to help open. He left me alone to open. Not good.

After getting all the crap done before cars started to come in, I felt like I was going to get sick, so I went and sat down. Just then, the boss pulled up and started yelling about me sitting down and no work being done.

Now, he knows for a fact that I'm not one to loaf. I'm there to work, so I work. Plain and simple. But when I feel like I'm going to vomit all over the place, I don't think I need to be standing over the mop bucket, filling it with water (and possibly other stuff).

Once I told him what I was sitting down for, he was cool about it.

So, as the day went on, the other dude continued his crap, even after the boss yelled at him about no work getting done around the shop this last week.

THEN the cars started to show up. I got a 10 minute break to go to the bank (for the boss) and to go get my lunch from one of the resturaunts just next to the shop. When I got back and started to eat it, cars started to show up again.

The thing about the cars today was THEY DIDN'T STOP! From about 9:30AM until 6:00PM, they came in, one right after another. At times, there were 2 or 3 cars lined up waiting out back. Overall, we had 30 cars, 1 transmission fluid exchange (30 minute job), and 1 air conditioner service (20 minute job).

Right around 5:45, the dude called the boss, and the boss told him that we weren't to go home until the crap he wanted done earlier was done. What was this crap? Well, the dude had to scrub the floors in BOTH pits, he had to paint the walls, and I had to paint the rails and the steps in both pits, and we had to keep up with the daily cleaning list.

Well, big deal, right? I only had to stay until 7:00. The dude didn't do much, and he made it last as long as he possibly could. It got to the point that I was giving him orders, because I needed to get home.

Sometime during the fray today, the boss called and reminded me that I had to work at the other shop from 8-6 tomorrow. Again, around 7:00 tonight, he and his wife showed up, and they both kept reminding me about it. The dude was still slacking off, even with them there.

So once I finished the painting and a few other minor things, I told the boss that I was going home. Guess what he reminded me of, AGAIN...

By the time I got home, I was too worn out to even THINK about coding anything tonight. I have the 2(3) website projects to get done ASAP, and time is just not in my favor. Add a stressful (mentally AND physically) day job to the mix, and you have a synthetic blend of "tim-no-work".

Well, add this to the rest of it... Mom and Dad showed up at the shop when we had 3 cars waiting, and Mom asked me if I needed anything from Lafayette. I told her I had a couple Best Buy gift cards laying on my floor, and that I needed a new hard drive. I wrote down on a piece of paper for her what I needed, and I told her, "If you don't get this, at least get me a spindle of CD-R's."

When I got home tonight, I asked Dad where the stuff from Best Buy was. The response I was given sent me through the roof: "Mom told them that you'll just come down on your next day off."

DAY OFF?! DAY OFF?!?! DAY OFF?!

• 8-6, M-F, 8-2 Sat.: Day job.
• 6-10, M-F, 3-11 Sat., all day Sun.: Web development

Where's this "day off" thing?

I have a hard drive that is either dying or has died, and I need to be able to get my data off of it. There's not enough storage left across the network for me to backup to another computer, and I am out of blank DVD's and CD's, so I don't think I'll be able to back that crap up for a really long time, unless Mom tells me exactly why she didn't get the drive for me.

AND I just realized, I forgot to order a piece of hardware for a customer... SON OF A BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!

That's it. Shower, TV, bed.

<?php     $max_output = rand(0, rand(time()));     for($i = 0; $i <= $max_output; $i++) echo RANDOM_PROFANITY."\n"; ?>

I just got to looking at DSL prices again, and holy crap, it might just be a reality.

Considering Dad and I use the internet the most here at home, it would be fair for us to each take like 40% of the cost, and leave mom with the remaining 20%. That would work out to some really reasonable numbers, like this:

Total monthly rate:          $31.99
-----------------------------------
Mom's portion:                 6.39
Dad's portion:                12.80
My portion:                   12.80
===================================
Total:                       $31.99

I can eat the tax and whatnot. But if I can get the parental units to stick with their portion of this, then broadband will be a legitimate consideration!

The same day that I found the dog food in the dude's air cleaner assembly, this other little thing happened...

This older guy brought a really nice, red, 2005 Silverado into the shop. He had all kinds of graphic work done on it, but it wasn't to the point it was gawdy: It was quite tasteful.

He had just gotten new tires and rims on the truck not more than a few days prior. He said that in all, he spent $13,000 -- yes, thirteen-thousand dollars -- on the wheels. Why so much? They were a very odd size, and they were high quality.

So anyhow, another part of the responsibility working top-side is to check the tire pressures. I started at the left rear and worked my way around the vehicle clockwise. When I got to the left front wheel, I went to remove the valve cap, and I noticed something kinda odd.

Almost 100% of the time, a valve stem on a tire has the little valve mechanism itself, called the valve core. When I removed the cap from this valve stem, the air started draining out of the tire at a rather alarming rate. Whoever the guy paid $13k to for the tire work apparently couldn't afford the $0.05 valve core, so they just aired the tire up a whole bunch, and slapped the cap on there.

Needless to say, I installed a new valve core for the guy, inflated the tire to the proper pressure, and it didn't cost him a thing.

Right now, it's 8:49PM CST on July 4th, 2005. This day marks the 229th anniversary of the signing of The Declaration of Independence, our country's ticket to freedom.

As I sit here typing this up, I hear the sounds of fireworks being set off in the neighborhood and town, each one ending with a loud "report" or "bang". With each one, I am reminded of the constant war taking place in other countries of the world, where the report follows a missle strike, a bomb drop, or a gunshot.

I am EXTREMELY thankful for our military forces, and the efforts they make -- their job -- to protect the freedom of this country, my family, my friends. Without this protection, the noises I'm hearing could be the same as the countries at war: the sound of death and destruction, coming from an opposing force.

It's far too easy to become complacent about this freedom and the protection thereof.

If you're reading this now, go sit outside, close your eyes, listen to the fireworks going off, and try to imagine what it would be like for those reports to be gunshots and bomb explosions rather than a pretty show of lights and colors. It's not a very pretty or comforting picture, is it? Just remember that each time you hear about the men and women of this country who are going to battle to protect YOUR freedom, the freedom that allows you to sit back in your comfortable, air-conditioned home, surfing the internet, listening to your music, and not having to really worry about whether or not your family will make it through the night alive.

At the lube shop, it is my responsibility to check the air filter on every vehicle and suggest a replacement if it's necessary. Usually, this involves removing the lid of the air filter assembly and visually inspecting the filter.

Saturday, this Ford Explorer came in for an oil change. I got to the point that the air filter needed to be checked, so I opened the box up and pulled the filter out. What I found in the bottom of the box was simply insane.

I looked at the owner and said, "Do you have dog food in here for any specific reason?" He got a puzzled look on his face and said, "What???"

I grabbed the trash can and pulled it over, next to the front end of his vehicle, and started pulling the dog food out and throwing it in the trash. He came over and saw what I was doing, laughed, then started helping me remove the dog food. His passenger came out to see what was going on, and said "What is it? Contraband?" The driver said "No man, it's dog food!"

More than likely, there were mice in the garage with the vehicle and a bag of dog food, and the mice found a way into the air filter assembly. They probably just put the food there, piece by piece, in an attempt to make a cache for the cold winter to come.

So this morning I woke up, and the first thing out of Mom's mouth was, "I sent you and Dad an email that I want you to read. What I said in it HAS to be done TODAY."

Thanks. Yeah. I didn't have anything planned today, like DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AND CALLING THIS MY FRIGGIN' DAY OFF!!!

My work schedule has been uber hectic and my schedule with the web development crap has been worse. I haven't been able to accomplish anything in the last 2 weeks because nobody knows how to communicate. I had today charted out as the day I relax, and I get told that I have to clean out the friggin' shed that is filled with Mom's crap.

First thing I decided was that a) anything she hasn't used in over 2 years, and b) anything that looks like garbage to me, is going to be thrown in the trash.

The second thing I decided was that I would pull everything out of the shed, sort it, and take care of the trash, and she and Dad could put things back in there. I left 2 piles in front of the shed: one pile of scrap metal to be taken to the recycler, and one pile of things that need to go back in the shed.

Now that I've done my part, I am trying to sit here and do nothing, but I keep hearing, "Tiiiim... I need you to insert action here for me." Luckily, a friend called and has given me an excuse to get out of the house and take my bass guitar with me.

I've never had to go through the immigration process, so if I say anything that isn't right, I apologize now.

Nearly 14 years after coming to the United States on six-month tourist visas, Marvin and Marina Gonzalez finally toured the nation’s capital. But it was a bittersweet event - a wonderful sightseeing experience combined with a last-ditch lobbying effort to try to stave off a Tuesday deadline to leave the country voluntarily or face deportation. The Gonzalez family received plenty of political sympathy but no approval to stay.

Oh wah wah wah...

I saw this on the news this morning, and I became so angry that I had to leave the house.

Here's the deal: The parents left Costa Rica like 14 years ago, lived here on 6 month visas, and CONTINUED to live here...ILLEGALLY!

Now, that's not even the half of it... The deal is the family's LAWYER, a US RESIDENT, has tried to friggin' JUSTIFY their staying here!!!

WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY?!

There are immigration laws. Why can't these immigrants follow those laws just like everyone else? And why are they EXEMPT from those laws, in their lawyer's eyes?

GIVE ME A FRIGGIN' BREAK!

I live in a small farming community in Northwest Indiana. There was a rather large chain of dairy farms come in to the area about 10 years ago. When those farms came in, they promised jobs and better economy for the local unemployed residents. They hired a lot of the local highschool graduates and gave them decent paying jobs with benefits, and everyone was happy.

Probably a year later, there was a rise in the local "Hispanic" population. No, not the English-speaking, dark-skinned people you typically see celebrating Cinco de Mayo. These are the traditional, "no comprende", Mexican immigrants that literally live 15 to a 2 bedroom house.

Within the last couple of years, there has been a pretty big change in the local atmosphere. Probably about 15% of the people around here are immigrants. I would venture to say that 90% of that 15% are here illegally, and probably 98% of them don't speak any English. Also, with this massive immigration, there have been a lot of local residents laid off from the farms, had hours cut, and had pay cuts.

I can guarantee you that the immigrants are being paid rather well, in cash, and not at all concerned about paying taxes. Does anyone care? Pfft... <sarcasam>"They do all the dirty jobs that the locals won't touch."</sarcasam> Riiiiight...

So yeah, back to the rant... Do NOT come to my country if you're not going to follow the laws, speak the language, and pay the taxes. If you do, and you get deported, tough crap: I don't want to hear the whining when you do.

Do I only care about the Cubans, Costa Ricans, and Mexicans? HECK NO! I feel just the same if a Canadian, Brit, or German does this same crap!

If you're interested, read about the Gonzalez family.

Yet again, I wasn't supposed to be to work until noon.

I got to the shop and nobody was there yet, so I went to the gas station, got some cash out of the ATM, bought a bottle of Gatorade, and went back to wait in the truck. A little while later, I heard Dan's truck pull up. I looked, and Joe was riding with him.

They both got out and Joe walked over to me and said "Why are you here already? You're not supposed to be here until noon."

Turns out, I was scheduled today from noon to 6PM, and nobody told me. The boss said nothing to me about it yesterday, other than, "I didn't fax the scheduled down there."

I will give them one more chance. If this happens again, I'm going to voice my opinion.