So, we've reduced the office lighting, turned off idle monitors, and evaluated emergency shutdown procedures for the datacenter. I tuned an option on one of our file servers to enable it to return to service a lot quicker if it should lose power, and I've moved it on to an Uninterruptible Power Supply, or UPS. All this because California is in a Stage 3 power alert, and rolling blackouts are anticipated. We're now in the window of peak load. A good excuse to not work too hard and catch y'all up on the journal.
Yesterday I took the cats in to be castrated. It may help them lose that urge to rape each other, causing jokes about incestuous gay cat sex. An hour later I got a call from the vet that they were done, and could go home in a few hours. After bringing them home and watching them a little, I headed back to work, and as is not uncommon, found a fancy car double-parked across two "compact" spaces close to the office.
Well, I drove my sub-compact car off to Krager's and asked if they had any of that stuff you use to write on windshields with. The guy said no, but you know what they use is shoe polish. They had this at the Seven-Eleven next door.
For a couple dollars I obtained some Kiwi Leather Shoe Whitener in a handy pressure-activated dispenser. Basically, you press the spongy pad on top down and white shoe polish is applied to the surface you are pressing against. I tested this on my car, and found a tee shirt handy at wiping the shoe polish off again.
Back at the parking lot, I found a space farther out, and on my way to the office, I took a few seconds to compose and photograph this scene:
I showed this to some friends in the office, and Joe declared that I was his hero, and proceeded to mail the picture around. A little fame, or notoriety. The owner of the fancy car has yet to track me down and be evil towards me.
Yesterday I also balanced my checkbook. Boy ... good thing Benjy is living with me this month! I owe, roughly:
Honda: $20k UIUC: $1k US Department of Education: $12k Credit Cards: $7k
That's roughly $40,000. Simply having a roommate can cover up to $12,000. So much money. I think I'll make paying off debt a priority this year. I was doing pretty well at it last year. The funny thing is I don't spend a whole heck of a lot of money. I've mainly taken a hit since buying the car and straightening out car insurance, registration, and the like. Plus the cats cost some money, and the occasional household items, food ... and toys once in a while. Like a $500 digital camera. But I'll actually use that toy.
Up to $12,000 by subletting the room ... and I could make another $12,000 easily by expanding my uhmmm, Internet business. Probably a lot more than that, and I think I may treat it as a serious enterprize, filing quarterly taxes and stuff ... if I ever get my server back from Eric.
Ya, so you may have noticed you're not reading my journal right now. It was being hosted off a friend's T1 back in Chicago, but that friend has now moved to California and he told me that it would be a good two weeks or so before his stuff came back to him. Eric ... Eric, wherefor art thou, Eric?
4 January
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