Monday, July 28, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Reflections from the road
Larry and I have been busy taking alternating trips these past few weeks. First, he went to Vancouver for a week. Last week, I stayed in DC for 3 days, over my birthday, for a conference. Tomorrow, he leaves for a work roadtrip(?) up to Ithaca, NY. And on Thursday night, Amanda and I leave for a girl's roadtrip weekend to NYC. When Henry gets here, much of this will change, so I guess it's good to get it all in now.
While at my conference, I learned a few things, or at least was reminded of a few that I had forgotten since the last conference.
1. Individuals are smart, groups are stupid lemmings. - Do you know how many architects asked me if they really had to use Number 2. pencil on their Scantron forms that they fill out to get CEU credits for coming to the conference? Because "I know it says that I need to, but I already filled it out in pen." I think it was 2,000. And there were only 1000 people there. First off, if you can't follow 1 simple instruction on a form to get the credits that you so desperately need, you don't derseve them. But more importantly, these forms are being used so that computers can do the reading. I didn't make these computers. I do not have control over what they can read. But I am guessing that they can only read Number 2 pencil. One stupid question like that, from one person, and you can write it off. But when they ask in rapid fire like that, it becomes clear that people are not as smart as they seem.
2.Hotels are not considered fancy until they refill the ice bucket every day for you.
3.People are cheap, no matter how much money they make, and are willing to make asses out of themselves to get something for free. - At every conference, you always get the cleaning crew and security guards for teh building asking for the free bags and SWAG that are there for the attendees. I have come to accept this. And have learned to tell them no, only because giving in opens the floodgates of all the other building personnel that also want free stuff. But on Thursday I had this altercation:
Gentleman architect who was attending the conference comes to the registration desk, his obnoxious green free bag hanging from his shoulder. We had run out of these bags earlier in thee day and were no giving out black bags that were leftovers from the prior year.
Architect - "Can I have one of those black bags?"
Me- "Well, we are running low, we only have 4 left."
A- "But I only want one."
M-"But you already have one." I point at his shoulder.
A- "Yeah, but I like them for grocery shopping"
M- "People are still showing up for the conference, so I need the bags for them. If you really want one, try coming back at 5:30, right before the conference ends, and if there are any left, you can have one then."
5:30- Architect returns, I see him coming and put one of the 2 bags that we have left up on the counter.
M-"Here you go, sir." He comes and picks it up and starts to walk away. "Happy shopping!" I say this as smugly as possible.
A- "Yeah, I like these, I hate having to throw away plastic bags."
So, this guy is too cheap to buy a 99 cent reusable bag, he would rather just use throw away plastic bags. But now, thanks to his perseverance, he has two FREE reusable bags. Clearly this conference on architecture, focusing on being green, has really sunk in.
While at my conference, I learned a few things, or at least was reminded of a few that I had forgotten since the last conference.
1. Individuals are smart, groups are stupid lemmings. - Do you know how many architects asked me if they really had to use Number 2. pencil on their Scantron forms that they fill out to get CEU credits for coming to the conference? Because "I know it says that I need to, but I already filled it out in pen." I think it was 2,000. And there were only 1000 people there. First off, if you can't follow 1 simple instruction on a form to get the credits that you so desperately need, you don't derseve them. But more importantly, these forms are being used so that computers can do the reading. I didn't make these computers. I do not have control over what they can read. But I am guessing that they can only read Number 2 pencil. One stupid question like that, from one person, and you can write it off. But when they ask in rapid fire like that, it becomes clear that people are not as smart as they seem.
2.Hotels are not considered fancy until they refill the ice bucket every day for you.
3.People are cheap, no matter how much money they make, and are willing to make asses out of themselves to get something for free. - At every conference, you always get the cleaning crew and security guards for teh building asking for the free bags and SWAG that are there for the attendees. I have come to accept this. And have learned to tell them no, only because giving in opens the floodgates of all the other building personnel that also want free stuff. But on Thursday I had this altercation:
Gentleman architect who was attending the conference comes to the registration desk, his obnoxious green free bag hanging from his shoulder. We had run out of these bags earlier in thee day and were no giving out black bags that were leftovers from the prior year.
Architect - "Can I have one of those black bags?"
Me- "Well, we are running low, we only have 4 left."
A- "But I only want one."
M-"But you already have one." I point at his shoulder.
A- "Yeah, but I like them for grocery shopping"
M- "People are still showing up for the conference, so I need the bags for them. If you really want one, try coming back at 5:30, right before the conference ends, and if there are any left, you can have one then."
5:30- Architect returns, I see him coming and put one of the 2 bags that we have left up on the counter.
M-"Here you go, sir." He comes and picks it up and starts to walk away. "Happy shopping!" I say this as smugly as possible.
A- "Yeah, I like these, I hate having to throw away plastic bags."
So, this guy is too cheap to buy a 99 cent reusable bag, he would rather just use throw away plastic bags. But now, thanks to his perseverance, he has two FREE reusable bags. Clearly this conference on architecture, focusing on being green, has really sunk in.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
A look into my alternate future
On the heels of yet another Amanda post, I present our beautiful baby:
If we had a girl, I would be Wanda Sykes' baby-momma.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Looks like someone's got a case of the Mondays!
In response to Amanda's "capcha" post, I received this gem today while posting on Amanda's site:
"cyfuwork"
I am pretty sure Blogger is unemployed.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
It's a boy!
The baby ignored the voting results, went with those old wives and declared itself a boy. He is in great health and it was wonderful to see him on the ultrasound again.
I present to you:
I present to you:
Henry Awe Symms*
Look at that smile!
Little foot.
Proof of his manhood (at the top of the upside-down V)
* (No, we are not kidding. Look at this kid's guns! Clearly Awesymms is appropriate.)
Look at that smile!
Little foot.
Proof of his manhood (at the top of the upside-down V)
* (No, we are not kidding. Look at this kid's guns! Clearly Awesymms is appropriate.)
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Let's Talk about Sex, Baby!
We will be finding out the sex of the baby, hopefully, next Thursday. I have decided to test out some old wives tales and other myths about how to predict the baby's sex. Here are the results so far:
Chinese Pregnancy Chart #1: Boy
Chinese Pregnancy Chart #2: Boy
Chinese Pregnancy Chart #3:Girl
About.Com Quiz: Boy
Baby's Heartrate above 140: Girl
Hanging Pendant over belly moves in circles: Boy
There are also ones involving the color of my nipples, the color of my pee, and which breast is larger, but I will not go into those details.
Overall, results point to boy. We will see in about a week. In the meanwhile, I would like to here your predictions:
UPDATE: I had thought that the Other option would force you to enter your suggestion for what you thought that the "Other" would be, which would be funny. But apparently, that is not the case. Instead, it just looked like 2 people thought that we are going to have a hermaphrodite or a neuter, which is not funny, just sad, so I removed the "Other " option. If you voted other and have conviction in your selection, please describe in the Comments.
Chinese Pregnancy Chart #1: Boy
Chinese Pregnancy Chart #2: Boy
Chinese Pregnancy Chart #3:Girl
About.Com Quiz: Boy
Baby's Heartrate above 140: Girl
Hanging Pendant over belly moves in circles: Boy
There are also ones involving the color of my nipples, the color of my pee, and which breast is larger, but I will not go into those details.
Overall, results point to boy. We will see in about a week. In the meanwhile, I would like to here your predictions:
UPDATE: I had thought that the Other option would force you to enter your suggestion for what you thought that the "Other" would be, which would be funny. But apparently, that is not the case. Instead, it just looked like 2 people thought that we are going to have a hermaphrodite or a neuter, which is not funny, just sad, so I removed the "Other " option. If you voted other and have conviction in your selection, please describe in the Comments.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Power Hungry
Do you realize how much you rely on electricity in a given day? The quantifiable number is - a lot. In our house, we use more than the average person, what with the 4 computers running all day, every day, and the full sized freezer from the 1950's that I am sure costs more to run than the rest of my entire house. Just to be sure of that, we put it in the garage, so that all the pent up heat of summer could force it into overdrive.
Do you know how often the power goes out in Bowie? The stats show - all the time. Easily 6 times a year, which is actually a significant decrease from the number of outages that we dealt with in years prior. It used to be multiple times a week during the rainier months. And for some reason, Bowie seems to have a tornado magnet buried deep in its suburban core. We have been struck directly with one at our house, one within 10 miles, and at least 2 others have passed within 50 miles of us, in the past 5 years. The outages are always long - the worst was over 5 days.
Cut to Sunday night - its raining, hard. We go to bed, and I am awakened 15 minutes later to the sounds of silence. (Hello darkness my old friend!) The cacophony that is usually my bedroom is still. No fan, no TV/computer combo humming, and no sound machine. I spend the night restlessly trying to figure out where I am going to work from tomorrow, since working from home for a computer-based job is hard without a working computer.
Larry reminds me that he has created a generator out of our woodshed/Chevy S-10 Blazer. The Blazer that has been housing the remnants of a dug up stump for over a year. The same Blazer that has a back window made of Lexan, because a rolling stump smashed the old one out. The same Blazer that was stolen and now has an advanced-magnetic-relay-switch-dealy that starts it. Oh, and a light that blinks so that it looks like we have an alarm. And a solar panel to keep that light from killing the battery. Yeah, that Blazer. Truckasarous, how I love thee!
Larry connects extension cords from the truck and runs them into the house to power the Verizon box, the network stuff, my Vonage phone, and my laptop; my virtual office. He has some fancy battery thing that is supposed to keep the computers from shutting down instantly in case of a quick power loss, but Bowie always goes big, or goes home, so if the power is out for 5 minutes, it's usually out for at least 5 hours. The battery thing beeps every thirty seconds. Even with the power from the woodshed, it keeps beeping. And beeping. Then it starts frantically beeping and then only one second every thirty seconds does it NOT beep. Larry disconnects it, Thank God. Had he not, I would not be here to write this, due to my exploding head.
While I work, Larry adds gas to the woodshed from a small can he has, while its running. He swears this is not dangerous.
Oh, did I mention Larry was leaving for a business trip. Leaving me, his pregnant wife, in a house with no power, and therefore, no heat on a 49 degree day, to eat all of the food in our massive, ozone depleting freezer before it goes bad.
I appreciate everything he did for me to get my "office" up and running, and then, Larry leaves. I work the rest of the morning and early afternoon in cold silence. I have a conference call scheduled for 2:30, and receive a call at around 2:10. 5 minutes into the call, the phone dies. Everything dies. I run outside, and the truck is off. I use a magic decoder ring and ESP to get it started again. The tank reads EMPTY. Here lies my dilemma.
Do I:
A. take my car with the gas can to the gas station, fill it up, return home, and add the gas to the truck?
B. Take the truck, which is on E, and has just died from running out gas, and hope that I make it to the gas station?
Well, the only gas can I see is broken at the nozzle, which is, I assume, the reason Larry smelled like gas when he came in after filling the tank initially. I call my 2:30 client and pushed the meeting to 3. I run back outside, unhook the extension cords from the truck, and head to the gas station, all the while repeating the mantra "Please don't die, please don't die." To ensure that I would be completely screwed if it did die, I forget my phone at home.
I make it to the gas station. The most expensive gas station in town, the one I never go to. $67 later, the truck is full of gas. I gingerly drive home (the window-exploding stump is still rolling around in the trunk). As I pull up to the house, the porch lights are on.
The porch lights that need power to operate. Power that I am sure I would have seen lighting up my lights had I looked in the rear view mirror as I slowly rolled away, begging the combustion-engine gods to drink only what they absolutely needed.
So, how was your Monday?
Do you know how often the power goes out in Bowie? The stats show - all the time. Easily 6 times a year, which is actually a significant decrease from the number of outages that we dealt with in years prior. It used to be multiple times a week during the rainier months. And for some reason, Bowie seems to have a tornado magnet buried deep in its suburban core. We have been struck directly with one at our house, one within 10 miles, and at least 2 others have passed within 50 miles of us, in the past 5 years. The outages are always long - the worst was over 5 days.
Cut to Sunday night - its raining, hard. We go to bed, and I am awakened 15 minutes later to the sounds of silence. (Hello darkness my old friend!) The cacophony that is usually my bedroom is still. No fan, no TV/computer combo humming, and no sound machine. I spend the night restlessly trying to figure out where I am going to work from tomorrow, since working from home for a computer-based job is hard without a working computer.
Larry reminds me that he has created a generator out of our woodshed/Chevy S-10 Blazer. The Blazer that has been housing the remnants of a dug up stump for over a year. The same Blazer that has a back window made of Lexan, because a rolling stump smashed the old one out. The same Blazer that was stolen and now has an advanced-magnetic-relay-switch-dealy that starts it. Oh, and a light that blinks so that it looks like we have an alarm. And a solar panel to keep that light from killing the battery. Yeah, that Blazer. Truckasarous, how I love thee!
Larry connects extension cords from the truck and runs them into the house to power the Verizon box, the network stuff, my Vonage phone, and my laptop; my virtual office. He has some fancy battery thing that is supposed to keep the computers from shutting down instantly in case of a quick power loss, but Bowie always goes big, or goes home, so if the power is out for 5 minutes, it's usually out for at least 5 hours. The battery thing beeps every thirty seconds. Even with the power from the woodshed, it keeps beeping. And beeping. Then it starts frantically beeping and then only one second every thirty seconds does it NOT beep. Larry disconnects it, Thank God. Had he not, I would not be here to write this, due to my exploding head.
While I work, Larry adds gas to the woodshed from a small can he has, while its running. He swears this is not dangerous.
Oh, did I mention Larry was leaving for a business trip. Leaving me, his pregnant wife, in a house with no power, and therefore, no heat on a 49 degree day, to eat all of the food in our massive, ozone depleting freezer before it goes bad.
I appreciate everything he did for me to get my "office" up and running, and then, Larry leaves. I work the rest of the morning and early afternoon in cold silence. I have a conference call scheduled for 2:30, and receive a call at around 2:10. 5 minutes into the call, the phone dies. Everything dies. I run outside, and the truck is off. I use a magic decoder ring and ESP to get it started again. The tank reads EMPTY. Here lies my dilemma.
Do I:
A. take my car with the gas can to the gas station, fill it up, return home, and add the gas to the truck?
B. Take the truck, which is on E, and has just died from running out gas, and hope that I make it to the gas station?
Well, the only gas can I see is broken at the nozzle, which is, I assume, the reason Larry smelled like gas when he came in after filling the tank initially. I call my 2:30 client and pushed the meeting to 3. I run back outside, unhook the extension cords from the truck, and head to the gas station, all the while repeating the mantra "Please don't die, please don't die." To ensure that I would be completely screwed if it did die, I forget my phone at home.
I make it to the gas station. The most expensive gas station in town, the one I never go to. $67 later, the truck is full of gas. I gingerly drive home (the window-exploding stump is still rolling around in the trunk). As I pull up to the house, the porch lights are on.
The porch lights that need power to operate. Power that I am sure I would have seen lighting up my lights had I looked in the rear view mirror as I slowly rolled away, begging the combustion-engine gods to drink only what they absolutely needed.
So, how was your Monday?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)