the 100 list

Alright, so my sister has inspired me. She has a 100 list on her site. 100 random things about her. so I think I will give it a whirl and see what I come up with. Apologies in advance if I get a little wordy in parts

1. I have always had a hard time talking about myself, so this will probably be one of the hardest things I have done in a very long time
2. Humor is my main defense method,
3. I used to be very competitive in board games, but not so much anymore. I still like to win, but won’t be an ass to do it.
4. It was a mistake to introduce IOUs to the house rules in Monopoly
5. I find it interesting that I can remember the silliest trivia questions, but not what I had for dinner last night
6. I am a video game junkie
7. I have had my cat for longer than I have known my wife
8. I have been married 6 years
9. I really suck at keeping in touch with people. I am not sure why that is
10. In conversation I nervously use the word “so” alot. usually when I am trying to think if there is anything more I want to add.
11. I hate talking to people on the phone.
12. I work in a call centre
13. I have not talked to my bio-dad in over 6 years.
14. I am ok with that
15. I often try to make myself seem smarter than I actually am
16. I used to read tarot
17. Now I read the manual
18. I just scrolled up to see if I made a memory comment yet
19. I did
20. On paper, I am grossly under-qualified for my job
21. I can’t nap, but wish I could
22. I am a geek, a nerd, a dork, you get the idea
23. I like D&D
24. I used to be very mean to my stepdad, until I was older and realised that he is one of the most awesome people I have ever had the pleasure to meet
25. I love watching my wife pick on my stepdad
26. I miss the time when my little brother thought I knew everything
27. My hands are very soft (nintendo controllers and pc keyboards don’t callus the hands much)
28. I have a really bad sense of direction indoors
29. I like wearing shoes with thin soles, i like being able to still feel the contours of the ground
30. I know I shouldn’t be doing this at work, but I am
31. my sister beat the tar out of me as a kid
32. alot
33. looking back, I am glad she did, it taught me to defend myself
34. there are alot of things on my “I used to” list.
35. I used to draw alot… now I doodle
36. I used to host karaoke
37. I used to write poetry
38. not even half way in and I am already running out of things to write
39. have I mentioned I have a problem with memory?
40. Owning a home is a major achievement
41. I have had to learn how to be a handyman
42. I laugh every time I see the formal “Donut Schedule” at work
43. I get distracted fairly easily
44. ooooh shiny
45. I really have to concentrate on typing when I am also listening to music otherwise the lyrics find their way in
46. I do my own stunts
47. I used to think that yellowknife would always be home. until this spring… I felt like I didn’t belong
48. I like swords and knives. Not sure why, I just do
49. I have never been outside of North America, but i would like to
50. is now wondering why the spell check caught the lowercase y in yellowknife, but not the lowercase i in i
51. ǝɹǝɥ ʎuunɟ ǝq pןnoʍ ǝuıן uʍop ǝpısdn uɐ ʇɥƃnoɥʇ
52. it really wasn’t that funny
53. I curse way more now than I used to
54. I actually use the word curses (as in Curses, foiled again)
55. I think part of the reason I like the computer so much is because I hate my handwriting
56. my poor penmanship has also affected my ability to write coherently at times
57. I thought of being a doctor based on my handwriting alone
58. My artistic work has been discussed by NWT MLAs
59. I just responded to an instant message and forgot what I was about to write
60. I dislike vegetables, mostly from growing up in the north
61. That is the same reason I dislike fish now. Just can’t beat a trout pulled out of prelude lake and cooked right there on the spot
62. I have whole albums on my ipod I have never listened to. some are by bands I have never heard of
63. I will get around to them eventually
64. oh…. I just remembered what I was going to write for number 59
65. I used to say that I am a terrible procrastinator, but then i realized that I actually kick ass at it.
66. I am not a big fan of soup, except tomato soup if there happens to be a grilled cheese sandwich beside it
67. I have had stitches in my tongue, blame my sister, and the evil teeter-totter. I think the living off soup while it was healing may have lead to my current dislike of soup
68. I once pet a wild fox. It was a rather surreal experience
69. I have a very dirty mind at times
70. I hate internet forwards, luckily my friends don’t send em to me anymore.
71. I have very few regrets in life. The things I do regret, I keep in my mind so they can serve as a reminder of the asshattery I am capable of
72. just looked back up at #69 and laughed because I just saw what I did there
73. I that sometimes the funniest things are those that are completely unintentional
74. I feel the need to draw your attention back to #43
75. looking at all the safety equipment they have now I often wonder how our generation survived childhood
76. for a time, I wore very flamboyant clothes and did very odd things to my hair. I realised not long after i stopped that I must have looked like a complete moron
77. my teenage self would probably shoot himself if he found out that at 30, really sleeping in means sleeping until 9am
78. I don’t need a security system, I have a dog that will alert the neighborhood if anything so much as looks at my property.
79. I used to be able to beat super mario brothers without warping in under 15 minutes. if I were to try now, I would probably be killed by the first goomba
80. 2 years ago, I tried out for Canadian Idol. I didn’t get past the first audition
81. I used to drink way too much. I still drink a fair bit now, but nothing even close to what I used to drink
82. I make wine and beer in my basement. which doesn’t help the whole drinking less plan sometimes
83. <insert random fact here>
84. I wish I had more motivation in life, there is so much I could do.
85. I have completely run out of things to write, so the last 15 items may vary in accuracy
86. I think I will be the kind of guy that talks about “walking uphill both ways barefoot” when I get older.
87. This of course will be after I talk about my glory days in world war 2. (which will of course be a compilation of scenes from Medal of Honor and Call of Duty)
88. I thought it was pretty neat when I discovered what my German last name meant
89. I have almost written every line so far like a facebook status message
90. has to get some work done soon
91. I am totally genuine when I tell people that I enjoy taking the bus to and from work
92. I am perpetually careful when googling things at work because of the ever present rule 34 (google it… unless you are at work…in which case…. NSFW should suffice)
93. I don’t lol as much as I should
94. I have always had a problem with catchy tunes getting stuck in my head, unfortunately more often than not it is from tv commercials (boom-de-ya-da….. miiiii-niiiiii wheats wheats wheats… etc)
95. I attribute most of my vocabulary not to english class, but to trying to beat my aunt dale at scrabble
96. I taught my sister to play chess, that first game was the only game I ever won against her. I am not sure what happened there
97. I got my wife into playing video games at first so that she couldn’t complain about me spending hours playing a video game if she was playing it as well. This has really shown me how important co-op multiplayer can be
98. I watch way too much TV, during the regular tv season our PVR can’t even hold a full week of our regular shows. this is a bit of a problem.
99. I never quite seem to finish the things I have started

No Love for HP support here

this is a story about my adventures with HP chat support. a little background first though. I have a set of Motorola S9-HD bluetooth headphones and I wanted to pair them up with my Hp Pavillion dv2934ca laptop. seems simple enough, however I quickly discovered that the headphones won’t work with the laptop for some reason or another. I suspected that it may be due to a lack of A2DP support in the bluetooth driver on the laptop.

after considerable time searching the hp website, I couldn’t really find anything that would point to where the issue may be. I decided to try my luck and hit the “chat with an HP online support rep” link. Little did I know, that would be a portal straight to tech support hell.

For your amusement, here is the entire conversation between me and HP

[You are now chatting with Hilary Gomes .]

Hilary Gomes : Welcome to HP Total Care for Notebook support. My name is Hilary Gomes . Please give me a few moments while I review your problem description details.
NOTE: For security reasons, PLEASE DO NOT send credit card information via chat.
Jason Rasch : hello Hilary
Hilary Gomes : Thank you. Hi Jason, how are you doing?
Jason Rasch : pretty good….I have a quick question about the built in bluetooth adaptor on my laptop (pavilion dv2934ca)
Hilary Gomes : It’s glad to hear from you.
Hilary Gomes : Don’t worry as we are here for you. I assure you that I will do my best to help you.
Jason Rasch : I am trying to connect it to my Motorola S9-HD bluetooth headphones. it can see them and connect to them however it will only detect them as a headset not headphones.
Hilary Gomes : I understand your concern and I will put all my efforts to help you and make you happy at the end of the chat.
Jason Rasch : big question is, is my laptop’s built in bluetooth adaptor a2dp capable?
Hilary Gomes : First, I would like to inform you that your notebook have built in bluetooth adapter.
Jason Rasch : obviously I know that it has a built in bluetooth adapter as I mentioned that. Is it a2dp capable?
Hilary Gomes : I mean your notebook has bluetooth capacity. You can connect bluetooth devices.

At this point I seriously begin to suspect that this may not be a real person…

Jason Rasch : are you a script?
Hilary Gomes : I am sorry.
Jason Rasch : are you now?
Hilary Gomes : I am Hilary Gomes an agent assisting you.
Jason Rasch : a2dp does my laptop have it?
Jason Rasch : support it?
Jason Rasch : use it?
Hilary Gomes : Sure, I will inform you.
Hilary Gomes : Could you please tell me what a2dp means?

Now while I don’t expect that everyone knows what a2dp is, I would imagine that HP support would have a KB… or google at the very least. so I gave them the results from Wikipedia

Jason Rasch : Advanced Audio Distribution Profile
Jason Rasch : This profile defines how high quality audio (stereo or mono) can be streamed from one device to another over a Bluetooth connection. For example, music streamed from a mobile phone to a wireless headset or car audio.
A2DP was initially used in conjunction with an intermediate Bluetooth transceiver that connects to a standard audio output jack, encodes the incoming audio to a Bluetooth-friendly format, and sends the signal wirelessly to Bluetooth headphones that decode and play the audio. Bluetooth headphones, especially the more advanced models, often come with a microphone and support for the Headset (HSP), Hands-Free (HFP) and Audio/Video Remote Control (AVRCP) profiles.
A2DP is designed to transfer a uni-directional 2-channel stereo audio stream, like music from an MP3 player, to a headset or car radio.[2] This profile relies on AVDTP and GAVDP. It includes mandatory support for the low complexity SBC codec (not to be confused with Bluetooth’s voice-signal codecs such as CVSDM), and supports optionally: MPEG-1 , MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AAC, and ATRAC, and is extensible to support manufacturer-defined codecs, such as apt-X. Most bluetooth stacks implement the SCMS-T digital rights management (DRM) scheme. In these cases it is possible to connect the A2DP headphones for high quality audio.
Hilary Gomes : Thank you for the information.
Hilary Gomes : Thank you once again.
Hilary Gomes : I have found that information too.
Jason Rasch : ok, so now that we have agreed what a2dp is….. does my laptop support it?
Hilary Gomes : If I understood your issue you want to know whether your notebook has A2DP bluetooth capable or not. Am I correct?

Ok, Seriously??

Jason Rasch : “Jason Rasch : big question is, is my laptop’s built in bluetooth adaptor a2dp capable?”
Jason Rasch : yes… you would be correct
Hilary Gomes : Thank you for confirming.
Hilary Gomes : I would like to inform you that I am searching on this information.
Hilary Gomes : For your reference here is the link for your notebook product specifications- http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01483594&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us<=en&product=3753495.
Jason Rasch : I already looked at that however it says nothing about a2dp compatability
Hilary Gomes : Alright, I just want to provide that information. That’s why I have provided. I am sorry if I did anything wrong.
Hilary Gomes : Could you please wait for 4-5 minutes while I check for this information.
Hilary Gomes : *?
Jason Rasch : tell you what….. I am going to go grab a coffee…. I will be back in a few minutes. hopefully you will have an answer by then
Hilary Gomes : Alright. Sure. Thank you for the co-operation.
Hilary Gomes : I am sorry for the delay.
Hilary Gomes : I am still searching for the information. Please provide me few more minutes
Jason Rasch : ok
Hilary Gomes : Thank you for the co-operation Jason.
Hilary Gomes : Thank you for online and patience Jason.
Hilary Gomes : I really apologize for the delay.

and now some potentially useful information

Hilary Gomes : I would like to inform you that Windows Vista Operating System does not support A2DP natively.
Jason Rasch : uh huh
Jason Rasch : and?
Hilary Gomes : But third-parties can provide A2DP profile support without entirely replacing Microsoft’s stack. Service Pack 2 adds bluetooth 2.0 capabilities.

add 1 part clarification, to 2 parts me being a dick…

Jason Rasch : as in vista SP2?
Hilary Gomes : I am sorry. I did not get you.
Jason Rasch : you said service pack 2 adds bluetooth 2.0 capabilities…. are you referring to windows vista SP2?
Hilary Gomes : I would like to inform you that Bluetooth 2.0 capabilities come with Service Pack2.
Jason Rasch : Windows Vista Service Pack 2?
Hilary Gomes : Yes, please.
Hilary Gomes : Please install service pack2 on your notebook.
Jason Rasch : while I verify what SP I have on vista… where are you located out of curiosity?
Hilary Gomes : Thank you. I am sorry to inform you that I am not supposed to disclose this information.
Hilary Gomes : Am I clear? Have I answered all your questions?
Jason Rasch : no worries about the location thing
Hilary Gomes : Alright, thank you for understanding.
Jason Rasch : I see my laptop is running SP1, so I will install SP2. if that does not work though do you know if there is anything else that might be able to help?
Hilary Gomes : I would like to inform you that Service Pack2 has to provide you A2DP capacity even though it did not give, please try with SP3 too.
Hilary Gomes : Is there any other technical issue that I can assist you with?
Jason Rasch : I think that is everthing
Jason Rasch : thanks
Hilary Gomes : You are most welcome.
Hilary Gomes : Thank you for giving me an opportunity to serve you. It’s been a pleasure assisting you today.

apparently even when I am being a dick I am a pleasure to work with

Hilary Gomes : You are the nice and pleasant person I have ever met. It was nice and pleasant chatting with you.

and you are the nice and pleasant chat bot I have ever met

Hilary Gomes : Once you close the chat you would get an option to save or exit. At that time you could click on the save option and save the entire chat transcript.
Hilary Gomes : Thank you for contacting HP Total Care Real-Time chat support. If you need further assistance, please contact us again at:
http://www.hp.com/support/chat
Chat support is available 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week.
For information on keeping your HP and Compaq products up and running, please visit our Web site at:
http://www.hp.com/go/totalcare

and there you have it…. my adventure with HP… I will let you know later if upgrading to SP2 does the trick.

…how I feel… or something closely approximating feeling

listening to music while I work today, and there seem to be 2 songs that pretty much sum up how I feel right about now. both are by Veruca Salt.

1) Twinstar

 Flying, when all I want to do is die.
 Feels like you're flyin'
 Oh God, I wish that I could fly.

 You want to lift me up,
 But you don't know, and you don't see
 I'm stuck in my ways, stuck in my ways, oh.

 Breathing, when all I want to do is drown.
 You keep on breathing and I keep on sinking down, oh, oh.

 You want to lift me up,
 But you don't know, and you don't see
 I'm stuck in my ways, stuck in my ways.
 I'm stuck in my ways, oh.

 You want to lift me up,
 But you don't know, and you don't see
 I'm stuck in my ways, stuck in my ways.
 I'm stuck in my ways.
 I'm stuck in my ways, oh.

2) 25

 I'm afraid I will never change.
 It's ok, I am not ashamed.
 I can say that my bed is made.

 You can bend me,
 shape me, anyway...
 You can bend me,
 shape me anyway you want me.

 I maintain I am not in pain.
 How I try not to place the blame.
 I came late to an early game.
 You can bend me,
 shape me, anyway...
 You can bend me,
 shape me, anyway...
 You can bend me,
 shape me anyway you want me.

 When I was five,
 I took a dive.
 When I was ten,
 I walked again.
 When I was fifteen,
 I kept my motor clean.
 When I was twenty,
 I got plenty.
 When I was twenty-five...

the one where I rant about my job

<insert preferred moniker of your deity of choice here> DAMN IT!!!!!!!

Some days I really hate my life. today is one of those days.

you see, for the last little while, the wife and I have been trying to get things lined up to go to kelowna for a week or so for vacation.

every time we get close to booking, a wrench gets thrown in to the works

i can’t complain about the 4 days I took off to go to YK for the funeral… though it did shorten the amount of time I have available for holidays.

I can however complain about the fact that I am now scheduled to be on call for the weekend that we had planned to be leaving for holidays.

there is one person I may be able to switch with…. but it is a long shot.

GRRRRRRRARRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHH

Conflict of dis-interest

alright… before I really start, let me say that I have had some wine and may not be my usual witty (or coherent) self.

Today is my least favorite day of the year

luckily it is almost over.

the reason it is my least favorite day of the year is because this is the birthday of my biological father.

I always stop and think today…. should I reach out and wish a happy birthday? should I be the bigger man?

but then I realise…. int he last 365 days, I have not heard anything about him, or from him, and I am ok with that.

besides… why should I be the bigger man in this… he is my friggin father after all.

I am about to say something here that I am sure will be used against me at some point by my darling sister

It pains me that I don’t have contact with my father.

I mean, really it shouldn’t and after she praised me for being so “strong” in this, I should take that and run.

but I always thought I was better than him.

but really… I am avoiding him as much as he avoids me… so really… we are the same in that

I really hate this day.

hopefully tomorrow is better.

this post is a test of blogging via the cell phone

so it has been pointed out to me that i am really bad for updating my blog. since i have been reading on the bus instead of carrying the laptop, updating the blog has totally slipped my mind.

needless to say, if i decide that this works well, i may continue to use it

LARCYN SMASH!!!!!!

Ok, I know it has been a helluva long time since I posted anything….. I will blame it on the books I am reading during my commute instead of writing…. but something happened over the past couple of days that I have to write down….

Over the past year, the wife and I have started making wine. All and all it is a rather enjoyable hobby (with an awesome payout at the end). Normally we get our wine kits from the (appropriately named) WineKitz store, however there have been a couple of exceptions. the first was the Australian Shiraz that we bought from costco (which is very very yummy) and the second is the subject of this post.

We bought a double pack from costco containing 1 Pinot Grigio (blush) and 1 White zinfandel (blush). They come in the same box, and upon opening it, the problems began.Problems that required me to send an email to the company that made the kit for clarification.

the following is the email thread that ensued: (names have been changed)

Hi,My Wife and I recently purchased the White Zinfandel / Pinot Grigio kit from costco and have a small question.  Which is Which?

When we opened the box, we saw 2 identical looking bags of blush concentrate, but there were no lot ID stickers or other identifying features to show which was which. We are working on the assumption that because the Pinot Grigio is listed below the Zinfandel on the box, that is the order that they were packed. Is that correct? or are we in fact making the Pinot Grigio?Sincerely,
Larcyn

The next day, I get a response from the “Customer Service” folks

Dear Larcyn,

Thank you for your email.

Please note that on each plastic bag is marked Bag 1 or Bag 2

Bag 1 = White Zinfandel
Bag 2 = Pinot Grigio

If you need any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,
Customer Cervice Drone 215

well, that was helpful now wasn’t it?

Dear Customer Service Drone 215,

thanks for your prompt reply, however, that did not really answer my question.I had stated that there were NO identifying features on the bags at all. so I was questioning more the procedure in which they are packed and labeled.

In other words…. the box says:
White Zinfandel
Pinot Grigio

when it is going through the packing process, does the bottom labeled bag go in first?

Larcyn

to which I get the most well crafted answer I possibly could have hoped for…..

Can I have a phone number to contact you.

Thanks,
Customer Service Drone 215

I am sure there will be more to this story before it is done, but I have a feeling it won’t help in determining what kind of wine I am making…. hopefully both wines will fall into the category of….. TASTY

====EDIT====

After telling them I did not have a phone they could contact me at… they emailed this little tidbit of info

Unfortunately the bags are not labeled and they are just marked. You will find printed on each bag a lot number (ex: UXN-1234-MN) after that number you will see BAG 1 or BAG 2. The Bag 1 is White Zinfandel and the Bag 2 is Pinot Grigio. Please note that packing will not let you know which bag is which.

Customer Service Drone 215

sigh…. I guess all I have left to say about this experience and Customer Service Drone 215 is…..

The Earth Shattering Update

So, in my last post, I promised that the next update would be amazingly earth shattering. And for anyone that knows me, what I am about to say certainly falls into that category.

I am happy.

I don’t know when the last time I could honestly say that. Normally it is “I am fine” or “Everything is OK” but lately, I can honestly say that I am happy. Why am I happy, you ask? well there are a number of reasons, but pretty much everything can be summed up into 2 categories. Home, and work.

That is pretty much all I have, a job I love, a wife I love, a home I love. This is what makes me happy right now

I mean how many people my age can say that they have no debt at all (other than the couple hundred dollars on the credit card that needs to be paid off when I get paid on friday)?  We own our car, we own our house, we own everything in our house.

I mean how many people my age can say that they actually own their homes. most are still paying the bank for it. We are not. It actually couldn’t have happened at a better time, because now we can put money aside into investments while the market is low. This should provide a much larger gain in the future which is always good.

As for work, I love what I do. I took some time away from the call centre industry, and realized that it is basically where I was meant to be. Now I am not saying that work is all sunshine and roses, because we all know that if work was that great you couldn’t call it work now could you?

Sure I am essentially at an entry level position within the company, but I think I will be able to work my way up rather nicely. If not within my own department, then within one of the bazillion other areas within the organization.

For now though, I think I will just keep my head down and bust my ass off like usual. I am on a few special projects that keep me pretty busy, and one of them involves a weekly management meeting so that always helps in terms of getting my name out there.

On a somewhat related note, I am in 4th place in the office fantasy hockey league. I think that isn’t bad for someone who doesn’t really follow sports at all anymore.

But yeah, I am definitely happy. Not moderately content, or pensively dismissive (well, maybe a little).

I have been trying to think over the last few days and even while writing this, when the last time I really felt happy for any meaningful period of time was. I can’t come up with anything. There has always been a part of my life that was totally going down the shitter so to speak. Something that was missing. Something keeping me from being happy.

Whether it be trapped in a dead end job, being in a bad relationship (or not in one at all), or being compared to others that were doing better than me, there was always something holding me down.

I got the biggest compliment ever from my sister not too long ago. She said that she sometimes wished she was more like me. Of course it was for completely shutting my biological father out of my life, but to me it seemed like more than that. She wished she had the strength to be as emotionally disconnected as me.

Let’s face it, I look bored at an amusement park. I am one of those people that really never get excited, or overwrought with grief, or anything like that. It doesn’t mean I don’t feel like that on the inside, just for some reason I developed this rather stoic exterior that does not convey emotion very much.

On some deep level, I am in pain by the fact that my biological father is an asshat, because as we all know asshattery is a genetic trait. I used to divert much of my time into not being an asshat. turns out, I only needed to be myself. That deep level is all but sealed now. with nothing but a little slit in the barrier in case the need arise to pass a message through.

Being told by your older sister that she wishes she were more like you sometimes, definitely a compliment. that means that the person you looked up to all these years (yes… you read that right… I looked up to my big sister) looks up to you occasionally as well. That there is a mutual respect there that transcends all of the childhood trauma inflicted on each other.

Being told by your older sister that she wishes she were more like you validates that what you have been doing is ok. That the course of action needed to be taken.

On that note, I think I have rambled on long enough (judging by the fact that the bus stop is approaching)

Tune in next time when you hear me say “What the Fuck?!?!?!?!”

an update is coming

seriously…. it is…… and it will be big….. and impressive….. and massively earth shattering……

I like the weekends

I must say, this weekend was a good one, even though both the wife and I were not feeling well. Saturday was pretty much taken up with grocery shopping, but then it was off to a friend’s birthday party.

Our friends Ryan and Lorraine threw a birthday bash for Lorraine, and decided to go with a wine tasting theme. Everyone was asked to bring a bottle of their favourite wine, and we all shared. It was nice being able to try a lot of wines that we normally wouldn’t buy.  There were a lot of different red wines there so we were able to sample ones we hadn’t had before.

I am really starting to like red wine. I never did before, but out of all of the wines that we tried, there was really only 1 that I didn’t particularly like. It had an acidic bite that didn’t really sit well with me. I think in the future, that may be a party that we would hold though.

Sunday, we didn’t do near as much as we planned. With not feeling well, we didn’t get nearly as much of the outside work done as we thought we could. We still have to finish winterizing the yard. The water barrel is still like half full. With it about to start dropping below zero this week at nights, we will have to empty it pretty fast.

Now for the week at hand. It is only a 3 day week for me as I decided to take an extra long weekend next weekend. But it promises to be a busy one. If all goes according to plan, I should be getting my 9 month probationary review today. I can’t believe it was already 9 months since I was converted over from being a contractor to a regular employee. But I think a 9 month probation is a little on the extreme side. I suppose it does give them a greater amount of time to determine if the person s really the kind of person that they want in their organization.

So one of three things can happen in this meeting today, either I am told I am good, and am taken off probation, I am told I need to get better, and have 3 months more probation tacked on, or I am told I suck and get a pink slip. Of course, I am quite confident that it will be the first option. There have been no issues that would leave me to believe that the other two options are even a remote possibility.

I mean seriously, with the amount of extra work I have taken on, they couldn’t possibly say I haven’t been doing what is needed. I also thing that there is a good enough rapport with myself and my team lead/manager that they would tell me if there was something I needed to work on at any particular time.

I am of course writing this on the bus on the way into work, so when I actually get to posting it, I will know what the results of the evaluation are.

All I can hope for I guess is to no longer be on probation,,, and maybe a raise, that would be nice.

Other things to look forward to:

• This weekend is thanksgiving which of course means turkey dinner.
• Monday we are going to the corn maze with Ryan and Lorraine, should be fun
• this weekend is a 5 day weekend for me
• I get to wear jeans to work all week because I paid to support our charity event