Swans on Tea

It’s getting to be inventory time again, and that usually invokes trepidation and stirs the nightmares of the ghost of bureaucracy past. Somebody, somewhere, needs to know that all that shiny equipment you’ve purchased hasn’t walked off, and that’s fair enough — I’m spending somebody else’s money, and they have the right to know [...]

Please listen carefully to these options, as our menu has recently changed
No it hasn’t.
I suspect this behavior shows up somewhere on the list of ways you can manipulate people, in this case, trying to get me to listen to all the options instead of choosing the first convenient (and wrong) one or hitting “0.” [...]

Adobe Updater popped up on my computer this morning, telling me to update Acrobat, and for once this didn’t happen while I was actually using the program or my browser — it seems to usually check only when the program is in active use for maximum inconvenience. So I installed the patch, and descended [...]

Not only was Wednesday Tax Day, it’s also audit season at work. I got a call recently about one of my recurring purchases for nitrogen gas (and the bottle rental), to make sure it’s within the rules. You see, I’m not allowed to buy hazardous materials for the lab with my credit card, [...]

A colleague’s computer crashed, and he’s having the IT department wipe and reinstall the operating system and the software on it. But the Microsoft Office suite is old (2002), and they want the recent package … but not too recent. They’ve standardized on Office 2003 but are about to move to Office 2007, [...]

It’s snowing in my nation’s capitol, and around here, people suck at driving in slippery conditions. I would have gladly taken the day off, but the Office of Personnel Management’s web page listed the operating status as “OPEN: All employees are expected to report for work on time” when I checked it. So [...]

One of our HP printers is broken, and I’ve wasted several hours the past few weeks trying to arrange to get it fixed. Waiting on hold and wading through phone trees, and at the end of it all, the promised support technician never calls to arrange a visit, and the contact number I have [...]

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Wait, what? Two frikkin’ weeks to process an electronic request to update an automated process? Does this perhaps involve the [...]

Blake’s mention of a “First Night” celebration in Boston, coupled with memories of many stories about similar celebrations in upstate New York (Albany and Saratoga), have triggered this.
The problem: “First Night” celebrations are held on New Year’s Eve, which is the LAST night of the year. I mean seriously, WTF? After midnight, [...]

Whoever called a little while back, woke me up and asked me, “Who is this?”
I hope you get your own special circle in Hell. Screw you.
(Phone calls in the middle of the night are invariably bad news. Either a wrong number, or some sort of emergency. Either way you’re jolted [...]

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Body still on west-coast time, but with an east-coast schedule. There is much caffeine in my future.
Thoughts from this past week:
Airline travel really sucks. There is no space in coach, and the seats are really uncomfortable — my back still hurts. Next thing you know they will charge for air.
Note to TSA [...]