What Not To Wear

This is wrong on so many levels...



Saw this while tailgating a few weeks ago. Nice socks.

Conf*ckers

I could write about the epic Atlanta flood of this week, but truthfully its effects have been rather minor for me. We have a small roof leak that needs to get checked out, and our basement flooded enough to extinguish the pilot light of our water heater and make everything smell all musty and gross. Most of our stuff down there is in large plastic bins and is safe. Some sentimental things of my Grandmother's were in an old fashioned suitcase and a cardboard box and those were heavily waterlogged. We did what we could to salvage it. It could have been much worse. One of our neighbors had a huge tree fall on their house. Plenty of people in this area have been completely flooded out. Some people are dead. We've had what I described above, plus some traffic delays due to road closures and accidents. Not that big of a deal.

But something has happened at work this week that is pretty awful -- our network got infected by the Conficker worm over the weekend, and we are still experiencing network problems. I hope those motherfuckers who set this thing loose in the world are proud of themselves. Today, they delayed the start of treatment for some very ill cancer patients. And worse, they caused us to have to abort the treatment of a patient that was supposed to get a high dose rate intracavitary procedure. This happened AFTER we had implanted all that hardware in her. Another patient had to wait hours for her treatment because the worm disabled our planning computer and we had to start over once it was temporarily fixed. She was miserable, and there was no good reason why she had to suffer those extra hours. We can't use about half of our treatment planning computers because the network cuts them off once the virus has been detected and then they can't be used. You clean 'em up, and then they get infected again right away. This really pisses me off. This isn't some game - it is a matter of life and death for some people. There is no indication that tomorrow will be any better. We seem to be fighting a losing battle with this damn worm. Tuesday was worse than Monday. Not a good sign.

At least the rain stopped. For now.

Late Adopters

I've come to the realization that PDM and I are late adopters. It isn't something we aspire to by philosophy -- we are not curmudgeons, and don't have anything against change or new technology. We just don't feel like we need to run out and get every little thing the minute it hits the market. We prefer to see what ends up taking hold and then wait until it has gone through a few bug fixes and becomes a truly useful and robust product or service. And then we procrastinate about getting it for a few years. Somehow this lack of urgency has morphed into full on late adoptership without us consciously choosing to be that way. Maybe we're just getting old. Here is a quick list of newfangled things that have gone mainstream without our participation:

DVRs
online bill paying
texting
IM
Netflix
GPS
Blackberries
HD DVD
Facebook
Twitter
home video game systems
surround sound
satellite radio

Some of these things we have no interest in, but there are a few that are on our short list of stuff to get hooked up. Like the DVR at the top of that list. That would be convenient. And maybe Netflix. But most of it doesn't really seem all that necessary, to be honest. I've been paying bills the same way for 25 years. I don't see that changing unless the postal service decides they aren't gonna deliver mail anymore. I still have a paper road atlas in my car, and manage to find stuff just fine. I didn't get a cell phone until 2002, and I kept that phone for six years before getting a new one (that still isn't a Blackberry, but is much smaller and lighter than the clunky old phone). PDM got his first cell phone in 2008. Our plan doesn't include texting, because we hardly ever do it. I remember people's phone numbers, because I usually dial them manually from my home phone. Which is a land line. That doesn't have call waiting. Hell, we still have a VCR.

Our life isn't entirely stuck in the 1980s. I have an iTouch that I absolutely love. We packed away the CD player a few years ago in favor of using the Mac and our wireless network as a juke box. We only have one television, but it is a wide screen HD LCD that is pretty damn big, and we have a pseudo-surround system with subwoofer. Movies and live sports look and sound very life-like. The Mac also has a large format widescreen LCD monitor. It's pretty. There's not a cathode ray tube in the house.

So, now that I've aired out our list, what do you still have that makes you feel like a dinosaur?

Porch Sitting

Late summer is an excellent time for porch sitting. The cats are masters at it. And since I am off work today, I'm heading out there right now.

$#!+

I don't have anything else to say about tonight's game.

Tricksy Jacketses

Another Thursday night game is upon us. This was my favorite play from last week's game. That look on Dabo's face afterward is priceless. But he should have known better - there is NO WAY we'd let Blair try a 53-yard field goal attempt. I don't know what to expect from tonight's matchup, but I guarantee you won't see this play again!

Other Places

Vacation seems like so long ago...

Whiteout

Sorry, Mom. Here is a photo showing tens of thousands of people flaunting that "no white after Labor Day" rule.

Clemson really brought their A game and we were lucky to get the win. They earned my respect tonight. They never quit. I was pleasantly surprised by their fans as well - the ones I encountered were pretty cool. Not what I expected.

Game Day!

My pregame ritual doesn't usually include getting up early for a 7:30am research meeting (a real snoozefest) and working all day. But I made it through (my productivity might have suffered a bit) and am about to head to The Flats. Hope that six pack I put in the car this morning is still cold... and I hope it doesn't rain (which would turn the "white out" into a giant wet t-shirt contest).

Blah

Nothing to see here. Today was about as boring as it gets at work. I was at the alternate location and there was *nothing* to do but stare at the clock. Riding the subway was the highlight of my day. I got to listen to an amusing podcast on the way to work, and almost finished The Empress of Mars on the way home.

Overstimulated?

Pimp My Playlist

College Football season starts tomorrow night (finally!) and I'll be watching NC State play South Carolina on ESPN. Tech gets started early on Saturday afternoon. Break out the mimosas and sausage balls (and of course, ball jokes). It'll be too hot for bourbon (and way too early in the day).

I started a playlist for game days. What did I leave out? I think it needs more cowbell.

Blitzkreig Bop - Ramones
Rock and Roll, Pt. 2 - Gary Glitter
Unbelievable - EMF
Kernkraft 400 - Zombie Nation
Lets Get It Started - Black Eyed Peas
Get Ready For This - 2 Unlimited
Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) - C+C Music Factory
Song 2 - blur
Tubthumping - Chumbawumba
Pump It Up - Elvis Costello
Enter Sandman - Metallica
We Will Rock You - Queen
Bad To The Bone - George Thorogood and the Destroyers
The Perfect Option - The GTGs
Ramblin' Wreck - Georgia Tech Marching Band

The Downside of Outsourcing

Last year: Georgia Tech handled athletic ticket orders and gameday parking in house, using its own employees.

This year: GT outsourced ticket sales and parking to a private company.

Last year: I didn't get the gameday season parking location I originally requested, so I sent an email asking if they could change it. Got a quick response and I had the new parking permit in the lot I wanted the same day I sent the email.

This year: Same problem - didn't get the parking I requested, so I sent an email to the address on my permit two weeks ago asking if they could change it. No response. Then a week ago, I sent enother email - this one to the ticket office - asking the same thing. No response. So I called the ticket office last week. Got put on hold for ten minutes, then the person who took the call told me I needed to talk to the parking guy and transferred me. I left a voicemail. He called my back in the evening and left a voicemail. I called back the next day and left a return voicemail. And again on Monday. Last night he left a voicemail responding to my voicemails. Finally, two weeks and change later, I have a new parking location. It isn't exactly the lot I wanted (which probably filled up during the 2+ weeks it took me to get something done), but it is a hell of a lot better than the first one they gave me. It was a giant hassle compared with my easy experience last year.

This outsourcing deal may be saving them money, but I'm not impressed.