Of the people I know, I’m a real geek. Not a hard core, “I live in bash and love the command line” type, like the boys in IT, but I can hold my own in the shell. The other thing is that I’m an Apple fanboy. Again, not the type that has a widget telling them when they can part with their cold hard cash for an iPhone, but I do love the Apple.

The sad thing about this geek is that I don’t have the job or the budget to support me going out to any tech conferences like the Consumer Electronics Show or MacWorld. I am one of the many who gets to drool over the coverages via the web and rabidly hitting the refresh button so I can brag to my coworkers about products that they really don’t care about.

That being said, tomorrow is my MacWorld.

Apple is coming to campus to show off their wares and some of the wonderful new technology. Obviously not the iPhone but their is the promise of some Leopard sneak peeks.

I plan on blogging most of the event, taking some pictures and maybe even doing a little podcast/vidcast stuff.

In a related note, after beginning to talk with my supervisor about professional development objectives for this year, I looked into becoming an Adobe Certified Expert, so that’s what is in the budget. After I looked at Adobe, I started thinking about other companies that I deal with every day. The only other one would be Apple, both at work and home. Apple had a certified technician program that I think I’m going to not just research, but doing. It’s only 150 dollars for the test, with a three day course, which I’m sure is more expensive, but that is something I’m going to do this year.

Tomorrow is my Macworld – hooray!

A little bored at lunch…
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Last night, Esther and I headed up to W-burg to have a joint birthday for two of our friends, Casey and Adele. We went to the Corner Pocket in New Town. After everyone got there we cozied up to a pool table and ordered some appetizers. The pool was amateur, my own included, at best, but a great evening was had. The interesting double entendre started after the social lubricants flowed and after 2 and half games we had a great cake by Esther.

Not my favorite variety of cake, but it was still really good. So much so that every employee was asking where we bought it, and after telling them Esther had made it, they were all very envious.

Floyd is back from the vet. He’s doing much better, but is not quite a 100%. He still has to go back to the vet and they have no idea about what is going on with him. Ugh.

fun, originally uploaded by 弃天.

Now all I need is an OS X sushi!

Esther and I are watching Good Night and Good Luck and she keeps telling me that Jeff Daniels is the same guy who plays Uncle Joey from Full House. I think she’s crazy, but you decide.

I was really struggling to find something write about today, that is until 4:30. Our office had been in a “communications lock down” for the past few days and it’s been really weird, the boss not talking, lots of closed door meetings and the like.

4:30 was the time that a co-worker had a meeting, and a 4:30 meeting on a Friday is never good. So not good, in fact, that said co-worker was asked to cancel/rearrange a child’s doctors appointment. So as 4:30 drew nearer, everyone was on pins and needles. As said co-worker left of the meeting at HR, another bad sign, we were all told that we could not leave.

Huh? Can’t leave. Bad things written all over this one.

Five o’clock was getting closer and closer, my co-workers and I were out of our offices, chit chatting and then the boss came back, corralling us into the conference room. “I just accepted your co-worker’s resignation.”

CRAP!

The corpo-speak really bothered me, lots of stuff about grieving, resignation terminations and professionalism, “it’s harder for me than it is for you.”

I guess I’ll have to digest what has happened and figure out how to go forward. The co-worker I lost was an invaluable part of our department and her skills and personality will be greatly missed.

I have rearranged my office at work, my intern has moved in due to a space crunch. Apparently a couple of VPs are moving down to our floor. They are new, so its not like we are getting babysitters. Anyway, I am really happy with my new setup and I hope that I can use it to infuse some fresh energy into my design. I am looking at getting some plants for my office, using old CD spindles (I’ll take photos), adding some more color to my place and hopefully letting it spread to the rest of my office.

An interesting encounter between two co-workers today. During our staff meeting, a topic was brought up and after a little explanation, it appeared that the two co-workers were on a collision course. One took a tone, the other didn’t think it through. I’m really uneasy with the tension that is permeating the office.

There has been some talk about outsourcing a couple of jobs, the aforementioned tension, some awkward decisions by the management, and a general lack of communication has really started to make work an interesting place. The most interesting thing is that I just turned down a job that would have been at a real design firm, doing some serious design, so that I could stay where I am, not because I love the place, but I like the people and I like my department.

I think I need to talk with the boss about some of my feelings

Whoa. I’m not very good with math, nor am I very good with children and remembering what grade they are in at what age, etc. I just learned this wicked easy way to know a kids age or in the inverse, their grade.

To find age (when grade is known)

Age = Grade + 5

To find grade (when age is known)

Grade = Age – 5

Now I won’t feel like an idiot asking about kids grades and age and such.

Esther and I have been watching “Lost”, like 8 episodes in 2 days. We have burned through two discs of the first season, and we have both decided we are hooked. It’s a great series, so if you have Netflix, add it to you queue.

The other thing is… I’m turning in to my parents. I am getting up early, falling asleep on the couch. It’s very odd.

I’m going to try and be better about blogging earlier in the day so that when I fall asleep on the sofa, I won’t wake up and say “Oh crud! I forgot to blog!”

On the home front, drama has brewed up over Esther’s sister, Sarah. Sarah has floundered after just barely making it out of high school. She’s wasted a lot of money on two failed semesters at community college and has been dating a loser boyfriend, which has been very co-relative to her decline.

The drama is that she now wants to get married, not a real church wedding, but a courthouse hitching. Esther’s mother is very upset because essentially the way the idea was proffered was “So what’s your schedule like? I’m getting married on Wednesday.” Esther’s mother called the boyfriend’s parents and his mother said “Well, they’re in love… it’s going to happen any way.” Wow! Sarah’s boyfriend doesn’t have a job or a car, he just dropped out of college and is living at home and doesn’t have the balls to go out and get any of these things.

As tough as it will be to have her daughter married, without her support, it should make my recently widowed mother-in-law’s life much better. This is how I would address the situation:

• If she’s married Wednesday, she would have until Thursday at noon to get her possessions out of the house
• The locks on the house would be changed at 12:01 on Thursday
• The car that was being held in escrow until Sarah had paid off a debt, would never be hers, that would be her husband’s issue.
• Sarah’s military ID would be revoked
• The cellphone that she is using, would be turned off on Wednesday
• All contact with her would be ceased until she admitted that she was wrong and that her wedding was a mistake.

I feel sorry for Esther’s mother. I would not want this disaster to happen to anyone who was recently widowed, but I think if she can follow my steps, it will make it easier than having to support a newly wed couple, both of whom she despises.