frissonic

Yah, I'm in a similar position. Technical writer. For this particular gig, we are required to write to an assumed 9th grade reading level. No lie, pictures are preferred for as many procedure steps as possible. Line drawings, photos, screen shots ... whatever. SOMEthing to show the user what it is they need to do. To be fair though, while I find the TP reading boring as hell, I really do enjoy the overall job and company ... it's just that my last project was ending and I was next up in the queue for assignment. I drew "the short straw." Like I said, I'm happy to be employed. Can't argue that.

so, part of my team has been tasked to complete a "gap study." it's not nearly as fun as it sounds. at all. in fact, whatever the complete opposite of fun is, that's how you can label this study. in short, i have to read through about 700 test procedures that were drafted by our engineering team, written in engineer-speak, and determine what gaps there are between what's in our operation/maintenance and testing procedures and what the next group will need when performing these procedures. a) i have no idea what 90% of these TPs are designed to test, so ... yah. b) the assumed reading level of "the next group" that's inheriting our maintenance level is approximately 9th grade. now ... you tell me how i'm supposed to distill engineering dialog down to something a 14 year old can understand. some days, i really love my job and can't wait to come in to work. this is not one of those days. nor will any day next week. or ... all of october. or november. or the rest of 2011 and a good portion of 2012. on the plus side, hooray for employment.

gift horse ... mouth ...... B-)

ooh okay. not jealous of that. sorry to hear hear that man. hope you heal all quick-like and speedy-esque.

how come you're home? cuz really ... kinda jealous. :)

waking up at 4 am. being to work by 5 am. and that's with a half hour commute. so i get in, wait for the cafeteria to open, and go down stairs to order some cinnamon walnut french toast. "dude. you're bitching about cinnamon french toast? what is the mater with you?!" no. i'm bitching about the fact that a) what i thought was butter was actually margarine, and b) it tasted like stale fridge. you know ... that crappy, musty taste that sometimes get absorbed by things like butter, mashed potatoes, etc? yah. such was my morning. crappy fake fridge-tasting "butter." sheeeeeeiiit.

is this in relation to the horse joke ...? or is this some tv commercial?

and edward van halen. can't leave him out. :)

all the more reason to stick with the plain!

http://youtu.be/yzNzFaKLbGs Some of the best mellow-out music there is. Karin Bergquist will have you swooning and drunk before you can even raise your glass.

it's pretty easy to miss amongst all the glitz and glamour that is the strip. if i remember right, it's just south of bally's by about half a block. there's probably a dancing fool M&M standing outside too. maybe. it was hella-awesome in there too man. i'd drive back down just to pick up a few more pounds of the every-color-you-can-imagine variety. <.$02> FWIW, if you go, i would just stick with the plain over th peanut. the prices are ridiculous, and you get a lot less for your buck getting the peanuts. </$.02>

and THAT is why i bust out the rally candy and sit in the same position on the couch. :) "rally candy" was born just before the playoffs last year. we had a large bowl of every color of M&M you can imagine from when we went to the factory in vegas. it sat dormant for almost 5 months. finally, i broke it out a few games before the philly series, when buffalo played washington. needed SOMEthing to at least get us over the nervous edge. i went upstairs to get into the oreos, then i saw the M&M bowl. "candy ......." so i took it down stairs and slowly started picking out the red ones to eat. cuz, you know ... eating the other team's colors sends positive vibes. :rolleyes: but like you said: fandom. so i ate a few red ones. no lie, 20 seconds later, gaustad got the game-tying goal. when the carolina game went to OT, i broke it out again just before OT, called my girls down, gave them some, ate some myself, and voila--MAG put the game away. i was sold. every time they were down, we broke out the rally candy. :)

i used to think the same way. i swore up and down that the reason they lost SB XXV was my girlfriend. i damn near broke a bottle over her head when she told me that she "prayed that they would win." i learned early on that god does not give one rat's ass who wins, and he gets *especially* cantankerous when i profer any kind of pleading his way, so i stopped early on in the '88 season. then my dumb-a girl friend prayed that norwood would make 'the kick.' however, i was a day over 19 when that happened. in the years in between, i've learned that not only does god not care who wins, but it also matters not at all what any one person wears. at the rate i was hearing who wore what to which game, i wondered what would happen if the entire stadium were newborn baby naked from scalp to heels. i mean, that way, no one's wearing anything jinxy. of course, it might be distracting to the teams on the field ... but oh well! i'm certainly not knocking the concept of superstition. i still hold my own beliefs (see: rally candy. see also: position last sat in when sabres scored a goal. see also: chuck palahniuk). meh. superstitionize away. who am i to judge or or strike you down?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU7H3zy__os This song just never gets old. Not even after hundreds of listens.

She's one of the best looking blondes on here!

9/80s are the best. i tried the 4/10 sked ... couldn't make it work. either i'd get in too late and have to stay until 6 or 7, or i'd take an hour of PTO. thankfully, my boss understood and let me slide back to the 5/4/9 sked. hey ... every other friday off works just fine, right?

Wouldn't that be "Pmaws"?

My buddy attends Coachella every year. A couple of years back, Yo Gabba Gabba was on the main stage. At Coachella. NOT performing their typical kids' stuff. Everyone was blown away. So much so that they came back this year. :) TO COACHELLA. Makes me wonder how The Wiggles would do.

F'N Fantastic Friday, indeed. 4-hour work day. Hitting the biking trail after work. Hockey tonight and tomorrow. Bills on Sunday. Blah blah blah. I have a kick-ass job. Exempt status and benefits, but paid for every hour I work, which can end up running 50-60 hours a week sometimes. Gorgeous wife. Two beautiful daughters, both of whom like hockey (more for the 'rally candy' than the actual sport ... but i'm working on it!) Weather's almost perfect. A few degrees to go, and we'll be in the high 70s. A few more lawn mows, couple more spray applications of some week killer, and that'll be it for lawn care. Orion rises around 2 am. For some reason, I'm always drawn to the southern sky. Orion, Taurus, Gemini, the pleides ... aweome little piece of sky. Digital cameras. I'm grateful for digital cameras because that means I don't have to take a roll of film to Walgreens and be told that there wasn't anything on the roll because every picture was black. "Well, yah they were all black. I took pictures of a night sky. They're SUPPOSED to be black. Were there any white dots on the pictures?" "Yah ... all over them." "Those would be 'stars' ..." "OH! Yah, we wondered what those were." Idiots ... Love the thread concept.

ha ha ha ha! too bad it's so small. :clapping: thanks biodork!

yah, i'm the same. everyone in my house is sick with something except me, but i can feel something starting to brew. i just need to get through today and tomorrow, then i can be sick all of next week, for all i care. but right now, i *have* to get this stuff done. i don't care if i have to put up a biohazard sign on my cube door (biodork, you wouldn't happen to have a spare sticker or two, would you?) blugh. so glad next week is a short week. 5-4-9 schedules are the best. except for maybe 4-10, which might be better.

i can understand needing to go in to work when you're sick. i've done it. hell, we probably all have. if it's bad enough to where i can't function or i know i'm going to have to interact with anyone for any lenght of time, i'll take the day off. however, where i absolutely will not go in is when when it's beyond the common cold. everyone's going to get the cold. that's a given. bronchitis (korab, i feel your pain man ...), strep, pneumonia ... this kinds of illness automatically keep me home 2-3 days. thankfully, my company has a really generous sick/leave time policy. it's pretty helpful.

oh not at all. i mean, yah, UT has its fair share of 'horders,' as it were, but the real zealots are up in northern montana and idaho. that is psycho-ville. i'm all for being prepared and stocking up in case of an emergency, but you reach a point where yah, you have all this food, but then what? you just let it sit there and go bad? cans only have a certain shelf life. the common thought around here is to rotate the supply out. use it, but replace it. not only that, but some people are actually stockpiling things like cake mixes (cuz, you know ... birthdays are still gonna happen), brownie mixes, icing ... my favorite is the concept of buying a freezer to stockpile meat. how long is that gonna last when there isn't any power? i love it out here. it's unbelievably beautiful. great scenery, metric sh##-ton of hiking all over the place, 6-hour drive to vegas, 12 hour drive to san fran (which if you haven't been to yet, holy mother of moses, get out there), 8 hour drive to denver, and most people out here are just flat-out nice. there are some nut-jobs though. no argument.

i wouldn't mind living with family ... depending on whose side we're living with. there's a lot of discussion out here about "emergency preparedness" and "food storage." consequently, there are lots of "emergency preparedness" and "food storage" companies that pop up. lots of canned and boxed goods, lots of bulk items, case lot sales are all the rage in august and march ... i'm all for being stocked up, but what happens when a huge disaster hits? those caught unprepared are going to be left without to feed themselves or what-not. mass lootings, plunderings, pillagings ... how do you defend against THAT? 12 gauge. think i'm kidding? i have no problem feeding someone or giving away a portion of mine to someone who asks for it. you try to take it from me by force, you're going to meet the cold, round, business end of my winchester. wanna partner up and try to consolidate? i very well might be okay with that ... maybe. too many criteria points to list here. anyway, there are tons of crazies out here who are stockpiling stuff--food, weapons, ammo, toilet paper ... hey, gotta be able to wipe in comfort after the apocalypse, right?

Tell that to Kansas City. Or Cincinatti. ;)