Yacidka’s Friends

Tracey

nobody@vox.com(Kevin J. Wangler) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:23:29 -0400

I used to post funny things that Tracey said all the time, but I haven't done it in awhile. Here's the latest one, though:

Tracey: Maybe they're there today to register. You think?
Me: I think all the time. I can't stop. And you can't seem to start!
Tracey: Start what?

ahahahaha

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Quick life update

nobody@vox.com(Kevin J. Wangler) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:47:40 -0400

Since I have time on my hands, here's a brief update on life.

I've been playing tennis with Lizzy almost every evening, now that the weather is so nice and we have 'our own' tennis courts where we live. Last night was the first time anyone else was actually on the courts besides us!
I've read a tonne over books over the summer. (I always list them in my Vox library, if anyone cares. I do it for my own reference so I can see what I've read, because I read so much and forget so quickly.) I only have a few more to go and then I'll be 'done' until next summer, most likely.
The 'Twilight' series (Stephenie Meyer) was really good and definitely sucked me in. 'The Host' did not suck me in, and yet when all was said and done... it might even be better than Twilight. Maybe. :) I've found out it's going to be a series, too!
Still no power in many places in Louisville, though they're reporting now that only 108,000 or so are left without power. Only.
Louisville (UofL) might not be as terrible at football this year as I'd feared. Maybe. I guess it depends which Cantwell shows up, and if Anderson (176 yards, 3 TDs against Kansas State) can keep it up. The Big East is really weak this year, aside from South Florida. There haven't been any conference games yet, though.
Looking forward to Ubuntu 8.10 on 30 October
Looking even more forward to (hopefully) my new phone on 19 October
Which reminds me, I'm now a Sprint Premier customer, a VIP. I get special perks because I've been with Sprint for 10 years now. This VIP thing has only been around since the end of last year.
Exactly five weeks until my birthday. Wow, I didn't even know it fell on a Friday this year!
I did know, however, that Christmas falls on a Thursday this year. I've already asked off for that Wednesday and Friday, to give me a five-day weekend.
Now's a good time to plug the Envail Wishlist.
And a good time to offer up the services of EnvailMail again.
The new Weezer album is pretty good. The new Staind album is even better. Neither are great.

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bahahaha

nobody@vox.com(Kevin J. Wangler) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:01:05 -0400

After fixing a customer's problem on the phone:

Customer: "You're a genius! YOU ARE A GENIUS! No one else [at your company] knows anything. And you know everything! Oh, you are a GENIUS!"

hahahahahahaha

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Politic(k me off)

nobody@vox.com(Kevin J. Wangler) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:03:53 -0400

I hate politics. Listening to politicians speak actively angers me. It makes me want to throw things, to punch them in their faces. I can't stand these people -- and I'm non-partisan: equally pissed off by Obama, Palin, McCain, Biden, etc. -- and their stupid, insincere speeches. I can't stand the people cheering -- CHEERING! -- and chanting 'USA!' for these people like they're heroes, when they're just up there spewing BS that someone else wrote.

All their snide remarks about the other party... how childish. And these are the people that are going to lead our country.

How can you vote for someone you can't stand? But it's not just the people running for office, it's the people that buy into their crap, the people standing there with tears in their eyes over these stupid speeches, clapping and cheering and waving flags and signs and banners. Are you SERIOUS?!

We are SO close to Idiocracy that sometimes I can't even tell where fiction ends and fact begins, the lines are so blurred.

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The Great American Novel

nobody@vox.com(Kevin J. Wangler) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:49:12 -0400

I'm writing a novel.

For those of you long-suffering readers of mine, you're probably thinking, 'Mmmhmm, suuuure you are. AGAIN.'

For those of you (relatively) new, you're probably thinking, 'Cool!' (or, alternatively, 'So what?' :D)

But no, really, I actually am going to write a novel. I'm going to start it and I'm going to finish it.

I've sat down to write things before and have yet to really finish anything (except my short little fable). I haven't even finished my short story ('A Game of Thinking'), although it's close and still actively in progress.

But this one, I'm thinking it out, thinking it through. Preparing to write before I actually put (virtual) pen to paper. (Usually I have A Great General Idea(tm), and usually some Specific Great Ideas(tm) and then I make the rest up as I go... until I get stuck.)

This time, THIS TIME, I have notecards. I have copious notes (and I'm making more). I'm going to outline each chapter before its even written. I'm going to catch the plot holes before I even create them. I'm going to tie together loose ends before they even exist. I'm going to stop procrastinating and allowing myself to be distracted constantly.

I'm going to write a novel.

And you, dear reader, are going to hold me to it.

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Stories

nobody@vox.com(Kevin J. Wangler) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:36:28 -0400

My new stories site is live and online. Some of you may not be able to access it yet (technical note: DNS might not have finished propagating completely).

But this is the new URL:

http://www.kevinjwangler.com

I made the new site because I finally wrote and posted chapter 17 of 'A Game of Thinking'. Hey, it only took six years.

Updated: URL changed to the new domain I'm using for my writing.

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Loss.

nobody@vox.com(Kevin J. Wangler) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:49:35 -0400

There's a terrible, terrible feeling you get when you realise you've lost something almost certainly forever.

I've heard it described as a feeling in the pit of your stomach. And that's true, that's there. But it's an all-over kind of bad feeling.

Part of me wants to cry and the other parts of me wants to scream in frustration and despair.

(I'm talking about losing something I wrote, something on the computer. But it's important to me -- irreplaceable. And it's my fault for having lost it.)

UPDATE (13 July 2008 @ 9:11pm): I FOUND IT/THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!! On a backup DVD of data files from 2005. I can't believe it. But you'd better believe that I'm backing them up tenfold now -- FTP'ing it up to my domain, Google Docs, sticking it on various hard drives here and there and everywhere, etc. And of course I have the backup DVD now, too. Whew.

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NaNoWriMo

nobody@vox.com(Kevin J. Wangler) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:56:55 -0400

Just signed up for NaNoWriMo 2008.

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Of forklifts and cars

nobody@vox.com(Kevin J. Wangler) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:00:03 -0400

On Sunday, a really awesome deal on a wet/dry vac (AKA ShopVac, only it's Craftsman brand) popped up online. It was at Sears and you could buy it online and then pick it up in the store to save on shipping. It's normally $90, and in-store it was on sale for $80 but online it was only $18. No brainer, since we'd been wanting one for a long time now and had been waiting for a good deal.

I bought it and we drove into Louisville to pick it up. The first one we got, the box was all smashed up. I figured, eh, what is there that could really be broken? Tracey, however, was adamant that we open the box and check it before we left. We did that... but not until we'd already lugged it all the way back through Sears and out the parking lot to the car. We opened it up, and wouldn't you know it, but the filter for it was broken. (It has a plastic collar around the top and it was snapped in half.) Grrrr. At least Tracey made me check it before we left, though, otherwise we'd have discovered it only after we'd driven back home 30 miles. Silver lining and all that.

Rather than haul it back through the store, we loaded it into the car anyway and drove around the back to the special merchandise pickup area. I parked at the curb like you're supposed to and turned my hazard lights (or flashers, whatever you want to call them) on. We took the vacuum into the store and explained what had happened. The guy checked his computer and said they had three more in stock, but he kept making excuses and crap, acting like it was almost a foregone conclusion that the computer was mistaken and that they didn't have anymore and that we'd be out of luck -- we'd have to return it for a refund, or take it as-is. (Um, what?)

Well, they checked, and they had did indeed have another one. We were getting ready to carry it out to the car when the same guy stopped us and told us to wait. I thought it was going to be more BS or some kind of stall tactic to get us to, for whatever reason, not take the new wet/dry vac. He said, 'I think... are you... I think... I think you car might be the one that got... scratched'.

Uh oh.

So we all went out to the car, and oh yes, there was a nice scratch. Turns out one of the employees tried to drive a forklift up the curb by our car, and it tipped the forklift so that his load of compressed boxes fell onto my car. The scratch was from the metal band that had been holding all the boxes together which had snapped when the load tipped over. Well, once they moved all those boxes off of the car... we could see that not only was the car scratched, but the boxes had smashed in the rear door on the passenger side. It didn't even look like it would open, and when I did the automatic door locks, the lock on that door didn't open. Heh.

Then we had to fill out paperwork and crap, while loss prevention/security took pictures of the 'incident'.

This morning, I had to borrow my father-in-law's Avalon (again) so Tracey can take the car into the body shop for an estimate and then fax it to Sears.

Suck.

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Books

nobody@vox.com(Kevin J. Wangler) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:46:48 -0400

Books read so far this summer: 4
Books on-hold at the library to be picked up tomorrow: 4

Plus an additional book at the library for which I'm #8 on the waiting list.

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