2001-03-05 - 19:50:51

Well, we wound up stopping by Thursday after work to check out that apartment. It shows promise, but I doubt we're going to take it. The one bedroom is like a surrealist's closet [it has its own closet within a closet], the neighborhood isn't as good as I had thought [though we're close to the good part], and there are recurring plumbing issues.

Friday wasn't much. Worked, went home.

Saturday, woke up 11:30. Called a few potential apartment places; left a bunch of messages and encountered a hard sell for a locator service. [no thank you.] Spent a significant portion of the afternoon driving around with my roommate/older brother, writing down phone numbers for places showing "For Rent" signs.

Ate dinner #1 [pot roast, carrots, potatoes] at home before cleaning up to go Out.

My original plan was to kick out at quarter of 8 and grab some tea before heading to the usual places. However, my brother and some of his friends [including M1 from last week] invited me over to L* and A*'s place first, so I obliged.

L* and A* live on The Hill, about 50 feet from my favorite Sicilian restaurant. They had never been there before, so Ed and I volunteered to take them... I got the tortellini with their famous meat sauce [yum] and a glass of wine; thus, dinner #2. During dinner, I somehow mentioned the camp game called Chubby Bunny [a contest; contestants see how many marshmallows they can stuff in their mouths without chewing, and they must be able to say "Chubby Bunny" before the marshmallow counts]; L* and A* decided they Had to Try It.

It was at that point that I decided, "Maybe I should cut out of here soon..." They were a bit upset by this - they wanted to see if I could break my 6-year-old record of 17, considering that I've grown since then and that I have less of a gag reflex - but relented when I shared a few strategies [stuff between gums and cheeks first, leave the airway intact, lean back]. Had a couple semi-Cape Cods [made with vodka and cherry-cranberry juice] back at the house before hitting the road.

Ran into the Complex 3 minutes before i'd have to pay a cover. The bitchy queen who had turned me away back in January was covering the door, but I had come prepared with a second proof of age [passport] and got in.

Quick lap - nobody there yet that I knew. Got gin and tonic #1 [mmm, gin] and hung out near the door. First guy that I knew showed up - he had been doing laps too. [For the sake of the diary, I'll call him Jack, because he reminds me of said character on Will and Grace.]

Jack has a bit of a crush on me, I think. It's almost as if he follows me around the place, like a little puppy. I think he's a great guy - good sense of humor, good listener, pretty eyes - but I don't share the same feelings as he. :(

So anyway. Jack and I chatted for a while, then we talked with Mike and Brian and so forth. Gin and tonic #2. Watched Mike get his ass steamrolled during 3 consecutive games of pool. Gin and tonic #3.

Had a nice long conversation with Mike and a few others about my travels. Jack asked me out to dinner, as a "friend", and I accepted [if only to break the weeknight monotony].

Home at about 3. I think my Clubkid Crisis of Faith is over.

Sunday - I was liturgist at church, with a full-on cough [thanks to 4 days' congestion and several hours in a smoke-filled environment]. And I was still Gravitas Boy. :)

Went home, took a nice nap. [No hangover from the night before - gin is very clean like that, and that's one reason I like it - but very little sleep.]

Our family has a tradition - when it's someone's birthday, they get to choose someplace to take the family for dinner. Ed's birthday is today, so we went yesterday to Tucker's in Soulard. Good steak, good potato, drowning salad.

Home, watched the Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle, goofed off, went to bed.

Today, not too much out of the ordinary has happened. This morning I did some research and found an original copy of Godwin's Law ["As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."] as well as its practical corollary ["When that happens in a flame war, whomever makes the comparison loses."]. Also printed a copy of the Gullibility Virus write-up to post on the entrance to my cube [and send to the gullible on my network].

And I'm currently writing a horrifically cathartic broadcast flame, addressed to everyone on my network. It touches on the little things users do that irk me.

Complaints of a Pissed-Off Sysadmin
I get mad at users who:

• don't report problems until weeks or even months after the fact

• call me and say "I got an error message" but don't specify which one it is

• call and leave vague contact information. for example, there are six people i hear from regularly who are named K*, and none of them tell me their last name unless I ask. It isn't so bad if I'm here to answer the call, because I can then say "which K*?". If, however, they leave a message and don't follow up with their last name, it's their own damned fault if I don't call them back, because I can't figure out which one it is!

• don't check their e-mail or their location's generic e-mail. [Each location of ours has an e-mail address listed on our Web site for site-specific public inquiries, such as hours or special event information.]

• print every single message they receive. We adopted email so that we would reduce the amount of paper we use, people!

• pass along frivolous and/or false forwards

• leave me to deal with their listserv crap [unsubscribing, putting them on digest, etc.]

Tonight, I go home and watch TV and call some of the numbers Ed and I researched. I'm not complaining too much about that.