Tuesday 28 September 2004

Daisy's Point of View


Angel in a Graveyard, from a daisy's point of view.

My Computer Broke Up With Me...

...and it wants its hard drive back.

Two incidences of computer hilarity:
1. Last week, I was using a file transfer program to copy files from one of our network drives (at work) to a mapped drive on a client's computer (connected over a VPN). On my first attempt, the files started moving, everything was going along. I checked on the progress a few minutes later and saw a window with the following error message:

Can not copy (file name).  The path is too deep.


I burst out laughing and called our computer guru down to show him. He giggled like a maniac and looked up the message online. He had never seen it before.Who made up this message steeped in mystic tones? Sounds like a druid wrote the error patch. The next time I tried to copy, it was successful. Evidently it had found a new path.

2. Today, while using our software, I got the following error message:

Error (#) TOO MANY ARGUMENTS.  


LOL. Oh, man, don't leave me computer! I know we fight, but think of the good times. When we upgraded your system, and I dusted your speakers, lifted your monitor, gave you more memory. I've given you it all!

Sometimes, you just need to laugh like there's no tomorrow.

Hummingbird Site

I've noticed that not many people like my templates. I think it's because Internet Explorer sucks and is too stupid to figure out what Mozilla knows. I use Mozilla, edit my template in Mozilla, and IE can't figure it out. I don't know what goes wrong in IE (or rather, I know what goes wrong, I can't figure out how to fix it) and I rarely use IE, so I didn't realize that my sidebar was misbehaving so badly. I can switch it to the other side, and that might help. Also, I don't use Safe Hexes unless by chance. But, I would just rather keep using Mozilla and be elitist. Right. I love Mozilla, it's just the cat's meow! And IE is anathema to me now. It just bugs me. I always liked Netscape better anyway. Well, I'll see if I can't figure out a diplimatic solution between these two browsers. But trust me, it looks awesome in Mozilla.

Monday 27 September 2004

Steam

I turn the heat up
in the shower
the pipes roar
hard water soft water cold water
freshwater salt tears
nothing can clean this skin
I'm in

Your dirty words have gotten
trapped between the ridges
on my shriveled fingers
I should save the water;
nothing will make
your claws let go-
I let it flow.

I can feel it still
ugly parasite
crawling up inside
grasping, sweating, ramming, pulling
my edges raw
burns me the color of rust
and powerlust

There is no end to this cold.
you're shaking...I like it
now rage takes the reins
I cut the water
for it refuses to cut me
to be my leech
and bleed you out of me

Steam cloaks my face
holds me like a mother
rolls off my back
and pours from my nose
I am a dragon, breathing fire
this time
the bloodlust is mine

~~~~~~~~~~~AEW~~~~~~~~~~~

Didn't your mother ever warn you not to play with words? <-- More Poems

Tattoo Kazoo


Finally! This is my tattoo. It's on my lower back. I might, at some point, get more done on it, but don't hold your breath.

Thursday 23 September 2004

Tango

Te dije una vez
que bailar merengue
es tener sexo
pero bailar salsa
es hacer el amor.

Nosotros bailamos el tango
te juro que nos elevamos
a otro nivel de ser
Los pasos de los dioses
no nos acercan

Nuestros pies doblados
no tocan el suelo
Bailamos en las nubes
sin tener miedo
de la caída

Como los grandes bailarines
tus dedos me guían
pero mis caderas nos dirigen
y todo sin quebrar
nuestra mirada

~~~ Para el amor de mi vida ~~~ AEW.

Tuesday 21 September 2004

Back From Hospital

Mom is back from her stay in the hospital (trying to get rid of the blood clot in her recently-operated-on leg). She came back late Saturday night, and needs to stay on medication for three to six months. I'm so glad she's all right; but it's a bit suspicious that they let her leave without dissolving the clot. I guess if it takes that long to get rid of, you have to let her go.

We visited her nearly every day, and so did miriad friends and family, and she received gifts and phone calls every day.

Thursday 16 September 2004

Unprofessionalism + Sexism = I don't think so.

Series of e-mails from a one-man tech operation employed by two of our clients is posted below.

Me:
"(Name of tech guy),
Our password is not working for Generic Dial-In Software for Company X. Please fix.
(My name)"

Him:
"(IP Address)
Password = (password)"


Nothing else, that was his whole e-mail. No hello, no goodbye, which is fine, we're all busy people. Turns out we had the wrong IP address. So, next round of e-mails:

Me:
"Good to know."

Him:
"We need to talk re this

I AM NOT GOING to BE SASSED BY SOME 25ISH rude woman

Please let talk"

End series. Hmmm... I guess I should have written good to know thanks, or explained that we had the wrong IP address, but I forgot that he's very sensitive, and I honestly didn't think I had offended him in any way, I didn't see how he could misconstrue a 3-word sentence.

We've had some problems with him before, where we changed something on our client's server desktop...our own software, which we've been doing for years, and he freaked out and changed our password and log-in information for our client's computer. And sent angry e-mails saying we needed to talk, and had to go through him when we made any "major changes." So, we graciously complied, even though changing someone's access codes and sending angry e-mails is unprofessional, and immaturely spiteful.

From then on, we sent him e-mails notifying him every time we updated Company X's version of our software. After the first of this type of e-mail, he became angry and sent a more polite but still mispelled e-mail asking us to warn him before we made any "major changes." His terminology, not ours. This one I understand, since he was having problems with their server. But, really, then the client should check with him before calling us and asking us to make changes. We were playing by his rules, while still serving our client.

The most recent e-mails happened today and yesterday, and I honestly don't know where he gets off implying that a young woman should not dare to reply to him with anything but abject terror of his prowess. I treated him with the same, if not more, respect that he has shown me, and have always been polite to him on the phone, in person, or in e-mails (I thought).

I don't need this. My mom is in the hospital (again), working through a blood clot two months after her leg surgery, which I haven't told my boss or coworkers, and I have other things to do at work besides kowtow to someone who seems to be coming unhinged. The spelling errors, the implication that young women are beneath him mentally or socially, and the odd half-capital, half-lowercase text suggests he wrote this e-mail without thinking of the ramifications, without censuring his keyboard, and without thought to how it would make him seem.

I have been instructed by my boss not to reply to him. I will be perfectly civil to him should he call, and will explain my reason for writing "Good to know", which I believe set him off. As a businesswoman and employee, I am taking it in stride. As a woman and a person, I am angry as hell.
Oh, and, by the way, I'm 23.

Tuesday 14 September 2004

I Reluctantly Admit...

1. I have an obsession with clothes. I have way too many already, but I still dream about that one perfect thing, be it sweater, sandal, hoodie, or pair of pants. I give more away as I get more, things that don't fit, but I'm still running out of things to give away, since childhood t-shirts that still fit and overlarge souvenir shirts can't be parted with. I dream about not having the right clothes, or trying to cover up, or not having a costume, or searching for just the write article of clothing.

2. I have an obsession with decorating. My bed - pillows, throws, bedding, sheets; my windows - just another scarf for yet another color; my walls - can I squeeze one more drawing in there?; everything. I decorate and redecorate and shift and move things around all the time. I wonder how that shelf would look with books on it...

3. I don't write thank you notes, or postcards, or letters, or, frequently, e-mails that I promise to write. It's not that I don't want to contact people, I am just that forgetful. Yes, I really am. I lose touch with people all the bloody time, and I hate it, but I just can't seem to remember a simple note. I don't remember to pay my bills all the time, either, but I try.

4. I love buying gifts for people, but I usually forget cards. Like today! Pucha! I forget to get anything for someone's post-birthday celebration tonight. Anyway, I like giving silly gifts, or thoughtful gifts, or books, or even gift certificates. I love seeing someone's face, or seeing them use something I've given them.

5. Nowadays, I can sleep in any kind of clothing, even in shoes; just not completely disrobed...it makes me uncomfortable. I never could sleep as a youngster, unless the pillow was proplerly cool, my pajamas weren't twisted, my socks weren't hanging off, a million little things. I had to line both sides of my body with stuffed animals, because I couldn't sleep without anything against my back. And the ones at the front protected me. As large a number as possible of stuffed animals would be shoved under the covers with me. If one fell out, I might wake up and pull it back in. I still sleep with them. They're there more for warmth, though, and to keep me from touching the evil, cold wall my bed is up against.

Thursday 9 September 2004

Back in Business!

So, I eventually had to recreate my template, from scratch, using another, completely different template as a model. Now, I can get the archives correctly only by using the "Previous Posts" option. So, that's all she wrote.