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November 2006 Archive
Monday, November 20, 2006
[Comments: 0] 2:25 AM - your-payment-will-be-due-yesterday
The issue with our mail getting stolen had, up to now, just been a matter of inconvenience, and I rarely get any important mail, so while I'm annoyed, I've just been content to let the mail arrive when it does. This is the first time thus far where the delay of the mail has caused me a real problem.
Geico sent me several reminders starting on October 17th to let me know that I had an upcoming payment due for my insurance. The payment to extend the policy was set for November 17th. I received all of these notices just now. The mail was unceremoniously delivered to our door, in a plastic bag on a Sunday. This means it was not the building management nor the post office, as both are closed on Sundays. Fortunately, there's been no serious harm caused by the delay, but if it'd been a couple more days, I'd be driving around uninsured.
That means this horrible person has the audacity to hold my mail for 30 days and then just walk over to my apartment door and drop it all outside. This has to stop.
I'm not sure what I can do now. What do you do when the police don't think it's a big enough deal, the postal inspectors' office says there's nothing they can do, and the building management claims they have no way to track the person down? If any one of these people would put in some serious effort on this, it would stop. It's not like we're the only ones this is happening to. Shouldn't this be a big deal?
I was off this weekend. We had a party on Friday night, and I slept good and late on Saturday and Sunday. I was pretty much in the mood to act like nothing more than a vegetable for the rest of the weekend.
This week should be fairly quiet leading up to Thanksgiving. I'm staying here for the holiday, and I have basically no plans. I'll be on call at work Wednesday evening through Friday evening most likely, but it should be a dead span (so if you have something for me to do, feel free to let me know)!
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
[Comments: 1] 4:28 PM - miscalculation
I apparently misjudged the impact the remaining votes would have on Montana since it's been called for the Democrat. Virginia is still being held as too close to call, though the Democrat is still leading, so I think they've got a really good shot.
Looks like the Democrats are probably going to get the House and the Senate after all. Woot!
Here's hoping they make it count....
[Comments: 0] 3:41 AM - change-in-power
Well, it seems to have mostly happened as predicted. I did end up voting for the Green Party candidate for Governor, and he got the expected 10% of the vote. Nothing changed in the races for which I could vote, and that's not particularly surprising. I live in a blue state, which is something I am generally proud of, but it means my vote mostly doesn't count for nearly as much as if I were somewhere really contested... I think I'll survive... ;)
The places where the vote really matters tonight are Virginia and Montana which will decide whether the Democrats get their Senate majority. I am leaning toward no, because based on the stats I've been following, I think the lead in Montana will be erased by late poll results from rural areas, and Virginia will roll to the blue side to keep them one seat short.
They got the House, and that's good. The pickup of at least four seats in the Senate is nothing to be ashamed of either. I'm feeling a lot better in 2006 than I did as the results fell into place for 2004. I don't want to get my hopes up, but my gut says 2008 will also be an improvement.
What must happen now is that the Democrats must take advantage of their newfound seats and start to normalize some of the wacky stuff that's happened since they went out of power. It is a sad thought that the Democrats may hold the key to fiscal responsibility, but they may well be the only hope until the spend-money-we-don't-bother-to-collect Republicans are shut down. Our biggest risk is that they will still have misplaced their backbone and will do nothing whatsoever in the next two years. If that happens, 2008 will probably suck.
A lot has to happen now, but I'm content enough. If the Dems miraculously pick up the Senate, I'll be ecstatic.
I slept like crap last night. Maybe I'll sleep a bit better tonight. On that note, I (try to) sleep! Good night.
Tuesday, November 7, 2006
[Comments: 2] 5:28 AM - election-2006
Happy Election Day!
I spent a little while "tonight" looking up some information on the candidates I'm going to vote for "tomorrow." Turns out the polling place is conveniently located across the street from my apartment, and so that makes not going to vote a travesty on my part. There are 4 races that seem to impact me at least a little bit, and they are: Illinois Governor, House Rep. #7, and the state senator and house representative from my local district. I'm disappointed that I'm not really a fan of any of the candidates in these races. I'm strongly considering Green Party candidate Whitney for Governor, and I'll probably just vote along the Democrat line for the rest lacking reasonable choices. (Why does everyone support affirmative action, for example?)
Nifty site Electoral-Vote.com is projecting pretty significant wins for the Democrats (primarily in the House, but a majority in the Senate, too), which is a very good sign. Hopefully a change in the control of Congress will pull the country back toward the middle where it belongs.
Assuming I haven't misread, I also get to vote for the new "Water Reclamation Commissioner." Oooh, exciting! ;)
In work news, we've just hired a new guy named Senad Brkic as a network engineer and support technician. He seems to be very competent from the networking standpoint, which is awesome. He's also going to take on an overnight rotation, which means that my schedule is changing. I will no longer be working night shifts and I'll get alternating weekends off completely. The changes are very exciting.
I just randomly rediscovered The Sims 2 for some reason recently, and while I was playing I remembered how amazing The Sims 2 music is. Besides a generally catchy score, the Simlish radio music is brilliant and just as catchy. I don't think I'll get over the idea that artists actually composed gibberish lyrics and music specifically for the game.
In related news, it seems that EA has publicly stated that SimCity 5 is "in the pipeline." The word is that it'll be going forward in 2007, but based on a reasonable development cycle, I imagine it won't see a release that year. My sources from Maxis in years past had said the goal with SimCity 5 would be to simplify the player experience to make it more accessible to casual players. Certainly a noble goal to keep the franchise alive.
Spore, which is certainly drawing more of my interest at the moment, is probably going to hit stores in 2007 from what I can tell. This is one game I'm drooling over.
Certainly in advance of that is the World of Warcraft expansion pack "Burning Crusade." If Andrew and I manage to keep up with the playing, we might actually be able to enjoy the new content shortly after the game's release. :)
In TV news, you should be watching the following shows on NBC: My Name is Earl, The Office, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Medium; on Fox: Justice, House; on ABC: Lost; on HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher; on Comedy Central: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report. If you can, but aren't watching any of these shows, give them all a chance ASAP. :)
One other thing I am particularly excited about is the new availability of Flash player 9 for Linux. The release now is only a beta, but I can finally visit web sites that have started requiring Flash version 8 or higher, and I no longer have to suffer through horrible audio synchronization problems when I watch videos at YouTube. :)
Not sure why I can't sleep right now.... I have a bunch of stuff on my mind, and it's leaving me a bit wired. I guess I'll go try again now, with the understanding that if I fail, I'll have to start cleaning my room.... ;)
Guten Nacht!
