Category: Rants

I tried for a third time in as many months to find a Pizza Hut, any location, at any amount of purchase price, to deliver a pizza to my door. They simply won’t do it. The closest one is just 3 miles away, I could probably see it if I stood on the roof of the house. No, they would rather refer me to two other locations that are even further away. And of course, neither of them will drive here, either.

So I’m left with some local shops that do an OK job for pizza and charge through the nose, or I have to get up, get out, and get the pie myself. Figuring in the fuel cost these days for the truck, its a wash if I drive to the location and back for the pizza. Guess if I want better service I have to get a better, more fuel sipping form of transportation? In any case, Pizza Hut earns the big thumbs down from me, again.

As I woke up this morning on the far side of the planet (Taiwan) I am saddened to see that 51% of Americans put Bush back in office. The international reaction was predictably muted, but it is obvious we haven’t made many friends around the world with this president.

I look forward to returning home and hearing how it is we ended up with the same guy in charge as when I left.

I’m spending this week in NYC on yet another press tour stint. Again I’m with the group I went with last week and I’m no better off this time than I was last time. In fact, I’m a bit worse, thanks to sharing a room with one of them.

I also happen to be at the tale end of the same cold that I picked up in Dallas two weeks ago. It may end up that my cold is the only thing that gets me so peace, since no one wants to be around people who cough and sneeze.

It’s a good bet that this week will be painful and it hasn’t even started yet.

I’m back from my Texas trip to a friends wedding and I brought back an old friend: the common cold. I am now coughing up lung cookies and feeling generally really poor. On top of this I have the joy of a splitting headache and one of the worst travel stories on record.

For those of you following my travails as an immanently soon-to-be-unemployed person, take a look at my spiffy updated work history and business network on LinkedIn.

After years of trying to fight the good fight I’m looking for another job again. It isn’t by choice, but my official search has begun in earnest this week. There are some opportunties within the company, but I will look outside as well. It bites that this decsision to look wasn’t a voluntary one, but it has to be done nonetheless.

If I could learn to be dispassionate about what I do I’m sure things would go smoother for me. Until then, I need to find something else that drives me to get up and do the daily grind. I hope that I can find that soon, else the bills really start to pile up!

For the second straight year I had a pretty sucky 24 hours leading up to and after my birthday. I spent most of the day loading equipment, moving heavy objects, and generally sweating, working to tear down a tradeshow booth. I woke up my mom early in the morning (sorry!) and hung up on my brother. I then had to rush to check out of the hotel where I was staying and sit in the lounge for 4 hours before I could go to the airport.

Although the flight back happened on time, again I had the distinct honor to sit next to someone who could not fit completely into their assigned seating, thus spilling over into mine. He watched South Park and GI Joe DVDs for most of the flight. I just tried to catch a little sleep and listen to some music. Upon arriving a few minutes early at San Jose, in typical SJC airport style, there was no gate crew. This left us sitting in the airplane for 10 minutes while some employees were rounded up to allow us off the plane. Then I sat in the baggage area for the next 40 minutes waiting for something, anything, to come off the luggage belt.

By the time it was all over and I got home it was almost 1am. When I got up the morning of the 16th I managed to find a wasp and get stung in the ass.

Again, a stunning birthday for the record books.

Anyone that knows me also knows I have done some dumb things in my life. Most of them are blissfully concealed by my sheltered personal life. Some of them are amazingly dumb and public, especially when it comes to work.

So you can imagine my surprise when I see my former employer doing really dumb things without me causing them.

To be fair, press releases and public posts are rarely what they appear to be. However, when you see commentary like this from your press release partner, you have got to step back and know that the public will smell something fishy.

This is one time where I’d bet my inside contacts can’t even tell me what is going on. I hope that John Carmack finally gets his other venture off the ground so that he can leave the PC world behind and tell us what really happened.

I think that is the most links I’ve ever put in a post. Wow!