RedJen's Rearview Mirror

Tonight closes out another calendar year. It’s been a year full of drama, quiet times, questions and surprises. There have been highs and lows, joy and disappointment. So far it sounds pretty normal to me. Mya joined the menagerie in January. She and Blue had their first birthdays in May. Omega turned 11 in October.

Everyone got home okay, Rugrat and Bret were a little worse for wear by the time they left here.

I spent Monday and Tuesday feeling tired and hoping that the family didn't leave behind little germs just waiting for me to sneeze.

I sneezed and I've been working from home since Wednesday. The pain in my head has gone down and I've gotten a ton of work done. Hopefully I'll be able to kick this bug without resorting to going to the doctor for antibiotics.

Okay, I should get back to work, I have a couple of things I want to knock off my list before meeting with my girls tonight.

work, drinks & finger food, work...

Lots of things are wrapping up for the year at work. There is still plenty to keep everyone busy, but my to do list has actually been shrinking.

There are a few emails that I've been needing to write for too long, which I buckled down and wrote. I had a realization the other morning that I need to explore. This probably won't make any sense now, but I really miss my grandfather.

I'd be more inclined to go for Barney, but apparently he's not the only bringer of evil...

Top 11 worst holiday gifts for an IT pro:
(from Network Computing)

11) Book: Maintaining Your 10Base-5 Network
10) 2,500 PCs that must be configured by Dec.26
9) T-shift that says, “Sure, I’ll fix your computer!”
8) Miner’s hat with light – for navigating carpal tunnel
7) DVD containing every single “Can you hear me now?” commercial
6) Network upgrade that can only be done over the holidays
5) USB-powered clip-on tie
4) Another brainless middle manager
3) Aftershave: “Essence of Smoked Hard Drive”
2) Dance lessons
1) One more Microsoft Windows patch

The longest night in the cycle of seasons has past and daylight will slowly push back more of the night. It is ironic that as we celebrate the first day of Winter, we are also celebrating the beginning of longer days that remind us that Spring is coming and that the chilly air will eventually give way to warm breezes and fragrant flowers

NOTE: While I didn't alter the results, I've stripped a LOT of extra html out of the "results" returned by the test. If you take this test, your results should look similar to mine until you get to the first link to THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST. Along with streamlining the table coding, I pretty much stripped everything else out after that link.

1. No crying - Yesterday, I started looking at my journals from Decembers Past and got choked up reading about Brewster and Neko. Then, the mailman delivered a box with Christmas stuff from my family. I opened the box and in my Christmas card was a note from my parents, that got me going again. (Side note - I saved the other packages in the box for Christmas.)
2. Find Shae - Just needed to make sure she was alive. She's been so busy that she checks her email about once a week. Most people have probably never been that busy EVER.
3. Ready the last of the Christmas gifts - All the gift plans are in place, but I still needed to pick up 2 containers before I could finish.
4. Check UPS & FedEx - All the packages I had sent to Ohio were supposed to be delivered by today.
5. Start the cat project - I had an idea, but it requires some construction. I'll let you know if it turns out.
6. Update my Journal - Yesterday I played Memes-R-Us and I've been really behind this month.

Results:

1. So far so good.
2. She still sounds tired, but better than last weekend.
3. This is a work in progress. I picked up the containers, but I'm working on assembly now.
4. Check, all packages show as "Delivered"
5. I started, but I needed to charge the drill, so I didn't get as far as I wanted.
6. Check

Dashed... So much for sugarplumes...

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Now it is time to retire for Christmas Eve dreams
With luck there will be visions of sugar-plums dancing;
The cookies are out for Santa and the fireplace fire-free
The kittys are at the window and listening for a clatter

As I head for my bed and turn out the light,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

Spammers
People who write viruses, ad-ware, spyware
People who release viruses, ad-ware, spyware

I spent 3 hours on the phone yesterday helping my dad remove all of the above from his computer.

I’m afraid that the rampant strain of entitlement that seems to have infected the vast majority of people is leading to an outbreak of Socialism.

Children don’t pass or fail, they are all equally wonderful.
The medical system seems to be more socialized every year.

Now there is talk in North Carolina to make the cost of college dependant on personal wealth. This isn’t the student aid formula, where in-state student at college A have the same fees, this would actually scale the fees, so two kids who grow up as neighbors, have the same grades, scholarships and attend the same college will not have the same tuition costs.

Socialism has already fallen apart in Russia, can we please skip it here?