I graduated highschool for a reason, and it wasn't to go to college.
I just got finished the third call in a row I could do something with wherein the customer's on dialup. That combined with the fact I'm not the only one here who's got that problem makes me think every year or so, there is an international dialup day. And today is apparently it. I wanna go home…
Stuck under Dell, fubars by James at 2:58 PM
And somehow, I've managed to actually fill this thing with more crap than I ever knew existed. How I do it I'll never know. Of course, this entry also doubles as an excuse to delay bitching about a rather cold, and rather moronic, bus ride this morning. That and the background of why it is I'm back riding third class shall be revealed when I get around to it. Suffice it to say though I'm still not really warmed up from it yet.
Stuck under random crap by James at 8:43 AM
Why else would, out of 3 days I had off, it picked the 4th day when I work to decide there's going to be a freezing rain and flash freeze warning? Winter, you and I haven't had that long and drawn out conversation yet. Does this have to be the start of it?
Stuck under fubars, rantings by James at 10:13 AM
And it's back to my general rule of it's not actually fact until it hits the media. So now, I guess we can plaster the official fact category on the fact she's gone nutso. Granted the requisit grane of sault is required considering it comes from Ms. Walters, but… really, who's surprised? File this under 'grow up, or shut up', like everything else Britney in the last… oh, year or so, and let's get back to things that people care about. Like the US president. Oh, wait, never mind.
Stuck under Cellebrity Stupidity by James at 5:29 AM
I'm still no closer to actually waking up, despite help from the cold that is mother nature. It sucks. Loads. But, 6.5 hours longer and I can go home. And watch my poor hockey team lose another game. Or maybe I'll just order pizza. Or maybe not. Maybe I'll decide if I survive today. With 4 agents currently sitting available… it's not lookin too pretty.
Stuck under Dell by James at 8:46 AM
As is only having to work 4.5 hours yesterday. Sadly, that good luck was not meant to carry over to day. But 'twill be made up for. In the form of various after work activities. There's a birthday that needs cellebrating. And if she's not up for that, I'm at least gonna spoil myself.
Stuck under Dell, family, musings by James at 8:21 AM
It redefines ridiculous, and actually makes me resent mother nature more than any of my top 3 favourite entities to hate on, but according to Bell technician dood who's name I never got, squirrels broke my phone service, the ratbastards. Which… I suppose explains why even a replaced phone line didn't last more than 24 hours. What I wouldn't mind knowing though, is why it took 2 technicians coming out here to figure that out. Apparently, according to the smarter one of the 2, they were nesting on one of the telephone poles outside the building. Which… kinda makes me contemplate agreeing with those of the persuasion that they should be shot. But, now, I have working phone service again. I'm no less irritated with Bell, mind you, but now it's for a whole different reason–that I had to take a day off work to actually have it looked at a second time, since the first one was apparently an idiot. Ah well, if the world didn't have it's fair share of stupid people, I'd have nothing to talk about. I just wish I didn't have to deal with them.
Stuck under Bell Canada by James at 2:08 PM
Ottawa city bus kills 3. They say alcohol was a fctor. I say it still would have been a long night for anyone involved. Not pretty when one has to work the next day. In fact, not pretty… in general. As if OC Transpo doesn't have quite the brilliant reputation already. I'm so glad I'm getting a ride home tonight. Unless he leaves sick…
Stuck under Ottawa, fubars by James at 12:08 PM
I was hoping I wouldn't have to take the day off to actually have this delt with, but apparently, someone over at Bell needs to be called back, blasted, and then properly instructed on how best to fix my freakin' phone line so it actually works for more than an afternoon. Apparently, it's not about to fix itself, however. And I'm not waiting until Monday to have it looked at a second time. The call gets made, tonight. And it'll be pretty one-sided. In the meantime… I've received possible alternatives to mother Bell. They will be investigated.
Stuck under Bell Canada, rantings by James at 7:01 AM
Could MLSE really have smartened up a little tiny bit and finally actually gave John Ferguson the axe, as certain reports have been speculating? Could we really be heading towards something productive actually being accomplished with this team? Oh, wait, MLSE's still in controll. Well, at least Ferguson might be gone. That's something. Now taking predictions for next year's GM…
Stuck under maple leafs by James at 11:41 AM
For the third time this month, and the second time in 2 days, I presently have no home telephone line. Which, for whatever reason, has no effect whatsoever on my DSL service. My overall pissedness with the ISP side of my phone company is already well documented, but I've yet to actually make mention to the problems I have with the phone company side of it. Which makes sense, really–until this month, I've had none. But, as it stands right now, I currently have no dial tone. I've had no dial tone since I'm not sure when this morning. I had no dial tone until the technician showed up yesterday at about noonish to replace the phone line. We know it's a problem with the actual building. Meaning, the line going from building to main box a couple streets over. Which means at least it didn't cost me anything to replace it. However, it *should* also mean that once the technician replaced it, it should be fixed. Not so much. Granted, it worked yesterday afternoon. And last night, until I'm not sure when. But she no worky now. And it's not sitting well with me. fortunately, after outage number 1 I got smart and had my home phone number forwarded to my cell, so at least now any incoming calls I should be expecting won't be missed. But I purchased home phone service through these fools for two reasons. It makes teh interwebs cheaper, and I still need to call folks long distance. Not doing that on my cell, thankyaverymuch. So now I'm paying for a phone line I'm only using for internets, and a long distance service I can't use until the internets people start doing their phone company job, too. And all of this comes wrapped in a neat little what the fuck package. Tempted am I to ditch Bell/Sympatico entirely. Except I'm not a big fan of VOIP, and the only real alternative to them for the internet is Rogers. Um, can we say no thank you please? Suggestions are welcome. If the 1.25 of you who actually read this thing have any. Until then, mother Bell can kiss my ass.
Stuck under Bell Canada, rantings by James at 8:28 AM
Probably the top question I get asked at work nowadays, nevermind the fact a few of my US friends and I have had conversations like these (hello, Anne) on more than one occasion. And since I'm pretty well US politics stupid, this is the best way I could think of to answer that question. Well, that, and I don't do enough of these.
Who You Should Vote For
Dennis Kucinich: 69%
John Edwards: 56%
Mike Gravel: 56%
Ron Paul: 44%
Barack Obama: 38%
Hillary Clinton: 38%
John McCain: 31%
Fred Thompson: 25%
Mike Huckabee: 25%
Mitt Romney: 25%
Rudy Giuliani: 19%
Who you agree with on the war in Iraq: John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, and Ron Paul
Who you agree with on the economy: Hillary Clinton, Dennis Kucinich, and Mitt Romney
Who you agree with on health care: Hillary Clinton and John Edwards
Who you agree with on taxes: Dennis Kucinich
Who you agree with on abortion: Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, and Rudy Giuliani
Who you agree with on gay rights: Ron Paul, Fred Thompson, and John McCain
Stuck under quizes by James at 3:19 AM
It sure is awesome when I get here. Particularly when the coffee's bought for me. Some days, I really, really love this job.
Stuck under Dell by James at 8:24 AM
Must. See. Tonight. If I'm not awake in time to watch this show (note to self: 8:00 tonight, channel 6), someone within driving distance of me has my permission to show up at my front door wielding a shotgun. And use it. I blame Anne for introducing me to the fact that show's on. Hopefully she'll still be able to watch it tonight… I know she was looking forward to it, too. Anyvay. Yes. Will watch. Or heads will roll. Huzza.
Stuck under TV by James at 3:14 PM
The calendar says no, but it's lied to me before. I've been back to work for a grand total of a week, and already I'd kill for a week off. It's been *that* busy this week. Add to that the fact that I've actually been making a conscious effort to semi-keep up with the cleaning of my tiny little place, and not just leaving it all for a day off, and I've been pretty busy. Lazy is the preference, so you can probably guess at my state of mind right about now and not be out somewhere in left field. Right field, maybe. I'm just now getting used to the idea of my weekends being Monday and Tuesday, and now we're talking about shifts changing again. So I'll probably wind up with some funky thing like Wednesday and Thursday being the new weekend. Well, as long as I'm not doing the 2:00 to 11:00 thing again, I'll go for it willingly. I did that when I first got out of training–ironicly, it was just about this time last year. Actually, almost exactly this time last year. I won't willingly do it again unless there's, like, no other option. It interferes with the roleplay. And some days, particularly after lengthy stretches of time with the family, my roleplay is the difference between a murderous rage and a nervous twitch. It would be unwise to take such a thing away from me. *rubs hands together*
Stuck under Dell, fubars, musings by James at 11:16 AM
What James Means You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you.
You never give up, and you will succeed… even if it takes you a hundred tries.
You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice.
You are usually the best at everything … you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic "Type A" personality.
You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated.
You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want.
You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way!
You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.
You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.
At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.
You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong.
You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know.
You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do.
Way to superinflate my ego. Anyone wanna take a stab at just how accurate this is? Hint: it's not. I dare you to prove otherwise. Mwa!
Stuck under quizes by James at 8:07 AM
The simple, yet sad truth? They're dead, and I've accepted that. Plus I've plum run out of ways to say they lost for the billionth time this year plus 1. So, I wash my hands of this season, pray to God John Ferguson gets himself canned, and will start over next year. In the meantime, maybe I'll be motivated this summer to blog the baseball season. Anything's possible.
Stuck under maple leafs by James at 4:34 AM
For instance, you spend 3 hours before you have to go to work getting rid of a couple hundred spam comments on your blog. Or maybe that's just me. That's also a distinct possibility. Spammification sucks.
Stuck under oops, random crap by James at 9:17 AM
Well, okay, so I don't. And I did. There's no real such thing as "medicinal marijuana", there never was, and there never will be. And this is only really proven by a supreme court decision that, really, should never have had to happen. But, thank you again, Steven Harper, for reminding me why it is I believe you should be taken out back, tied to a tree next to George Bush, and shot. According to this article, users of "medicinal marijuana" can now actually pick their own grower. Now, how in the hell they intend to enforce something like that in a way that the government can still have its fingers all over it is beyond me, but to me, it sounds an aweful lot like "Buy from whoever you want, and have fun doing it.". Which, okay, I can see the point of it from a constitutional point of view, but still–bad, bad move. Never mind stupid, stupid move. Forever ago, I went on my own mini rant on the subject, after a discussion on a blindness related mailing list I'm a part of–the email that prompted that one was also quoted in the linked entry. I won't just plain up and say it's ridiculous–primarily because really, if you have half a brain, you don't need me to say it. But from the brief look at the outlines points in the judge's ruling, it very much does sound like a choose your dealer type of situation. And I still maintain the opinion that, next to the entire decision to actually allow the idea of medicinal marijuana, this is quite possibly *the* worst decision our dear court system could come up with. It makes me cringe to say it, but I really hope the government decides to appeal this one. For a change, I actually like their idea better. Which… mostly means I dislike it less. But, I suppose if I had to pick between two crappy poker hands…
Stuck under fubars, oops, politics, rantings by James at 1:57 AM
So on the rare occasions wherein they actually do, it kinda sorta just a little bit surprises the hell out of me. And in this case, the surprise came from the fact that at 10:30 this morning, I had only actually managed to take a grand total of 4 calls. Now, if this was the night shift that wouldn't surprise me. But it's not, and we're usually a whole lot busier than this. Plus I usually don't get lucky enough that I actually have something I can fix on the 4th try. So yeah, it's a little surprising. And now I can waste a break doing all manner of non-work related tasks because, well, they said I can. That I've been doing it all morning though will just be our secret, okay?
Stuck under Dell, musings by James at 10:31 AM
Way, way too long since I did one of these. Or any sort of regular updating. New year's resolution upheld for another day!
Did a quiz just insult me?
You Are Definitely Not a Hippie In fact, you're so conservative, you make George Bush look like Jerry Garcia.
You're not big on experimentation or alternative lifestyles.
Fringe ideas tend to freak you out. You're pretty suspicious of hippies - or anyone who sympathizes with them.
As hippies would say, you are the establishment. You're part of the system… and proud of it.
Stuck under quizes by James at 9:11 AM
Only so far as, say, they stop screwing with my country. I've never been a fan of Harper's cute little relationship with Bush, and the sooner we lose both of them from their respective offices, the better all around methinks. I'd even settle for another Clinton taking office if it meant they kept their politics on their side of the border. A little harsh? Well, possibly. But that's me. Can't say it wasn't entirely unexpected. Unless of course you don't know me at all. At which point you suck. 
Stuck under politics, random crap by James at 2:57 PM
The last couple weeks have been… well, busy as royal hell. Christmas and new years will do that. Of course, and then I wound up on a week's vacation and didn't feel like touching this thing even just to make sure it still worked. But vacation ends tomorrow, and then it's bac to the daily grind, so I figured now's as good a time as any to get back into it. New years was hella fun. Although, for the record, nearly every bar in Ottawa being either closed or requiring a cover charge on the biggest drinking night of the year is just way too over the top. Fortunately for our sanity, Trish managed to keep some alcohol at her place which she and I made quick work of. New years day was spent waking up and getting hammered with snow. We wanted to go for a walk and see what kind of pictures we could come up with, but the weather just wouldn't let up enough for that. I mean, we could have gone for the walk, but pictures were out of the question. So the vote was we'd drive instead. A couple hours and a coffee later, we still had no pictures. But at least we'd killed the majority of the afternoon. I came back to my place after, and there was all manner of flakeyness. Spent pretty much the next week in between being flakey, and talking to an already once mentioned interesting young lady about… whatever came up. Perfect way to spend a vacation. Now, if only she wasn't in the US. The malfunction will be corrected. Wednesday I go back to work, and I know for at least the first couple days, I'm so not going to want to. But, then again… one look at my paycheck will probably make me want to. I just need to hold out 'til Friday. Oh, it's going to royally, royally suck…
Stuck under musings by James at 5:24 PM
A little nod to them there people I like to spy on... I mean read; give 'em a look over. It's good for you.
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