I have two rules by which I live my life:

(1) The customer is always wrong but so is the merchant so at least it's a level playing field.

(2) No peanut butter in my mouth.*

*Though not explicit, no peanut butter anywhere else in my body either.

Michelle is pregnant! She's due on the 10th of December. I like the name 'Aubrey', which technically could be for a boy or a girl. I'm not sure Michelle is keen.

Michelle and I were recently on holiday in Florida, first at a Disney resort and then in a condo with my family. We swam, we ate, we wore hats, it was great. Disney, however cynical I am, IS a magical place. Though it hates vegetarians ( Read more... )

In all the years I have been on this Earth I have never had to use the third toe on my left foot until today. I'm very disappointed but I could see no other way to resolve the situation. Hopefully everyone involved, including the horse, will have learned a valuable lesson today and I won't have to use it again.

I have found a job! One that (a) doesn't require me to be a US citizen (though I hopefully soon will be), (b) doesn't require me to move state and (c) does't require me to wear a giant hat with a pineapple on it (actually, (c) makes me a little sad ( Read more... )

If I'm honest, and I try to avoid that because it's just no fun, but if I'm honest I'm not having much fun at the moment. Being out of work is frustrating, and being in a foreign country while out of work is like having your pockets picked while you're lying on the ground after being kicked in the balls by an angry butcher. Things are bad enough, ( Read more... )

If I had your phone number, or you want me to have your phone number (though the norm is for people to not want me to have their phone numbers and normally are quite aggressive about getting me to stop calling them) please email me them as my old cell phone has died and taken all my contacts to the grave with it ( Read more... )

May 18th I finally got included in one of the company's layoff parties. I can't really blame the place, it needs to save money and wait until the new product makes some. This is a bad area for a foreign engineer to be out of work but I've had some contract work for a company in Oregon and there may be some more short term stuff coming up. Contract ( Read more... )

I'm turning into a bitter old man. Well, maybe not old, my knees only creak a little and the grey hairs are as yet still strangers in a crowd. And maybe not bitter, maybe just slightly put out. All man though, baby. Though don't ask me to prove it as I can't remember where I put my certificate. I'm tuning into a slightly put out not really old man ( Read more... )

The company I work for had more redundancies last week. I found out a day before and was certain I would be one of the ones to go - it makes sense, I earn more than some of the other system engineers here, I'm older than they are and there's really not much I do that they couldn't pick up pretty easily. They could make some painless savings with me ( Read more... )