Party Time?
Two things have happened to make this a great day.
First: I found out that a coworker discovered Liquorama, an online spirits merchant that does shipping! I'm pretty sure that this is illegal so I decided to pounce while the pouncing's good. This combined with the fact that the prices are very reasonable make me a tad nervous, but my friend has already received her order satisfactorily.. So what the hell! Maybe they're Indians? or the Mob....
Second: I'm going to see Sister Hazel tonight at the Lincoln theatre in Raleigh! I'm stoked.

Well back to the grind of every day life here at Chapel Hill. I arrived back at work to the news that we may have misplaced a computer that we were supposed to configure and send out. That was fun! I had assigned the computer to a coworker to do so either he lost it or I sent it out before I left forgetting to take it off the list. Personally I tend to think I sent it, but it makes me laugh nonetheless. These people would be screwed it I hit the bricks... Speaking of which, it looks like I'll be interviewing for a position this week. It would mean more money, but it may also prove to be harder logistically.... My hope is that I can get Investors to match the offer. That would be the best case scenario, but sadly such negotiations are a dicey prospect at best. Especially since this company has 0 appreciation for IT. Also there is the matter of my abysmal luck in such matters... Perhaps I should just content myself with all the non-monetary appreciation that has been shown me.

Call to Arms
So I've just nominally become a member of the Tarheel Bloggers.
Odd. I'm not sure what that means. Should I make an effort to make this site more academically relevant? I suppose I could also try to be more inspiring to young people etc.
Once again I suppose I need to re-evaluate how I use this site. Or not. Shouldn't I just be worried about doing my own thing? When I think about it, I actually don't think I give a shit.

(I decided to inspire the kids)
Today was a good day, went for a jog, had dim-sum at the best dim-sum joint in Washington, spent time with the fam, and ahh my dog passed that stone she swallowed. All in all, I'd call that a damn fine day.
Unfortunately due to a great deal of family prodding, I also pondered my future today. In other words I pondered the imponderable. Sucks. Plus my loving aunt brought an IT exec for me to impress at lunch. I'm fairly sure she told this woman I was some sort of genius. So for all you curious onlookers here is the latest edition of the "THE PLAN": I plan to graduate and then play it by ear till my retirement around 70 or so, then die. Oh and I'd like a Kegerator..... which come to think about it, may bump my death down to 60 or so if I become a raging alcoholic.

Freedom!
Well I've managed to get through the week and now I'm on Vacation! But enough about that.
Last night was the last day for one of my coworkers so Mary made me come out drinking with them after work. Mary is a true character. She's a little old lady who's really about seven feet tall personality wise. This means two things: One. Don't cross her. She's got a sticker on her printer that says "Age and treachery always triumph over Youth and Knowledge" Second. If she likes you, she's a lot of fun. Especially if you don't let the flirting of this little old lecher freak you out. I won't go into the details, but we all had a good time and I got to drive her home in her Jaguar! The first time anyone's been drunk enough to let me drive their luxury car! Unfortunately we only took back roads so I didn't have a chance to test her out, still cool though. After that I had to go to a friend of mines birthday party. More Alcohol and Karoake craziness meant that I had a rough morning today and was a little hoarse. That combined with the fact that Mary had no doubt been spreading lecherous stories meant that I got some looks today. Luckily I only stayed for about two and a half hours. Suckers!

Blog Browsing
Oh my gosh where has the time gone... I've never been the sort who loses themselves in "surfing" the internet, but this blog thing is out of control. Its like a form of voyeurism, I feel like I'm peering into the personal life of a total stranger. It almost makes me prone to nonsensical prattle along the lines of "opening up new worlds"etc. I cringe just to think of it. Of course the real effect is that I'm now quite paranoid about my site. Up till now I've been concerned merely by the idea that members of my family might have access to it, now I'm mortified to think that someone I don't even know may stumble upon it(however unlikely such an event would be). In fact all of this content will probably be stored away for all time somewhere so that at some future date I will be jeered with the meanderings of a 24-year old Patrick...... In the mysterious words of our English bretheren: Crikey!*

*Pursuant to my newfound paranoia I looked up the word "crikey". Apparently the meaning of this word is only available to paying dictionarians.... I leave that one to the conspiracy bloggers....

BTW check out new links! Chainless Bicycles, funny Brits, etc!!

I'm still unsure as to the proper way to start a blog entry. Hello blog?... Better make this quick since my new boss, who I haven't met yet, is said to be lurking around here somewhere... A fact that makes me increasingly paranoid.
Applied for a job yesterday with an organization called Ipas. Its apparently a "women's health" organization. I find their products more than a touch unnerving, but i'd only be doing IT and hopefully wouldn't have to deal with such aspects. The pay could be quite good, that sort of thing impresses the ladies, and a new job would get me the hell out of Investors Title! Anyways the guy emailed me back this morning wanting to set up a meeting next week. Thats's good news since I emailed my resume around 11 last night. Unfortunately I'll be out of town next week.... hurt my chances?

Another Day, Another Dollar... 11 hours manning the desk at ol' Investor's Title. It sucks but I need to make up some hours since I'm going on Vacation! Work is starting to get real uncomfortable as a war of words has started between my co-workers. By now the veteran really hates the newcomer who I'll dub Billy as in "hill"... Billy is not a very hard worker and undoubtedly is paid better than us. What's more Billy was given the title "senior help desk technician" so I suspect that he secretly feels he should be asserting more authority. The most frustrating part about him is that he hasn't really bothered to learn about the system. I'm a part-time employee and I know the network much better than him and have closed more trouble tickets. In total he just doesn't pay attention to whats going on in a very hectic office.
Personally as the least paid employee I should hate them both. I mean I know almost as much as the vet, and have done quite a few things that have made the system more efficient(I won't bore with the details). Yet I have resigned myself to my situation, largely due to that fact that I'm using this job for experience and feeding myself through Grad School. Plus I like the Vet, he's a cool guy, and while I'd like to joke around with him, I think he's becoming overly harsh with Billy.
The Vet doesn't share my get-along attitude and things have become increasingly discordant. Billy didn't show up to work today, so the Vet spent a good part of the day trash talking and reading me the latest and most terse of their emails. Billy has criticized us in the past for not closing our calls in what he feels is a prompt manner (he has about 10 open calls, I have around 25, and the vet has something like 55). This is mainly due to the fact that Billy doesn't check the helpdesk mailbox or work on hardware projects. The vet, as a result of his long years of service, handles a lot of projects and general calls, and I configure almost all of the pc's that go through our office. The vet has reacted to these criticisms by transferring his most tedious and annoying calls to Billy. Billy in turn has insisted that he doesn't have time to take care of these calls due to his many projects, and besides why can't the Vet just take care of his own calls like Billy does?
Let me just say upfront that I think the Vet is partially right. Billy is basically a nice guy, but doesn't work hard or pay attention. We've had some rough moments personality wise but now get along pretty well. The Vet's on the verge of bubbling over however, and is likely to continue egging Billy on.
Week after next, both the Vet and I are going on vacation, leaving the office in the hands of Billy and a capable contractor. Should be interesting to say how things stand when we return

What a horrific day today. I thought I'd never make it. All I can think about is my vacation in a week to Seattle! All my time till then will just be spent waiting. I also spent far too much time working on my family blog so I felt a little guilty all day today. That combined with the fact that I've been really lethargic all week has made for a crap day.

I've also been cruising around some photolog pages today and I'm raring to go! I would love to spend as much time as some of these people do on their sites.

I found another good Iraqi Blog Dear Raed has won international exposure for his photos/stories from inside Iraq.

Check this out This guy is apparently a blogger from Iraq who posts his entries on The Guardian. I also found this site where some Iraqi has started posting pictures. Maybe there is something to all this blogging... What do I have to say?

Check out some 7/4 pics on my Fotopage! This is fun & easy. Putting together my own album is definitely too much work

Excellent Weekend! Went down to Charleston with the relations for fun of the sunny beach variety. We also visited Magnolia Gardens which was great. It is the oldest garden in the United States and has been rated up there with the Grand Canyon and Yosemite. It is really beautiful and full of wildlife. The fact that I seem to increasingly enjoy gardens is definitely a sign of my becoming a geezer. Ten years ago such a trip would have bored the crap out of me, now the thing I'm looking forward to the most is spending a few hours sitting in my parent's garden with the fam. Man that sounds good. I always swore to myself that I would never take up gardening, so much for childhood oaths.

I'm still rather confused as concerns the format or purpose of all this "blogging". I happen to know that at least one other person reads this which means that I don't pour out my hidden feelings as I might with a private journal. Nor do I feel that I'm writing anything at all entertaining. If I read this blog, I'd probably think it sucked.