February 24, 2004
Angry
Does anyone remember the last time we tried to enforce a so-called moral code by amending the Constitution?
Well hey, since that worked so well last time, why not do it agai--
And in other news
The cry-fest of yesterday seems to be over today. As long as I don't go look at pictures of newly married gay couples or hear "One Moment in Time" any time today, I should be okay.
Also, I found out yesterday that my laptop is irrepairable, unless I want to take it to Gateway support, which I definitely don't. The good news is, I may be able to find a used one for cheap--I don't need fancy, I just need one that can run a relatively recent version of MS-Office.
Please note, I'm sparing y'all a huge rant about the computer repair guy who tried to tell me "No, you bought that laptop in 2002, XP wasn't out in 2001."
(Okay, maybe I won't spare y'all.)
Once I explained to him that that yes, XP was out in late 2001, that I was working tech support at the time and they were training us on XP as early as October 2001, he said, "Oh, late 2001. Yeah. It must've been an early-release version." Whatever. (FWIW, the official launch date for XP was October 25, 2001--yes, I'm a geek who just looked that up.)
I get that all the time. I can think of at least four occasions where I've had a computer salesperson or repairperson contradict me on something I know is right about my own system. Sometimes I get the feeling that I have to work to establish geek cred with these people because I'm a woman. Or maybe it's just a more general geek snobbery that's directed only at customers. (Come to think of it, it might be the latter--cause I know I was taught to assume that the customer didn't know what they were talking about.)
In any case, yeah, no Gateway for me ever again, and for you local folk, if you see a commercial for Mad Mike's computer repair in Brighton, let me tell you, he's not kidding about how socially inept he and his crew are. (Yup, that was Mike himself arguing with me about when XP came out.)
Toasters and time machines
I burned an English muffin while making breakfast this morning and all of a sudden I was sixteen again.
The summer before my senior year in high school I worked at McDonalds pretty much full time (and the summer after my senior year, but that's another story for another time). As fast food jobs went, it wasn't horrible. I liked my coworkers (in fact, I liked one of them so much I dated him for nine months--but again, another story, another time), and we spent a lot of time goofing around.
I worked the morning shift usually, 6am to 2pm. One of the regular breakfast customers was an old man named Ernie. I didn't like Ernie much. Every morning, about 7:30am, Ernie would come in, bring his newspaper and his cigarette up to my counter (this was in the days when smoking hadn't been banned everywhere), and blow smoke in my face with his order. His order was always the same: regular coffee, black, and a burnt English muffin. And brother, he meant burnt. I can still hear his voice, one of those raspy, gravelly old-man voices.
Now, Ernie was crochety before he got his coffee under the best of circumstances, but if the folks behind the grill didn't burn his English muffin enough, he'd throw it onto the counter and demand another one. It got to be part of the regular training routine for new people on the grill--"No, he really means burnt, not just dark. Please fortheloveofgod burn it the first time."
I don't know if you've ever smelled burnt English muffin. It's not a pleasant smell. It's not far off from burnt popcorn, but it's much much worse. It's an unforgettable sort of smell--but until this morning's adventure with the toaster, I don't think I've smelled it since I was sixteen. Who knew a toaster could be a time machine?
