There are a number of posts that I've been working on for almost a week now, but I can't seem to make any headway on any of them. They're all about more technical topics, but I think they'll make interesting reads whenever I get around to them. Instead, here's a list of my preferred brands of chocolate in order:
Lindt
Lindor
Hershey
Godiva
Cadbury
I greatly enjoy the both the sea salt and red chili chocolate bars that Lindt produces. Of course, I enjoy most of Lindor's truffles, especially the dark and white chocolate varieties. I enjoy a good, cheap milk chocolate Hershey bar, but not their white chocolate. I know Godiva is a high end brand, but I generally don't like their products. They just seem very mediocre to me. I try to avoid Cadbury if at all possible, and I like local places such as Champagne Chocolates, The Sweet Tooth, and Ingram's Candies.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Friday, July 19, 2013
Goings On
I've got a lot on my plate right now between work, school, and my personal goals.
Work has been interesting lately. We're down a few people. A lot of people. And a few managers. A lot of people are leaving for one reason or another, and I keep getting more work piled on top of me. It's nothing I can't handle, but it does put me in a position where I have more to do than time usually permits and I have to choose what doesn't get done. The people who work in my department right now are great, but there are only four of us, so I've been getting stuck working long hours in the middle of the day. I guess that's what I get for agreeing to full time status, but it doesn't make it any more pleasant.
Being generally antisocial, I prefer to take my classes online even though it usually costs significantly more money. This semester I'm taking three of my classes online and one class on campus on Saturdays. Online I'm taking Intro Web Programming (it's been a while since I've written any HTML or CSS and I'm not familiar with HTML 5) and Nutrition (to fulfill my Phys Ed class) during the first 8 weeks and a basic C++ class during the second 8 weeks. I was leery about taking a six-hour Photoshop class once a week, but I'm gambling on getting the same instructor that I had for my inDesign class because she was really strict and I liked the way she taught the class.
I spend the bulk of my off days cutting my parents' lawn and doing minor repairs to their dilapidated house or hanging out at Rose and Sean's condo. I should be reading and working on my ActionScript more, but I just haven't been able to find the motivation. I picked up a really interesting book called Uncertainty in Games and another simply called Designing Games that I've been trying to read in my down time, but more and more of my down time is being consumed by catching up on sleep that I never seem to get enough of. I do have three days off starting Sunday, so I'll see what I can do.
Work has been interesting lately. We're down a few people. A lot of people. And a few managers. A lot of people are leaving for one reason or another, and I keep getting more work piled on top of me. It's nothing I can't handle, but it does put me in a position where I have more to do than time usually permits and I have to choose what doesn't get done. The people who work in my department right now are great, but there are only four of us, so I've been getting stuck working long hours in the middle of the day. I guess that's what I get for agreeing to full time status, but it doesn't make it any more pleasant.
Being generally antisocial, I prefer to take my classes online even though it usually costs significantly more money. This semester I'm taking three of my classes online and one class on campus on Saturdays. Online I'm taking Intro Web Programming (it's been a while since I've written any HTML or CSS and I'm not familiar with HTML 5) and Nutrition (to fulfill my Phys Ed class) during the first 8 weeks and a basic C++ class during the second 8 weeks. I was leery about taking a six-hour Photoshop class once a week, but I'm gambling on getting the same instructor that I had for my inDesign class because she was really strict and I liked the way she taught the class.
I spend the bulk of my off days cutting my parents' lawn and doing minor repairs to their dilapidated house or hanging out at Rose and Sean's condo. I should be reading and working on my ActionScript more, but I just haven't been able to find the motivation. I picked up a really interesting book called Uncertainty in Games and another simply called Designing Games that I've been trying to read in my down time, but more and more of my down time is being consumed by catching up on sleep that I never seem to get enough of. I do have three days off starting Sunday, so I'll see what I can do.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
A Brief Guide to Prank Calls
I have what I would like to think of as a good sense of humor. It may be a little dry or twisted at times, I do enjoy a good joke. Unfortunately, many of the people I come into contact with are unable to make or even recognize a good joke. Working at a fairly well known retail establishment with an easily available phone number I occasionally find my phone ringing with an anonymous number, which almost certainly means that I'm about to pick up on a prank call. Many of them are downright awful.
The first step to making a successful prank call is to have some sort of plan. It doesn't matter if it's a detailed script, a list of possible responses to things I may say, or a general idea of where you'd like to go with the prank. Bonus points if you can remember it without writing anything down. The point is that you should know what you're trying to accomplish with the call well in advance of picking up the phone. Please don't have people in the same room feed you lines, either. It's really annoying when I have to hear the same lousy joke twice.
Next, don't make the call anonymous. Like I said, an anonymous call is almost always a prank and Caller ID is a standard option on both wireless and desk phones. Spoofcard.com (also available as apps on your smartphone) will let you make completely anonymous calls and present any name and number you give it, for a nominal fee. You could also use Skype to make outbound phone calls for 2.3 cents a minute. While it's not necessarily anonymous, the call won't be tied to your phone number, and simply closing the application will prevent me from calling or texting you back.
Save your punchline for the middle of the conversation. Don't start by asking me if we sell crackers because your parrot is hungry or nervously asking me about the largest fish we sell. Start by asking me to repeat my name, as this will put me on edge. I will assume that you're going to be difficult and will be more likely to respond in the way that you want. Ask a related question or two, but don't give the joke away immediately. The point is to get me interested in the conversation and shock me, not to say something random and hang up.
On the other hand, don't take more than 30 seconds to make some sort of point. That's roughly how long it takes me to get bored of the call. There's no need to tell me a contrived life story, unless that is pivotal to the joke. Again, the point is to shock me, not to bore me to tears. If you beat around the bush for more than the allotted time and I know that it is a joke, I will hang up. It's that simple.
Make the joke obvious. Unless you want me to assume that you're simply a mentally handicapped individual, make the punchline of the joke clear and concise. Don't suddenly start to mumble, giggle, or yell into your phone when you get to the good part. A lot of prank calls start out well but are ruined by failure of the caller to deliver a half decent punchline. If no one is laughing at the end of the call then the joke was bad and you should feel bad.
Don't be surprised if I play along. I know I'm a mere retail employee, but that doesn't meat that I'm not quick witted. If you ask me if we sell Orca whales and I say yes and offer you detailed pricing information, don't hang up. If you ask me if we sell crackers for your pet Polly and I say no, but tell you that there is a great cracker plant just south of Springfield, don't hang up. If you ask me if we have any animals that would be suitable to be placed into your anus and I say no but direct you to Tractor Supply where they sell cocks during this time of year, don't call me a faggot, and don't hang up. I get just as much entertainment out of the call as you do so try not to disappoint me.
I hope that by following this guide, you too, can not suck at prank calling.
The first step to making a successful prank call is to have some sort of plan. It doesn't matter if it's a detailed script, a list of possible responses to things I may say, or a general idea of where you'd like to go with the prank. Bonus points if you can remember it without writing anything down. The point is that you should know what you're trying to accomplish with the call well in advance of picking up the phone. Please don't have people in the same room feed you lines, either. It's really annoying when I have to hear the same lousy joke twice.
Next, don't make the call anonymous. Like I said, an anonymous call is almost always a prank and Caller ID is a standard option on both wireless and desk phones. Spoofcard.com (also available as apps on your smartphone) will let you make completely anonymous calls and present any name and number you give it, for a nominal fee. You could also use Skype to make outbound phone calls for 2.3 cents a minute. While it's not necessarily anonymous, the call won't be tied to your phone number, and simply closing the application will prevent me from calling or texting you back.
Save your punchline for the middle of the conversation. Don't start by asking me if we sell crackers because your parrot is hungry or nervously asking me about the largest fish we sell. Start by asking me to repeat my name, as this will put me on edge. I will assume that you're going to be difficult and will be more likely to respond in the way that you want. Ask a related question or two, but don't give the joke away immediately. The point is to get me interested in the conversation and shock me, not to say something random and hang up.
On the other hand, don't take more than 30 seconds to make some sort of point. That's roughly how long it takes me to get bored of the call. There's no need to tell me a contrived life story, unless that is pivotal to the joke. Again, the point is to shock me, not to bore me to tears. If you beat around the bush for more than the allotted time and I know that it is a joke, I will hang up. It's that simple.
Make the joke obvious. Unless you want me to assume that you're simply a mentally handicapped individual, make the punchline of the joke clear and concise. Don't suddenly start to mumble, giggle, or yell into your phone when you get to the good part. A lot of prank calls start out well but are ruined by failure of the caller to deliver a half decent punchline. If no one is laughing at the end of the call then the joke was bad and you should feel bad.
Don't be surprised if I play along. I know I'm a mere retail employee, but that doesn't meat that I'm not quick witted. If you ask me if we sell Orca whales and I say yes and offer you detailed pricing information, don't hang up. If you ask me if we sell crackers for your pet Polly and I say no, but tell you that there is a great cracker plant just south of Springfield, don't hang up. If you ask me if we have any animals that would be suitable to be placed into your anus and I say no but direct you to Tractor Supply where they sell cocks during this time of year, don't call me a faggot, and don't hang up. I get just as much entertainment out of the call as you do so try not to disappoint me.
I hope that by following this guide, you too, can not suck at prank calling.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Morons, Assholes, and the Terminally Irresponsible
It's totally cool that you call in 15 minutes before your shift to get a tattoo. It's not like they really need you to be there or anything, considering the amount of work that you somehow manage not to do during your three hour shift. The other cashier will just get stuck covering your shift anyway, so who cares, right? There's no way she has anything to do or any place to be. It totally doesn't put strain at all on anyone else and you're completely not the reason that someone would be so frustrated with their job that they would get worked up over something stupid at quarter to midnight.
It's also totally cool to be a white trash, racist cunt on Facebook. To your credit, you're the same white trash, racist cunt in real life. While you do have the right to say whatever you want on Facebook and I have (and exercise) the option to hide your ramblings from my wall, it's still incredibly inappropriate to be a dick about something when you have no clue what you're talking about. Until you can make an informed opinion about the topics of abortion, civil rights, gun control, politics, or race you don't need to run your mouth about them in a public meeting space. If you want to be a massive cunt about everyone and everything start a blog. That's what I did and it has worked pretty well for me.
I am so frustrated with the state of humanity. I feel like I'm surrounded by nothing but morons and I'm drowning in their stupidity. I am by no means the smartest person who ever lived, but I honestly wonder how some of these people manage to find their front door in the morning or the power button on their computer in the evening. I get so easily frustrated with people and they never seem to understand why. It kills me and I don't know how else to deal with it, which was the original intent of this blog. So I guess I'll start writing in it more and see if I can calm down some.
It's also totally cool to be a white trash, racist cunt on Facebook. To your credit, you're the same white trash, racist cunt in real life. While you do have the right to say whatever you want on Facebook and I have (and exercise) the option to hide your ramblings from my wall, it's still incredibly inappropriate to be a dick about something when you have no clue what you're talking about. Until you can make an informed opinion about the topics of abortion, civil rights, gun control, politics, or race you don't need to run your mouth about them in a public meeting space. If you want to be a massive cunt about everyone and everything start a blog. That's what I did and it has worked pretty well for me.
I am so frustrated with the state of humanity. I feel like I'm surrounded by nothing but morons and I'm drowning in their stupidity. I am by no means the smartest person who ever lived, but I honestly wonder how some of these people manage to find their front door in the morning or the power button on their computer in the evening. I get so easily frustrated with people and they never seem to understand why. It kills me and I don't know how else to deal with it, which was the original intent of this blog. So I guess I'll start writing in it more and see if I can calm down some.
Anger Management
The last few weeks of work have been really stressful for me. We are down between two and three managers at any given time, peoples' hours have been cut since the full time law changes, and some of the people who are scheduled to work don't bother to come in anyway because their other part time job is more important to them. I've been doing a lot of extra work in addition to the extra work I usually assign to myself in the form of a never-ending task list and the mountain of work of which my job actually consists. I like to keep busy, but I get the feeling that the more I do at work, the fewer people seem to appreciate any of it.
The thing that frustrates me most about the job, or any retail job for that matter, is that people who come in to shop don't show any sort of respect for my time. Nothing annoys me more when people waste a significant portion of my time, then demand a particular kind of respect. Of course, if I was dealing with these people in any sort of non-degrading situation I would have colorful words for them, but at work these words are reserved for my coworkers via long ranting text messages. I'm an introvert and I can't stand people being in my personal space (I have a very large bubble) for more than a few minutes unless they're decent human beings and will actually listen to my advice.
By the time I get done with work I'm so burned out that I don't really have the energy to do anything of the things that I need or want to do. I'd like to blog more, but I simply don't have the energy. I'm also in the process of learning Actionscript and porting some of my python games to Flash, but I haven't had the energy to work on that since I left Chicago (that was a month ago, but will probably get its own blog post pretty soon). If I'm lucky enough to get two days off, I spend cutting my parents lawn and the other cleaning the parts of the apartment that I consider to be mine (the rat cage, the kitchen, my laundry, etc.)
I'm off tomorrow and I'll see what I can accomplish if I make myself a list and try to stick to it.
The thing that frustrates me most about the job, or any retail job for that matter, is that people who come in to shop don't show any sort of respect for my time. Nothing annoys me more when people waste a significant portion of my time, then demand a particular kind of respect. Of course, if I was dealing with these people in any sort of non-degrading situation I would have colorful words for them, but at work these words are reserved for my coworkers via long ranting text messages. I'm an introvert and I can't stand people being in my personal space (I have a very large bubble) for more than a few minutes unless they're decent human beings and will actually listen to my advice.
By the time I get done with work I'm so burned out that I don't really have the energy to do anything of the things that I need or want to do. I'd like to blog more, but I simply don't have the energy. I'm also in the process of learning Actionscript and porting some of my python games to Flash, but I haven't had the energy to work on that since I left Chicago (that was a month ago, but will probably get its own blog post pretty soon). If I'm lucky enough to get two days off, I spend cutting my parents lawn and the other cleaning the parts of the apartment that I consider to be mine (the rat cage, the kitchen, my laundry, etc.)
I'm off tomorrow and I'll see what I can accomplish if I make myself a list and try to stick to it.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Yes.
Things have been incredibly busy at work. I won't go into too much detail, but we are down two managers, sometimes three. The company has also been cutting hours since full time status has been lowered to 30 hours. A few new people have been hired, and while all of the part time people have been getting fewer than 20 hours, our store is somehow always short staffed. I've been under a lot of stress and pressure to do a lot more things than my job normally consists of, so I've been coming home beyond exhausted.
Jason and I have been saving up to buy a condo in the area. We looked at one last month, then met with a mortgage broker to find out how much it would actually cost to buy something and to get pre-approved for a loan. We got approved for more than we actually plan on spending, but with the way the housing market has been improving and considering that condos are a hot commodity right now (prices have more than doubled since this time last year), we may end up spending more than we had originally intended. Even so, I guess it's a decent investment and we can find a way to make money out of it.
Despite taking low level classes, I've been enjoying school. I learned a lot about design from an InDesign class, and have been really liking my astronomy classes. I plan on taking some chemistry classes in addition to my required Photoshop and programming classes. I've also been reading a lot of game design books and have a long list of books I plan on buying when I have money again.
All in all, I've been extremely busy and getting run down very quickly.
Jason and I have been saving up to buy a condo in the area. We looked at one last month, then met with a mortgage broker to find out how much it would actually cost to buy something and to get pre-approved for a loan. We got approved for more than we actually plan on spending, but with the way the housing market has been improving and considering that condos are a hot commodity right now (prices have more than doubled since this time last year), we may end up spending more than we had originally intended. Even so, I guess it's a decent investment and we can find a way to make money out of it.
Despite taking low level classes, I've been enjoying school. I learned a lot about design from an InDesign class, and have been really liking my astronomy classes. I plan on taking some chemistry classes in addition to my required Photoshop and programming classes. I've also been reading a lot of game design books and have a long list of books I plan on buying when I have money again.
All in all, I've been extremely busy and getting run down very quickly.
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