Mishaps and other haps

Huh.

I just got a change in job title, a raise, and my payscale moved up a notch– effective immediately.

That’s the second time this has happened in the past year separately from the annual performance review raise.

I will occasionally be deleting older photo albums from my Photobucket account to make room for new photos. I have a free account and my limit for images is 1 GB, so I want to make sure I don’t inadvertantly run out of space.

However, I do still have all of the old photos stored on my computer, so nothing is “lost” if anyone should need a copy.

(Originally titled “Mickey’s Dairy Bat”, which conjures an image I am not fully comfortable with … mmmm, bat juice)

This morning I had my first experience with Mickey’s Dairy Bar, a curbstone of Madison dining that is conveniently located on Monroe Street, a short walk from the stadium.[/ad]

I met my friend cibman there for breakfast.

It’s an old-fashioned greasy spoon type diner. Rather, it’s an authentic, old greasy spoon type diner, much like Cleveland’s downtown.

And like Cleveland’s, Mickey’s has good food. I ordered a broccoli/cheddar/onion omelette and ate almost the whole thing. Cibman ordered a stack of strawberry pancakes with whipped cream and eggs.

We did a lot of catching up since we see each other kind of randomly, maybe once or twice a year, sometimes a little more than that.

He sent me home with a housewarming gift basket, so that is where the basket on the table came from.

After breakfast, I came home and napped. I was planning to run a few errands, but I think I am going to read and maybe nap again this afternoon. I am kind of wiped.

In light of the arrest and confession of the weirdo who killed or thinks he killed JonBenet Ramsay a decade ago, I have been musing about this technology that essentially connects us all 24/7: Internet, email, instant messaging, portable wireless, text messaging, etc.

The benefits and the drawbacks …

For someone like me, who lives a thousand miles from family, it is a great way to keep in touch. It makes it easy for me to reach my friends, also, and provides numerous hours of entertainment via online games (well, WoW), web comics, and the like.

Hell, I have even made friends that I otherwise never would have met via the Internet and most people I know can say the same.

But I have to wonder about the healthiness of being so connected … it’s hard to just turn it off and walk away and maybe that’s the best thing to do sometimes …

Because there are all of these annoyances (trolls, drama-llamas, really fucked up people) and some creepy things about being connected, too: tools that make it easier than ever to cheat on your lover, stalk or harass someone, the ability to organize criminal activity more efficiently than before, the proliferation of child pornography … I know that all of these things existed well before we were so connected, but it’s like they are all enhanced now, more easily available, more in-your-face.

Also, much easier to trace and authenticate

So I guess we shall see whether this sudden breakthrough in a 10-year-old murder case amounts to anything.

Know what I appreciate?

I appreciate an on-call doctor who is willing to prescribe medication OVER THE PHONE.

Really, if you have an urgent condition, this is a godsend.

but I still think Alien Loves Predator is my favorite comic for sheer laugh value. It makes me laugh, anyway. I’m not sure what that says about my sense of humor.

Questionable Content is my favorite for storyline/characters/verbal wit/banter.

Order of the Stick is my favorite gaming comic.

Loserz … maybe for the T&A? I dunno, I just like Jodie and Jess.

Upgrading my OS might be in order.

Well, it is late summer, the time when lots of people take trips and go on vacation.

Two months ago I did head to Florida for a week and that was a nice trip. I was debating taking another week off before the weather turns cold, but now I’m thinking that if I do take more time off it will be in the form of a three day weekend or a four day weekend.

Or a couple of those.

Or maybe I will just save my vacation time. Lately I have been thinking it would be nice to have the pay-out if I end up changing jobs before … say … next March. (Voluntarily … involuntarily … who knows?)

While I went south for vacation, PhysOrg visited the West Coast last month and will be visiting the East Coast this weekend. Granted, this latest trip involves moving his brother to school, so it’s not all play. In fact, it sounds like a rather lengthy car ride. Maine is about as far from Wisconsin as Florida. Urgh.

Since I am not (as) sick this weekend, it turns out that my weekend is fairly open. I haven’t committed to any Saturday morning/afternoon WoW events, so I am planning to maybe hit the Farmer’s Market and run a few errands.

Oh, and there are plans for Saturday morning breakfast with one of my gamer friends I haven’t seen in a while. Funny how I have all of these gamer friends … I wonder how that happened. Actually, it’s kind of sad how infrequently I see a lot of people. I need to get out more, be more social, or something …

Gah, I just discovered that I watched and *liked* a show on Fox last night.

You can probably tell that I don’t have a regular television-watching routine because I have no idea which channel numbers correspond with which broadcasting companies.

Anyway, I caught the season finale of Hell’s Kitchen, which is the sort of show I could get sucked into watching weekly.

After reading/hearing one too many geek/pop culture references, defaultlisa explodes.

Be kind.