Month: May 2005

My work laptop is evil and should be punished for being naughty. In the past 2 days, it has refused to properly read disks (but, of course, according to Murphy's Hardware law, it worked perfectly when the IT guy came and tested it out) and since last night, all the data on my secondary data partition has gotten corrupted. Nothing major, the file table got currupted. I can rebuild it and should be able to get back most if not all the data; it's just a pain in the ass that a new laptop should be so problematic. It's not too important right now, cause there's nothing irreplaceable on it, but I hope this isn't a sign on things to come.

OK, ranting aside, things are pretty good at work right now. I'm getting to know the people I'll be working with and they seem to be a pretty good bunch. I'm enjoying waking up and going to the office. For most of you reading this who know me well, you'll know that that hasn't happened in a long time. Hell, I get up at 6:45 with Katy and I'm always on time for work!!! That hasn't happened in… close to 3 years. Hopefully, things will stay on that track for a while.

Speaking of the girl, send her some love cause she's in a bit of a low these days. Her work situation is going from annoying to really problematic. She hasn't been paid in close to 3 weeks (she's supposed to get paid weekly), the administrativia monkeys keep losing her forms and paperwork (though all of her coworkers are also not getting paid – it's at the point where some people are forfeiting their rent and her boss is giving money to people out of his own pocket). I feel realy bad for her these days, just cause she sees me with enthusiasm for my new job and she's getting the short end of a stick she really, really doesn't deserve. Hopefully she's going to be getting a ton of overdue good karma, cause lord knows she's had a heap of bad one recently :( I'm doing my best to give her love and comfort and reassurances that everything is going to be ok. I just hope it's enough to get her through this rough patch :(

The burger war is growing. Literally. Denny's Beer Barrel Pub, which lost its crown as the home of the world's biggest burger earlier this year, is now offering a new burger that weighs a whopping 15 pounds.

Dubbed the Beer Barrel Belly Buster, the burger comes with 10.5 pounds of ground beef, 25 slices of cheese, a head of lettuce, three tomatoes, two onions, a cup-and-a-half each of mayonnaise, relish, ketchup, mustard and banana peppers — and a bun. It costs $30.

“It can feed a family of 10,” said Denny Liegey Sr., the restaurant's owner.

Denny's Beer Barrel Pub had offered a 6-pound burger — with 5 pounds of toppings. In February, a 100-pound female college student became the first to eat the burger within the three-hour time limit. Kate Stelnick, of Princeton, N.J., was awarded a special certificate, a T-shirt and other prizes and Leigey picked up the $23.95 tab for the burger.

One month later, the Clinton Station Diner in Clinton, N.J., introduced a 12.5-pound burger dubbed Zeus. So Liegey responded, and the Belly Buster was born. Over the weekend, four men took the challenge, but couldn't get through the entire burger. They opted for doggie bags, instead.

“It's a little too much for me to handle,” said Steve Hepburn, of Clearfield. “It's like trying to eat half a cow.”

Original link: http://www.thecourierexpress.com

First day at the office is almost done (I'll be leaving in about 15 minutes) and as first days go, it's a winner. Met the people I'm going to be working with, and they seem like a good bunch. There's a new intern that also started today, so I wasn't the only newbie to be shown around, which is always good for morale :)

We talked a lot about the project and where I'll most likely be working. Had a good high-level architectural discussion about the codebase and I'm chomping at the bit to actually get my hands elbow-deep in code. It feels weird to be actually doing something at work. Now I know this may sound weird, but my last posting at McGill wasn't going to win me any productivity awards, mostly because I was waiting for a certain big blue company to get back to me all the time. I seriously doubt that there will be any of the bureaucracy and latency in getting stuff done. Hell, I got my shiny new laptop just after lunch!

I'm going to be getting the shuttle back to the apartment soon. I had a bit of a workout this morning because I didn't really know where the pick-up point was, but now that I do, things should be a lot more sedate tomorrow morning :) The commute will be about 20 minutes by bus and a 5 minute walk home. I can live with that; it took me longer to get to McGill/Sequence.

Today was a bank holiday here, which meant a day off for the EBI, which means that I start working tomorrow. I fell… too many things to write down in a short blog entry. The main ones are positive, with just a touch of anxiety because I want to make a good impression. I'll be happy to be working again. Goofing off is fun in the short term, but I'm looking forward to have the contented feeling that comes with a hard day's work well done :)

Katy and I took advantage of the glorious weather today to go grocery shopping. We had a big of a grill-up tonight, with bacon mushroom cheeseburgers and onion rings and grilled potatoes. Good, very good, but not to be had too often. A bit of an artery-clogging meal, but good for the soul in moderation :)

Oh, have I mentioned that I'm building a tabletop zen garden?

Tonight as curry night at the Grogan residence. Chicken curry and cauliflower curry and basmati rice. In a word, NUMMY! We're in Leicester for the weekend, so Katy can bond with Jeff, pick up some more things to bring back to Cambridge and generally cause we felt like it :)