Author: admin

It's 10pm. Is your windows machine patched up to date?

Seriously, if it's not, go to the windows update site and install the latest fixes to plug up the sieve that is windows (but I recommend against installing XP SP2). If you're running MS Office, go to the office update site and get even more updates.

Right now, I'm downloading 100MB of service packs for Office 2003. This is beyond ridiculous.

bleargh.

My occasional sneezing grew up and became constant coughing. Today would be a day best spent in bed, but that's not going to happen. I woke up twice last night, coughing up a lung each time and my sheets were sweated through. Ewwww, I hate it when that happens.

I was cleaning out my desk tonight when I ran across these gems. They're the proofs of my graduation photo shoot (hence the Jostens logo you might glimpse). Aaaah, those were the days, when I had a head full of hair that went to the middle of my back.

Yes, that is a looney tunes tie. I still have it. Oh, and for those of you who have never seen me with my pre-op glasses, there they are in all their beauty.

Went to have a bit of a chat with the McGill project planner. It was very encouraging. In a nutshell, there are no conditions in the offer they're making me that make me want to say no.

RIght now, they're going through all the red tape on the McGill HR side to see where they can fit me in. From our conversation, it would seem that the position would be a mid-to-senior management one (she mentioned that I'd be a Systems Developer). We still need to finalize out all the details, but they're going ahead as if I'm already hired :) I'm going to be hired as a casual, which means only for a 3-6 month contract to start with. This is because they need me now, and it would probably take 3 months to hire me through the proper channels. Now I know there's a risk that after 3-6 months, I get chucked out on my ass, but that risk is – I feel – negligible. I'm getting a really good vibe from everybody involved. They told me that they're going ahead in good faith that I'm going to be hired for the position I'm applying for now, and even if – heaven forbid – something happened in the interim, this project needs people and they'd find me another position.

Since they're not sure exactly what pigeonhole I fit in at McGill, they can't define exactly what the full benefits are. That's ok, for now, because I stated what I want and what I'm willing to compromise on. The good thing is that they agree with me that none of my demands are extravagant, and both sides are ready to negotiate in good faith. I'm willing to sacrifice on salary^†; if I can get more vacation time, and I'm willing to sacrifice on vacation time if I can have the opportunity to go to international conferences with all expenses paid. Basically, we need to talk about all of those factors, but like I said, I have a good feeling :)

† Funny thing: I was a bit disappointed that the initial salary they offered me was below the lower limit of the salary range they'd asked me for. Turns out, they forgot I'd given them a range, and based the offer on what I make now. When I pointed this out, the project manager looked really crestfallen, and said she'd talk about it with the department head next time she saw him – which is this coming thursday. This will be in my favour in getting more vacation time, conference time and raise schedule (I haven't had one in the 3 years I worked for Sequence. They told me that a cost of living raise shouldn't be a problem).

damn! I know I'm not the most assiduous duster but…. damn.

Back home. Bus ride was ok, managed to sleep most of the way. Had an uber-long shower, so I feel kinda human again, even though Nose is giving me grief.

Cat is on my lap as I write this. He's started doing that – curling up on my lap when I'm at my computer and falling asleep. Right now, I'm stroking the underside of his chin, a spot he particularly enjoys. Things are good in the world.

Well, except for the cold.

But hey.

Slept like crap, which is to be expected. Had all sorts of weird-ass dreams. That's commonplace when I'm sick. Dreaming of XML should be banned by the Geneva convention as cruel and unusual.

Tell me, how the hell can a nose be stuffed AND runny at the same time?

It's official. I have a sort throat, runny nose, blocked sinuses and I'm sneezing all the time. I generally feel like crap.

It came on out of the blue – I was fine yesterday.

Shiiiiiit. I so don't need this right now. I have a huge deadline this week at work, and then Katy arrives this friday. A sniffling me is not a sexy sight.

Damn damn damn.

I hate this feeling – when you know you're coming down with something. Throat is all itchy and sore, which is never a good sign. I just hope it doesn't take too long to clear up :(

Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65064,00.html

The UPS guy delivered my Sinulator the morning of the day I was giving a party. I signed, sent him on his way and returned to my preparations. It wasn't until hours later, draped around the room with about 20 friends, that I remembered my new toy.

The Sinulator is a device that lets you connect a sex toy to your computer so that other people can control it for you over the internet. After announcing to the room that I had one of these, I really had no choice but to open the box and pass the thing around.

If you've ever been to a baby shower, you're familiar with the “oooohs” and “aaaaahs” that ensued. We were all impressed with the surprisingly substantial vibrator, which features rotating plastic pearls in the shaft and a vibrating bunny for external stimulation. Also, it's pink.

Here's how it works. Your Sinulator package includes the transmitter, a vibrator and a receiver. You download the client application from Sinulator.com. During installation, you connect the transmitter to a USB port. (If you use Windows XP, make sure to read the installation note in the user guide and save yourself some frustration.)

When you're all installed and have the client running, you attach your toy to the wireless receiver and switch it on. Finally, you go to Sinulator.com and choose a name for your toy. After that, anyone who knows your toy's name can set your toy a-buzzin' using the Sinulator control panel. Neither of you has to register or divulge any personal information — not even an e-mail address.

The control panel looks like a grown-up version of a driving toy for baby, with buttons and levers and sliders that you manipulate with your mouse. I laughed when I first saw it — now you can have sex and drive a race car at the same time! If that's not a popular male fantasy, I don't know what is.

But it gets even better. You probably want to stick to the dashboard if you're at the office, but for home use, the Interactive Fleshlight is where it's at. The Fleshlight is a standard, sleeve-style vibrator for men, with a twist: It's also a transmitter. It measures the speed and force of each thrust and communicates those metrics to the software, which translates them into vibration and pulse on the other end.

In other words, a man can be thrusting in Cleveland while a woman is penetrated in Seattle, and the cybersex experience gets one step closer to the holodeck.

In part, cybersex appeals to women because it takes place in writing. The attention, the wordplay, the sensual imagery of great cybersex attracts us because it requires both parties to be present and to communicate. It's like starring in your own erotic story. Even when you add the visual excitement of a webcam, you can't tune out and get a woman off in cybersex.

The Sinulator relies on communication, too. The better you communicate, the better your Sinulator experience will be. Just watching my vibrator propel itself across my desk onto the floor was enough to tell me that anyone who wants to spend time with me is going to have to use the Jackhammer button sparingly, or it's going to be over real quick. (You can set local overrides, so no matter what the other guy does, the vibrator won't exceed the intensity levels you set. But we don't have to tell him that, now, do we?)

Like with real sex, you can thrust too hard or too fast, or finish too soon, or not finish at all. You can leave each other hanging or draw the experience out as long as you can stand it. If you're on your own, you can log on to SinulatorCams and pay to play.

Cybersex gets blamed for a lot of things, including social isolation, infidelity and divorce. It's a temptation previous generations of lovers didn't have to face, and it's technology, and therefore it's scary for a lot of folks.

Yet remote interaction technology — or, as I like to call it, teledildonics — has as much potential to bring people together as it does to drive people apart. If you travel often, or if you're in a long-distance relationship, this technology provides another avenue for intimacy, especially if it's harder for you to use toys with a partner than have sex au naturel. (More on that in a future column.)

As for me, well, I'm enjoying the novelty of it. I'm on the road as I write this week's column, and I can honestly say that the Sinulator beats the pocket rocket hands down, even if I am getting strange looks from the other Starbucks patrons.