Month: February 2007

This is what my day has gone like so far:

Ensign 1: Sir, I don’t think you should be smoking in here.
Ensign 2 Captain, we’ve been over this before, the manual is very clear about the dangers…
Captain Max Pruss: Fuck you both, The Hindenberg is a better machine than the two of you could ever hope to imagine!
Ensign 1: You have your parachute?
Ensign 2: Oh yeah…..

When I gave notice, things were clear on start and departure dates. Then, my current job went wonky on me, saying I had to give them more time. This came, despite the fact that I am piratically spoon-feeding them a replacement. When I told them I had already agreed to a start date, they asked me if I could come back for two half-days of training in lieu of three weeks notice. Checking in with my new employer, I found that I could do that, but only with my boss’ approval, and using vacation time (of which I will have precious little for the upcoming months). I worked things out with the general manager here, and I thought we had an accord, with the understanding that the training would be coming out of my pocket, and that I would definitely expect something more than good will in return.

Then, the VP here found out that I was giving less than 3 weeks from the GM and flipped. She reneged on what the GM and I had worked out, wanted to call my new boss directly. After she was reassured that I would ask for three weeks, she wanted the three weeks and the two half-days!! I put my damn foot down. Talk about unreasonable.

At the end of all this ping pong of umpteen phone calls and whatever else, it came down to me getting the three weeks, and a personal guarantee on my part that I would answer e-mails and phone calls in a timely manner in an emergency should arise. It is not like I am moving to Mars. As a result of all this mess, I am definitely not taking off any time in between jobs, and am making the switch mid-week to try and make up for the last minute bs going on my employer’s plate.

After loads of wrangling and finagling, I got my start date for my new position!
Deputy Director of Development Systems at Lincoln Center
As Michaelangelo would say, “Cowabunga!”

Thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday to make my birthday a good time. Many thanks to L. for shouldering the planning, the cost, and almost all the cleaning! I have an unbelievable bunch of friends.

For the record, My Chemical Romance kicked some major ass on Friday! I got to hear their entire new album live, as an encore. The rumored opener was a horrible band though, and a very sorry dissapointment.

In no particular order, things I heard talked about at the party:

  • The legality of “loosies”, drive through liquor stores, bar cars, subway bar cars, and suicide.
  • National vs. Private health care systems, international pharmaceutical trade, and why the US and Canada will never adopt “An EU-like model”
  • Drugs (all sub headers), blue laws, the FDA
  • The killing of snakes as an act of passage into manhood.
  • Germany and its many beers.
  • Polygamy, as a result of two men bonding over several hours talking about Germany and its many beers.
  • The legality of same-sex marriage on a boat in international waters.
  • Layers, jobs, thieves, politicians, current and upcoming military entanglements
  • The potential of the brain acting as a repository for a quantum-computer soul.
  • Libations and Music (most sub headers)
  • The difference between being in your 30’s and not in your 30’s
  • Bets, roommates, significant others, and vacations (all over the place).
  • Technology (bot NOT singularity).

This, of course, was in addition to all the other banter about all the other stuff people usually talk about at parties.

As to the subject line –

I had 1 liter of twisted tea to start the afternoon/evening. By the time I went down for the count (when ,, and Aaron left), I had consumed an additional 10 liters of whiskey and coke.

As one might imagine, I was preeeety far gone at the end there.

Despite that, I remembered (and cheered the fact) that on my eleventh liter, I consumed more liquid than the displacement of nearly any passenger car on the road in the US today.

In the 1960’s, GMC made a gas-burning V12 engine that they called the “Twin-Six”. This particular engine was the largest engines geared for a non-commercial market in the history of US automobiles. Despite its enormous size (and less than impressive output for all the hype and size) it was notable in the fact that it had a displacement of 11.5 liters.

That is not the reason I know about this engine to begin with, but it was a fact that stuck with me. Up until the late 90’s the only people crazy enough (or rich enough) to be using V12’s in passenger cars was Jaguar, whose target demographic is hardly considered “everyday use”. Most of the luxury sports car manufacturers still have V12’s in production and use, but their displacement is way below 10 liters, as efficiency has continued to refine engines.

For the record, I am not suicidal, so I was not including buses, eighteen wheeler rigs and military equipment in the statements made about what was on the road and my drinking capacity. Though they oftentimes get clumped in with “cars”, some of them have BIG displacements. For those interested in the evolution of the V12 there is a great book about it and a neat site devoted to Jaguar’s history using/improving it. For those who don’t know what engine displacement is, check this link.

My point is, I had a great birthday, but I mislead anyone who was around to hear me ramble about drink capacity and engine displacement by about half a liter. My apologies.

So I have been really quiet lately. Mostly, that is because I have had little time to keep up with LJ (I read 1, maybe 2 times a day) and almost no time to write. Allow me to fill you in on my brain state:

  • I’ve been working a lot of consulting gigs. Some of it is developing new relationships, some of it is one-shot work, some of it is the same old clients.
  • My job situation has been all over the place. I currently have four three options to work with. I am trying to figure out the best decision to make. One door has closed on me by time – I hope I don’t lose the others the same way.
  • I read The Scientific Conquest of Death, Quest for Zero Point Energy Engineering Principles for Free Energy, AND Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes On the Cosmos. in the past week. My brain hurts. A lot. I can’t stop thinking though.
  • I have not been sleeping well at all. While that is not completely new, it is really bending my game.
  • There are people stopping by my place Saturday afternoon for booze and food. If you can read this, you are welcome to attend.
  • My mother is staying unemployed for the now. She has decided to take a health hiatus. My father is seriously contemplating early retirement, in a pretty drastic manner. Neither prospect thrills me, but of all the things we fool ourselves into believing we might have control over, parents are rarely on that list.
  • I need to unplug and write.
  • I need to spend a day taking photographs. I got a replacement camera, and we haven’t really bonded yet.
  • I am going to see My Chemical Romance on Friday night. I am looking forward to this very much.
  • I have an interview this afternoon, even though I have more offer on the table than I have table at the moment.

a bunch of firsts today:

  • i broke the 200$/hr mark on my consulting. by this, i mean i did 15 mins work and was paid 55$ for it. i wish i could get paid that full time!
  • i went to the bank during my lunch hour (both things i rarely do – take lunch and go to the bank during lunch hour) and there was absolutely nobody in the bank. i got scared for a moment that i might have walked into a stickup. then the old lady with the three punt-a-dogs came in. calm re instituted itself.
  • i’ve been going to the pizza place on 86th and lex sine high school. i’ve never been disappointed. today, i got a very disappointing cheese calzone. they forgot to put ricotta in it!
  • i got my new used camera. it is good to be back in the saddle. expect a flickr update soon.
  • i was running late, so i cheezed a cab back to work, which cuts 10 mins of wandering into a 2 minute ride. unless, that is, you get a cab driver on his first day of work. no joke? we almost died three times in one avenue and 8 blocks. one of those incidents involved a sanitation truck. he didn’t know where anything was, didn’t know the even/odd east/west thing, and, apparently, didn’t really drive in fresno. what a shitty week to move. he has only been to ny once before yesterday, and never driven in ny before today. i tipped him about as much as the fare, and told him that i hope he has good insurance.

N V T S Nuts!