dwc

Missy

Missy passed away Friday evening.

We made the difficult decision to put her to sleep after a battle with mammary cancer.

Missy was a wonderful influence on our family. Some of us disliked dogs, but Missy changed our minds. She was the most loving and thoughtful pet I've ever met, and also the smartest and most quiet.

We adopted her around age seven. Missy had already been spayed but we were unsure of when. Spaying early greatly reduces the chances of cancer.

$UGH_FACTOR++ while 1;

So today I left the office in a decent mood, considering how high $UGH_FACTOR has gotten recently. If you really want to know, ask me.

I walk to my car and start driving home. By the time I was 90% of the way there, my car's gas warning light comes on. Weird, because there was at least enough to make it through the week this morning (er, afternoon).

Luckily there's a gas station within a mile or so of my apartment, so I turn around and head that way.

I get there, start filling up, finish. Only 8 gallons: weird. Stupid gas gauge.

While I'm filling up I notice the front tires are a little low (oops). I drive over to the compressor, muttering something about being charged 75 cents for five minutes of electricity. How much does it cost to buy a car that regulates tire pressure for me?

I fill each tire. I reach the last one - the rear passenger tire - and notice that the valve cap is missing. WTF?

Target's not too far from the gas station, so I drive down there. (I needed a few other things anyway.) When I reach the parking lot, a sense of dread hits me. The parking lot is pretty full. It's the day before classes start. I have to deal with … people.

Can't complain about $2 for a tire gauge and four valve caps, though. Okay, I can … the tire gauge is plastic made to look like chrome. Cheap bastards.

So yeah, I hate cars. I also hate people who take my car's tire valve caps.

The formula is being tested as we speak

Light-years

When I was a kid, my mom made me go to "Tuesday Group" meetings. This was mostly upper-middle class women, some with children, who took it upon themselves to introduce new families to Gainesville. Most of the families had recently migrated to the US.

We met one Tuesday each month at one woman's house, or the clubhouse in another's subdivision. The group never met at our house. We weren't that well-off, and our house was too small for the number of people.

I don't have many specific memories about Tuesday Group, though one really sticks out. I was playing with a few kids on the host family's giant trampoline. After stepping down, a high schooler decided to test me. He asked me if I knew the definition of a light-year.

I was ashamed of myself, to be honest. How could I not know something so simple?

Looking back, I wonder if he was making fun of me because he thought he was smarter than me. (I hear he works for Google now, so hey.) I was a pretty rambunctious kid, so maybe he was getting back at me. Perhaps his little sister (who I had crushed on at one point) asked him to humiliate me. Maybe he was teasing me because he was teased at school that day. Who knows?

What bothers me the most is that I can't read or hear "light-year" without remembering this experience.

HoNay?

So I don't often dream (or don't often remember my dreams), but last night I found myself in the "Veronica Mars" universe.

Details are a bit sketchy, but I specifically remember two items:

1. I took Veronica's car to the repair shop (not Weevil's relative's chop shop, heh). I remember telling the guy that it was a 1997 model. No jokes about the name, though I doubt the mechanic would've appreciated them. One wonders why I was driving Veronica's car and how I was planning to return home…
2. Logan was my (college?) roommate. There was a brief embrace … I hesitate to call it a hug, but perhaps. No idea here either. I mean, I can tell that Logan is attractive but, uh, not my type.

All things considered I'm glad I dreamt about "Veronica Mars" instead of, say, "24" or "House", but it still concerns me. Maybe it's simply because I've been thinking a lot about the next season: if Mac will be a regular character, what Wallace will do about Jackie, and mostly just hoping CW renews it.

Who Knew?

After a bit of searching I found eFax. They took my email address and gave me a free fax number. I fully expect to receive spam from them, but that's what Yahoo! accounts are for…

It took about half an hour to actually receive the fax. Whether the delay was on T-Mobile's end or eFax's, I don't know. eFax sent the fax as an attachment to my Yahoo! account. The file was in some proprietary format. eFax provides a free viewer for these files, which can be used to print the fax or convert it to a PDF using OS X's native support.

The fax was not as exciting as I hoped. The cover page listed a number very similar to mine - only one digit different. The fax itself looked like an agreement to sell land somewhere near here, complete with Social Security numbers…

Now I wonder if T-Mobile is going to charge me for receiving or sending the fax… :-/

Cleveland Baker Fax

I just received a fax message "having seven pages" to my cell phone from Cleveland Baker.

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Too bad we don't have a fax machine in our office…

More

ASCOPE accepted the patch I mentioned, so no more editing posts from IRC by hand, woot.

I'm most likely going to California in February for a couple of days with Taylor. We'll be showing off a project at Mashup Camp. (Sorry, not ready to talk about it yet. ;-))

You paint with glaze

Just Because You're Paranoid Doesn't Mean They're Not Out to Get You

I went to Gator's Dockside with Alex last night for dinner. When the waitress first came to our table, I asked for a Guinness and Alex ordered a martini. The waitress asked for our IDs, which I'm used to. She checked Alex's and seemed to approve. Then she looked at mine, spending at least a minute checking all the dates, making sure the hologram was there, and so on. When she was finished, she gave me this look which said, "You obviously aren't 21. Where'd you get this ID? How dare you come here?"

As she walked off, presumably to get our drinks, she continued to look at me in disbelief. A few minutes later, a manager type arrived at our table with a device to scan our IDs. He was generally nice about it and when he looked at my ID, his demeanor changed. Unfortunately the magnetic stripe on my ID, like that of most cards in my wallet, is damaged and doesn't always scan. He tried four or five times before giving up, then walked off to show my ID to his manager (who happened to be about 10 feet away). The big shot guy seemed to approve, so my ID was returned to me.

Eventually the waitress came back with our drinks. She made an attempt to apologize, claiming the ATF had been checking in on them recently. The whole thing was a little hard to believe, but I can understand a person wanting to cover his or her ass.

A bit later the food arrived. The guy just dropped the plates in the middle of the table, without asking which order was whose. Thanks, bud.

This is probably the worst experience I've had at a restaurant. There's a way to avoid embarassing your customers - like taking the IDs up to the bar. And once you verify the IDs, perhaps a free round of drinks for the mistake? All things considered, I won't be returning to Gator's Dockside.

No, He Didn't Hit Me

Probably would've been funny, in a sick sort of way, if he had.

I was just commenting on the insane things some cyclists do…

A Plausible Explanation

Nathan mentioned that my problem with lost and later found Netflix DVDs could easily be explained by the fact that 24 is not a series you can start watching in the middle.

His theory is that someone received my discs, watched one of the episodes, became confused, and then rented the first disc to watch the show in order.

At this point, I'd say this is pretty likely.

The only other thing I can come up with is that the mailman saw the envelopes were damaged and dropped them off at the office. Before reporting the DVDs missing to Netflix, however, I went down to the office to check if something like that had happened.

So, yeah.

It Took Me Only a Week to Watch the Whole Season

As I was walking out the door this morning, I found two Netflix envelopes on my doorstep. I thought maybe the mailman was being nice and dropped off my DVDs, since Netflix sent two this week.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that one of the envelopes was pretty torn up (as in, someone didn't read the instructions on how to open the DVD), and the DVD had come out of its sleeve (but was still in the envelop). The other looked like somone opened it with more care.

The DVDs, as it turns out, were the two I thought were lost in the mail.

I didn't hear a knock on my door. If the DVDs were lost in the mail, and later found, I figured the mailman would put them in my mailbox - not drop them off at my doorstop without so much as a note.

Assuming they were put in the wrong mailbox, why would someone watch the second and third discs of 24 without the first? And why would this person keep them for almost a month?

So I'm Curious

The Federal Trade Commission has tons of helpful information for consumers on their site. I've been reading some of it due to these calls from Marketlink.

Are You Getting Telemarketing Calls You Don't Want? Here's How to Stop Them says:

Understand that some calls are not covered. Once your number has been on the registry for three months, most telemarketing calls will stop. However, you still may get:

• calls from - or on behalf of - political organizations, charities, and telephone surveyors;
• calls from companies with whom you have an existing business relationship. A company may call you for 18 months after you make a purchase or three months after you submit an inquiry or application;
• calls from companies you've given permission to call.

Note how calls made on behalf of political organizations, charities, and telephone surveyors are not covered. The article does not mention this exception for companies with whom you have an existing business relationship. Hmm, any lawyers care to comment?

More on Marketlink, Inc. and 515-309-9027

Michael emailed to tell me about his problems with Marketlink, Inc., which I mentioned previously (see Grr, More Information?, Dirty, and The End, Hopefully).

He writes:

I have been receiving a call from 515-309-9027 for two years every Tuesday am at about 1:37 am […].

He also points to a document (PDF) which Marketlink filed with the Federal Trade Commission when the National Do Not Call Registry was first proposed.

There are some really choice quotes in the document, for example, the claim that Marketlink provides "highly ethical, cost-effective sales and customer care calling programs". Then on page 2:

While we detest the unprofessional and fradulent practices of some companies engaged in so-called "telemarketing," we believe it would be extremeley unfair to put companies like Marketlink - who conduct their businesses professionally and with the utmost integrity - at a severe economic disadvantage [&hellip].

I'm sorry, but calling people at 1:37 in the morning is simply not professional. At that point, you really have crossed the line. If your predictive dialer is to blame, fix it.

Even more troubling is what Michael writes about calling his cable company. According to his email, they initially claimed they had no relationship with Marketlink. But when he pointed them to the document above, he got a different response:

Charter Communications took a very different tone with me and will now be looking "into the matter". They offered me a free month's worth of cable, I said they have woken me up once a week every Tuesday night/morning for two years and a month's worth of free cable wasn't going to cut it.

I hate cable companies as it is, but this is too much. Maybe it's time for me to switch back to DSL from a local provider.

Overheard at My Apartment Complex

Girl #1: Do cappuccinos have milk in them?
Girl #2: Tee hee.
Guy: I think so. Why?
Girl #1: I'm allergic to milk.
Guy: Ha ha ha.
Girl #2: You're an idiot. I can't believe you got a drink with milk.
Guy: Maybe they used something without lactose.

Ahh, med students. So smart yet so dumb.

The End, Hopefully

I just got off the phone with Cox. The rep confirmed that they are using the marketing company mentioned previously. She said that she would "notify the marketing department" about my desire to stop these calls, implying that there is a list which will no longer contain my phone number.

This still doesn't explain the discrepancy mentioned by Szymon, who said he already informed his cable company that he did not wish to receive calls. If my cable company were to mistakenly release my number, I'd be pretty pissed.

So, if you're receiving calls from 515-309-9027, call your cable company and calmly explain that you're receiving calls from a marketing company and you'd like them to stop. Filing a complaint with the National Do Not Call Registry, at least in my case, would not be helpful even though I am on the list, because I have an "established business relationship" with Cox.

Dirty

Szymon writes:

Hi,

Found your blog when searching on the above number.

The number belongs to http://www.marketlinkinc.com

I called them last week after receiving many calls - just like you did. They told me they were calling from my "local cable company"

I doubt that is true since I am on the do-not-call list for my cable company.

Maybe one day they'll call when I'm actually home so I can talk to them.

After posting on Monday, I received another call from 515-309-9027 and answered it out of frustration. The person claimed to be calling from Cox, my local cable monopoly. I told her to stop calling, and disconnected. Somewhat surprisingly, I haven't received calls since.

The timing of this is rather strange: I recently moved and signed up for Cox services, using my cell as the contact number (because I do not have a landline). Unfortunately, I do not recall explicitly telling them my marketing preferences, nor do I recall being asked my preferences. I usually make a point of looking for the fine print on issues like this, though it may have slipped my mind in all the confusion with moving.

Given what Szymon says, however, I'm still very suspicious of the marketing company. Hopefully I'll know more tomorrow after I call Cox (sorry, been too busy or too tired to really deal with this).

Dear US Postal Service,

Could you kindly deliver those two Netflix DVDs to me? You know, the ones that Netflix said they sent last week? They were supposed to be here this past Saturday and, well, I'm really anxious to watch them. It's not fair to let me see the first four episodes of 24 and then leave me hanging like this.

Your friend,
dwc

P.S. I've never reported a DVD as lost or stolen to Netflix, and Netflix is probably accurate like 99% of the time with their delivery estimates.

P.P.S. My mailbox wasn't full.

P.P.P.S. I probably don't have to tell you this, but opening another person's mail is a federal offense. While I would understand that you might want to watch the DVDs as much as I do, that doesn't give you the right to take the copies I borrowed from Netflix.

More Information?

Judging by the number of people finding this site from searching for the phone number 515-309-9027, it looks like I'm not alone in my frustration.

Has anyone answered the phone when they receive a call from this number? If you have, email me and I will post the information here.

I received three calls from that number on Saturday, none on Sunday, and one more today. They have yet to leave a message, so I'm pretty sure it's a telemarketer…

Grr

Every day for the past couple of weeks, someone has called my cell phone. The number reported by caller ID is 515-309-9027, which is from the Des Moines, IA area according to Google.

I usually don't answer my phone if I don't recognize the number, especially if it's from an area code where I have no friends or family.

I added my number to the National Do Not Call Registry shortly after I got it.

Well, if it's important, maybe they'll get the hint and leave a message.

Yeah, So

I've been working crazy hours getting a project ready for release.

Work should not intrude on the rest of my life, I know, but shit happens.

This is actually the first day I haven't been at work past 21:00 in about three weeks.

Apartment Notes

When I got back to my apartment yesterday afternoon, I found a note in the door from the previous tenant. He lost a couple of personal items and wanted to see if I had found anything. I felt really bad when I called him back because I hadn't found anything, and he sounded like a nice guy.

Also, as I may have mentioned in the past, I subscribe to Netflix. I've returned a couple of DVDs since moving into the apartment, and every time I've spent like 5 minutes to get the DVD in the mailbox. Maybe I'm just being a dumbass, but the slot seems just wide enough for a letter, not a DVD.

Really?

Dear Daniel,

Enclosed please find a check for the return of the security deposit, for the dwelling located at $FORMER_ADDRESS.

$ 1100.00 Security Deposit Return

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at the above phone number.

Sincerely,

$FORMER_PROPERTY_MANAGER

That Explains Why Cox Wants to See My Lease

I just got a call from the leasing office at my new apartment. The landlord at the complex is in the hospital, and the current tenant hasn't finished moving out. Looks like I won't be moving in Friday.

Moving, Still

Moving turned out to be pretty crazy. One of my former roommates is in Europe, and the other moved out in March. They left a lot of little things (and some not so little things…) that I ultimately had to take care of.

The roommate who's in Europe paid some friends to take away his furniture and "do a little cleaning". But since my roommate didn't leave a list for his friends, things didn't go very smoothly. The furniture was eventually taken care of, but the cleaning…not so much.

The other roommate had exams last week, so he understandably didn't want to come back to help clean. He ended up leaving his silverware, baking dishes, and a lot of other kitchen stuff because his parents bought him new stuff. He also left a heavy bookshelf and some other furniture for me to deal with, despite my nagging.

All told, I spent 25 to 30 hours cleaning. Six of those hours were spent cleaning the damn oven, which I used maybe twice during the three years I lived in the house. For future reference, if your baking leaves pools of oil in the oven, clean it before you bake the next time. At one point I busted out with a fork to scrape off the two centimeters of charcoal and grease on the bottom of the oven. Not even the steel wool was helping there.

I also had the pleasure of cleaning out the refrigerator. One of the drawers was filled with rotting meat. Some of the meat packages had leaked into the rest of the fridge, which was seriously nasty. I ended up having to buy two packages of official yellow trash bags (one package is $10 for five bags, including twist ties) to deal with the fridge.

There was a lot more damage to the carpet than I expected, including a number of stains that people obviously didn't bother cleaning at the time. I did my best with Resolve, but the landlord was not happy.

I'm thinking I'll bill my roommates for the cleaning time at my professional rate. Speaking of which, what do contract programmers make these days? I bet the total would be more than the amount we get back from the security deposit.

Since I haven't mentioned it, I found an apartment a couple of weeks ago. The timing didn't work out very well so I'm spending this week at home. The food is a big plus, the price can't be beat, but my room is too small. Ultimately the space and privacy factors won out.

So yeah, I'm still moving. I wish I could still fit ALL of my stuff in one car, sigh.

I wouldn't call it time well spent

Screwed

I ended up buying a car, which is nice and all, but now I'm scrambling to find a place to live. My lease ends April 30.

This date was really convenient when I moved in because I was tired of the dorms and it meant I didn't have to spend the summer at home. Now, however, I'm finding very few places. Most leases seem to end in the summer.

The apartments I've found so far are either, um, not very nice or a little too expensive. There are tons of really nice 2- or 3-bedroom places which fall just outside my price range.

Most of my friends already have leases, and I'm not much of one for "interviewing" potential roommates. I like to know the person before signing the lease because I have a much better chance of avoiding disaster.

:-(

Jury Duty?

I was a little surprised to receive a second notice requesting that I fill out a jury duty questionnaire. I honestly don't remember receiving the first notice, though it's entirely possible I misplaced it.

Now I'm left wondering if I'll get jury duty in the near future, which would be interesting considering I don't have a car yet.

Christmas, Wedding, etc.

One of the things I enjoy most about Christmas is the traditions we have at home. On Christmas Eve, we have cookies from (mostly) Germany. My favorite kind is called Zimtsterne, which contain lots of almonds and cinnamon. I also enjoy Speculaas, which are Dutch spice cookies, sometimes with almonds. They are shaped in wooden molds, traditionally as windmills. Around Christmas, they are often shaped as people.

On Christmas morning, we have Stollen and gourmet cheeses. I don't think that the Stollen that my grandmother brings is "official", but it is a very nice treat. My favorite part is the band of marzipan in the middle.

The rest of our Christmas is pretty typical: we open stockings, which contain small gifts and lots of candy; then, we open presents under the tree; finally, we have a Christmas dinner with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash or sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce. We round out the meal with pumpkin pie and pecan pie.

This year was a little different than most in that I celebrated the marriage of two friends, Alex and Sarah. The ceremony was very nice. The wedding party was pretty big: On the groom's side, there was a ringbearer, four groomsmen, and the best man. On the bride's side, there was a flower girl, four bridesmaids, and the maid of honor.

I was a groomsman, which was fun. I got to wear a tuxedo and escort a bridesmaid to and from the stage (I don't want to call it an altar because the wedding took place in a Unitarian church). I didn't meet the bridesmaid until about 5 minutes before the ceremony, but everything went smoothly.

After the ceremony, there was a big reception with food, wine, dancing, and socializing. We once again proved that I have no business dancing. We also learned that some DJs think Cherry Poppin' Daddies counts as jazz. Heh.

And People Wonder Why I'm Introverted

Discussing an old friend:

Me: I saw him a while ago downtown. He was with some other people, and didn't say anything, so I figured he was too embarrassed to talk to me.

Everyone else: Yeah…

The Power Grab and Groupthink

Benjamin Mako Hill's recent entry, Law 49: Never Live With Folks Who Buy This Book (via Planet Debian), reminds me a lot of some people I know.

I've always found it interesting that people make greed, distrust, and selfishness so central to their personalities. For them, friendship is just a means to an end; taking advantage of people is the way to get things done. They are very skilled at "staying on the warpath" by ignoring their faults and compartmentalizing their feelings.

In my experience, these people put a lot of faith in groupthink. If one person dislikes a newcomer, everyone does. Individuals who go against the grain are shunned, even when the opposing viewpoint is logical. Safety in numbers, I guess.

I'll never forget when one of them told me the following: "Truthfully, you'll always be an outsider."

Clever got me this far
Then tricky got me in

Fun

Had fun at the Acceleration Halloween party. I hadn't seen most of the crew in probably a year. Met some of the new people, and saw some neat costumes: Kent was dressed as Superman, and Dustin came as Domo-kun. Ramon was crazy, as always. Ross and I talked a little, until Kent smashed my drink from behind (I'm still running Gentoo, by the way, Ross - just curious about Ubuntu). I tried my best to debate politics with Kent, but he pretty much talked me into the ground by the end of the evening. I feel bad because I was very belligerent for much of the debate, and did not do very well expressing my opinions. Oh, well, it was still a lot of fun. :-)

Something's got to give...

Last time I said that, I had a bike accident.

I fool myself
To sleep and dream
Nobody's there
No one but me

Insanity?

So last night I woke up screaming.

OMGWATER

We finally got water back at the house yesterday, after almost two weeks without it.

Utilities

We have power at the house, but still no water. The plumbers can't do their work until the trees are cleared from the yard. :-(

Better Pictures

Joe took some pictures of the uprooted trees. Since we don't have Internet access right now, Elliot posted some of them.

Update: The full set of pictures, courtesy Suresh.

Hurricane Jeanne

Hurricane fatigue, I think, is an accurate term for the way many Floridians feel right now.

In the interest of keeping this entry short, let me just say that we lost TWO TREES in our front yard, which knocked out our water and power. The trees missed our house, but one landed on our neighbor's house.

Here's a picture of one of the trees from my (crappy) picture phone:

I'm at my mom's house for the time being.

POWER

We got power back at the house yesterday afternoon, after 12 days without it. I lost a surge protector, but it seems like my UPS is okay (phew).

The Waiting Game Isn't Fun

It looks as though our power issues are partially resolved. According to Joe, GRU restored the power lines. We're waiting on an electrician to repair the weatherhead, after which we might have power again!

I negelected to mention the other day that we are without water service also. GRU shut off our water due to an apparently severe leak on the house side of the water meter. No final word yet, but that might have been fixed today.

More Hurricane Fun

I've been rather disconnected as of late due to Hurricane Frances. It's a little strange not being able to constantly check my email, use IRC, and browse the Web, but I'm starting to like it.

We lost power on Sunday afternoon (at about 16:00). Service was partially restored on Monday, but the lines to the house were damaged by a large branch. The power was on, but was surging every few minutes. We managed to keep the lights and air conditioner on, but that was about it.

One surge caused the loss of at least two surge protectors (I've never had the pleasure of hearing a large capacitor violently explode before) and possibly my $500 UPS and various computer equipment. I had disconnected everything when the power went out initially, but reconnected it briefly when my boss called me on Monday to make an update to the UF Home Page. If my UPS or computers are damaged, I'm not really sure what will happen - if UF doesn't pay for it (...), I may have to use my renter's insurance ($500 deductible, ugh).

Today, our landlord had an electrician look at the damaged lines and the wiring in the house. The electrician apparently shut off power to the house immediately after seeing what had happened. We're waiting on GRU to repair them, and I'm sure they have bigger problems right now. End result: we're without power again, and we're back to the waiting game.

If you need to get in touch with me, your best bet is to try when I'm at work. I'll be at home for the time being. I'll have my laptop with me, but like I said, I'm sort of enjoying the feeling of being somewhat disconnected.

Sick

I've been sick for almost a week now with a really bad head cold. It started out as a sore throat, then moved into my nose and sinus area. Even yesterday I was having pretty severe sinus pain. Today it finally feels like it's mostly gone.

Taking a break from work was nice, even though I was sick. I was letting the stress get to me again, mostly due to frustration over the projects I'm working on. We seem to have consistent problems with finalizing projects; we make great progress at the beginning, but lose focus quickly. I'm looking forward to sitting down with everyone on Friday to discuss these issues.

Running, Randomness, Cycles

Running: I've started again, and it feels good. On top of biking, it's helped relieve some stress. Which has gone down. Really. Work.

Randomness: Went to Gator Beverage with Alex to buy beer, ended up spending almost half an hour there. A girl's battery was dead, and she was looking for a jump. We stuck around outside for a while, probably one of the most random nights in a while. Lots of people offered their help, includng one of the cashiers.

Cycles: I've noticed that a distinct set of cycles. Happy, realizing I am happy, knowing that it will come, frustration, sadness. Still trying to learn how to deal with this.

Wave after wave

explodingdog Print

I'm getting an explodingdog print for my birthday. Here's my current list (in order of preference):

1. Sucks To Be You
2. so far from where i want to be
3. i am getting homesick again
4. look at the stars
5. I will survive
6. i heard about the monsters out there
7. city could not stop
8. I am flying
9. underneath it all
10. I AM TV
11. we fought for our country
12. you are right. I am leaving

So, which one should I get? (The image has to be from after 2001.09.01.)

Tired

I'm tired. Oh, I am working at Acceleration. It's keeping me pretty busy. That's why I'm tired. But I had a good weekend visiting Leah.

w00t

I got my chair today!