Slightly Off KIlter

Normal is overrated

Trivial Pursuits

  • Almost 10 weeks

    Monday (technically) will mark the end of my 10th week at The Job; I started on Tuesday, May 4. Continue reading

  • Red White and Boom

    Rich suggested I meet him in Palo Alto and we could have dinner and then go over to see the fireworks at Stanford. I thought that sounded like a good idea. At 6pm I drove to Millbrae and took what CalTrain calls the "baby bullet train". It only stops at SF, Millbrae, Hillsdale, Palo Alto,… Continue reading

  • Close Encounters of the Ringtailed Kind

    The raccoons came back last night. I knew they were around when we went out to the tub — first because Squirrel was pasted to the window watching something in the yard and then because I saw a raccoon on the fence while we were in the tub. Two of them walked back and forth… Continue reading

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  • Week 5 on The Job

    Today marked the end of my 5th week on The Job (depending how one counts; I started on a Tuesday and there has been one holiday). The Job was originally spec'd as a 6-week temporary contract. Now the question is — will they keep me on? This particular contract is short-term, but if you are… Continue reading

  • Saga of the Shredder

    Rich and I have had a crosscut shredder for many years. We'd been using a Royal CX7000, a $99 model that worked well but was noisy and had some trouble with more than 3 to 5 sheets of paper (although it laid claim to 7). We tend to want to shred a few more sheets… Continue reading

  • First Time Sheet

    I turned in my first time sheet yesterday; it covers three weeks. The company I am working at is a bit unusual; they pay once a month. Most companies I have worked for in the past have paid twice a month or, in one or two cases, every week. I had actually been under the… Continue reading

  • Writing Groups

    I have often mentioned that one of my entries in this space is in response to a writing prompt from one group or another. I currently subscribe to 8 such online writing groups! If you like to write (especially if you keep a journal — online or off), you may be interested in joining a… Continue reading

  • New Job, Second Week

    Hey! I had work to do this week! Not a huge amount, but enough to keep the mind alive. I reviewed a chapter of the User Guide. The Tech Pubs writer thinks he'll have more for me to do this coming week. I went over my review of a design spec with one of the… Continue reading

  • New Job, First Week

    I survived my first week (four days, 34.5 hours) at the new job. I hate the first week of a new job. There's often nothing, really, to do. Exploring and familiarizing only takes so long and gets old rather quickly. Continue reading

  • New Job – First Day

    I hate first days. I'm not crazy about first weeks. I started my new job today with a short IT orientation at 9:00. Actually, the orientation didn't start till almost 9:30 because I was the only one there. Then the second person showed up about 10 minutes into the short presentation (which the IT guy… Continue reading