First things first – the update on Rurouni Battôsai:
I will be re-posting a revised version of the prologue within the next few days; I’ve made several small/subtle changes to it that are nonetheless important for what follows (after I discovered that the last scene of Chp. 1 had some… ‘problems’…). With any luck, the beginning of Chp. 1 should follow soon afterwards.
Okay, next it’s time for the first of my rants – [CENSORED] TMJ, migraines, and the weather… (Complaining here means that I tend to complain less out loud, which is all to the good, because it also reduces the self-pity factor.)
Migraine has been in existence since last Tuesday night. It seemed to be getting all right Sunday – but then when I woke up Sunday night to go to work, it started with the negative effects on my stomach (not fun). It’s not that I feel that I’m about to throw up, it’s more a semi-mild queasiness, but that reduces my appetite and my energy enough that it makes everything feel worse. So tonight I’m going to try Egyptian Liquorice tea – it’s worked to help settle my stomach before, and I’m hoping it’ll help again. Certainly better than regular tea, which – although the caffeine seems to help with the pain from the migraine – requires milk to be palatable.
What makes tonight worse is the weather. It’s currently about -19C actual temperature-wise – with the windchill, that’s down to -31C. While it’s not as bad as out on the Prairies (*shivers and waves at chiruken*), it’s still quite nasty; and as mentioned below, my type of TMJ (there are two main types, accident & osteo-arthritis, with ‘accident’ having two sub-types) is the osteo-arthritis type. Cold is bad for arthritis. And it doesn’t help that to try to keep warm, I’ve got two layers (my hat flaps and my hood) on over the joint, because that puts pressure on it, and considering that’s what the majority of the pain directly at the joint feels like… Well, I’m sure you get the picture. *sigh* Okay, this rant is now over.
On to the stupidities of IT…
As the subject says, I would really like to know what planet our IT guys come from.
Our (Security’s) computer at work has always had the occasional problem, but last week it was slowed down so badly that it was causing serious problems with part of doing our job. So me being the at least semi-technical savvy person that I am, I went into the Task Manager (yes, *sigh*, we have to use Windoze at work) and checked the processes and the performance ratings – only to find that the CPU was working at 100% capacity, and – are you ready for it? – there were two (count ’em, TWO) copies of Windows running. So, of course, I call down to IT and leave them a message, and let my supervisor know what I found out when she comes in in the morning.
Get to work Sunday night, read through the log book, and blink at the entry concerning the computer. Re-read it. No change. Re-read a third time to be certain.
Apparently (this is what the IT guys said), the computer has a virus that occurred at installation because Windows wasn’t installed properly. As a result, we have to get a new computer.
*blink*
My immediate reaction to this? Worst-case scenario: copy the documents and data to a CD, or to the server, re-format the hard drive, and re-install Windows. But no, we have to get a completely new computer.
*shakes head and sighs*
I don’t think much of our IT department – and this has sent my opinion plummeting down to the basement.
Anyway, to those who have managed to read this far – I count myself amazed. Wasn’t sure my rants were that interesting…
Hope everyone’s having a good day…