ultimate geekdom and buying presents

don't you love days that start slow?
It's not that I have nothing to do or anything (quite the opposite, actually), but my sister is sleeping over on the couch in the living room and that means I can't get up without waking her.
Now, that sounds worse than it actually is, because I'm well prepared.

Gf and I had our laptops ready for use at the side of our bed and are now in bed feasting on online procrastination. Other people have breakfast in bed, we postpone eating for computer time in bed (also, I'm not hungry yet).

Also, I wanted to clear up yesterday's crypic: It was a regular christmas thoughtfulness, about how people are showing their worst side instead of their most peaceful and lovable ones - all in the name of the most important holiday in the western hemisphere...
wouldn't you think that a financial crisis would lead to less people in the shops and a return to the more traditional values of this holiday season?
No, I was tackled by a hockey mom buying christmas presents on Thursday, because I was too close to her sons new favorite video game (of which were a thousand more on the display). I didn't even want that game, I was just passing by the section because I needed to in order to get to the concert ticket selling place...
damn, you anonymous hockey mom, I'll remember you for next year, you betcha!

Observations...

Am I really the only one who sees the similarities...?
Exhibit # 1



















Exhibit # 2















My apologies to Nick Park though, I'm sure he had someone else in mind when creating Wallace and Gromit.

let's play cops and robbers

My boss called me Tuesday evening to ask me which day of the week the 28th was, because he was without his calender. When I told him it was a Saturday I heard him swear for the first time. I thought it was strange to be upset about this but was wise enough not to ask.
Yesterday, I was minding my own business in my little corner room office, he called me up ten minutes before I left to let me know that he was talking about July and not June and had forgot to mention that and that he would need me that day for a bit longer than my usual office hours and if it would be possible for me to make no plans for that day. I was impressed by him thinking that far into the future (he's usually not planning further than 10 minutes, that's what he has me for) that I said yes without knowing what he really needs. I had an idea what it might be, because a case that we've been working on fitted nicely into that pattern. I was so wrong.
I can't really go into detail because it's highly classified information (wow, doesn't that sound cool?) but he needs me to play the resident Mary Poppins for some people.
I was fighting hard to keep my face straight. I'm not the nurturing type, that's a fact. But I don't know how I could make anyone believe that I was. Plus I may need to get myself a British accent. I obviously wasn't doing a good job at conceiling my amusement because he asked me if I thought his plan sucked. I honestly told him that it was a brilliant plan but that it wasn't so brilliant to make me a nanny. There's quite a bit of money in it for me, though. And I really don't know anyone better for the job itself, if it weren't for the nanny part.

Bottom line: if any one of you has any hints and tips on how to appear like a nanny for two kids age 15 and 17, feel free to fire away and let me know. The kids will of course know that I'm not the nanny, but some other people really need to believe that I am.

My week, so far

As I left for work this morning gf claimed that I look unhappy and that she wants me to cheer up because she'll start worrying about me if I don't cheer up any time soon.
I told her that I didn't sleep well and that that's probably the reason, nothing to worry about.

On my way to work I started thinking and concluded that my week so far was pretty bad and maybe that's why I'm not all chipper.

Ironically, Monday was a good day. I left work on time and got myself a snake board.
Tuesday, I forgot my little sisters birthday. Well, I didn't forget it, really. In the morning I thought of it but I don't like texting in general and much less if it's a happy birthday text, it's not personal enough. So I thought of calling her later when she leaves school. Naturally, I got caught up in stuff I needed to write for Uni and completely forgot to call. So at around 10 or so she sent me a text to ask if I had forgotten. I called her back and apologized and she wasn't mad at all, but I still felt very bad about it. She turned 18.
Wednesday, I had to wait 45 (!!!) minutes for the bus to come. Luckily, I was only 5 minutes late for work but even that is too much for a punctual person like me. Also, the bus schedule was fucked up for the last three weeks already so I called and asked and even though the person on the phone was a real sweety it didn't lift my mood. I thought to myself that at least I'd be able to leave work on time. Ha! I didn't. I stayed an hour longer than I wanted to and came home beat.
I didn't sleep well last night, god knows why and so today - although it's a sunny and so far ok day - kind of pisses me off too.

I HATE it when I am that way. I am a fairly balanced person usually, but when at some point I somehow fall out of balance it takes me forever to get back...Does anyone have a suggestion on how to stop this mood of mine?

my 2 cents

I called in sick today. i'm not acutally sick. I'm sickened. I found that counts too.

Thank God it's not my own thesis but yesterday I realized what I should have known one and a half months ago. Mr. Advisor is not qualified to be an advisor.
The Vienna University, where I'm still enrolled because I haven't yet done my last to term papers, one of which is due today (do I really need to mention that I'm not done?) - bach to the point - the Vienna University is a chaotic and unorganized lot of people who usually don't have an idea what they are talking about. I was lucky enough to have found some professors who know their trade and therefore taught me at least a little bit of scientific knowledge.

Mr. A* (insert *dvisor or *sshole here) told the gf that she wouldn't be able to write thesis one and a half months back. fair enough, it seemed undoable. But when the gf came home from the meeting without any real input from A* I should've known something was fishy. I have someone stepping on my toes with every term paper I have to write. that unnerves me but it at least makes me finish the papers sooner or later.
Mr. A* was never heard of again until gf handed in a first version of the thesis last week. Back came the famous e-mail in which he elaborates that it's a little late, isn't it. Hmm. let me think a bit, who set the deadline again?
Well, some hours ago he sent another e-mail claiming he read the thesis and had some things to critisize. I was shocked, literally.
I knew that the University gf went to is organized differently from mine, but her kind of Universities are rumored to be less unprofessional and yet it was possible for that A* to send gf a completely useless piece of shit called feedback. where he claimed that the thesis lacked structrure while his own feedback didn't even have so much as a thread to work by. If I hand in on time I get back my hard copy of the paper with comments, or I get an e-mail sticking to the structure of my paper explaining in the last bit of detail what was problematic and what was good. Not doing the corrections for me, but at least so that I know what the problem was. The mail of Mr. A* was a guessing game, mixing layout with content and much worse stuff too. I read the mail and while gf was shocked because it said that the work wasn't good enough (which I strongly disagree with), I was shocked because of the way it was written. I honestly thought there was some sort of attachment that I hadn't seen yet, something to work with.
Well, acutally I wanted to leave the ranting to the gf but after staying up almost all night to correct the whole thing with her, I have a right to rant too.
And bless my good Dr. P, who's organized ways are valued even more now.

that also means I'll go work on my paper now, so I might even hand it in today or tomorrow.

the mystery form of Brussels

imagine that:
You're at work, you mind your own business, typing peacefully. The dull work makes you a bit unnerved but other than that nothing happens. Then, the telephone rings. It's your boss.
He asks if you could do him the favor of finding something online.
"Just google "form" and "brussels", and you'll find the form I need. if you have it could you fax it to the bank. I'm at the _insert bank name here_, just fax the form through."

That's what happened to me today. Does my boss seriously think that if I type in those things I will find him a form that is called A4 and provided by some part of the way to bueaucratized EU by googling brussels and form? Does he seriously think that I KNOW what he is talking about when he says, "you know the one form that Prof. _insert name here_ said was at the homepage of Brussles"
Brussels obviously is his synonym for EU.
I'm talking about my boss, who has worked his ass off all his life to be where he is now, a rich and ignorant white guy who can make everything happen to his favor, because he knows the right people.
But seriously, seriously! What was he thinking with that one?
Later he described the form to me (reading, was he holding it in his hands I wonder?) "This says, form A4 and on the bottom of the page it is marked 101".
WTF???

I still don't know which form they actually needed there at the bank.

slow motion

gf went to Hungary until Monday and has left me and the bunnies home alone with nothing to do but miss her...ok, it's not true that I don't have anything to do but I kinda feel that way.

So I thought I'd call up S, my best friend and it happened that I really reached her (which hardly ever happens) and we talked all afternoon. she doesn't live in vienna and we send e-mails more or less regularly, we talk occasionally and we haven't seen each other in three (!) years. I love these long talks about all and nothing, where afterwards I don't even know anymore what we talked about, it was just nice hearing her voice and knowing she's ok.

I haven't heard from gf yet (except that she arrived safely) and that worries me a bit, but I decided to believe everything's good.

the amazing thing is that S really is sort of my best friend (the relationship is hard to describe and not easy to understand for anyone who is not her or me, so I'll call it best friends) and gf hasn't even met her yet. we try for a year or so by now, but it hasn't happened yet. S decided that she's gonna come visit as soon as she has the money. She hates Vienna but she will come. and this time I kinda have the feeling that it really will happen.

I'm also a bit afraid of what will happen when gf meets S. Will they claw each others' eyes out, will the room freeze, will everything be nice and smooth? I admit it makes me nervous, because I can't control what will happen. I can't know or influence the outcome of a situation I want to be perfect so bad, it freaks me out...

I guess, I really need to learn how to let go and go with the situation, relax and stop controlling everything/one around me...

over the moon

gf downloaded this movie that we might watch one evening if we are up for it. we had it on our hard drive for a couple of days and watched it yesterday. she said that the critics thought that only one half of it was good and the other was not worth watching.
well I don't know which half they saw, but the ones I saw were bordering on brilliant. Maybe it's my european take on things or my loathing the war in Iraq. Maybe it's also my utter fascination of the 60ies and the social movements of that time, I really don't know. "Across the Universe" is never gonna hit austrian cinemas, I'm sure. It's a pity though, because the whole thing would probably look magnificent on a silver screen. and with a decent sound Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess would sound even better than with our crappy PC speakers...
I never knew that she could sing and boy does she look a lot like LeeLee Sobieski.
I can't even begin to say what I love about this movie and usually I would just say - go, watch and find out for yourself, but it seems that a lot of people think very differently...
The light, the arrangments and songs in general, the acting, everything was melting together into one perfect object...
I'm over the moon about this movie and it's music...can you tell?

'nuff said

a couple of numbers to be amazed by.

no I'm not a geek

one of my friends from university called me an hour or so ago. after I picked up I was loaded with questions about her computer and why it might do what it does and how she can make the thing quit going crazy on her.
when I asked her, why she was calling me about that, hinting that I'm not an IT-expert, she said something along the lines of "yep I know, but you're a geek and I couldn't reach my brother."

so i tried my best to help her...when I hung up the phone I looked around me and saw this...the not geeky me:

song of the day: ani d. - grey

yes, it snows. it's mid-november and it snows. it's not that unusual to happen - a couple of years back. We didn't have snowy winters the last few years thanks to global warming.
this year it seems global warming was turned off, because not only did it snow it also didn't melt away instantly.
I took a couple of pictures out of the living room window and put it into my flickr account. here's one of them.

I love snow - to snowboard, to build snowmans, to throw snowballs at the other kids...BUT, I hate snow in the city. it always turns into this grey to black-ish color dirty cold mass or it just half-way melts away and when cars drive by they spray you with wet, dirty mud that once was snow. Also public transport isn't able to be on time for a couple of days and I don't even wanna start ranting about all the car owners who pretend never to have heard of snow and drive like it. also it usually hits them that summer tires might not be appropriate anymore the very first morning they see it snows, but who has the kind of time to change tires...!?...and they drive like that until the snow goes away, it seems.
I know this is an utter pessimistic view on snow in the city but hailing from a rather rural area and having spent all my childhood holidays in a region that still uses oil stoves to heat up their houses, I just can't get over the fact that people here in the city like their snow experience.
I'm used to walk knee deep through the snow to get to the next house because snow plows would only be used on the main roads. I'm used to building snowmans and having snowball fights where we would be wet only afterwards and not dirty and wet. I'm used to picking up a hand full of snow when thirsty and "drinking" snow that actually tastes like fresh spring water and not like pollution and unhealthy.
I know I sound like the next environmentalist here, but I miss those days. Maybe because I was a child back then, but I don't believe it's the only reason.
the house I spent my childhood holidays in was torn down (that story is too long for now) but this is actually not too far away and the only picture I could find that was half-way decent was this one.

I have to say thought, that gf brought me a snowball when she came home from getting breakfast...isn't she cute? I put the snowball into the freezing compartment in our fridge that sadly isn't freezing fast enough for the snow not to melt, so I took a picture and then let it melt in the sink...

for a more positive view on city snow try gf's blog...she hasn't yet, but I assume that she will blog about the first snow too...

new things

while surfing the net I came across a blog fueled by a very cool idea.
jen from new york started doing new things on the day she turned 29 and will do new things every day until she turns 30. that's the plan.
She blogs about what she's done right here and with that made ME do a completely new thing too. Thanks jen!
I read her blog from January through November. I've never read a whole blog before, so that's a definitely a new thing. Also it is very inspiring for people who like to have new ideas of fun things to do and have no problem with a little bit of procrastination.

I'll probably try something new of my own soon...very inspiring.

mission impossible

yet again, I'm trying to do the impossible.
I'm supposed to find an employee to work 43 and a half hours from Thursday to Sunday, earn a shitload of money but at the same time they have to be intelligent and fast thinkers with an own car (good drivers only!) and own photocamera. One might think that this is easy. well it isn't because who wants to work on a couple of hours notice and why the hell wasn't I told that this might happen, then I would have looked for someone earlier, maybe turning down a few people if we don't need anyone after all but finding someone within 22 hours is a bit...well, impossible.
sometimes I'm convinced that my boss believes I can do magic or make miracles happen. I think he has me confused with God, Allah, or however you call the supernatural being that you direct your prayers to before going to sleep. oh, maybe I should try that. ask god for an employee. if only I hadn't left church. damn.

my shopping spree

for everyone who doesn't know: I hate shopping.
for everyone who already knew: I still do.

this is me before i go shopping. happy, content, maybe a little fearful already.










first off, everyone is stupid. secondly, all the shops are stupid. thirdly, all the designers are too thin and blind.

people are shuffling through the streets, not looking or caring if they smash their bags into other people, not looking or caring if they step on other peoples toes and not looking or caring that what they attempt to buy looks awful! fashion victims all over the place.
Is there no place where you can buy decent garments? I'm not talking about those t-shirts that will fall apart when you dare to look at them. I don't wanna be un-pc but clothes had better quality when they were not produced by children in taiwan and indonesia, but by almost women in latin america.
of course production was more expensive too then, so the big cheeses settled for asia. but why on earth did prices go up then???
I get less for more. and it's not that the workers get more from my money. arrrgh.
so then the shops are overcrowded and people just don't care anymore.
but fashion. well, who is supposed to wear that? why do so-called designers never wear their stuff, but always come in simple and casual black stuff? Why do ordinary people with ordinary bodies have to wear these obnoxious insults for the eye and body?
I don't wanna wear jeans that look like leggings, really I DON'T. I'm fine that they offer them for people who do, but why on earth do I have to go into 5 shops to finally find one who didn't throw out all the normal jeans for leggings shaped ones?

Dear shop-owners, it's ok to sell fashion, just please don't forget about those who do not suffer from fashionitis.
Dear designers, go fuck yourselves.

this is me after shopping. on the floor and exhausted.

I guess I'll frame and hang my old pair of jeans, for my kids to see how jeans had nice shapes when I was young...

go back to start!

hurray!
after sorting through 9 GB of porn on Monday, I came to work to day thinking that it can't get worse.
It seems I'll never learn, no matter how old I get, that it can always get worse. So I'm back at filing the illegal stuff, from the probably legally bought stuff and sorting out the things that will put the guy behind bars.
oh, and in between I'm trying to get visa for the russians again.

and the strange thing is...I acutally like my jobs on days that are not like this week. i wonder if someone brainwashed me...

I guess I'll need a good work out today. probably punching in walls.

all aboard

Sometimes I hate my job. Like right now.
I'm supposed to find a phone number or e-mail adress of a man whose name I don't have. Ain't that great?
So in case anyone out there knows the guy who happens to be the Captain of the Queen Mary 2, please forward his email adress.
thanks.

stupidity

ok, the heat is killing, but is that a reason to leave your brains at the door?
yesterday, gf and I had to fight with approx. 800 people and tell them in a friendly way that they are stupid. at some point we were not so friendly anymore.
we are helping out at opernwerkstatt and tell people where they are seated. we are vets, but this year the seating was changed after the tickets were sold - great! juuust great!
and now people who don't find their seats don't come and ask, no that would mean good thinking, they randomly take seats that don't belong to them and then refuse to be helped to their actual seats arguing that they KNOW that they don't exist. Well, I'm not sure but I'm paid (not much but still) to know each and every seat in the audience and they tell me that their seats are non-existent??? How can people be so dumb. At the premier and on sunday people were able to wait until told where they have to go. yesterday, they were just plain stupid and stubborn.

and now after about 30 minutes on hold at the teletip shop I'm beginning to think of suing them...