February 29th, 2008 ryan
Last night my technological prowess was fired to the intensity of a straining incandescent bulb as I provided audio visual support for a presentation at the Union League Club of Chicago.
While “Established in 1879 to uphold the sacred obligations of citizenship, promote honesty and efficiency in government, and support cultural institutions and the beautification of the city…” it struck me as a previously male-only hang out for wealthy curmudgeons to chomp cigars and avoid their wives.
Complaints really aren’t proper when one is paid time and a half to drink free beer and eat a decent filet mignon, but Mergers and Acquisitions: How to Protect Thine Arse and Secure Further Dividends is a topic I could honestly care less about, and the same goes for supporting the people that soak up such topics with their eyes reflecting not light but dancing dollar signs.
I’ve never felt like more of a sell out than I did this evening.
Posted in Nerd, POTD, Stuff I Hate, Utterance | No Comments »
February 28th, 2008 ryan
Pictured above is the exhibit by Canadian artist Gordon Halloran which has spent the month of February alternately freezing and melting while both Chicagoan onlookers and Chicagoan weather have gone about their business.
Despite being just across the street I only meandered over on the second to last day of its viewing period, which likely accounts for my lack of being impressed (much like the passer-by also pictured above). Perhaps earlier in the month it looked like more like the rest of his stuff which has a bit more oomph.
Posted in Chicago, Exhibit, POTD | No Comments »
February 27th, 2008 ryan
Posted in Attire, POTD, Self | No Comments »
February 24th, 2008 ryan
Shuffling loose his velcro restrictions Woodge escaped, again. I found him converting light energy to further caloric sustenance. Like he even needs to, honestly.
Posted in Animalia, Dirwoodgable, POTD | 1 Comment »
February 22nd, 2008 ryan
I have a splinter in my right palm.
It’s wood or possibly a flake of dark stone just beneath the first layer of skin and initially caught my attention while under a set of humming fluorescent lights as I was adjusting the white balance on my camera perhaps 15 days ago.
It has since traveled approximately an inch northwards leaving a small yet unsettlingly noticeable trail of translucent dead skin with a rusty tinge.
Decision time approaches. The splinter and I have a non-verbal compact, the details of which involve Extraction upon a course of action being determined. The choices remain as such:
School
Beer pong and some unwashed undergrad kicking the back of your seat all through lecture. Tuition is covered at a state school courtesy of electric uncle sam whilst 1300 american dollars will find their way to me by way of the GI Bill for the duration of 36 months. Not a bad deal.
Negatives include subsidizing outrageous housing related expenditures in the City and the part time job by which this will be managed.
Positives would involve actual, you know, training which technically I have never had. Computer science really makes the most sense (networking focus) but who knows, might find time to mingle with the photography crowd. Or people, in general.
Work
Benjamins to pilfer, users to mock, material items to amass. My resume is decent and could be given gilded pauldrons of Greatness with a few industry certs. No chance in hell would I move forward to another office environment, instead my focus would be one of the countless cigar-chomping testosterone-soaked companies with Department of Defense contracts overseas. Pay is decent, the first $80,000 being tax free on foreign soil, and I’d get back in to a field environment with a little more excitement than the sterile, climate controlled civilian sector currently offers.
Negatives revolve around the Woodge. He’s a deal breaker when it comes to what will certainly be extensive travel requirements for many of the positions I’ve scouted thus far. Also not to be ignored is my increasing age. Putting off school for another year, again, only increases the Old Guy factor as I will be returning to school an undergrad in his late twenties.
Positive aspects include the ability to stockpile large amounts of cash, which I intend to convert to gold bullion in order to swim in the manner of Scrooge McDuck, travel opportunities, work related stimulation, and with careful planning a chance to return to school with the resources to get sweet crap for my living quarters.
__
Action is imperative yet time is, surprisingly, on my side with the only signs of attrition being my dwindling sanity as each day a user emails me a 3mb JPEG, which is a scan of an single-page email, to print. I die a little bit inside.
Posted in Mundane, Utterance | No Comments »
February 19th, 2008 ryan
Posted in Chicago, POTD, Sticker Art | No Comments »
February 16th, 2008 ryan
Should have busted out the 50mm 1.8, bit sharper.
Looked outside this morning and considered the last time I went out to shoot, nearly headed out to the local forest preserve. “Nearly” meaning “didn’t. “
Posted in Mundane, POTD | 2 Comments »
February 11th, 2008 ryan
Missed the train, again. Forced march to consume the final 90 during which the above wouldn’t leave me be.
I have little to show for those minutes other than ill-shot pixels and a salt ring that comes to mid calf on both sides of my work pants. Measures will have to be taken.
Posted in Chicago, Mundane, POTD | No Comments »
February 6th, 2008 ryan
Behold! Shockingly lacking in fetid roadkill.
…this time
TB: The coffee you sent is quite good and, from what I can gather, free of the previously mentioned curling, yellowed toenail clippings.
Posted in Consumer Whoredom, POTD | No Comments »
February 5th, 2008 ryan
Very much with the “just been washed” look.
Incidentally, Sandisk makes quality flash drives.
Not only has this wee device survived the rigors of a deployment out East with nary a scratch it was just washed and run through the dryer not once but twice (I de-wrinkle prior to folding/hanging). Discovered on the lint trap and fired up without a problem whilst still retaining heat from the tumble. Runs a copy of Firefox 2 and has a folder set to synch with a corresponding area on the laptop at work, which is then encrypted upon completion.
A parting gift from the purchase of 800 units by my previous employer. A veritable steal, currently, for 35 dollars – American.
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I think this is the first zombie posted here, the domain a rotting husk of it’s former focus eh?
Posted in Attire, Consumer Whoredom, Nerd, POTD | No Comments »