*shudder *

Random musings in response to part (A) of http://telecate.blogspot.com/2005/06/greetings-and-leavings.html:

There was an episode of "King of the Hill" in which Hank shook hands with one of the George Bushes and found his handshake disappointingly limp.

Don't you hate it when limp handshake person also has cold, clammy hands?

I once shook hands with a guy who was blowing his nose as I entered his office. What would you do in this situation? Because I was being escorted and it was a job interview to boot, I couldn't just go wash up immediately afterwards.

In general, I don't like to shake hands because I have a slight germ phobia. If shaking hands means crossing the room to get to the person, I just do a little wave. I like to think I can get away with it because I'm a girl (albeit less cute as the years march on). I suspect this is a career-limiting move.

Hmm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062301972.html

In deference to smoking lounges, how about Geek Lounge as an alternate name for TBC?

Thump.

Note to self: when backing up to park, do your best to clear all condensation from the rear window. The wall is a lot closer than you think. I'm so sorry, Herb, but at least you survived with minimal damage.

I have also decided that Dr. Zoidberg is my favorite character. "Robot".

I feel for Leela.

Even though Bender is my favorite character on the show.

We tested out my friend's in-car GPS navigator this weekend in San Francisco. We tried to argue with it, we really did. It turned out that it really was more efficient to take 280 from 101 entering the city. Also, we really were on track to get back onto 101 from the financial district until we got in the wrong lane. Then, we really did have to take 10th to get to 101.

If only they would perfect this for those of us who have no depth perception. Detailed instructions would be really handy for parallel and rear-in parking. "Turn right...a little more...now back straight...little more...now pull forward..."

Shows you how fulfilling my job is right now. I've retaught myself to parallel park in recent weeks, and just today, I have begun perfecting rear-in parking, something I was never taught in the first place.

Wait a minute.

I've set a bad precedent at work. Not only do they think I know stuff, they think I know everything about machine administration. So why would this one guy (who holds a PhD and has used Linux longer than I have) come to me with the following dialogue?

Him: I can't log on to this machine with my user account.
Me: Can you ping the machine?
Him: Yes. And the root password works just fine. It's just my user account.

Duh. You log in as root and reset your password. It doesn't take a PhD to figure that out. They don't pay me nearly enough. Apparently I've gotten so good they've gotten soft.

I'll stop the ego trip now.

Queer Eye for the Cubicle Guy

I think they should do this. I want to see what they would do with the grey walls, dusty monitors, bedroom slippers, holey shirts, and the shirts that never change.

Why can't cars be like cell phones?

I don't know anything about cars, but I like to whine about them anyway. I guess I should really learn more about cars.

For cell phones, you pay a flat price for the phone and you subscribe to a service plan based on the number of minutes you think you will use. You are responsible for charging your own phone and getting insurance for it, if you so desire. The phones have warranties in case the battery explodes or something. When the phone gets really old, say, as much as a whole year old, some people who are still happy will hang on to their old phones, and other people will want to upgrade.

So why won't this work with cars? Couldn't you pay a flat price for the car and sign on to a service plan based on the number of miles you drive each month? The price of the service plan would include regular maintenance. The car company could call you in periodically to have the service done. They could estimate the schedule based on your service plan and check the odometer against the expected usage. You, of course, would be responsible for the occasional recharge (gas).

Of course this is more expensive, in much the same way (but with major differences) land lines cost less than cell phones. But I wonder if there are many people who would rather do this than be surprised when they run out of washer fluid.