D0dN

We have a policy at my company: No cameras allowed.
It’s a pretty clear policy, fairly unambiguous: No cameras are allowed. If it is a camera, it’s not allowed. Because cameras, of any sort, aren’t allowed.

We got ourselves another noob today, some fellow from one of ours sister companies. Visiting until Friday, doing some research into some project or another. Nothing too major, but because he is who he is, and he’s working on what he’s working on, the powers that be thought it’d be a great idea to do whatever was needed to allow him to bring his company laptop with him, so he’d have something to work on.

Well, he did. He was just about to come on up, whens someone decided to ask him – one last time (making it a total of three times since he arrived on property) if he had any cameras, or camera phones. Well, no – but he did have a webcam in his company laptop.
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When the hell did this happen? When did we, as a society, decide to drop the “e” from the word axe? How the hell long has this been going on, and why was I not informed?

Ax? Really? Is that a word we actually want to use? It looks wrong, too short and, well, kind of silly.

I’m sorry, people, but I refuse to go along with this insanity.

Sometimes, words cannot describe the insanity, the stupidity, the ignorance.

This is one of those times.

We’re getting all sorts of new folks into the office – so it’s drop everything and get them situated time! Only, we’re not sure where they are going to be working, or what they might actually need, or if we have a space for them, so don’t hurry to fast! It’s still super important, so work on it, but since we don’t actually have the information needed, don’t work on it too hard! Make progress, but we can’t tell you how!

Oh, and the one that was supposed to start today, and that everything else had to be put on hold for so that they would be ready to roll once they walked in the door? Yeah – they aren’t working here anymore. Turns out, they are Canadian, so we had to escort them off site.

Not much to report, at the moment.
Work is still work – fraught with problems and peril, and attempts to sort things out with little budget or direction.

Spending my free time either playing Star Trek Online, or… Well, playing Star Trek Online. Nadia and I still go out and do things, like see Blue Man Group or watch movies, or maybe even just walk around Town Square, but mostly I’m playing STO. I’m trying not to get hooked, but I think I’m failing.

I want to get back into writing again, either short stories or maybe a more reliable comic. I’ve got my fancy tablet, and I think I might even have just enough talent to make it on the internets, but it’s the ideas I’m running low on.

I’m reading more, although there’s not been anything that’s grabbed my attention like the Percy Jackson series in a little while. I think I’m nearing time for my semi-annual Hitch-Hiker’s Guide re-read, and that’s always fun.

A Fine MMO

The future.

Star Trek Online (or, more simply, STO) is a game I’ve been following with much anticipation since it was first announced back in 2004, and then again when it was “reveled” – as such – by Cryptic at the Las Vegas convention in 2008. Shoot, I still have (my much too large) t-shirt they handed out at that event.

I was enthralled during the sneak-peak held at the 2009 Star Trek Vegas con, and thanks to Nadia, was able to both talk to some of the developers and get into the early invite only beta.

A beta that I played, off and on, both on my highly underpowered Macbook, and my highly overpowered iMac. I then transitioned to the open beta, again playing, learning and looking for bugs – of which there were many. I looked forward to the early head-start, which kicked off (barely) last Friday.

Which brings me to today – launch day, zero hour. When the servers are finally thrown open to the masses, to crash and – eventually – stand tall as a game others can enjoy for at least a couple years to come.

What do I think of this game, having two years of passive interest, and several months of play? Well, I bought the lifetime subscription, if that’s any sort of answer for you. Read the rest of this entry →