Please, Oh Please, Shoot My Aching Toes!

The work Christmas party went quite
loverlyly. ScoobyDee did an awsome job with the planning and execution, so
full kudos go out to her (especially since she didn’t laugh at my other
pants). We (the dev team) got the boss a gift certificate for some fancy
schmancy resteraunt in Chilliwack, which he appreciated, I hope. Especially
since he was bitching at us earlier that day about us not getting him
anything! So :-P~

There was drinking (I had to drive….), dancing (poor DJ didn’t have much to
work with (we’re geeks!), and had to deal with requests for such greats as the
Imperial March from Star Wars and Mr. Tamborine Man by William Shatner) and
good times (we as a department got Muckhead tickets to a Vancouver hockey game
in appreciation for his bringing in of sweets and toys all december.

And this morning I woke up knowing that I had to go christmas shopping. Oh
the pain! Oh the horror! I maxed out my credit card, and got it all done in
one shot. I don’t think I missed anyone, and even got a couple of things for
yon random gifts (people coming to the door, people I missed, etc. I’m just
glad it’s all over. Course, wrapping is next, but that’ll come tomorrow. My
stuff is all still out in the car because quite frankly, after wading through
the parking lots, the lines, the absolute morons, I didn’t have the energy. I
didn’t manage to find Firefly a zebra so it can all stay outside.

Among the things I got was a new phone. Yea, I know, it’s horrible to get
something for yourself while you’re supposed to be shopping for others, but
apparently AT&T owes me a “free” upgrade
every two years. Course, it’s not free, but if you believe what they say, I
got a $400 phone for $50. It’s smaller too, and has nifty things like games,
and ringtones. I just have to get an infrared port going somewhere so I can
sync it up with my PC, and not have the danger of loosing my phone numbers.

I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. Future shop employs morons
of the highest caliber. I was in there looking for something, found it, but
there were no boxes of the actual item around, only a demo. So I stood
around, tempted to scream out “Does anyone work here!?“,
until a PFY (pimply faced youth) approached and asked if he could help. The
conversation went something like this:

• Arc: I’d like to buy this please. [indicating what I wanted]
  
• PFY: Actually sir, that price is only on the demo unit.
  
• A: Ok, then I’d like to buy that.
  
• P: You realize that it doesn’t come with any of the accessories.
  
• A: sigh Ok, then I’d like to buy the boxed version.
  
• P: Well, we don’t have any of those left.
  
• A: biggersigh Well, what else do you have that also does
  [secret]?
  
• P: We have that one, that one and that one. [indicating them on the
  display]
  
• A: Hmmm…. [Looking at each [secret], comparing prices, features,
  look and feel]
  
• A: Ok, I’ll take this one. [not exactly what I wanted, but that’s ok]
  
• P: Actually sir, I have to tell you that we are out of these models.
  [indicating the three models that were identified
  earlier]
  
• A: And how did you expect to buy something that you were out of?
  Don’t you think it might have been a good idea to tell me this earlier?
  [angrily]
  
• P: We were giving out rainchecks…
  
• A: Uh huh
  
• P: Were you still interested?
  
• A: No. [walks away]
  

The one thing that kept me sane was that at one point I was at the top of the
new parking structure at Seven Oaks Mall, and I mean the very top level, and I
happened to look towards Mount Baker and saw a wonderous sight. I guess the
sun and clouds just reached the right place, and Baker, and the mountains
surrounding it just looked awsome. I must have stood there for a few minutes
just staring out and looking at the skyline. Kept me from thinking “this
would be a great place to bring a high powered rifle and a scope” as well
(I’m Kidding!).

Random Perl Trick of the Year:

This sent to me by Cuv:

$|=@=$=”\rJust another Perl hacker,\n”;chop;s/${(a..

z)[rand 26]}/#/ig&&(@=($,@))while/\w/;sleep print for@