Closet Extremist

Just a general update...

So...what's been going on Johnny? Well I'm glad you asked. So here's the 411...

A few day's ago, I resumed an old bad habit ie: I chew my cuticles. I know it's a bad habit, but I just can't seem to stop. Well I inadvertantly decided to gnaw on my injured finger, and realized that I couldn't feel it. At all. Hell, I knew that I'd cut it pretty frickin' deep, and I was aware that I'd "knicked a nerve" but I didn't think it was something as bad as losing all the feeling in the tip of my index finger. Ah Crap, I guess I'll just have to live with it. However...today it seems that some of the sensation has actually returned. Whoopee! I may actually heal yet.

After this morning's Safety Meeting, ford stopped me and said that his son had a couple of Nissan Pickup's that he was going to haul off this evening, and I should stop by after work. There was no way that I was going to let an opportunity to get ahold of another truck like I'd had slip by, so I dropped in on him. I found out that his boy had already promised them to someone else, but we decided to call on him anyway and check out his transmission shop that's in it's final construction phase. We eased on over there, and took a gander at things. Sjhops comin' on nice, but what floored me was the trucks. One was a two wheel drive, and the other was a four-by-four. They both were the same ignorant Burnt Orange color that my last one was. It was surreal. I just lost my other truck, and then I find two more. Freaky.

Work's been allright lately, But there's a few snags. We're kinda doing an anti-modernization on this 10-year-old Dover. You see, we are taking the existing system and merely adding a few components to it, along with a rudimentary software upgrade. We also added an additional landing, and that's where all the problems stem from. The old software was only equipped to handle a total of seven floors, but now there's eight. We have a piece of software installed on an ancient laptop (a 486 that's overclocked up to 50 screaming megahertz, Windows 3.1 straight up (not 3.11 or 3.14...3.1), obviously not the latest and/or greatest) but it is only capable of recognizing a 7 floor setup. The new software for the elevator mainboard was installed by taking out four ROM chips, and installing new ones, so if you were to say that this is a rudimentary control system for this elevator, you'd have a positive penchant for understatement. The old laptop can interface with the new chips, but is completely incapable of recognizing the eighth landing. I bring it home and attempt to do a software upgrade on it. I use all my year's experience as a software technician to bring about the transition from v1.8 to v4.2 of the interface software, but to no avail...and now the original software is boned. We've got some newer laptops that have a different tool on them, but none of them will establish communication with the old board. Sure, we've got all the new bells and whistles installed, and everything is wired up and functional, but we can't turn it loose because we're unable to configure the new program properly. The elevator doesn't know where it is in the hoistway, so none of the hall calls or car calls will respond. Hopefully a way to talk to this elevator is provided soon, or this job will be physically complete, but unable to function at all. I'm sure we'll come up with something.

So tonight, Jennifer (My roommate's SO) started drinking a little early, and decided to get "lippy" with me. It's all in fun though, and it's a way that we decompress from just everything that people deal with on a daily basis. Since I went and looked at trucks, I almost wound up late for dinner, so she started giving me crap about that. We kept on bantering back and forth through the evening until things finally escalated to the physical. (backstory: just like all women, she's been obsessing about her weight. She put on a few pounds during the holiday season, and has been complaining about it. Although she was a few pounds lighter five months ago, at the time she was miserable and possibly shopping for another man. now she's back up to her "fighting weight", and that tells me things are much better for her emotionally.) She orderred me from her sight as I'd stepped into the kitchen to grab another beer, and me being an obstinate sort, I decide to stand my ground and talk some trash. She didn't do anything until I walked back into my living room. I decided that "I'd like a bourbon just now" and attempted to go back into the kitchen for some ice. She decided that it was time for a good old-fashioned shoving match in the doorway, and I'm alway's game. She's barefoot, and I'm in socks, so I started to slide under the pressure. Taht's when I couldn't stop myself from quipping "No fair! You threw your weight into it!" I hope her hand is okay in the morning, as she cuffed me mercilessly about the head and shoulders for a good ten minutes. Sure, I deserved it, and it was worth it to "get off a good one" on a friend.

I've been remiss here lately in spending time with my parents, but I'm proud to say taht I got a chance to stop by and spend a half-hour with my Momma and get caught up on things in their life. It was good to spend some time with her, and I need to get back around there when Dad's not at work so I can see him. I realized shortly after I'd left, that I forgot to tell her something, so if you're reading (Dad or Mom)..."I Love You."

I guess that brings us up to speed, and I've left out quite a bit for the sake of (cough) brevity. Alas, having a "life" does affect my blogging, but I'll not trade any of it for the world.

Posted by Johnny - Oh at January 30, 2006 10:28 PM | TrackBack