PEBKAC....

The past few days of work have been hellish.

We started the week with some security patches being pushed out to users, patches which caused machines to lock up and our network to run slowly. We had two mornings of heavy queing on account of this.

Add to the mix the onslaught of the Netsky virus. This additional problem was compounded by (let's face facts) stupid end users. The e-mail server was bogged down by not only normal mail and the mail generated by the virus itself, but by end users e-mailing each other basically asking "What did you send me? Why did you send me this?"

It's been a real case of PEBKAC.

Because of this, we're being asked to come in an hour early tomorrow. Thirty minutes definitely would not bother me. But when you're talking an hour, some comp. time would be appreciated. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees.

Nothing brightens my afternoon like being asked to work an extra hour with nothing in recompense for it.

New and "improved...."

This article was pretty interesting. I find it a little unnerving, though, that some of history's greatest writers fare so poorly when judged against the test's criteria.

I'm glad Wisconsin prefers the ACT.

Litigious....

Read this, and then contact your senator and urge him or her to support S. 1805.

Irony....

This is pretty ironic.

And I'm linking to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel because the Madison-based Capitol Times sucks.

Now entering geekdom....

On Saturday Maryanne and I invited some friends over, Jenni and Jeff, and Eric and Tina. The six of us entered the world of geekdom and started a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Laying all the small talk aside and taking care of last minute details relatively early, we were able to play for about eight hours straight, with maybe an hour total of breaks in between.

When all was said and done and our guests had left, Maryanne looked at me and said, "If I tell you something, do you promise not to be...." It sounded like she was reluctant to say something. She finished the sentence: "...surprised?"

"Sure," I replied.

"I had a lot of fun tonight."

I was glad she had fun, and finally had a good experience with D&D, even though she was a little ashamed to admit it. As she keeps saying, I'll turn her into a geek yet.

Gnarly!

Take the 80's Lyrics Quiz. I scored 94 on my first run through.

Burnination....

Burnination strikes at the campus of the University of South Carolina. Trogdor wins as write-in for Preston Hall first-floor representative.

Man of La Mancha....

I started reading Cervantes' Don Quixote late last week. It's the Motteux translation, and Knopf's Everyman's Library edition. It's been a slow read so far.

Comments....

Comments have returned, this time hosted by HaloScan. They seem much more stable and professional, and I probably should have picked them from the beginning. I'm hoping they're more reliable than the previous two attempts.

Bizarre....

This is pretty bizarre, even for the whack-jobs at PETA.

Lacking credentials....

Things heat up in the Sturgeon Bay mayoral race when the incumbent is forced to come clean.

We have a winner!

A Green Bay girl finds one of the Great ColorQuest M&M contest bags and wins $20,000 and a Volkswagen Beetle.

Done already?

The Jungle Book was indeed a quick read. I should have brought something else with me.

Sneaky....

Another whack-job drought ends as PETA makes the news again, this time in a flap over the Atkins diet. Remember to eat more meat.

Nameless....

I finished reading Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage yesterday. It was a quick read, being around 170 pages or so, and since it was a Reader's Digest edition, it was illustrated. It was good, but unusual in that the author did not refer to the characters by their names.

Today I started on Rudyard Kiplings The Jungle Book. It's the Everyman's Library edition, and illustrated. I also expect it to be a quick read.

"Nobody's fault but mine...."

Wisconsin law-makers eye making people take responsibility for their own actions instead of being able to blame fast food chains and other restaurants.

Knobs is one....

A Washington-state 3rd grade teacher uses cribbage to teach her students better mental math skills. I wonder if any of the kids has gotten the 29-point hand?