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04/02/2004 Entry: "The story so far ... random tidbits from today"

I have spent a lot of today catching up at work. Man, all hell broke loose, but thankfully it, wasn't my department :). But it did fill my e-mail box. I recall a similar incident with a former company where I did QA for their software. After a lot of issues with the Apple folks, we had been testing a Mac version of our software. We had gotten to Beta 10, which had a serious bug. Like made 1/3rd of the software unusable. We sent back the reports, and they sent us Beta 12. What happened to Beta 11? Turns out, some genius in marketing pressed a zillion copies of this untested Beta 11, and released it as a "Preview Copy" at Macworld Expo. The president of our company was doing the demo in our booth and ... well, it didn't work. Reviews were terrible. Heads rolled. Dude, QA exists for a reason, you know? Luckily the FDA doesn't listen to, "Oh, just pass it!" or we'd have the same problems that Great Britain had in the 1960s with thalidomide.

Christine and Debbie spoke with Fran last night, and he's in the Hospice Nursing facility. He loves it, although he's a bit pressed for money at the time because it's going to take at least 3 weeks for Social Security to kick in (the Nursing home takes in most of that, but Fran gets a stipend to spend on whatever). We're going to call him every other night to check in on him. We're not losing touch with him again.

My tomato plants are growing real strong. They are about to outgrow the larger peat pots I just replanted them in, but the weather has been flaky, and I am afraid of leaving them outside just yet. I don't want them to freeze to death. My catnip needs re-potted now, but I have to find time to do it. The Cambridge flowers definitely need replanting, and I think I'll make a shallow cardboard box (I have spares), and make a planting bed I can just cut apart and drop into place.

The whole AC/Heating unit in the guest room has died (it has its own, self-contained system apart from the rest of the house). I figured there was something wrong with it last year, because it when I tried to heat the guest room, all it did was heat at max 100% or not at all. My SETI array has kept the guest room above freezing, and I must have saved over $40/month of electrical bills this winter. But when Debbie stayed this week, we just put in a space heater so it was human-tolerable. Luckily, when the main AC died last year, I think I found a good, reliable repair company, so I'll probably use them again.

Tomorrow, we are going to Westerport in the far western end of the Maryland panhandle to drop Debbie back off at her apartment, so there's another 3 hour car ride up, and 3 hours back. Bleah. Christine wants to take the green Saturn Wagon, so there a chance we'll get stuck out there, since it's so old now, with almost 100k miles on it, and has a tire that was recently repaired (not replaced). Considering our luck, I'd say there's a good chance we'll get stuck somewhere, so I'm going to bring a survival kit with us (blankets, extra food, flashlight, first aid kit, etc.). We can't drive the blue Saturn SC3, because it needs a serpentine belt replaced (which we were going to do weeks ago, but then all this crap happened), and despite its rear seating, the cramped conditions back there make it impractical to cram poor Debbie (or anyone) back there for a 3-hour trip, anyway. It's a coupe, which we got for the mileage for Christine going back and forth to Baltimore, so we didn't care about the "roadster style" seating, really. If I could afford it, I'd exchange what we have for a Toyota Prius (hybrid car) and a Saturn Vue (SUV). I'll let you know if I win the Lotto.

It looks like instead of New Orleans this year, Christine and I are going to Vegas for our 15th anniversary. Our friend Tracie is getting married the same week, and finally settled on a place. This solves a few problems, money-wise, because it will combine two trips into one. It was going to be in Upstate New York later this year, but due to poor support of her relatives, she decided it would be cheaper to have it in Vegas. So the third week in June, we'll be in Vegas. We'll watch Tracie get married, then celebrate her birthday, then Christine and I will celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary, and it will be like one big party. Watch for us on Taxicab Confessions... :)

Oh, and one topic I avoided that's been in the news: gay marriage. You know what? Let them marry! For goodness sake, get your mind out of the junior high bathroom, and move on with your life. Seeing those people line up outside the California courthouses was touching and inspirational. These people love each other. Their marriages will last more than most hetero marriage licenses made in the same time period, I'll tell you that. If you want to "preserve the sanctity of marriage," why not spend money of programs that prevent spousal abuse, curb high divorce rates, and improve school education. You people worry about gay people "having an agenda." Well, I worry more about the Christian Republican Right having an agenda. Gay people can't recruit "new members" any more than left-handed people can make right-handed people southpaws. You can't make people gay, it's not a choice. They are born that way for a reason, and only God can judge them based on their character. Not you. The Bible contains 6 admonishments to homosexuals and 326 admonishments to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean God doesn't love heterosexuals, God just thinks they need more supervision. Lay off. God is watching, and doesn't like it when you use God's name to do evil.

I saw plenty of that in Jacksonville.

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