Alright, this is getting a bit ridiculous.
Background:
Linux describes two things. Linux first describes a kernel, the very root of an operating system. A kernel establishes communication between the hardware and the software. Linux can also describe an entire operating system running the Linux kernel. The reason for this double meaning is due to the laziness of people. The proper term for the latter is linux distribution or linux distro for short; a distribution of softwares making a complete (or mostly complete) operating system.
So are you fugging kidding me:
It doesn’t aggravate me that its a religion based distro. I mean sure I’ll question what makes Christians different aside from getting saved because they’ve submitted their hearts to Jesus. And I continue to question why the hell if you have that much why do you need to start getting into other people’s kool-aid? The maintainers for Ubuntu Christian Edition have added approximately 15 packages which are probably available through the built-in package manager and changed a whole lot of text and graphics flashing their re-badge. I suppose ultimately it annoys me that this distro is on distrowatch.com; the maintainer is pretty selective about which distros he wants to keep up with or at least used to be. Back in the day he wouldn’t keep up with a particular distro that I favored, so I guess I’m still a little bitter about that.
But if you are truly interested it is available at:http://www.whatwouldjesusdownload.com/christianubuntu/
10 issues to come to terms with before signing a joint 13 month apartment lease.
10) Thought it lowers the rent, having two roommates who are in some way socially inept is not cheap on your sanity.
9) If you have a short fuse you need to immediately find a way out of the lease. I would suggest joining the army, become incarcerated, or fake your death as you don’t want to become incarcerated after killing one of your roommates.
Box cutters, lighters, torches, napalm, butterfly knifes, machetes, and axes should all be stored in a storage unit at least 8 miles from the apartment as it will take about 8 miles before you cool down, sometimes. And optimally on the bottom of all the other boxes as one last attempt to slow you down from doing something incredibly stupid.
7) Opt for a porch so you can pseudo smoke and burn stuff in general to relax.
6) A $14 keyed lock for your room provides piece of mind when you aren’t at the apartment and conserves what little sanity you have left when you are there.
5) Like law school, if you are in a relationship stay in it and if your not keep it that way. Additional drama won’t help your disposition.
4) A theory of ‘well its split three ways’ is not a good conservation method. When everyone/majority in that system has that mentality it only drives the price up.
3) Stolen/borrowed/"ooops I thought it was mine" incidences involving food will cause more uproar then any other misunderstanding. Sleeping with someone else’s ‘girl’ is not as bad as taking cake from a fat kid.
2) A shared internet connection is like a three-some, someone isn’t getting the ass they wanted.
1) Boiling water in an open pan will evaporate away and a closed one will boil out after an explosion of energy, its about how you want to present your discourse.
Indigo Pointe at Western Center
As I’ve previous posted, I’m moving out of the house I’ve been living at for the last 14 months or so. Living at this house has been nice, at least for the most part: 15 MB/ps internet service, every channel available through Charter including the On-Demand channels, garage bay, small walk-in closet, and a static bill for rent and electric of $500/month. Well I’m moving out because I need to consolidate my stuff, it will be closer to a highway/work, and I’ll be moving into an apartment with reduced rent overall.
So back to the post topic. Indigo Pointe was the apartment complex that my other two roommates were very impressed with and overall liked. I check it out, it seemed fairly good. The staff seemed intelligent, the complex was recently built, has largely professional occupancy, has nice amenities, located within 1/2 mile of two major highways, and reduced rent from where I was currently residing. First impressions can be deceiving.
I’m employed by UPS and they are one of many companies that utilize TheWorkNumber.com to handle their employee’s employment verification and salary confirmation. TWN is a company that keeps up to date information on subscribed employers, their employees, and the respective salaries so that other companies such as an apartment complex can verify said employee’s employment with company X.And again I digress, we (Shane, Aaron, and I) decided that moving into Indigo Pointe was the apartment complex we wanted to move to (each with our own reasons) for the 13 month term as per the companies policy. Before we sign the lease agreement Indigo Pointe wanted to verify each of our employment and salary, in case an additional refundable deposit was required and explicitly states in the lease agreement. Aaron and Shane’s were easy to verify as both of their manager just signed a piece of paper claiming they made X amount. Of course with myself working at UPS, Indigo Pointe has to verify my employment via The Work Number rather than my manager. My current manager claimed it was due to liability issues but I usually take what he says with a grain of salt. He tends to say no if he doesn’t know the answer, so aggravating for me because if he says no I’ll ask at least 3 other managers at the hub to get a consensus.Our original move-in date was June 23rd. It was my opinion that if I had paid Indigo Pointe $35 as an application fee, that fee covers my employment verification as well. The sales associate, Dee, was the person in charge of all of dealing with Indigo Pointe. Dee claimed that I had to pay the fee and fax them a copy of TWN’s report on me to them. I told her I thought it was bullshit that I had to do all the leg work to verify my employment and pay the fee. I made it clear that I absolutely disagree with that policy. I might have been a little irate, so she gave me corporate’s number. I called them, explain the story to have the receptionist, who after I finished informed me that I would have to call the regional manager’s office. I call the regional manager, it goes to voicemail, I leave a message and wait 24 hours. After not receiving a call back I call corporate up again and suggest their regional manager is on vacation "Who else can I speak with?" I get the Vice President’s Number. I call it, goes to voicemail, Leave a message, wait about 6 hours, no call back, call them again, voicemail again, wait an hour, call them again, voicemail again, wait 30 minutes, call them again. FINALLY he answers, I inform him I don’t agree with a ‘policy’ one of the offices is upholding, I tell him I already paid an application fee which will cover the employment verification as well, at least the leg work of it. He informs me he will call the office and speak with Dee directly and deal with the issue. So I think I’m in the clear.Today I was curious weather or not we are going to be moving in on the rescheduled July 15th so I call up the office. "Is Dee in, I was curious to know if she had verified my employment." "Oh Dee is not going to be coming in until 10am today. Could I get your number and have her call you back?" "Sure." Dee calls at 10:30am, "Hello" I answer "Hello……………" waiting for me to say something? For some reason she is asking for 30 days worth of pay stubs, I tell her I have direct deposit and don’t keep up with them. "What about a bank statement with the deposits? We are also going to need for you to have your manager sign off on your employment." I’m already on a short fuse because I had to run a errands (legal) in the morning and only got one hour of sleep.
Time for a HUD in the 240SX?
3:14am – I clock out at UPS.
3:38am – A friend text messages me "Dont go driving tonight. My prophetic eyes have kicked in."
3:39am – I call him up and ask him what he means, but ultimately dismiss his warning.4:00am – I get home park the Saturn and get the 240SX out. And go for a drive. Its the first time I’ve driven the car since that mishap the other weekend.
5:28am – I get home and go to sleep.
10:16am – Cingular decides to call me after waiting two day to fix the issue with my phone not getting Voicemail or text messages.
9:09pm – I leave for work in the 240SX.
9:24pm – I’m almost to work and then a rock hits my windshield. A 6 inch impact mark is made just a little off center of the driver side. The rock came off of a semi-truck going the opposite direction. I’m understandably pissed. I yank the e-brake to turn around. I speed to catch up to him. I write down his trailer’s license plate number and then call my mother. I’m not really sure want to do legally (whether or not to file a police report). She says get the license plate, any additional information such as the company name, and that sort of thing.
9:34pm – I’m still following the truck hoping the guy will stop. He is doing about 10 under the speed limit.
9:45pm – We are in Saginaw and practically back to my house. The lanes open up to 4 lanes across and I can now get to his side. I pull to the side and then we hit a red light. I lean over to the passenger side and try to write down as much information that is on the side of the truck. I sort of notice a SUV behind me and has their high beams on intentionally directed at my side mirrors. I sort of blow it off as I’m still not happy that my windshield being broken. The light turns green and we start going. When I sit up I notice a Saginaw SUV officer behind me with his lights on. "Well this isn’t good."
9:47pm – I pull over into a parking lot. Another officer joins him in a separate car. Me being all to familar with this song. Headlights off, Parking lights on, Interior lights on, both windows down, engine off, keys on dash or passenger seat, license and insurance already out.
9:48pm – The officer doesn’t waste too much time getting to my driver door. My blood pressure and adrenal glads are on full blast (going sideways in corners hasn’t got me this high). I’m having issues speaking. The officer asks me something pretty vague like "What is going on?" I try to basically respond: ‘I was following that truck that just passed. The rock…a rock was flung from his truck. I turned around and followed him here.’ Of course I’m riled up and unintentionally yelling and tripping on my words. During this time the officer is trying to check the whites of my eyes for drug usage, I can read this and say "No officer I’m not on drugs nor do I use them. I’m aggravated that a rock fell of that truck and damaged my car." He checks out the windshield for the third time, I guess to be responsive to what I’m saying, as I’m not entirely rational at the moment. He tells me the truck driver was concerned, he claimed a white car was trying to run him off the road, and was driving aggressively around him enough to call 911. I claimed I wasn’t driving aggressively, that I attempted to get his attention was unsuccessful and was going to wait him out, I did admit to pulling in front of him and pulling over but there was a 50 foot gap when I did that. Obviously he isn’t going to totally believe someone who seems hopped up on coke. Him and I are pretty much done saying what we want to say. He tells me he is going back to his car , I give him my insurance card and license. He walks away. I notice a backup officer as he is leaving. The officer also verbally notes my expired inspection sticker, I acknowledge it in an "I’m going to get a ticket" sort of way. After the officer is back in his vehicle I close my eyes in an attempt to lower my heart rate/calm down but am unsuccessful.
9:54pm – While I’m sitting there trying to lower my heart rate, I recall a ticket I received a while back in Saginaw and I hope that my lawyer has taken care of it. As the last time I heard from the lawyer in regards to this ticket he was in the court and claimed that he hadn’t received the paper work in the mail clearing me of the charges. So I was thinking: "Great the officer has ran my license, found a warrant, and I’m getting a ticket for expired inspection sticker. This has been an expensive night to work go to work on a non-scheduled day."
9:59pm – He comes back to the car with no ticket. I’m relieved. He explains that a rock is a road hazard and legally isn’t the truck driver’s fault. We exchange our words, I’m much more calm. Tells me to have a good night and leaves.
10:19pm – I’m driving to work for the second time tonight. And then I recall that text message I received less than 20 hours ago. "It seems that bastard was right."
Quote of the day.
"For all of those who think there is something wrong with you, there probably is, they just haven’t named it yet."
Transferring from within.
Finally I’m transferring from the document sort that I’ve been working for 13 months to a courier position in downtown Fort Worth. I bid for the position on June 15th, I was starting to get discouraged due to the what I thought was a long time to process the job bid. So I called up the manager directly and asked if I had the job and when I could start. He claimed I should get the acceptance letter by Monday of next week and be able to transfer by July 20th. I’m so excite, something rare for me (at least if its not car related). The best part of this transfer is I’ll be getting a decent amount of hours (30, so its technically still considered part time. And being part time is temporary, in August I will get full time hours if I choose), increased pay, and won’t have to listen to a bunch of cranky old ladies up beyond their bedtime.
Two pyromanics on a day when its acceptable.
A friend at work owns a fireworks stand in Cottondale, TX. I told her I’d drop by with my brother so he could stock up for a year. I picked up him at my mother’s house, I was sort of surprised when my mother was in the kitchen. I was under the impression she would be out of town for three weeks to go to Florida. So anyways we are driving out to Cottondale, which is BFE further than Saginaw, Azle, and Rhome. I was cruising at 85 and my brother notices and asks "Do you ever do the speed limit anymore since you bought that Valentine One?" I replied "I thought I was, the V1 hasn’t made any noise yet." We showed up and got hooked up. Filled a box with cardboard and gunpowder. It took 4 hours to blow it all up with three people; so much for a year’s worth.