I thought it stood for “Girl In File” so of course it's pronounced …

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

The three letters “G,” “I” and “F.” Together, they represent an image format, but there is some controversy over how it's pronounced.

Tom Scott presents the arguments for the two ways GIF is pronounced, but I like Mike Rugnetta's take which is a completely different pronounciation based on “ghoti” (the alternate spelling for “fish”).

Umopapisdn

I neglected to mention I received the security hardware token from the Corporate Overlords. It's the size of a USB thumb drive but it's not USB. It's just a simple device with an LCD screen and a green button. You press the green button and a number shows up on the screen and that's your “password” for the moment.

Pretty simple and I've used it once so far to log in.

But when I went to submit my timecard for today, I had to reauthenticate. No big deal, just hit the button—“12h522h“.

Odd, I thought, I thought this was numeric only. Perhaps a few segments are burned out? So I type “1265226” and no go. I try again with the same value and again, no go. By the time I want to type it in a third time, the token went blank. I hit the button and get … a backwards “J”? “6” maybe? What is going on?

A few moments later I get a sequence of numbers with a backwards “J“ and an “h”.

It takes me a few more minutes to realize I'm holding the security token upsidedown.

Sigh.

There are three graphic symbols on the token along one edge. With the token oriented one way, the three graphic symbols spell out a word. Flip the token upsidedown and the three graphic symbols spell out a different word. And what's amazing is that one of the symbols reads as a “E” one way, and as a “D” in another.

Yeah, the symbols are that abstracted.

Boy do I feel stupid!

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over getting the same result, but expecting a different one, then does that make me insane for expecting the popup window will stop popping up, or Microsoft Windows for keeping popping up the popup window?

I turned on the Corporate Overlords' Windows 10 managed laptop to enter my time for today when a notice popped up about Adobe® Flash® being out of date and that I should uninstall it. At least, that's what I think it said—the text was a bit too small to read easily (and if I'm complaining about the text being too small it's small). So I click okay as a reflex, I'm asked to input my password (as most systems do today) and then a second later, I get this small popup window:

You must have administrative privileges to install Adobe® Flash® Player. Please log on with administrative privileges and try again.

Oh, that's right—managed laptop. Ah well. I click the only button on the popup window, only to have another small popup window:

You must have administrative privileges to install Adobe® Flash® Player. Please log on with administrative privileges and try again.

Yeah, I don't have administrative rights. And even if I did, I didn't even have a chance to enter my administrative rights. I click the only button on the popup window only to have another small popup window:

You must have administrative privileges to install Adobe® Flash® Player. Please log on with administrative privileges and try again.

Sigh.

I can see where this isn't going.

Time to reboot the computer.

I just love this managed laptop.

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

I wonder what the difference between Boomer Darkwave and Gothic Bubblegum pop really is?

Two weeks ago I mixed up a music group name with its album name. The only text on the front of the CD is “GREATER CALIFORNIA” with nary a mention of the group name. Along the spine is “GREATER CALIFORNIA ★ SOMBER WULITZER” but since I am unwise in the ways of CD labelling, I mixed up the names.

Oops.

It's a pity though, because I think “Somber Wurlitzer” is a much better group name than “Greater California.”

But it does appear I've introduced Greater California to a couple of people. One person described it as “what if nostalgic boomers had invented Darkwave” and the second person said “if you think the theme for Trailer Park Boys is good, you'll probably like this. I can't give a more glowing commendation than that!” And that's great! Everybody has different tastes. It's just that I didn't like Greater California all that much. My initial reaction calling it “Gothic Bubblegum pop” was my honest reaction to it.

Monday, October 12, 2020

We should be good to go now … I hope

The technician arrived early this morning (wow!) and fixed the issue with the DSL (again!) and the issue explains the confused response about it being fine. The DSLAM was fine. The line wasn't cut. This time, the wiring behind the faceplace in the wall was shorting out.

Good lord—we've had the trifecta of issues with DSL this past month—the interior wiring, exterior wiring and issues with the Monopolistic Phone Company network!

Sheesh!

Hopefully this means everything is fine and we won't have any further issues with th@ D ASDqwe2893 lkas f
NO CARRIER
OK

Saturday, October 10, 2020

It sucks that Boca Raton, Florida is way out in the sticks

Appointment updated to be on Monday, between 8:00 am and 8:00 pm. Love that pinpoint accuracy there. But at least it's earlier than the 15^TH.

We then had a call later because the Monopolistic Phone Company thought the issue was resolved (from my perspective, they really don't want to send out a technician—or the left hand doesn't know what the left pinky is doing), but no, it's still down.

Friday, October 09, 2020

I don't care if it's a first world problem—it's annoying and I want it fixed

This is silly. The DSL is down. Again!

And the first available apppointment is the 15^TH.

On top of this, we've already burned through our initial cell phone data plan with the Oligarchist Cell Phone Companies, and the updated cell phone plan with the Oligarchist Cell Phone Companies. We don't want the “unlimited data plan” because we (normally) don't need the “unlimited data plan” (and man, I found out the hard way that YouTube burns through data plans like you wouldn't believe).

So now we're adding data to our cell phone data plan 1GB at a time … Grrrrrrrr …

Wednesday, October 07, 2020

A decade of working for The Man

I've been working at The Corporation now for ten years. My, how the time has flown.

At the five year mark, I received a hefty slab of glass with the anniversary etched inside. It's quite nice and quite hefty—enough that you woudn't want to be on the receiving end of it if thrown. For the ten year mark, I received the the 8″ Pinnacle Globe from Glassical Designs. It's not as heavy as the five year piece of glass, but it is much nicer in design.

Also included were gift cards worth $250, which is a very nice touch.

The Boston Diaries

Wednesday, October 21, 2020