One of these days I’ll stay put.
New blog is here. http://redsquirreldesigns.net/blog/
Moving Again
March 23, 2009 at 7:32 pm (Ramblin)
My new obsession
March 16, 2009 at 5:16 pm (Crochet)
Chibi-Kraken, who dwells in the deep part of the tub. Dragging helpless rubber duckies down to a watery grave, and hiding the soap under your feet. Or CK for short.
BANKING CRISIS IN TERMS YOU CAN UNDERSTAND
March 16, 2009 at 3:58 pm (wtf?)
Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Berlin . In order to increase sales, she decides to allow her loyal customers – most of whom are unemployed alcoholics – to drink now but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).
Word gets around and as a result increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi’s bar.
Taking advantage of her customers’ freedom from immediate payment constraints, Heidi increases her prices for wine and beer, the most-consumed beverages. Her sales volume increases massively
A young and dynamic customer service consultant at the local bank recognizes these customer debts as valuable future assets and increases Heidi’s borrowing limit.
He sees no reason for undue concern because he has the promissory notes of Heidi’s customers as collateral.
At the bank’s corporate headquarters, expert bankers transform these customer assets into DRINKBONDS, ALKBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then sold and traded on markets worldwide. No one really understands what these abbreviations mean and how the securities are guaranteed. Nevertheless, as their prices continuously climb, the securities become top-selling items.
One day, although the prices are still climbing, a risk manager of the bank, (subsequently fired due to his negativity), decided that the time has come to start demanding payment from Heidi for the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi’s bar.
Unfortunately Heidi’s customers cannot pay back any of their debts to Heidi.
Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations to the bank and claims bankruptcy.
DRINKBOND and ALKBOND drop in price by 95%. PUKEBOND performs better, stabilizing in price after dropping by only 80%.
The suppliers of Heidi’s bar, having granted her generous payment terms and also having invested in the securities are faced with a new and desperate situation. Her wine supplier claims bankruptcy and her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor.
The bank is saved by the Government following dramatic round-the-clock consultations by leaders from the governing political parties. They came up with a miraculous rescue plan that saved the bank.
The funds required for this massive rescue are obtained by levying a new tax on all the non-drinkers.
Turmoil, or lack thereof.
March 6, 2009 at 6:53 pm (Work)
Past couple of weeks at work were interesting. We had a coworker here who tried to boss us around, cherry-picked out the easy ads to pad her numbers and generally was an annoying person to work with. We complained to the owner about her and he decided to move her from the front desk and put her in a spot where she was to work on just ads all day. She refused. Basically said I’m only moving if I no longer work here. Things were a little tense that week. The next week we complained about her again to “The Boss’ Wife”. We know that TBW didn’t like her very much and the feeling was mutual. Well that night TBW posted an ad on craigslist for her job. Boss claims he didn’t know about it until after the fact, if he did or not, I don’t care. Fact is we know that she checks craigslist constantly and saw the ad. This was a tuesday, day before deadline. So she comes in Wednesday early, does her job and then leaves. It was rather quiet. No drama, nothing. She did however, pack up her desk. Thursday was spent going over resumes and then friday was spent interviewing. By friday evening we had a replacement. She was called on saturday and informed that she was fired.
Here’s the fun part.
Monday the new girl started and as I was training her, the Former coworker shows up, late as usual. She sees the new girl at her desk and asks what is going on. I tell her that the Boss called her on saturday about it and that she no longer has a job here. She claims she never got the message (yeah right, who in this day and age does not check their messages). she then collects her mouse that she left behind and proceeds to lecture us on how the Boss cannot be trusted, he will lie to your face, etc. etc. Then she leaves.
But wait, it gets better.
The new girl “hit the ground running” so to speak. We had a 48 page paper this week, we had been running 40 pages for the past 3 months. The new girl did twice as many ads than the Former Coworker AND the paper pretty much got out on time. Boss and his wife both commented on how easy this transition was compared to past situations and how we did a great job considering the amount of ads we had in this week.
All in all, I think it was a good thing.
Crochet
March 3, 2009 at 3:13 pm (Crochet)
Okay mom, gimme grandma’s hooks. I finally got it figured out!
Lomography Effect
February 22, 2009 at 5:24 pm (photos)
Sumbled across this tutorial on how to add a Lomo Effect to my photos.
A better ten commandments
February 18, 2009 at 1:46 pm (Ramblin)
Swiped from cajunvegan
1. Thou shall not worry, for worry is the most unproductive of all human activities.
2. Thou shall not be fearful, for most of the things we fear never come to pass.
3. Thou shall not cross bridges before you come to them, for no one yet has succeeded in accomplishing this.
4. Thou shall face each problem as it comes. You can only handle one at a time anyway.
5. Thou shall not take problems to bed with you, for they make very poor bedfellows.
6. Thou shall not borrow other people’s problems. They can better care for them than you can.
7. Thou shall not try to relive yesterday for good or ill, it is forever gone. Concentrate on what is happening in your life and be happy now!
8. Thou shall be a good listener, for only when you listen do you hear ideas different from your own. It is hard to learn something new when you are talking, and some people do know more than you do.
9. Thou shall not become “bogged down” by frustration, for 90% of it is rooted in self-pity and will only interfere with positive action.
10. Thou shall count thy blessings, never overlooking the small ones, for a lot of small blessings add up to big ones.
~ Author unknown
25 Things
February 14, 2009 at 1:20 pm (Meme)
I got tagged by David on Facebook and since I did it, I’m posting it here. If you wanna do it that is fine, I’m not tagging anyone.
Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with twenty five random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose twenty five people to be tagged . You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.
01. I hate doing these things
02. I used to draw very well but now I can’t stand doing it.
03. I’m a potato Junkie.
04. I don’t like scalloped potatoes
05. I hate hamburger Helper and would sooner eat my own arm than that stuff.
06. I’m a Geek
07. and a dork.
08. I can’t sing
09. But that doesn’t stop me for singing along in the car with the volume up so loud I can’t hear myself.
10. I love cats
11. I plan on being “that crazy cat lady” when I get old.
12. except I plan on taking better care of them than most crazy cat ladies.
13. I call myself a graphic designer
14. even though I never went to school for it.
15. I get more use out of the camera I bought Devon for xmas than he does.
16. I’m a gadjet fiend.
17. I want an I-pod touch
18. I have very few friends
19. those I do have I’ll bend over backwards for
20. I’ve got a World of Warcraft character that is higher level than any of Devon’s and he has way more time to play than I do.
21. I hate being cold
22. I’m cold right now
23. I have self esteem issues
24. I’m learning about viking runes
25. I blame the internet for contributing to my laziness.
Saga of the water heater
February 12, 2009 at 12:36 pm (Landlord Fun, wtf?)
So the plumber comes out and then his boss to try and figure out what to do. They decide to replace the water heater. The old one is dirty and has NO ventilation. So they are trying to figure out how to ventilate the new one in our fortress of a cinderblock building…. They get ready to leave when Devon asks them, “You do realise that they built the walls around the water heater don’t you?” They look at each other, then at Devon, go back to measure, and sure enough, it’s a 24 inch water heater behind a 20 inch doorway. So today they are going to come with three men to wrestle that bastard out of our apartment and tear up the doorframe for the closet it’s in, in the process.
Day two without hot water…..
Oh and Uncle Rick had his last hip replaced yesterday. He’s doing fine.
Carbon Monoxide
February 11, 2009 at 3:36 pm (Landlord Fun, living in manitou)
Our water heater just got condemned. That means no hot showers for the ENTIRE BUILDING! The tenants upstairs are thrilled. The hot water heater was emitting 200ppm of carbon monoxide. Now I’m waiting to hear back from the landlord about getting it fixed/replaced. Fun fun
And of course Devon makes the comment “Oh no, the water heater is condemned. Now we have to worried about squatters living in it!” The goofball.
