Tech News and Rambling from a Surly Little Bastard…
Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed major problems with Adobe and Macromedia’s websites post-merger? It seems like every time I try to do something on either, the page either just won’t load (some kind of error, 404, etc.), or it takes absolutely forever to load…
I don’t know who’s running IT over there post-merger, but it was obviously the guy from the wrong company…
About 8:30 this morning, I was sitting at my desk at home, working on something for work1. I heard this noise outside, and assumed that it was a delivery truck or something stopped at a neighbor’s house. After 10 to 15 minutes, I decided to go look and see what was making all the noise, since it hadn’t gone away…
Apparently they decided to start paving our road2, so there were two Bobcat-like vehicles tearing up the sides of the road.
So until about 11:30 today, I had a backhoe parked at the end of my driveway, unable to actually go in to work (oh dear!). Try that one next time you’re late for work…
It’s quite odd. For as long as I can remember, being with my Dad meant beer (usually Coors Lite)… by the case. One after another after another, all night long.
And yet when I was with my Mom, there was always a bottle of some type of whine (usually a White Zin) in the fridge, but it would sit there for years on end, unopened.
Then I turned 21, and started drinking at home. It started off with just me, feeling a tad out of place drinking my beer with dinner on a pretty regular basis1. One night I get home and decide to mix it up. There were several bottles of wine accumulating in the fridge2, and I decided to crack one open. My mom comes home just as I’m cleaning up the mess I made from my first attempt at the use of a cork-screw, and asks whether I’m stealing her muscadine wine. I tell her I’m not sure, I didn’t pay attention, so she takes a sip of mine and tells me nope, that’s not it. She proceeds to open another bottle and pours me a glass of it to taste, along with one for herself. Not bad, I thought… While I finish the rather unpleasant glass I’d poured from the first bottle, she finishes her glass of the Muscadine and pours another. On with dinner and a typical night…
The next night, we repeat almost the same process. I had enjoyed the Muscadine wine from the previous night, and decided that after a rough day, I deserved another glass. She comes home while I’m sitting in the recliner in the living room listening to some soft jazz3 and sipping my wine and accuses me of drinking up all her Muscadine wine, and proceeds to finish off the bottle herself.
Since then, it’s been an odd progression. Now several nights a week, we’ll each have a glass of wine. Sometimes I’ll substitute mine for something else4, but it’s become a bit of a ritual. Whether anyone else is home or not, we’ll get home after a hard day5 and have a glass or two of wine. We’ve also started buying a variety of wine whenever we’re out. If she happens to run to the grocery store one night, she’ll pick up something that looks appealing. Similarly, if I’m at Greens picking up something6, I’ll check out whatever they have in one of their mid-aisle displays and see what I see that might be good and grab a bottle.
Now, I know a lot of friends whose families are just drinking families. Some are more sophisticated and enjoy a glass or two of wine with dinner after a day at the office. Others are quite a bit more liberal, cracking open a beer as soon as they enter the door and not stopping until bed. Then there are those more conservative7 families (like ours usually was) where alcohol is rarely used8. It’s just been a bit of an adjustment for me, getting used to having someone else in the house drinking.
I suppose I’m just a tad worried. Is this how it starts? Am I slowly on my way to becoming an alcoholic? If it becomes a daily ritual to have a glass (or two, or three) of wine a night, is that the first step? When do you start to worry about your alcohol consumption? When you hit a 6-pack a night or a bottle a night? Two? Three? Or is it more focused on whether or not you could go without it or not? Don’t most alcoholics belive that they could stop drinking on a regular basis if they wanted to?
So tell me… Do you drink on a regular basis? If so, how much? Have you ever felt that you drink too much? Do you think I should be at all worried about my current level of drinking, or do you think it’s a normal level thus-far? Are there indications that I’m crossing the line into alcoholism? I honestly don’t think I am, and don’t think I ever will. Still, being the type of introspective, analytical type of person I am, I constantly wonder about these things. Is it really so bad to need two or three glasses of wine (or beer, etc.) a night to relax after work? I mean, if that’s what it takes to keep from flipping out and making a mistake9, is it really such a bad thing? Sounds more like a bargain to me…
But that’s why I’m here, pouring out my slightly-inebriated thoughts on my blog… I know there are far greater sources of wisdom out there than I can offer, so I ask you… What do you think?
September 24th, 2006 represented my two-year bloggaversary.
Somewhat disappointing, in two years, this blog has seen 450 posts and 689 comments. That comes out to .616 posts per day. Since the first 6 months or so of my blog’s life didn’t see much action, that’s not too bad I suppose. If you eliminate those, we’re talking .818 posts a day. Since I’m nowhere near a frequent blogger, I don’t think that’s too bad at all.
So without much fanfare, here’s to year number 3, ladies and gents… May she see the end of my school career, getting paid what I actually deserve, getting my own place, more social fun than the previous two, and a Jag SK8…
Consider these my blogging new year resolutions. In a year, let’s see how well we’ve done with these life milestones, eh?
To the new year, I toast this 8oz glass of wine… Here’s to more Babble than ever!
You’re Bush-bashing!
I’ve been watching Boston Legal season 1 DVDs for a while now, and one of my favorite lines yet came between William Shatner1 and Candice Bergen2. Bergen says something about how we should care more for such and such, and Shatner tells her he knows what she’s doing… She’s Bush-bashing!
So when I was flipping through the new and improved Google Reader and saw the Digg headline Gonzales cautions judges against second-guessing the president in wartime, I couldn’t resist mentioning the first comment:
Since when did it become a crime to criticize a President? Look, just because we were foolish enough to elect the guy (twice?), that doesn’t mean we have to agree with every damn thing he spouts out of his mouth… I thought we were supposed to be raising our children to be individuals and to develop and nurture their own thoughts and opinions… Or was I wrong about that one?