[Author's note: image added later. Peacekeeper missile test firing, Kwajalein Atoll, 2004.]
Charlie and Tim got a close look at some of the new database output this morning. I would say it passed with full honors. Sometime in the past, Charlie must have asked for some information. That’s because he’s referred to it, but I cannot recall what it was. To me, it was just another data dump. He was impressed by the fact it was normalized, that he could sort and filter the list. These are standards for me, but it is a little scary that Charlie is head of IT and never heard of it until I spoke up. He is therefore a potential enemy by his own lack of progress. Such people hate progress.
[Author's note 2016-03-04: I became aware that Charlie was a total jealous dickhead over how my databases outperformed his best work. Don't assume I was at fault, I volunteered to show him the workings so he could do it himself. But some people are born pricks and he was eventually fired for his inability to do much, really. That was after I left the company. He had it coming. He became an outspoken critic of my database, but that merely tips us off how stupid he is by comparison.]
I began entering the apprenticeship records, looks like three tables, plus lookups. I do my best work when slightly distracted, and I’ve found something new (for me). It’s a game in Yahoo! called Word Racer. You get a series of four ever-larger grids of letters and race the clock to find as many words as possible before any other player gets them. It gets tough, and uses a dictionary like I’ve never seen, with words like pht, lek, tep, dis but not tech or leeds. My highest scoring word to date: hailstorms with two bonus letters (twice the word score) for 400 points. Players, can you figure out which grid and how? Yes, I play on company time when programming gets a little intense and I need the break.
After work I failed to get through to Manuel, but I know it was the fuel pump on the Caddy, now the fourth pump. It’s $250, so cancel the car trip this weekend. The price of the original fuel pump replacement was $140, now it is nearly double. I called JP to let him know the weekend is not going to happen, and he is down sick with the flu. Sounds bad. On a whim, I drove over to the Hurricane Inn, what’s that nice little town north of the airport, and got into some serious NTN trivia. Naturally, the locals all being sports fans, never stood a chance on questions about Russian jets, economics or glaciers. I did get invited to join the Tuesday club, but did not commit. It was a fat lady at least my age asking, and that doesn’t work for me. I may give it a try, but one could tell they were seeking the “trick” I was using, unable to believe that anyone could be smart enough to walk in and win against them all.
I finally got through to the doctor for my test results, and the soonest opening was the 24th. I cannot keep taking all these pills full strength until then. I’ll call back again, since he did say he was taking me off them in a few weeks over a month ago. To try something new, I bought this tea latte, it’s a powdered tea mix full of carbs and sugar. I remember, I bought something like this many decades ago, and didn’t care for it then, either. It was worth a shot, because it would sell for two bucks in a shop, I think.
Also of note, every other city except Miami, since the middle of the last century, has perfected the technique of smoothly paving around manhole covers. Miami not only refuses to learn that art, but they plan the streets so the covers are not in the center or edge, but right on the tire travel paths.
