I haven�t updated in a month because there hasn�t been anything to update... like is boring. A day to day sameness whose boredom was finally broken on Thursday when some crazy guy at the library told me I was being noisy, and then threw a dictionary at a co-worker. I could tell you the whole story but that�s pretty much it. Though, the exiting part came when the office manager called the cops and the guy resisted arrest. The police took him out in handcuffs. This guy shows up every day and heads right for the dictionaries. He takes a few of them to a seat and �reads� them until closing time. He always wears a pair of old earphones, and always gives everyone a dirty look.Let�s run down some of the stuff from the last couple of weeks I didn�t get the chance to write about before now.
I saw �The Dark Knight the weekend it came out and it was wonderfully dark. I actually have tickets to go see it tomorrow at the IMAX again. The first time I was sitting too close because I sat too close to the screen. I got to the theater late and that caused me to have to get a bad seat. Fuck. Tomorrow I�ll remedy that mistake.
As far as a critique of the movie, it�s really the best of the comic book movies so far. �Iron Man� was a cut above and �The Dark Knight� was a cut above that. These two and �Spider-man 2� are the best of the genre.
I went out to get a bite to eat after work a couple of weeks ago. The girl taking my order was super surly, to the point that I actually got a good laugh at her attitude. But then it hit me, she�s completely miserable. To the point that she can�t hide it anymore. I�ve yet to get to THAT point, so she must be like ten times more miserable than I am. For the next few days I looked at people at work everywhere I went, the bank, the store, etc. I came to the conclusion that EVERYONE in this town is unhappy with their jobs. I mean honestly, why wouldn�t they be. I�m sure the girl at the fast food joint didn�t see herself working behind the counter taking orders from dimwits all day long for a pittance. Hell, I don�t have the greatest jobs in the world, but at least I�m not doing something that makes me completely miserable... only somewhat miserable.
Speaking of work, I was given a friendly talking to about barriers and knowing the limits of my duties. Especially since my actions have been stepping on toes, I guess. Now comes word that we are going to be having mandatory meetings every three weeks. Mandatory means even though I�m just a bump on a log at these meetings I still have to show up. Worst thing about this particular meeting schedule is the time of the day they are being held. The meetings are being held at 9 a.m., on days I should still be at home in bed. I�m going to have to arrive FOUR hours before my shift starts, and twelve hours before I clock out that evening. It�s so stupid to have me drive out there only to have an hour meeting and then force me to kill three hours before I have to start work. And there�s no way I�m driving back home only to turn around a few hours later. That�s such a waste. But, if they want to make these meetings mandatory I�ll go and just sit there not saying a word. They want to pay me to sit there I�ll do just that. When the meeting is over I�ll get some lunch and go to the park, or sleep in my car or something. Stupid.
At my other job I know that I�m not the apple of anyone�s eye. I�m pretty sure they think that I�m a anti-social bastard that says stupid things. Truth is, I don�t want to socialize. OK, partially don�t want to socialize. I go there to do my job as best I can, nothing more. I know they know I�m one of the best pages there already, if not the best. I get all my tasks done without attitude, and quickly. I actually try to do the work correctly, which is more than I can say for some of my co-workers. Long story short, I do good work, but that�s not enough. I have to socialize. Since I don�t go doing that I�m in the dog house. I don�t even participate in paying dues for our little monthly cake eating session. The managers try to create some sort of family environment by feeding us cake a couple of times a month. But it�s that horrible cake from crappy Ralph�s. The whole thing is like a film put on a continuous loop. The cake will come out, everyone is forced to take a slice, and then eat it. One of the managers will take a bite and proclaim the cake to be �delicious.� But it�s not, no matter how hard they try and sell me on the idea. I force it down and then get back to work.
I went shopping with my Aunt the other day. After getting what we went out to buy she wanted to find some comfortable shoes. So we went to the few shoe stores the mall had. I haven�t been shopping with a woman in a while now. In the past I would sit in the �husband�s chair� and wait until the shopping was done. Every other guy there had to do the same. But now, thanks to the miracles of technology guys having to wait around stores for their women to finish shopping have gadgets to keep them from wanting to blow their brains out.
This fellow has the right idea, surf the web, check your email, anything to dull the boredom.
Last, but not least for this entry, Gomez�s Hamburger. I was looking through a book about the cosmos when I ran across a picture of a nebula named �Gomez�s Hamburger.�
Gomez's Hamburger is a protoplanetary nebula, or a star that is in a state of evolution immediately before the true planetary nebula stage. Its official designation is IRAS 18059-3211. It can be found in the constellation Sagittarius, and is estimated to be approximately 6500 light-years away from planet earth.It was discovered in 1985 on sky photographs obtained by Arturo Gomez, support technical staff at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The photos suggested that there was a dark band across the object, but its exact structure was difficult to determine because of the atmospheric turbulence that hampers all images taken from the ground. The star itself has a surface temperature of approximately 10,000 �C (18,000 �F).
The "hamburger buns" are light reflecting off dust, and the "patty" is the dark band of dust in the middle.
