On alternate years, the Social Security Administration sends me a statement estimating various theoretical payouts should I retire or die. I showed up in their system in 1981, when I made a cool $1,337 working in the local grocery store bakery after school. Like Susan, some of my compensation was under-the-table (the forms required to […]
A $255 death benefit? Read More »
Maybe they assume I’m sending the half-pound’s worth of items to the Moon instead of Chicago? It’s unlikely I’ll consummate this purchase transaction. Maybe instead I’ll rent a limo for the weekend. Greets to my friends at Amazon! (If only the items were in stock… )
So much for the free shipping… Read More »
This can’t be good… I use Windows most of the time, but needed to get a handle on what people are running. For reasons I don’t want to get into, my product requires several different executables to address combinations of data width (32- or 64-bit or Itanium 64-bit), kernal version (2.4 or 2.6) and the
BSoD screensaver and my dying laptop Read More »
Last weekend was my kid’s last soccer game of the “season.” Spectating in 43°F, rainy weather is much more miserable than biking in the same. At least with biking, I can hit the metabolic equilibrium and stay warm. As a bonus, I can expectorate and maintain my cycling game face (e.g., grimace). All of the
The fire alarm “testing” in our building was initially limited to intermittent, loud chirps. Around 9:45, they ran the alarms for fifteen minutes straight. I tried offsetting the cacophony with Neil Diamond (who seems to have released only “Best of” albums for the last 25 years) played at full blast. After two rounds of singing
I’ve been seeing an increase in sites looking for w3c/p3p.xml, the w3c’s privacy policy thingie. I’ve skimmed through the spec and think it’s designed by robots for robots. Anyway, here’s my first stab at a policy. Legal and Privacy Policy (First draft: October 2, 2005. last update: December 25, 2010) 1. You have none The
Plain English Privacy Policy Read More »
My folks live northeast of Houston, about 60 miles inland. I’m naturally anxious that Rita is heading in that direction. When I called, I could hear the TV news on in the background alternating between how crowded the freeways are and the storm’s upgrade to category five. My parents are planning to stay, not that
Dear WaMu — can I call you WaMu? If I seem snippy, it’s because I’m that perturbed with your web site’s user interface to download my transactions. I’m writing you because I need to vent. I don’t expect anything more than a form letter back from Firstname LastInitial concatenating various blurbs+ to express unspecific sympathies
Dear Washington Mutual Read More »