It makes me wonder when a so-called "Senior" technical writer asks when to use effect and when to use affect. I know many people get the two mixed up (kind of like than and then) but a "senior" writer really should know.
My little observation of the day.
[ 30.8.01 5:54 PM | toeing the line ]
Here's a fun little game you can play with other drivers while waiting for a red light to change. I discovered it accidentally one day in high school and forgot about it until I went home two weeks ago. (Then of course I promptly forgot that I had written about it in my handspring until today. too mnay stories in there. must finish soon!!).
Anyway, the game really only works if you are the front car in your lane. It goes a little something like this:
When a car stops beside you, wait a few seconds, then *slowly* release the brake so your car inches up just a little bit. Stop. A funny thing happens at this point. Generally the car beside you will release their brake and move ahead of your car by inches.
Now, if you want to continue playing the game (which of course you do), wait a few seconds, then release your brake and *slowly* inch up again. The idea is for the other driver not to know that you are playing this game.
Again, the other car will probably inch up as well.
Continue until the light turns green, always moving your car only slightly ahead of the other car. You don't want to be obvious, and you certainly don't want to have to forfeit the game because you can't move forward anymore (another reason this only works if you are the front car in the lane)
This game won't work on all cars, but you'd be surprised how many cars will inch up so they are "ahead" of your car. We're talking *inches* here. Remember: don't look at the other driver. You don't want them to know they are playing the game. Most people also don't realize that they do this, although I had one lady actually give me a dirty look one day, scowling at me as the light turned green, and I had only inched up twice. You don't want to incite any road rage, but it is amusing.
[ 27.8.01 8:23 PM | mmm ... lychees ]
This story instantly reminded me of our trip to Jamaica about a year ago: Jamaica may legalize marijuana
We were on a cruise so we only had one day to see Jamaica and opted for a taxi tour of the island. Our driver showed us all the main sites as he weaved his way in and out of traffic at what seemed like a reckless speed. We finally stopped at a little roadside stand for fresh lychees and other yummy fruits, where our driver left us for a few minutes while he went up the road to "talk to a friend". Less than thirty seconds later the smell of pot wafted down the street. A few minutes later our driver came back a little happier and, although I wouldn't have thought it possible, proceeded to race through the streets even more quickly than he had before our little pit (pot) stop.
[ 24.8.01 8:59 AM | i need my fix ]
I find it funny that my motivation for getting to work on time has less to do with actually being late for work and more to do with being late for the morning coffee run.
[ 23.8.01 7:17 PM | sorry monte ]
You know it's time to clean your pet's cage when ...
... you wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall asleep again because the smell is so bad.
[ 6:10 PM | yesssss ]We move into our new place on September 1st. When we signed the lease almost two months ago we accepted the fact that, since neither of us have cars, it would be about a 45 minute walk to our respective places of employment.
Today, a litte flyer came that announced the news that on September 4th, a new bus service is being introduced that will run *right* by our new house and take us within a 5-10 minute walk of our respective places of employment.
The gods are smiling down on us.
[ 22.8.01 11:26 PM | love the mike ]
I've realized something over the last four months, as we became regular attendees at the open mike night here: it's not so much how *good* someone is when they play, it's more whether or not they *own* the song that determines whether I will like them.
For example, the open mike we went to tonight. The house band was good. But they didn't *own* the song. He was singing, but that's all he was doing. He didn't put much feeling into the words. They had no personality. So I got bored really quickly. But at other open mikes we've heard people who didn't necesarily sing well, or who forgot words, but they were more interesting because they put something of themselves into the songs.
That's what I like. Personality.
[ 8:49 AM | 1 + 1 = ? ]I know that I may not in the top of my class or anything, but Tim Hortons' math has me scratching my head.
Yesterday morning I bought a buttered bagel, which came to a nice round dollar. At lunch I went back and got a muffin, which also came to a nice round dollar.
This morning, figuring I would save myself a trip, I ordered both the bagel and muffin, which came to ... $2.05.
It's not that I care about the five cents. And I know that due to rounding, it would not necessarily have come to a nice even two dollars. It would have been perfectly understandable had it been off by a cent either way. But there is no mathematical law that makes 1 + 1 = 2.05.
[ 20.8.01 5:44 PM | back assward ]
Today was my first day. About three this afternoon a woman from HR came to my desk.
"Hi. Did you get a confirmation letter in the mail for this work term?"
"Ummm ... No."
"Oh, I was wondering about that. I knew it had been made up, but I wasn't sure if it ever got sent to you."
"Nope. Never got it"
"Okay, then. I'll get it to you tomorrow. It's just confirms that you are actually working here this term."
Good to know. Seeing as I've actually already started and all. :)
[ 17.8.01 10:31 AM | i wonder who ]
It's somebody's birthday today ...
[ 15.8.01 5:29 PM | evolution, baby ]
Overheard on the street: " ... so dolphins are really huge sex maniacs ..."
[ 7:22 AM | poor starving kitties ]Aparently, my presence in my mother's house is throwing off her morning routine. As if yelling "TRACY, WAKE UP!!" as she hurtles past me each morning could somehow affect her ability to feed the cats or remember to take her daily planner.
[ 14.8.01 11:39 PM | it's my money ]
I can't believe my bank charged me $18.22 to print new cheques. And that's just for the plain, run of the mill kind, no fancy additions or personalization. Maybe that's their way of making up for all the years I was writing cheques on my other account, where each cheque cost them something like $2.50 to process because it required some special authorization. But all the transactions were free for me, which was pretty appealing with all the bank fees they charge these days. Of course, their annual profits dwarf my income, so you'd think that maybe, just maybe, they could be a little more lenient with me.
[ 12.8.01 11:19 PM | dum dum dadum ]
Ech. I never realized how much planning, money, time and effort went into a wedding. But I'm getting a pretty good idea now.
My friend and I spent five hours today looking for bubbles (because they aren't allowed rice at the wedding/reception hall) and decorations for the bubble basket. We spent another three hours making tiny little roses out of yards of ribbon, although I think I managed to burn every single one of my fingers in the process. Glue guns always seem so easy, until you actually use them. We looked at photos of the dresses, pamphlets for the cake, bouquets, menus for the reception, pledges and vows (there is a difference) and talked about gifts for the guests and whether or not the bridesmaids should all have maching shoes.
I think if I get married I just might elope.
And strangely enough, my mother rented The Wedding Planner for us to watch tonight.
[ 11.8.01 6:53 PM | what we think, we do ]
Being all alone in the apartment has its benefits - I managed to finish What we think, we do. And it only took me a year.
[ 10.8.01 4:55 PM | no play ]
Two new additions at caughtinalie: the best I never had and All work and no play.
Soon hopefully I will have something good for you to read.
[ 9.8.01 4:40 PM | I warned ya ]
When I was the fifth or sixth grade we had this "in" joke among a group of about seven or eight of us. We were at the age when sex and everything associated with it was funny. When we moved onto high school, we all split up to go to various schools and only one of my friends from that group went to the same high school as me. But it was still a funny joke to us, only because it had a history to us. We were talking about it one day on the bus and one of the guys around us asked about it. We just brushed it off, telling him it probably wouldn't be funny to him. He kept pestering us every day on the bus to tell him, which we kept refusing. Finally, to shut him up, we told him. He looked at us and said "That's not very funny." We tried to warn him.
Around the same time, there was a little "incident". My friend thought it was hilarious and wanted to tell everyone about it, but it was very embarrasing to me at the time, so I didn't let her. All through high school she held this knowledge, bringing it up just to see me squirm. It's been almost ten years now, but she still loves to tell the story to anyone who will listen. Since so much time has passed, I no longer stop her from telling the story. Although it is a *very* short story, it takes her several minutes to relay it because she has to stop so often because she is laughing so hard. All the laughing builds up the story quite well, so people are hooked, expecting something really zany. The thing is, it's only funny to her. The people she tells generally look at her, look at me (because it's only fun to tell it in my presence) and say something to the effect of "Oh. That's not that funny". Meanwhile it takes her ten minutes to stop laughing.
I am getting somewhere with this. I got two more guesses as to what finger intrusion is, so I guess I should spill, just to satisfy the curious. First, the guesses:
Brad: Hmm, could finger intrusion be a game of how close you can get to someone before you invade their personal space. For example you can get within 2 fingers of Tracy before she feels violated.
Rafi: I'm picturing a hand entering a glove... (although his subject line was "pete stole my thought")
And the truth, which will probably be a disappointment: finger intrusion is a game where two players kick each other in the shins until one gives in.
The truth is rarely as exciting as the mind imagines.
BTW, the "in" joke I referred to originally goes something like this:
(hold coat closed in front with your hands. look about suspiciously. open one side of coat)
"Psst. Wanna buy a watch?"
(close side of coat. open other side of coat)
"Wanna buy a camera?"
(close side of coat. open both sides of coat)
"Wanna buy meeeee?"
Yah, well. I was young and didn't know better.
[ 10:09 AM | You can call me spike. tracy spike. ]I actually had a dream about my Handspring last night. It was kind of James Bond-ish, people were chasing me and my Handspring could do all these crafty things.
Maybe it was the beer. Rafi, Brad and I finished our last exam last night, so we went out to celebrate that, as well as get in early birthday celebrations for Brad (August 17th) since no-one will be around then. I'm sure gonna miss the student life over the next four months.
[ 8.8.01 3:50 PM | clear as Ice ]
It will "increase my productivity" ... or at least that's my excuse.
I've been thinking of buying a Handspring for a while, and Brad's purchase yesterday prompted me to want my own new toy tool sooner rather than later.
It was a tough decision though. After all, the money could have instead been spent on rent, or some other worthy cause. But really, what has rent done for me lately? Does it remind me of my friends' birthdays? No. Does it allow me to remember appointments, help me do multiplication, or tell me what time it is in Tokyo? Again, sadly the answer is no. One of the biggest reasons I convinced myself to get a handheld was laziness. See, I have a book to write stories in. But, once more than a few lines are written for a story, it becomes a hassle to copy those lines into the computer, typing them into my html editor. That's the laziness. I'd much rather work on a new idea than laboriously regurgitate words from the book into the computer. But with my new toy tool I can simply upload the ideas from the handheld into my computer and presto, it's ready for consumption (minus the little formatting details that must be attended to).
See. Increased productivity.
[ 9:23 AM | finger intrusion ]Only two guesses so far as to what finger intrusion might mean. From Spudles we have:
The classic game of dinnertime sabotage, participants take part in a desperate struggle to offload Mom's infamous soggy chicken fingers onto their siblings' plates without detection. The risks are high, the goal imperative, and failure can result in torture of the taste buds.From Pete we have:
Player A lets Player B stick Player B's finger up Player A's bumhole. The person who can allow the most finger up their bum wins.
I knew someone would think it was about orifices. Any other thoughts? If I don't get any other suggestions I may not feel inclined to tell you all what the game is. Not that you are quaking with excitement anyway. But I do need something to amuse me these days.
[ 5.8.01 11:48 PM | I don't get it, part II ]
I *swear* I must have an aura about me that just screams "please kick the back of my seat while the movie is playing. Even better, do it rythmically. 'Cause I really, really really love it."
It really is that bad. I have started strategically picking seats, not based on where they are in relation to the screen, but based on whether or not the chance of someone sitting behind me is high. This isn't a once in a while thing. This is a permanent part of my movie going experience.
[ 6:12 PM | never satisfied ]I don't get it.
I waited and I prayed and I cursed and I hoped for last friday to come, so I could have a few days off without worrying about exams, and I'm bored already. I need something to do. I'm restless. And it seems like everyone is off doing something else so there is no one to entertain me. If I had a car I would go rent some DVDs or even go to a movie in the theatre, but I don't and the bus really isn't too convenient on the weekend. Shopping is no fun by myself. Just a few short days ago I dreamed about this time off and now that I have it ... I guess it's that whole "grass is greener on the other side" thing.
Maybe if I had a car. Or we had cable.
[ 3.8.01 6:06 PM | rhinotillexomania ]
Ack! I just got a helpful little notification from the wonderful site Just a Tip. I have been accused of picking my nose.
All I can say to the "friend" who sent me this is, got any proof? Pictures? (if so, please destroy ;))
[ 5:08 PM | squish squish *crunch* ]Frozen yogurt is much better without little bits of styrofoam in it. Perhaps it would be well if TCBY was aware of this.
[ 5:00 PM | cue the music ]I'M FREE!!
I have just finished my stats final, which means, if everything goes well, I have also just finished the last stats course I will *ever* have to take.
Which makes me a very happy little tracy. Very happy indeed. I shall be taking the rest of the day off to bask in this wonderful fact and perhaps to drown any potential fears that I may have failed the final and hence the course. Stats is soooooo not my forte.
[ 2.8.01 12:02 PM | nbs* ]
Finals .. and other things ... have been keeping me for the past week, but after tomorrow I shall revert to my carefree days of doing nothing but amusing myself. And you of course.
In the meantime, I thought I'd share with you the name of a little game I learned recently: finger intrusion. I accept all submissions as to what you think this game is. Although I did a double-take when I first heard the name, I *guarantee you* that you won't get it right. But I am curious as to what you think.
*natural born slacker