Ahh, the holidays –
Where you sit there, pile of gifts all around you to wrap, and you really start looking at them, all stacked up in their shiny boxes. You read the little descriptive notes on the back of the packages, imagining how your loved ones will react as they see them for the first time…
And you start to wonder if you got them the right thing at all. Doubt sneaks in on tiny feet and twitters about. “Maybe something else would have been a better idea.”
You read the package again, getting out the magnifier for the really small type. Doubt starts doing a jig across your brainpan.
“Huh. Wouldn’t you know it, this is really not going to work.” Done with his jig, Doubt steps aside for Decision to take the stage. “I really must take this back and try again.” You start to feel better about it. “Yes!” You nod to yourself. “I will take it back for a refund and try again!” Good for you, lad!
That’s when Fear creeps into the room. There’s something important that you’re missing, but you can’t quite get it. Your brow furrows as you begin to trace the decision tree, in search of this new Doubt. “What could this mean?”
Fear sidles up next to you, and lays a frozen claw at the base of your spine. Chills race up your back, and you break out into a cold, clammy sweat as Realization smacks you in the face with a large iron skillet:
Clicky clicky
“I have to go shopping again!?!
AAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
-General Updatery-
Finally got around to testing Hyperion (my desktop computer rig) with a spare power supply I dug out of the garage. Color me sheepish, but it looks like the Antec power supply somehow lost the 5-Volt rail. The XP install booted fine, but the Vista beta-test never came out of suspension. (No great loss.) So now I will be off to get a replacement after the new year.
No, I’m not going to try to RMA this part – it was probably a power burp that did the damage, and that sort of thing isn’t covered in the warranty. I will, however, be picking up a UPS unit so it doesn’t happen again.
Yes, I should have known better.
On the work front, we’ve had a couple of productive meetings this week. The first was regarding a new medical plan for the office. Our old one decided to raise our rates by about $50 a month, so we shuffled stuff around and found what looks to be a better plan. Bonus is that it looks like we’ll be able to add vision benefits individually even though the company doesn’t have a vision plan as a whole. Yay!
The second one is about our retirement plan, which I am happily taking part in. I had a 401(k) back when I was in ‘Vegas, but never got around to setting another one up when I left. Now I am back on track and will hopefully have a bit of a nest egg set aside for that fuzzy period between retirement and when those “average life expectancy” charts say I’ll keel over. The trick then will be determining just when I’ll croak, so I can make sure to spend it all in time :)
What? Can’t go letting the kids think they’ll actually inherit anything now, can I? Might get their hopes up.
Hollerings