Lots of Monkeys

So, due to a combination of circumstances that led to poor decision making, (my lack of sleep, my hunger, the fact that nothing else is available, my general irritability at the world at large, a review sent to me by a friend about the item I am about to consume, and the desire to get back to some level of comfort that I knew when I was 5 years of age) I am now sitting at my desk, with a small “orange juice” and a McGriddle sandwich.

The McGriddle will be my first foray into McDonalds in what feels like lots and lots of months. Quite possibly–years.

I’m scared. I mean, the logo is branded onto the sandwich. I had the hash brown already, and that was okay. The orange juice tasted like it had been reconstituted fairly recently. If you haven’t heard about the sandwich, it’s basically a sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich, but the bread part of it has syrup baked in.

They have got to be lying. I mean, nothing at McDonald’s could ever possibly be subjected to any sort of cooking process such as “baking.” So, orange juice, a sandwich, and a hashbrown only cost me $3.62, and due to the health concerns–

APPROXIMATELY TWO YEARS OF MY LIFE

The worst part about this is that I already read Fast Food Nation.

Off to work.

PEPCO, in their quest to make my life a hell on earth marked by lack of sleep, has decided to schedule three power outages that affect my building. All occur this week. All occur at precisely the stroke of midnight.

So now I have to just figure out how I’m going to kill the time before I have to take the servers down. That part isn’t bad. It’s taking them up again at around 7 in the morning that’s going to be a pain in the proverbial butt.

As I sit here, I also watch the slow death of a loved one–my 19 inch monitor. It’s not an easy thing. Everything is starting to get fuzzy. The brightness has increased to the point where it is set to zero, and everything still looks washed out. The image continues to skew slightly to the left and up. Two weeks ago, it made one singular sound, an electronic pop that I have to say, did not make me feel very good at all. I was not looking forward to purchasing a new monitor, especially not after growing accustomed to the bright, clear image of a 19 inch CRT with a high refresh rate. My machine is close to three years old. Desperate, I checked the warranty info, and was shocked. In a rare moment of weakness, I actually purchased the three year warranty. Of which, I still have 160 days remaining. So, in fact, I may end up with a new monitor, or at least a refurbished one.

On the other hand, someone has a nice new apartment. Almost makes me want to live on my own, except that I’d have to move again. And we all know what joy that particular life event brings us.

I had some carrot cake, but it’s no substitute for the yeasty goodness of a hot donut.

Now I really do want a Krispy Kreme.

No, “want” is an understatement. I think it’s evolved into full blown need.

Anyway, have you been to their website?

Slashdot’s just full of good stuff on a daily basis. Today, it was filled with some tidbits that I take a particular interest in. Everything, via slashdot.

First is the fact that Wil Wright, creator of The Sims, has signed some sort of deal with FOX tv. First, reality tv, then tv based on video games that are, in fact, reality games. So, maybe, if Wil decides to create some sort of show based on The Sims, the masses would be watching virtual people with virtual lives based on a game that features virtual people with virtual lives. But seriously, Wil’s had some good ideas and he wants to change traditional ideas about entertainment. I’d like to see what he comes up with.

Secondly is the paper entitled, “Trusted Computing, Peer-to-Peer Distribution, and the Economics of Pirated Entertainment.” Mathematical formulae that describe the economics of piracy. A little heavy reading, but a little more objective than RIAA suxx0r5. Besides, it makes note of how it will be harder to stop P2P networks with the next generation of windows. Information, as the cliché goes, wants to be free.

I’d rather spend my money at Apple Music.

And finally, for everyone that has ever dated anyone else that has a blog. Part of me just says, “It’s the god damn internet, people are going to talk about what they want.” The other says, “Well, there’s that whole slander thing.” The other part just really wants a Krispy Kreme.

In Vegas.