Freeoun! It's been ages since I've posted in this thing, although I managed far worse with my old blog. The fact that I started my job two Mondays ago (9 Oct) has a lot to do with that. I'm quite enjoying my work, though sitting in one spot for ages in front of my computer coding and researching gets a little tedious at times, especially when I can't spin around on my chair, pace, lie on my bed randomly, sing, play keyboard (the musical variety), sloth, etc. Still, the work is challenging and interesting. I continue to research and learn, which is essential for me lest I become extremely bored. For those who don't know, my job is a little difficult to explain simply. Basically, I work as a software developer for a small company called NetBox Blue which develops an all-in-one internet access, security, monitoring and server appliance called the NetBox. It provides many services, including firewall, email virus and spam protection, content filtering and email hosting, to list only a few. Aside from the hardware and software, services include technical support via phone and email, automatic updates and replacement warranty. Anyway, my job involves developing software and solutions to improve and enhance the functionality of the NetBox. Given the wide array of services provided, my work is quite varied, which is one of the reasons I like it. :) I code primarily in Python.

By the way, Michael and I recorded the vocals for Never Be the Same on 7 Oct and they are sounding great. We are hoping to record the guitar parts this Saturday, assuming nothing goes amiss. If all goes well, I should be able to mix and master the damned thing over the next few weeks and get it out before mid November, though I refuse to make promises on such dates, given the invariable tendency for unexpected delays where N^th Degree is concerned. Actually, I really should post an update to the N^th Degree news section. :)

I always try to think of some amusing happenings while writing entries such as this one. Perhaps the funniest occurred on Thursday.

I was staying at Jen's on Wednesday night, so she gave me some frozen pasta (or not, but more on that later) to take to work for lunch on Thursday. So, lunch time came. I removed my lunch from the fridge and microwaved it. I should note at this point that I love having access to a fridge and microwave, among other things, at work. :) I took it back to my desk and began to eat, but something just wasn't quite right. I have eaten this pasta dish before at Jen's and quite enjoyed it, but this just wasn't quite hitting the spot. Perhaps something was missing? ... It also seemed to have way too much halloumi in it, which is a type of cheese for those that don't know. I thought that perhaps this particular dish just didn't taste that good after being frozen, as I know that some dishes don't, and suggested as much to Jen that evening.

The truth was nothing so uninteresting. To Jen's horror, upon opening the freezer next morning, she discovered that the container she had given me was the one in which she had placed extra sauce ... with no pasta. Yup. I had eaten pasta sauce with no pasta on Thursday ... and hadn't figured out that there was no pasta! I almost wish she hadn't told me. How ridiculously stupid! I knew something was wrong, but surely I should have been able to realise that I wasn't eating any pasta. In my defence, this pasta sauce is quite chunky with a lot of vegetables and pieces of halloumi and the pasta used was shells or the like (not spirals, spaghetti or fettuccini which are very obvious), but I'm still an utter twit. How embarrassing! To make things worse, I wonder what my colleagues at work thought? "Oh my god, this guy is so weird ... he's eating pasta sauce with no pasta!" To add to the embarrassment and amusement, the container is transparent and Jen had also completely failed to realise when giving it to me. Eeeeek! Oh well. At least we got a hell of a laugh out of it.

I've been meaning to post this link for a while, but haven't, so here it is: Amazon Unbox to customers. I am very much against DRM, but this is just utterly disgusting. This is worth a read if you care about the whole DRM thing.

posted at: 21:36 | keywords: Life, Work, NthDegree, Music, Rants, Humour | permanent link to this entry