A full post is coming...honest

I am going to do a full-size feature length post this weekend if not sooner. In the mean time, enjoy the new design of MikeCrutchfield.com. I still have to do the 'Trips' page and I am going to add some more info to the Garage eventually, but for now, it replaces what used to be there.

In other news, I still hate my job.

Why the hell am I awake? Ramblings of a crazy person @ 1:30AM

Why am I awake? I can't sleep right now. This sucks....I am tired all f-ing day and can barely stay awake, and then night comes, I sleep for a couple of hours then I wake up...WHY????

Work is miserable. I am fighting against the "Not invented here" syndrome even though it means I will have one less project to work on, because, even if I work on it, it won't be used. Normally, it is the other way around, with the programmer saying "I can do this much better...see" but when the programmer is the voice of sanity...that's just not right. Add to that the constant stupid computer questions I get because I am the "computer guy" my cube quad, the lack of meaningful work, and the constant feeling that I chose the wrong job, and work is just downright depressing right now. That doesn't help my desire to stay awake, or even my desire to even go there.

I have complained about jobs in the past, but usually, I still felt like I was doing something worth-while. I may not of liked it, but at least I could get SOME job satisfaction out of it. Well, now, I don't even have a performance plan under our new system (even though the cycle ENDS at the end of July) and our pay increases will be directly tied to the score you receive on said performance plans if pay-banding actually goes though. FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK! (Where's an exploding head smiley when you need one, I will just have to settle for this one:)

I keep joking that we need to win the Mega-Millions jackpot so I can call in rich. I love the stability of being a govie, but I want to be able to work on my terms, money be damned. I would probably have more fun selling PCs at BestBuy than I would at my current job, I just can't afford to take the pay-cut.

All of this stress/depression caused by work makes it really hard to work on losing weight, because I am an emotional eater. I eat when I am bored (which is CONSTANTLY at work), I eat when I am depressed (which is CONSTANTLY at work AND follows me home) and my eating/weight contributes to that depression. I just can't win.

Once the alarm clock goes off this morning, I will check our Mega-Millions ticket (even though we didn't win, I'm sure) and then trudge off to work just as miserable as ever.

Oh, and I am going to start re-upping my meds..when they were perscribed, I was told I could ramp up to 4xday (2 morning, 2 night) as needed. Well, I had been doing fine on 1 for a while, but that just ain't cuttin' it no mo'. Yesterday, I added the first night pill (which might explain why I am awake since insomnia is a side-effect) and next week, I will ramp up to 2 in the morning and one at night.

Here's to hoping for better living through chemistry.

Migraines - Day 2

UGH...Migraines. They started yesterday (along with the fun numbness on one side of my body) and today, they continue. I went to work yesterday, but felt utterly useless because the Fioricet (Tylenol + Barbiturates for those of you who don't know) made me an absolute zombie. Today will be more of the same...hopped up on Fioricet, trying to focus on my computer screen at work. In case you are wondering, I am typing this blog entry with my eyes closed (the good thing about being able to type without looking at the keyboard).

In other news, the Jetta has been running amazing since I changed the fue filter on Sunday. That old one was REALLY black, and since I made the change, the Jetta hasn't made any large soots in first gear and hasn't been vibrating as much. I think the sooting might have come from the engine running a little lean from a clogged filter and then some excess fuel being dumped into the chamber. Anyway, as it approaches 70,000 miles (it is over 68,000 now) I will probably do the oil change this weekend to get it done. The Rabbit is going to need an Oil change soon as well, but we don't drive that as much. Maybe we will take it today.

Today, much like yesterday, will be a day of chrissy driving. I managed to sleep most of the way to and from work yesterday (the migraine meds helped ensure that) and I feel like today will be much of the same.

Oh, while we were eating at Chevy's the other night, Chrissy saw an advertisement in the bathroom for mobile rim repair. That will be a good way to get the curb rash cleaned up on the 18" Hufs I have in the garage that are destined to go on the jetta. of course, there aren't actually any in our area, so I will have to get one of the people across the bridge to do it.

It is just going to be one of those days. I probably shouldn't go to work because all day I will just be having a hard time staying awake and staring at the computer screen. Writing programs with my eyes closed is doable, but not as easy as typing a blog entry (and coding has to be uch more precise) If I misspell a word here, or leave out a paranthesis, no big deal, but if you do it in a program...*BOOM*

Ugh..guess I need to decie what I am going to do today. Maybe if my migrain improves, I will post again later (and a post that makes more sense too).

Fun with File Recovery

Chrissy's laptop died. Just died. It won't power on with either the battery or the power adapter anymore (even when the battery has a charge). I even shelled out for a new battery thinking that was the problem based on how it had been behaving. DOH! Dead laptop.

So anyway, I wanted to make sure I could recover any files from the drive so I bought one of these. It is a USB to IDE & SATA for 1.8"-5.25" drives. Great! it arrived today. I rip the hard drive out of the laptop plug it into my windows PC and Windows gets confused and says the drive has to be initialized before it can use it. Umm...no...I will try something else. So I plug it into my Mac Mini, and low and behold, it works perfectly. Now I will take the time to point out that it was a WINDOWS laptop with Windows XP Home edition installed and for some reason VISTA had a problem reading the hard drive but OS X read it perfectly. Way to go Micro$0ft.

Anyway, the USB device works great. Windows on the other hand.

Google's April Fools Joke - Very Involved

As I continue to be sick and going to work yesterday only made me worse today, I am still home. I popped into GMail and noticed a new "Feature" that magically appeared today called "Google Autopilot". I am going to grab screen caps because this is too good an April Fool's joke to stick around.

First, let me mention Rampenfest. When BMW decided to launch the 1-series in the US, a fictional German town (Oberpfafflebachen) decided they would hold a "Launch" party and fly a BMW 1-Series "From here to San Francisco" BMW really wanted people to take the red pill and find out how deep the rabbit hole goes. Not only did they make the mock-u-mentary about the Ramp, the made the official website of the town of Oberpfaffelbachen, a cafe-press store that sells souvaneers, the website of the town bakery, the stuntman who was going to peform the stunt and the PR Firm that set all of this up. Unfortunately, Sepp's Stunts page has already disapeared

Back to Google Autopilot, and more specifically, CADIE (Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed Intelligence Entity). CADIE has a blog, a YouTube channel (with a time-space continum problem - the videos were posted BEFORE CADIE was "turned on"), a Google Earth add-on, and a Google Chrome feature that allows you to view pages in 3-D by printing your own 3-D goggles. Wow...that rabbit hole went deep. I am kind of dissapointed that CADIE didn't add pandas to google.com though.

Oh, and don't forget Youtube's new video viewing style.

Good ol' April Fools day. What next, The Onion reporting REAL news?

Why are there inequalities in MD Tint laws?

I don't mind being limited to 35% transmissive tint on the front side windows of my cars, but why must I be limited to 35% on the rear and rear-side windows (even in the rabbit) where a PT Cruiser can have tint as dark as it wants on the back window? The body style is very similar to a 4-door rabbit. Or how about a Jetta Wagon vs a Dodge Magnum. Jetta Wagon, 35% all around. Magnum - 35% up front, whatever on the rest. Why? Because the PT Cruiser is a "Truck" and the Magnum is an "SUV" while the Rabbit and Jetta Wagon are Passenger cars. Confused yet?

I wrote an email to my Maryland State Senate Representative requesting that the laws regarding window tint be changed. Why? I am not trying to hide anything illegal or anything. I just want all drivers to be treated equally, and I enjoy how much cooler the interior of the car is when all of the back windows have 5% tint and the front have 35%. (In Germany, the 3-series had 5% back but no tint on the front because front side window tint was not allowed).

Below is the email that I wrote to Senator Pipkin in it's entirety. If you live in MD, and agree with me, email your local representative(s). I only contacted Senator Pipkin at this point, but there are also three members in the House of Representatives for my district as well. Oh, and yes, I REALLY did look up the exact regulations. If you have any questions about that let me know.

Senator Pipkin,

I am a fairly new constituent in your district, but I was hoping you could possibly address an issue that I view as an unnecessary inequality in regards to Maryland Motor Vehicle tint law. Per sub-section i, paragraph 1 of section 22-406 of the Transportation Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, passenger cars may not be operated when "there is affixed to any window of the vehicle any tinting materials added to the window after manufacture of the vehicle that do not allow a light transmittance through the window of at least 35%". In comparison, multipurpose vehicles, trucks and Class B (for hire) vehicles may not be operated when "there is affixed to any window to the immediate right or left of the driver any window tinting materials added after manufacture of the vehicle that do not allow a light transmittance through the window of at least 35%."

While I have no problem with the restriction of 35% tint on the front driver and passenger windows for all vehicles; I feel that all vehicle classes should be required to follow the same regulations. The laws do not even apply as intended in several cases because manufacturers have changed the classification of their vehicles to be able to use the more lenient rules. Subaru changed the classification of their Outback wagon to a light truck in part because of customer demand for factory tinted windows. http://www.thecarconnection.com/article/1005582_subaru-outback-counts-as-a-truck. The PT-Cruiser is also classified as a truck. The truck designation of those brands also allows them to have lower fuel efficiency ratings than if they were cars. The Dodge Magnum, which exactly matches what used to be viewed as a station wagon, is classified as a sport utility vehicle (multi-purpose vehicle) even though it shares many of the same body panels and the same chassis as the Dodge Charger sedan.

By comparison, I own a 4-door diesel sedan that averages over 40 miles-per-gallon and a 3-door hatchback that averages around 30 mpg, but because I am driving "passenger" cars I am limited to 35% tint on all windows. All I am asking for is fair and equal treatment under the Maryland law. As can be seen in my choice of vehicles, I am very interested in using efficient vehicles. Unfortunately, the glass surfaces of these vehicles are rather large, which allows a substantial amount of sunlight into the vehicle that in turn warms the cabin. In the summer months, the efficiency of my vehicles is effected by the amount that I must use the air-conditioning in the car. While I know I won't be magically driving around without air-conditioning during the hottest days of the summer, I would like to be able to place tint with 5% light transmission around the back windows of the vehicle rather than 35%. From experience, I can say it made a large difference while we were stationed overseas in Germany where the tint laws allowed us to place 5% on the rear windows while we were there.

I can understand that an argument can be made for police officer safety during traffic stops. If police officer safety is the true motivation, then the laws affecting vehicles that are in the more lenient classification should be changed. Other measures could be enacted that would counteract any perceived danger to officers during a traffic stop such as a requirement to turn on interior lighting when pulled over by law enforcement. While it is a courtesy that all motorists should observe for the safety and comfort of the officer, my observations suggest that it is something that is not practiced widely. If the officer is concerned for their safety, they also have the option to have the occupants exit the vehicle, or roll down all of the windows in the vehicle. I am not trying to overlook officer safety, but if it were such an important issue, the laws in states such as Deleware and Utah wouldn't allow any type of tint on the rear side and rear facing windows.

While the current economic situation combined with uncertainty over fuel prices has lead to a sharp decrease in the sale of true sport utility vehicles and pick-up trucks, as I pointed out before there are still other vehicles that are being placed in those categories that people think of as a station wagons. That can also lead to confusion with law enforcement pulling over a vehicle for "illegal" tint levels even though the levels are acceptable simply because of the class in which the manufacturer placed the vehicle. It can also lead to citizens assuming that darker tint is allowable for their vehicle because their neighbor has an almost identical vehicle, just with a hatch on the back rather than a trunk.

Thank you for taking the time to read my email and consider my request.

Damaged goods Part 33 1/3...

As I sit here listing to Fall Out Boy, I decided to write what should be the last part of the "Damaged Goods" series (at least I plan to catch you up till the present).

So, I last left off in Fall (if you could call it a fall) of 2001 right as Chrissy and I met. We were hitting it off really well, and we even went up to Jersey for Thanksgiving with her Family. That facet of things was going swimmingly. Other things, not so much. I was not a good roommate and consequently damaged some friendships. Despite always being told I have such a friendly personality (well, usually, push me to my breaking point and I WILL snap at you) there are certain traits about me that make me a bad person to live with (I am still not sure how Chrissy puts up with me).

I am selfish, lazy and inconsiderate, especially with people I spend a LOT of time with. I know where I picked up some of those traits, but regardless of where I picked them up, I shouldn't have let them become traits that define me. For that I am ashamed and sorry. College actually promoted my laziness because I managed to get good grades in most cases with little effort and attending very few classes. That helped contribute to my weight gain and made it even harder on me when I made the transition to the "real world". While I had routinely had summer jobs, I was used to the amoutn of free time I was able to have in College during the semester, so working through the summer wasn't a surprise, but rather working full-time through the rest of the year that was the surprise.

Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself. My relationship with Chrissy, and actually having a decent paying job coming out of College were two of the bright spots in my life at that time. I further continued to alienate roommates the first year after college when Chrissy and I shared an apartment with Jimmy and Steph. By the end of that time, we weren't that cordial, at least not in my mind, and there was at least a significant part of that that was my fault. The only roommate I am not in contact with from the Courtyards at all is Bryce, but I don't know where he ended up because he was still at UM when the rest of us graduated and haven't found him on facebook.

My job required regular (once a month on average) travel, usually to Tampa, Fl. There is where my weight became a significant problem, but also a constant source of depression due to airline seats. Chrissy and I tried LA Weightloss (albiet probably half-heartedly) and made no progress with that. The travel got to me anyway (although it did manage to get me to Hawaii, San Diego, and San Antonio and Chrissy came along to Hawaii and San Diego) and I changed jobs. Around that time is when Chrissy and I started doing Weight Watchers. I had made significant progress losing approximately 80lbs. My job was in turmoil at this point so I decided it was time for a change, and felt an overseas tour would do me good, so I applied for a couple jobs, one of which was in Germany.

I had cleared the potential locations with Chrissy before I applied and I knoew that if she was going to come with me we would have to be married (I was planning on getting to that in the near future anyway because we had been together for almost 4 years at that point.) Once I found out that I had gotten the job in Germany, I kept it a secret for ~2 weeks. With the cover of going with Matt to Dave and Busters, we hit up a jewelry store that lots of my relatives use. I found the perfect ring, and once I got it, I knew exactly what I was going to do.

Chrissy was taking me out for a nice dinner for my birthday at Windows on the Bay in Pasadena. I decided I would use that opportunity to propose (so I would have at least one good memory of that day). It rained during dinner and I was prepared to propose there, but it cleared up near the end of the meal, so I suggested we go for a walk down on the docks. I don't remember what I said leading up to it, but as I opened the box I said that there was no one I would rather take to Germany and spend the rest of my life with.

Dammit...these things keep pressing on much longer than I intend, but I AM going to finish it this time!

Back to finish this thing after a LONG time away from the computer.

Ok, so we are now prepping to move to Germany (which was moved from June 06->April 06->February 06) and have to get married before that, sell our house, and do a bunch of other stuff. We settle on a simple civil service at the court hours in Annapolis with a reception afterwards at Windows on the Bay in Pasedena. In this time, both of us begin to gain weight again because we are packing, cleaning the house and eating out. We finally get to Germany and the weight gain continues (because we are in a hotel for 10 days eating out EVERY meal) and then frequently eating American comfort food on base once we had our house. That slowed down until things took a turn.

June 06 - Chrissy has a seizure for unknown reasons. Lots of stress over the next couple of months while we try to get her to see an American Neurologist because the Germans think she has MS. That diagnosis is confirmed by the Neuro at Landstuhl (but it was HELL getting an appointment).

~Sep 06 - I have severe pains in my side, taking to the hospital. Diagnosis - Gall Stones. By October I am flying back to the states to have surgery to have my gallbladder removed after numerous very painful attacks (including on our Anniversary in Belgium).

- Early 07 - I start having severe headaches. After going around and around and around, the apparent diagnosis is Migraines. (FUN)

- June 07 - After going to the hospital several times for severe abdominal pain, Die Germans finally deside my appendix must come out. This is 1 week before we are supposed to fly to London for Chrissy's birthday (Another vacation ruined by an illness that lead to surgery)

Most of our time in Germany, I have severe health anxiety issues, my weight far exceeds any amount that I had lost before, and I get into a habbit of spending money, because my salary is higher, and we don't have to pay a mortgage or rent while we are in Germany.

We come back to the states in March 08 to look at developments (we wanted new construction). To cope with the home prices, we decided we were willing to live across the bridge to get the house we wanted instead of settling for something that we kind of liked. We pick our plot, yada yada yada, our house will be built by end of July.

Now, in what can best be described as a manic state (you know, like manic->depressive) I decide we will trade in our COMPLETELY PAID OFF 2006 BMW 325i for a 2008 BMW 135i Convertible. So, now we are about to have a mortgage for the first time in 2 1/2 years AND we will have a car payment for a REALLY expensive car. Smart move dumbass. My spending habbits did not curtail either. Then we go to settlement. Things are still ok though because we will both be over seas for a while longer so payments seem like nothing. Then we move back here.

Combine our last few trips in Europe + stuff for new house + bad spending habbits = mounds of credit card debit that we are only able to gradually deal with because of Mortgage + Car payment + sudo car payment + bills + living expenses. That leads up to now and that describes why I am in such a horrible mood these days. I still have my up days and my down days, and we are gradually paying down all of the debt, but it will take time, and the fact that I let myself get in this state makes me very dissapointed in myself. And that, more so than much of the other stuff that has happened in my life, is why I feel I am "Damaged Goods" right now.

So, we will now return you to your normally scheduled programming of random posts about random crap. Hopefully cheerier ones at that. Time will tell.