It doesn't get any easier...

Back when I was at Borland, there was a fellow there who was a real wheeler-dealer. He was also eternally in some kind of financial hot water (with the IRS, various hotels,... you name it). And yet, he soared through life like an eagle, seemingly oblivious to the hounds yapping at his heels. The last I'd heard, he'd made his million in the glory days of the Internet bubble, and then lost it when the bubble burst. I hope he's doing well, though I wouldn't bet blindly on the outcome.

As for myself, I cannot help but get upset to the point of inactivity when confronted by less-than-pleasant news, especially of the financial variety. For some small time, I kind of sit there and internalize the pain, visualize yet another hemhorrhage of cash from my bruised and battered accounts, wonder whether the struggle is worth the effort, and desire nothing more than to retreat into a shell.

And being far from home doesn't exactly help, as it exacerbates the feeling of helplessness. OTOH, I am here doing what I do best.

Throw in the fact that I hardly noticed the cat last night and may have actually gotten a reasonable night's sleep, and maybe life isn't so bad.

* * *I tried to do a little work on Doug and Kat's Perl script yesterday, and it's fortunate that I started by backing up the working script on their Web site. When I worked on their site a few days ago, I was on a Linux box, from which I had no trouble issing chmod commands via the ftp client. Yesterday, while backing up the file, I found out that the ftp client on a Windows-based computer has no such capability (or that it's hidden in a manner that is not obvious to me).

Anyway, it's time to get ready for the day, which will consist of another mind-expanding session at the Execute Package.

Cheers...

VAIO trouble...

The hyphen, number 6, and Delete keys on my VAIO keyboard have ceased to function. I thought initially that somehow some dirt may have been responsible, but after tracking down a small phillips-head screwdriver and some canned air on the fourth floor earlier today, I removed the VAIO keyboard and blew it out, but the problem remained.

As a workaround, I am currently using a spare keyboard that I found lying around the area here in the MCC.

I might just do the disassembly again at home and take a closer look at those keys.

The work load was a little heavier than it was yesterday, and one radiogram had me looking things up in the onboard data files (flight procedures) to find the right terminology, so it was a little more challenging than the average day.

Natalie will be home around 8:30 pm, this being another school night. I dread going home, though, as it was pretty depressing being there last night, despite the fact that I watched Red Dragon, which is the prequel to Silence of the Lambs and (in my opinion) a much better film than Manhunter, which was shot fie years prior to Silence. Ed Norton just makes a great Will Graham opposite Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of Hannibal Lecter.

Gotta start thinking about the end of the work day.

Cheers...