And the beat goes on ....

I remember Cher when she had those two teeth that stuck out and she was really skinny and Sonny - well, he was just butt ugly and couldn't sing if his life depended on it. Sonny, as it turned out, was an alright guy and Cher, well, she, over the years, has worn stuff in her shows that gives a whole new meaning to the concept of "Leaving it to the imagination". Or not.

You know, I don't usually whine much, here. From time to time I might detail a thing or two that happens - usually those things that interrupt the flow and prevent me from getting to the things I want to get to, like painting or writing. But lately, I have been having the worst run of luck with some hardware at work and it is going to make me crazy if it doesn't get straightened out soon. The problem is that this equipment is maintained by the vendor, under warranty and contract, so I can't get in there and fix it myself without voiding the contracts on some fairly expensive equipment. The fact that I COULD and WOULD fix it right the first time notwithstanding, I have to rely on others to fix this stuff. And they keep effing things up. And it isn't so much the days I spend at work when I should be home, or on vacation, or out drinking myself stupid on New Year's Eve - it's the friggin' STRESS. One of these days the database isn't going to come back up after I attempt recovery and it's going to take me two days to restore the system from tape - and the Company will be out of business for those two days - and everybody is going to be pissed off at ME. Hey, I guess if all this was easy, I wouldn't have a job - but still ....

Anyway, enough ranting. Two weeks and three days. And counting.

I do, by the way, have a Disaster Recovery System - but the recent issues have thrown it out of sync with the production database. So right now .. well, when I was in the Marines, we would call this "Going bald". Which was not recommended. If you know what I mean. Ahem.

Speaking of the Marines ...

In the summer of 1963 I left the United States for the first time. My Marine Corps unit went for a tour of duty in the Far East. Okinawa, Japan, The Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan. We made the Grand Tour. Although not virginal when I left, I was relatively inexperienced. By the time we got back, in the early Fall of 1964, I had learned a thing or two. Maybe, someday, if I'm really hard up for posting material, I'll tell you all about it. The only reason I mention this is because I was reminded of my time in 'The Corps' with the 'going bald' remark - which, if you haven't figured it out yet, has nothing to do with the hair on my head. And right now, there's at least one of you that's scratching your head saying "What on EARTH???"

Ndinombethe.