07 Dec 2005
From the Dilbert Blog
Yet another “third highest ranking al-Qaida leader” has been killed, this time by a rocket attack from an unmanned drone. There are a lot of jobs that I wouldn’t want, and “third highest ranking al-Qaida leader” is right at the top. But I can tell you for sure that if I ever got that job, the first thing I’d do is narc out one of the top two guys so I could move up a notch. Apparently one of the perks of being in the top two is having a really, really good hiding place. The number 3 through 10 leadership guys are pretty much scurrying between mud huts and looking at the sky a lot.
I know that war is Hell and all that, but I have to think that the guy who fired the rocket by remote control loves his job. I have an image of him sitting in an air conditioned headquarters someplace, feet up on the desk, a bag of Cheetohs on one side, a Budweiser on the other, staring at his computer screen. It’s about 1 am and everyone else is asleep. The order comes through on e-mail saying something like “Blow up mud hut #4,7855.” So he takes a break from playing Doom and plugs that number into the GPS system and soon his drone is hovering over said mud hut, missiles ready to go.
Maybe it’s just a “guy thing” but the idea of blowing up a mud hut by remote controlled drone sounds like the most fun thing I can think of. And if the number 3 al-Qaida leader happens to be inside, that’s a bonus. It certainly makes your story sound less nerdy afterwards.
I find it interesting that the guy with the best job in the world gets to blow up the guy with the worst job in the world. That’s really rubbing it in. But I guess it’s not so different from a CEO downsizing the auditing department. It’s one of those recurring themes in life.
Pretty funny and it sounds an awful bit like my buddy Glenn.
A bunch of good reader comments as well
I think being the number 3 Al-Quida leader is like being the red shirted ensign in the original “Star Trek”.
Al-Qaida leader #2: There’s a drone coming. Go build me another mud hut.
Mud hut builder: *thinking* Damn. I have the worst job in the world.
07 Dec 2005
Last night I finally broke down and decided to purchase a new aptly titled big ass TV.
I don’t particularily need a new tv, my existing 27″ crt is still kicking just fine, but that’s besides the point.
After some debate I finally decided on a 42″ plasma from Costco. I also threw one of those new DVD recorder/players on the cart. All along I was hoping that this massive box would actually be able to fit in a VW golf.
So I wheeled my order up to the counter and took out my costco card (I just upgraded to the executive membership that offers 2% cashback knowing that this purchase would earn more than the cost of the upgrade). Costco doesn’t take credit cards unfortunately so I had to put it on my debit card.
That’s where the fun begins. I thought it would be pretty unlikely that I could put $3k+ on my debit card in a single transaction but I tried nonetheless. It failed with a daily limit exceeded message but the cashier suggested I try the actual bank machine across the store. Strange suggestion because I wouldn’t imagine a bank machine would allow you to withdrawl more cash than a point of sale transaction would. Sure enough, the Costco bank machine would only allow a withdrawl of $1k so no go.
Unfortunately the story ends there. I didn’t get to buy the tv and my motivation for buying has since diminished. I did put a cheque in my pocket before I went to work today but couldn’t bring myself to go try again. Maybe next week.
02 Dec 2005
Last week marked the completion of the annual VIATec foodbank challenge.
What’s The Foodbank Challenge?
Join the tech community to show the kind of difference we can make!
Once again we are pitting technology company against technology company in an effort to raise as much food and donations as possible for the Mustard Seed Food Bank in time for Christmas.
It’s easy! Bring your food donations to a secured storage room at the Vancouver Island Technology Park every Friday in November. The Challenge will recognise both the company that donates the most food overall, as well as the company that donates the most per employee. Participants will be thanked and the winners announced at VIATeC’s Christmas Reception – date and location TBA.
Basically, all the local technology companies compete against each other to see who can raise the most ‘points’ for the foodbank. Points are determine per donated food item with in-demand items being worth more points.
This year GenoLogics put in a tremendous showing with a contribution of over 12000 points. We did our best to optimize our points per dollar but that still amounted to a $3000 or $4000 food donation. Not bad for a 30-odd person startup.
Final results won’t be released until the VIATec christmas party this week, but with any luck we’ll come out on top.
Well done guys. It’s nice to see everyone come together and support such a good cause.