Thursday, January 7, 1999

First, the New Stuff:

• Angie, Heidi, and Joe have all joined the WTS
• Titles have been assigned to all of the toasters
• Is There Toscanini's Ice Cream in Heaven?
• 3 more Haiku Movie Reviews
• A new face on the Milk Carton
• Chapter 68 of the Empty City (in which the Four discuss Doug's attempted nuclear holdup)

Gina has been nominated for a "Lady of the Year" award by a website called The Mane Attraction. She is in competition with 4 other long haired ladies, and the winner will be determined by popular vote, so if you're a Gina fan, you should surf over there and cast your vote while the polls are still open. (As of yesterday, she was in the lead, having gotten 30% of the 167 votes cast so far.)

A few weeks ago, I reported that Kristin had decided to switch to part-time employment at TSI, and that, at the same time, I was casually looking for new programming work. But this week, those plans changed.

As you may know, Kristin gets severe migraine headaches, the primary trigger for which is men's cologne. And since many of the employees at TSI wear cologne and other perfumes, working there has been like working in a minefield for Kristin. It doesn't take much more than a good whiff of cologne to induce one of her headaches, and since her job has involved a lot of user support, she's been getting migraines at least 2 or 3 times in any given workweek. She has repeatedly asked management for help in this matter, but the company has been unwilling to institute a scent-free workplace policy, and although she's been able to persuade some employees to stop wearing their headache-inducing fragrances, others have refused.

Obviously, all of this has been difficult for her to cope with... but as one of the founders of the company, it didn't make sense for her to leave until after her founder's stock had fully vested. Yet now, having served out her 3 years, her health and sanity have required that she stop working at TSI as soon as possible.

But while Looney Labs has had a very good year, our company isn't making enough money to support us both just yet - and I haven't been doing any outside work since mid-October. The obvious conclusion was that I should get a job again so that she could stop working in an environment that sends her home more often than not with a migraine.

Of course, it would probably have made more sense for her to stay at TSI until after I'd found a new job somewhere; but Kristin's migraines have gotten so bad that we decided she should just go ahead and quit. We can coast for a couple of months on our savings, and nothing will motivate me to find a new job better than us both being out of work.

So, on Monday, she handed in her resignation, and I pulled out the want ads. I've polished up my resume, and yesterday I attended a Job Fair. I've already got a couple of interviews lined up as a result, but what was really cool was that a complete stranger saw my name and recognized me as being the designer of Fluxx. I love it when that happens!

Anyway, I'm now actively seeking full-time C/C++ programming work, so if you know of any cool opportunities in the Washington DC area, please point them out to me. Thanks!

The pressures of being a fighter pilot on active duty must be pretty intense. Each time you fire a missile, not only is there a chance you'll be taking a human life, but you're also costing the taxpayers $1.2 million just by pulling the trigger.

Peace,

The one time when orange juice doesn't taste delicious is immediately after brushing your teeth. So why is it only served at breakfast?

I hate the phrase "all 4 Star Trek series". What about the animated series, from the mid-seventies? Why doesn't it count? Do they consider it an extension of the original, or is it just ignored because it was lame?