empty promises

Cyberdyne promised us overtime. See, that's not a bonus to your average joe, but when you are trading in old pesos at the bank then you are at the stage where hours matter and time and a half is the difference between me getting to Guatemala in the spring or in the summer or never.
Well, Cyberdyne pulled that promise back and I'm told to come in at the regular time. 8 hour shifts. no overtime. no saturdays. See, I want saturdays. I need the 57 hour week because a 40 hour week is like enough money to keep me poor. But I'm not going to get it. This week is a 40 hour week and next week is that christian holiday and the week after that is a new year thing. So I get fucked out of 5 overtime days. That shit adds up. Guatemala just dipped back over the horizon. The mood at cyberdyne plummeted despite the flyers advertising christmas meals on Wednesday.

The conversation at the table was rough: paroles, drug counselling, ex wives, missed kids, layoffs, executions, drunk driving. And no overtime. One sample

"You stand up for the star spangled banner. Right? So you should take your hat off."
"Players don't take their hat off. People don't stand up."
"Man, when I was a kid..."


we haven't been around each other long enough to be hateful.

As long as I got one week of work at the regular pay then I can survive. Obviously I'll be broke if I pay rent and can't find work so I will be forced to move south.

The weather is good for skiers. The cold has killed one of my batteries so now it is running on the secondary battery. I poured a gallon of hot water on the windshield today to get to work. The gallon jug had milk in it so now the front of my van is white.

venture

I don't want anyone to think I'm getting too serious so here's a sample of today's scores. I actually got 108,140 but the game crashed and had to be unplugged. What, you aren't as stunned as I am?
IN other news Star Castle was unplugged because like an idiot I requested it get repaired. Ha! Their idea of repairing it is to unplug it. It will get repaired right after they realize there is a gigantic wave of people coming down from space who want to play Star Castle. Right! There's another game, Mouse Trap, I think, that has been down for two months because of some glitch. I've sabotaged my own attempt. Hell, there was already dust on the buttons. I'm the only person in New Hampshire playing it.
Well, it gave me a chance to concentrate on Venture and while some advances have been made I think the game itself has limitation. Other than crashing every once in a while the controller is a mess. The arrows pass through the serpents (not snakes). And the difficulty level must be on the absolute highest setting because the trolls dance like the floor is on fire. I can't figure out what deaths are caused by my lack of skill or by the controller. One or two more sessions will decide that. I was rolling and swearing like the old days. I had to laugh because on a Saturday night there were some skiers in there and a few others but really only two or three true gamers. One was focused on Donkey Kong. When he would die he would shout "Fuck!". And at the same time I would get touched by a hall monster and Yell "No no no no no!" and pound the console. Then we looked at each other and you would think we would laugh at ourselves but I pointed to the controller like "Not my fault." and he shook his head in deep sympathy. He and I were both around 40 years old. The we returned to our games. I'd like to say our girlfriends walked by and we said, "Just a minute, baby. Look what level I'm on." but ha! The closest to some pussy I got tonight was the Mrs. Pac Man machine.

I got some chicken fingers to celebrate the completion of some work. I'm almost completely broke and the van needs a new battery but I've got direct deposit and that means I've got enough money to eat. And there is a bluegrass band at the local bar. The black cat. I asked a girl in small press assembly to meet me there. Her accent is so New Hampshire I just love her.
"Me an anothah girl was s'posed tah meet fah lunch, honey. Burgahs and whatnoht. Oooh, look at thaht cah." It's poetry.

Sign of the Times

Forgive the racial stereotyping, but it's too funny to make fun of those fine Asian folk assembling our computers.
If I were totally uncaring I would get some T shirts made (in China) and sell them at Hampton Beach. For now it'll be our little joke.

Letter to Congresswoman Jane Harman (D) of Calif.

I'm no longer a resident of Calif. but that didn't stop me from getting on my rep's case. Come on! Write to your rep and tell them to stop stealing food from you.


"Dear Mrs. Harman,
Simply put, allowing Walmart, Kmart and Toyota to import products to the California without substantial taxes is not in the best interest of California. I wish it were because I enjoy paying merely a small percentage above cost for consumables. BUT, in the long run the loss of jobs to overseas manufacturing is the #1 problem. Companies can transfer out of California because that is the way to be competitive. I realize putting restrictions on companies is not technically a free market policy, but is allowing 700,000 Americans to lose their jobs while the Chinese and Indians make products destined for A San Diego Walmart part of the free market policy? That just sounds like a government run by future Fortune 500 CEOs padding their pockets. Something has to change. Either make learning Chinese in public schools mandatory so children can go get their parents' jobs back in Shanghai or else make outsourcing to China cost prohibitive. Please! There was a reason cotton was cheap in 1820. Don't make me be ashamed to buy a christmas toy for my kid. I'd rather not be able to afford it and I'm not alone."

A=A

There are two parts to solving a problem. A) Identify the problem. B) Solving the problem. Guess which part most people are good at?