Jimtac.com

Week one of March has come and gone, with some interesting hiccups…

If you were a happy Windows 7 RC1 user, you are now an unhappy Windows 7 RC [occasional] user. I hope that if you do fall into this camp, that you have purchased a full license for your recently narcoleptic PC. I’m of course referring to the March 1st expiry of the release candidate of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system, which instead of simply refusing to work, MS was gracious enough to give you 2 hours to use the OS to try to back up your files and regress to your previous OS, or install the retail version of 7 [of course you can only actually upgrade to Win7 Ultimate Edition without doing some hacking of an install disk]. Unfortunately, if you are one of those people who actually used a copy of RC1 as a functional PC trying to use it as a “real” PC in order to try and break things, 2 hours at a time, may not be enough. But either way, it’s time to pony up or fall back.

The next bit of crazy is that PSN decided to crap all over itself this past week, and it turns out that it was a bit of math that tripped those guys up. On the bright side, if you would have just bought the PS3 Slim, then you would have been fine; on the down side, most PS3 owners [myself included] do not have the Slim. When this first happened, you would turn on your PS3, and it would tell you that is cannot connect to the PSN, and would not play most games, or network, or … Well it turns out that it’s not just that the PSN was inaccessible, it turns out that the internal clock of all the pre-Slim PS3′s thought that 2010 was a leap year, and added the extra day to February. Good job Sony, at least I can take solace in the fact that I’m not the only one who hasn’t bought a 2010 calendar yet. At least it didn’t affect me, since now I’m about 52 hours into Mass Effect 2, which has completely negated my use of any other gaming system [or any other media]… So sorry WoW, but I think you can live without me for a bit longer since you’ve sucked months, and not just days of real time from me so far.

Oh, and I REALLY want an Iron Man TV!!!

Though I wish it was that hotrod red, with the arc reactor as the logo in the centre [like my LG Scarlet]

So it’s been nearly 2 weeks since I was laid off from my job. 2 very long weeks indeed. The thing about it is that I have been living with constant threats of losing my job for almost 2 years, so in a sense this is a bit of a relief. At the same time it’s really only today, (while in the office of the outplacement that my [former] employer paid for), that this is really starting to sink in and become real. Last night when I faxed in my paperwork it felt kind if heavy, but nothing like today.

I’m lucky to have great friends and family, of which I have seen both today. They really help in this time of transition.

While getting a “golden parachute”, is nice and all, I’d still rather have the job. Even when I was shoved in a corner, and given menial tasks to do, it was the people that made it worthwhile, and they are the real reason that this is harder than any othertime that I’ve had to look for a new job. It’s going to be really hard not to just drop off the face of the earth like I do every other time this happens. There are one or two that I couldn’t bear to lose.

I have no Ill will towards the new “administration” in the department. They’re just doing their job, and hey I’ve been there myself. Still it does kind of sting a bit.

What does this all mean??? Well for starters, it means more time on that time suck of a game: World of Warcraft, and more time spent with friends.. You know having a life outside work, something that has been a foriegn concept to me for the last five and a half years.

So here’s to bigger and better things, and to greener pastures.