don't make 'em like they used to

I got a new lamp to replace an old one I've had since... well, since I was significantly younger.  The first thing I noticed is that it's new and shiny and not much different than the original.  The base is a bit less childlike, crisper, and I like the switch with the definitive switching sound rather than the rotational clicks the other one had.  Much more... me.

The second thing I noticed is that it's shorter.  No big deal.

Then I go to bend the neck and my hand slides all over the place.  The black "cable wrap" they put on there is not only brittle and, well, cable-wrap-like, but it's not secured.  To anything.  They pretty much wrap cable wrap around the metal neck (which I can easily see if I pull down on the wrap) and then seal the seam together, likely with heat or something, so I can't simply yank the mess off.

The light is perfectly functional, but the wrap must come off if gorilla glue or somesuch can't hold that sucker in place.  This inattention to detail about something rather important (you seriously can't move it suddenly without having things slide around) is very sad.

The other one is held by the fact the plastic wrap stuff is a) higher quality I think and b) sunk into the plastic on either end.

Anywho, we'll work with it.  It's a nice cheap lamp at any rate.  :)

~w

O...M...G... I love tea.

I have been making irish breakfast, earl grey, and english breakfast tea to take to work with me... in bulk, you know, have it in a thermos and such.  As such I sort of took it for granted.

Rose Puerh.  Dark.  One cup at a time, freshly made.  Wow.  I'd forgotten what really good tea was like.

I get to have pancakes soon, too.  W00T!!  :: happiness ::

morning.

It just occurred to me that a person's idea of fun in the wee hours of the morning may not be the same as mine.

I was just sitting here, logged into my work computer, watching one of the servers open connections, close them, fire off processes, write to disk... I got in here because its memory was a bit high and I was alerted, and ended up rebooting given I couldn't find a problem other than high memory utilization, but then when it came back I sat here watching it do its thing.  Not because I thought it needed watching, mind, but because it was drawing me in like a moth to a flame.  There's a reason I shy away from resource monitors.  They are the types of things that my inner geek is natively drawn to.  This means that once hooked, it is difficult to keep track of time.

The part that alarmed me was when I realized I was smiling at it thinking, "That's SO cool.  I can see you talking to your superior.  Oh!  And I can see me.  Hi, me!"

It's not good for people to have this power.  It's disturbing.  In other news, I think I want tea and eggs for breakfast.

~w