MultiLJ & other stuff

I"m trying out a new LJ client, multilj. Too early to tell how well I'll like it, but it looks interesting. Although, what is it with software installers that always want to put their programs in c:\Program Files\Software Company Name\Program Name? Why would I even care what the name of the software company is, and how, upon navigating to the Program Files directory, would I be able to find the app I'm looking for if all I have to go on is its software company name? Big software conglomerates like Adobe or Microsoft, I could see, but I'm not even going to remember who programmed MultiLJ.

Work is going—all right, I guess. Except I'm a little worried. One of the staff is relocating, and I'm expected to take on his duties, which include some technical stuff that I don't know if I can get down. Microsoft SQL 2005 Reporting Service, for one thing. They gave me a book to read to learn from, but it's slow going. I keep getting distracted by the allure of the Internets, and this bothers me a lot. I'd really like to take some kind of class in this, I think I would learn it better that way, but I doubt I'm going to be able to convince work to shell out hundreds of bucks for one, or wait the time it would take me to learn it.

Perhaps as a result of this, I've not been sleeping very well again lately. I go to bed at a time that would get me sufficient sleep if I woke up when my alarm clock went off—but instead I consistently wake up two hours early. I'm not sure what I can do about that. Maybe start going to bed two hours earlier. :P

Oh, and I'm scheduled for a root canal today. Joy and rapture.

In happier news, I recently discovered that "Misfits," the Liaden-universe story published in the December, 2007 issue of Jim Baen's Universe, happens to be available on-line for free as a Webscription sample chapter for the magazine back-issue. It's always good to find more Liaden stuff I haven't read.

Random flea thought

There's stuff you can put on cats and dogs, or pills you can give them, of stuff that gets into their blood and kills any flea or tick unlucky enough to take a taste.

But there are not, as far as I know, any similar pills for humans.

Does that not constitute a bit of a double-standard?

Rootkit for Canals

You know, I just had a short vacation, Roy
Spent it getting a root canal
"Oh, how'd you like it?"
Well, it ain't that pretty at all

—Warren Zevon, "Ain't That Pretty At All"

You know, there are some words you just don't want to hear when the dentist is up to his elbows in your mouth. Words like "difficult" or "hardest root canal I've ever done," or (my favorite) "entire back of the tooth is missing." It also gives one pause when the temporary filling keeps falling out, or when you have to consciously suppress your gag reflex when the hand-held X-ray camera is poked back into the back of your mouth. The tooth was my top right back molar, all the way at the back of my mouth; any farther back and it would have been in my stomach.

But when all was said and done, the dentist and his assistant actually did a bang-up job getting the tooth all drilled out and patched up. When it was all over, I think we all deserved a beer—them for doing it, and me for sitting through it. I also got a prescription for some Vicodin, though I'm not sure whether I'll need it—but if nothing else, at least I can reenact scenes from Max Payne.

After that, I went to Wal-Mart to pick up the prescription, and rewarded myself by picking up a couple of movies I'd never seen but expected I would enjoy enough to want to keep them: Hellboy (director's cut) for $9, and Stand By Me for $5. Then I came on home, stopped by the bank to pull some cash out of my Health Savings Account to pay for the portion of the dental costs that the insurance wouldn't cover, and had myself a cup of "pineapple whip" (pineapple-flavored soft-serve) on the way home. Yummy.

I think tonight will be an early night.