Tired . . . and pissed off.
05.20.04 (8:47 am) [edit]I have a cold again - one of the hazards of being both a parent and of working with the public all day long. I also didn't get much sleep last night because I was up late . . . really late.
I was trying to restore my home computer to some semblance of functionality after unsuccessfully trying to remove an extremely nasty, self-downloading and self-replicating piece of malware called "vx2 abetterinternet." This browser-hijacking trojan managed to download itself onto my system and won't allow itself to be deleted or removed by my usual anti-virus or anti-spyware programs. Following conflicting advice from several web forums, I managed to screw things up so badly during my removal attempts that my computer would only start in "safe mode" and not very well in that. :evil:
I had to do a system recovery, which [b]thankfully[/b] didn't wipe out all of my personal files, including 2 years of pictures of my family and more MP3's than I should probably admit to owning. Tonight, I'll have to redo all of my custom settings and reinstall several programs and drivers. :x
And still, after all that grief, that piece of shit file is still on my computer, still hijacking my browser, causing popups and downloading more crap onto my system. :evil:
At least now, after doing more research this morning at work, I think I know how to safely remove it and prevent it from coming back. This time though, I'm going to burn copies of all my important files first, so if the worst does happen and I need to wipe my system clean to fix things, then I won't risk losing everything like I stupidly did last night. :oops:
[b]I'd like to meet the shithead who designed this malignant garbage and released it onto the web and then bash his head in with a baseball bat.[/b] :twisted:
I'm not normally a violent person, but I really equate this kind of malicious, invading software with a burglary attempt on my household. It's legal to defend your home from an intruder, why should your computer be any different.
In any case, I'd really like to see whoever is responsible for this to be prosecuted under the same laws that apply to hackers and virus creators. Just because it's legitimate to create pop-up ads, or adware in general, doesn't make it right to make something that can install itself without permission on a system.
Okay. Now that's out of the way, I can report that nothing else really important has happened since my last blog. The hamster problems have been fixed and things are going okay both at home and at work - except that I've been really too busy to blog and too busy to read blogs.
So to all my blogging friends out there, I apologize for being absent for a while. Unfortunately, I don't see myself having much free time for me to blog or read blogs in near future. For the next several weeks, it seems as though every moment of my time is spoken for and I'm not as free to blog at work as I once was. In fact, during my last hiatus, I debated again about quitting the blogosphere altogether, but I haven't come to a final decision yet. I'm not saying that because I want people to tell me not to quit, but because I just fell like it's just becoming more of a chore than the pleasure it once was. And it's not final that I'm going to stop. Who knows? Working with the public is "like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get," and the right one might set me off on a rant to end all rants. :wink:
Addendum
05.11.04 (6:05 am) [edit]After escaping by jumping from hand to floor twice in a 24 hour period, we've decided to try to trade the Robovorski in for a more traditional pudgy, slow, sometimes-biting hamster. R. will not be happy, but will soon forget the one for the other hopefully. :cry:
Sticky day
05.10.04 (12:53 pm) [edit]It's humid and warm today, with thunderstorms rolling through . . . glad I'm working, for once. :wink:
I've had a busy past few days and again haven't been much interested in blogs or blogging. My apologies to everyone who has probably gotten used to my frequent comments on their blogs, as I just haven't been around much in the blogosphere of late. I promise to find the time to check in again soon . . .
Lets see, where to begin?
Firstly, my sister-in-law is doing much better. Her plasma count is back up in the normal range and her treatments have decreased accordingly. She's back home and things are somewhat returning to "normality" in both her home and mine. She won't be returning to her job teaching before the summer break and depending on how things are progressing with her pregnancy, perhaps not until the baby is born. (It's still a matter of wait-and-see as far as whether or not her blood disorder has had any affect on the fetal development, but we're hopeful and optimistic.)
Secondly, I went to court on Friday for bankruptcy. I know it's not a great thing to do, or to admit, but on the other hand I now have a chance to get my finances back in order. Much of the reason for my decision to file stems from the financial troubles of last year when my wife lost her job and our whole world spun off it's axis. I'm certainly not alone in having this problem in our current economy. I don't care what the spinmeisters in the government or their lapdog press says, things are not going fine with the economy. Proof of this can be demonstrated, I believe, in the record-setting number of bankruptcies filed in the past year. In fact the session I was in had at least 25 people all filing and that was before 10AM in the morning of that day. :evil:
What else? I've got a large paperback order to do at work and only 8 more days to complete it.
My wife had to work her "long weekend" of the month - once per month she ends up having to work 4 nights in a row; from Friday to Monday. So I've had a lot of time alone with my daughter . . . not to say that I don't love to spend time with her, but going to work today was a pleasant change. :wink:
Also, I decided to spoil her by getting her a first pet. We decided on a hamster because it's small, and because our landlord who lives downstairs is allergic to cats. I picked out a non-biting variety, which in retrospect perhaps wasn't the best choice as it's very tiny and very fast. But it's so cute! The exact variety is called a Robovorski and looks like a mouse with a very short tail. He's pretty tame, but definitely likes to poop when he's out of his cage - like on my shoulder. :roll: We're still looking for a name for him, but "Poop Machine" is moving up the list . . .
Anyway, R. is thrilled to have him and woke us up at 5:50 this morning because she wanted to play with him. :roll:
Here's a little picture of what he (we're assuming it's a he, but he's been too fast to try to sex - not that it really matters to anyone but him, or her) looks like:
Anyhow, that's what's going on . . . and why I still need a vacation. :roll:
Just a quick rant
05.05.04 (5:18 pm) [edit]Okay, I said in my last little blog today that I didn't have time to read or write anything lately, but after the news I just got here at work, I'm making time. :evil:
My branch manager, fresh from his latest meeting with the administration of my library system, just told us that now they (the administration) has decided to remove the last petty perk that we library employees get: we're now going to have to pay overdue fines on [b]all[/b] materials we check out. :evil:
This means in essence that the employees are going to be held to a stricter standard than the general public because not only are we going to be fined for overdue items, we also aren't able to wipe out fines for other staff members for fear of being reprimanded or potentially dismissed. Our log-ins can be tracked and every transaction observed; so, it's okay for a patron to bitch to have a fine removed, but not an employee. :x
When I started here 3 years ago, employees didn't get fined for any overdue items owned by our system - not that it really mattered to me because I was scrupulous in my returning of materials, but it was nice to have the option of keeping something a few days longer. Suburban materials were another matter, as those we did get fined for, but so what . . . we're encouraged not to order them anyway because of the cost to our system for borrowing other city's materials. Then they decided that employees would be fined for overdue media materials like videos, CDs, DVDs. Again, that was fine with me because I understood that these were popular items and in demand and it made sense to have more incentive for employees not to abuse the system by keeping them longer than they were supposed to. I can even see this being applied to new books that have a 7 day loan period, but now it's [b]everything[/b]. :x
I just can't see how it makes a difference to anyone if a book that's just gathering dust on a shelf is returned on time or not by an employee. It's not like there's any demand for it, and if there was then the item would have to be returned.
Every job I've worked at has had it's little perks. It's a fact of life that every job has it's drawbacks and it's little benefits. Now things have gotten to the point where all government employees are being bashed for everything and in response, the higher-ups in the system are making the job even less enjoyable - all in the name of clean government. I don't understand how library employees being able to keep things out overdue without fines is now seemingly being equated with widespread government corruption as has been seen in this city lately, with several aldermen going to federal prison for bribery and extortion.
I hate to say this, but I think the next catch phrase like "going postal" will be "going librarian," at this rate. :evil:
Productive
05.05.04 (12:17 pm) [edit]Just a quick blog to let my 3 readers know that I'm still alive . . .
With all that's been going on with my sister-in-law's health problems (she's been up and down lately) and the general chaos of my life in general, I haven't had much time or desire to blog or read other's blogs.
Besides, I've actually rediscovered a sense of satisfaction about being productive at work and seem to have gotten over the malaise brought on by my last library's stress-inducing environment.
I've also been really caught up in my latest read - The Confusion by Neal Stephenson and working on my genealogy web page for my dad's relatives to see before they come for his memorial service in June. (I'm hoping that some of them are inspired to bring me more documents and information when they come.)
Hope everything's going well for all of you out there and I'll try to check out your blogs when I have a quiet moment here at work or at home - hopefully later today or tomorrow. :)