I'm glad I lift weights

I just bought a combination printer/fax machine/photocopier, and brought it home on the bus. Plus, of course, the four blocks (call that 400 meters if you don't know NY block sizes) from the bus to my building.

It's heavy, of course, as well as awkward. Five years ago, I'd have paid for a car service. Now, I rested every block or so, and was glad to be inside so I could remove extra layers and get some cold water; dressed adequately for a chilly January day is dressed perhaps too warmly for the 400-meter printer-carry.

Now I just have to deal with logistics, namely where to put the perfectly good black-and-white laser printer, if the new device goes where it's now sitting, and whether we have a spare USB cable.

I'm glad I lift weights

I just bought a combination printer/fax machine/photocopier, and brought it home on the bus. Plus, of course, the four blocks (call that 400 meters if you don't know NY block sizes) from the bus to my building.

It's heavy, of course, as well as awkward. Five years ago, I'd have paid for a car service. Now, I rested every block or so, and was glad to be inside so I could remove extra layers and get some cold water; dressed adequately for a chilly January day is dressed perhaps too warmly for the 400-meter printer-carry.

Now I just have to deal with logistics, namely where to put the perfectly good black-and-white laser printer, if the new device goes where it's now sitting, and whether we have a spare USB cable.

living in the future

I already had (at least) two fictional characters on my friends list (and cheerfully offer them both advice), but I'm fairly sure spiritrover is my first robot friend.

living in the future

I already had (at least) two fictional characters on my friends list (and cheerfully offer them both advice), but I'm fairly sure spiritrover is my first robot friend.

How to make people nervous

The phone rang about half an hour ago. I answered it, expecting to hear cattitude's voice on the other end.

It was a stranger, who said he was calling for the Internal Revenue Service, which he then proceeded to define in case I didn't know. Had he asked for either of us by name, I'd really have worried, but instead he explained that he wasn't calling from the IRS, but on their behalf. They were taking a survey, wanting to know about the design of IRS publications and the Web site.

It was a poorly constructed survey: repetitive, sometimes having only numerical options for how well or poorly something worked, when the previous question had determined that I had never used that particular publication or service. But I did my best to tell them what I thought of form design and of the Web site (I praised it for not being full of bells, whistles, and [f|F]lash). There were also questions to which my response was "Does that mean P or Q?" and the surveyer didn't know, so put down "no answer".

But yes, the tax people are doing customer surveys.

How to make people nervous

The phone rang about half an hour ago. I answered it, expecting to hear cattitude's voice on the other end.

It was a stranger, who said he was calling for the Internal Revenue Service, which he then proceeded to define in case I didn't know. Had he asked for either of us by name, I'd really have worried, but instead he explained that he wasn't calling from the IRS, but on their behalf. They were taking a survey, wanting to know about the design of IRS publications and the Web site.

It was a poorly constructed survey: repetitive, sometimes having only numerical options for how well or poorly something worked, when the previous question had determined that I had never used that particular publication or service. But I did my best to tell them what I thought of form design and of the Web site (I praised it for not being full of bells, whistles, and [f|F]lash). There were also questions to which my response was "Does that mean P or Q?" and the surveyer didn't know, so put down "no answer".

But yes, the tax people are doing customer surveys.