The Good, The Bad and the Fugly

It’s been an interesting week, to say the least. To start it all off, on Monday, I lost my backup hard drive. Yes, the original works still, but the back-up (damn Maxtor) sputtered and died. Unfortunately, in an effort to make space, I had moved some files over to the backup – and when it went, they went. Fortunately, I was able to recover those files using a $50 software package I found – but not without less than 6 hours of work, reinstalling PhotoShop (it was trying to access a file off of the failed drive and locked up with every attempt to start it), and several tufts of hair being removed.

At the same time, I got to go to the Philadelphia zoo for the first time in years yesterday, after a good meal with my wife, parents and grandmother for a delayed mother’s day. It was cool to see the animals and take some pictures, but more and more I get sad when I go to zoos. It seems that the animals really aren’t happy – they are biding their time until death rather stoicly in most cases – kind of like many people at their jobs, I guess. It seems a cruel way to educate people, but I understand the conservation that goes on there. Still, it’s hard to watch three elephants walk about a small enclosure instead of a 1,000-acre preserve.

Still no new job, although my job prospects are getting better … and I’ve been doing the freelance thing and getting some cool projects out of it. Still waiting on the checks, but there is only one particular asshat who I did a form for that I have a particular amount of venom for. I thought 30 days was reasonable, but he’s acting like I’m being a jerk. Screw him, the horse he rode in on and the hairpiece he covets.