So we've reached the end of this month and move on to September, the month of Labor Day. It's hilarious how this holida falls right at the beginning of school. I think it's great, because I'm quite tired from the new schedule: I haven't gotten used to it yet. I also still have to get fully accustomed to the people I'm now working with.

I'm not even going to get started on gas prices ... I'll just leave it at this: when gas jumps $0.80 after one day's work, SOMETHING IS WRONG.

Other than that ... well, I'm a bit tired right now so I'll probably crash on the couch.

EDIT: Oh yeah ... I should remember to compress my old school work at the end of every semester. I just compressed last semester's work down from 788MB to 288MB using 7-Zip. Previous semesters were done in either RAR or Zip. I'll see how those compress with 7z, and will probably use that format from now on.

The funniest sight in the world ... a beagle puppy running at full tilt down a hallway with women's underwear in his mouth, and the owner of said underwear chasing after him. I really, really wish I had a video cam on me.

I'm having a rockin' good time The only thing I'll really have to get used to is the fact that there are now lots of social people around me. I seem to be sitting in my corner of the office less and less, appearing at random desks to put out fires every now and then.

I have two dead laptops on my desk

A couple days ago there were a pair of B-1B bombers taking off just outside my window. It was quite bitchin' I get to see 747s and stuff all the time, seeing how I'm closer to O'Hare at this place. Hell, I can see the control tower if I lean just right. Cool stuff, lemme tell ya.

My workstation is a Dell Inspiron 8100 that is pretty much the same as the one I gave my mother The only difference is that I'm running dual monitors instead. I get enough e-mails there to warrant putting Outlook on the secondary

Exciting times.

Now I'm the new guy, and the jokes are all on me That's okay, though ... I am reaping what I have sown at MicroNet

I was shown my desk with its drawers. The first thing I did was swap the hard drives in two laptops and load Windows XP Pro so I could start working on stuff. I still have to absorb a lot of information, though, seeing how the software is quite complex. I got quite an interesting reaction when one of the guys sat down and saw i8kfangui running in the system tray I'd better get used to this place fast.

In other news, UIC ran out of the Management 541 textbook ... or at least they ran out of new copies of said textbook, which is really bad because the new version comes with a companion CD-ROM that I need, and the used one does not. Online booksellers (i.e. Barnes & Noble) say it'll take 1.5 to 2 weeks to get that book out to me. Give me a break, it's a goddamn BOOK, not a refrigerator custom-built to my specifications!

About an hour ago, I locked MicroNet's door for the last time. Sure, others will do so in the future, but it was the last time I did it. These last two days have been a bit surreal ... hell, I even made Antonete cry, and I didn't have to insult her relentlessly!

Anyway, it was a great run. Six years ... seems so much shorter now that I look back. The place does grow on you.

So what's next? I start at the new place on Monday. That means a whole different environment. I am facing a mixture of excitement and fear right now, which obviously culminates in a load of nervousness. I will officially reach the "flipping out" stage tomorrow.