Adam Jaskiewicz

Another Year

2008-08-11T23:42:06Z

Another post.

Figure I might as well post an update on my life here. I'm 24 now, done with school, living in Dearborn, and working in downtown Detroit at Compuware. That's about it. And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

QOTD: Ecce Deus fortior me, qui veniens dominabitur mihi. --Dante Alleghri

Writer's Block: Tax Day

2008-04-15T13:54:34Z

If you're getting one, how are you planning to spend your tax refund?

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Gas, groceries, rent, internet and cell phone bills, credit card...

Compuware

2008-04-02T21:49:38Z

So... I got an offer from Compuware, and I'm seriously thinking of accepting it. At this point, I don't have other offers, and don't really have time before graduation to deal with taking off classes to drive/fly somewhere for an interview, so the fact that I have an offer in hand is quite a positive. It doesn't really seem like the ideal job for me, but then again, who comes out of college straight into an ideal job? I'll gain a lot of experience, should learn a lot from their training program, and it will look good on my resume. If I don't like it, I can always start up the job search again when I have some spare time and don't have graduation looming, exams to study for, projects to work on, and classes to not fail, not to mention some money in my savings account.

There is one catch, however: they want me to take a drug screening. Now, I have no doubt in my mind that I would pass such a test; that isn't my concern. The problem is that they want me to take a piss test within 24 hours of receiving my offer (which I got today at about 4:30 pm), and they want me to use a company called "LabCorp". I went to LabCorp's web site to find that their nearest testing location is in St. Paul, MN. Yes, I have just under 23 hours to take a piss test 262 miles away. I left a message on my recruiter's voicemail with my concerns, but he hasn't called back. Hopefully I can get this sorted out.

UPDATE: I finally got in touch with them, and I can take the test at the clinic in Hancock. Just have to call and schedule an appointment.

Writer's Block: Who Pays the Deducitble?

2008-02-22T12:37:34Z

You crash your friend's car because you're driving too fast in bad weather. Everyone's okay, but the car has to go into the shop. Do you pay the deductible?

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Uh... yes. Why is this a question?

Writer's Block: Last Twenty Bucks

2008-02-19T12:46:12Z

List three things you'd buy with your last $20. One practical, one frivolous and one of your choosing.

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Practical:
Beans, lots of beans, lots of beans, lots of beans.

Frivolous:
A bourbon, neat.

My own choosing:
A big sack of rice.

Writer's Block: Coffee Or Tea?

2008-02-06T22:55:20Z

What method do you use to prepare your coffee or tea?

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I usually use an automatic drip coffee maker. It's convenient, and I bought a model that brews good coffee. I also have a french press and a moka pot. For all three, I use a burr grinder, and locally roasted coffee from Twin Lakes Java. I also have on occasion roasted my own coffee, but I don't do that very often.

Limericks

2008-02-05T17:14:47Z

The Aftermath's water's too cold
My tea insufficiantly bold
The brew is insipid
It's temp'rature tepid
Though it's well over ten minutes old

There was a Norwegian, short on youth
Whose wife had got into Vermouth
On a trip to St. Paul
She bid his hand crawl
So he drove all the way to Duluth.

I posted both of these to LimerickDB, but they haven't shown up yet. The second one I revised a bit here, because I just remembered that Ole and Lena are Norwegian, not Swedish.

Writer's Block: Super Bowl 2008

2008-02-04T13:56:48Z

Did you watch the Super Bowl last night? Who did you watch it with?

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Nope, I was busy swing dancing.

Everyone seems to be doing this...

2008-01-07T05:07:57Z

60% Tom Tancredo
58% John Edwards
58% Chris Dodd
56% Barack Obama
56% Mike Gravel
55% Bill Richardson
55% Hillary Clinton
49% Mitt Romney
48% Fred Thompson
46% Dennis Kucinich
43% Joe Biden
43% Mike Huckabee
42% John McCain
42% Rudy Giuliani
41% Ron Paul

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Uh... who? Also, no wonder I can't choose who to vote for. Seems the only viable candidates at this point are Edwards, Obama, and Clinton for the dems, and Romney, Huckabee, McCain, and possibly Giuliani for the reps. I can't vote for a fundie like Romney or Huckabee, Edwards has a bit of a greasy trial-lawyer vibe to him, and Clinton seems like more of the same. Anyone is better than Bush, but I'm going to have to say it's Obama or McCain for me. I am liking Obama more and more lately, and I could live with McCain, which is more than I can say for the other two Republican front-runners.

What Do You Have To Say? - My Resolution For 2008

2008-01-01T07:25:07Z

What's your New Year's Resolution?

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I resolve not to make any resolutions this year. I usually end up breaking them, and don't want to be disappointed in myself.

What if you lost your camera...

2007-11-06T01:12:02Z

...and it sat on a dusty shelf somewhere until someone bought it at a garage sale in 50 years?

This guy buys old cameras from junk stores and e-bay and the like. He buys the old cameras that still have someone's old exposed film in them—exposed forty, fifty, sixty years ago—and develops the film. What pictures he can salvage from these rolls of history he posts on the linked page.

I have looked through several sets of these images, but I will tell you a bit about my favourite series. He bought a box containing an old Argus (a camera company that started in my home town of Ann Arbor, coincidentally), and several rolls of undeveloped but exposed 35mm film. Upon developing said rolls of film, the saga of a soldier in World War II unfolded. It shows pictures of what look like training, time spent in England, Italy, and elsewhere in Europe, and a somewhat blurry yet affecting snapshot of a fellow soldier holding up a newspaper—"Peace at Last" reads the headline. The soldier returns home, taking a series of pictures of the Statue of Liberty looming closer and closer, and finally, pictures of family and friends, even his cat.

Blue Tango

2007-10-22T02:18:53Z

THAT explains it. It was written by Leroy Anderson, the same guy who wrote The Typewriter and Sleigh Ride.

What Do You Have To Say? - Extreme Sports: I've Tried It

2007-09-24T18:25:53Z

What's the most extreme sport that you've tried?

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Extreme Programming

What Do You Have To Say? - Music: My First Favorite Band

2007-09-13T01:26:20Z

What was the first band you became a fan of?

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Probably The Beatles. My mom was always a big fan, and has several of their albums on vinyl, so that was the first non-Classical music I really listened to much. I never really had much vinyl of my own; my first record was a recording of Leonard Bernstein's On the Town.

What Do You Have To Say? - Photography: The Best Advice

2007-09-13T01:20:11Z

What's the best advice you've given or gotten for taking good photos?

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BRACKET!

I can't count the number of times I've screwed up a shot by under- or over-exposing it. Take three pictures, one a stop over what your light meter tells you, one spot on, and one a stop below.

And of course, just take lots of pictures. This is easier and cheaper now with digital photography; it used to get quite expensive with film. With digital, you can always delete the bad pictures (and there will be lots of them), but the more pictures you take, the more will be worth keeping, and the better you will get at taking pictures.

Well...

2007-09-03T15:50:49Z

GET OUT OF MY HEAD

2007-08-10T02:54:02Z

So, a couple weeks ago I was up north at my family's cabin. On the way home, I stopped at a book store in Mackinac City and bought a book. It's the first book in Terry Brooks' Shanarra series, which I have seen around and decided to give a try (epic fantasy brain candy, better than Robert Jordan, but whatever, not the point of the story).

Anyway, I just went onto Amazon for the first time in a while, and what do I see as my top three recommendations? THE NEXT THREE BOOKS IN THE SAME BLOODY SERIES!

I'm so creeped out right now it isn't even funny.

AMAZON BRAIN-WAVE TARGETED MARKETING

What Do Customers Buy After Thinking About This Item?
80% buy the item you thought about

OMG DRAMAH!!!

2007-07-17T02:52:32Z

So, people are bitching about each other, and I feel like bitching about people bitching about each other. People shouldn't be mean to each other, and they shouldn't be petty and angry either. I don't really think anybody is innocent in the situation, with the possible exceptions of Cleo, and various Wii avatars.

And I'm not bitching about you behind your backs, I'm bitching to all of your faces, and saying:

Quit 'cher bitching!

Banks...

2007-06-18T22:31:45Z

Ugh. So, with the changeover from Republic to Citizens, they decided to give me an account that was "as close as possible" to my account at Republic.

Republic:
- Benefit package including free regular checks, free this, free that, and so forth.
- 0.20% interest if above minimum balance
- $6 Membership fee (waived if above minimum balance)
- $500 minimum balance

Citizens:
- $6/month for benefit package including free regular checks, free this, free that, and so forth.
- 0.25% interest
- $15/month maintenance fee if below minimum balance
- $1000 minimum balance

I almost NEVER have $1000 in my checking account (that's what my 4.5% interest savings account is for), so I was hit with $21 in fees this month. At Republic, I would only be charged anything if I had under $500; if I had over $500, I earned interest. As for free checks, I couldn't care less. I got them with the account at Republic, but now that there is an extra fee for that "benefit", I'm dropping the option like a hot potato. Who needs free checks when they are still on the first BOOK after 2 years? The box of checks I got when I started my account should be good for another twenty years at this rate. After a look at my options, I am switching to Citizen's crappiest account:

- No free checks
- No interest
- No fees

All I'm looking for is the ability to deposit money, write checks, use my debit card, and transfer money to/from my savings account, so that fits my needs. I'll probably also set up an Orange Checking account with ING Direct, which will get me 4% interest, and link it to my Citizens account so I can make cash and personal check deposits without mailing cashier's checks to St. Paul.

EDIT: I now have an online-only checking account from ING Direct, that gets 4% interest and gives me a Mastercard debit/ATM card, online bill-pay, and paper checks that I fill out online and have mailed for me. No fees, no minimum balance, but no brick-and-mortar locations, and it has to be linked to an existing checking account at another bank (so I'm keeping my Citizens account).

Holy shit

2007-06-13T16:02:19Z

I can see a big plume of smoke rising from the direction of town, and the sirens are pretty much constant now. Gunshots are more prevalent, too. I really wish I had some weapons and supplies about now. I don't know what is going on, but things are getting stranger every minute. Luckily, it doesn't seem like much is going on right here; we're kind of tucked back away from the main road, so hopefully whatever is going on passes us by...

Zombies?

2007-06-13T15:14:05Z

I've been hearing scattered reports from friends about a zombie uprising. I'm really not sure what is going on, but after what I saw this morning, I am getting worried. The power here at work has flickered a couple times, and I am hearing intermittent sirens and occasional gunshots in the distance. This is getting weird.

WTF is going on today?

2007-06-13T14:25:31Z

On my way to work every day I drive past Meijer. Today, something strange was going on there. When I drove by, there was a handful of people on the roof, standing near the edge looking down over the parking lot, which had far fewer cars than normal. The cars that were in the lot were not parked very well; they were scattered willy-nilly around the lot, some in the aisles, most parked across lines, and so forth. Some were in worse situations--there was a car wrapped around a light post, a car that had apparently gone THROUGH a cart corral, a couple cars on the sidewalk in front of the store, one halfway into the garden center gate, and one sitting on its side in a traffic island. What struck me, however, were the PEOPLE in the parking lot: they seemed to be wandering around aimlessly, as if they had all forgotten what they were doing. Small wonder, since they had all apparently forgotten how to park their cars.

Ouch

2007-06-12T13:20:08Z

Bad idea:
1. Get a guitar.
2. Spend the evening trying to play the guitar.
3. Spend the morning trying to play the guitar.
4. Realize that the fingers of your left hand are telling you "OH GOD STOP THAT NOW!!!"
5. Go to work at a computer programming job that involves typing. Lots of typing.

Stolen from tokyo_18

2007-05-07T19:16:33Z

I am a Bowler Hat.

I'm very proper, often politically correct, precise and dapper. I generally look down on the masses, but I usually try not to let it show. What Sort of Hat Are You?

Democrats, Republicans... Can't we all just get along?

2007-04-25T20:44:46Z

When an argument started on a forum I frequent about politics, I typed this up as my reply:

All politicians are basically the same---power-hungry wolves who form packs to fight each other while oppressing the people they are sworn to represent. If they aren't telling you where you can and can't pray, who you can or can't hire, or what kind of guns you can or can't buy, they are telling you what kind of video games you can or can't play, who you can or can't marry, or what you can and can't do with your own body. The Republicans are just as guilty as the Democrats, and most of the minor parties are full of unrealistic, weak-minded idealists who would succumb to the wiles of more seasoned politicians if they were ever elected.

Looking back on it, I realize it might be a tad cynical, but this is really what I feel about our government these days. I can't stand most candidates; all of them seem to have a stance on at least one issue that is just so off-putting that I would feel dirty if I voted for them.