Archive for January, 2005

So I’m back at work and looking at stuff again, but I’m still not through with the healing process. My right eye is perfect, but my left eye feels like a mosquito is continually poking it. Everyone assures me that this will go away, but I guess I’m impatient. And a little concerned because my right eye is So Perfect.

Despite my headaches and anxiety due to mild discomfort which I am surely blowing out of proportion, I opted to play in someone’s home tournament last night. Gus and I had never played with these people before, but we’re always happy to meet folks who enjoy Hold ‘Em as much as we do.

However, Gus forwarded me this fair warning from the host: “You can tell Kat that she’ll be the honorary first female to join us in our regular game. As such, she can expect a fair amount of ogling from the dork contingent.”

The ogling I counted on, but the sexist/condescending remarks were somewhat of a surprise, considering that I’ve played with more “old school” crowds who are consistently polite. I’ve played with a few old men in Vegas that I’d prefer not to meet again, but overall, it’s been pleasant.

Last night, I had a jerk to my right criticizing my playing creditials, and a tobacco chewing meathead to my left making sexist remarks. I was already feeling tired and impatient due to my post-op pain, so once I misplayed pocket aces and lost to a set, my fate was sealed. I went all-in with my first pocket pair after that (eights) and lost… with little regret.

Since these guys were just as much geeks (if not more so) that anyone else Gus and I hang with, they had to have a wireless connection so I could play a structured game online while Gus had his way with everyone else in the tournament.

After several hours, Gus took fourth place and won $30, and I had made the equivalent of the first place winner’s prize money: $120. I may not have taken money from those guys, but I was gonna get it for somewhere. Also, the two aforementioned jerks busted out before the payouts. Too bad their rudeness didn’t make their play any better than mine. How unexpected.

A valuable lesson can be learned here. You shouldn’t try hard at everything you do because sometimes, it can be a painful waste of time. Instead, you should rush through the boring and obnoxious things so you’ll have plenty of time to find the best pair of sneakers for kicking everyone else’s ass.

I’m about to get hit in the eye with a [insert Dr. Evil finger quotes here] “laser”, and I know I’ll want to sleep a lot when it’s all over. Fortunately, I have a certain anonymous coworker with magic pills that can make this happen. So, at 10:00 this morning, all sneaky-like, we met at the drinking fountain on the north side of the seventh floor.

Me: “You got the stuff, man?”

Him: “Yeah, I got the stuff.”

Me: “Show it to me.

He passed me a paper package with three pills inside, leaning casually against the wall next to the drinking fountain where I filled my water bottle.

Me: “Aight, it’s cool. You didn’t stiff me.”

Suddenly, like 20 ninjas jumped out of the cubicles across the hall and barrelled at us with swords, nun-chucks, and throwing stars. I threw my hook up through the ceiling, the eighth floor, and the roof, hit the coil button, and pulled Bob, I mean my anonymous coworker, and I to safety.

We ran across the roof while a bunch of cops shot at us with bazookas and jumped to our safety in the dried up creek next to the building.

Whew! Now I can sleep.

In other news, National Instruments ranked #40 in Fortune 500’s Top 100 Companies to Work For due in part to its brilliant and creative employees.

I moved to my new cube this week, which I share with my mentor/predecessor Liesl. Even better, I am now officially a member of the CompactRIO group (new hautness!) and showing Joie the ropes of my old position in MIO (old ‘n busted). The printer here squeaks a lot, and I have to get used to a new bathroom (my shit is shy – literally!), but I think I’ll be just fine.

Last night, I hung out with Eric and Megan, who has taken to calling herself Maggie while she was attending school in Michigan. She hasn’t asked us to call her Maggie yet, but has hinted that she likes the name better. Reasons for her name-change are still unclear, but I will honor it.

Whatever you call her, she is still the only one who can continuously whoop my ass at Tetris & Dr. Mario, two of the best puzzle games ever packaged as one. My roommate has the game, so she will be our hero forever.

This Monday I’ll be having INTRALASIK eye surgery. I’m a little nervous and afraid of never being able to see again, but the chances of that happening are very small.

Yep, things are pretty slow right now. Perhaps I will have something interesting to complain about later.