I hope I’m not coming down with something…
2 minute read
October 26, 2004, 9:01 AM
I really hope I’m not coming down with something, because this would be a heck of a time to come down with something. Though it would serve me right, since I’ve overextended myself lately, going eight days without a break on a number of occasions recently. Most recently, I had the Million Worker March followed by seven straight days at the Service Desk. That’s a recipe for fatigue.
And so today and yesterday, my nose has been stuffed up. I don’t know what to tell you on that one. I hope I’m not getting sick. Since that would just be unpleasant. The last time I was truly sick, as in feeling bad enough that I actually had to miss something was back in 2002. Usually when I catch something, it manifests itself as a sore throat and then goes away on its own. No big deal.
So we’ll see.
Continue reading…Categories: Myself, Schumin Web meta
Next up… Photography!
2 minute read
October 21, 2004, 10:40 AM
I’ve determined that the next section to be redone is going to be Photography. So far, I’ve brought all the photo sets from 2000 into the new design, as well as the first edition of The Schumin Web Salutes America.
And this is the first time I’ve redesigned section-by-section. Usually when I redesign The Schumin Web, I do the whole thing behind the scenes. Then I take several hours and upload the whole thing again. The downside to that method is that while I’m redesigning, I can’t have regular updates, since I’ve completely converted over to the new template at once, making any updates more trouble than they’re worth.
This time, doing it by section, of the eight sections of the site, seven of them are operating normally, as if nothing’s going on. One section, Photography, is currently under the knife getting remodeled. So no updates there until I’m done. Then when I finish, I move on.
You know what I like about this, the 2004 redesign? The loss of the scroll-box navigation, which started to get on my nerves after two years. It should have tipped me, when I found it necessary to create an “Alternate Navigation” page for the site, that this was not the greatest navigation method. But for two years it worked out for me. Now the menus will be down the left side. Plus I created space under the menus for other things, intended for the extreme bottom of the page. What I’m going to do in that space, I don’t know yet, but it’s going to be page-specific. There’s going to be nothing standardized in there, except for the fact that the space is available for use. And I really have no idea what I’m going to put in there, so it’s going to enter this world blank. But it’s there.
Now, though, I must get ready for work.
Categories: Schumin Web meta
I have the best election day schedule!
2 minute read
October 20, 2004, 11:31 PM
I’m working 7 AM to 4 PM on election day. That’s a very good schedule for me for that day. I can work from 7 AM until 4 PM. Then on the way home, I can go vote. Then after that, I can hit CNN and watch the election coverage, and see who on earth is going to be the President of the United States on January 20, 2005.
Will it be John Kerry, or will it be four more years of Bush? We shall see…
Meanwhile, it feels very strange writing this journal entry. This is the first new journal entry since I redid the journal as part of the site redesign. And the verdict is… I’m not used to this. I enter my journal entries into an online form and submit them online. So I do use a Web browser to do this, via a Web page. But when I did the journal, I updated my journal form. So while it’s the same basic form, it’s bigger, and it’s a different color. And even though I did all the changes myself, it’s still going to take time to get accustomed to it. We shall see…
Categories: National politics, Schumin Web meta, Walmart
Blue. Blue is good.
2 minute read
October 16, 2004, 11:45 AM
Well, so far in my going about fishing for opinions for my test area for the site redesign (a bit incomplete), it’s been positive so far, and a change has been made to the header based on feedback. I love getting feedback.
What’s interesting, though, is the difference the little things make. Compare:
Categories: Schumin Web meta
What is downright scary for me as a webmaster…
2 minute read
October 11, 2004, 1:55 AM
Here’s what’s downright scary to me as a Webmaster. My Transit Center project.
(crickets chirping)
Why is that so scary? It’s not the expansion that I’m working on right now, that I’m about a day or so away from finishing. That’s easy. Right now I’m working on putting descriptions to pictures of Metro trains and stations.
The scary part is what I’m doing to the Transit Center after that. While the recently-expanded site is out doing what it’s supposed to, I’m going to be working behind the scenes to completely rebuild the site organizationally, since expansion of the site beyond its original bounds (adding several new transit systems) has proven to be a pain. Let’s just say that the site is a mess under the surface.
The funny thing is that for the user, the site works great. Everything works, and it navigates fairly well. In fact, I only have one navigational feature that I want to add, and it’s fairly minor.
Categories: Schumin Web meta
Five days of the same schedule… don’t know how I managed that.
< 1 minute read
October 8, 2004, 11:11 PM
I may not know how I managed that, but I’m not complaining! It makes working seven days in a row somewhat less painful. Of course, this is being said on a Friday – only day #5. We’ll see what I’m saying come Sunday night, at the end of day #7. Right now I’m like, “Oh, yes, this is just wonderful!” By the end of the seventh day, I could be like, “GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!” We’ll see.
Meanwhile, I watched most of the second debate this evening after work. All in all, I think John Kerry did the better job of the two, and George Bush looked like he was about to explode a few times there. One time he nearly did, jumping right in after Kerry was finished, and cutting off the moderator (Charles Gibson). We’ll see what the news says about it tomorrow morning.
Also, I’m looking at my journal from a year ago, and it’s interesting. This Saturday, October 9, will be the one-year anniversary of my “What part of ‘crosswalk’ do you not understand?” pass through JMU’s campus. That was a very unpleasant trip, and it was because college students don’t know how to watch where they’re going when they cross the street. I look back at it, and I’m amused by how quick I was to break out the obscenities. But at least I found parking.
Categories: National politics, Schumin Web meta, Walmart
It’s September, believe it or not.
< 1 minute read
September 3, 2004, 7:51 AM
I just can’t get over that this year is officially two-thirds over and that Halloween will be here sooner than you think. And then Christmas. Goodness.
And this month on my calendar, I have the Qwest Tower in Ballston, a neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington DC. In case you’re wondering, I ordered one of the “Urban Comparison” calendars from my Online Store, and keep it up on a bulletin board above the bed. So that’s this month’s image. Last month was a billboard atop a building in Roanoke, which was nice looking. I rotated between the four areas of my Urban Comparison photo set when I did this, and so as a result, it goes Washington-Richmond-Norfolk-Roanoke and cycles through that two more times. So next month is something in Richmond (what exactly that will be I’ve forgotten), and then something in Norfolk (again I don’t remember), and finally that up-the-tower look at the First Union Tower (now Wachovia Tower).
And then this weekend is Labor Day weekend. And somehow I managed to get Labor Day off. What shall I be doing on Labor Day, pray tell? Laboring. On the Web site. Maybe I can actually get something accomplished. Since, you see, even with my checklist, I’m still falling short on actual cross-it-off accomplishments, having a lot of tasks in partial completeness. I’d rather have a few tasks that are completed than a lot of partly-completed tasks. We’ll get there…
Categories: Schumin Web meta
“THIS IS THE SERVICE DESK! STEP AWAY FROM THE RETURNS AND KEEP YOUR HANDS UP!”
3 minute read
September 2, 2004, 11:43 PM
Yeah, when it gets slow as the night continues on, we get a tad silly. Our scanners at the Service Desk are handheld and wireless, and are somewhat gun-shaped. And when an associate held up an item so I could scan it to find out what department it was in, I kind of hammed it up a little. Took my scanner gun, held it with both hands, aimed, and fired at the item in question. Zap.
When I saw the associate was amused, I hammed it up a little more, posing and jokingly saying, “This is the Service Desk! Step away from the returns and keep your hands up!”
Yeah, we’re nutty. Good, harmless fun. And it works even better with a telxon (pronounced TEL-a-zon), since those things have a longer business-end than our scanners do.
As you can tell, I had a really good day today. I also went over to SmartStyle (in-store hair place) on my lunch break and got my ears lowered. And just to illustrate how much hair I needed to get cut off, I now have a very neat and attractive haircut (can’t keep the girls off me!). But before lunch, I was so shaggy that I could have made great money renting myself out as a mop. I was really shaggy.
Categories: Schumin Web meta, Vintage business, Walmart
HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY! The remodeling is finished!
2 minute read
August 30, 2004, 9:29 PM
Finally! No more hammering. No more nail guns. No more polyurethane. No more getting up at an ungodly hour to vacate so that they can do the stairs. No more! It’s DONE! And I am so pleased with that.
And it looks really nice, too. I’m going to take a final round of photos tomorrow for the Web site, and then I’m going to compile a photo set about the whole remodel for Life and Times.
It’s amazing… when we moved into this house, we had an open deck out back, and light beige colored carpeting in the entire house, including up the stairs. The only areas not carpeted were the entry foyer (immediately in front of the front door), the kitchen, and all the bathrooms. And those were linoleum. We replaced the kitchen floor linoleum with ceramic tile in 1994 (it wore particularly badly), and then in 1998 replaced the downstairs hallway carpeting and entry foyer linoleum with hardwood. Now the only original carpeting left downstairs is in the hall closet. The living room was recarpeted, and the family room and dining room got new hardwood. And the stairs are finally wood, as they should have been from the get-go. So good stuff there. And the upstairs hallway is also hardwood. The bathrooms are all still original, as are all the bedrooms. Good.
Categories: New porch and floors, Schumin Web meta
Unexpected things…
4 minute read
August 16, 2004, 8:57 PM
First of all, I did not expect for one of the nose pads on my glasses to give out on me while I was at work. So after work I went to LensCrafters to get my glasses adjusted. That took me to Staunton Mall.
After I got my glasses worked on, I decided I wasn’t ready to leave quite yet, and so I decided to walk a lap around the mall. So I headed towards the JCPenney end of the mall. So who did I run into near Penney’s? Marie (a coworker) and her significant other (I want to say he’s her fiance, but I’m not for certain). The two of them were enjoying a massage in these automated massage chairs. $1.00 buys you three minutes. They told me that it was really good. So we got to talking while they got the massage done. Talked about the massage, and how nice it would be to have this at home. I chimed in that as nice as it would be, the really good massage chairs are pricey. At Brookstone at Pentagon City near DC, they sell the high-end models, and they cost a few thousand bucks. A little out of range.
Then when they finished, I parked myself in one of the chairs and gave it a whirl. It was a pretty good massage. Not the best I’ve had, but pretty good. It uses vibration, heat, and something that goes up and down your back in a few different motions. Pretty good massage. The only downside to it was when the back massager got down low on its track. There instead of working my back it was working my hip-bone. And that massager rubbing against bone is not comfortable. But usually on its first cycle, once you figure out where the uncomfortable zone is, you can adjust to avoid it.
Still, it did feel good as it vibrated and heated, and as the back thing pressed, kneaded, and pulsated. And it’s surprisingly addictive. I got the three-minute massage, and then the 15-minute massage. The 15-minute massage was SO good… so relaxing that I actually fell asleep in the chair! That was an odd experience, to wake up in the middle of Staunton Mall. I hope no one saw me napping in the mall…
Categories: Driving, Retail, Schumin Web meta, Staunton, Staunton Mall
“Are your kids well-behaved, or do they need like a few light slams every now and then?”
3 minute read
July 18, 2004, 12:47 AM
I do enjoy watching Mrs. Doubtfire. I’m watching a tape of it right now. It’s amusing, to say the least. It’s got a great story, and some great lines. It’s got its fair share of big names, like Robin Williams, Sally Field, and Harvey Fierstein, but it’s also not what I would describe as a “celebrity clearinghouse”.
A “celebrity clearinghouse”, as I call it, is one of those productions where there is a larger-than-normal amount of big-name celebrities in the movie, usually making little cameo appearances. The Rocky and Bullwinkle movie was like that. Not a bad movie, mind you, but a high amount of celebrities.
Anyway, though, I enjoy Mrs. Doubtfire. One of my favorite lines was where after the bus driver saw Mrs. Doubtfire’s hairy knee (because she’s actually a he). He said, “I like that Mediterranean look in women. Natural. Just the way God made you.” If only he knew…
Otherwise, today has been one of those days where I’ve been giving Schumin Web some much-needed attention. Still working on the uploads for the new College Life site, though I’m almost done with that one. Also cleaned the remains of Almond Street’s storefront out of my Online Store, and so now that’s 100% Schumin Web inside of there. I still have to clean out all the images left over from Almond Street’s storefront (I have all the images saved somewhere, so it’s not like I’m losing anything). I also designed a new line of products for my Online Store around that expression of mine which I learned recently was original: Never underestimate the power and speed of stupid. That will turn up on the Web site before too long.
Categories: Movies, Schumin Web meta
Wild weather!
4 minute read
July 2, 2004, 1:21 AM
Boy, did we have some wild weather today! A tremendous thunderstorm came up out of nowhere around 5 PM (literally out of nowhere – it was sunny when I left for work at 1:30). This thunderstorm was amazing. Winds like mad (so I’m told – no windows at Wal-Mart), really heavy rains – enough to hear it on the salesfloor over the din of the customers, lightning like crazy, incredibly loud thunder (one round of thunder was a BOOM like an explosion rather than a rumble), and even hail, which you could hear on the roof.
And then, as one of our CSMs was handing me a flashlight for “just in case the power went off”, no sooner did she say it than the lights went out. Then they came back on. Then they went out for good. Let me say that the many skylights we have came in really handy, as the only parts of our store that were actually dark were the Service Desk and the other various “caves” in the store, like Layaway, the Vision Center, the Portrait Studio, etc. Those areas were dark, but we still had emergency lighting, which helped. But the bulk of the store was still very well lit by natural light.
Since we couldn’t do much at the Service Desk, since our scanners were out of service over there, they pulled me to the registers, where we hurried to get all the customers checked out despite having no belts due to no power (I told customers that I have no belt and that they should put their items at the end of the belt), and the fact that the customers had to be checked out before our backup power went out. We made it, thank goodness.
Categories: Schumin Web meta, Walmart, Weather
Finally, an off-day!
2 minute read
June 29, 2004, 11:42 PM
Yes, after six straight days, where I worked all four different Service Desk shifts at least once, I finally have gotten another off-day. This Wednesday, I will be going nowhere near my own Wal-Mart. Other people’s Wal-Marts, on the other hand, are a completely different story, as most other Wal-Marts don’t look at all like Waynesboro’s. Most Wal-Marts are gray, red, and blue. Our store is beige and forest green. Our store has black signage and faux-wood floors. Most stores have some sort of blue signage and carpeting.
So I have yet to figure out what tomorrow looks like. Probably not going to go out, but rather I will probably take the opportunity to do some serious work on the Web site. I really need to work on it, since right now I’m behind on a few different projects, including spinning College Life off into its own subsidiary site, working on “The Lights of the Night” group of photo sets, and my “Memories” College Life set.
Otherwise, the phrase “Are your gas bills so high they make you want to cry?” is just perfect for me. To fill up the Previa costs almost $30 with these astronomical gas prices. And my car isn’t even one of those gas-guzzling SUVs.
Now sport-utility vehicles aren’t helping the price of gas, either. If people would all get small, fuel-efficient cars, maybe we could all get more for our money as far as gas goes. I know that when I eventually replace the Previa, I will be getting a small car, preferably a station wagon.
Categories: Driving, Family, Food and drink, Schumin Web meta, Toyota Previa, Walmart
It’s been a little while since we spoke…
< 1 minute read
June 22, 2004, 12:57 PM
It’s been just a touch more than a week since last we spoke, and it’s because I’ve been hurrying to finish a massive update to my Transit Center site. There’s LOTS more WMATA on there now, in the Washington DC Rail section. And today, I’m actually writing you from the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library in Charlottesville, because I’m over here for two reasons. First off, I returned some pants to Casual Male earlier, because trust me… these pants were WAY too big. Made me feel skinny. The pants were that big.
I’m also bus-sighting over here, so I can add Charlottesville’s CTS system to my Transit Center Web site. I’ve actually gotten 42 photos today so far, plus one movie, though I highly doubt I will use everything. Still, look for Charlottesville to join the likes of Metrobus, Dash About, CUE, and Harrisonburg Transit at a Schumin Web Transit Center near you.
And then tomorrow I’m going to DC! I’m meeting two fellow posters from SubTalk, and we’re going to do some serious railfanning. I’m meeting up with Oren H., as well as Jersey Mike. I’ve railfanned with Oren before, but never Mike. This ought to be fun!
Categories: Schumin Web meta, Transit
It is official: I have ordered two Strong Bad tees!
< 1 minute read
June 2, 2004, 10:39 PM
Yes, my birthday present is now officially on order: two Strong Bad tees. If only it worked like this, though…
Hey Strong Bad,
Get Bubs to give out free luncch (sic) specials and I’ll show you a hot girl.
Sincerly (sic),
Someone
Maybe if I can get Bubs to say his name backwards minus the first B, legend has it we can get a free lunch special, and maybe a free T-shirt if we’re really lucky.
Now if we can only get him to make another appearance on H*R as the Thnikkaman, and life will be perfect.
Though I should let you know that the current plan for the June cover photo (and by extension an explanation why one is not up yet) is that I am planning on dressing up as the Thnikkaman for the cover photo. A little tribute to one of my favorite Homestar Runner characters.
Still, I can’t wait to get my Strong Bad T-shirts. It will go quite well with my sister’s Teen Girl Squad T-shirt.
Categories: Birthdays, Homestar Runner, Retail, Schumin Web meta