We expect there will be several of these.

The cafeteria explained

The Good News: If you go late, you get more.
The Bad News: If you go late, you get more. It is, however, cheap.

Adventures in expense reporting

Attempts to get the legally defined mileage reimbursement rate from the irs.gov site were stymied because irs.gov is on the client’s block list. Fortunately, other random tax-info sites with the same info are not.

One size fits all. Not.

The XP laptop is locked down to the point of uselessness. Users can’t even change their own wallpaper, screen saver settings, mouse sensitivity settings, etc.

Snow

Snow is what happens to terrible, terrible places that are sufficiently wet and sufficiently, but not overmuch, cold. Counterintuitively, we are told that there are places, or at least collisions of certain times and certain places, that produce temperatures that are TOO COLD for snow. We’re certain we never, ever want to go to these places.

Snow and parking lots

On the morning after a snow, the gridlines are gone. Cars park as best they can, resulting in an uneven and decidedly unparallel arrangement of cars, sometimes defying the usual alternating-chevron pattern. We find this disconcerting.

Snow and the Traction Control Button

Deactivating traction control in the rental car is inadvisable in snowy conditions, but it IS kind of fun in an otherwise empty hotel parking lot.

Snow, again

It’s nearly 2, and hasn’t stopped snowing yet. The drive to the hotel will prove interesting. (If you’re reading this, we made it.)

Snow as a marker for nighttime animal drama

There’s a shitload of tracks in the otherwise unspoiled snow in a small yard south of the parking lot. They weren’t there last night. If we weren’t such useless citified folk, we might be able to tell what the hell they were, though we sort of suspect rabbits for no good reason.

On the efficacy and usability of workplace collaboration tools, as compared to free and open-source alternatives

Jesus Mary and Batman, Outlook sucks ALL KINDS OF ASS.

On the architectural foibles of large manufacturing facilities

The stalls in all the men’s rooms are actually complete little privys. Each has its own sink, soap dispenser, paper towel machine, and (natch) toilet. The “common” area of the bathroom has the usual urinals and sinks and such as well, so it’s not because of a lack there.

The good thing about working with engineers

As long as you’re not wearing either a short-sleeved polycotton “dress” shirt or a pocket protector (or, God save you, both), you’re a goddamn fashion plate by comparison.

In which Hertz confuses us

Renting for 5 days is cheaper than renting for 4.

How we can tell United sucks

Their Prez-club analog only has pay-as-you-go wireless via T-Mobile. Yuck. Is Continental the only airline that gets this right?

Dept. of We’re Not All That Bright Sometimes

It took nearly 2 hours of airport waiting before we realized the oddly bare Naval uniforms we kept seeing at BWI were — duh — Anapolis cadets.