wewt!

“I think you need to take some time to reintroduce yourself to yourself. You just finished being somebody’s husband, and that didn’t really work out. And now you’re running off to be somebody’s boyfriend? Seems to me you need to take a little breather.

Look, That hair, that dimple, that Terrible clunker you drive– I think you’re about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Here’s my number. When you get things sorted out, give me a call.”

From Glee, S01E14 “Hell-O”

Just struck a chord with me. Pun intended.

I’ve always heard that books can take you anywhere.  Maybe that’s true for some, but I never got into that imagination part of reading fiction.

However, the internet on the other hand… Well, the internet has given me the ability dream about just about anything your mind can conjure up. From love and wild, passionate crazy sex that I’ll probably never have; or about murder and mayhem, crazy bank robberies and high speed police chases.  Again, these are all things that I will probably never ever do; However, I’m still holding on to the sex dreams though…

The internet has allowed me to meet people who have irrevocably changed my life in a number of ways. Some of these people are right across town; people that despite our proximity, it’s unlikely that we would have ever met. Some are from much further away, in different states or countries. Some I have met, some I’ve partied with, Some not so much.

With that, comes the inevitable. Love. Crushes. Emotions. Some people I’ve met on the internet I’ve fallen in love with. Enamored, even. This seems to increase when things in my “real life” are not as I might expect or want them to be. Then you fall into the daydreaming.. You know, a lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-yous; as the dude would say.  Of course, I don’t think any of these people ever knew that I carried a torch for them. I am that guy in that movie, watching from a distance, just daydreaming about what could be. How life could be, if things were different.

“The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder”
– Pink Floyd, “High Hopes”

Not really sure what my point was with this post. Just something I needed to say. That I’ve dreamed of running off to some far away place to have an amazing sexual tryst, the most amazing conversations ever and convert to hedonism with some girl I met on the internet.  Something like that.  Probably the same thing my grandma was doing with all those paperback romance novels. Stacks of them.

I frequently find myself wanting to write things here. However, due to a number of known unknowns, I refrain from expressing myself. The known unknowns, that is.. the things that we know we don’t know, are who might read this.

Alas, most days I sit around wanting to scream things from the hillside, but I don’t know who might hear me. So instead, I end up posting things on FB or Twitter. Inane things, things that don’t matter. My posts here, subjugated to my own mind.. leaving nothing but music videos, and mindless drivel.

This would all be fine, if I was some sort of writing mastermind. If I had some sort of awesome prose; an ability to wax intellectual about nothing at all. Alas, that is not part of my makeup.

So, in that, situation,  What is one to do? Fuck it.

In any event, I do have a video for you.  I forget from time to time how much I really like Less Than Jake. This song, along with another, really strike a chord with me.

Six is an arbitrary number that I just pulled out of my head. I have no idea if there are six reasons yet.. but I will not revise this title, unless i come up with like 20 or something.

1. You love to litter

It doesn’t matter what it is. Aluminum cans, food wrappers, beer bottles and cigarette butts; everywhere. One can literally spend a half of the day picking up trash, and the next day it’s like we never even tried.  For one, cleaning out your car shouldn’t mean that dumping everything into the parking lot; including the contents of your ashtray. Seriously, where the fuck did you grow up?  I mean, really.  You look at us like we’re degenerates for being the guy with the rubber gloves and the little picker thing walking around the building picking up garbage as you chain smoke; We look at you as white trash because you don’t care enough to not trash your own home.

2. Those security cameras? Yeah, they’re real.

We’ve seen you break into the vending machines, steal people’s laundry; hell we even saw you give that guy a hummer. Your first instinct in such a situation? Walk right up to the camera so we can get a good look at your face, while you try to decide if the camera is real.  Newsflash; it is. Even better, they’re networked on the internet, so as if we don’t see enough of your mugs in the morning, we can make fun of you in the evening.

3. The no pets thing…. We really meant it.

It’s not that we hate animals. In fact, most of us have our own pets. I have two dogs myself.  However, much like everything else in your life; you can’t be trusted with an animal. We’ve already seen what you do to the parking lot, do you honestly think you care enough to clean up after an animal if it pisses on the floor?  Mistakes happen, and sometimes even the best pet owner will find a stain on move out.. However, dog crap ground into the carpet doesn’t fall under this umbrella.

4. Lightbulbs, they stay with the apartment.

Much like you’re not allowed to take the toilet with you when you leave, the lightbulbs stay too. We made sure each and everyone of them worked when you moved in, least you could do is not steal them on your way out.  Come on people, they’re $3.96 for 12 down at Lowes.  There’s ~17 lightbulbs in a two bedroom apartment, including the fridge.  The only ones you didn’t take were the ones that were already burnt out.

5. Drywall and your fist, an introduction best not made.

I’m not sure why it is, but it seems that a high number of adult male apartment dwellers love to play “Human Stud Finder.” Some win, some lose. In any event, no matter if you find the stud with your fist, the maintenance guys always lose. Our only consolation prize is that if you do happen to find a stud, you might break your hand and learn a valuable lesson about physics.

6. What you do in your apartment is your business, as long as you shut the door and the blinds.

We give you a door because well, they come that way. We give you blinds so that when you’re walking around your apartment in the nude, we don’t have to see. There are some exceptions to this rule, of course. However, thus far;  I have not seen anyone naked in an apartment that was a positive experience.  I’m just sayin.  Also, when answering the door, clothes would be nice. Hasn’t happened to me, but it has happened. Purposefully.

So anyway, that’s six for now. I’m sure there’s more. Good times.

Today is the 24th of May. Over a month after normal people have filed their taxes. I have not.

For the first time in the last 5 or 6 years, I thought I was going to get my taxes done on time and might even get a refund. However, due to my former employers thoughtfulness, I am still trying to get my W2 correct.

Best I can tell, Turbochargers.com and it’s owner David Rafes, decided to withhold taxes from my checks, but only pay about half of that money to the IRS/SS/Medicare/etc.  Instead I ended up with a 1099 and a W2. Both for roughly half of my total income from.

Undoubtedly, this is his way of screwing me and at the same time, saving himself $1000′s of dollars in taxes. He claims that the computer records were lost. His own accountant suggested that I just deduct the withholdings as “an expense.” Sounds like the fail to me. I offered to provide copies of all of my paystubs. They ignored this idea.

I have filed a complaint with the IRS, and I will continue to press this issue as long as possible.

From: Ann McKenzie <ann.mckenzie@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: update
To: Sean Newton

Sean,
I went to turbo yesterday. David took every document related to all
payments to all parties down to TWC and they reissued the wages for
all, grossing them back to gross pay.

David does not want to reissue anything not that the TWC is done. I
recommend reporting the W-2 and 1099 income as issued to you and
counting the taxes withheld (and employers portion ) as an expense
so you can be done with the return.

Ann M. McKenzie
Attorney/CPA
281-374-9600 (phone)
281-374-9601 (fax)

Perfect advice. FAIL.

We’re about 2 weeks away from my “not so triumphant” departure from Texas. I gave notice at my job yesterday, and I was worried that they might not even accept it, telling me instead to “holla back.”

So when I arrived today and my supervisor said he wanted to speak to me before I even clocked in, I got a little nervous. However, he just wanted to know if there was anything the company could do to keep me there, etc. It was nice change of pace. I apologized and politely declined. Later, the evening supervisor asked me similar questions.

It’s nice to feel appreciated, especially in a company where you feel like you can just get lost. (See my last post where I said that no one would notice if I didn’t show up.)

So anyway, yeah..

Tonight I have begun migrating the server that hosts this site among others to a new IP address. This is more fun than I care to mention. I think I will skip it, as my wrists hurt.. I have been ignoring my RSI, and I will pay for it, I’m sure.

If you are still using Frontpage in 2010, please set your computer on fire. Seriously.

All day, people email in with problems with Frontpage Extensions under cPanel.. they have no idea that this support is largely a hack. They don’t know that we are praying for it to be removed in the next version.

The fact of the matter is, the functionality barely works, and our troubleshooting is limited to remove and reinstall. Most of the time we get lucky and this works.

Sometimes, not so much. Frontpage Extensions haven’t been updated since 2002. There’s a reason for this, and it’s not because Microsoft got it perfect. Just sayin’.

Well, it’s Monday again. The Friday of my work week.  My job is a strange thing.  Unlike any of my past jobs, I don’t take anything home with me. Due to the fact that we’re open 24/7/365, once I punch the clock, it’s unlikely that I’ll have to deal with an issue again. That is, I don’t come in to find 10 issues from yesterday that no one has dealt with because they’re “my problem.”

That said, I have no real responsibility. My presence means nothing, and aside from a note on some report somewhere, I figure it’s unlikely that anyone would notice if I didn’t show up. The company is too big, too disconnected. We use a webpage to queue our selves for breaks.

That’s not to say that it’s a bad company. On the contrary. The company seems to care about it’s employees, as much as a company can and be profitable. The free meals, the break room with all sorts of distractions and diversions, etc..  However, once you get to a certain size, you lose track. I have just already grown sick of the cubicle city; the time clock punching; of the ticket quota.

Still, it’s a far departure from the land of World Class, where the management treats it’s employees like some sort of indentured servants. Probably the wrong way to say it. Suffice it to say, my short time there left me somewhat jaded with how employers treat their staff.

That’s not to even mention Turbochargers.com, where I’m still trying to get my tax documentation correct so I can file my return. David likely has never given a shit about any one of his many employees over the years, and he wonders why he can’t keep any of the good ones. No one wants to work for someone who’s attitude is a cancer to those around him.

My mood and general disposition improved so much when I left there. I was such a more pleasant person to be around, in general. I was content at RAD, even as I saw how they treated their other employees, because it wasn’t me. It’s easy to be apathetic about a situation when it doesn’t directly affect you. You can walk the halls, and ignore the bodies of the fallen comrades that litter your path. When the money is coming in, of course. Life is cheap. Content to use partying and decadence as a diversion to the issues at hand.

I find myself in the worst financial shape of my admittedly short life, with very little in prospects.. I stand here, sit here, ponderous. What lies in wait? What’s next?