A Slice of Ham
Jay's Personal Weblog
It Doesn’t Pay To Be Nice…
0So an ex and I were talking today about things in our past life that hurt us and this and that, having what I thought was a completely plain conversation when all of a sudden she stopped replying. So I casually write “you must have gotten busy or fallen asleep, sweet dreams” and she replies back, “I have a life, sorry”.
Wow, I mean really, is that necessary? Here I am being completely civil and she just about tears my throat out.
What is it with women these days? I mean holy shit. Do they think rudeness is sexy now? I mean shit, why don’t you just step on my balls?
Fuck you…
Hilarity Ensues..
0647 days
by WX4WTF
in Personal Life
Well if you know me then you know what’s coming.. Yep, I’m single again.. I think I’ve finally figured it out. The moment I blog about it, it’s over.. It’s just the way it happens.. Deserei has been trying to offload me for a little bit so today I figured, oh well, she probably has someone else, why else would she want to dump me this bad?
So I let her get her kicks..
Will I ever find true happiness?
A Perfect Weekend
0651 days
by WX4WTF
in Personal Life
This weekend will go down in history as the first weekend I have ever spent with a girl where we did not argue, fight, breakup or hurt each other. Granted, getting to this weekend was a challenge, and almost cost us our relationship not once, but twice. But when the plans were finally laid in, and we met up, it became magic.
Our weekend was supposed to consist of an overnight stay in Manchester, NH, then a day trip to Boston, MA. However, we quickly realized that a trip to Boston with all our activities would cost a huge amount of money. So we passed on that idea for this weekend and plan to revisit it again in the future. Our “Plan B” consisted of keeping the overnight in Manchester, then traveling to the Mt. Washington Auto Road.
Saturday night, we met at Bayside Bowl, then drove together to Manchester to arrive at our hotel. After a romantic evening, we slept comfortably and woke up early the next morning had breakfast, and prepared for our journey North. We checked out of our hotel and traveled I-93 North through Concord to Mount Washington. It was a long drive, taking over 2 hours, but it was enjoyable.
We reached the Auto Road and started our climb, I have never been up Mt. Washington before, let alone traveled the Auto Road. It was a new experience, and I was driving, not only was I driving the road for the first time, I was driving a new car! Deserei’s car is a 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis. Now, I used to have an old Grand Marquis so I’m used to the wide stance, but holy cow, it was tricky getting up top. The road in places is not quite wide enough for two vehicles to pass side by side, and most of the road has very sharp and deep drainage cuts at the edge of the pavement. This means that if you accidentally get too far over to road’s edge, you will either slide off the road and onto your side, or proceed to rollover down the mountainside, the latter of those most likely ending up being fatal. During the climb we stopped at many turnouts to take pictures and let the car’s engine rest, overheating is apparently a concern as the auto road has strategically placed water barrels for radiators at key points along the road. I took many photos which I will be posting to facebook and I’ll post a couple here.
The summit was over 6000 feet in the sky, upon arrival, we parked, and got out. The air temperature at the base where we entered was 71F, at the summit it was 55F and dropping, and the wind was sustained at 25mph. We visited the Tip-Top House, an old boarding building used by travelers in the old days. We also visited the Summit Observatory Building where I had my photo taken on the roof. I had my Amateur Radio HT with me and made a contact on the Falmouth repeater (W1QUI) from the summit, my signal was reported to be strong and clear at 5 watts. The station I worked was off the coast of Maine in the Saco area. I wanted to try to scan for other stations while I was up there, but the temperature and winds were becoming painfully cold so we quickly retreated back down to the summit area and quickly walked around outside the Yankee Microwave building, and the remains of the old WMTW-TV and WHOM-FM transmitter sites. I know that WMTW-TV relocated their primary transmitter and antenna to Baldwin, Maine, however I’m not sure about WHOM-FM. It appears they (WHOM) may still use the summit as their primary and backup facility, however, I did not see a blockhouse, other than the existing Yankee Microwave building. For those of you that don’t know, in early 2003, a fire broke out in the Yankee Power Building at the summit. The power building and attached former transmitter facility for WMTW-TV were totally destroyed, as was the backup antenna for WHOM-FM. I believe the Armstrong tower, and WHOM’s primary antenna were both partially damaged as well. In any case, the fire completely knocked out power for the entire summit. Because all electrical power is generated on the summit, because of the lack of power, the summit was evacuated. (During this period of the year, the only occupants were the Weather Observatory Staff). A new power building has been built, and the summit is operational again. There are still numerous broadcast facilities at the summit and even a short visit would make that very obvious. One thing I did not see on the peak was a cell phone tower. Reception was spotty at best up there.
The trip down the road took slightly less time with a little help from gravity, and we reached the base safely where we then traveled home and spent our last few hours together in Old Orchard Beach playing mini-golf.
Deserei, you are spectacular, unlike any girl I’ve ever met. Hopefully this budding relationship will only get stronger and we will both remain happy in it together.
Thank you for a perfect weekend!
-JC
Photos:
A New Pair Of Eyes
0652 days
by WX4WTF
in Personal Life
So after many years of wearing glasses, I finally got enough money together to get fitted for contacts lenses. After a thorough eye exam, I was told my eyes have not changed, and that contacts are definitely a possibility for me.
We did the fitting and he gave me a five day supply of trials. When I put the first set in it was very difficult, getting used to touching your eye and all that. But the moment I realized “wow, I can see and I’m not wearing glasses” it just blew me away.
I had my followup appointment today and we adjusted my prescription slightly, and got some more trials to use. I need to order my first supply of lenses next week, and those should last me a couple months.
I have had so many people tell me they don’t recognize me now without my glasses and that I look so much better. We’ll see if any women notice..
Until next time,
-Jay
Undateable…
0654 days
I wonder sometimes if I am undateable. I meet a woman who seems normal, we hit it off and see each other again, and then within a week or two it all gals to pieces. It doesn’t just gradually get bad, it completely falls apart. I don’t know what the issue is. Do people not care about relationships anymore? Is it only about sex in today’s society? If so, why aren’t I having more of it? Maybe I am undateable..
Happiness??
0699 days
So, after a long few weeks, I’m finally settled back in Maine. For those of you who haven’t heard, Victoria Morrill left one night while I was at work taking all of her belongings (and some of mine) and moved to an unknown location. I have not heard from her since. She took half the rent money a few days before it was due, and I had just finished my last night at work and was preparing to start working at Disney. So I was forced to basically pack all of what I could fit into my truck and abandon my Florida home. I had just enough money for gas to get home but my salary from Disney would not have been enough to pay rent, bills and gas to keep commuting so I had to abandon my Disney dream too. Meanwhile, both Victoria and her mom said “dont give up on your disney dream” and “if you give up on it, thats your choice, nobody elses” BULLSHIT.. I was forced to give up on it because your little whore of a daughter decided to be a coward and leave me while I was at work, and leave only a note saying goodbye..
The good thing is that I no longer have to deal with her lies, her piss-poor attitude, her cheating and her psychotic mental problems… I’m finally free from her, and she can die for all I care..
Now.. the present-
So as I said, I’m back in Maine, and I happened to finally make something happen with someone very special who I had a short past with, and things went sour, but now we’re giving it another shot.. It’s still rough around the edges, but I think she’s great and I’m excited that shes not psycho, shes more caring than Victoria was, and she makes me feel like a person again…
=) so happy with you Liz.
-JC
Twilight Obsession – Rant One
0732 days
Ok, I have had enough… This nonsense is embarrassing.
This ridiculous Twilight obsession. Has it come to this, that the women of the world have reduced themselves so low that they obsess nonstop about this garbage? The series is based on a teenage girl who has a sexual fantasy about vampires. Seriously? This is what we’re exposing our children to? Teenage sexual fantasies about vampires?! Sounds Japanese to me.. there are people I know who sit on their computers all day long searching tv sites to find every single interview done with any of the movie’s cast, any commercial or trailer about the movie or anything at all to do with it.. This is unhealthy!! Get out and take a walk for Christ’s sake!
I have a newsflash for you women who melt at the sight of these two retards Edward and Jacob… THEYRE FAKE! THEY DONT FUCKING EXIST! IT’S A FUCKING MOVIE!!!! All I see are girls saying “I want Edward” or “Where’s my Edward”. well, you’re in for a very sad realization that you’ll be waiting forever, because there’s no such thing. There’s no such thing as a “Perfect” guy much less a “Perfect” vampire. Stop wasting your time obsessing over this bullshit franchise and do something productive with your life. All these movies and book and shit are is a cheap way for the writer Hollywood to take your money. Get smart!
An interest or a hobby is one thing… An obsession is another, and can be very dangerous and bad for you. It can also ruin relationships that are far better for you than this movie.
I’m sure there’ll be more to come…
-Jay
Empty Relationships…
0777 days
If anybody knows more about them, it’s me.. I have been in and out of more empty relationships than I can count, and my current relationship is no different… I am so tired of having a girlfriend that is only interested in speding time away from me doing ONLY what she wants to do, and if she has to do something that I want to do, its like pulling teeth. She has no interest in ANYTHING I do except Final Fantasy XI and that’s only because she has a girlfriend on there who she likes to badmouth me to. I have been planning to attent the STS-131 shuttle launch Monday morning and Tori knew about this launch, yet she changed her work schedule so that she could get out of going. Her excuse is that her work changed the schedule and she “forgot”. Even though I’ve been mentioning the launch every day?? Doubt it…
She is constantly putting work before her personal life, specifically me. She has become more and more distant from me and make it quite obvious that its intentional. Shes making it very clear to me that she wants to be with someone else or wants to be able to date around. Only problem is, we’re in a lease until November. So what am I supposed to do? I’m not leaving my home, and I doubt she will without pulling a huge scene like she did back in Maine. But I’m tired of living with a “girlfriend” who doesnt care about me.
What do I do?
-J
The Life of A Cashier Ep. 2 – Theft & Money
0This is the second installment in my series about working at “Big Box Mart”. Today I came into work for my scheduled shift at Noon. Not long after I got there, the store’s Assistant Manager came to me and asked me to sign a paper acknowledging that a register I had used a few days prior was $100.00 short. Here’s the backstory.
On the tail end of one of my Liquor Store shifts, I had been assigned to process claims items, or items that are damaged or defective. Basically this involves filling out a slip that includes information such as the UPC, department number and description of problem. Now in order to know what department number the item is, you need to do an item lookup on a cash register terminal. When this is done, it simply displays the item, price and dept. number, no transaction takes place, the cash drawer doesnt open, no nothing. So I logged onto this register for literally 30 seconds to look up this item, but because my numbers were logged onto the machine, I am apparently being held responsible for this missing money. Even though I made no transactions on that register, even though the cash drawer was never opened, I still have to sign a paper saying that “my” drawer was short and this goes in my file.
Now, every register has a camera above it, i know this, so do most every other soul who works there. But will management do their jobs and review the footage to see where this phantom $100 has gone? Hell no, they’d rather just hold everyone who touched the register that day responsible instead. Making those of us who are honest people, part of the problem. To this I say, FUCK YOU!
Do you god damned job, watch the LP tape, find who took it and charge them. Don’t hold me and other innocent people responsible and ruin our records because youre too fucking lazy to sit at a TV and watch some tapes. While you’re at it, hire some competent people who aren’t likely to steal money for the drawer instead of hiring mostly drug addicts, dealers and gangsters. Then maybe you won’t have as much theft..
That’s my opinion, I don’t give a shit about yours..
JC
Trying to write more, help me out!
0809 days
by WX4WTF
in Personal Life
Keep on me! Tell you what you wanna know about, and I’ll write about it. I’m trying to get into a habit of blogging much more often than I have in the past. Now with my blog posting to my facebook, it should get much more exposure. So if you like what you’re reading, or even if you dont, then let me know!
For those of you reading this on facebook, you can visit my actual blog at http://blog.jcwebdesign.com and my complete website is at www.jcwebdesign.com
Website Redesign & New Features
0816 days
by WX4WTF
in Personal Life
Just finished the main page of my website redesign, it’s kind of empty right now so I added links to this blog, and my facebook page. There is also a link for what will become my separate amateur radio site, but for now that page doesn’t exist and isn’t linked.
I also created a new logo, stylized text with a wireless signal meter descending from the dot. it was quick and dirty but looks rather nice compared to past site logos.
Very soon (possibly tonight) I’ll be re-adding the RSS feed from my blog (this new one) to my facebook page so that these posts will start to be indexed into my facebook notes. That way, all my facebook friends and networks will be able to see the posts without needing to visit the full blog page.
More to come soon! Stay tuned.
-JC
New Blog…
0825 days
by WX4WTF
in Personal Life
Hi All,
Here’s the new blog, no longer associated with the Blogger service, this blog is completely self-contained.
More to come!
-Jay
The Life of a Cashier – Part I (Introduction & EBT/Food Stamps)
0Hi All!
I’m going to be writing a new series about my life as a cashier at a store owned by a major worldwide retailer. The series will contain stories and situations that I encounter while working. While I will not mention names of actual persons nor my real employer, all stories contained will be based on actual events. (Don’t need to get fired again by a company that wants to get rid of me! Although I think I’m actually respected and valued at this job, not like the job I had in Maine.)
Fast-forwarding to today, here’s where I stand…
I’m a cashier in the front-end of a grocery store owned by a major big-box retailer, (if you really wanna know who, it’s easy enough to find out who I work for, it rhymes with “All*Mart) and getting hired by them saved my ass as far as bills and finances goes. They pay me more than my last job, for doing less work and having less responsibility, (with the exception of the money-handling part) and the best part, I’m actually VALUED as a human being, instead of being just another seasonal jerk-off who get’s taken for granted. (Update: I can assure you that the only people at all*mart who value you are your fellow coworkers, not your managers, not your customers, nobody else.)
I run the company’s standard register which is pretty straightforward, youve seen them at your local super-store and they are easy to use. We don’t have the spiffy new touchscreen registers yet or the receipt printers that print on both sides of the tape to save paper, but maybe someday!
Now, my job as a cashier at this particular location involves handling transactions for two different areas of the store, the market (95% of the building) and the liquor store (the other 5%). Personally, I prefer the liquor store because it’s quieter, there are more cameras for protection, a holdup alarm and I get to work with little to no direct supervision. Plus is gives me GREAT material for this blog!
The market is much busier, more people to handle, more money, more debit cards, more food stamp transactions and the dreaded “WIC”.
I wont get into “WIC” today, but rest assured you’ll be hearing a lot on this topic from me over the next few installments. Basically, WIC sucks.
Food stamps are another thing that really piss me off. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think the food stamp program is great, it provides funding to people who really need it in order to use their hard-earned money for things like bills and rent instead of having to spend a quarter of their income on feeding themselves. But I think that first of all, going through the process of getting food stamps (at least in Florida) is a fucking sham. Personally, Tori and I have been trying since we moved down here to get set up with the program, but we havent been able to yet, even though we are eligible. Then the other killer part, EVERYONE IN FLORIDA HAS FOOD STAMPS!!! Seriously, let’s say I do 500 transactions a day, 400 of those will be on a food stamp (EBT) card!! So apparently, is real popular down here. Hey assholes in Tallahassee, I’m still waiting for mine!!!
The other thing that drives me fucking batshit is when these obviously poor, under-educated, deep-urban people and families roll up to my checkout and drop 40 metric tons of shit food on my belt. Items like, chips, candy bars, bulk bags of candy, 10 slim jims, 15 gallons of soda, 3 packs of gum from the checkout lane, and another 20oz bottle of coke for the drive home. (or bike ride, or walk.. Let’s not over-glorify these cretins) Then these retards have the balls to reach into their wallets and flash an EBT card in my face! At this point I clench my teeth and fight the urge to beat and strangle these fuckers right in front of their 5 malnourished children.
Another thing, apparently the state makes these EBT debit cards out of material no stronger than a strip of tissue paper, either that or people have absolutely no sense to protect these cards, because about 70% of the cards will not swipe through our pinpad. Now, to some people’s defense, a portion of these cards are brand new and still have the silver coating on the numbers, so it’s obvious that the cards are just poor-quality. But the majority of these cards look like they just got issued from the late Yokozuna’s asscrack. These cards are bent, torn, broken, cracked, gone through a bench grinder, eaten by a manatee (manatees are a big deal down here, don’t fuck with the manatee!) run over by a car you name it.
Also, these people keep their cards in places that boggle my mind. Aside from the late Yokozuna’s asscrack, I’ve seen cards stored in people bras/cleavage, in pants pockets with no wallet, tossed in a purse, again with no sleeve or wallet, thrown in the grocery bag, and in some cases, left at my checkout. Now riddle me this, if this card is basically free money to by your soda and candy, wouldn’t you protect it WITH YOUR FUCKING LIFE!? I know I would and I’m only semi-responsible! People, listen, the government is subsidizing your junkfood!!! You are saving your own salary from your job at Checkers or Taco Bell so that you can use it on things other than food, like drugs or beer. BUY A FUCKING WALLET!!!! JESUS H. CHRIST!!! They cost $12 at any K-Mart or hell go to a god damn Goodwill!
So if the card doesnt swipe, what is a poor, under-educated, deep-urban cretin to do?! How will they ever get their candy and junkfood?! Well rest assured that there is a backup plan, entering the number manually into the register so that it can authorize (for some reason unknown to most reasonable people) the $97 purchase from Wonka’s gift shop. So here’s the process, get to checkout, off-load the booty, wait until I scan everything and give you the total, and then proceed to thrust your card into my nasal cavity while saying “IT DONT SWIPE YO! YOUZ GOTS TA TYPE IT IN FOR ME DAWG! LOLZ”. Seriously people, just looking at the card I have the clues necessary for me to make an educated guess that it wont swipe. The magnetic track is gouged and broken, the embossed numbers are almost ground flat, the card has a giant crack through it which renders it almost in two pieces and the graphics are so dull and faded that it makes this card look like it was either left over from the revolutionary war or was found in the debris fields from Hurricane Katrina (Too Soon?).
Either way, I get it okay? I’m a professional cashier, I see this shit many times an hour, dont insult my intelligence and tell me the card wont swipe when it looks like it went through a woodchipper. Would you roll your hoopty into the mechanic after it was hit by a train and tell him it doesn’t drive straight? Well, these people might…
Ok so now I need to type in the card number.. I wear glasses ok? My vision is corrected to 20/20 in both eyes, but these cards are in such bad shape that I STILL CANNOT SEE YOUR FUCKING CARD NUMBERS!!!! Is it too much to order a new card? Now, our registers wanna make sure you get it right, so after you type in the entire number once, you have to do it again!!!! YAY! then the expiration date which is always the last month of the current year. Now there is one cool thing about this process, after that, the register will automatically separate all items that are eligible for food stamps and pay for those with the card, then show you the remaining balance for you to pay with another form of money (tender). So lets say you buy your 40 metric tons of junk food totaling $99.00 and a $1.00 newspaper. The total will be $100.00, the register will charge $99.00 to the EBT card and you’ll see “Total Due: $1.00″, this way you can just put everything together on the belt and not have to worry about holding up the line while you separate your food from non-food items. But some people dont realize this, and they get two sections going, one is all food, and the other is non-food, they use up all the separation bars on my checkout (the little sticks you put between your groceries and the fat dude’s behind you) and then the come up to me and proceed to tell me, “this is all food stamps and this stuff here isnt”… NO FUCKING SHIT!!! WOWWW!!!!! I wouldnt have guessed that, would you? I actually thought you were going to try to buy eyeliner and fake nails with your food stamp card! You are retarded, stop holding up my line and using all the separator sticks for your shit, there are other people besides just you!
The last thing I’m going to mention is how people roll up with 100 items and they seem to have no clue how much is on their food stamp card. From what I understand, the gov’t deposits a set amount into your EBT account on a specific day, it’s the same day every month and the same amount. But these assholes apparently assume that its unlimited and they can just spend and spend without ever keeping track because at least twice a day I’ll get that dude with the 100 items and it turns out he’s only got $3 on his card. Now, this is no problem if he is prepared to actually cover the balance on another form of tender such as a bank card or in cash, but I wouldnt be writing about it if that were the care now would I? Let’s say for simplicity that they have 3 items, a 5lb. bag of candy ($5.00) and 2 steaks ($2.50 each). Their EBT card has $5.00 on it.. The total rings up $10.00, and they say, “OH SHIT FOO(L), I’s ONLY GOTS DA $5 BUCKS ON DA FOOD STAMP CARD YO!” Ok, no problem, I’ll print a slip that is basically a reciept without all the logos and satisfaction surveys on it and it lists everything I’ve rung up, and the item price. I hand it to them and say “Just let me know what you want me to take off”. So then they have the nerve to say, “AI’GHT FOO(L) PUT BACK THE STEAKS BECUZ I NEEDS THE CANDY.” Wait, what? You need the fucking candy?! How do you NEED candy?! Whatever, you make me sick and I want you out of my checkout line as soon as possible, you give humanity a bad name. So, I void the steaks and set them aside and charge him for the candy.. Wow…
Ok, well now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I think it’s time to rest up for my next shift so I can get more material for future articles. But don’t worry, I’ve already got enough to last me a while. 
Let me know your thoughts on the whole food stamp thing, if you use them, are you one of the bastards that buys junkfood? If not, what do you think about those who do? Comments are moderated but I’ll post anything that isn’t spam or a personal attack.
Thanks for reading! – JCWEBDESIGN
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