I’m taking a break from this web site and from being online in general; don’t know for how long. So go play in the archives until I return!

My favorite electronics store made me an offer I couldn’t refuse today, so I came home with this little guy and I love it. The Compaq Armada was getting a bit long in the tooth (166MHz) so it’s time to put it up on e-Bay.

I love this thing.

Update Okay so some of you are thirsty for knowledge about the new toy. From the stickers on the wrist rest:

Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.80 GHz
Hard Drive: 40GB
Memory: 512MB DDR SDRAM (expandable to 1024MB)
Display: Radeon IGP 345M at 1024×768
Video Ram: 64MB
Operating System: Windows XP Professional
Peripherals: Touchpad
Connectivity: Ethernet port; 56K modem port
Other Ports: 3 USB 2.0 ports; firewire port; video port; parallel port
Memory stick media slot included
PCMCIA: Two Type I/I; one Type III
CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive
Floppy Disk Drive
Battery Bay
AC Adapter and power cord

So here are the specs on the Armada, which is going up on e-Bay tonight.
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The Friday Five are late this week due to intervening events in my little life. If you read this blog, I shouldn’t have to explain further. If not, well… read!

Anyway, this week’s Friday Five was conjured up by a co-worker and co-hort of mine. Way2Go, girlfriend!
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Last week, all the partners in the law office where I work had to attend a 90-minute presentation on “diversity in the workplace.”

Since I’m not a lawyer, apparently this does not apply to me. Since I did not go to this meeting, I have no idea what was presented or expected from the attendees.

But I’ve been all ears in the elevators. To put it mildly, this diversity training went over like a lead balloon. It appears to have been somewhat of a timewaster.

I have to agree. If by diversity, it is meant “variety,” then we already have that in the work place. Perhaps what they meant to offer was “sensitivity” training. But if a Title VII lawsuit doesn’t whip you into shape, it’s a little late for “sensitivity” training, wouldn’t you say?

Prejudice or discrimination in the work place should have already been eradicated. No one person or class of persons deserves special treatment. We should ALL be on equal footing. But we aren’t.

And nowhere is this more obvious than at the “support staff” level. It’s been my experience that slackers aren’t made to pick up their pace, they draw the same paychecks and enjoy the same benefits as their hard working brethren and sisters (sistren?!). Someone else has to do the work they are too lazy to do.

You can walk the halls at any given time of the day and see secretaries surfing the Internet (and unlike yours truly, they are NOT surfing the court websites looking for relevant decisions), updating their blogs, listing items on e-Bay (using their OFFICE e-mail addresses, no less), reading newspapers, magazines and sleazy novels). Or simply not at their desks at all, but taking one of many 10-20 minute “smoking breaks” throughout any given day. Oh, and about blogging on company time: Why on earth would anyone be so stupid as to post on company time (using company resources) with software that date and time stamps your work? Clearly, this is not your average idiot, here.

Quite frankly, I’m fed up with it. I work hard. When I show up for work, I’m expected to work. I’m expected to be competent and efficient. And I’m expected to get it right the first time, to check my facts and be sure my documents are correct before my boss even lays her eyes on them.

Yet, I’ve seen the sloppy work of some of my co-workers, who can’t even be bothered to correctly spell the name of an attorney in their own office.

Discrimination? You bet it exists. And it should. The Firm should discriminate against lazy, shiftless, guileless, blame-skirting, indifferent workers. And these are the ONLY people they should discriminate against.

When I got out to the parking garage last night after work, I happened to notice a slight indentation in the Street Angel’s front left fender. It was ever so slight, but enough for ME to notice. I don’t recall seeing it before, but I’ve been pretty preoccupied lately, to say the least. Don’t think it happened at work, since I park in a specific place between two pillars and it would be impossible to put that kind of dent in the car in that particular spot and not damage the car elsewhere. So it had to have happened in the only other three places I’ve been in the last couple of weeks: the hospital parking lot; the parking lot at home; and the parking lot at the grocery store. Sigh.