Sometimes a person leaves the hotel that held a management position. On a few occasions I will write something nice because these couple of people have proved their worth. Sometimes we actually have managers that know what they are doing. I know that may not seem apparent as much as I criticize the current regime.

It is that time again. Mosher has been at the hotel for as long as I can remember. She’s done pretty much it all and knows how to do her job. She is someone I consider a boss that isn’t a total asshole (and there is a few of them). She was the only manager that I could go into her office and bitch and complain endlessly about how things have gone down the toilet at the hotel.

It will be fun to watch the chaos that ensues as a replacement is found. Most people don’t understand what Mosher does around the hotel. She some how kept the place running, and the way things are now that was a major accomplishment. I know all this sounds like I’m saying the place is fucked now. Maybe that is what I’m saying. Most importantly I’m trying to say I will miss her. Good luck Mosher and try to stay out of trouble.

Now I don’t want to come off like a bad guy or anything. But if you look at the forum calender you will see the way the hotel work schedule is supposed to be. It still amazes me how this simple thing can be such a problem. It’s kind of like the polish guide to fucking. Four days on, four days off, and then repeat.

Which brings me to explaining the title of this post. The Favor System. Which is something I believe in. It’s kind of like respect, that favors have to be earned. I expect if I do a favor for someone that the favor be returned. It’s common sense mafia shit. Now if you don’t do me the favor in return, unlike the mafia I won’t kill you. Just don’t expect to ever have me do you a favor in return.

Another thing I don’t like is having someone go over my head. That is a big no no. That is a major thing to remember. You go over my head and there are no more favors. You go over my head and you no longer have my support. You go over my head and your on your own.

Part of the problem I’m talking about can be explained with the following excerpt from Trillian‘s chat log:

Session Start (Hotel Guy:Turk): Sun Nov 30 06:29:38 2003
Hotel Guy: hey did u have christmas off last year or did i
*** Auto-response from Turk: Im in the middle of DAoC, or Star Wars Galaxies. Of course, I could be in the middle of your mom too. Check to see if my car is in your driveway.
**Swiped from Gawain
Turk: I don’t remember
Hotel Guy: ok
Turk: why?
Hotel Guy: i asked for the 24-26 off
Turk: oh
Turk: why don’t you just leave it the way it is
Turk: you would have off 25-28 as it is with the 4 on 4 off
Turk: accept you would have to work the 24
Turk: which is a big whoop
Turk: your working 31st
Hotel Guy: that’s not a problem
Session Close (Turk): Sun Nov 30 07:02:28 2003

This is all of the problem actually. Now the way I read this is that the two of us agreed on the way the schedule would be. So you can understand why I’m slightly pissed off. The funny thing about this chat log is that I got it off of the work computer. Unknown to the Hotel Guy Trillian has been keeping a chat log of all of his conversations. Which is cool because here I was thinking I would have to wait till I got home to put this up.

Maybe this pisses me off more than it should. But all I want is Christmas Eve off. I’m not asking for a lot here. And this whole thing is all about the work schedule changing. When it’s first put out I have my four days off like it is in the forum calender. But it mysteriously changes when I come in to work. Well it’s not all that much of a mystery really.

Me and the Hotel Guy had just talked about this over the phone a few days ago. He had asked me if I would switch days with him. He wanted to trade some day of his for the 24th. My answer was no. I told him not to be greedy. And this is what this is. I totally understand the need to be with your family on Christmas morning. I understand quite a bit. I got my niece and nephew and these kids make Christmas fun again for me.

Now not to bring the whole mafia-like vibe back into this topic, but don’t ever go around me again. I don’t threaten, I’m just stating a fact. I’m the kind of person you want with you not against you. Lot’s of things have changed now with this bullshit. Your on your own now. Don’t ask me for favors or help in any matter. It’s to bad this had to happen. Such a petty thing to loose someone that was in your corner over. I’m not saying I’m anything special, it’s just that it doesn’t hurt to have a person on your side. And with the way things are at the hotel a person needs all the help they can get.

So I haven’t been updating enough. It’s kind of a honor to be told that. It validates what it is I do here. Whatever “it” is I do. It should be apparent that I’m a lazy bastard. Anyone that has ever e-mailed me can attest to that statement.

So I’m back to work. After the latest batch of viruses and spyware a new memo was posted telling the front desk staff they are not allowed to “download anything from the internet anymore!”, which isn’t really the problem. The memo also explains the virus/spyware problem was caused from opening attachments. This isn’t really the case.

These problems can be tracked back to simple user error with a dash of stupidity. Now maybe everyone is not as net savy as I assume I am. But 99.9% of these problems are caused simply by viewing websites one should not look at in the workplace. For example Node 1 (the pc I use) had another infestation of spyware on it when I came in tonight. Now seeing as I was off the last four days the problem is not caused by anything I do. Which brings up the question of who the culprit (or culprits are) and what to do with them. The memo states that:

Anyone not abiding new policy will be written up and/or terminated.

And for once I’m in total agreement with the management’s position on this subject. Anyone stupid enough to reek this kind of havoc should be fired. I’m sorry if this sounds harsh. But this is workplace computers your fucking up. If you want to jerk off to porn, have the common courtesy to do it at home.

I’m thinking about keeping a log of the websites people at the hotel visit. Like the memo stated “Simply erasing the history does not delete where you’ve been” and it would be easy enough to setup a nice little program that grabs urls. It could be a new feature here at my site. I could call it stupid workplace internet browsing habits and post the top ten urls once a week. It’s just beyond my comprehension how this shit is still a problem.

Firaxis is remaking the classic Sid Meier’s Pirates game. They have a Press Release and a teaser image. Here is the details from the Press Release:

In Pirates! you take the leading role of a Pirate Captain in the 17th century Caribbean amassing fortune and fame in an attempt to seize your rightful place as one of the most revered (and feared!) pirates in history. Test your skills as a sea captain exploring the high seas and exotic ports in a richly detailed 3D world. Overtake the enemy and seize valuable booty. Exchange plank-shattering broadsides in fierce naval battles, and engage in duels with worthy opposing captains.

As your reputation and skills grow, so will the size and quality of your crew, and your ability to take on larger enemy ships, raid and plunder heavily fortified ports, and locate ancient treasure. There’s a whole cast of interesting and dangerous characters to meet, mysteries to solve, exotic island destinations to discover, and powerful alliances to forge!

The new Pirates! carries on with the great gameplay and design simplicity tradition of the award-winning original while adding more challenging and exciting battle options, and deeper and more varied role-playing experience, including multiple paths to a wealthy, happy retirement. This and many other features and additions make this gaming classic one of the most highly anticipated releases of this century!

After watching Pirates Of The Caribbean I’m in the mood for a good pirate game. With any luck this will be a good game.

Note to Gawain: Does this count as an entry man?

So I picked up X²-The Threat even though I heard it had clunky controls and buggy gameplay. X² is a sequel to the game X: Beyond the Frontier and both games were made by german developers Egosoft. X² is a game kinda like Elite. Except it has all the modern 3D graphics one would expect from todays games. And it lacks something I just can’t put into words.

I can tell you it is complicated. Trade, Fight, Build, Think are fancy buzzwords the developers are attaching to this title. The learning curve is quite high and the manual does a piss poor job explaining all of the options these buzzwords claim. The one thing I can say that is cool about the game is the fact you can buy capital ships. There is something really cool about flying around space in a slow moving capital ship that can blast the shit out of just about anything you come across.