The Dying Days of Windows 10

These are the dying days of Windows 10. It doesn’t really bother me; I made my transition to the land of Tux (the penguin) and Xenia (the transfem fox), in other words, Linux, several years ago, in fits and starts, then much more firmly after the ransonware attack on Diamond. Oh, my computer has WindowsContinue reading “The Dying Days of Windows 10”

Tales of Diamond: The Great Pwnage of 2012

Last Wednesday, my eighteen year career at Diamond Comic Distributors drew to a close, all part of the ongoing clusterfuckery that is the Diamond bankruptcy. But my Diamond career almost didn’t reach five years. The tale was semi-legendary within Diamond Towers. It would be spoken of in hushed whispers, that someone did this, and whoContinue reading “Tales of Diamond: The Great Pwnage of 2012”

The Last Day

Today was my last day with Diamond Comic Distributors. Eighteen years didn’t end the way I would have wanted, but when Chuck Parker started in on some prepared remarks I also wasn’t terribly surprised. The October PREVIEWS has 350 items in it, the products offered in New to Order are a trickle compared to whatContinue reading “The Last Day”

An Autumnal August

Work made me a little grumpy today. I began the day working on support articles for our autumn sale, then I had a tricky project land in my lap, and the next thing I know it’s Noon, I haven’t taken my morning meds, and I’m staring at several more hours with this tricky project. Meanwhile,Continue reading “An Autumnal August”

A Little Ingenuity and a Bit of Code Make the World Go Round

Sometimes I surprise myself with my own cleverness and creativity. Case in point… At Diamond, we maintain two completely different SKU systems to refer to inventory. There’s a stock code system (prefixed STK or STL), and there’s an item code system (prefixed in a MMMYY system, such as SEP25). Occasionally over the years I’ve beenContinue reading “A Little Ingenuity and a Bit of Code Make the World Go Round”

A Saturday Miscellany

Jim Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13, died yesterday. He was 97. I can’t add to anything that others have written, and I won’t try. I read Lovell’s book on the Apollo 13 disaster, Lost Moon, and, of course, I’ve seen Tom Hanks’ portrayal of Lovell in Ron Howard’s Apollo 13. I’ve known the storyContinue reading “A Saturday Miscellany”

See a Problem, Solve a Problem

At Diamond archiving files for the retailer website is often a convoluted and tedious manual process. For example, the order form files — my purview — go in these two directories here (depending on if they are text or PDF), then they are archived in directories here (again, text or PDF depending) under their “standard”Continue reading “See a Problem, Solve a Problem”

The First Week

On Tuesday, my employment with Diamond Comic Distributors came to an end. After the sale of the company’s assets to Universal and Ad Populum closed in May, those of us at Diamond who were not let go were employed by Diamond under a Transition Services Agreement (TSA) through June 30th. It was unclear whether ourContinue reading “The First Week”