I’ve finally taught my office chair a lesson.
You see, it has this idiotic little lever on the bottom that, when lifted, causes the chair to immediately tilt downwards and forwards. Naturally, the makers of this chair figured the best shape to carve this handle in would be a big paddle that points downward. That way, when Astro sits like he often does when working and/or thinking (note that the two can be mutually exclusive) with his feet under the chair tippy-toe style (okay, I’ll have to take a picture later so you understand), he will immediately press the lever as soon as he turns, thus dumping him forward and releasing a torrent of curses upon the unknowing world.
I stopped making New Year’s resolutions quite some time ago, deciding to replace them with general ideas or concepts. This year’s idea is less frustration. I had some very very frustrating times last year, especially towards the end, so I’m making a little more of a conscious effort to just back away from whatever frustrates me. I tend to get to a certain level of anger that just makes matters worse.
So this weekend had some really frustrating moments and I noticed that I was flying off the handle at the slightest provocation. I was trying to get my system to back up properly (damn you, UNIX permissions!) so I could upgrade my OS with a clean install (damn you, Jaguar!) and re-install only the apps I need and use (damn you, Norton Antivirus!). Since there were long periods where I couldn’t do anything on my computer (well, I probably could, but I’m superstitious about multi-tasking at times like these), I decided to play the Sims on Barb’s computer. Apparently my body thinks this involves filling her keyboard with Sprite (drink of life).
Now we get to this morning. I come into the office, start my computers, sit down and WHAM!!! There goes the chair.
I had considered fixing this in the past, but in my earlier perusals determined I would need to bring in a hacksaw. While I wasn’t above doing this, I figured I might get some strange looks, both at work and on the T. But today was different. Today I’m sticking by my semi-resolution. Today, the chair’s ass is mine.
It took my new Cybertool, a pair of scissors, a little clever ingenuity and a little “HULK SMASH!”, but I am proud to say that the chair now knows who’s boss. The chair is now properly afraid of me, as are a few of my co-workers in my more immediate area.
Welcome to the Age of Frustrationless Astro.