It was another long, dull morning at the office. Fortunately, the afternoon proved to be quite a bit more interesting. While I was examining an issue reported by one of our beta users; I heard some shouting about a fire from one end of the building. Popping my head up like a good, office gopher; I saw some people rushing about, the overhead lights that was were off and the safety lights were on. Shortly after that I was told a fan in one of the bathrooms had caught on fire, burning/melting some of the plastic of the fan. There was only a little bit of smoke right then and the fire had been put out so I went back to work. Then the smoke got worse and I stood with some co-workers near an exit with the door open to the outside for fresh air. We stayed inside as it had also just started to rain. A few minutes later, we heard sirens and were told to either go to the top floor of the building or outside. I opted to stand outside. After we were out there for something like 20 minutes; we were told to go home for the day. Which was a sweet 90 minutes early, but I had a fearsome headache presumably from the chemical fumes off the burning plastic. What a day.

I used to love playing video games and would waste entire days doing nothing else, but over the last couple of years I’ve started slipping away from that hobby. The expense of keeping my computer updated to handle the latest games combined with the pain I’d get in my wrists just kind of killed the fun. Particularly since I wasn’t seeing a lot of new games to keep up my interest. Well, if the game behind this trailer plays anywhere close to as good as it looks; then I’ll be back to burning the midnight oil to lay waste to the enemy. *grin*

You see, one of my all-time favorite video games was the original Team Fortress mod for Half-Life. The class choices, mayhem and fun were an unbeatable combination1. Then as other mods were developed further; Valve announced they were going to go all out on making TF2. This was 5 years ago and was the last we heard from Valve about it. At least the last we heard until this month when they released the official trailer for TF2. The new character models are wicked cool and oddly enough something about the trailer reminds me of No One Lives Forever (another great video game).

Just wow! I cannot think of any better description of how cool this trailer looks. Go on, hit the link and watch it yourself!

1 At least I’ve always thought so, but others have preferred that POS called Counter-Strike.

Lately, I’ve been watching this some what silly (but still addictive) reality show on NBC called Treasure Hunters. Part of what I like about it is they let you play along with the contestants. Well, sort of… They have a trivia question given out during every show which if answered correctly gives you a shot at $10,0001. Additionally, you can play various puzzles, one released each week, for a shot at $200,000 and an appearance on T.V. Personally, I have no interest in ever being on T.V. but that $200,000 would buy a nice house and pay off all our bills2. And there would still be enough left over to give some to various charities I like, e.g. American Cancer Society, American Red Cross or Toys for Tots.

Anyway, I’ve been following the show for a couple of weeks and I’ve gotten help from the NBC.com forums on solving the weekly puzzles. Since I appear to be slightly ahead of the curve at the moment, below the cut are is my solution to this week’s puzzle. You should only read past the cut if you don’t mind spoiling the puzzle for yourself.
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While it is CB.Net’s policy to not talk about work issues; I do feel the need to pass along a bit of good news today. I received an offer for employment with a new company. In two weeks, I will hold the position of Data Analyst rather than that of a Software Tester. It’s a really exciting opportunity, but if you want to know more…. Well, you’ll have to know me in person and maybe even buy me a drink. 😀

I see from my server logs; I am starting to get hits on people searching for help with the same VW stuck in park problem I had. In hopes that this helps others out, I’m posting the steps I got from VW’s roadside assistance below. These instructions worked on my 2002 VW Golf GLS with an automatic transmission, but may or may not work on any other vehicle. And I make no claim that they are safe to use on any vehicle. So if you follow these instructions, you do so at your own risk!

  1. Press down on the break pedal 5 times.
  2. On the 5 time, hold down the break pedal and start the car.
  3. Let the car run for 5 seconds, while still holding down the break pedal, and then turn it off.
  4. Again while still holding down the break pedal, give the key a one quarter turn in the ignition.
  5. Still holding down the break pedal, move the gear shift so that it is between Neutral and Drive.
  6. Finally, with your foot holding down the break pedal, start the car. Hopefully, you can now shift your into whatever gear you need and drive it to the nearest VW service center to get it fixed.