Here is a small analogy of my job.

There is a group of guys... Say 50 of them. They want you to build them a car. Not just any car, but a real fancy show car.

You can't just buy the parts for this car and assemble it. You will have to make every part from scratch out of bare metal. Some parts will be easy, like the fenders and hood. Other parts will be hard like the engine and carburetor.

None of these guys will actually tell you want you want. They don't have time to sit with you and explain in detail how it should look or drive. They just want you to build something and they will look at it when it's done.

On top of this, each one of them has a different idea of how the car should run and look. They all pound on you every day to get their idea or part of the car finished so they can use it. Each day they call and complain about or have an idea about something on the car, but it's still no help to actually getting the part and car running.

You will be doing all the work by yourself. You only have a month to build the car and you will only get $5 per hour for your time. You will have to work day and night to finish it in the time you have. The 50 guys will be changing their minds as to what the car will look like and drive like while your building it.

If you get anything finished, it's not what they wanted and you will have to make changes to it, quickly, to make it look like what they want. Since you have no time to do a good job, you will have to hack something together just to get them to quit calling you.

On top of all this, there is problems with your tools that slow you down. Your air compressor is running very slow. Your garage door keeps closing on you. And your phone, email, IM are ringing off the hook.

That's my job. It's amazing that I get anything at all done.

I took the day off yesterday. It was grand. I actually forgot all about work and just did stuff all day.

Wrenched on Samurai 2 a bit. Got it running better. Still overheating a bit though. Could still be the thermostat control thing. Johnny said to just take it out and see if that fixes it, and if so get a new one. So I'll try that later. Bryan, the kid that's buying it from me, still hasn't sold his Bronco yet, so still isn't ready to come up here to pick it up. I guess that's OK, but it would sure be nice to get the rest of the money and get started on my Sam-A-Thing.

I did a bit of wheeling with the doors off yesterday also. That was great. It was nice to get the doors off again. So much better to wheel without doors. I like it. I do like the idea of half doors though. It would be nice to stop some of the stuff coming in the cab. We had a nice time up in the hills though. Checked out some new trail stuff. Got stuck in a deep wash. Actually had to use the hi-lift to get out.. heheh.

So I'm thinking, heck, I can get through that. So I drive into it and my bumper hits the other side. I was thinking that I was at enough angle to get it, but ends up I wasn't. So it pushed my back end around so it was straight at the trench. DOH' I was stuck. So I tried to back up and that didn't work because there was another trench behind me at that angle. So now I'm totally hi-centered with all four wheels off the ground. LOL. A pile of rocks and the hi-lift later, I was out of it. Made it through it though. :-)

Anyway, today is another work day. I need to get some stuff that I promised done, so back to work I go.

Yes. I've been very busy lately. I'm talking 20 hours a day working busy. It has been crazy around here for the past two months. Things are just now starting to stabilize, and I will actually get to go outside this weekend. WhooHooo!

The new stuff I've been working on is really turning out great. I still have much to do on it, but not the crazy mad rush that I've been doing. I think that by next month things will be back to normal... err, better than normal!

Yep, I'm still at work.

I've been working 20 hours a day since about the 5th. Four hours of sleep each night. I'm starting to feel it.

Why am I killing myself for this?

I haven't died. I've been at work. I've been at work 16 hours a day for at least two weeks now. Crunch time I guess you would call it. I call it, killing myself for nothing.

But, not nothing. I'm taking a chance that it will turn into something. I hope. Right now our customers are pissed about the changes. One thing I've learned, don't change too much at one time. I changed everything. It's better now. It works better, faster, easier... But they hate it. They hate it because it's different and that's all. They haven't even looked at it. They just hate it.

But they will love it in a few months. They won't know how to live without it. Then they will thank me. Maybe. Probably not, but at least they will pay me or just quit.

The new stuff is great, it's just rough on the edges right now. It will get there. Soon. I'm only allowing myself four-five hours a sleep, so it will get done soon.

Well, back to work...

Today I called the place I bought the iGesture from and got a RMA# to return it for a refund. Fingerworks, the company that makes the iGesture, seems to be going out of business. That's a shame because I really liked the pad when it worked. I was also wanting to upgrade to the full keyboard, but now I guess I won't get that chance.

Anyway, I need to get back to work.

Well, it helps, but I still have problems with the pad. It's either defective, or it's extremely sensitive. I can scratch my head and it will start moving the mouse, selecting text. This is with my bare feet on the anti-static matt.

So, that didn't work, but at least I won't be shocking my computer.

UPS just dropped off my Anti-Static matt about an hour ago. And guess what... My iGesture is acting much better now. I've been using it since I plugged in my matt and so far I have not had to reset it. It's working as it should.

So was it static? I will know better tomorrow. The pad usually works better at night than it does in the day time. So I'll keep it going until I know for sure.

Bad thing about this, if it's not a bad touch pad, then I can't justify upgrading to the TouchStream, well... we will see. ;-)

Anyway, I have about five more hours of work for tonight. I'm out.

OK, word from Fingerworks. They say that it might be a bad pad. It should not be that erratic. Also something about the pointer going in a diamond shape. They told me to get a ticket and send it back.

Now I'm thinking about upgrading to the full TouchStream keyboard. I got this pad to help with my wrists and also to make it quicker to point at things. Well, moving my hand all the way over there to use the pad is kinda sucky. I would rather not have to move my hands away from the keyboard.

The Fingerworks TouchStream Keyboard is like a giant touch pad. Zero force typing. No keys. And I can use the surface of the keyboard as a mouse.

So without moving my hands away from the "keys" I can use the mouse and also gesture commands.

It's only another $150, but I can eliminate the need for a mouse all together. Money is just burning a hole in my pocket. But I've wanted one for like 5 years.

So not only that, but I'm thinking about getting the Dvorak keyboard layout also. Think adding salt to the wound. I will have to learn a whole new keyboard layout. That shouldn't be too hard. I can pick up on things quickly. I hope I can with the layout also. The thing about the Dvorak layout is that it makes typing much faster.

Anyway, I've got to get back to work...using my mouse.

I'm so ultimately disgusted with this thing that I'm about ready to through it out the window. It is so sensitive to static electricity and electro magnetic interference that it's unusable. I can't use it more than 30 seconds without it going crazy or not working at all. I have to do the full hand reset on it to make it work right. It's super annoying to be typing something and then it starts going crazy selecting, cutting, pasting, and clicking on stuff. It's completely unusable at this point. I have to unplug it. Not only does it go crazy when the wind blows outside, but it also goes just as crazy while I'm talking on my cell phone. I have to unplug it when the phone rings.

I have on order a anti-static matt and a humidifier. If these items don't work for this then I'll have to get my money back. There should have been a huge warning on the web site that static electricity will render the iGesture unusable.

I guess I'll probably have to find another solution to replace it. The mouse kills my wrists. The Tablet is too hard to use when programming because I have to pick up the pen every time I want to use my mouse. Maybe a regular touch pad would work. I don't have any problems with the one on my laptop.

So, anyway, if your looking to buy a Fingerworks keyboard or touch pad check the static level in your area first.