Squishing Bugs

Feels like all I've been doing the last couple of days is squishing bugs. Both figuratively and literally.

In the figurative sense, I've been squashing bugs at work all week; trying to fix all the system faults and mistakes before the system I'm working on goes live.

The etymology of the term "bug" in systems is often misreferenced. Most people think it was because someone allegedly found an insect in a computer system, which was causing it to crash, and removed it to fix it. This is not the case and the term, bug, has been used to indicate a problem in engineering, predating the second world war.

Put that in your bank of useless facts - it may come in handy one day, especailly when you need a real conversation starter....

In the literal sense, I haven't really been squashing bugs at all, more like electrocuting the crap out of them. You can tell when summer is just around the corner, when the mosquito population begins to increase exponentially. I seriously hate mosquitoes, besides sucking your blood and spreading malaria, they have this knack of waking you up just as you're about to fall asleep. Those little bastards kept me up the whole night, and as a result; I look like a raccoon with black rings around my eyes from the lack of sleep.

Revenge, however, is a dish best served cold...or in this case ridiculously hot! I got those suckers back by zapping them with my nifty mosquito racket, which I bought on one of my trips to Taiwan. Basically it's a racket shaped device that you swing around and when the mosquito touches the wiring an electric current is sent through its body causing it to explode. It's so freakin' rewarding because it makes loud crackling and popping noises and even arcs when you get one! Zapped three of those buggers last night.

To vindicate my actions and before PETA comes down on me like a ton of bricks, I would like to state for the record that I wouldn't have to resort to such barbarism if they just, simply left me alone...this is war my friends, and unfortunately if there are to be casualties, better them than me.