This collection of entries is from January 19, 2006.
I finally got a chance to replace my company ID. It's all bent-up because the plastic that's being used is a little thin. I hang my badge from my belt on one of those retractable tethers. Unfortunately, if i don't pay attention when I sit down, the badge slides into my front pocket and it folds. And it's real difficult to try to flatten-out the badge. What's really bad is that these "creases" are permanent and the badge is a swipe-style, meaning there's a magnetic stripe on the back and I have to swipe my card in the reader to enter a door. When I come in in the morning, if I get to work before 8am, I have four card swipes to get from the garage to my desk. Over time, the oxide is rubbing off the mag stripe at these creases, so I had to go get a new badge. Even though the photos are digital - they didn't save them, so I had to get a new photo taken. Let's just say I wasn't ready for that and my photo - just like what seems to be every friggin' photo ID I have - just isn't the greatest: my hair was a mess, my beard needs a trim. And let's face it - look at it, would you hire me?
Update: My new badge doesn't work. At all. It won't let me in any of the 4 doors I need - or even more importantly, it won't let me back in the ONE door that I need when I return from the restroom. There are no temporary badges either. Until they fix me, I'm a man without a badge - and that's not a good place to be.