Notes

There are so many things I want to complain about. I just don’t have the will to jot them all down and put them here. I am weak. I do so appreciate those who march and scream in the cause of the people. I wish I had the strength to even perpetuate the message.

Most of the items are political. I have just been too wiped out to bitch. What does that say?

Sat on a phone meeting this morning. The guy giving us the details of a bunch of technical specs was clearly driving and dealing with driving. I wanted to tell him to pull over. Not only was he not paying any attention, and every question had to be repeated, but he was having issues driving that caused distraction in the meeting. Talk about annoying and distracting.

how are they not running out of phone numbers? The number of people I know who have forsaken one home phone number completely only to take up 1) a number for business outside of a work phone number, like Google Voice or equivalent. 2) mobile for personal calls. 3) mobile for burner use 4) text SMS on their tablet, Is growing by the day. Gone are the days of call them and get screened. I now have fifteen ways to annoy some people.

My dad used to bring me orange sodas at some point when I was a little kid. I now like orange sodas. He liked heavy pulp orange juice. I hate pulp in my orange juice. Nat likes heavy pulp orange juice.

It is moral to be happy. It is OK to be happy when others are not. it is OK to be content where others are not.

Grill

Field	Data
Title	Grill
Description	Buddy of mine grilling steaks. Bit of a misshap with fire. you know how it goes. My Links * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Google+ https://plus.google.com/110920679448216202152/posts/p/pub * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	vlog, vlogging, grill, grilling, flame, fire, burned hand.,
Bullets
Link	Link

Notes

Friday 2013-04-26

Got up this morning at 4:45. That fifteen minutes gained me 30 or 40 minutes at work extra earlier this morning. This was an experiment because I prefer walking in the dark in the morning. Yes. It is better for me to walk in the dark. It isn’t my vision I’m worried about. It is the fact that the flashlight makes me more visible than sunlight does.

Got in to work and it is was a good thing I was early. We are getting new network cables put in. My office was tossed. All the furniture was pulled away from walls. A cup of coffee was spilled on the floor. Not cool.

There are movements in some countries in Europe to simplify tax law. This sort of thing happens in the U. S. all the time. It is starting to both gain momentum and smell like those in power are using the movement to sneak in some kind of higher tax. The trouble is there will be winners and losers in any change like this.

Lunch conversation

What a day.

• A bunch of people didn’t get their normal dishes at the Chinese restaurant we went to because they had the dishes the previous night. I just wanted something different.
• Selling off unprofitable divisions.
• Selling off entire server manufacturing divisions.
• It will probably be better after the sale
• Chinese writing on computer hardware happened sometime after 2000.
• Phone companies are the devil.
• It pays to switch
• The model of showing investors new accounts is killing phone companies.
• You almost have to pick two companies and switch every year to not get ripped off.
• Pros and cons of government regulation of industry.
• The place we had lunch (Chinese) has excellent hot sauce.
• New network stuff at work.
• New phones at work.

Lots of work talk. Today it wasn’t so bad. Normally, I roll my eyes and sigh when someone starts shop talk at the lunch table. I don’t go out enough to stand it.

Notes

I feel fantastic today. Not sure if it is the past couple days, or if I’m actually better than I’ve been in a long while.

Today, I had to pull a bunch of drives out of old computers. Some of them are particularly old. They make funny noises. I can tell the bearings are going out on some of them, but some just sound like a diesel engine normally. Then, out of the blue, it will make a thump or clang or something. I check the process and no errors. one of them banged when it was unplugged. They normally just click. Nothing like mechanical devices to worry about.

it cracks me up how difficult it is to disassemble old computers. The new systems are so freaking easy to pull drives and power supplies compared to the old stuff. Not one of the new systems needed a screwdriver for simple disassembly. Every single one of the old systems needed to be pried apart and metal parts bent. The worse were the systems between the two. I would start working and pulling and messing about and figure out there was a handle behind the bracket that was hidden that would have made it let go.

Shocks and cameras

Field	Data
Title	Shocks and cameras
Description	Me griping about shocks and cameras. CTFXC http://www.youtube.com/user/CTFxC?feature=watch My Links * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Google+ https://plus.google.com/110920679448216202152/posts/p/pub * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	vlog, vlogging, cameras, canon, Kodak, truck, double shocks
Bullets
Link	Link

otes

I am a fox in a world meant for lions and wolves.

Why did God create stock analysts? To make weather people look good.

What did the Zen Buddhist say to the Hotdog guy? Make me one with everything.

Sick

I didn’t write shit or shoot any videos all weekend. I felt like a bag of ass right up to last night (Monday). Then Suddenly I felt wonderful. At least, I felt wonderful compared to the last couple days. Funny how that works. I thought I would have trouble falling asleep, but I nodded right off.

The symptoms I had were a really nasty sinus headache. My whole head hurt. I tried everything. I took all kins of medicine. I did the neti pot like 8 times. I put hydrogen peroxide in my ears a couple times. I think mowing the yard and sucking in all that pollen and grass clippings, then taking an antihistamine did me in.

Back at work today and having a hard time keeping my balance. I clearly still have issues. Man, do I feel better though.

Oddly enough, my stomach hurts. I took some medication over the weekend that gave me an upset stomach. I then took some antacids that may have given me bout of intestinal trouble. I’m still sore from that. Nuts how one thing leads to another. Still a net gain. The stomach thing made me leave a bit early.

Notes

Every time I hear anything about Anne Frank, I nearly weep for humanity. Just her name sends me to a place where I wish I could  or would or might make right.

Had to take apart an old Mac from 2002 today. It had an IBM hard drive. There was no Chinese writing anywhere on either machine or drive that I noticed. How things have changed in the past eleven years.

Red Hat 6.4 still uses a program called ORCA for accessibility. Everyone else has moved on from this separate program to having methods of accessibility built in to their interfaces. The idea of a separate program is quite 2002. The lack of usability shows.

I should subscribe to Texas Monthly. Just because.

What happened to all the fake and bullshit news that came out of Twitter related to the Boston affair? Every five minutes the news was changing 180 degrees. It is embarrassing. Interesting to watch, but difficult to take. Even the FBI came out and told the news organizations to check their frigging facts before vomiting crap in the news.

On the subject, I hadn’t heard any of the overnight developments. I do not watch the news in the morning any longer due to an incident with the TV in the master bedroom. I was more upset not being up to the moment than the not knowing.

Notes

Americans do not like self checkout.

I looked at BitCoins for the first time today. I’ve been hearing about them for some time. I kind of like the idea, but I’m terrified of the fear that governments will throw at the idea of people taking control of their lives and bypassing the federal government. This will smell like taking power away from the establishment. This will freak out the powers that be.

BitCoin also smells like a world currency. Isn’t this one of the signs of the apocalypse? Wasn’t the mark of the beast really encryption?

Tobacco is legal. 29 states have laws that prevent companies from denying employment based on tobacco use. That means 21 states do not such laws. I’ve never smoked. Never picked up the habit. This is based on healthcare costs. Having kids is very expensive. Will it become a requirement that you promise not to have kids the first couple years when taking on a new job?

I just started looking at my Goals at work. I have no idea.

Nat got one of the online HBO packages. I have actually watched more movies in the last couple weeks than  I watched all of last year.

Finding that there is no way to remove words from the dictionary in Google Drive (Google Docs), I am very careful adding them. Today, I finally added “than” because it was driving me nuts not being in the english dictionary. Now watch, I misspelled it.

I tested a couple chat web pages at work today. People want ways to talk to outside people. The web pages work, but the phone aps are verboten on the company network. People do not like listening to that.

Beware Innocuous Requests

No more piggybacking other people’s duties in my emails.

Field	Data
Title	Cooperation bites me in the ass
Description	In this epic tale of woe, I explain the seemingly innocuous request to include instructions in an email to users that seriously bites me in the ass. My Links * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Google+ https://plus.google.com/110920679448216202152/posts/p/pub * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	vlog, vlogging, work, email, IT, users, advice, anecdote, help, support,
Bullets	I’m the guy who deletes the email accounts Send dates to users for removal of emails Asked to include instructions in an email to users Instructions had real issues because of real problems on the vendor’s side I became the go to guy for fixing the issues. No account, no experience, guy who set everything up left for greener pastures Lesson learned, Don’t let people piggyback their communications and responsibilities on your communications.
Link	Link

Vlog

Field	Data
Title	Vlog
Description	A bunch of crap that happened. My Links * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Google+ https://plus.google.com/110920679448216202152/posts/p/pub * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	vlog, vlogging, crap that happened, bicycle chained ot a sign, me
Bullets
Link	Link

Watches next

Microsoft, Apple, Samsung and even Dell are looking at making smart watches. Apparently none of these guys have heard that no one (except me) wears a watch any longer. The only watch wearing from young people these days appears to be limited to retro watches. This is when someone knows the date of manufacture of their retro mechanical (wind up) watch. Not sure the trend will catch on.

I already can’t read my phone. They want to make the screen even smaller. Are they all going to insist that we use the same interface on computers that we use on our watches?

They damn well better be water proof. If they are not waterproof, I will not get one. I don’t care what the choices and benefits are. I’m already sick of having a phone that is not waterproof. I can remember being a kid with a watch that was not waterproof. I remember Micky just didn’t look happy with water drops forming on the inside of the glass.

Notes

Tax day! Filed an extension. We deal with it first week of May.

J C Penney is finding out that people mostly are stupid. People would rather work for a good price than just get a good price every day.

There is something going on with my right eye. The symptom is my right contact lens gets all milky and itchy. It feels like an eyelash is pointing inward and rubbing my contact back and forth until my eye gets dry. I asked Nat to look at my eye, but she is not a professional and noticed nothing. I may have to go to the eye doctor just to get a check up on my eyelashes. Drag.

If I had a doomsday device, I would demand that the word ‘remediation’ and the concept be stricken from realm of human existence.

Notes

2013-04-11

Had to take my contacts out again this morning. The right one was driving me nuts. It was blurry and uncomfortable. Mostly, it was uncomfortable because I was messing with it to make it clear up. It is a combination of the beautiful weather and the springtime pollen count causing my issues. I’m back in my new glasses. i suppose that purchase was very well timed.

I had beer and 1 glass of red wine yesterday afternoon. I ate with it and a bit more when I got home. I woke up in the middle of the night with what felt like a sinus headache. I drank some water and took a headache pill. I felt better in the morning, but I just don’t think the alcohol had anything to do with it. I blame the weather. All this damn fresh air.

Unpaid internships need to be abolished worldwide. It is one step away from slavery plane and simple.

A lot of the audiocasts (podcasts) I listen to have died. Many have changed hosts. It is difficult keeping track.

hit a wall today at 16:00. The day was not too bad. There were some issues wrapped around email that I’m sick of if I’m honest. The issues are not catastrophic. People act like they have never had to use a new email account. I was sitting at work right before leaving. I sat there and tried to get something done. It wasn’t Friday afternoon. It was the day I nearly ran screaming through the halls. Not really. Would have felt good though.

Glad it wasn’t the whole day. I did great right up to about 16:00. I didn’t get anything important done after that.

Passwords

• Intranet (Chat)
• Laptop 1 (Windows 7)
• Hard drive (requires reboot)
• Windows (drive encryption)
• Email software
• Laptop 2 (Red Hat 6)
• Hard Drive (requires reboot)
• Key ring
• Drive encryption
• Linux user
• Root user
• Email software
• support web site, (not changed)
• Local network user
• Local network admin user

That is just for work. I have another couple hundred for home including every web page. They all have different passwords. Every place I go on the internet wants to verify that I am me before opening themselves to me. I wonder who they are.

Lunch conversation

Tons of work conversation. Bits about people and codee and such kept creeping into the conversation. I hate that. I do it sometimes too.

Today, we walked across fields and across streets, through parking lots and past crazy people to get to our destination. It was a fast food place. We pretty much filled it up. I think there were 15 people or so today.

• Cars
• Snorkel kits on 4x4
• Exhaust on Semi trucks
• Stories about mechanics ripping people off.
• Video games
• The game where you are on a spaceship and have to run basically through a text encounter with every other ship you meet.
• Retro games like Rendezvous with Rama and Zork and how people are retroing these games back to life.
• Food
• Ketchup and things we do to modify same
• You got to get grilled onions and jalapenos on your double patty burger.
• Biscuits and gravy and how you would think it was something that would be difficult to fuck up.
• The crazy guy who lives in an alley on the way to the fast food place we went to.
• I had seen a helicopter landing in the field we were walking through.
• Wives. (enough said)

I needed to get out today. I needed to walk. People complained I walked too fast. i wanted to climb up the side of a building to walk on a ledge. I wanted to run and jump and play today at lunch. I needed a recess.

That was the end of the normal blog entry. The following is some random crap related.

Tweetable version of that last paragraph:

I needed to get out today, to walk. I walked too fast, to climb a building, to walk on a ledge, to run and jump and play. I needed a recess

The child inside

I needed to get out today

To walk, I walked too fast

To climb a building

To walk on a ledge

To run and jump and play

I needed a recess

Notes

Every 15 minutes there is an update for Chrome. Every 15 minutes a different list of crap breaks in Chrome. It is getting kind of old if I’m honest.

Ever since the Aryan Brotherhood allegedly (no one has been convicted) shot a prosecutor, they are all over the news. I wonder if I know any of these folks.

I spent a good portion of my day today trying to hunt down the asset information for the laptop that the company assigned to me months ago. It is in one database,but not the other.

I have to use Chrome for Google Drive at work on Linux. Too many things do not work in Firefox. I have to use Firefox for media on Linux at work because too many things do not work in Chrome. Why do things not work on Linux in browsers? For the lack of product testing.

Notes

“The problem with the roads in China is that people typically buy cars before learning how to drive.” Spoken about Chinese drivers by a Chinese driver in China. Reported on some random blog I don’t remember. From memory of course. it stuck with mel for a while after I heard it.

Thatcher died. She was a tough old broad.

I listen to audiocasts (podcasts) at work. Some of them are in MP3 format. Some stream just fine. Others do not. The only way I can get some of them to work is to download them and play them in an external player. I do not have an external player so I have to use a video editor. I add the track, place the track, wait for the analyzer thing to finish, then set the read point to the front of the track. Then, I can hit play. I believe the reason we don’t have access to MP3 software at work is because they harm productivity. No more I’m sure than not having access to them. Having a relaxing escape while working must help productivity.

People do not prefer Microsoft Windows. They cling to it like a teddybear in the dark.

I listened to Penn Jillette podcast today and learned more about the U. S. Supreme Court than I had previously known. Thanks Penn.

Notes

Everybody talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.

My head has been hurting for about a week straight. It is sinus issues. It is that time of year. Whatever is putting their pollen in the air right now really doesn’t like me.

People love breaking Linux. “I need to fix one script I run on a monthly basis so I will upgrade Python on my Linux box to prevent the need of updating the script.” This leads to every utility written in Python on the machine taking a massive shit all at once. Things like network configuration and user profile utilities throw errors. Do not upgrade or side grade or touch Python on a current major installation of Linux. Install your own copy of Python somewhere on the machine and point to it only when you run your one outdated script.

Vlog

Field	Data
Title	Vlog
Description	Gun range, glasses, concrete. What else is life about? Glasses anti glare coating http://youtu.be/FxNrBtGrYLI My Links * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Google+ https://plus.google.com/110920679448216202152/posts/p/pub * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	vlog, vlogging, concrete, glasses, 3d printing, discussion
Bullets
Link	Link

Why get anti glare coating on your glasses?

Field	Data
Title	Why get anti glare coating on our glasses?
Description	Glasses with anti glare vs glasses without anti glare. My Links * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Google+ https://plus.google.com/110920679448216202152/posts/p/pub * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	glasses, anti glare, antiglare, reflections, glare, vision, clarity, see, compare,
Bullets
Link	Link

Notes

Ride in discussion consisted of doctor's appointments and a bunch of other stuff. A long time ago I remember a case where someone in a van riding past a funeral said loudly “...best thing that could have happened.” and people at the funeral thought they were talking about them.  The poor guy in the van had no idea what they were talking about when they pulled up. I can believe that after mornings like today.

Malta and Slovenia might get the elbo by the European Central Bank. Apparently, the rules have been ironed out for such things to occur without unraveling the whole web of treachery and lies that is international banking and investment.

To do this weekend.

• Dinner with my lovely wife Saturday for her birthday.
• Lawn
• mow
• weed whack
• Fix a couple more boards on the fence
• Trip to Home Depot for pickets
• Laundry
  
  

Notes

I keep finding new definitions for the following terms. They all make sense. If these concepts make sense to you on their own, congratulations. you have been blessed the concept of logic. If not, congratulations you are not burdened by the concept of logic.

Known knowns - Known and tested. (done and dusted)

Known unknowns - Known, but untested.

Unknown unknowns - Suspicions and speculations.

The CEO of JC Penney got a 97% paycut. That brings him down to about 1.9 million a year. I could live with that for a while I think.

7% return over 10 years doubles your money.

“Force Germes” or midi-chlorians, Introduced in The Phantom Menace. The microbes that give people the religious power to choke people remotely.

I need to find some more audiocasts (podcasts) on a news kind of front. I need to find more audiocasts on all fronts. I listen to things as I work. I’ve given up on music. I listen to stories and news. I need more.

In a high stress moment, I tripped over a keyboard cable and broke the keyboard. The USB plug was bent to all hell and back. I felt bad about throwing the keyboard away. I felt like I should have given some thought to replacing the end of the cable. Then, I thought about how long that would take. Then I thought about burning my cornea with a soldering iron. Then I threw the keyboard away.

Because of license issues, I had to stop using Dexpot and start using a program called VirtuaWin. There is a learning curve and a functionality curve. It turns out the bit of the new program that does that little graphic desktop display that tells you which desktop you are on does not work on my system. It crashes. I have to look in the task bar for what desktop I’m on. I have to just count how many times I hit the keys to figure out what desktop I’m going to. It is amazingly stupid and difficult to get used to. Frigging license issues.

Poor people work a thousand times harder for every nickel they earn than rich people.

California is experiencing a decline in the number of children in the state for the first time since it became a state. This means, the state of California is dying. Perfect time to raise taxes.

15% of battlefield injuries are to the eye or affect vision.

Sometimes I wish I had kept track of every time I hit my head. Perhaps a log of all injuries would be cool as well, but head injuries are accumulative. Not sure how accurate that is, but it is what I hear. Might be interesting just having a spreadsheet with type of injury, circumstances, dates, treatments if any. Something for a whole lifetime. Maybe we will get such logs in the future with things like Google Glasses. Wonder if there is an app for injury tracking.