Rumor
There is a rumor at my office that we will all have to work from 8 to
5. This may not sound like much. I have been coming in at 6:00 am for
years. I've been leaving at 3:00 for about as long. We used to work a
9/80 (every other Friday off). That is the one I miss. The powers that
be have been whittling away at the perks of the office.. I'm to the
point of not caring. I feel nothing for the office I work at. I feel
like it is just a job. I feel like I could leave. I feel like leaving.
I feel like I can leave. I feel scared. I feel tired. I feel worn. I
feel used.
6% pay cut (permanent.)
No erase last year (on top of the 6% cut)
No 9/80
No chance for advancement.
No chance of getting hired as a direct employee. (no degree)
They keep piling more and more responsibility on me for less money.
I feel like a second class person because of the way I'm treated at the
office. I don't really work there. The company believes I and all my
kind are expendable. I suppose we are.
What would you do?
Hurt
I hurt.
No career to speak of.
Nothing that begs me to learn it.
I live in a place that is just a place to live.
I hurt.
My time is short.
All our time is short.
Life is short.
I hurt.
If I live a thousand years will I do better?
A thousand years to help me find my way.
Find myself in one right second.
I hurt.
A healthy life so far.
My health a gift for now.
Time a gift for now.
I hurt.
The Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the Earth, the Water, the Trees.
My Mind, my Body, my Beliefs, my Family, my Friends.
No love.
I hurt.
A weak spirit.
A strong spirit.
It doesn't matter.
I hurt
But it's OK. Life is suffering. The root of all suffering is desire.
The only thing I have that calms me is writing my whining down in my
blog.
I better stop writing now. I feel like my melancholy mood
will not go
away by writing. The words just keep coming. The night is young and I
find myself wishing I were somewhere in the future, or past. Somewhere
along the way to happiness .
2004-07-13
Cowards
I'm glad I'm not the only one who is ashamed to call the Philippine people cowards. They are giving into terrorists. This is no way to show the world how to get the Philippine people to do what you want them to. The story doesn't use the word coward, but I do. If the victim being held in Iraq were related to me, I might feel different. But, now, every Tom, Dick and Habeeb will nab a truck driver to get the Philippine government to bend over.
Censorship
I hate it when I have to withhold stuff I would have otherwise put on my blog. I don't want to step on people's toes. I will include only the lesson learned part, and not the experience part to prevent hurt feelings. It gets to me though.
Food in the freezer
I went to a buddy's place sometime last Winter. We had these meat pockets that were pretty god. I think it was Bob Marlie's birthday. Anyway, I ended up taking a sack of the pockets home. It's been like 6 months. I just ate them last night. They were good. I remember putting the cooking instructions in the bag with the pockets. That was a great idea because I would have never remembered 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. I just stumbled across the bag in the freezer lat night while grumbling about having to eat the same thing again. They are a bit heavy on the onions, but good.
100,000 cull in Britain Civil Service
(I wrote this on 2004-07-12)
Yee-gads. hey are going to cut 100,000 jobs in The British Civil Service. Where are the Jobs coming from? The BBC radio keeps saying "Why have we been waisting all this money this long?" And "What is going to suffer?" Man, ouch. The BBC plaid some sound bytes from the announcement. The representatives say "ax the bureaucrats." and "redundant offices to close." How do you tell if an office is redundant?
Of course, there are threats of strike and law suites left and right.
Free Kelly Support (FAQ for FTP client)
The following is an email I sent to a friend who complained about not being able to FTP her photos to her website using HomeSite. If it doesn't work with HomeSite, it probably won't work with DreamWeaver either. Those automatic, built in, do it for you features have trouble working all the time. If you know how to do it yourself, you can save yourself some missed deadlines and allot of headaches.
Go to a command prompt (in XP/2K/NT only).
CD to the folder that has your pictures in it.
Type the following command at the command prompt.
FTP ftp.ftpname.com -i
(Note, the -i keeps it from asking "are you sure" on every file.)
Enter user name
Enter Password
Enter the following at the FTP command prompt.
FTP>help (to see list of commands)
FTP>cd <folder name> (to get to the images folder probably) (You may have to use SD instead of CD, check the help above.)
FTP>help command (to see help on the command (help is lame in FTP))
FTP>bin (to set to binary mode for pictures, MASC command for ASCII mode for HTML or TEXT files)
FTP>mput *.PG (to multiple put the pg files)
<long list of files>
FTP>bye (to end your FTP session)
Or, go to www.download.com, search for "FTP client" and hold on.
There must be twenty five million that are free or shareware. FTP has been around
since 1971. It is almost as old as I am.
Look OK > SmartFTP AceFTP
Gracious Guest
Some one was good enough to point out the spell checker on the new Blogger interface. When I originally made the complaint, Blogger was still using the old interface and I believe it had no spell checker. I never found one. Anyway. I haven't used the new interface to edit anything. I use an HTML editor. I promise I'll give the new interface a shot at some point.
Literary definitions
<Censored>
When some one you are talking with is clearly wrong about something you don't press them right then. That is how fights start. You just nod and send them the correct information later. Adopting an "I'm right and your wrong." attitude is not the way to convince some one of anything (destructive). Look it up and you will both be right. (constructive)
No more knighthoods
It is about time. It has gotten ridiculous. What surprises me is the number of actors who turned the title down. It seems lately they have been tossing these things out like candy.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who is ashamed to call the Philippine people cowards. They are giving into terrorists. This is no way to show the world how to get the Philippine people to do what you want them to. The story doesn't use the word coward, but I do. If the victim being held in Iraq were related to me, I might feel different. But, now, every Tom, Dick and Habeeb will nab a truck driver to get the Philippine government to bend over.
Censorship
I hate it when I have to withhold stuff I would have otherwise put on my blog. I don't want to step on people's toes. I will include only the lesson learned part, and not the experience part to prevent hurt feelings. It gets to me though.
Food in the freezer
I went to a buddy's place sometime last Winter. We had these meat pockets that were pretty god. I think it was Bob Marlie's birthday. Anyway, I ended up taking a sack of the pockets home. It's been like 6 months. I just ate them last night. They were good. I remember putting the cooking instructions in the bag with the pockets. That was a great idea because I would have never remembered 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. I just stumbled across the bag in the freezer lat night while grumbling about having to eat the same thing again. They are a bit heavy on the onions, but good.
100,000 cull in Britain Civil Service
(I wrote this on 2004-07-12)
Yee-gads. hey are going to cut 100,000 jobs in The British Civil Service. Where are the Jobs coming from? The BBC radio keeps saying "Why have we been waisting all this money this long?" And "What is going to suffer?" Man, ouch. The BBC plaid some sound bytes from the announcement. The representatives say "ax the bureaucrats." and "redundant offices to close." How do you tell if an office is redundant?
Of course, there are threats of strike and law suites left and right.
Free Kelly Support (FAQ for FTP client)
The following is an email I sent to a friend who complained about not being able to FTP her photos to her website using HomeSite. If it doesn't work with HomeSite, it probably won't work with DreamWeaver either. Those automatic, built in, do it for you features have trouble working all the time. If you know how to do it yourself, you can save yourself some missed deadlines and allot of headaches.
Go to a command prompt (in XP/2K/NT only).
CD to the folder that has your pictures in it.
Type the following command at the command prompt.
FTP ftp.ftpname.com -i
(Note, the -i keeps it from asking "are you sure" on every file.)
Enter user name
Enter Password
Enter the following at the FTP command prompt.
FTP>help (to see list of commands)
FTP>cd <folder name> (to get to the images folder probably) (You may have to use SD instead of CD, check the help above.)
FTP>help command (to see help on the command (help is lame in FTP))
FTP>bin (to set to binary mode for pictures, MASC command for ASCII mode for HTML or TEXT files)
FTP>mput *.PG (to multiple put the pg files)
<long list of files>
FTP>bye (to end your FTP session)
Or, go to www.download.com, search for "FTP client" and hold on.
There must be twenty five million that are free or shareware. FTP has been around
since 1971. It is almost as old as I am.
Look OK > SmartFTP AceFTP
Gracious Guest
Some one was good enough to point out the spell checker on the new Blogger interface. When I originally made the complaint, Blogger was still using the old interface and I believe it had no spell checker. I never found one. Anyway. I haven't used the new interface to edit anything. I use an HTML editor. I promise I'll give the new interface a shot at some point.
Literary definitions
<Censored>
When some one you are talking with is clearly wrong about something you don't press them right then. That is how fights start. You just nod and send them the correct information later. Adopting an "I'm right and your wrong." attitude is not the way to convince some one of anything (destructive). Look it up and you will both be right. (constructive)
No more knighthoods
It is about time. It has gotten ridiculous. What surprises me is the number of actors who turned the title down. It seems lately they have been tossing these things out like candy.
2004-07-11
Rant
I've been informed that my home page looks like shit. I don't really want to fix it. It is a design thing. I'm not a web designer. I don't want it to become any more than what it is. it is a place to stick pictures. I don't care what it looks like.
I got some complements on the look and feel of my blog. I have to give all the design staff at Blogger the credit. I just type in the text and filled in the blanks in a template to get this page the way it looks. I'm going to take the link to my home page off my resume. I apologize if you have any pictures on that ugly site.
I suppose I could have done what every one else in the universe does and used a FrontPage template for my web presents. That would have given it a nice cookie cutter feel. That is what the web is all about, conformity. Forget content. Forget opinion. It is the glitz, animated GIFs, the sounds emitted by the mouse overs that really count.
It was, after all, an experiment to get a web server working on my home network. It is terribly distracting and discouraging when some one says "Man, I like the way your blog looks, but why don't you redo your home page?" When, I never did the blog in the first place. I don't want to put any time in the design of the page. I want to put time in the content of the blog.
I've always been a minimalist. Less is more. Three seconds on my home page and you know where everything is. you know how to get to everything. you don't need any help. There will never be a support call about my home page (that isn't one of my typos or errors)..
I'm not fixing anything or making my home page any more complicated. It is a piece of cake to maintain and I like it that way.
I've been informed that my home page looks like shit. I don't really want to fix it. It is a design thing. I'm not a web designer. I don't want it to become any more than what it is. it is a place to stick pictures. I don't care what it looks like.
I got some complements on the look and feel of my blog. I have to give all the design staff at Blogger the credit. I just type in the text and filled in the blanks in a template to get this page the way it looks. I'm going to take the link to my home page off my resume. I apologize if you have any pictures on that ugly site.
I suppose I could have done what every one else in the universe does and used a FrontPage template for my web presents. That would have given it a nice cookie cutter feel. That is what the web is all about, conformity. Forget content. Forget opinion. It is the glitz, animated GIFs, the sounds emitted by the mouse overs that really count.
It was, after all, an experiment to get a web server working on my home network. It is terribly distracting and discouraging when some one says "Man, I like the way your blog looks, but why don't you redo your home page?" When, I never did the blog in the first place. I don't want to put any time in the design of the page. I want to put time in the content of the blog.
I've always been a minimalist. Less is more. Three seconds on my home page and you know where everything is. you know how to get to everything. you don't need any help. There will never be a support call about my home page (that isn't one of my typos or errors)..
I'm not fixing anything or making my home page any more complicated. It is a piece of cake to maintain and I like it that way.
More on the Browser Woes
There is an article talking about questions MS had to answer online about the latest troubles with IE. MS pulled the IE development team out of mothballs. MS is trying to make this in to a sales opp. "Bazillions of people use our product , that's why it's the target of all these attacks." Why is it taking you so long to get the fix out?" "We want to make it right."
losers.. There is an old saying "When you are on top, there is nowhere to go but down." In big business it is more difficult to tread water than to pull every one else around you down. MS has been so good at sky-rocketing above the competition, and absorbing surrounding technology that they have not defined a good path forward. Their strategy is to stay on top, and not to make good products. Every decision they make is tempered by "Will this keep us on top?" MS is not in th business of making software. They are in the business of making money. The products they produce are a by-product of their true intention. The same is true with GM, Ford and GE. It is different with open source. Their goal is to make software. The only way they can compete with MS is to make it free. Do you think they would make it free if they didn't have to?
Spiderman 2
I saw Spiderman 2 today. It is pretty good. I have to admit I didn't like all the glowing reviews. They scared me. It seems like whatever big blockbuster comes out in the middle of the Summer will get wonderful reviews even if it sucks. I like the fact that he falls down and has to walk home during one of his patrols. There is already a list of screwups in the lists. Apparently a scar flips sides of Peter's face. Why would the villain through a car through the window at Peter if Peter is his link to get Spiderman?
Online Spell Checker
I stumbled across www.spellcheck.net. It actually works. It has a good spelchecker, a calculator, units converter, and a bunch of links to other stuff of use. It smells like a class project gone production. I never want any one to tell me they can't find a spelchecker again. I was complaining about Blogger not having a spell check feature. This is one of those tools that will work from MS/Mac/Linux. I like it.
There is an article talking about questions MS had to answer online about the latest troubles with IE. MS pulled the IE development team out of mothballs. MS is trying to make this in to a sales opp. "Bazillions of people use our product , that's why it's the target of all these attacks." Why is it taking you so long to get the fix out?" "We want to make it right."
losers.. There is an old saying "When you are on top, there is nowhere to go but down." In big business it is more difficult to tread water than to pull every one else around you down. MS has been so good at sky-rocketing above the competition, and absorbing surrounding technology that they have not defined a good path forward. Their strategy is to stay on top, and not to make good products. Every decision they make is tempered by "Will this keep us on top?" MS is not in th business of making software. They are in the business of making money. The products they produce are a by-product of their true intention. The same is true with GM, Ford and GE. It is different with open source. Their goal is to make software. The only way they can compete with MS is to make it free. Do you think they would make it free if they didn't have to?
Spiderman 2
I saw Spiderman 2 today. It is pretty good. I have to admit I didn't like all the glowing reviews. They scared me. It seems like whatever big blockbuster comes out in the middle of the Summer will get wonderful reviews even if it sucks. I like the fact that he falls down and has to walk home during one of his patrols. There is already a list of screwups in the lists. Apparently a scar flips sides of Peter's face. Why would the villain through a car through the window at Peter if Peter is his link to get Spiderman?
Online Spell Checker
I stumbled across www.spellcheck.net. It actually works. It has a good spelchecker, a calculator, units converter, and a bunch of links to other stuff of use. It smells like a class project gone production. I never want any one to tell me they can't find a spelchecker again. I was complaining about Blogger not having a spell check feature. This is one of those tools that will work from MS/Mac/Linux. I like it.
2004-07-10
AH-HA!!!
Some sick freak was busted driving the wrong way on a one way street. When the cops pulled him over he was naked from the waist down watching child-porn on his laptop. He was driving around using open wireless connections to download this crap. I've been warning people for years that they need to encrypt their signal. Don't run an open connection for this very reason. What makes me sick is he was getting away with this until he took a wrong turn. I wish he had been busted for the download itself. That would have sent a nice message to the circle he runs with.
Resume.Woes
I'm figuring out that sending my resume to a bunch of people to review is a mistake. By the time most people get hold of it and take a moment to actually look at it, I've gotten some good feed-back and have completely rewritten the whole document. The changes the late comers tell me about is a waste of time because the document is no longer the same document..
Every one has a wholly different idea of what a resume should look like. I've gotten the following consistent change from every one who has looked at it. "make it third-person." That is it. Well, I'll do it. However, the other nine million changes are all conflicting. It is funny how four people can give me a suggestion and all four be completely opposite from each other.
"I like it when people put a nice professional picture on resumes. It really makes me want to hire that person."
"We automatically throw out every resume with a picture to avoid discrimination issues."
"Your goal statement is going to scare off potential employers."
"Nice goal statement. That is the hardest step."
"I can't open PDF. Is this a Word document?" (Not the person I want reviewing my technical resume.)
"The "Mr." looks pretentious on your name." (Same person who wanted a picture on the resume.)
"I like the "Mr." in front of your name, that is a great way of telling them your are male [Kelly]." (I think I will superscript it or something.)
A couple of people griped over the fact it was in PDF format. They tried to tell me Word is the industry standard. I've heard stories all over the place about people getting their resumes hijacked and used for other stuff. People changing the name and phone number in the resume and using it for their own. If I do send int in Word format I'm going to at least put a save password on it. That will keep out the riff-raff.
More Browser Trouble
Speaking of browser vulnerabilities, Mozilla has an exploit similar to the IE trouble last week. However, There is already a fix for the Mozilla (and FireFox) programs already available. It took less than 24 hours to publish the fix for Mozilla. MS has still not offered a true fix for IE. The download offered by MS is more of a work around and can actually be accidentally undone by the user if they go playing around in the settings. All this bad press is not helping MS in the browser market.
Some sick freak was busted driving the wrong way on a one way street. When the cops pulled him over he was naked from the waist down watching child-porn on his laptop. He was driving around using open wireless connections to download this crap. I've been warning people for years that they need to encrypt their signal. Don't run an open connection for this very reason. What makes me sick is he was getting away with this until he took a wrong turn. I wish he had been busted for the download itself. That would have sent a nice message to the circle he runs with.
Resume.Woes
I'm figuring out that sending my resume to a bunch of people to review is a mistake. By the time most people get hold of it and take a moment to actually look at it, I've gotten some good feed-back and have completely rewritten the whole document. The changes the late comers tell me about is a waste of time because the document is no longer the same document..
Every one has a wholly different idea of what a resume should look like. I've gotten the following consistent change from every one who has looked at it. "make it third-person." That is it. Well, I'll do it. However, the other nine million changes are all conflicting. It is funny how four people can give me a suggestion and all four be completely opposite from each other.
"I like it when people put a nice professional picture on resumes. It really makes me want to hire that person."
"We automatically throw out every resume with a picture to avoid discrimination issues."
"Your goal statement is going to scare off potential employers."
"Nice goal statement. That is the hardest step."
"I can't open PDF. Is this a Word document?" (Not the person I want reviewing my technical resume.)
"The "Mr." looks pretentious on your name." (Same person who wanted a picture on the resume.)
"I like the "Mr." in front of your name, that is a great way of telling them your are male [Kelly]." (I think I will superscript it or something.)
A couple of people griped over the fact it was in PDF format. They tried to tell me Word is the industry standard. I've heard stories all over the place about people getting their resumes hijacked and used for other stuff. People changing the name and phone number in the resume and using it for their own. If I do send int in Word format I'm going to at least put a save password on it. That will keep out the riff-raff.
More Browser Trouble
Speaking of browser vulnerabilities, Mozilla has an exploit similar to the IE trouble last week. However, There is already a fix for the Mozilla (and FireFox) programs already available. It took less than 24 hours to publish the fix for Mozilla. MS has still not offered a true fix for IE. The download offered by MS is more of a work around and can actually be accidentally undone by the user if they go playing around in the settings. All this bad press is not helping MS in the browser market.
2004-07-08
Contact Lenses
I ware soft contacts. I have astigmatism, but I am fortunate enough to get disposable contacts. I heard there is no difference between long term and short term contacts except the manufacturing method. I've also heard the only difference between 24 hour disposable contacts and 30 day contacts is the amount of insurance the distibutions buy to cover liability. I could be wrong. That may be one of those modern urban legends.
This morning I was at work and wanted to pop my contacts in. I have to tell you first that I used to ware hard contacts. They are like little bits of twenty grit sandpaper in your eye. They hurt all the time. You can't fall asleep in them. Sometimes they pop up behind your eyelid and you feel them crawling around the top of your eye every time you look around. Soft contacts are far more comfortable. Hard contacts were easier to get in and out though. I never had a hard contact just pop out. I've never had a soft contact just disappear until this morning. I put in the left contact. Then I popped in the right contact. I tossed out the old fluid. The right contact was bugging me so I did the same thing I always do and used my finger to rotate it. With astigmatism the contacts have to sit a specific way to work properly. The contacts are misshaped so they rotate (hopefully in the right direction) when you blink. Your eyes kind of zipper shut when you blink. Anyway, this time when I pulled my finger away, the contact went with it. The couple of years I've been using soft contacts, this is the first time that happened. Lesson learned. I was due to swap them out for a new pare anyway.
Your Pictures Online
People keep asking me how I put my stuff on the web. I made my own server and use DynDNS. It is a mess, but I wanted to do it to learn how to make it happen. I'm not interested much in teaching others how to do it. Here is a site called SmugMug that is drag and drop. You have all kinds of settings and it looks snazzy. Use it to put your photos on the web. I do it the way I do it because it is to teach myself how to do it the hard way. It is not for every one.
My buddy Wes has a bunch of his photos on this site. He says it is a piece of cake to use. He has a mix of scans and digital snaps. Cool stuff.
I ware soft contacts. I have astigmatism, but I am fortunate enough to get disposable contacts. I heard there is no difference between long term and short term contacts except the manufacturing method. I've also heard the only difference between 24 hour disposable contacts and 30 day contacts is the amount of insurance the distibutions buy to cover liability. I could be wrong. That may be one of those modern urban legends.
This morning I was at work and wanted to pop my contacts in. I have to tell you first that I used to ware hard contacts. They are like little bits of twenty grit sandpaper in your eye. They hurt all the time. You can't fall asleep in them. Sometimes they pop up behind your eyelid and you feel them crawling around the top of your eye every time you look around. Soft contacts are far more comfortable. Hard contacts were easier to get in and out though. I never had a hard contact just pop out. I've never had a soft contact just disappear until this morning. I put in the left contact. Then I popped in the right contact. I tossed out the old fluid. The right contact was bugging me so I did the same thing I always do and used my finger to rotate it. With astigmatism the contacts have to sit a specific way to work properly. The contacts are misshaped so they rotate (hopefully in the right direction) when you blink. Your eyes kind of zipper shut when you blink. Anyway, this time when I pulled my finger away, the contact went with it. The couple of years I've been using soft contacts, this is the first time that happened. Lesson learned. I was due to swap them out for a new pare anyway.
Your Pictures Online
People keep asking me how I put my stuff on the web. I made my own server and use DynDNS. It is a mess, but I wanted to do it to learn how to make it happen. I'm not interested much in teaching others how to do it. Here is a site called SmugMug that is drag and drop. You have all kinds of settings and it looks snazzy. Use it to put your photos on the web. I do it the way I do it because it is to teach myself how to do it the hard way. It is not for every one.
My buddy Wes has a bunch of his photos on this site. He says it is a piece of cake to use. He has a mix of scans and digital snaps. Cool stuff.
2004-07-07
Twelve Step Proof to Love
6 billion people are on Earth at the moment. At least, thats what I heard, somewhere.
3 billion of them are women, roughly.
1 billion are about the right age. 18 to say 45 or so. It's funny that the 18 will never go up. I'm not so sure about the 45.
500 million are healthy. Drug attics, starving, disease, ... I wonder if this number should be much, much smaller. With the international AIDS epidemic, I bet the number is smaller.
250 million are of the right level of looks. Lets face it, I'm week I cannot fool myself into thinking that I will find just any one attractive. Also, a very pretty woman is out of my league. She would just leave me. =[
20 million are not involved at the moment. These are good catches so far. Healthy, cute, of proper age, that's a formula for success.
40 thousand are in the U. S. The U. S. has about 2% of the world's population. Yet, we use 40% of the worlds energy. I bet that is an old number. I've heard China is about to take over as the fastest growing energy consumer.
2 thousand are in the great state of Texas. I'm guessing 5% of the U. S. population live in Texas. I don't care if that pretty far off. It gets the point across.
1 thousand will eventually be in the same city as I. I don't travel much. Hopefully these women do. Optimistically, about half of the women and I will be in the same city at the same time I suppose.
50 of these near perfect matches I will meet. I don't get out much. I suppose I will only actually run into a precious few of the women who have met the above criteria. I define running into as "hi." ... "hi."
10 women will notice me, and I will notice them. Ah, this is the one that almost counts. This is where our eyes meet. Our breath grows short. The world stops just for us. That is not love. There is more to it.
1 woman and I will fall in love.
6 billion people are on Earth at the moment. At least, thats what I heard, somewhere.
3 billion of them are women, roughly.
1 billion are about the right age. 18 to say 45 or so. It's funny that the 18 will never go up. I'm not so sure about the 45.
500 million are healthy. Drug attics, starving, disease, ... I wonder if this number should be much, much smaller. With the international AIDS epidemic, I bet the number is smaller.
250 million are of the right level of looks. Lets face it, I'm week I cannot fool myself into thinking that I will find just any one attractive. Also, a very pretty woman is out of my league. She would just leave me. =[
20 million are not involved at the moment. These are good catches so far. Healthy, cute, of proper age, that's a formula for success.
40 thousand are in the U. S. The U. S. has about 2% of the world's population. Yet, we use 40% of the worlds energy. I bet that is an old number. I've heard China is about to take over as the fastest growing energy consumer.
2 thousand are in the great state of Texas. I'm guessing 5% of the U. S. population live in Texas. I don't care if that pretty far off. It gets the point across.
1 thousand will eventually be in the same city as I. I don't travel much. Hopefully these women do. Optimistically, about half of the women and I will be in the same city at the same time I suppose.
50 of these near perfect matches I will meet. I don't get out much. I suppose I will only actually run into a precious few of the women who have met the above criteria. I define running into as "hi." ... "hi."
10 women will notice me, and I will notice them. Ah, this is the one that almost counts. This is where our eyes meet. Our breath grows short. The world stops just for us. That is not love. There is more to it.
1 woman and I will fall in love.
Office Politics
A buddy of mine sent me a link to a funny article that describes personalities in an office. I fit about three of these at different times. I am so the Expert, and not in a good way. Think Cliff Claven. I've compared myself to him before. I may have mentioned it in my blog at one time.
Service Hold
"Welcome to the support desk. Your call may be monitored for training purposes." Training purposes, right.
"Please listen to all the menu options because they have recently changed."
"Press one for emergencies."
"Press two for standard support." beep <2>.
... click ... beep ...
A new voice says "If your issue is not business critical or a password issue, please use the service web page to log a ticket."
... do do do do ...
"The service desk is experiencing high call volume and will take 5 to 10 minutes."
... do do do do ...
A different voice says "Is your problem business critical? Can you describe your problem in writing? if you answer yes, please use the service web page"
... do do do do ...
A third voice says "Save time by clicking on manage password while logging on to your workstation. Change your Oracle, mainframe and NT passwords at login."
... do do do do ...
A fourth voice says "Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line. Your call will be answered in the order in which it was received."
Then, it just seems to repeat, and repeat, and repeat. It does say the above stuff in seemingly random order.
Then they close my priority 1 ticket and open a priority 2 ticket. That looks really good on their system that the priority 1 ticket was closed so quickly. They didn't put my name on the ticket. Thus, I'm not getting information any more. Fortunately, I can bring up the new ticket in the support software. Sometimes I don't understand what these people are thinking. They know I have users to communicate with. It is like I don't exist.
Cheap Drugs
They are talking discount prescriptions to poor people. Thing is, I'm in the amount they list as poor. $45,000 a year. I am well under that. The are talking a family. I live alone. That should count. I want cheap drugs.
A buddy of mine sent me a link to a funny article that describes personalities in an office. I fit about three of these at different times. I am so the Expert, and not in a good way. Think Cliff Claven. I've compared myself to him before. I may have mentioned it in my blog at one time.
Service Hold
"Welcome to the support desk. Your call may be monitored for training purposes." Training purposes, right.
"Please listen to all the menu options because they have recently changed."
"Press one for emergencies."
"Press two for standard support." beep <2>.
... click ... beep ...
A new voice says "If your issue is not business critical or a password issue, please use the service web page to log a ticket."
... do do do do ...
"The service desk is experiencing high call volume and will take 5 to 10 minutes."
... do do do do ...
A different voice says "Is your problem business critical? Can you describe your problem in writing? if you answer yes, please use the service web page"
... do do do do ...
A third voice says "Save time by clicking on manage password while logging on to your workstation. Change your Oracle, mainframe and NT passwords at login."
... do do do do ...
A fourth voice says "Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line. Your call will be answered in the order in which it was received."
Then, it just seems to repeat, and repeat, and repeat. It does say the above stuff in seemingly random order.
Then they close my priority 1 ticket and open a priority 2 ticket. That looks really good on their system that the priority 1 ticket was closed so quickly. They didn't put my name on the ticket. Thus, I'm not getting information any more. Fortunately, I can bring up the new ticket in the support software. Sometimes I don't understand what these people are thinking. They know I have users to communicate with. It is like I don't exist.
Cheap Drugs
They are talking discount prescriptions to poor people. Thing is, I'm in the amount they list as poor. $45,000 a year. I am well under that. The are talking a family. I live alone. That should count. I want cheap drugs.
2004-07-06
"I'm not telling him..."
This story says the CIA withheld info on WMD from Iraq before the war. I'm tired of hearing it. Go away. I understand the whole "freedom of speech" and "informed public", but I'm tired of hearing about it.
Dueling Movies
Another thing I'm tired of hearing about is Michael Moore's movie and this one by Disney too. Michael says to download his film if you can. It upsets me when the movie industry complains constantly about downloading, then they try to use it to their advantage. If only the understood this could be a boon for their distribution. It costs nothing to distribute something important. People generate their own distribution systems/networks. You have to take the good with the bad.
More baned technology
Well, first it was cameras, then picture phones.Then, coke cans. Now, it is iPods and storage devices. Next, we won't be able to bring pace makers into work. There needs to be more generalized rules. The executives at the top are going to get blisters on their mouse fingers clicking on all the individual pieces of technology to ban. I bet the only reason they won't let me work from home is because they can't watch me with a camera. They don't want to see me in my jammies anyway.
Work Phone
My phone did not ring all day. I had a script I needed to complete so I would not have answered it anyway. It never ceases to amaze me how much work I get done when no one calls. I only got a couple of emails. They were easy to answer. I still didn't finish. it isn't the script's fault. The application I'm trying to package is acting freaky. It is one of those time suck applications by a small company. It would be faster to just run around and install the frigging software on people's machines. There are only about twenty or thirty people who need it. Maybe I'll have a better time with it tomorrow.
This story says the CIA withheld info on WMD from Iraq before the war. I'm tired of hearing it. Go away. I understand the whole "freedom of speech" and "informed public", but I'm tired of hearing about it.
Dueling Movies
Another thing I'm tired of hearing about is Michael Moore's movie and this one by Disney too. Michael says to download his film if you can. It upsets me when the movie industry complains constantly about downloading, then they try to use it to their advantage. If only the understood this could be a boon for their distribution. It costs nothing to distribute something important. People generate their own distribution systems/networks. You have to take the good with the bad.
More baned technology
Well, first it was cameras, then picture phones.Then, coke cans. Now, it is iPods and storage devices. Next, we won't be able to bring pace makers into work. There needs to be more generalized rules. The executives at the top are going to get blisters on their mouse fingers clicking on all the individual pieces of technology to ban. I bet the only reason they won't let me work from home is because they can't watch me with a camera. They don't want to see me in my jammies anyway.
Work Phone
My phone did not ring all day. I had a script I needed to complete so I would not have answered it anyway. It never ceases to amaze me how much work I get done when no one calls. I only got a couple of emails. They were easy to answer. I still didn't finish. it isn't the script's fault. The application I'm trying to package is acting freaky. It is one of those time suck applications by a small company. It would be faster to just run around and install the frigging software on people's machines. There are only about twenty or thirty people who need it. Maybe I'll have a better time with it tomorrow.
2004-07-05
Company (Government) security
Ok, they have gone too far. The minute the ban Coke (or eventually Dr Pepper) I am living in a cave in Montana.
I remember when the company I work for first mentioned picture phones, they said something like "They are not baned yet, but ..." A couple of months later they were band.
Sake or steak
A steak is tastes like a steak no matter how you spell it. (thanks for the correction though.) I'm not going to fix it in the earlier posts. It just gives me something new to talk about now.
Geeks!
I've said it before. Don't listen to the scientists. They are just a bunch of geeks who have nothing better to do than make up stuff about stuff that they think they should know stuff about. They were wrong about Titan, and they are wrong about dark matter or dark energy. "Dark energy!?!? Give me a break. They call it dark, because they can't find it. BAH!!!.
Fake Degree
I remember asking about fake degrees. It is too bad I'm not British. I'm not serious. I would feel terrible if I tried to fool someone into thinking I had done something I had not. Those morals again.
IE problems
Did I say it was not necessary yet to dump IE for other browsers? I was wrong. It turns out MS has not permanently fixed the trouble. It has only implemented a work around. So, go FireFox. I highly recommend it. I'm using it right now.
Ok, they have gone too far. The minute the ban Coke (or eventually Dr Pepper) I am living in a cave in Montana.
I remember when the company I work for first mentioned picture phones, they said something like "They are not baned yet, but ..." A couple of months later they were band.
Sake or steak
A steak is tastes like a steak no matter how you spell it. (thanks for the correction though.) I'm not going to fix it in the earlier posts. It just gives me something new to talk about now.
Geeks!
I've said it before. Don't listen to the scientists. They are just a bunch of geeks who have nothing better to do than make up stuff about stuff that they think they should know stuff about. They were wrong about Titan, and they are wrong about dark matter or dark energy. "Dark energy!?!? Give me a break. They call it dark, because they can't find it. BAH!!!.
Fake Degree
I remember asking about fake degrees. It is too bad I'm not British. I'm not serious. I would feel terrible if I tried to fool someone into thinking I had done something I had not. Those morals again.
IE problems
Did I say it was not necessary yet to dump IE for other browsers? I was wrong. It turns out MS has not permanently fixed the trouble. It has only implemented a work around. So, go FireFox. I highly recommend it. I'm using it right now.
Move, Degree, Girlfriend, Change
I've lived in the same town most of my life. I get that feeling that if I had gotten my degree I would have so many more options. If you stay and work at your degree, you will get the option of doing a job where you fill the niche. People with degrees make jobs to fill with people with degrees. It is a vicious circle. This town makes me sick. I wonder if there are any places where this situation will still let me through the cracks. There is a time coming where there are two kinds of people in the country. Those with higher education, and those without. The laws are to favor those with money right now. If you have money, you get a different ride, and many more options. If you are poor, you are a number. Well, those with degrees in the great land make more money. You have to have some one with a degree defend you when you are in trouble. You have another person with a degree trying to convict you. I'm not 100% sure, but I bet all judges in Texas have a law degree, or some other applicable degree. They are elected here after all. The vast majority of Congressman and Senators are lawyers. I bet there are less than two representatives without degrees. All the Supreme Court justices have degrees. The president has a degree. They represent less than 1/5th of the nation's population. One in five adults have a degree in the U. S.
I need to get over it. I need to either go get a degree, or get on with my life and stop blaming. Moving won't solve anything. A girlfriend won't solve anything. a degree won't solve anything. I need to solve it. I wish I could heed my own advice.
At points like this in peoples lives, they are vulnerable. When some one is ready for change to happen, sometimes they will take any change. They might take the first change that comes along. I have to be careful in this vulnerable time in my life. I might cause myself to loose my job (God forbid). This is the time people tend to break up with their loved ones. Some call it a mid-life crisis. I'm 35. I bet I'll hit the mid-life crisis at about 45 or so.
I've lived in the same town most of my life. I get that feeling that if I had gotten my degree I would have so many more options. If you stay and work at your degree, you will get the option of doing a job where you fill the niche. People with degrees make jobs to fill with people with degrees. It is a vicious circle. This town makes me sick. I wonder if there are any places where this situation will still let me through the cracks. There is a time coming where there are two kinds of people in the country. Those with higher education, and those without. The laws are to favor those with money right now. If you have money, you get a different ride, and many more options. If you are poor, you are a number. Well, those with degrees in the great land make more money. You have to have some one with a degree defend you when you are in trouble. You have another person with a degree trying to convict you. I'm not 100% sure, but I bet all judges in Texas have a law degree, or some other applicable degree. They are elected here after all. The vast majority of Congressman and Senators are lawyers. I bet there are less than two representatives without degrees. All the Supreme Court justices have degrees. The president has a degree. They represent less than 1/5th of the nation's population. One in five adults have a degree in the U. S.
I need to get over it. I need to either go get a degree, or get on with my life and stop blaming. Moving won't solve anything. A girlfriend won't solve anything. a degree won't solve anything. I need to solve it. I wish I could heed my own advice.
At points like this in peoples lives, they are vulnerable. When some one is ready for change to happen, sometimes they will take any change. They might take the first change that comes along. I have to be careful in this vulnerable time in my life. I might cause myself to loose my job (God forbid). This is the time people tend to break up with their loved ones. Some call it a mid-life crisis. I'm 35. I bet I'll hit the mid-life crisis at about 45 or so.
2004-07-04
Good Day
It's good to be an American. Yesterday I had stake. Today I have stake. I'm starting to understand why so many people around the world hate us. Yesterday I had cobbler and ice-cream. Today I have root-beer floats. Yesterday I spent time with my friends. Today I spend time with my family. Yesterday I watched movies on my friend's TiVo. Today I watch the Cartoon Network on my parent's cable. Today (and yesterday) life is good. Heck, it is even nice outside.
Cable
I would get cable except, I'm too cheap. If I could get about 10 key channels for $20 a month, I'd pull the trigger. I would need the Sci-Fi channel, Cartoon Network, CNN, some local channels to square the deal.
It's good to be an American. Yesterday I had stake. Today I have stake. I'm starting to understand why so many people around the world hate us. Yesterday I had cobbler and ice-cream. Today I have root-beer floats. Yesterday I spent time with my friends. Today I spend time with my family. Yesterday I watched movies on my friend's TiVo. Today I watch the Cartoon Network on my parent's cable. Today (and yesterday) life is good. Heck, it is even nice outside.
Cable
I would get cable except, I'm too cheap. If I could get about 10 key channels for $20 a month, I'd pull the trigger. I would need the Sci-Fi channel, Cartoon Network, CNN, some local channels to square the deal.
Glutton
I ate a 20 oz stake today. We had bread and salad first. I finished most of that too. After downing the 20 oz stake and mashed potatoes, I polished off an apple cobbler with ice-cream. Oh, dear. What have I done. That was good. I'm off to the parent's place tomorrow (the fourth) and guess what we are going to have. Yup, stake.
Far Cry
I'm installing Far Cry. I have a bad feeling it won't last long. It is six CDs. I have to mount the images instead of using actual CDs. It is a long story. I use a software package called Daemon Tools.to mount the images on the hard drive.
I just went through the configuration wizard thing. Everything is set to low. I can't wait to upgrade my machine. Dell has some good deals. I want to get a flat panel this time. I'm looking at just under $1800 or so drive out.
It looks like I'm going to have to wait on Far Cry. As I walk around, there is nothing. The graphics keep jumping around and turning off as I go. I can see through some walls and the textures keep disappearing. Let me try a reboot. Nope. Uninstall and remove from my presence. Drat. it looked like a good bit of fun.
I ate a 20 oz stake today. We had bread and salad first. I finished most of that too. After downing the 20 oz stake and mashed potatoes, I polished off an apple cobbler with ice-cream. Oh, dear. What have I done. That was good. I'm off to the parent's place tomorrow (the fourth) and guess what we are going to have. Yup, stake.
Far Cry
I'm installing Far Cry. I have a bad feeling it won't last long. It is six CDs. I have to mount the images instead of using actual CDs. It is a long story. I use a software package called Daemon Tools.to mount the images on the hard drive.
I just went through the configuration wizard thing. Everything is set to low. I can't wait to upgrade my machine. Dell has some good deals. I want to get a flat panel this time. I'm looking at just under $1800 or so drive out.
It looks like I'm going to have to wait on Far Cry. As I walk around, there is nothing. The graphics keep jumping around and turning off as I go. I can see through some walls and the textures keep disappearing. Let me try a reboot. Nope. Uninstall and remove from my presence. Drat. it looked like a good bit of fun.
2004-07-02
MS IE vulnerabilities
First, here is a link to fix at least one of those nasty problems Internet Explorer had recently. Click on the Download link in the upper right hand corner somewhere. I have to say, this is not really MS's fault. They are just the most common software. The reason people write virus programs that affect IE and other MS software is the same reason most people write any kind of software for the operating system. It is the most common browser. It seems like every one uses it. I use FireFox and Mozilla. I have used Opera, bu not much. Netscape is really an older version of Mozilla. There has been some recommendations to stop using IE. I don't know if that is warranted in this case, but it might pay to use one of the other browsers until the security issues are worked out by MS. I got my mom on FireFox. She seems to like it.
Stick Figure Fighting
This is proof that some one out there has time to not only learn Flash, but to do something so very cool with it that I cannot resist placing a link to it on my blog. There is a funny AVI on their site too. It is not as involved as the above link, but worth a view. They even have a little interactive 3d shooter, but it is far too much. It approaches the sell-out point.
This is almost as cool as badger, but the badger site burned out very fast. You can still get a T-shirt though.
First, here is a link to fix at least one of those nasty problems Internet Explorer had recently. Click on the Download link in the upper right hand corner somewhere. I have to say, this is not really MS's fault. They are just the most common software. The reason people write virus programs that affect IE and other MS software is the same reason most people write any kind of software for the operating system. It is the most common browser. It seems like every one uses it. I use FireFox and Mozilla. I have used Opera, bu not much. Netscape is really an older version of Mozilla. There has been some recommendations to stop using IE. I don't know if that is warranted in this case, but it might pay to use one of the other browsers until the security issues are worked out by MS. I got my mom on FireFox. She seems to like it.
Stick Figure Fighting
This is proof that some one out there has time to not only learn Flash, but to do something so very cool with it that I cannot resist placing a link to it on my blog. There is a funny AVI on their site too. It is not as involved as the above link, but worth a view. They even have a little interactive 3d shooter, but it is far too much. It approaches the sell-out point.
This is almost as cool as badger, but the badger site burned out very fast. You can still get a T-shirt though.
2004-07-01
Google Math
Do the following searches in Google. (I could do this crap all day.)
1 cubic mile in cubic km > 1 (cubic mile) = 4.16818183 cubic kilometers
1 mile per gallon in km per liter > 1 mile per gallon = 0.425143706 kilometers per liter
1 square mile in acres > 1 (square mile) = 640 acres
400 feet + 100 meters in inches > (400 feet) + (100 meters) = 8 737.00787 inches
1 hectare in acres > 1 hectare = 2.47105381 acres
40 acres + 19 hectares - 500 square meters in square feet > (40 acres) + (19 hectares) - (500 (square meters)) = 3 782 161.02 square feet
OK, I'll stop.
Two steps forward, three steps back
I'm sure you have had days like this. Lately, it seems to have gotten worse. Everything I do at work seems to require me fixing something wrong with the very fabric of the system before I can proceed. That, or I have to re-write the documentation to reflect the broken parts of the system. That is one of my favorites. "Is that in the documentation?" Answer, "There is documentation for this?" Before this company outsourced everything, there was pretty well done documentation for processes. Now, the employees of the company don't seem to care if the outsourced people flounder, as long as they meet budget and deadlines. It is no way to run a company. It isn't unique to this company. I hear people elsewhere say the exact same thing. It is a symptom of having people outside the root organization responsible for things that people with a real stake in the company should do.
Saddam and Milosevic
Milosevic has been on trial for a long time. He just keeps trying to call Clinton and Tony Blare to the stand. Now he is getting ill and unable to stand trial continually. I hope Saddam gets a fair trial, but I hope it does not drag on for years. I can so envision the witnesses and the evidence taking for ever to drag in front of a panel or jury. It sounds like Saddam is going to pull some similar stunts as Milosevic and use the trial as a political soap-box. I heard some one say the Iraqis wanted to bring back the death penalty just for Saddam. Is that some shit? How would you like to be that guy? The Provisional Authority had to outlaw the death penalty and most likely get a promise that the Iraqi government would not kill Saddam. Ironic, coming from a nation that has the death penalty all over the place.
Do the following searches in Google. (I could do this crap all day.)
1 cubic mile in cubic km > 1 (cubic mile) = 4.16818183 cubic kilometers
1 mile per gallon in km per liter > 1 mile per gallon = 0.425143706 kilometers per liter
1 square mile in acres > 1 (square mile) = 640 acres
400 feet + 100 meters in inches > (400 feet) + (100 meters) = 8 737.00787 inches
1 hectare in acres > 1 hectare = 2.47105381 acres
40 acres + 19 hectares - 500 square meters in square feet > (40 acres) + (19 hectares) - (500 (square meters)) = 3 782 161.02 square feet
OK, I'll stop.
Two steps forward, three steps back
I'm sure you have had days like this. Lately, it seems to have gotten worse. Everything I do at work seems to require me fixing something wrong with the very fabric of the system before I can proceed. That, or I have to re-write the documentation to reflect the broken parts of the system. That is one of my favorites. "Is that in the documentation?" Answer, "There is documentation for this?" Before this company outsourced everything, there was pretty well done documentation for processes. Now, the employees of the company don't seem to care if the outsourced people flounder, as long as they meet budget and deadlines. It is no way to run a company. It isn't unique to this company. I hear people elsewhere say the exact same thing. It is a symptom of having people outside the root organization responsible for things that people with a real stake in the company should do.
Saddam and Milosevic
Milosevic has been on trial for a long time. He just keeps trying to call Clinton and Tony Blare to the stand. Now he is getting ill and unable to stand trial continually. I hope Saddam gets a fair trial, but I hope it does not drag on for years. I can so envision the witnesses and the evidence taking for ever to drag in front of a panel or jury. It sounds like Saddam is going to pull some similar stunts as Milosevic and use the trial as a political soap-box. I heard some one say the Iraqis wanted to bring back the death penalty just for Saddam. Is that some shit? How would you like to be that guy? The Provisional Authority had to outlaw the death penalty and most likely get a promise that the Iraqi government would not kill Saddam. Ironic, coming from a nation that has the death penalty all over the place.
2004-06-30
User 2.0
As an IS guy, I complain constantly about users who have no clue. I know in my heart, they are why I have a job. To tell you the truth, the users who have an idea are worse then the ones who know nothing. Those who know enough to get into trouble typically cost more time than the clueless. Then, there are the truly knowledgeable users. Yes, there are people out there who get it, and use it to their advantage. These are the worse of all. I can't snow them. They only need me because the company mandates some one in IS do the dirty work. They only need me because they want some one to blame when it all burns down.
Engineers make me sick sometimes. You never know what you are going to get when you get a question from an engineer. I had an engineer who didn't know you could drag and drop shortcuts on the start menu in XP. I had another who refused to understand why he didn't have rights to part of a database. "You are an electrical engineer. Why do you want to change steel?" They put rights in the database for a reason. "What idiot put this explosion fence in the way of my conduit?!? <delete>!"
Explosion radius diagrams are funny. Funny in that "Oh my God!" kind of way. They will have a print of a plant with these circles all over the place. Some overlap. Then, in some rare cases, there is a tinny print of a plant in the middle of the page with this biiiiiig circle expanding in all directions. "hmmm. Check out the highway running through the middle of the circle."
Pretty Day
It is a beautiful day outside. It is a bit humid, but it would be great to sit under an awning at a small restaurant sipping a beer, instead of sitting in a dingy office taping these damn keys over and over, dealing with people, dealing with computers, dealing with the phone. It is a beautiful day outside. It would be great if I could go out and play. God save me. Can I be productive and still enjoy myself? Am I not to enjoy myself? Am I to toil for eternity? Have I lived this day over and over again? Did I do something to offend? I'm sorry.
Work Email
With all these email viruses and worms my day job is freaking out. It takes ten hours to get an external email to a vendor. I have had to use my gmail account a couple of times to get license codes and information in a timely manor. It is hurting business.
As an IS guy, I complain constantly about users who have no clue. I know in my heart, they are why I have a job. To tell you the truth, the users who have an idea are worse then the ones who know nothing. Those who know enough to get into trouble typically cost more time than the clueless. Then, there are the truly knowledgeable users. Yes, there are people out there who get it, and use it to their advantage. These are the worse of all. I can't snow them. They only need me because the company mandates some one in IS do the dirty work. They only need me because they want some one to blame when it all burns down.
Engineers make me sick sometimes. You never know what you are going to get when you get a question from an engineer. I had an engineer who didn't know you could drag and drop shortcuts on the start menu in XP. I had another who refused to understand why he didn't have rights to part of a database. "You are an electrical engineer. Why do you want to change steel?" They put rights in the database for a reason. "What idiot put this explosion fence in the way of my conduit?!? <delete>!"
Explosion radius diagrams are funny. Funny in that "Oh my God!" kind of way. They will have a print of a plant with these circles all over the place. Some overlap. Then, in some rare cases, there is a tinny print of a plant in the middle of the page with this biiiiiig circle expanding in all directions. "hmmm. Check out the highway running through the middle of the circle."
Pretty Day
It is a beautiful day outside. It is a bit humid, but it would be great to sit under an awning at a small restaurant sipping a beer, instead of sitting in a dingy office taping these damn keys over and over, dealing with people, dealing with computers, dealing with the phone. It is a beautiful day outside. It would be great if I could go out and play. God save me. Can I be productive and still enjoy myself? Am I not to enjoy myself? Am I to toil for eternity? Have I lived this day over and over again? Did I do something to offend? I'm sorry.
Work Email
With all these email viruses and worms my day job is freaking out. It takes ten hours to get an external email to a vendor. I have had to use my gmail account a couple of times to get license codes and information in a timely manor. It is hurting business.
Best Dollar Spent
I've said before that the best way to spend a dollar for the Republican party was to donate it to Nader. Well, some one picked up on it. That is how Bush won Florida. If it hadn't been for the independent taking something like 10,000 votes away from the democrat, we would have a different president. Think of all the things that would be different now if that had happened. We would not have invaded Iraq. We would probably not done what we did in Afghanistan. .
The Register
You have got to read this if you have ever done any IT or support work. The Register has a couple of columns they run. This one is just for fun.
Balls
Have you heard about the two guys on the International Space Station? These guys had to go outside to repair a malfunctioning piece of equipment. That may sound like a day in the office for and astronaut, but they are the only two people on the station. They are the only living entities for hundreds of miles. The first time they tried it, one of the suits failed in mid walk. They had to run back inside. They are using the same suit that had the problem. They had to communicate in Russian while they were over That part of the world and English over Houston. If there was a problem with communications, ground control was going to wave the mechanical arm to get their attention. There are supposed to be three people on the station when it is in use, but there is only enough life support for two. Is it me, or is this multi-billion dollar pile of lowest bids starting to sound like a hoopty?
The Chronicles of Riddick (spoiler)
This movie was exactly what it said on the side of the box. Rock. I hope they do some more on this theme. There is another Riddick movie out now called Dar Fury. It is good too. I recommend them both for those like minded individuals who like a tender boy meets girl, girl gets killed, boy takes over universe by accident type flicks.
I've said before that the best way to spend a dollar for the Republican party was to donate it to Nader. Well, some one picked up on it. That is how Bush won Florida. If it hadn't been for the independent taking something like 10,000 votes away from the democrat, we would have a different president. Think of all the things that would be different now if that had happened. We would not have invaded Iraq. We would probably not done what we did in Afghanistan. .
The Register
You have got to read this if you have ever done any IT or support work. The Register has a couple of columns they run. This one is just for fun.
Balls
Have you heard about the two guys on the International Space Station? These guys had to go outside to repair a malfunctioning piece of equipment. That may sound like a day in the office for and astronaut, but they are the only two people on the station. They are the only living entities for hundreds of miles. The first time they tried it, one of the suits failed in mid walk. They had to run back inside. They are using the same suit that had the problem. They had to communicate in Russian while they were over That part of the world and English over Houston. If there was a problem with communications, ground control was going to wave the mechanical arm to get their attention. There are supposed to be three people on the station when it is in use, but there is only enough life support for two. Is it me, or is this multi-billion dollar pile of lowest bids starting to sound like a hoopty?
The Chronicles of Riddick (spoiler)
This movie was exactly what it said on the side of the box. Rock. I hope they do some more on this theme. There is another Riddick movie out now called Dar Fury. It is good too. I recommend them both for those like minded individuals who like a tender boy meets girl, girl gets killed, boy takes over universe by accident type flicks.
2004-06-29
Email
User Friendly has a good cartoon that explains why competition among "free" email systems is not really helping the end user. The cartoon has an interesting opinion of spam filters too. (blech!)
I change email addresses of the. Too often for some people. I it cleansing to not give the new email to some. The only email address I cannot change is the primary email on my ISP. It gets nothing but junk email. I have never given it out to any one. My ISP must have sold it at some point. Trouble is, I have to clean it out or it will fill up all the space on my mail account. The secondary emails will stop working at that point. I have Outlook set to just blow everything away from that account. It is like ten or twenty emails a day. I used to have an old Hotmail account that got dozens of junk mail a day. I just abandon it one day. Now, I have a personal email account that I use for humans and a different one for business. The funny thing is, the personal one fills up with spam faster. It is from cards, greetings and the like. "Free movie tickets." BAH!!
Work
Something interesting happened at work. They laid off the guy who does the paperwork part of the packaging task I perform. This means I get to do his job on top of mine. This means twice the responsibility while still feeling the affects of a 6% pay cut. Have I mentioned the 6% pay cut before? Now, not only do I have three times as many applications as any one else, but I have to follow up on all the questions and paperwork as well. No one else working for this company is responsible for as many applications as I am except the group that runs the IS portion of the process. They have dozens of people working for them. I am, now, alone. (well, Scott helps out.)
Resume
Well crud. I actually have to produce a resume. I had hopped to fake it and make myself feel better. Unfortunately, I have some people asking me for a resume. It isn't really unfortunate, I'm just trying not to get my hopes up. Say a prayer for me.
Career
I consider myself one of the most successful people I know. I had a very hard time in school. From kindergarten through college, I was the one who was lost more often than not. I could not read the board. I could not read those damn ditto copies they used to use. I am to this day one of the slowest readers in the world. I don't think I would do much better now. I could definitely use the Internet for research. I could definitely use the computer to read to me. Between the nightmares about having to go back to school and the lack of drive, I would probably use my unfair knowledge to sail through school. The best education I have had has been working in the real world. They should make people work for a couple of years between middle school and high school. When i was a kid people were worried I would be a burden on society. My parents tell me they never thought of college as a viable option. That is probably why I ended up paying most of my own way. The fact that I am not living off Uncle Sucker, or living at home (God forbid) tells me I'm doing alright.
<How much of this have I written before?>
People seem to think the legally blind thing will help me in school or business. I don't get it. I did use SSI during college. I did get some extra time on the SAT. The teachers did help me out when I asked. I don't think any doors have been opened specifically because of my condition. I have used it as an excuse all my life. I've seen totally blind golfers. I've seen people ski blind. I've even seen a person sky-dive blind. My ex-boyscout leader was a blind lawyer. He said to us "I've never driven a car, but I have bought my wife several new cars.".
User Friendly has a good cartoon that explains why competition among "free" email systems is not really helping the end user. The cartoon has an interesting opinion of spam filters too. (blech!)
I change email addresses of the. Too often for some people. I it cleansing to not give the new email to some. The only email address I cannot change is the primary email on my ISP. It gets nothing but junk email. I have never given it out to any one. My ISP must have sold it at some point. Trouble is, I have to clean it out or it will fill up all the space on my mail account. The secondary emails will stop working at that point. I have Outlook set to just blow everything away from that account. It is like ten or twenty emails a day. I used to have an old Hotmail account that got dozens of junk mail a day. I just abandon it one day. Now, I have a personal email account that I use for humans and a different one for business. The funny thing is, the personal one fills up with spam faster. It is from cards, greetings and the like. "Free movie tickets." BAH!!
Work
Something interesting happened at work. They laid off the guy who does the paperwork part of the packaging task I perform. This means I get to do his job on top of mine. This means twice the responsibility while still feeling the affects of a 6% pay cut. Have I mentioned the 6% pay cut before? Now, not only do I have three times as many applications as any one else, but I have to follow up on all the questions and paperwork as well. No one else working for this company is responsible for as many applications as I am except the group that runs the IS portion of the process. They have dozens of people working for them. I am, now, alone. (well, Scott helps out.)
Resume
Well crud. I actually have to produce a resume. I had hopped to fake it and make myself feel better. Unfortunately, I have some people asking me for a resume. It isn't really unfortunate, I'm just trying not to get my hopes up. Say a prayer for me.
Career
I consider myself one of the most successful people I know. I had a very hard time in school. From kindergarten through college, I was the one who was lost more often than not. I could not read the board. I could not read those damn ditto copies they used to use. I am to this day one of the slowest readers in the world. I don't think I would do much better now. I could definitely use the Internet for research. I could definitely use the computer to read to me. Between the nightmares about having to go back to school and the lack of drive, I would probably use my unfair knowledge to sail through school. The best education I have had has been working in the real world. They should make people work for a couple of years between middle school and high school. When i was a kid people were worried I would be a burden on society. My parents tell me they never thought of college as a viable option. That is probably why I ended up paying most of my own way. The fact that I am not living off Uncle Sucker, or living at home (God forbid) tells me I'm doing alright.
<How much of this have I written before?>
People seem to think the legally blind thing will help me in school or business. I don't get it. I did use SSI during college. I did get some extra time on the SAT. The teachers did help me out when I asked. I don't think any doors have been opened specifically because of my condition. I have used it as an excuse all my life. I've seen totally blind golfers. I've seen people ski blind. I've even seen a person sky-dive blind. My ex-boyscout leader was a blind lawyer. He said to us "I've never driven a car, but I have bought my wife several new cars.".
2004-06-28
Fucking Atheists
Will these guys stop beating a dead horse. This guy's ex-wife wants her daughter to recite the pledge. The father does not want her to recite the pledge. I wonder what the kid wants. She is mentioned only in passing. Bunch of winy little twits.
Degree
I don't have a degree. That is killing my job prospects. Everywhere I look, the first thing people ask for is your transcript. There is going to come a time in the U. S. pretty soon where those without a degree will not be able to afford to get one for themselves or their children. This will bring on a society separated into the educated and the unwashed. About one in five adults have a degree in the U. S.. Right now this country is separated by economic methods. It may not matter in the future how much you make, but where you went to school, and how far you went.
My day job will not hire you without a degree. I don't think any one outside of hands-on construction has been hired as a direct employee in a long time.
It isn't that I feel empty or unfulfilled without a degree. I just don't think I'm ever going to make it anywhere in today's society without one. I will always be a tech. I will always be underpaid. I will always do the work while some one with a degree tells me to do it. All the while dangling a 3% a year carrot in front of me, then hit me with a 6% pay cut so they can make their bonus.
I can fake it. Where can I pay $5000 and get a degree from fly-by-night U? I need to go back to school. I need to get a degree. I need to find the strength. I need to make myself focus. I want to be that guy who gets it done, makes it right.
Will these guys stop beating a dead horse. This guy's ex-wife wants her daughter to recite the pledge. The father does not want her to recite the pledge. I wonder what the kid wants. She is mentioned only in passing. Bunch of winy little twits.
Degree
I don't have a degree. That is killing my job prospects. Everywhere I look, the first thing people ask for is your transcript. There is going to come a time in the U. S. pretty soon where those without a degree will not be able to afford to get one for themselves or their children. This will bring on a society separated into the educated and the unwashed. About one in five adults have a degree in the U. S.. Right now this country is separated by economic methods. It may not matter in the future how much you make, but where you went to school, and how far you went.
My day job will not hire you without a degree. I don't think any one outside of hands-on construction has been hired as a direct employee in a long time.
It isn't that I feel empty or unfulfilled without a degree. I just don't think I'm ever going to make it anywhere in today's society without one. I will always be a tech. I will always be underpaid. I will always do the work while some one with a degree tells me to do it. All the while dangling a 3% a year carrot in front of me, then hit me with a 6% pay cut so they can make their bonus.
I can fake it. Where can I pay $5000 and get a degree from fly-by-night U? I need to go back to school. I need to get a degree. I need to find the strength. I need to make myself focus. I want to be that guy who gets it done, makes it right.
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