IM conversations

Oh the joys of getting sucked into domestic disputes!  This is a conversation between a friend of mine (JC) and her friend (AB).  Keep in mind that this conversation is on their corporate IM client.  AB got dumped in 06/2011 and this is from 09/14/2011.

------

JC(09:23:27): Good Morning, My AB!
JC(09:23:36): We have out Rock N Roll Kick off today
AB(09:23:38): he says he never wants to see or speak to me again
JC(09:23:47): I dressed up as 80's Madonna
JC(09:24:08): Did he say that to you? Or that was the email to the therapist?
AB(09:27:01): he emailed that to me
AB(09:27:25): i don't know if he replied to the therapist or not. i won't know until tomorrow at my appointment
AB(09:28:25): i tried to discuss the awful name he called me and he said he wouldnt EVER apologize to me
JC(09:29:34): I think you need to let him go, honey.
AB(09:30:10): he has no reason to be treating me like this. i deserve to know why
JC(09:30:47): Break ups don't always have a 'why'
JC(09:30:59): You may be asking a question that doesn't have an answer
JC(09:31:17): Something go left unanswered.
AB(09:31:58): there has to be a reason, it just doesn't happen
JC(09:32:10): Things 'just happen' all the time
JC(09:32:18): Why did I miscarry?
JC(09:32:23): Why is SC [someone who suddenly passed away recently] gone?
AB(09:32:34): those things are different
JC(09:32:40): Why did your relalatioship fail?
AB(09:33:10): there definitely should be an answer for that - you don't spend 7 years with someone and BOOM they don't love you anymore
AB(09:35:21): he told me God put him in my life but i pushed him out - he should be able to explain that
JC(09:35:56): If you were given a 'why' - - - what would you then do?
JC(09:36:03): Would you say thank you and leave it there?
JC(09:36:58): Or would you continue the conversation and try to 'fix' things?
JC(09:37:33): I just think the answer he may have for you still won't help=
 you?
AB(09:38:16): i would say thank you and then continue to fix myself
AB(09:45:48): do you know something that i don't?
JC(09:46:48): Huh???
AB(09:47:13): i get the feeling you know why
JC(09:47:33): ab. . .
JC(09:47:36): seriously
JC(09:47:39): you just don't trust me.
JC(09:47:51): I know nothing more than I already told you
JC(09:48:37): Haven't talked to him since he texted me that you were in need of help.
JC(09:48:53): I don't want to talk to him
JC(09:49:11): Everytime I do, you get pissed at me and think I'm hiding something
JC(09:51:30): You're pushing me away, and I'm trying to be a shoulder for you as best I can. i don't have any vaca left, or I would be at your side.  I call you about once a week. I try to keep the communication channel open for you , but you seriously don't trust me. It's sort of bothering me, to tell you the truth. I would NEVER do anything to hurt you. I would NEVER try to be 'sneaky' or go behind your back. . . but for some reason you think I would do that.
AB(09:53:46): of course i trust you. but i also know you are a woman of your word and if you tell someone you won't say something you will do that because you are a good person
JC(09:54:20): Of course I would. But not at the expense of you.
AB(09:58:58): im sorry you feel that i don't trust you. i'm a jacked up mess JC. I don't know which way is up somedays. thank you for being my friend and i know you would be here if you could.

-----------

I love people.  Those that know me know i have little patience for stuff like that.  When I encounter situations like this I don't sugar coat it and spell it out in black and white.  JC actually asked me if she was too harsh on AB.  I almost laughed.  Some people wonder why i have 'so few friends'.  It's not that i have 'so few friends'.  It's that if i even smell a situation like this coming my way I avoid it like the plague.

This is me.  This is me going in the opposite direction.  Any questions?

Adobe Reader - Creating Automated Installation Point

This is a rehashing of different blog posts I've found to help me with patching Adobe Reader.  Full credit can't be given because this is something I've pieced together for the sake of saving my sanity.

This made understanding the release cycle a little easier to understand in regards to the differences between quarterly and security patches.  Look at the acceptable/unacceptable examples in the Administrative Deployment section.

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/498/cpsid_49880.html


Get the MSI

So what you need to do is grab the AIR/Acrobat.com free version of the reader executable, as well as the patches, from Adobe.

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/888/cpsid_88814.html

Once you've got all of those, open up a command prompt and navigate to wherever you downloaded them to.

Run the following command:

AdbeRdr910_en_US.exe -nos_ne

To extract the MSI file. It will be extracted into "%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\AdobeReader 9.3"

****NOTE: Adobe does not consistently extract to this location on my XP machine and so it can be maddening.****



Create the Administrative Install Point

Now, do an administrative install to a shared network location.

Change directories to where you extracted the msi file, as noted above. Run the following command:

msiexec /a "AcroRead.msi"

Follow the on-screen prompts. You will need to select a network share where "authenticated users" and "Domain Computers" have at least read access.  I prefer to point the installer at the test machine I'm building this on which is easy enough to do.

Once the install is completed, the next step is to patch it with the Reader msp files. Change back to where you saved the msp files and run the following commands:

msiexec /p "AdbeRdrUpd931_all_incr.msp" /a "\\INSERT SHARED DIRECTORY LOCATION HERE\AcroRead.msi"

Follow the prompts, then run

msiexec /p "AdbeRdrUpd932_all_incr.msp" /a "\\INSERT SHARED DIRECTORY LOCATION HERE\AcroRead.msi"

Make sure you update the AIP, not the msi you used to create the AIP! At this point you are ready to deploy. If you need to customize your deployment, continue reading, otherwise open up GPO and deploy it via the software management policy under Computer Configuration.


Customizing your deployment

You can customize your deployment using the Adobe Customization Wizard 9, available here:

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/thankyou.jsp?ftpID=3993&fileID=3727

Once you've made your changes, save and generate your MST file. When you're deploying via group policy, make sure that you select "Advanced" when it prompts you for a deployment method. Select the Modifications tab and add your MST file, then hit OK.

Smartphone data use comparrison

A couple of months ago I was given an iphone 3 to use since my existing phone was dieing, I was a month or so away from end of contract, and it was cheaper to go onto my g/friends AT&T plan as opposed to staying solo on Verizon.  The price was right.  The phone was free, no contract, and even with the data plan I was paying less because it was a group plan.

This past week we started looking at usage of the phones on her plan in the hopes of finding a way to streamline the bill a bit.  My data package is 2gb for $25 because the 200mb for $15 didn't make sense.  Well I'm hear to tell you that the 200mb plan is looking better for me now that I have a couple of months under my belt but I'm also going to compare my usage with a friend who has an HTC Inspire (freekin' huge), his wife who has an iphone 4, and my girlfriend who has an iphone 4.  I must admit that the graphs showing usage on the AT&T site are pretty and so that is what I will be using as a reference.

First off let's look at my iphone 3 usage:

I came on board at the end of the billing cycle in May which is why there was so little use.  I have wi-fi at home, work, and when i'm at her place.  This is my first smartphone but I have had a phone in the past with some form of internet access on it.

Now let's look at her iphone4 usage:

She has wi-fi access at her place, mine, and her parents.  She does not have wi-fi access at work.  She is also grandfathered in with the unlimited data plan so there's no threat of an overage (yet) in the event that she decides to watch one too many youtube videos on her phone.  She is a long time smartphone user.

Now let's look at my friends HTC Inspire usage:

He too has wi-fi at home and does not have it at work.  He has the 2gb data plan.  The June spike is attributed to traveling out of town and being bored in a hotel.  This is his first smartphone though he has had a phone in the past that had internet access on it.

Finally let's look at his wife's iphone 4 usage:

She too has wi-fi access at home and elsewhere.  Her data plan is 200mb.  The June spike is attributed to user error (forgot to join network while at someones house).  This is her first smartphone and I'm unsure if she's had internet access on her previous phones.

I'm aware that 3 of 4 phones listed are iphones.  An argument that was brought up is that the droid user does not have wi-fi at work which explains the heavier usage.  This is thrown out by one of the iphone 4 users having no wi-fi at work AND an unlimited data plan.

What I see in this data is more how 4 people use their phones instead of what types of phones they are.  I have heard arguments that droid phones use more data which I refuse to believe.  The OS has no affect on data consumption.  It's the applications (dare i say 'apps' for fear of Apple coming after me for using their word?) that are on the phone that initiate the data connection.  To assume otherwise is uninformed about the underlying technology and thus wrong.

I see a husband and wife with smartphones and it can be assumed that they are together more often than not outside of work.  This would imply that they have access to the same wi-fi spots.  If this is correct then one could infer that the usage is a behavioral issue and not a result of the handset.  Feeding into my behavioral theory is that the user who has no wi-fi at work and has an unlimited data plan is actually in the < 200mb range consistently.

All of this came up with my trying to decide what to do about my data usage plan.  I'm currently at 2gb for $25 because i wanted to not feel restrained by my data package.  Because I believe consumption is behavioral, I'm no longer worried about dropping my plan down next month to the lower allotment of 200mb for $15. 

It is my advice to others jumping on the bandwagon to start high and then turn it down after you see some trending.  Some people are heavier users out of habit.  Some are lighter users out of habit.  I apparently am a lighter user and I'm OK with that.

Beavis and Butthead - They're Back

http://popdust.com/2011/07/22/beavis-butthead-jersey-shore-new-season-preview/

I'm not a fan of Family Guy.  American Dad is ok at times.  The Simpsons need to be put to rest.  South Park should have ended years ago.

I'm normally not a fan of the retarded humor and Family Guy is the one that I think is the one that best represents the genre.  That being said, I'm actually happy Beavis and Butthead are coming back.  Maybe it's the nostalgia of them that made me grin when i heard this.  Maybe it's my juvenile side that still laughs when I've got gas.  I just think the world could use a dose of simple stupid humor again because of how polarized we're getting and how vogue it is to throw political commentary into every form of media.

After finding this out, I'm grinning and I don't know why.  :)

Gnome 3 - Follow Up

Linus himself trashes Gnome 3.  The comments are originally from Google+ according to the article.

I for one ditched Fedora/Gnome and went back to Ubuntu where I'm fighting with Unity.  Unity would have pissed me off if not for encountering Gnome 3 first.  Reading this makes me feel better about my previous rant about Gnome 3 and it's epic failure.

I hate being right.

Bottled water consumption

A friend sent me link to more information on the topic of water consumption.

What caught my eye about the topic is that everyone seems to forget that they get water from their food too.  Does a person who eats salad and lots of fruits need as much water.  Theoretically no because the food they're consuming is heavy in water to begin with.

I guess what I'm focusing in on are the people who pound water all day.  It should be a gradual process.  I know people who believe they should have a specific amount drank by different times of the day and if you disrupt their routine they'll go mental.  How can this be healthy?  All they hear is "drinking water is bad for you" when i say "forcefully drinking that much water in a limited time frame is probably bad for you".  Maybe they couldn't hear me because of the sounds of water sloshing around.  :)

Most importantly on this topic are those that consume bottled water.  Go to a grocery store and stand in the soda/water isle for a couple of minutes.  You're bound to see someone come up and grab multiple cases of water.  If I'm in a more affluent part of town, it's my observation that I'll see this even more.

This brings up the bottle vs tap argument.  I'm not sure whether people are using bottled water as a status sign, or if they're lazy, or if they're that clueless and so they buy into the propaganda.

I say "status sign" because it appears that people go out of their way to show they're drinking their bottle of water everywhere that they go.  As though they're soooooo healthy that they need to flaunt that they're not putting that low brow toxic stuff in their system.  Watch them.  They display their bottles very prominently in meetings and even on their desk.  Like coffee cups of yesteryear, your bottle of water reflects what you're trying to say about your lifestyle.

I said "lazy" because there are a lot of people who use it for the convenience factor.  As soon as their done with their serving, maybe they'll even throw it in a recycling bin.  It frightens me when i see this happening in homes.  Grab the bottle because it's more convenient than actually filling a glass.  That's OK though because it'll get recycled (hopefully) when they're done and they'll grab a fresh one in a couple of hours.  Yes I'm calling you lazy if you do this.  Get over it.  You've got a million excuses but in the end you know they're pretty flimsy.

There's countless sites dedicated to the argument of bottle vs tap.  Those that are adamant about using bottled don't use them though and prefer to use the facts written on the labels or information that "someone told me a while back but i don't remember who or when" which is usually code for THIS IS BULLSHIT COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH BUT IT SOUNDS GOOD.  I find it ironic that in the easy access information age that we are in today how few people fact check stuff even after they're called out on it.

I'm not saying drinking water is bad.  That much should be obvious.  I'm saying that the hype about how much you should drink is incorrect.  I'm also saying that people need to stop buying multiple cases of bottled water at a time because they're wasting their money on a product who's packaging does more harm than good.

--------
About me:  I have a case of water in my freezer since it's summer time and I can pull a frozen bottle out and have it be cold in a couple of hours after sitting in a cooler.  I also use those frozen bottles in coolers instead of buying ice packs because as serve a dual purpose of chilling things and when they thaw I can drink them.  I strongly prefer my water to be cold.  I have a bottle on my desk every day that starts off frozen and I refill it constantly so the water stays cold as the ice melts.  I do this to cut back on my soda intake which has been known to hit 6-7 cans a day easily.  I also take my bottles home with me, fill them up from the tap and toss them in the freezer for the next day.  When they are all gone I will be using old soda bottles.  I do this because there is no reasonable source of ice cubes throughout the day for me at work.  I'm anti plastic whenever possible and work to minimize that type of packaging in my life.

You may now attack my views.

FBI Raids Hunting Down Anonymous

Courtesy of CBSNEWS.com

This is of course on the heels of Anonymous threatening to release Sun and News Of The World Emails today after defacing The Sun earlier today...

Can't help but wonder why the FBI is launching these raids.  Why the attention?

Clearly these "hackers" are a threat to national security and will bring down our freedoms and encourage rampant homosexuality and promiscuity and any other nonsense that is being spewed out by hate mongers on both sides.

The fact is yes they've been attacking very large multinational corporations lately.  The reality is it's only a matter of time before law enforcement comes after you when you've been in the headlines as much as they have been.  The fact is Anonymous is a boogie man for law enforcement to chase down and a great way generate news to draw attention away from other more pressing issues.  There are bigger problems in the world than companies like Sony being 'hacked' but law enforcement is doing what is in their best interest (assuming they want to stay employed much longer).  The global economy is unstable right now, countries in Europe are defaulting on their debts, the USA's credit is tanking, oil prices are constantly on the rise courtesy of OPEC (not directly because of BP, Exxon, or the other oil companies kids!!!), and China's economy is expanding at a rate that is not sustainable long term which can lead to a major crash in time.

Yeah.  Chasing down rogue 'hackers' makes a lot of sense.

A part of me now wants to watch the original Hackers movie and yell "Hack the planet" tonight...  :)

I have to pee

I have to pee.  Seriously.  I really need to go.

In the past couple of weeks I've started on a quest of self improvement when it comes to my diet.  I still drink like a fish and will eat the hell out of some chicken wingz.  I've always believed that you can eat anything you want as long as it's in moderation.  As part of this attempted lifestyle change I began to record what i ate. Not getting overly granular and recording portion sizes and quantity etc.  Just more or less making notes.  I try to keep track of how many Dew's I have but beyond that I'm not going to waste my time trying to figure out if i had a two servings of cookies vs three based on what the package said.  I'll worry about portion sizes another day...

I was inspired to do something like this because of something I heard on NPR a couple of weeks ago.  The topic was childhood obesity and I hope you'll forgive me for not remembering too many of the details of the show.  The nutritionist on the program said the first step she had parents do before bringing their children in was to record what they ate for two weeks.  The parents were in denial that they and their kids ate so poorly but there it was in black and white.  Attempts were made to rationalize why the kids ate hot dogs and mac n cheese every night for a week.  Most parents genuinely believe their kids eat better than they really do.  Kids don't like their veggies which is no shocker.  The parents being referenced in this show were amazed at just how badly they were feeding their kids.

This got me thinking.  I don't think i eat THAT badly.  I like my veggies.  I know i buy them when i go shopping.  I know i like to eat them when i go out.  In fact I ate veggies... last night...errr... lunch the day before... err... shit I can't remember now!

I began recording my consumption last week and I'm very much not proud of what I'm reading when i look at it.  I didn't realize how little water I've been consuming recently and it's summer when I should be consuming more!

The first lifestyle change so far isn't too drastic and gradual.  I bring a bottle of frozen water to work every day and keep filling it up through out the day so it stays cold.  Bottle is appx 16 oz and on Fri I estimate I had over four bottles (only recorded four because I'm not trying to cheat myself here).  My bladder went into overdrive!!!  Every time i turned around I had to go to the bathroom again.

A friend of mine gave me a piece of advice when it comes to increasing water consumption.  Always take your bottle with you whenever you go somewhere.  It's easier to sip then as you're going somewhere whether it's at work or out in public.  I only like water when it's very cold so i purposely have a smaller bottle.  This means it won't get warm too fast.  Also means i get through it quicker (nice morale boost).  Every time I have to go pee now I bring the bottle with me to fill up on my return back to my desk.

Aside from the constant flushing, am I noticing an effect yet after increasing the water intake in the past week?  I can't pinpoint anything one way or another yet so i can't answer this question yet.  What's most important for me is that I'm becoming more aware.  I don't call this a diet.  I call this a lifestyle improvement.  As i said before, I still drink like a fish and will tear up some chicken wings if given the opportunity to.  I'm not looking to change my entire lifestyle.  Just looking to tweak things a bit.

No joking... I have to pee again...

Nintendo DS Games

I need to dust off my DS and play some games.  The problem is, I'm having a difficult time trying to find games I want to play.  I gravitate towards the puzzle games a lot because I can play the hell out of them for a while and then put them down and not miss a beat.  I'm also open to a decent RPG.  Never did finish the last Zelda game i was playing a couple of years ago because i got to be too busy.


http://ds.ign.com/index/games.html

Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks looks promising.  Phantom Hourglass was good but never finished it.

http://ds.ign.com/objects/143/14333936.html

Sonic Rush looks good too.  I've always been a fan of Sonic.

http://ds.ign.com/objects/683/683045.html

Plants Vs Zombies just looks fun.  :)

http://ds.ign.com/objects/084/084432.html

Star Fox?
http://ds.ign.com/objects/826/826993.html

Ahhhh good ole Mega Man...
http://ds.ign.com/objects/794/794195.html

Bejeweled 3?!?!  Considering how much of my life has been sucked up by the first two, this looks bad for any prospects of me getting something useful done.
http://ds.ign.com/objects/111/111908.html

Thanks IGN.  I now have a list of games to hunt for again.  Time to load up the ole DS with fresh games and pack it away so I can have something to do while the laptop is being exploited for frontierville purposes.  :)

Now that I've wasted your time reading my ramblings, you may now go back to your regularly scheduled boredom...

Google to Retire Blogger & Picasa Brands in Google+ Push

Original Story

I can't say I'm horribly shocked that they're re-branding everything under their name.  This is both a good and bad move.  Some people may be reluctant to use some of these services for lack of a known name behind them.  On the other hand this is becoming tighter integration with other Google products which means there is less separation of services.  Although my blog costs me nothing (and generates zero revenue so far) I like the idea of it being separate from its parent company.  Realistically I know it's not but i like the appearance of it.

Is this a wise decision right now?  Yes there's the launch of Google+ and this will make that smoother but at what cost?  There is a growing sentiment that Facebook has gotten too big and is perceived as evil.  I for one am nervous about how much influence Facebook now has over its users, customers, and other technologies  that it appears to be expanding into.

I'm drawn to Google+ right now not only because it's new but because Google has advertised that it will not have the perceived down sides that Facebook has.  I've entrusted my email to Google.  They've been my search engine for years since I was on dial up and they only had one ad on their site.  I've entrusted them to advance technology with phones and their green initiatives.  They owned Blogger/Blogspot before I even dreamed of starting this.  I should be OK with this and yet I'm not sure this expansion of the brand name sits well with me.

Is Google spreading their name too far too quickly?  Is this a step in the right direction for their growth?  Should we start listening to those wearing the tin foil hats about this giant entity that is trying to be our friend so that it can exploit us?  Is it possible to trust one company more than another knowing that no successful business can ever truly have my best interests in mind?

This will be fun to reread in a couple of years.  :)

Fedora 15 - Gnome 3

These are the comments that I posted elsewhere and thought they were worth keeping.

http://ostatic.com/blog/fedora-15-released-gnome-3-looks-good

(not me)

by Enzo on May. 25, 2011

Looks good, works bad. I'm trying to give Gnome 3 a fair chance and have been using it for awhile now on a daily basis, but a few things still bug the shit out of me and plenty of other people as well.

1) Stop trying to hide all of the configuration options. How can I change my system fonts? Have to hack it. 2) Then you hide the important stuff - like how to restart the fucking system - put that in the menu option when I click my user name - why should i have to hold down the ALT key to make Suspend go to Poweroff? or logout in order to restart? 3) No real screensaver - really? Who's the dipshit that thought of that? 4) Minimize - the old minimize missing button war - i've read all of the reason behind it, but if i can still right click on the window bar and minimize the window, all of those reasons are bullshit. Put the fuckin' minimize button back on the window. 5) Accessing workspaces requires me to move my mouse to the upper left hand corner hotspot to get the desktop overview display and then all the way back to the right to select my workspace. Again, who's the dipshit that though of that? Why not create a hotspot in the upper right hand corner that brings up the workspaces? This is not that hard folks. Is anyone who works on Gnome 3 actually using Gnome 3?

It is not complete horrible, but it is not good either. There are definitely some complete morons working on this project from an overall design and usability perspective.

(me)

I agree with Enzo. Trying to turn my machine off was confusing and so i got pissed and found a terminal window. It has been off for 2 days now while i decide if i want to deal with this again. I came over to Linux so that I could customize and change things. Gnome 3 is very reluctant to let me do that.

Wasn't aware of Enzo's observation about the (lack of) screensaver and use of the Alt key.

I am a new Mac owner and I have to tell you this is not what i was looking for in my Linux desktop. I see a lot of potential in Gnome 3 but right now it's utter crap. Why would you release a version of software with so many glaring usability flaws? It feels like they were trying to push this release out the door the way Mozilla crew is pushing out FireFox and Thunderbird quicker just to inflate their release numbers.

-------

Now that I've had 24 hours to reflect on things and play with Gnome some more, I still feel the same way.  One of the old jokes about Linux is "fixing stuff is part of the fun of using it."  Bull shit.  That mindset went out the window five years ago when they got the brilliant idea to believe it could be a threat to the desktop world.  If people want to make an interface that kicks ass then they should spend the time to make it instead of churning out a half finished product and expecting everyone to put in a lot of work to finish it.  If they have a vision as to what they're trying to build then to hell with the release dates and version numbers... finish the damn product!

The other argument I've heard for years is that since it's open source it's OK that things aren't working perfectly.  You should expect it to be a bit buggy and you get what you pay for.  Sorry but that's a cop out.  Most people involved in these projects do this for a living where their code is held to a standard.  Dare I say, experienced coders would bring a level of professionalism.  I'm sure most are genuinely upset that people like me are unhappy with their product but then the entire team should not only take pride in their accomplishments but also feel ashamed of their short comings.

For what it's worth, I finally figured out how to change the background on my desktop but no chance at changing the theme colors or even a screensaver.  Took me 30 min to figure out where Firefox went when minimized it and wasn't too happy to find all 15 of my instances when i did figure it out.

Gnome 3 is failing for me right now...

Fedora 15 Install Progress

I installed Fedora 15 the other day.  Initially it looked like a good product.  The install went pretty smooth.  I have /home on a separate disk so had to specify my mount points of / (root) and /home which was to be expected.  Installer made me format / as ext4 whereas it had been ext3 in the past.  No big deal for me.  Since /home/username already existed and i chose there was a little confusion for the installer.  It apparently had to change permissions on the directory.  Finished install and ran updates.

Welcome to Gnome 3!

Yeah.  Not a fan of it out of the box.  It looks pretty.  I installed a few programs and they were able to sync up with the preexisting user data in /home/username.  Despite the different look and feel of Gnome things were starting to work again so I thought I'd give it a shot and try to get with the times.

Right now I'm hung up on trying to update the Nvidia drivers which seem to be a bigger pain than they need to be.  I tried:

• /etc/init.d/gdm stop
• killall x
• init 3

Finally got the command init 3 to kill the xserver but then had other issues which need to be researched when it's not the middle of the night and I have to work in the morning.

Another issue I'm running into is when i open up terminal and pwd, I'm not in /home/username where i should be.  I have a hunch this is the ghost of my old profile and planning on testing this by creating a different user to see if this holds true.  If so, then I'll back up important files and blast the old user and then recreate.  Sounds simple enough which is why I'm sure something will go wrong!

Meantime I'm starting to read up on Gnome 3 some more.  I couldn't save anything to my desktop which I tend to do a lot.  Not sure if this is considered normal or not.  Also had issues copying stuff from a flash drive to /home/username.  It was very awkward and not intuitive.

Game plan is to take another crack at a couple of my issues one of these evenings.  Then reinstall and take better notes as I go along.

I'm conflicted right now.  I wanted to like what I saw.  I knew things would be broken out of the box like with every other Linux distro.  Right now I have a sinking feeling in my stomach because of what I've experienced with it.  For all of the prettiness that I saw I'm not not as impressed.  KDE is quickly becoming an option and I'm even considering going in a different direction and use Kubuntu.  I want to like this creation of mine but I have a feeling that in order to save it I might be forced to destroy it.

This situation is going to take some consideration.

Patching Adobe

(rant)

Dear Adobe:

I hate you.  I hate your face.  I hate your retarded patching system.  Why oh why can you not be less of a PITA?  Because people pay for your products, does this mean you're supposed to be a d-bag and make it even harder to patch your software?  People are getting slammed by Adobe exploits not because of the hackerz but because your patching from an admin perspective is as retarded as your face.

(example)

Administrative deployment

Administration Installation Point (AIP) deployments must not apply a quarterly update AIP in which a security update was the most recently applied update. Because a quarterly update includes the changes implemented in all recent security updates, the quarterly update forcibly bypasses those updates entirely. To deploy a quarterly update from an AIP, create a AIP which includes only quarterly updates as follows:

   Acceptable:      Acrobat 9.0.0 -> 9.1.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.1.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.2.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.3.3 (Quarterly) ->  9.4.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.4.5 (Quarterly)

   Acceptable:      Acrobat 9.0.0 -> 9.1.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.1.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.2.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.3.3 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.4.3 (Security) -> 9.4.4 (Security)

   Unacceptable:  Acrobat 9.0.0 -> 9.1.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.1.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.2.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.3.3 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.1
(Security) -> 9.4.2 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.3 (Security) -> 9.4.4
(Security) -> 9.4.5 (Quarterly)
----

So what this is saying is that to go from 9.4.3 to the latest which is 9.4.5, I have to go back to 9.4.2 and apply the update to 9.4.5 thus bypassing 3 & 4 because i assume they're all built into 5.  Wish i'd known this before i put a dent in my wall on fri last week trying to figure out why 9.4.5 wasn't applying to 9.4.4.

In closing, I hate you.  You're dumb.  No one likes you for anything but your money.  You uniqueness is not quirky but annoying.  You have products like Photoshop which are meant to make things look better by cheating reality but the fact is that you need to Photoshop your face because it's still dumb and i still hate it.

Sincerely,

Someone Too Sober.


-----EDIT-----

Patching Adobe with Administrative Install Points (AIP's) is starting to make more sense.  What bothers me is that you need to apply patches to the quarterly releases and not just the previous version number.  Theoretically you would work with a much lower version number in order to install the latest patch.  It makes sense somewhat now that I've had time to think about it.  Security patches are applied to fix something and then they tend to cause another hole which in turn needs to be patched.  We've seen Microsoft do this for years and so it shouldn't be much of a surprise.  There's very much a learning curve in all of this and trying to get used to how they do things.  My advice is to note what is in italics above and that will help you start understanding it.

Here are a few links that I have been using as a guide as I've worked on these Adobe updates:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/888/cpsid_88814.html
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/498/cpsid_49880.html
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/
http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/479

The last link has actually been a huge help for me!  I'd also like to note that the Adobe customization wizard is actually pretty nice too.  I had to use it the other day when I had to rebuild the install.msi file and got a chance to see first hand how powerful it can be.  Want to suppress the customary reboot at the end of install?  No problem.  Hide the EULA so this can be an unattended install?  Done.  Pesky icons on the desktop that no one uses?  Not a problem.

In closing, I'm still mad at Adobe.  Perhaps if it will buy me dinner while it tries to make up for the stress it gave me I'll forgive it but i seriously doubt that it will.  For better or worse, I'm stuck with it as long as I'm in my current position.

Wisconsin Senate passes concealed-carry bill

Original story

Pardon me for being just a bit more nervous.  Despite all of the training that these users are supposed to go through, I'm skeptical.

This isn't the Old West.  Why in gods name would you carry your gun to the store, to a restaurant, or to church?  You may not but this has already happened locally as people pro-gun have built up to challenge the laws which lead to this.

I'm not going to go hide away scared but i genuinely don't see how this can help any.  Perhaps my opinion is biased by those that i have met and know.  Perhaps I don't have enough faith in my fellow citizens but this truly feels like a step back for us as Americans.

We as Americans tend to have a false sense of superiority.  This comes from the country being both an economic and military power for over a generation.  Everything we as a nation do we try to spin as being 'justified' in an epic battle of good vs evil.  We would never invade a sovereign nation based off of flimsy intelligence.  We only act on the behalf of good.  We're a civilized nation and trying to spread our goodness and ideas of freedom and self determination to others (assuming that your not in the geographic regions currently known as: Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Vietnam, Libya, Cuba, Mexico, and Texas).

I'm sorry but if we're so 'civilized' then why is it that we have a disproportionate faction of the population currently incarcerated?  Why is it that we're the only 'western' and 'first world' nation (implied = civilized) to allow JUVENILES on death row?

Sorry Tex but you I think you should check yer six shooter at the border where it belongs.

It hasn't happened yet but what scares me the most is citizens being armed.  I'm not saying that I trust the government and its troops to act in my best interest.  I'm saying I am genuinely waiting for the day that someone tries to be a vigilante with their weapon and try to prevent a crime happening.  We entrust the police to carry potential deadly weapons because they go through extensive training in both handling those weapons and the circumstances as to when they should rely on them.  I have little to no confidence in an individual who has gone through a training course in hunters safety to control themselves in a heated situation.

I frankly believe there will be a time that somewhere someone will pull their gun to try to 'do good'.  The police will arrive on the scene and focus on the person screaming "i have a permit for this and it's my right."  A tense situation will be escalated.  Something bad is bound to happen.  I'm not saying that i believe that this will be the norm.  I believe that this will be a very rare occurrence but one that needs not happen in the first place.

What I'm saying is that this is now the law of the land.  Fine.  Now, much like smoking, please go away from me because i don't wish to be near people like you.

Response to Teen Sentenced to Year in Jail For Friends Death

Original Article

This bothers me.  The issue is that a teenager (Madeline Kudlata) flipped her car while being reckless and her friend (Sydney Tabakin) died as a result.  The driver is sentenced to one year in jail and on probation for 5 years.  The year that she is in jail, she'll be allowed out to go to class while she starts her first year of college.

I'm normally for less harsh sentences but this just doesn't make sense.  I understand that the driver lost one of her best friends and has to live with the survivors guilt for the rest of her life.  I understand that her first year of college will be drastically different when compared to her fellow students.  Where I have issue is that she's not doing prison time and instead is doing jail time.

Where I have issue is that she's only getting a year for her irresponsibility which in turn cost her friends life.  Where I have issue is that this story normally ends differently.  If the driver had been from a different area I believe the outcome would have been much harsher.

Going to college next year?  Too bad.  It has to wait.  I don't believe the law should work around someone's long term plans when they're being punished.  College can wait a year while she serves her sentence.  She did the crime and now she must do the time even if it is such a limited amount.  She is starting college.  Her friend is not because of her.


Assistant District Attorney Mark Williams told Martens that the case could have been charged as homicide by drug-impaired driving, a 25-year felony, but that his office negotiated the lesser charge, and plea, in the interest of justice and the facts.

One year in jail instead of a 25 year life altering sentence is the punishment for taking her friends life.  I'm sorry but i don't believe that one year is enough to compensate for another life.  Especially when it's a life that she knew very well.  This wasn't a complete stranger.  This was much more personal than the typical accidental death.

It's the fact that she killed her best friend that actually comforts me in this whole scenario.  I can't imagine what it's like to take a life.  I can't imagine the level of guilt knowing that someone is gone because of my actions.  I can only imagine that the loss of your best friend is some form of cosmic justice.

Culture Shock

It's amazing how much a change of scenery can change your perspective on work.  I left my last job voluntarily in order to get my life under control and to find something that is a different pace.  I have found it.

This is an example of an average day in my previous life:

"Here's a link to something and get back to me in 15 min as to what your thoughts are... Why haven't you responded??? Why aren't you at your desk looking at what i just sent you? We have a meeting about this in 10 min and i need feedback!!!"

This week I'm researching SCCM and Identity Finder Enterprise . Both products will be going live in the near future and we have to set them up. I've never set up any Microsoft Server project of this size but I'm not worried. I've been given time to research this and find solid documentation. I've got a partner who knows the infrastructure better than myself to tag team this with. I'm not worried in the least bit.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of setting up an SQL server among other things, I'm more concerned with trying to prove my worth that i was the right choice to bring on board. I'm not worried about how I'm going to even find time to look at this while I have a hundred other problems, an obscure problem within Citrix that no one else is working on, and still need to orchestrate phone moves for people in the cube farm.

Last week I fumbled my way through an install of Server 2003 and then a very ugly install of SQL. This week I'm hoping to start from scratch and learn from my mistakes so that this guinea pig can be much much less ugly. Learning on the fly... with enough time to make notes!

So far I'm impressed with what I've read of Identity Finder. It looks very straight forward and has good reviews. I can't help but wonder if Microsoft has said anything about them creating a product that looks like it's copying the default Office 2007 theme. On the back end this looks like it'll take a bit of work to do but shouldn't be too bad. Right now we're in the middle of figuring out if we've got the green light for a license. If so we'll scan user shares first and then roll it to desktops. This could be done sometime in the next month or next year.

SCCM seems to be quite a beast to set up even with the step by step instructions . Everyone is saying that it'll be worth it. I'll be making notes of my mistakes with the hopes that I can learn from those too.

Scotty... Please don't beam me back up to the ship yet!

Change of scenery

Today I made the first major aesthetic changes to this blog.  Although i liked the simplistic look of it from before, I felt it was time to tweak things a bit.  I'd like to generate a little more traffic here which is why i'm trying to post more often.

I must say that blogger was being a major pain in the ass as i tried to make changes.  After making changes and trying to save them, I would repeatedly get a 503 error.  This isn't cool when you're trying to make changes on the fly and hoping to see them quickly while you still have an idea in your head.

The other thing that I've run into is the adsense widget seems to be very much not working right now.  I've tried to re-add it and it doesn't appear anywhere.  My reason for caring about this is because i would honestly like to see if i can make a little bit of money from my rants.  I've not dealt that much with adsense or much of any of the aspects of this blog in years so I need to spend some time going through things more closely.  I'd had a couple of ads here in the past and they were small and non-offensive so i kept them there.  Because of that, I'd like to see if i can get them back.  I'm more annoyed by the fact that they are gone and don't seem to be coming back than i am by the fact that they're ads in the first place.

Perhaps some day I'll be able to move from this site to somewhere else where i can grow more.  In order to do so I need to have more justification though since this is in fact free and I like free things.  :)

Response to Facebook status - Florida drug testing welfare applicants

(ORIGINAL POST)

Florida is the first state that will require drug testing when applying for welfare (effective July 1st)! Some people are crying this is unconstitutional. How is this unconstitutional? Yet it's okay that every working person has to pass a drug test in order to support those on welfare?
Re-post if you agree!!!

about an hour ago ·  · 

• • 
    

    (MY RESPONSE) Rather than blindly reposting like most of the FB sheep out there, i briefly dug into this. No mention of what drugs are being screened for. Think of the false positives that can and do happen in professional sports because of obscure meds someone is on. Pill popping addicts are just as dangerous as other addicts. Only difference is the delivery method.
    
    Also this is coming from a state that thought Jeb was a wise decision as governor in recent history.
    
    Also you have to pay up front for the test which can lead to you being reimbursed. Ummm if you're on assistance then what are the odds that you can afford to pay for a mandatory test? This right there is where the courts are going to kill this because you're excluding those that potentially need the aid the most.
    
    After failure of the test you can designate someone else to receive the benefits for your kids. If that doesn't sound like an opportunity for exploitation then i don't know what does.
    
    How much of this added layer of bureaucracy going to cost the tax payers? Has anyone done a cost/benefit analysis?
    
    BTW, not every working person has to pass a drug test...
    
    I have an idea... Let's put a bit of effort into collecting those that owe taxes (especially corporations) and investigating the rampant fraud within both out healthcare and benefits system. I'm sorry but this idea is too complex for most FB'ers to grasp let alone constantly repost in their status to make themselves feel good for 10 seconds before they click on the next bright shiny object...

Food - Turkey Burgers

I have been told that when I eat I analyze my meal.  The gears are turning before the first bite and I'm always trying to come up with ways to either reproduce something from a restaurant in the kitchen or ways to improve upon what I've already made.  I was not aware of this habit that I have.  I'm by no means a gourmet chef but i like to cook and come up with different ideas.  Because of this hobby of mine, I am going to dedicate some of my time to documenting new zany ideas that I've experienced.  The primary tag used will be FOOD and then i will break it down further from there while trying to differentiate between what I've tried while going out vs coming up with in the kitchen.

To kick this thread off, I will describe what I made for dinner recently...

Turkey burgers.

Take one package of fresh pre-made turkey burgers and cook them on either a George Foreman or in a pan on the stove.  High heat is the key to give it a little bit of searing and flavor.  Season burgers with choice of seasoning (Mrs Dash has an awesome chipotle or fiesta seasoning) since Turkey is very bland.  After removing burgers from heat, place a small piece of cheese on them (I love co-jack).

In another non-stick pan, turn heat up high.  Take a chunk of red and green pepper (maybe 1/4 of the whole pepper) and cut into thin strips (1/4-1/2" thin).  Also have sliced mushrooms ready (used pre-sliced white mushrooms because they were cheap and easy).  Didn't need any kind of oil/butter for veggies because of non-stick pan.  After pan is heated up, toss peppers and mushrooms in while gradually turning the heat down.  Ideally you want to have the peppers be seared a bit to give it a semi-grilled look.  Keep pan uncovered for a few minutes as veggies get more seared.  Cover for a minute or two which will bring out the moisture in the veggies and then uncover again.  Turn heat off.  Veggies should be nice and hot.

Cheap white buns were used.  Put burger on bun and scoop some of the veggies on top of the burger so they're on top of the cheese.  No condiments are needed for this to be completed but a little dab of ranch will be needed if the turkey burgers are over cooked.

Cost:  Burgers cost $3.50 on sale. Buns are cheap.  Veggies can cost a bit but if you have them in the house regularly, then this is yet another use for them.

Health:  Excluding the cheese and the dash of seasoning, i can't see how this is a 'bad' meal.

Racing Through Life

When did life become a race?  It seems as though I missed the memo that I am supposed to be like my peers and running around under a self imposed deadline to accomplish 'goals'.  Mainstream media tries to tell us that 40 is the new 30.  At the same time I look around and see people treating 30 as the new 50.  Some are striving to be older than advertised in the hopes of using their false maturity as leverage to advance their agenda of being perceived as 'older and more stable' for both personal and professional purposes.

I am viewed as a 'failure' by a lot of people (both friends and family).  They won't come right out and say it but this is how I am viewed.  I'm viewed as such because I didn't buy into their notion that I'm supposed to have a two car garage by now with a matching family and a Weber grill that will make me the envy of the neighborhood.  I have next to nothing set aside for retirement because i opted to quit a shitty job 10 years ago and go back to school in order to better myself.  I did not pursue a field of study that would have easily enabled this mythical dream world to happen.  I chose to study what interested me which lead to my growing mentally and emotionally as a human being as opposed to a more acceptable worker drone.

Now I'm looked down upon because I'm 'behind the curve' in terms of accumulation of the 'goals' that my peers are racing towards.  My maturity is quietly questioned by those that know me socially.  My stability is questioned by both prospective employers and casual acquaintances.  I'm chasing a different dream than what others are chasing and for that I am an oddity.  You're more than welcome to look down upon me now but please don't call me when you're suffering from a midlife crisis after you realize you have attained all of these milestones that you raced towards and realized that you're stressed about keeping up the charade.

There must be something wrong with this individual who dared to quit their job when buying a new car was within his grasp.  There's clearly something wrong with someone who walked away from a job with benefits all to risk being penniless.

Them: What would your ideal job be right now if you could do anything?

Me: A gardener.

Them: Ahh… Agriculture.

Me: No.  Just a gardener.

Them: That's it?

Me: Yes.

Clearly there's something wrong with this one.  We should be sure to distance ourselves from him for fear of the unknown that he brings.

I think the reason why I'm refusing to run this race that I see others caught up in is because the finish line should not be the ultimate goal.  The journey is more important to me than the destination.  It's the experiences in this journey that make us who we are and give us the knowledge to pass on to the next generation with the hopes of not repeating our mistakes.  Age comes in time.  I'll get there when I get there.  In the meantime there's absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying where you are chronologically.  I accept my branding as a 'failure' by those that don't understand this because i sleep soundly every night perfectly content with who i am.

See ya at the finish line...

Slowing Down

I have no job. I quit my job a month ago because i was burnt out, strung out, wiped out, and mentally drained. I have no regrets. The end.

Life has slowed down for me these days. There is some pretty annoying construction that i have to deal with whenever i want to go anywhere on the freeway. I see people swerving in and out of lanes while jockeying for a better spot only to come to a halt again. I am the asshole who goes slower when there's a growing gap between myself and the cars ahead of me. No point in rushing when we're going to slam on our brakes after this bend and cause even more panic breaking. I coast at a leisure pace through it all and pull up alongside of those that passed me earlier and keep on coasting through. Barely tapping the brakes. The traffic doesn't bother me because i know it's there, there's no way to avoid it, and I'm in no rush.

Approximately 10 minutes north of me and through a couple of suburbs is where a friend of mine lives. Gas is hovering around $4/gallon and i have only my savings. I walk there. It takes approximately 50 minutes one way to walk there at a steady pace. The walk is calming. Never realized some of the little things I see on stretches of road I've gone down all of my life. Never realized that some boring looking apartment complex with dark red bricks and very bright white trim has an indoor pool. I forgot that my feet can actually be tender and my legs can be slightly sore from walking that much.

According to the calendar the season is supposed to be spring. On occasion the weather actually resembles that.

I've found myself being more polite than usual when out in public. Letting people cut in line at the grocery store. Holding the door for someone who is more than 2 steps behind me and more like 10 steps behind. I've got time and I'm in no rush.

As i reflect more and more i feel as though i recently woke up from a long sleep. I feel as though i dreamt the past couple of years of my life while not knowing when exactly it was that i slipped off into this dream world. The fog is lifting day by day. I don't know who i am anymore but I'm liking where this is going. Income is a looming concern of mine but I'm fighting constantly with it to keep it very much a secondary concern.

I have no job. I quit my job a month ago because i was burnt out, strung out, wiped out, and emotionally drained. I refuse to allow myself to have any regrets. This is the beginning.

The "unplugging" experiment

In response to Mom unplugs teens for 6 months from Internet, iPod, TV ...

If not for the fact this was influenced by her plan to write a book, I would applaud this "experiment". Stories like this genuinely interest me and I may look to find a copy of this book at the library one of these days (assuming they still exist). If not for the fact that she had to bribe her kids with a piece of the action from the book sales, this would be even better. Despite the lack of genuine sincerity behind this experiment, it both fascinates and disturbs me that this is a topic worthy of discussion.

In the past I've written about the desire to unplug from society if even briefly and I feel the need to reiterate that this has been a strong desire of mine for years. Even though i only talked about turning my phone off, I'd like to believe that "unplugging" from most technology would be the implied much like what Susan Maushart did with her family. It's almost as though I need to document that I felt this way before others "jumped on the bandwagon" and beat me to the punch. This is my way of making peace with myself on this topic i suppose.

The results of this on her family are fascinating and impossible to ignore. Her son was branded a video game addict and dedicated his free time to playing sax. Once the cloud lifted, he became interested in something that is not only potentially social but also what is arguably one of the foundations of culture. If not for the experiment, it's debatable whether or not he would have gone back to music or not. One daughter actually had her grades improve during this experiment.

More importantly than the results for me is how disturbing this is that it's worthy of writing a book about a family doing something like this. Apparently families are truly this out of control that they can't suppress their technology fetish. The removal of the "evil crickets" from their day to day lives should not be this big of an issue and yet it is.

Most importantly, this article/topic has flooded my head with more and more questions to which i don't necessarily want the answers to. Is technology truly that integral to not only people but families to the point that the act of "unplugging" can only be done so through bribery of kids? Are parents really that powerless (whether accidentally or by choice) to keep their families from self medicating by way of their immediate gratification gadgets? Why is it that more people aren't concerned with this? Are we losing the ability to physically interact with one another in favor of the perceived security of our virtual interactions? Could the son be considered a poster boy for what talent can lie underneath the shroud of electronic addiction that needs only be unplugged in order to shine through?

Although i'm fascinated by this "experiment" and the questions that it has raised within me, i don't foresee answers coming to light anytime soon. It's my opinion that "experiments" like this will become increasingly popular in the coming years and they'll be more and the outcomes will become more and more drastic as we progress further.

Wanderlust

Tonight I was watching PBS and got sucked into a documentary about two guys from Queens NY who retraced Marco Polo's travels. Link to site. This show got me thinking again about the few travels i've had and how many more there are out there for me.

It's more than just the travels that drew me into this show. It's the history of what was being seen first hand. Living history. Reaching out and touching something that is exactly as it was documented hundreds of years prior just absolutely fascinates me. Part of me longs to go through the hell of traveling on horseback, crowded buses, and all around misery to meet people in a land who are living the same exact way they did for probably a thousand years (excluding the Nike hat that someone was wearing).

I'll admit that i let my imagination wander and drift away to the far away lands that i too would like to experience. I know I'm fortunate enough to live in a region that is very beautiful with it's different seasons, colors, and varying features (lake, hills, greens, blue, browns, etc) and that those that are in shows like i was watching would be in awe of my homeland just as much as i would be in awe of theirs. The key word for me is really "experience". Most people that travel go somewhere, take a bunch of pictures, and then go home. I want to experience my destination. Rather than a hotel or a hostel, I'd much rather find a family to take me in for a couple of weeks and show me the ropes of their area.

It's the little things that i see in programs like this that draws me in. Transportation was needed to get from one village to another and the only way to get there was to hire someone to ride a bike with you on the back. How cool is that?! It's sad that a region can be that dirt poor and yet i long for us to truly grasp how pampered we are even with our buses. The idea of biking everywhere because it's your only mode of transportation just strikes a chord with me. No i'm not turning into one of those fixed gear riding hipsters! I just think we've lost an overall appreciation for not only our surroundings but travel time because of our "superior" means of transportation.

Granted that I know my perception is being filtered by the filmmakers views of the places traveled, the ultimate draw of shows like these for me is how friendly people everywhere are to travelers. You can stage a lot for a camera but there are so many little gestures of sincere camaraderie and brotherhood that can't be staged. When you see politicians on stage and even the best of actors, they still seem to lack something. When you see an image of an old toothless man as he's sharing a smoke with a foreigner, you can see the magic in his eyes. Neither will forget the other. Both having an immense impact on each others perceptions of outsiders. It's exchanges like these that i'm drawn to. I want to experience them too. I want someone far removed from me to come away thinking that outsiders are good people too.

In the end I guess i just get warm fuzzies from the idea of learning first hand that most of the world is filled with decent people. We're taught and conditioned to not trust most of the world which i think is contrary to human nature. I'd like to believe that if you put two people together with no common means of communication that they'll work things out and get along just fine. Stay away from this region because they don't like us and they'll try to eat your brains! Don't travel there because they are all bad people that hate us! Don't associate with those people because they'll corrupt the way you think and pollute your mind with ideas that will destroy your sense of morals.

Bah. Fuck 'em. I want to learn for myself about people and places. I want to travel. I want to see places. I want to experience new foods and new ways. Something tells me that most of the world doesn't give a shit what my country of origin is and is more concerned if i've got a spare match in my pocket or an open hand to hold the door for someone.

It might be a minor thing but what i miss about traveling is looking out the window. Whether it's a window on a bus, plane, or a house, i miss looking out the window. Perhaps it's my voyeuristic nature but there's something soothing about watching everyday life unfold before my eyes. I might be on a bus buzzing from town to town but i love letting my imagination wander as i see building an people. I guess when i take a vacation, i like to take a vacation from reality while on vacation.

There's so much history in the world that is both living and dead waiting to be experienced. I can only hope that i can witness first hand a fraction of it in my remaining time here.

Writers Block

I've had a lot on my mind these days. Anyone who knows me, knows i'm not afraid to say what's on my mind. My problem is that I'm trying to filter what is on my mind, into this medium. So many things to talk about but none of them really feel "worthy".

I love reading and giving my feedback on social issues. The problem with that topic these days is that during my absence from this blog it has become more and more vogue to speak out on these issues. That and honestly i just haven't found any truly unique stories that i care enough about (see older posts about gardening and drug war) to comment on.

What has really been dominating my life are two things: job hunting and technology. Job hunting is nothing new for me to write about and although i'm employed back in the industry, i'm still looking. Technology is still a love of mine but there's just sooo many tech bloggers out there that are much better than me. I don't feel that i have a lot to contribute to the tech blogosphere but since i have nothing better to write about, here goes what will hopefully be the beginning of an ongoing effort to change that.

Within the technology realm I'm most fascinated with my macbook and the things it has opened up to me. Last.fm has been getting a lot more attention because of this. As has my cheat sheet of *nix commands (scp, vi, and even a bit of grep). When i sit down and use this machine i immediately start coming up with ideas of what i want and can do. The portability of it also fuels my curiosity.

I'm ashamed that i have yet to get my music collection on here. Why? Because I want to turn itunes loose on it so that i can sync my (free) ipod with it and really get rocking with the last.fm scrobbling. That was my first and most daunting plan (i hate the word "project" these days) for this machine. I've got maybe 20gb worth of music that i need to get on here but the bigger issue is how to sort it and then cleaning up the ID3 tags before i even dare sync it with my ipod.

Speaking of last.fm, i've been thoroughly enjoying listening to what it has to offer up for streaming music. I was recently listening to "my library" and found a couple songs/groups that really caught my attention. It's refreshing to be exposed to unexplored music for me. My local radio stations are awful at best and so homogeneous that i can feel any individuality being sucked out of me through my speakers. Gone are the days of cutting edge and different music which has been traded for music that fit that description 20 - 30 years ago with the vain hopes that we've been living in a vacuum.

Hopefully in the coming weeks i'll document more in depth what i've done while chasing these interests. Hopefully inspiration will strike and i'll get back into my writing groove. No matter what, bear with me as i get my legs again.

Went for a walk

Tonight i went for a walk. I had an errand to run. It was cold and snowing lightly. I walked. It would have been more comfortable to drive. I walked instead. Bundled up a bit and was only cold for the first block and then i got acclimated to it.

What's the big deal about taking a brief walk in 20 degree weather? It's that i realized how much i miss simple things like that these days. It's that a lot of people would opt to drive that distance these days. It's that the weather is considered too cold for humans to leave their caves to trek out briefly into the wild these days for fear of a polar bear attacking them behind Jimmy Johns.

Some would label this as being "green" since i didn't drive. Some would say that i'm being old fashioned for walking when it's more efficient to drive. Some would even say that i was trying to be "healthy" since i'm over weight and it's time for new years resolutions and all of that jazz.

I walked because i enjoy it. No ulterior motives. No external influences. I did it because i enjoy it. I suppose that makes me a bad person because i wasn't doing something for the greater good. Fuck the greater good. I did it because i like it and that's that.

Some days i truly enjoy being me. :)

Look who's back!

Despite my best efforts, I have not died. It's time to crawl out of my shell and into... my shell. :)

Random rumblings to come.

Social commentaries to come.

Opinions to come.

Most importantly... I'M BACK BITCHEZ!!!