Oi vay!
Things for today:
Too many meetings.
Meetings too long.
Had to go to bank.
Had to get caffeine.
Had to fix a few bugs before a meeting, but didn’t get a chance to test them until after the meeting. That meeting was the longest of the day, and it sucked because all I could think about was my bugs.
Deadlines looming at work for large projects. I’m on course for hitting the deadlines, though.
Deadlines looming at school for final projects in my classes. Not sure where I’ll find the time to do them by Monday.
Deadlines looming for my writers’ group for doing reading/critiquing of work. Not sure where I’ll find the time to do them by Saturday.
Learn To Quote
I’m tired of laziness on mailing lists. Some of the ones that I’m on are good, but most of them are populated by inconsiderate people that don’t give a whit about bandwidth, mail usage, storage, or time.
Lazy bastards…
When I reply to a post, I only quote the relevant parts of the original post. Below the quoted material, I put my response. That way someone can read what I’m referencing, and then read what I have to say about the topic. It just makes sense.
All of these people using Outlook to top-post on mailing lists really piss me off. I have to scroll down to the original post, read the entire thing, then scroll up, read the next reply (which involves scrolling back down), scroll back up, and repeat until I get to the most recent part of the conversation. This breaks up the flow of the conversation, makes it difficult to read, and often leads to confusion. Most of the mailing lists that I’m on are technical in nature, so a lack of confusion is necessary to those people trying to find a solution to a problem.
Also, some mailing lists that I’m on put a footer at the bottom of every email. It’s usually a link to the archives, FAQ, rules, or other necessary information. I have two bitches about this. Everyone on the list sees this multiple times a day, but there are still people that refuse to at least read the links. They end up asking questions that are in the FAQ, or have already been asked/answered in the archives. The links are there for a reason, people! My second bitch is when people quote the footer in their reply. This means that I now have two copies of the footer in a single email: the one they quoted, and the one that was automatically added to the end of the list. Please be considerate enough to snip that out since you should obviously know that everyone on the list will see it again.
Also, if you join a mailing list, lurk for a while and learn the methods, etiquette, attitudes, and general environment of the list. For a really busy list this may only take a day or two. For a slow list, it may take up to a week. If you’re really in a tight spot, and must post a problem right away, please state so.
When posting a problem, please clearly post what you are experiencing (point A), what you expect to experience (point B), what you tried to do on your own to get from point A to point B, and then ask for help. Everyone on the list is very busy, and they don’t have time to travel to Narnia for a crystal ball that works to attempt to decipher your problem. When someone posts on a list, and they don’t include this information, I delete their email. I don’t have the time or patience to blindly troubleshoot a problem that is not adequately described.
Now to avoid the “You’re a hypocrite!” comments. I have top posted in replies in the past, and I still do it sometimes to this day. It’s usually small, personal mailing lists where someone asks, “What are we eating at the game tonight?” I’ll top post with a quick, “I’d prefer pizza.” reply. However, if the post is substantial, and some frame of reference is needed for the readers, I’ll always quote properly, and put my comments in the middle of the quoted material.
Ok. I’ll get off my high horse now. Sorry for the rant, but this has been eating at me for a long time now. I feel better now.
Wal-Mart Tires
Craing called me up Sunday around 11:30, and said that he needed new tires. He didn’t want to sit around and wait for the tires to get done, so he asked if I could pick him and run around town with him. I didn’t have much else to do, so I met him about an hour later at Wal-Mart. He was just finished with the paperwork and such when I got there, so it was good timing. This was around 12:20.
We headed to Old Chicago’s for some food and beer. The service at Old C’s is usually pretty good, but this day it was slow. That’s ok. It happens sometimes. I’ll still go back there.
With our bellies full, we walked over to Best Buy, so that Craing could purchase an iPod to go along with the stereo that he put in his car a while back. Once Craing picked out his iPod, we walked over to the HDTV section to check things out. Yep. Still a little too expensive, but damn did they look good! Someday I’ll get one. We also wandered around Best Buy a while looking at various things and killing time since we were waiting for Wal-Mart to get done with the tires. They said that they would call when they were done, and we still hadn’t heard from them.
After killing time in Best Buy, we decided to head back to Wal-Mart since they were probably close to being done. When we pulled into the parking lot, Craing’s car had been moved, but the tires didn’t look all that new. Craing checked things out, and sure enough, the tires were the old ones. We wondered what they had been doing for the past two and a half hours. That’s when the fun began.
Craing went inside to inquire about the status of his car, and came back a few minutes later. He was slightly annoyed (or really pissed and hiding it quite well) because they had started working on the car an hour after we had left, but could not complete the job because they couldn’t get two of the lug nuts off. What kind of tire shop can’t get lug nuts off?!? Wal-Mart, I guess. I heard them using their impact, so I knew that they had the right tools. There was also a lug nut missing (but nothing wrong with the bolt) and they claimed that they couldn’t replace the lug nut because they don’t keep them in stock. What kind of tire place doesn’t keep lug nuts in stock?!? Wal-Mart, I guess. They had also left the hub cap off to show Craing the missing lug nut, but they had somehow lost the hub cap. What kind of tire place loses a hub cap?!? Wal-Mart, I guess. They finally tracked down the hub cap, but didn’t put it back on. Instead, they threw into the front seat of the car. Craing and I had to put it back on ourselves. What kind of tire place doesn’t even put the hub caps back on?!? Wal-Mart, I guess. Once the car was back together, Craing had to go back inside to gather his keys. They had misplaced his keys, and it took a while for them to find them. My main bitch was that they tried to replace the tires and failed. When they failed after an hour, they should have called Craing right away instead of waiting for him to show back up. It’s not like we were in a hurry that day, but it would have been nice to know that we needed to pick up the car and get it to another place ASAP.
We ended up going to a Firestone that was nearby. They were able to get the car in, get the tires changed, and they called Craing while we were at the mall waiting for the tires to get done to tell him that his brakes were shot as well. He told them to fix the brakes while they were at it. Firestone got the brakes, tires, and missing lug nut done in a little under two hours. What kind of place gets all that work done in such a short time?!? Not Wal-Mart, I guess.
Dilbert Moment
I’m trying to search for some files on the usenet, but I’m not sure what nttp server, username and password to use through my DSL. I hit my DSL provider’s web site to try to find the details. They won’t give me the details without the username and password, which I don’t have. I click the “forgotten password” link and it gives me a wide variety of suggested about where I might have put my password after they snail mailed it to me. I don’t have any of that paperwork anymore (or it’s stashed away in Kiara’s office.)
However, there is a link for technical support. I decide to click the link. It tells me that in order to access technical support I need to log in. Umm… Folks? I don’t have the username and password, which is why I need technical support.
A perfect Dilbert moment.
Dresden Files, Part Three
I just watch Sunday’s Dresden Files, and I’m still not sure that I like it. This episode was better in that it contained some more mystery, which is the heart of the Dresden Files books. There was actually some magic performed by Dresden, but not quite enough. I like the portrayal of the Dresden character, and I really love the actor. He’s not quite gritty enough, but I can deal with that.
I’m right on the edge of hating Bob. I can’t stand the actor, and the characterization of Bob is horrid. Bob has yet to prove his usefulness, and he’s nothing more than a snide wise-ass that plays Dresden’s conscience. That’s not his purpose. Well, not his full purpose.
I’m beyond the edge of hating Murphy. She doesn’t look right. She doesn’t act right. The more that I see of the actress, the more that I think Ron Jeremy’s hairy ass would look better in the role. Ok. Maybe I’m being a little harsh, but I think you get the point. Murphy showed a little bit of vulnerability near the end of the episode, so maybe there’s hope for the character. Murphy needs to stop being a huge bitch towards Dresden.
Despite my hard words towards the show, I do see some improvement. Enough improvement that I’m going to watch the third episode. We’ll see from there.
Catch And Release
I went and watched Catch and Release last Friday. The only reason that I went to the movie was because it had Kevin Smith in it. I’m glad that my reason for going was Kevin Smith because he really and truly was the only good thing in the entire flick. Jennifer Garner was passable as an actress, but her character seemed to have no guidance, predictability, inner soul, or moral compass. Maybe that was the way she was written and directed, but I still didn’t like it.
Only Smith’s performance kept me going. When he would walk off camera, I would find myself watching the movie just so I could see him walk back on screen. The delivery of his lines was perfect. The cadence and inflection that he used was very natural, flowed quite well, and made me believe that his character was a real person in Boulder, CO.
The other characters circling around Gray (Jennifer Garner’s character) seemed very much like cardboard cutouts. Maybe it’s just they they pale in comparison to Kevin Smith’s performance. Maybe I’m being too hard on them. Nah. I’m not being too hard on them. Good money was paid to see a good performance, and only Smith delivered.
If you like Kevin Smith’s natural speaking ability (Evening with Kevin Smith, and Evening Harder) then you’ll like this flick enough to shell out your hard-earned cash. If you don’t like Kevin Smith, then I would highly suggest that you stay at home and ponder the meaning of your existence.
IE Upgrade
I just had Windows update some software, which it does on a regular basis. This time around, it wanted to install Internet Explorer 7. I lost my senses for a few moments, and decided to go ahead with the upgrade. I’m not sure why I wasted my time with it since I never use IE for anything at all.
One of the things that irked me was that at the start of the install, the IE7 installer demanded that I verify the authenticity of my Windows XP install. That’s total crap. They’re backdooring the authenticity check with other software. Someday, I’ll upgrade Solitaire to get new card backs, and they’ll want me to verify my Windows install.
Don’t get me wrong; my Windows XP install is totally legal. My main concern is that the process will choke somewhere along the way, and then shutdown my system forever until I spend countless hours with Microsoft to get them to turn my machine back on.
It just seems a bit heavy-handed is all. It makes me wish that I had the cash for a Mac laptop or something.
Dresden Files Followup
I talked about this show coming up, and I managed to catch it Sunday night. It was a pretty good show. Here’s a breakdown of things that I liked and did not like:
Likes:
- Dresden got beat up. He always gets beat up. Nice touch.
- Bob helped out in an esoteric and weird way.
- Dresden has a conscience that won’t allow him to take advantage of innocents.
- Dresden rescued the boy in the end.
- Nice flashbacks to work in his important history.
- Good acting, and decent character portrayal.
- The skinwalker was a good bad guy. Classic Dresden.
Dislikes:
- A Jeep? Come on! They couldn’t afford a beaten-up old VW Beetle?
- Murphy and Dresden were a little too antagonistic towards each other. They’re supposed to be pretty good friends, not users of each other’s talents.
- Bob should be a talking skull, not a snooty British guy!
- Dresden was trained by his uncle? I don’t recall that from the books. Seems a little too distant from Dresden’s actual history.
- Murphy is a short, athletic blond with a little extra weight on her. She’s not a short, brunette that is too skinny. The actress should have at least bleached her hair for the role.
- Dresden would never be as careless to put up protective wards on his house that were on curtains that could easily be ripped down. They’re engraved into the stone.
- Dresden lives in a basement. What’s with all of the windows?
- Magicians can’t deal with technology. What’s with all of the electrical lights and electrical fridge in his apartment? This is key to so many plot points in the book. I can’t believe that they changed that!
Overall, I liked the first episode enough to watch more. I just hope they don’t screw up enough things to make me start to hate it.
Lack Of Sleep
I normally get tons of sleep over the weekend. Probably too much. That wasn’t the case this weekend. I also normally don’t blog about work because that can get me in a bunch of trouble. People have been fired for blogging about work. I’m going to risk it this time.
I started to get to bed around 11:30 Friday night after catching up on my TV shows. About 12:30 the on-call cell phone went off. It was minor and took 10 minutes to fix. 10 minutes after that was another phone call. 10 minutes later, I was done. 10 minutes after that was yet another phone call… Well… you get the point. This lasted until 4:30 in the morning.
Kiara was out of town, so I had to get up early to feed and water the animals, and let the dogs out. That meant about 4 hours of sleep Friday night. Saturday night, I ended up getting to sleep around 11:00 (after passing out on the couch first.) We have an automated process that checks the integrity of one of our RAID arrays. This starts at Midnight and generally runs until about 2:30 to 3:00 AM. It gives an update page every 15 minutes even if nothing wrong is found. What a crock! Well, Saturday night it took until 5 AM to finish. This means that I was woken up every 15 minutes between Midnight and 5 AM. I had to wake up enough to make sure that nothing was wrong before dozing back off for another 15 minutes. Gnah!
About 7 AM, I got another call to do more work. That means that I had about 5 hours of “napping” and 2 hours of sleep. Good God!
I slept fairly well Sunday night, but I did get paged a few times. I got to bed around 10 PM, and slept through until 6 AM. A good night’s sleep of total exhaustion. Kind of good, but I didn’t really recover all that much from the previous two nights.
I was supposed to hand off the cell phone Monday, but I couldn’t get into work because of the snow. That meant yet another night of being on call. Fortunately, the phone was quiet, but I had a severe case of insomnia. I didn’t get to sleep until a little after 1 AM, and I got up a little before 8 AM. Seven hours of sleep. Not quite enough, but liveable.
I’m really looking forward to tonight when I can get a good night’s sleep without being on call. It’s a good thing that I’m only on call for 1 out of every 4 weeks.
Grassroots
Congress is trying to step on the first amendment rights of free speech by making blogging a “lobbyist endeavor” if you have more than 500 readers. I doubt that I’ll ever reach that number, but there are quite a few people out there that have that many (or more!) readers. With the new law that is proposed, anyone making political comments to 500 or more readers must register with Congress, and make quarterly reports to them.
This includes me. I’ve posted about politics here, here, and here. If, at any time in the future, I reach 500 or more readers, I suddenly become a “grassroots” political effort, and I have to register. This means that I need to remain wildly unpopular, stop commenting about politics, or become a lobbyist.
This stomps all over the first amendment, and should not be allowed. If you blog, think about politics, or just don’t think this is right, contact your senators and representatives now! We just can’t let this happen. It’s like getting permission from a school teacher to speak. We’re not in elementary school anymore! (and yes, I did contact my Senators regarding this proposed legislation.)
