The New And Improved Carly's Rants

Pizza should be a food group

2012-02-12T02:06:00.005-05:00

...but I have to say that I have been eating more salads lately. The local pizza place delivers me nice big ones, so when I'm not on the road with a couple days off, I really try to eat healthy.

Enjoying the hell out of my Keurig 1 cup coffee maker.

I've become addicted to the hot apple cider...actually cutting down on my Diet Coke if you can believe it! This can be had at Wal-Mart for like $119 US and the K-Cups of coffee, tea, hot chocolate and apple cider are reasonably priced. I always felt guilty making a pot of coffee and leaving half of it wasted; this takes that worry away and now I can have a hot cup of whatever anytime I like.

New keyboard, mouse, mouse pad, chair, and bamboo floor pad this weekend. Office Depot got me for about $400 US. As for the chair, if I gotta sit in it a lot, and I do, then I might as well be comfy. Ditto the new keyboard and mouse. they do get a lot of use. The bamboo floor pad, yeah I splurged a little bit, but I go through those plastic ones way too fast. So we'll see how this works.

Work has slowed down some, but there may be new projects on the horizon, so I'm not worried about continued employment right now. One less thing to worry about.

I have made a new friend recently that doesn't share my views on today's partisan political bickering in Washington. Normally this won't happen, because the crowd I tend to run with is overwhelmingly Democrats, pro-choice, liberal gun hating commie pinko fags. It's interesting to actually find a thinking human that can manage to not laugh at some of the ridiculous, untenable positions of the American Taliban and their political wing, the Republican Party. Good thing she's pretty :-)

Getting late right now, so I should probably hit the sheets. Thanks for reading.

OK Everyone, Back on your Heads

2012-01-02T22:34:00.003-05:00

All right, break time is over, no more holidays for a while, time to get back to work. Nose to the grindstone and all that rubbish. We made it to another year, you and I. Congratulations. The next thing to do is see what we can do with it.

I had a talk with someone the other day and they told me that living day to day wasn't living, in their opinion. I guess I can understand their position. For a very long time I've been not thinking about the future at all. Too busy trying to make today work to worry about what could happen down the road. In fact, my boss got mad at me because I had trouble scheduling my vacation last year for that very reason. One week was as good as the next.

One disadvantage of keeping your head down and going through the motions is that you're less likely to see opportunities that way. So what do you do? Look up and risk stumbling? Or keeping your eye on the road? It was Lewis Carroll (the author of Alice in Wonderland) that said "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there".

It's been a while since I had anything to look forward to that was further away than next weekend. Perhaps I need to go out on a limb, schedule some vacation time for some random week in some random month, save up a buttload of money and just go someplace different. Who knows? It could improve my attitude. I'll think about it.

And so, as I end my first post of the new year, I'd like to thank all my friends that have stood by me over the last thirty two years. Here's looking at you, kid.

Carly

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-25T00:08:00.002-05:00

Wanted to jump on real quick and wish all my reader a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah or Kwanzaa or whatever. We have an exciting new year coming up, with an election at the end of it, so let's see where it takes us! And in the meantime, peace to you all. Later!

Christmas Time Is Here Again

2011-12-01T11:11:00.002-05:00

I was humming that tune from The Beatles "Anthology" as I merrily chipped the ice from my windshield this morning. Because it is. Christmas Time, that is. Here again. With all the bloody snow and ice that go with it. Ah well.

Had a nice Thanksgiving holiday. Well I was off Thanksgiving day. Worked the rest of the weekend, got tons of hours, and a cold for my efforts. You know, I'm not really complaining, I am happy to be working and all that. I know there are plenty of people out there with their benefits running out wondering what they'll do, not just for Christmas, but for food next week. It makes me sad that Wall Street can be booming, with record profits and bonuses, and those of us on the other end of the stick can be in such misery. Not trying to sound all doom and gloom, but class inequalities are the stuff that revolutions are made of.

I heard a fellow on NPR (National Public Radio) a while back explaining that the paradigm has to change, because the old way of doing things is not going to work anymore. He explained that every time people start to do a little better and start having confidence again, the price of oil will skyrocket and cause things to crash again. Then oil prices will slowly fall to the point where people start doing better again....lather rinse repeat. This sure seems to be playing out. I hope it isn't true, but what if it is? Where do we go from here? Makes you think.

Which brings me to the "Occupy" Movement. http://occupywallst.org/ Not terribly sure all that they're about, and I'm not sure they all know what they're all about, but the one thing in common is the feeling that things have to change somehow. We voted for Obama because we recognized back in '08 that we were headed in the wrong direction. While I wouldn't dream of voting for someone that claims that giving tax breaks to rich people helps me, still, I wish we'd seen more of that change already. I'm hopeful that when the time comes, America will see that when the Republicans are talking, there's a man behind the curtain pulling the strings, and he is NOT interested in what you want.

We used to say that my fellow Italians voted Communist for the amusement factor. I'm not equating the Republican Party with the Communist Party, but the chaos that they're capable of generating has a similar feel to it. Bringing government to a standstill because you can't always get your way reminds me of "taking my ball and going home" pettiness that you'd see in schoolyards, not in the United States Congress.

I've said my piece. Comments? Anyone? Bueller?

Back To The Future

2011-11-06T19:49:00.002-05:00

Spent some time the other night with JJ and her friend Riley and some other people on Second Life. It was nice to see people enjoying each other and being online, regardless of the creaky infrastructure and other issues I have with the MMORG everyone loves to hate. It seems that some people have the ability to ignore the problems and see the good things about the social interaction that takes place there. I suspect I became jaded over time. My avatar is nearing five years old and there's not much I haven't seen and done, and it gets old. And the problem with immersive games is that you really lose track of time, things don't get done in real life, and real life relationships can suffer.

After a hard day at work, I like to come home and get comfy and maybe watch a movie, read a few favorite websites, or grab my iPad and relax reading a book or watching some tv. Perhaps winter will provide more opportunities for being online, who knows? My travel is now more local in nature (if you call 200 miles and under local), so perhaps I will have some free time this winter. Don't hold your breath.

I am really enjoying my Hackintosh. I'm writing this post on it actually. It is wicked fast and stable as a rock. I should have done this a long time ago. Wait, I did. And it wasn't stable and sucked badly. This is much better.

Well since I worked this weekend (22.5 hours, half my week is over! Right.) I'm off Monday and Tuesday. Got a lot of things working; got an SSD coming to stick in my new Sony Vaio, that should give it a nice speed boost. Turning it on at every worksite I go to gets old when you have a hard drive spinning at 5400 rpm.

Going to give the kitchen some real use I hope. I have some interesting recipes I want to try and the house could use a good cleaning, so we'll see how things shape up. That's all for tonight I think. Stay tuned, same time, same station!

WTF?

2011-10-31T23:19:00.008-04:00

I know, I fell off the earth there for a while. Let me catch you up. This shouldn't take long.

Found a car. '01 PT Cruiser with 170K miles on it. It now has 210k on it. It gets me where I need to go with minimal fuss. I have had to spend a bit of money on it now and then, but that's the only way I could afford to do it. Buying a newer car for big bux up front was always out of the question, so I bought a turd and polished the hell out of it. I've had people say "Damn that's ugly" and I've had people tell me it looks nice. So I stopped listening to them.

I don't see much of the old gang anymore. Talk to Cat from time to time on Gtalk. Addi a little less, since she picks her spots to be on and not all that often when I'm on. And I talk to Lav every blue moon, or when something comes up, or when I feel like it. I haven't been in SL in like forever. For some reason there's not that much of an attraction anymore. So obviously I don't see any of my SL based friends anymore, like JJ. I do miss JJ, we always had very excellent chats, going back years.

My mother's not doing so well. She's rapidly forgetting me or confusing me with her sister, which has happened before but it's all the time now. At least she seems to be healthy and comfortable, which is good. I've considered busting her out but then, I remember how tenuous having a job these days really is, and I reconsider. I would need so much help to watch her that it would cost me everything I have. I try to remember that when I start feeling guilty.

Speaking of the job, I really think they're trying to kill me. I've had so many 16 hour days lately that I may be close to a brand new tax bracket, which would not be a good thing. The government would just suck it all away anyways.

I did move. I'm in my own place now, and loving it. I have a kitchen that stays clean and can be used at any time of the day or night, I have a (moderately) clean apartment complete with a cat named Fred (don't ask). So life has stabilized somewhat for me, I'm eating healthier (she says as she looks at that last slice of pizza just lying there in the box, so lonely...), no really. I actually cook decent for myself (although it is a pain to cook for one). And lots of salad and stuff like that so I'm getting plenty of roughage.

I completed the Hackintosh project the other day. I have a Sandy Bridge i5 in a cute little motherboard in a cute little case that I managed to shoehorn OS X Lion 10.7.2 on. If anyone is interested here's the url that tells how to do it... http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/

And if you're too lazy to look at the url, here's what it looks like...

It's small enough that it can actually fit on the corner of the desk. Makes a bit of heat out the back but not enough to matter. I know what you're thinking. "What do you want with OS X?" Well it's something different, something fun to play with. And it was a project, kept me off the streets and i like working with my hands. Makes a nice little media center pc, does 1080p out the dual HDMI ports on the back, and runs Boxee pretty well too.

So I just got back from taking my friend to work (yep, still doing that). Might curl up in bed with my ipad and read a while or watch a bit of tv or maybe try angry birds (still haven't gotten around to trying that yet).

I'll see if i can't do this a bit more often than once a year :-)

Catching up again...

2010-09-12T17:31:00.002-04:00

I was recently invited to write on another blog, a compendium of stories by guest writers, one per day. I declined, and here's why. First of all, it's hard enough for me to get motivated to write for THIS blog, where I am not limited in what I can say. Second, I thought the blog was nothing more than Twitter or Plurk writ large. And as such, I found it incredibly boring. I guess I'm just not one of those that care to know what my fellow humans are doing every moment of their lives.

And so, I have decided that, should I have anything to say, this is the forum that I will use to say it in. Total freedom and total responsibility.

Also, let me make my faithful readers aware that comments have been turned on, so if you want to tell me what a mushbrain I am, please feel free. I will defend your right to say what you will, at the risk that you'll look sillier than I do already.

Now, on to more day to day matters. I am in the market for a new car. As many of you may already know, I drive a very old and well worn van, and it is on the verge of being junkyard fodder. So I think it's unwise to wait much longer, else I'll find myself on the side of the road instead of doing my job. That has dominated my thoughts recently (once again, as those of you that know me know, since I rarely talk about much else).

I did discover "tiny's" yesterday. My gf Addi mentioned having an interest in seeing if she could find a small av for Second Life, and I came along to see if there were any lulz to be found. She ended up as a green unicorn and I as a crocodile. I'm pretty sure I won't be wearing it often, but it was humorous. And yes, if there is enough interest, I will provide pictures.

Addi's new job seems to be doing well for her, both from a financial and an emotional point of view, which pleases me greatly. I'm hoping that she's able to keep it for a while, as long as it serves its purpose. I've learned that working outside the home is the best way to get rid of the blues. You get to meet others, see new things and make money besides.

Ok, that's all I have for now. Comments?

Where the hell is Oregon?

2010-08-19T21:42:00.003-04:00

Well, Suzie, Oregon is on the left coast, tucked between California and Washington. It has lots of trees and mountains, and a couple nice sized cities (Portland, Salem, Eugene) and a slew of small ones. It's a strange state in that the western half is liberal and the eastern half is conservative, but fortunately the cities are in the western half, so the state tends to lean to the Democrats. Not always but usually.

Anyway, that's where I am this week. Heading home on Saturday, arriving home on Sunday about 6am. A long layover at LAX to deal with. I'll buy a paperback at the airport maybe. Or take a nap. Who knows?

Boss asked me if I'd be interested in a position where I'd be ready to jump on a plane on a moment's notice to go help out when techs get stuck working on stuff. Sounds like fun, except the plane part. Can't win 'em all.

It's time to go find some foods before it gets too late. There's a Quizno's nearby and that sounds pretty good right about now. Talk to me later.

I'm BAAAAAAAAAACK!

2010-08-11T10:27:00.004-04:00

Well I sort of fell off the earth there for a while, didn't I? Too much work and too little time to enjoy life. It does seem that I am back, however. So we'll see. To catch up, I'm still working for the same company, doing more or less the same stuff, except now I'm doing a lot more service calls than I am installs. Which makes sense, you install all of that hardware and somebody has to fix it.

At any rate, the summer is beastly here in Ohio (Round on the ends, Hi in the middle, OHIO!) and I can't wait for fall. I've been doing all these service calls in my ratty old van and I'm more surprised than anyone that it still runs. It loses a lot of power steering fluid, but I keep putting more in. Doesn't help the parking lot, it looks like hell now, but that's life. Until I can save enough up for a new car, I have to live with what I had. I didn't buy it to drive all over the place, I bought it to live in, and now that I have other accommodations, it fits my lifestyle not so well.

Usually (or so I've always thought) people have blogs when they have important things to say. Well I don't. None of this is important to anyone but me, and to think that anyone else would care one way or another is just silly. This is more an exercise in writing, and nothing else. If someone else should read it, well, enjoy, but I don't write for you anyway. I write to satisfy myself.

Ok then. I have a video conference coming up in a half an hour so I'd better get ready for it. Nice talking to me again. See me later.

What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been v2

2010-01-19T12:56:00.005-05:00

Took off from LAX Saturday afternoon on Frontier Airlines. Landed in Denver, couple hours layover, then got on the plane to Dayton. Got to Dayton but couldn't land because of fog. So they took us to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And no, I forgot to get some cheese curds while I was there. Damn it.

Anyway, this was at like 2 am Sunday morning. Then I found out that I can't get to Dayton from Milwaukee. Figures. They wanted to fly everyone to Columbus and bus us to Dayton sometime late Sunday. Well that might work for the casual tourist but I had stuff to do. So I waited until 7 am when the Avis counter opened and got a car and drove the 9 hours to Dayton. The fog was so bad on Sunday that I'm sure I beat the rest of them back; in fact they may still be out there someplace.

OMG was I tired. I did stop at a rest stop outside Indianapolis and rested for an hour, but that was about it. When I got back I just about fell into bed and stayed there a while, then got ready to go to the East Coast, where I am now. More on the "Garden State" later.

Boss didn't do backflips when he saw how much the rental car cost, but then he didn't shoot me either. "Shit happens, try not to do it again please" was all I got. I can live with that.

So anyways, back from LA. I wish I'd had more time to sight see. The way it works is that I get to travel a lot but I usually end up seeing the inside of client stores and airports and hotel rooms. There never seems to be time to truly enjoy myself. Well I did get a little time last Friday, but that was sucked up by shopping for souvenirs hehe.

Well that's about it for now. Hopefully this week will be a little less stressful. We'll see.

What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been

2010-01-12T00:12:00.006-05:00

Sunday morning I was chipping the ice from my windshield in -1 deg F weather in Dayton. Today it was in the 70's and I was running the air conditioner in the car.

I have been in Los Angeles less than 48 hours and I can already see why people would want to live here, and why people would love to leave here. The first part first. In general, it's beautiful here and the weather is lovely.

These people in Los Angeles are so clever! They have the world's nicest parking lots. They even name them! I was in one this morning. They call it the 405. It was like Christmas, all the twinkling red lights in front of me as far as the eye could see...

Well I'm not going to criticize. It is what it is. And there is way more to see than I will get a chance to see. But what I've seen so far is nice.

Is there anyone left in Mexico? I think they all live in LA now. It's certainly a bi-lingual city, and it has a different flavor than anywhere I've ever been.

I drove up into the mountains today, to Palmdale and Lancaster up Highway 14. A nice drive (i drove over 200 miles today to get to 3 stores) and it was interesting. I hope to have some pictures eventually; it's hard to stop in the middle of a freeway and take pictures, plus in the current climate you're likely to be taken for a terrorist.

That's all I have right now. That's my story and i'm sticking to it.

Sweet Home Chicago

2010-01-08T01:17:00.003-05:00

(with apologies to the Blues Brothers)

Oh man. I have had the worst week. The weather is bad, the traffic is worse, and it seems everything in this city is broken. I have been so busy I haven't had time to do anything but work and drive and sleep. And damned little sleep, I might add.

I can't feature how almost every freeway in Chicago is toll. What is up with that? I spent $20 in tolls yesterday. ONE DAY.

I would certainly love to rant some more, but I have places to go and people to see. More when I can.

Time for a break

2009-12-13T22:18:00.004-05:00

I think it's time to back away slowly from the keyboard and take a break from the Internet. I have so many things I could and should be doing, that I believe its as good a time as any to cut the cord for a while and see what life is like without being connected 24/7.

And so, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a great holiday season. I shall resume my Internet activities after New Years Day 2010. Or not. I might find I like being disconnected. You just never know.

Linden Lab's Latest Lunacy

2009-11-20T17:55:00.004-05:00

Normally I like to talk about things that matter to me and my friends only, like Addi's new job or Cat's new shoes or my travels around the United States. But not so much today.

Today's topic is what Second Life has chosen to do to a good percentage of people that offer goods on XStreetSL for free or reasonable prices. They've dreamed up a great new revenue stream, and after consulting with almost no one, decided to implement it. L$99 a month to give away a freebie, and new fees being put into place that they're calling "commission". There are a couple problems here. The first is arbitrarily making decisions that effect almost the entire user base, without considering what the user base wants. Oh sure, you could have come to one of their three "office hours", but if you've ever been to one, especially one that has generated any sort of interest, you know what lag means. There has to be, and there is, a better way. LL has the ability to have every av that logs on vote on a particular thing. It's trivial to implement and there is no way to cheat, it's one vote per av, period. Why can't they do that? Only if it's a case of "This is what we're going to do, we'll solicit your opinions but we've no intention of actually listening", and anything else is just eyewash.

The second problem is that there are many small entrepreneurs in SL that don't make all that much in the first place, and this will drive them out regardless what the quality of their item(s) might be. Large does not equal quality, and anyone that's been in SL more than three minutes knows that. There are some good sized stores in SL that make crap, no question. I used to enjoy hopping from sim to sim (yeah I must really be an old timer to be able to remember teleporting) looking for new stores and new items, but it took a lot of time, most of it wasted. SLX, the predecessor to XStreetSL, changed that, and made it easy to find new things. It was a novelty when bouncing around the grid was trivial. It became a necessity when travel went to hell and lag ruled. So I will miss it. Yes, I'm pulling out too. No, i'm not a content creator, just a buyer. But I have friends that are creative and make things, and maybe my money is a trivial loss to XStreetSL but my support for my friends has no price.

It is possible that someone at LL might notice the firestorm outside their windows and say "Oh shit, maybe we had better rethink this!". Not very likely. I've been in SL a good while, and so I've seen a lot of this sort of thing. They said it was "our" world to make things and explore. There was a time when the Lindens actually minded their own business and didn't meddle that much in our lives, only to keep the peace and fix borked sims and such. Those were the good old days. Now they're Mommy and Daddy and the police force all rolled up into one, and it's not helping. There was a time when the worst thing we had to worry about was the occasional griefer and today's drama at the club. I miss that.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Changes with CA's Music Box

2009-11-07T23:57:00.006-05:00

(hehe no this isn't it, but it could have been)

http://casmusicbox.net

Well nothing you can see. I decided to retire the dinosaur it was running on, and replaced it with a Thinkpad R51 I had sitting around doing nothing. Way less power, less heat generated, and it uses a lot less space than the old tower it replaced. Oh and a built in UPS. Don't know why I didn't think of this before :-)

The switchover went smoothly. a short burp, less than 1 second, when I switched over from one box to the other. Of course, I sincerely doubt that anyone was listening when it happened, so it most likely went unnoticed.

I'd like to have more listeners, sort of. You've heard of vanity publishers for books? Well this is like a vanity internet radio station. If I made it a proper station it would take a lot of work, and anyone that knows me knows my position on work that doesn't pay.

Had a tire issue on the van today, and of course I have no spare. That will change on Monday, I assure you. It just never occurred to me to check. I'm learning. Anyway, it cost me a good bit to get my tire fixed but I managed to get it done and got back on the road, so nothing lost but some time.

That's all for now.

Homeward Bound

2009-11-05T09:37:00.007-05:00

(with apologies to Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel)

One day left and it's adieu to the Bluegrass State. Looking forward to it, but I haven't really anything to complain about. I've had a nice suite here at the Breckenridge Inn, the staff are all very nice, and there are plenty of nice establishments to eat at when I have the urge. Nice shopping in the area too. Not New York shopping of course, but nice nonetheless.

At any rate, Friday evening will find me back in my own bed, and for that I'm grateful. Not sure what the rest of the year will hold though. I expect I may have a few repair jobs to do between now and January but project work has stopped for the year. I'm told retail establishments don't like having vendors in their stores in November and December. I can understand that.

Going to spend some family time on Saturday, it's been too long. But with all the forthcoming free time in the next two months or so I should be able to catch up. Also looking forward to re-establishing myself in Second Life, which I've also neglected a good deal lately. Work does that sometimes. Hopefully my friends understand that real life pays for the virtual and so has a certain importance :-)

So let's see how this thing plays out.

Cox Smokers and Windows 7 Day!

2009-10-22T19:28:00.004-04:00

Yes, boys and girls, there is a place in Louisville, Kentucky that sells cigarettes, etc called that. Here is the pic, since Addi demanded it...

Yep. And you thought I was pulling your leg.

And today is the day you can legally plunk down your hard earned cash for a new operating system. Sadly there is no upgrade path from XP; you have to reinstall all of your applications after wiping your hard drive. Sure it's shiny and new, but really, if you have XP and it works just fine, why would you want to switch? Bill G has enough money.

Fly A$$ Delta Coochies

2009-10-14T21:25:00.006-04:00

Here's a good one...

Click Me

Flying on Delta last week reminded me of this comedy bit. Don't have a clue where it came from but it is funny. Enjoy!

Hello from Atlanta/Hartsfield Int'l Airport

2009-10-09T18:46:00.002-04:00

Just hanging out, waiting for my flight. I have a three hour layover so I thought I'd check mail, etc. and say a few words before my battery goes away for the duration.

This is a farking big airport. I'm sitting here in the T Concourse watching planes come in through a huge glass window and the sky is filled with airplanes. Well not really but I can look out the window and I count 4 incoming that i can see. Not counting the hundreds on the ground or in various stages of taking off. It's quite interesting.

I'm about to find a restaurant and see if I can't find something to eat here shortly. I won't check in tonight, I'll be too tired and it will be too late. And the turnaround is short; I have to leave again Sunday afternoon. No rest for the wicked.

So until next time, thank you for flying Delta.

A Day In The Life

2009-10-08T09:43:00.003-04:00

(with apologies to John and Paul)

All the work is done, the customers are happy, and my plane doesn't take off until tomorrow afternoon. What should I do?

hmmm....

wait for it....

SHOPPING!

So I'm getting dressed and going to a nice large mall and see what I can find that I just can't live without. I've been thinking of a leather coat, as the winters in Ohio suck, so maybe that. But there's no hurry, so I might not.

I'm supposed to meet the other person doing my job here, plus the company rep, at Dave and Busters at that mall at 1pm for lunch and some arcade action. I suppose I can take a break from all that shopping to do a bit of gaming. Oh did I mention I'm getting paid for all this? Ain't life grand?

Well I got my schedule for next week. As it turns out, they have something for me to do during our downtime, which is good. I'd frankly rather work. Sitting around waiting for something to happen makes me very nervous. Mostly because I worry that if there's nothing to do they might let me go so they don't have to pay me until the main project starts back up in January, and that would not be my first choice.

Word from Addi yesterday is that the replacement for the cable her puppy chewed in half is in the works, and we should have her back online soon. No sign of Lav lately, so I'm sure she's hard at work on A-BOMB's latest fashion sensation.

Time to jump in the shower and get moving, there's shopping waiting for me!

Get 'er Done!

2009-10-02T10:46:00.002-04:00

Well I'm pleased and proud to say that I've managed to survive this week. It was hideous at first, Monday was a 14 hour day on my feet, and Tuesday was slightly better, only about 9 hours. Wednesday was much better though, and I think we got this install thing down cold. Which is great, now that we're done installing here. But there will (hopefully) be other opportunities shortly. We'll see. In the meantime I get to hang around for another week or so, sucking on the corporate teat and hoping nothing breaks.

Actually got to sleep in this morning, with nothing scheduled. I missed breakfast, which feels weird, but no worries. Now as soon as the 1pm meeting is over I'm going shopping! It's payday, I'm in a strange city with a car, and time on my hands. WOOHOO! Let's do it.

I shall report on anything worth reporting from my excursion. L8R!

Carolina In My Mind

2009-09-27T21:23:00.002-04:00

(with apologies to James Taylor)

Here we are in the "Deep South" finally. Time to get on with the job, starting tomorrow morning. Looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

Very tired. Long trip, two flights to get here and a long meeting at 6pm. So as soon as I'm done here, it's off to bed. At least it's a very nice hotel, and I think I'm going to enjoy it here.

Well, more when I'm awake enough.

About Damned Time

2009-09-26T19:37:00.005-04:00

I've been distracted lately. And with the major push starting tomorrow in the project I can't name for the store I can't name, everyone has been running around like decapitated chickens. I've not had a lot of time to relax and take it easy, and spare time may be hard to come by until, oh, November.

But, having said that, I'm still here, and that's what counts, no? Living from day to day, not looking too far forward, not looking too far back. Every day is a new day, a new challenge, and one day closer to the next paycheck!

Well. Tomorrow morning I once again get to experience the miracle of flight. I have packed and I'm ready for bed. I wanted to take the opportunity to say hello to everyone and I'll do my best to carve out some free time in the coming weeks.

Oh and Addi, save me some halloween candy, will you? I like Reese's cups. And those caramel apple suckers if you can find them. Those rock.

International Bacon Day

2009-09-05T14:18:00.002-04:00

In honor of International Bacon Day...

MEAT BIKINIS!

Well That Was Different

2009-08-26T22:33:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I finally get to my hotel and check in, drop my bags off in the room then go have a nice dinner. I came back to the room and hooked up the laptop, wanting to check my mail and see if there were any updates to the procedures I was supposed to use.

So I got an email that said, never mind, the job at your site was cancelled. Don't go.

Wut?

This was sent FIVE HOURS after I left. Like I was supposed to get that. Well, no matter. I canceled my wake up call, and after a leisurely breakfast I will proceed back home, and I'll just consider this a brief paid vacation.

Actually it's too bad, there's not really much to see between here and there. I have my camera, but nothing worth using it on. Figures.

Ok. That's it for now. More news as it happens.

Punky's Dilemma

2009-08-19T08:52:00.003-04:00

(with apologies to Simon and Garfunkel)

Oy. The good news is that I'm getting paid. The bad news is that I'm not doing anything yet to earn it. Just about one teleconference a day, training on their Byzantine parts ordering and time management software, and trying to stay cool. I know, it could be worse. But honestly, I've gotten used to sleeping and eating on someone else's dime, and I've come to enjoy it a great deal. So the sooner we get this show on the road, the better.

Had an interesting day in real life yesterday. Finally figured out what was making me sick for the last three + days. Seems the neighbors tore out a whole bunch of vegetation on their side of the fence, right next to where I sleep. So they've kicked something nasty into the air, and it's been reacting very violently with me, causing me to have extreme dizziness, nausea and headaches. I finally figured it out, took a couple Benadryl and slept like a baby for most of the day. Hell of a way to waste a day but I was really exhausted from fighting this thing. For some reason I hadn't considered allergies, it seemed different from previous experiences I've had. Was beginning to think maybe I had an inner ear infection, or vertigo or some strange jungle fever. I never had an allergic reaction that strong before. Weird.

Lady from work sent me an email this morning. Oh like we made a mistake and sent you too much money in your paycheck, so we'll take it out next time. Wut? And here I thought I was just being better appreciated :-) Shoulda known better.

Anyways, boies and gurls, it's time for yours truly to get to work on some study materials I will need to familiarize myself with before today's dog and pony show. Do have a truly marvelous day.

"You can explore the universe looking for somebody who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and you will not find that person anywhere." - Buddhist saying

So I'm Back, Ok?

2009-08-09T20:32:00.008-04:00

I got back fairly late yesterday after one of those horror stories where you arrive at the airport and look at the board and see YOUR flight with no take off time. Um...ok, where is the damned thing? Seems they had some mechanical troubles and hadn't taken off yet from the origin city. I'm all for making sure the thing runs properly but when it finally got there, it was a sight to see. Calling it a jet was technically correct but it looked like a learjet on steroids. And not too many steroids either. It had one row of 18 seats on the left and 2 rows of 17 seats on the right. I think I might have been able to lay down in the middle and touch both sides, which is weird. The paint was peeling and the upholstery had seen better days. The flight crew of 3 (pilot, co-pilot and Stu, the steward) seemed competent enough but I got the sense that they really didn't want to be there either.

Now I've ridden in some junkers before but this one, with it's recent history of mechanical problems (see previous paragraph about delays), had my full attention for the entire 45 minute flight from Chicago to Dayton. I didn't kiss the tarmac when we arrived (Dayton had one of those things that seals against the door and you walk right into the terminal; oddly enough, O'Hare did not, so we walked across the hot pavement and climbed this really steep stairway to get in the thing), but I was damned glad to get here. By the time we arrived, all the shops in the airport had closed for the evening. I guess they don't get a lot of business after 8 pm. But that was ok. All I wanted was to get my luggage, get in the car and get the hell away from there, and that was accomplished without further incident.

Good grief it was hot today. I hung out at my friend's instead of in the van. I do have to get my laundry finished tonight, so after I take her to work I'll be stopping at the laundromat for a bit. I have to make sure I'm packed and ready to head for the airport at the ring of a phone. So who knows where I'll be tomorrow, but tonight I'm here.

According to an article I read today on Yahoo, Portland's Airport is supposed to be the 2nd best airport in the US. Well I don't know about that, it was reasonably clean and all, and busy, but I'm not sure what criteria they used to rate them. I'm fond of Dayton's airport. I get in and out of there quickly, the parking isn't too expensive and the shuttle drivers know me now so they take good care of me. Tipping them well doesn't hurt though!

I believe that I previously reported that the laptop worked ok with SL, and so it does, except for one weird issue. Sculpties refuse to rez. Whatever they are, couch cushions, boot parts or whatever, remain as large blobs. Kind of weird, isn't it? I'll keep looking at the settings and see if I can't figure it out. If anyone has any ideas, don't hesitate to speak up. It's an Intel 965 chipset with built in graphics.

Ok, enough for now.

What exactly is a Non Disclosure Agreement?

2009-08-06T00:13:00.005-04:00

What it is, is a promise not to blab what you know on your blog or to the local newspaper what you learned about whatever you signed the NDA about. Like me and my job. Oops.

Well not terribly so oops. I've went back over the last couple of blogs and removed any references to the particular company or companies that have decided to avail themselves of my services. I will from now on allude to them as "customer", being careful not to mention their iconic store emblem (which they seem to be phasing out) or their huge number of stores, or for that matter their rank in the Forbes top 100 companies. It would seem that this customer is very sensitive about their public image, and I would hate to do anything that could possibly damage ongoing negotiations with them.

I would absolutely hate to jeopardize my employment over something like this. So I will ask anyone taking advantage of the comments section to not speculate who the customer might be. Thank you for your help.

I Hate Flying

2009-08-03T22:16:00.003-04:00

...and so, having borrowed Addi's broom, I have arrived on the left coast. I can now reliably report that it looks pretty much like where I just left, only somewhat more west (?). The flight itself was uneventful, and that's exactly the way I like it. Came out of Chicago on a 757, and while I've flown on larger planes, this one carried a lot of people. And every seat was full, so it took about 20 minutes to get to my seat (all the way in the back of course) and about 15 minutes to get off the thing after it stopped. I truly hate people that have to back up everyone else while they fiddle about, taking their luggage in or out of the overhead bins. I do wish they'd do away with those.

Oh one thing. About three hours into the four hour flight, this angel of mercy came up the isle with "Starbucks Coffee? Starbucks Coffee?"... The smell almost sent me into Nirvana right there and then. So I beseeched this fair lady to bestow upon me a small taste, and yea, it was good. In a Styrofoam cup, crammed into my seat like a sardine, but oh man was that good coffee! Thank you United Airlines. It made the rest of the day liveable.

I will try hard to find something to take a picture of, but I'm not interested in more printer pictures, and I'm pretty sure my gentle readers would rather not have to suffer through any.

Had a pizza party/get together for dinner tonight, and they have a place here that makes darned good pizza. I shouldn't be surprised, the ratio of geeks to non-geeks is frightfully high here. AND if that wasn't enough, it's a college town.

School starts tomorrow, so it's an early night for yours truly. See you all later!

Learning to Fly

2009-08-01T16:11:00.010-04:00

(with apologies to Pink Floyd (anyone sensing a theme here?))

Getting ready for Monday morning's trip to the west coast. I just got back from shopping, needed a few new outfits and I can afford it so I did it. Feels nice to have some new clothes, it's been a while.

New laptop arrived the other day, Sprint card came in the day after, and I spent a good bit of time getting it ready. Had to add a lot of stuff I'd need on the road, like, you know, itunes and firefox and stuff hehe. So like, yeah, it's a Stinkpad, but it's got a nice wide screen. The down side is that I can't get SL to run on the thing at all. Hippo won't even run on it. Oh well. I guess I'll have to just watch a lot of movies on it to occupy my time.

I'm excited to get back to work. I have no idea what my schedule will look like after this coming week. I'll be sure to update everyone when I hear something. See ya!

The News is Good

2009-07-22T09:56:00.002-04:00

I failed to mentioned that there was some competition for the aforementioned work that I was looking forward to. I managed to convince the interviewers that I was the person for the job, and so I will be looking forward to a good bit of work in the future. I feel like I'm getting closer to being able to get that RV I've been dreaming about, and taking this show on the road in a more permanent fashion. Stay tuned for more information as it happens!

Working For A Living

2009-07-16T14:00:00.006-04:00

(With apologies to Huey Lewis and the News)

Yep, I got the word today, we go back to work August 3rd, and they expect to keep me busy right up to Thanksgiving (late November for those non-Americans out there). I'm told to expect to get some serious frequent flyer miles (do they still even do those?) as I jet around the USA bringing enlightenment and better photos to the masses. WOOHOO! More info as it's available.

Which brings to mind that p.o.s. laptop and how exciting it sounds to have to use it for four months. Nah not so much. I suspect when my situation stabilizes I may have to shop for a new laptop, something that will run Windows Seven respectably, and I'd like a core duo and 4 gig of memory. Yeah we're talking a grand probably. Maybe I'll have to look at eBay.

And now, friends, let's hear it for Afghanistan's one and only pig, recently released from quarantine because residents were afraid it would give them swine flu.

One of the more enlightened residents had this to say: "I think it's an interesting animal in terms of the way it looks. You can't really use it for anything ..." said 22-year old biology student Fatemeh. Obviously these people have never had BACON!!!!!!!

(Hehe I know how much Addi loves bacon, so I couldn't resist the gratuitious reference)

And on that note, I will shut up for now. Life is a lot easier to put up with when you know your immediate future is secure. Signing off for now. Ciao!

Eat It, It's Good For You

2009-07-13T08:54:00.002-04:00

I remember my mother saying that. Usually as part of coercing me to eat something loathsome like broccoli or spinach. That came to me as I was thinking about this blog. One of those things that's good for me, but reading what I've written invariably feels like listening to someone scrape their fingernails across a blackboard. I truly hope it's not as bad for you, gentle reader, but by looking at my web site hits I'm pretty sure it is.

We're still waiting for Addi to get her intarweb connection back. We really miss her and wish her a speedy return to wasted days in front of a monitor. After all, why should she get to miss what the rest of us take for granted?

It's Monday morning here in SkunkScent, Ohio, and I'm not working yet. Hoping to hear something soon. Not that I don't enjoy the relaxation but I begin to get nervous when outgoing cash flow exceeds incoming cash flow for any length of time. Granted, my rent here in my van is pretty cheap ($0) and all I really pay for right now is electricity and food, so my overhead is reasonably low. Still, nothing lasts forever, and that counts double for my last paycheck.

I've been spending some time in my friend Jes's OpenSimulator sim. She kindly leased me a region and I've been busily building my house and yard. Yeah, sure, it's not real, but it's fun to play with. And I can entertain there as well as anywhere else. There aren't that many people I'm interested in entertaining anyway, and I'm pretty sure I can get them to come over from SL and sit for a spell or whatever.

Ok, time to go back to sleep or something. Wal-Mart Sux, etc.

Time for a New Phone

2009-07-09T16:08:00.005-04:00

Well I bit the bullet and bought a new phone. The old one had a bad battery and just wouldn't hold a charge for a whole day, so it became a liability to keep. I looked at what was available in prepaid phones and came up with this phone from T-Mobile. It's a Samsung SGH-t349 and while it's not a true qwerty keypad, it's way better than this monstrous little piece of s*%t it replaced. So I can actually text if I need to. Now mind you, I'm not a fan of texting, but I've found that the ability to get in touch when I'm out of wireless range on the laptop is a valuable thing to have.

I had a disagreement with the bank and I lost (of course). So I'm broke again. Sigh. Here's a valuable lesson kids. Don't bank at the same place you have a car loan you can't afford. They can sneak into your checking account in the dead of night and empty it.

Rotton Bastards. Anyone using Huntington Bank that is having trouble would be wise to take my advice and pull any cash immediately that you might have exposed to them. I'm now back to wondering what I'll be eating soon. Thank you Huntington Bank for helping me get back on my feet. Rotton Bastards.

No work yet. Here we go again. Wait, wait, wait, OMG HURRY HURRY HURRY, wait, wait wait...

That's all for now. I'll check back in when I have something positive to report.

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-04T22:31:00.002-04:00

What else can go wrong? I slipped on some oil in the parking lot after the cookout today and whacked my left wrist down on the pavement. I'm not going to even talk about my ass, it's just sore. My wrist is something else, however. It's not swollen so I'm pretty sure I didn't break anything. If I had to guess I'd say I hit the carpel tunnel because my fingers have been tingling like crazy ever since I did it. That's the good news. The bad news is it feels like tendonitis, and that hurts. So I stopped into the local Evil Empire and picked up a wrist brace. It feels a little better when it's on but it makes typing a chore. And yes, I will see a doctor if it swells up or gets worse. All they would do for me now is take a few x-rays, give me some drugs and take a pile of my money. Naah. Let's wait and see how this plays out.

The cookout was nice. Plenty of good foods, but I was good and only had just a little of everything. It was hard to stay away from the dessert though.

Ok, tired and sore, going to hit the bed for now. Will write more when the spirit moves me.

Four Weeks In NYC...

2009-06-30T21:38:00.005-04:00

...and all I got was this lousy paycheck. Well not really lousy. Anyways, peeps, I'm back in the captain's chair, and I really missed being able to use a computer that I don't hate.

Off work this week, coming up on the July 4th weekend, and the NY customer didn't want us in their stores this week for some reason, so there's nothing to do. I may have to go back there next week, and then again, I may not. Would be nice to get some local work, but I'm not in a position to turn down any.

Looking for a new phone, a qwerty prepaid cell phone to make texting on the road easier. Anyone have any recommendations?

So I don't have much to say right now, still busy trying to get laundry done and catch up on everything I missed. Like, oh, I don't know....sleep maybe. I'll be back when I have something to say, and knowing me that shouldn't be too long.

On The Turning Away...

2009-06-22T15:57:00.006-04:00

(with apologies to Pink Floyd (the other Pink Floyd (without Roger Waters)))

"We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776

Having said that, it's the rare government that will allow this without violence. I wish the best to the protesters in Iran. I do not expect it to be successful though. I hope I'm proven wrong.

The ability of states like Iran and China to suppress news when it benefits them only increases as the world turns away from analog and embraces the digital. Knowledge and information wants to be free (as in speech, not beer) and I worry that the world will lose this as the ease of cutting off the flow of information increases. The Internet was supposed to open things up, but it has the opposite effect in the way it facilitates manipulation of the data stream.

Iran is too large a country to continue to be an international pariah because of its politics. And as a rule, I don't care much for the "Religion of Peace"™ and those countries that use it as an excuse to kill people they don't like. I'm hopeful that a regime change in Iran could bring to power someone who has a clue about how to get along with the rest of the world.

I'm back in NYC for the week, and hopefully this project will be wrapping up soon. I enjoy the travel and especially the money, but I'm tired and ready to get back to "normal".

A New York State Of Mind

2009-06-11T18:01:00.007-04:00

It just struck me as funny. What can I say? Someone took the time to completely strip this bicycle right off the front rim, still connected to the bike rack. I was walking by this the other day and it didn't register for about five seconds, then I had to come back and take a quick picture of it. It was hard to hold the camera steady, what with the laughing and all.

So I'm learning the New York City subway system. I mostly take the 4 or 5 up and down Manhattan. I've found that the island is not all that wide, so if I can get up or down the island in the middle, either side is usually within walking distance, which kind of works. And there's always a taxi if I'm in a hurry. I've learned that the east/west subways don't run all that often, so it's usually faster to walk anyways. I bought some new shoes today so that hopefully I won't have to limp around because my feet hurt.

I'm off tomorrow, so if it doesn't rain (50% chance) I think I'll go sightseeing. Last weekend I went to see Central Park and walked the length of it to Times Square and then back across the island to where I'm staying. I have a camera but I'm a little hesitant to look too much like a tourist. I walked past the Chrysler building today and looked up and couldn't see the top for the fog, so I'll make sure it's clear before I chance going to the Empire State Building.

Most of my pictures have been of the work sites I've been to, and I'm not going to bore anyone with looking at pictures of printers. I will try very hard, if the weather obliges, to get some pictures this weekend. This is supposed to be my last full weekend here, as I received my reservations to fly out on the 20th. Well that is subject to change of course, depending on how the project goes. So we'll see. I'm loving feeling employed and valuable again, and I hope I can keep it up for a few decades :-)

Here's a news flash. There are NO Wal-Marts in New York City proper. None of the five boroughs has allowed a Wal-Mart to be built here. The closest Wal-Mart is in White Plains, NY or across the river in New Jersey. It feels a little strange, because I didn't think there was anywhere in the world one could get away from the Evil Empire™.

I've been jonesing for my fix of MSNBC but the television package here at the hotel (the Fitzpatrick Grand Central Hotel) has four Spanish Channels and a CHINESE channel, but no MSNBC. Go figure. At least I can get Rachel Maddow's podcast to listen to on my trusty iPod on the subway, so all is not lost. Have to make sure those darned conservatives don't try to sneak anything past us.

I know that all conservatives aren't right wing nutjobs. I also know that not all right wing nutjobs kill abortion doctors and/or bomb clinics. Still it stuns me that someone can kill another human being and call themselves "pro-life". Arbeit Macht Frei.

Thank you for your kind attention to my blog. I will go now, but I will try to be back this weekend with some pictures worthy of your time. Have a nice day!

Damn This Place Is Big

2009-06-01T21:52:00.002-04:00

That's right folks, you heard it here first. NYC is farking BIG. It's hard not to gawk, it's pretty damned impressive. I sure wouldn't want to live here though. The cab driver scared the hell out of me on the way in from the airport. A rental car downtown would be a huge mistake.

So anyway, I got in town about 6 pm, took another hour to get to the hotel, got checked in then promptly went out and found dinner. I had a nice Caesar Salad, nothing special but the price. Oh did I mention this is the most expensive place on earth?

So anyway the room is old fashioned but nice. Click here if you'd like to have a look at it. It is a small island of quiet in the middle of Manhattan, very little traffic on this piece of 44th Street due to the way things are set up, so no complaints there. I just got here so I can't really say too much yet, so I'll save any more comments for another time.

Oh yeah. God I hate flying. It's just such a hassle, it's hard to believe people do this for fun. I prefer to drive whenever possible. I understand that it wasn't possible this time, so I went along with it. But damn I hate flying.

All right. The evening is starting to get away from me. Let me wrap this up. Wal-Mart sucks, BACON, et cetera. Stay tuned.

Tasty Bacon Wrapped Hotdogs

2009-05-30T23:22:00.004-04:00

Why Do They Call NYC The "Big Apple"?

2009-05-30T16:29:00.008-04:00

Hey boys and girls! I'm heading to the big apple on Monday for some work! WOOHOO! And not only that, but my accommodations are very nice, all things considered. I'm excited about finally getting some work. It will feel nice to have money again. Now if i can only find a way to make this a permanent situation...

And no, I'm not taking the van. First of all, I'm not sure how it would survive a trip of that length. And secondly, parking in Manhattan is problematical (and expensive) at best. So I'll be flying. Addi offered me her broom but I declined (love you Addi :-) ). US Air still flys (who knew?) and we'll see how much peanuts and Diet Coke cost in-flight now. Maybe I can smuggle some starbursts or something in my pocket.

Oh, and Wal-Mart still sucks. Don't know why I said that, except that I think it a lot.

I hear there's a bit of Swine Flu in NYC going around. I hope I can stay healthy long enough to finish the assignment. Last thing I need is to get sick on the job. I'm reasonably healthy so I'm not worried so much about my safety from that. I think the odds of getting mugged and/or raped is a lot bigger than getting the flu. So yes, friends, I shall be careful, stay in well lit places, and I shall not venture out in the dark...oh wait, I have to be on the job at 6 a.m.... oh well. The drunks should be sleeping it off by then.

I am looking forward to seeing Central Park. And probably a few other touristy type places in Manhattan. I have next Saturday and Sunday off with no work to do at all, so I'm going to have to find something to occupy my time. Besides eating and sleeping, of course. The local pizza places will get to know me I'm guessing. Sure I could go to "real" restaurants, and I expect i'll find a few nice Italian places that will feel like home, but anyone that knows me knows I'm a pizza slut, no two ways about it.

Something in the back of my mind keeps saying, "This is a business trip, you need to dress up for it." I keep telling the voice to shut the hell up, it's too hot for that nonsense. I'm flying in jeans, and the discussion is over. I will be damned if I'll be uncomfortable to satisfy some outdated notion of propriety.

Do you think I'm too self-centered on this blog? I don't mean to be, at least I don't think I do. It's just that I have had very few comments to anything I've written since i've started this blog. I know from the counter that it's getting seen occasionally by someone. So let's hear what you think! Do you want more bacon stories? Less? More Wal-Mart trashing?

Plurk. I have decided that I dislike Plurk. I gave it a good honest try, but who really cares what so-and-so had for breakfast, or whatever? I've read some of the most trivial bullshit I think I have ever seen collected in one place on Plurk (aside from this blog perhaps hehe). Not for me.

I helped my friend make a wall today. Well sort of a wall. I mean, what you would call a wall if it didn't float on the top, unencumbered by any sort of anchorage. Fortunately I had nothing to do with that part, my piece of the puzzle involved something called "drywall" and "mud". I thought, how hard can this be, right? I saw my dad do it once, so I'm sure I can manage it. And I did. Sort of. I almost got more mud on the wall than the floor. And isn't the drywall supposed to meet reasonably level? I suspect I had better not quit my day job.

Ok. Time to get off me bum and make like I'm motivated. More from New York later in the week! Stay tuned!

It appears I'm working again

2009-05-23T22:40:00.002-04:00

In a completely surprising move, my "employer" has decided that there is work for me after all, and is now eager to keep me. I smell a raise in my immediate future.

Anyways, it seems that I'll be heading to NYC on the 31st to spend a month working on some stuff. Wow a bed for a whole month! And a paycheck too! I can hardly wait. Which is fortunate for me, because my food should run out about then. It appears that this happened just when i needed it. Now I'm not religious by any stretch of the imagination, so I won't be attributing this to some mystical being that's looking out for my interests. Let's just call it karma...

My graphics card was worrying me. Yeah the new one. It was like, ok, how can you have a modern graphics card without a fan? It's an Nvidia GeForce 8400 GS and it's fanless. And it was running at 165 degrees F, which is stoopid hot. So I took the fan off of my old 7600GT that died a while back, and with some quick and dirty engineering, mounted it on board. Miraculously there was a connector for the fan power on the board (fancy that). So now I'm running at 132F. I didn't do this because I had been having graphical anomalies, or had any mysterious reboots. But silicon that runs that hot doesn't live long.

Well I guess it really doesn't matter, I'm replacing it with a Radeon 4770 (at $109 when you can find them) as soon as I can. The thing is, my tv card doesn't work with the current board, some silly stuff about overlays. So I gotta get something a little more upscale. I miss not having TV. Well not like I watch Oprah every day or soaps or anything, but every now and then it's nice.

My Opensim build is coming along ok on my computer. It's kind of lonely though. I sure wish i was back on the internet with it. Well soon i hope. Addi's friend Kalli has promised hardware and bandwidth to use, so we'll see where that goes.

I'm feeling pretty rough today. I'm not an outdoors person, and my allergies are whipping my ass on a regular basis these days, plus the heat in this tin can gets unbearable during the day. One week left and air conditioning for a freaking month! yay!

Oh and Wal-Mart still sucks. But they did have 24 packs of Diet Coke for FIVE bucks tonight when I went to drop off my host for work. So I snagged a couple. They may be evil but a sale is still a sale, and I'm not in a position to worry too much about ethics. Rich people can worry about saving the whales. Poor folks worry about saving themselves.

All right, enough jabber for one night. Looking forward to preparations for my trip, and crap, I need another suitcase. Sigh. Always something.

High! No not really...

2009-05-17T15:06:00.002-04:00

I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for feeling so crappy lately. It's a combination of things that are conspiring to make me feel miserable.

The good news is I got a gig finally. Not too much to start but with any luck it will pick up soon. And I'll be ready. Starts tomorrow, so I'll be sure to get a good night's sleep.

I'll check back in when I feel better.

The No Win Scenario

2009-05-08T01:22:00.009-04:00

Went out tonight and saw the new Star Trek movie. The theater was less than half full, due probably to no one realizing that the movie was starting a day earlier than advertised.

Forgetting for a moment everything that came before it, and viewing it as a standalone movie in its own right, it wasn't bad. Nice special effects, the occasional bit of humor, lots of action and ass whippings, that sort of thing. Romulan bad guys in a great big ship (sound familiar?), a cameo by Leonard Nimoy, and $5.50 popcorn.

However...(you knew this was coming)...there are going to be a number of people that aren't happy with the casting, as I heard from passersby as I left the theater. I suspect it would be impossible to please everyone, inasmuch as the ensemble cast assembled by Gene Roddenberry in the middle '60's meshed better than anyone ever expected. Bill Shatner, the "male Fay Wray", was just right as the pompous womanizing boss, DeForest Kelley the old country doctor, and so on. And families had years of Kirk, Spock, Bones and the crew in their living rooms to get used to the idea. The new people weren't bad at all, just different enough to be different.

This movie will make Paramount millions of dollars. They'll most likely make a sequal or two. And old timers will bitch and moan about how it was in the old days, just like they always do about everything. If you want to worship at the altar of Star Trek, you may find it hard to swallow. If you approach it like an action movie, then you can enjoy yourself, and try not to think about what you paid at the concession stand.

Bacon Bra

2009-05-04T20:51:00.001-04:00

Where Carly Eats Out

2009-04-30T16:59:00.008-04:00

Perhaps I should change the name of this blog to "Where Carly Eats Out". Well it's payday for my friend who I cart to work in exchange for a place to stay. So we flipped and I lost. We went to Golden Corral and we both ate too much. I guess as long as it's only every other Thursday that I have to overeat, I can manage it. Anyways it's not a bad place, I've been before but it was always too crowded. Well I learned that at 2pm it's still crowded, but mostly with old people. As I'm a good bit faster than your average old person, I was able to scoot around them and it worked out ok. I did have coffee though, they serve Pepsi products (yuck). But the food was ok.

There was one time I thought for sure I'd lose it. I'm sitting there minding my own business and this extremely rotund black guy walks past, you know the type (MTV), yeah he had the baggy pants, the chains, and his hat on backwards, with two plates full of fried chicken, one in each hand. Talk about your stereotypes. Guess you had to be there.

Sweet Jebus, there were 95,000 people at OSU's Spring Game IN THE RAIN. Actually I'm glad I didn't go. That's nearly as bad as a regular season game! And that's more people than Miami (Ohio) will draw at home for the entire season. What does this mean? (1) People in Ohio are crazy? (2) The relative lack of anything else to do in Ohio in April? (3) See #1.

Is the price of bacon going to shoot through the roof now that everyone is killing off their pigs? Better get that bacon suit up for sale Lav.

Oh and Wal-Mart still sucks.

Hello Pollen

2009-04-26T14:37:00.002-04:00

I feel guilty because I haven't said much lately. Plurk has a way of diverting you hehe.

Welcome to summer in the midwest. How people were ever able to live here without Benadryl is beyond me. Sure hope I can afford more after my current batch runs out. And I'm also discovering what it feels like to live in a metal box in the summer. Oy. Drinking lots of fluids and wearing as little as I can legally get away with. And no, I won't post pictures. I usually save the Benadryl for the evening, 'cause it helps me fall asleep.

Got a job nibble on Friday, should know more about it on Monday. A job right about now would be really nice. I was talking to a friend the other day and laughed (yes I still can) about my situation, and said "You know, there was a time I'd spend $300 and not worry about it. Now $3 is a cause for concern." Things will get better. For all of us.

Otherwise, it's a warm, muggy Sunday afternoon here in the Rust Belt. Leaving plurk up in case someone wants to get in touch with me. Think I'll watch a movie and try not to move too much. Supposed to cool off on Tuesday with some rain.

Susie Bright and Plurking and Pizza

2009-04-16T15:36:00.006-04:00

I don't remember where I was, I think i was googling something, and Susie Bright's website http://susiebright.blogs.com popped up. I saw it and said to myself, "hey...that name sounds familiar for some reason..." so I clicked the link, and was blown away to see, as she had posted mere minutes beforehand, that Marilyn Chambers had died.

Now I have a reasonably healthy attitude towards porn. Granted that Marilyn did most of her work before I even existed, I think she brought a touch of class to a genre that was, before her, pretty much men in black socks and grainy 8mm film shot in someone's basement. I did not know the lady but i would have been proud to call her a friend i think. Even if my mother had disapproved.

Anyway, after reading Susie's article and thinking how well thought out it was, I decided to browse her archives. Mistake. Several hours later I realized I had found a kindred spirit. Oh I'm not trying to convince myself that I can write as well as Susie. No, I mean that the depth of feelings and the absolute fearlessness in expressing herself was something I've always aspired to. I have a new hero in the blog arena. You really need to go check this woman's writings out. Trust me, male or female, you'll read them and say "...yeah, that's right!" so many times you'll wonder why you never realized these things before. And while you're there, if the spirit moves you, her tip jar is on the front page and I can't think of anyone that deserves it more.

So we went out to the pizza place again today, and I had my de rigueur garlic bread sticks smothered in alfredo. I feel so decadent doing it, but what the hell. I won't have to eat again today, so I'm good with it. I'm sure I'll tire of it some day. But not today.

I've been working on my OpenSim grid on my own computer as of late, making sure it's ready to go when I can manage to afford a new server. I have an obscene number of regions already, for no good reason other than it keeps me from having to build something and destroy it right away to build something else. I'm trying to come up with a build I'm happy with. I want a cozy Japanese home nestled in the woods with a nice brook nearby, maybe on a mountainside or something like that. I have yet to be able to figure out all the different elements that are required; I suck at making things that are not square. I admit my architectural style is of the Stalinesque school. Maybe some day I'll learn to use curves. So for now I will continue to experiment until i'm satisfied.

My friends over at A-BOMB, Lavea and Addison, are busily cranking out some stylish new stuff and I hope you get to see some of it soon. I think they're some of the most creative people I know in SL these days, with apologies to Austie Pegler(who I still owe for her April Fool's Day joke). Stop by when you're in world and see what they have for sale. Admittedly, not everything is my style, but I'd be worried if it was. It costs nothing to have a look.

I finally signed up for Plurk, just now. here's my page http://plurk.com/CarlyA/invite and we'll see what all the fuss is about.

So until the urge strikes again, see ya!

The Virtual Relationships Manifesto

2009-04-10T21:44:00.012-04:00

There are those that say that virtual relationships aren't real. Specifically in Second Life but in other social networking environments as well, people are frequently scorned for "falling in love in a game".

How can you fall in love with someone you've never seen? At first, this seems like a reasonable question. But then, what of the blind? Very frequently blind people marry, never having seen their spouse. How is this different?

Certainly everyone would agree that love happens in the oddest ways, and that no one really knows why. Science will posit that pheromones can be a factor. Sociologists will state that upbringing is more important, and cynics would insist that we're more likely to pick someone as different from ourselves as possible to ensure a lifetime of arguments.

Just because someone chooses to love someone else based on a different set of criteria from others doesn't make it any less valid. Then let us ask, what are the important qualities that can and should be used to decide if someone is worthy of our love?

To understand this better, I'd like to examine the different criteria that we use in virtual relationships. I love Addi, my girlfriend, very much. I have never seen her (other than a small photo she chose to place in her profile). I have never spoken to her or touched her. Yet she feels the same way about me that i do about her. We have only one method of communication, the typewritten word. How is it possible that a relationship can start, and indeed, blossom, under these circumstances?

It's very surprising how a person's personality can be put on display by their words. Given the right circumstances a person can display all the qualities that make us worthy of love, like trust, faith, honesty, compassion, helpfulness, and friendliness in a very short time. Conversely, a person can show lies, deceit, quarrelsomeness, irritability, irrational behavior, and so on. Those of us that spend a great deal of time in virtual environments learn very quickly to spot the "drama queens" and the people that show by their demeanor or actions that they aren't worthy of our time. The weeding out process happens every second of every day, with every word said. Friends are made and unmade at the speed of electrons.

Let me give you an example. I am by nature a Democrat. I never said this to any of my friends prior to the recent general election. How is it then, that i have managed to surround myself with like-minded individuals without exception? I wanted to argue politics and there was no one in my circle I could do that with, because they all agreed with my position! This wasn't intentional. It was a result of the unconscious weeding out of people that don't see things the way I do. Why that occured is a subject for a different essay, but suffice to say that the process worked as I wished it to, subconsciously.

So. The process also works to bring people together romantically. And why wouldn't it? I obviously make friends with people that feel the same things that I do. They have the same core values that I do. And over time, and through many conversations with them, you begin to get a feel for not just what they will say, but how they will say it. These conversations help us to form a picture in our mind of the person we're talking to.

A picture in your mind? Of course. It's no different from the picture we construct of people in "real life". Everyone you deal with, you form a picture of that person based on the information you have about them. This picture is updated in real-time. The picture is the sum of all data regarding that person. Eventually we can form opinions about that person based on our picture of them. The ratios of facts, feelings and instincts can vary, but the results are the same. The computer on your shoulders is much better at doing this than explaining it, but this is what it does for you, every moment of every day.

For the virtual person, the data set is smaller, but no less significant. We do exactly the same thing in the virtual world to decide how to deal with others. We look at other virtual world residents and we see an "avatar", clothed and adorned in a fashion that tells us a great deal about that person before we ever speak to them. Therefore, for the virtual environment, we have the data set of text conversations plus the visual aspect.

But wait, you say. The visual aspect does not have to necessarily correspond to a person's real life age/sex/ethnicity. How do we know if they are representing themselves truthfully?

A better question is, "Why is that important?"

There are two schools of thought here. One school constantly tests and probes to determine if an avatar is representative of the person that controls it in real life. The other school says that, this being our "Brave New World" of sorts, it does not matter what one's real life is like, and that what is more important is how one presents oneself. In other words, one's real sex or age or ethnicity is irrelevant.

Well then, what's to keep a man from pretending that he's a woman? Absolutely nothing, and that's the whole point. If he's good enough to pull it off, more power to him. You are the sum total of all the data accumulated about you, plus your avatar's clothing and adornment, and nothing more. If an individual decides that they wish to portray themselves as one thing, and they are consistent in that portrayal, then for all intents and purposes they are what they say they are, be that a wolf, a woman or the Stay-Puf Marshmallow Man.

Back to the mental picture. The very same process that brings together two people in real life is used in the virtual environment. The data is examined and categorized in exactly the same way. Granted the inputs are different, but the end result is the same. You love someone in a virtual environment for the very same reasons you do in real life: they make you feel good, they raise your heart rate when you see them (when they come online), they share your values and beliefs, they enjoy the same activities that you do, and so forth. Love in the virtual realm is just as sweet, it affects us in exactly the same ways, and the emotions are the same. Well sort of.

Things happen on the internet at the speed of electrons. While personal relationships aren't formed quite that fast, they do happen much faster than in real life. It's been said that a virtual relationship is "long term" if it lasts a month. I have personally seen many that didn't last that long. The weeding out process works it's way inside the relationship too. We may find that we're not as compatable as we thought we were. Well no harm, we'll just break up. It's not like there's real feelings involved, right?

Wrong. Just like the time is compressed in a relationship, so are the emotions. They can be as intense as any relationship, in this life or any other. Any time one person exposes their inner thoughts and feelings to another, they become vulnerable to that person. And sadly, couple that with the ability of one partner to disappear forever at a whim and you see the possibility for extreme emotional distress. As reprehensible as this sort of behavior is, the Internet spawns this kind of scum far too often. But I digress. The point here is that emotions are as real as they are in any other kind of relationship.

Sounds a lot like real life to me. In my experience, virtual love is as valid, and as valuable, as any other. I have had the privilege to know an individual that I loved in a virtual world that was wheelchair bound and constantly ill. I would have never been able to pursue a relationship with this person in real life for a number of reasons, but in our virtual world we had something special. This person would most likely not have had the opportunity to meet me in her real life, and I would never have had the privilege of experiencing her humor, her tears and her life. So don't tell me it's not real. It's as real as any other, and it's as real as you need it to be.

When The Music's Over

2009-04-07T08:32:00.001-04:00

With apologies to the Doors (and by the way there's a fine clip of this song on youtube here),

Due to a lack of operating funds I had to shut down the server yesterday. That means no more Opensim grid and no more music stream. It's all backed up and ready to resume at a moment's notice, after the current cash flow situation is eased.

It was interesting to learn how to set up. From making the Opensim grid, to setting up streaming, to programming a 24/7 internet radio operation, it was interesting and fun. Although I had very few listeners (much like this blog has very few readers), I enjoyed listening to it very much (well why wouldn't I? It was my music collection hehe) and I discovered that my friend Addi has a real talent for station id's, amongst other things (*COUGH*REDFACE*COUGH*).

I remember nights when I'd sit with my friends and play requests and chat and enjoy each other's company and good music. If you had told me ten years ago that today I'd be sitting with someone 100 miles away, someone in England and someone in Australia and we'd be listening to the same songs and chatting, I'd have told you that you were nuts. Teh internets are a great thing.

Nothing lasts forever. We are all transient in our own way. All we can do is cherish each moment, because in a flash that moment is gone, never to be seen again, except in the memories we carry with us. As a friend once said to me (referring to Second Life, but applicable to first as well), "People come and people go. Some stick around a while."

To absent friends.

Welcome to 2 FPS

2009-04-06T23:14:00.000-04:00

My graphics card decided that two years of Second Life was enough. It's an XFX NVidia 7600GT and it works fine with regular windows apps but if i try to play a game, I get black screens and lockups. I've tried every trick in the book to heal this thing, and I'm convinced it's just a case of wearing it out. So....

Not like I can afford to run right out and pick up a new one. I'm hopeful to be able to get a loaner card from an unnamed local source to use for a while, so maybe I can get off this cheap laptop and back on a real computer soon.

As a laugh I looked at what our local Wal-Mart wanted for a video card. If you ever need one, don't go there. They had exactly one (1) card, an overclocked Geforce 6200. Um that's like ancient. And the best part is they wanted $60 for it. Yeah that's gonna happen.

I don't know if I've moaned lately over the dearth of places in the Dayton area to shop for computer parts, but it's sad that I have to drive to Cincinnati every time I need something. There are some shops here, sure. But their prices are just plain silly, as the previous blog post pointed out. I simply refuse to pay what they're asking. I'll wait until I have sufficient reason, then I'll drive to Micro Center. And i'll still save money, even after gas. And I'll usually get a better quality part.

Hey, this IS a rant, after all.

Finally it's April

2009-04-03T07:35:00.001-04:00

Hi! I'm Back!

So much to talk about, so much to bore you with. Opening day of baseball season is rapidly approaching. I will probably once again not manage to catch a major league game this year. It's not that i don't care, really. It's just that the Reds will be out of the race by May, most likely, and that really kills any desire to see the current collection of stiffs.

On a positive note, my favorite NFL team, the Bears, managed to pick up a decent quarterback for the first time since Jim McMahon in the 80's, a fellow named Jay Cutler that used to work in Denver and went to school at Vanderbilt (yes Virginia, they play football there). The jury is going to be out for a while on this one, but the guy had 8 300 yard passing games last year, seven more than the Bears have had in 20 years, so it's an upgrade, no question.

And congrats to Penn State for winning the NIT Tournament. Go Big Ten.

But enough sports. My friend that works at Wal-Mart had her DVD drive break yesterday, and looked at what they wanted for a replacement at work and freaked. Yeah. Wal-Mart is not exactly famous for sensible pricing on that sort of thing. So we'll most likely be making a short trip to Micro Center in Cincinnati today. Dual Layer burners for $24.99 is very nice.

We got our rain today. And so, of course, i had to go grocery shopping this morning. Well it was time. It's been forever since we've had any, and I was beginning to wonder if we were going to have another drought this year. Hope not.

Yes. A Bacon Suit. Lav, are you seeing this? As a side note, the lovely lady behind this abomination looks marvelous. What is she doing with this putz?

Mmmm. Feasted on pizza yesterday. Went to Cici's Pizza and really enjoyed myself (read: gorged myself). As Uncle Joe Stalin once said, "Quantity has a quality all its own." Plus they had Diet Coke on tap (read: unlimited Diet Coke! WOOHOO) and Macaroni and Cheese Pizza! Very nice.

Ok. I got nothin' else.

Will Winter Ever Leave?

2009-03-29T08:38:00.000-04:00

It's the 29th of March and there was two feet of snow last night in Kansas, and it's cold here in Ohio today too. It can't get warm soon enough. Having to spend money on propane to keep from freezing to death is not what I prefer to be doing with my money.

I am one of those people that have slipped through the cracks, it seems. I wasn't eligible for for Unemployment Compensation because I was an independent contractor. I don't appear on the government's statistics as jobless, yet I certainly am. So Mr. Obama's (contemplated) aid to the unemployed will miss me. Oh well. Give a man a fish.

I live in a van. And no, not down by the river. I got a good deal on a gently used cargo van, and I've outfitted it with most of the amenities of home. I can have hot coffee and toast for breakfast, I have a microwave for more exotic fare, and I can always go propane when the urge for pasta hits. I have my computer in here (laptop and desktop) and enough battery power to light a city for an evening. However, I was unable to secure a generator, so I'm dependent on electricity from someplace. I could squeeze a couple days out of the batteries, but more than that is dicey, and the poor alternator on this van would not be able to charge them back to health, I fear.

I currently have an arrangement with a very nice lady I met that works at a Wal-Mart third shift and has to walk five miles to get to work. I have a van. So for a little transportation I get to use some of her electricty, and I get to leech wireless from the neighbors! Plus I can safely park in her driveway, and use the garage when it gets really cold. This is clearly not a permanent situation, but as they say, any port in the storm.

Jobs. Sigh. You would think someone with my wit and charm, not to mention legs, would be able to find something suitable. You'd think. The reality is somewhat different. The IT field in southwest Ohio has went to hell, and I'm perfectly willing to move on at this point. I have feelers out in a couple of states, and I'm ready to go on a moment's notice, provided the money holds out long enough. Once I'm out of money for gas, I don't know what's going to happen. Hey, I'm not complaining. There are a lot of very good people in similar circumstances. But I really would like the opportunity to show someone that I have what it takes to either run a small IT department or work as a team player in a larger setup. All I want is a chance. Stay tuned.

In basketball, my beloved Buckeyes bit the big one hard the other day in Dayton, losing to something called a "Siena". I've been told that my alma mater is a football school, and that I should feel lucky that they get their moment in the sun in the fall. I suppose so, but I can't help but wonder what if....what if Greg Oden, Daequan Cook and Mike Conley hadn't jumped to the NBA 2 years ago, and Kosta Koufos last year. They coulda been contenders.

Spring football is due to start in a week or so. I'd love to be able to float back over to Cbus to watch the spring game but alas, no funds are available at this point. Life sucks without money. Especially when you're used to having it.

I think I've ranted enough for one day. I may make this a regular feature, unless I'm begged not to. Anyway, it's Sunday morning, and I need another coffee. Time to go.