- www.JoeThielen.com - www.JoeThielen.com
I wanted to get a nice video editing package, but didn't want to pay too much.
I found a pacakge at Best Buy - Sonic Foundry Video Factory for $50!
But as I was looking at the package, I noticed it required Win98SE and 128MB
of RAM. Shit, I thought.
My PC at home is currently a 500Mhz Celeron w/64MB of RAM and I'm still
running Win95 (OSR2 with the USB upgrade). Well, I guess it's time for
an upgrade.
So along with Video Factory I picked up a 128MB DIMM (133Mhz) for $50! And
it's got a $10 mail-in rebate. Assuming I actually get the rebate back (I'm
not counting on it), that's only $40+tax for 128MB of RAM! WOW! I know I
say this a lot (probably not much here on the web site, but other places),
I remember first getting into computers when 1MB of RAM was $30 a pop! Holy
shit!
In any case, I went home, popped the RAM in, made a list of all the IMPORTANT
software I use at home, and did the unmentionable... I fdisk'd my
hard drive ;). It probably took me 4 to 5 hours to load Win98SE, and
re-load all of my hardware drivers and software. But it seems to be working
pretty well. My USB devices work WAY better than in Win95, that's for
sure. And now I can finally hook up my USB HP Scanjet instead of using it
with my laptop (which has has Win98SE on it since I got it).
So, after a good number of years with Win95, I've parted with it :(. Now,
I still have one or two machines here at work that use Win95, so I guess
I can just come here for the nostalgia. But I tell you what, I was over at
a friends yesterday, and he had a computer loaded with Windows for Workgroups
(Win 3.11)... Ho-Lee-Shit :).
Does it disturb anyone else that 'Good Friday' also happens to be
'Friday the 13th'??? Happy Easter! *grin*
Well, Russia is shipping back 50 of OUR diplomats, and both Bush and Putin
claim this is a closed matter. I certainly hope so.
MIR is dead. Damn.
I read somewhere that the European Union (EU) is considering launching it's
own GPS system of satellites. Cool! It'd be awesome to have two systems
running in unison. If one went down, the other can be used as a failover
network!!!
OK, time to get back to work...
In other Russian News, Mir is scheduled to crash down into the ocean today or tomorrow. Skylab Part II anyone?
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Nice weather, though. I tried to get out yesterday and find another GeoCache, but I didn't make it in time :(. But, of course, they're talking temps going down for the weekend, then going back up next week. Damn it! I don't know!
I need new episodes of South Park before I explode... otherwise... I don't know.
:)
Also, sorry for the lack of webcam updates. I see tons o' stuff that I'd
like to snap a picture of everyday, but it's hard to just stop driving,
load up the camera on my Casio E-125, take a pic,
and then leave :).
I went back to OfficeMax today. They still didn't have any 12X CD-Burners
in stock, but at least they had the tag saying "Sorry! This item out of stock"
on it. But I haven't done a backup in quite a while due to the death of my
old one, so I had to go ahead and get the 8X. The woman at the counter was
very energetic and polite. So to be duly fair, I did have a much better
experience at OfficeMax than last Thursday :).
Man, the stock market is FUCKED, eh?
Lowered interest rates got me thinkin' about buyin' a house though!!!
OK. So I wake up (and take an extraordinarily long time doing so), eat
(look at me, like I'm not going to eat in the morning :) ), and take off.
First thing I notice is I have literally NO gas. Well, that's my own
damned fault. Should have filled up when I went cruising in the great
weather we had yesterday afternoon.
So, I head towards the bank. I've got a check in my pocket, and I
guess it's about time to cash it :). So I head into the bank, fill out
my deposit slip (wasn't gonna cash all of it), and head for the line.
Now there are only like 4 people in line ahead of me, and it's about
ten minutes until ten in the morning. There are only three cashiers.
So I should be out pretty quick, right? WRONG. Two of the three
cashiers are just walking around the back. I'm sure they're doing something,
but it really did't look like it. So there was ONE cashier taking care
of all the people that walk into this place. ONE. There are at least
seven teller booths. Now, this is kind of like Meijers. You've got
20 to 30 fucking lines, and 5 of them are open. WHAT THE FUCK?
So I say to myself, "Self, where is the customer service here?"
I look along the walls, and I see all these nice posters with smiling
faces and happy customers.
I'm not happy. So I wait in line for ten minutes before I finally
get to cash my check. Now, normally I don't have a problem waiting,
if there is a line long enough to justify a ten minute wait! But there
were only FOUR people in front of me! WHAT THE FUCK?.
I head out. I get some gas. I won't bother bitching about gas prices
right about now. I make a dash for Office Max because I need to replace
my CD-Writer here at work.
They've recently made Ohio State Route 2 wider here in the Oregon area.
And I have to admit, I like it... most of it. Now, in this area it's very
hard to get from one side to the other due to the fact that there is a
federal interstate (I-280) running through it, and as well a major
oil refinery. So there are two streets that are used to cross I-280
and the refinery. And they're a couple of miles apart. And each
is WOEFULLY INADEQUATE. The closest one is one lane all
the way down, except where it meets Navarre Ave (St. Rt. 2). Here
it expands to two lanes 100ft before Rt. 2 and for 100ft after Rt. 2
(heading towards I-280). So you know what these fuckers did when they
widened St. Rt. 2? They made TWO turning lanes that empty into a
two lane street, that turns into a ONE lane street VERY QUICKLY (100ft).
Normally most (decent) people stay in the left lane and form a line.
But once in a while (like today), you either get assholes or some VERY
LONG semi trucks that get in the right lane.
So let's take a look at this here situation. This semi is probably
50 to 60 feet long. That's pretty fucking long. And there is another
(albiet smaller) truck waiting behind it, with probably four cars in
the left lane, all waiting for the light to turn green so we can play
the game of MERGE. Now, a 50 or 60 foot long semi will
take 50, 60, or even more feet to get itself straightened out. So
let's say around 70 ft. Now do you mean to tell me that this semi has
roughly 30 feet to get itself merged with oncoming traffic??? This
is an absolute nightmare at rush hour, because everybody wants to do
one thing GO HOME. But anyway...
So the light turns green. The first to cars in my lane gun it so they
don't have to mess with this fucking semi. But the third car has an
old man driving it (the car that just happens to be in front of ME).
This mother fucker WAITS for the big semi to make it's turn, then he
goes. That means it's now me and another semi about to play MERGE.
Naturally I'm an asshole on the road full of road rage, so when I make
the turn, I get in the middle of both lanes (there are no painted
lines marking the lanes), so anyone else better just fall behind.
Like they usually do. And they did today. But then this motherfucking
old fart stops to make a left hand turn (even though there is a turning
lane for that sort of thing). Jesus Fucking Christ!
So that's strike two against any possibility of recovering this day.
Well, I make it to Office Max. Well, I had a moment of hope, because now
I'm working, and I can start the clock :).
I walk over to the CD-Writers. They've got an 8X and a 12X. But the
8X is marked as out of stock. No problem. I've been using a
2X here at work for 2 and a half years, I think it's about time I
treated myself :).
Now I like Office Max. Mainly because they're the ONLY place I can
get cheap computer shit on the East Side of Toledo. That means I don't
have to drive out to Monroe street, and possibly get killed because
of road rage :).
But Office Max has this FUCKED UP system where they
don't put anything that costs more than $25 on the shelf. They've got
these little fucking tags. There are two tags for the 12X. I take
one and head for the checkout line.
No one in line, great! I figure I'm almost home free. I say almost
because I have a problem EVERYTIME here because anything I purchase for
work is tax exempt. But I've got a real Office Max Tax Exempt card.
Theoretically all they have to do is swipe this little plastic card,
and my taxes disappear. Well, it never fucking happens this way. I
always get the undertrained 40 year old lady who has better things to
do than her job (Customer Service, anyone?).
So she takes the tag, makes a grunting noise, and tells me she's going
to have to go back and see if this item is in stock. Now, I've got a
tag for it. If it weren't in stock, THERE SHOULD BE NO FUCKING TAGS
left, right? So she presents the tag to one of her co-workers, and
they spend about three and a half minutes on a computer typing the
number in. Apparently, she hasn't been trained to do this yet. So I
wait.
Then another person takes the tag, and heads back for the warehouse
or whatnot. I wait some more.
A minute or two later this person appears and tells me they have no
12Xs in stock. But they've got a model 9350i. Well what the hell is
that? I ask how fast that is. She sighs and heads back to where she
came from. Another minute or so later she comes out and says it's an
8X. WHAT THE FUCK! The sticker on the 8Xs on
the shelf explicitly say that item is out of stock. I just dropped
the tag for the 12X and walk out of the store. The lady asks me
(as I'm obviously displeased and heading for the door) if I'd like to
buy the 8X. Stupid fucking bitch.
I don't have a problem with 8X CD-Writers, I've got one at home. I
like it. But if I would have stayed there, I would have had to explain
to this person the whole situation about their fucking 'tag' system.
Now this person is obviously just a goddamned flunky, so yelling at
hear would have made no nevermind whatsoever. Even if I would have
talked to the store manager, these decisions are made higher up, where
the people that make them aren't accessibly to the general, consumer,
public at large.
This is 2001. I've been working on computers for longer than I remember.
We have a better inventory management system here at work, and we're a
FUCKING NON-PROFIT AGENCY. I don't know anything about
OfficeMax, but if they're the only chain to have three stores in the
Toledo are, then they've probably got some money. Best Buy, Circuit City,
and Media Play all have two locations (all on Monroe St and Airport Highway).
But to have all of that money, and have an inadequate inventory
management system makes me fucking sick to my stomach!
So that was strike three.
Now I've got to just watch the clock, and hope something drastic
doesn't happen here at work to throw me over the edge :).
It started Friday night when I was talking to a good friend about GPS software. I'd been using Solus Pro for my PocketPC for a while, but have always been frustrated at the fact that it's not in color and doesn't have very good zoom functionality. To make a long story a little bit shorter, I started playing with a program called Ozi Explorer. It's made up of two pieces of software, a desktop version, and a Windows CE (PocketPC) version! It's awesome. It allows you to scan in your own custom maps, or use images downloaded from the Internet (like United States Geological Services (USGS) DRG/Topo maps!). Once scanned/downloaded, you have to calibrate them for use with a GPS. Finally, you have to convert them to a custom .oz2 format for use on the WinCE device. I love it! The maps look good, and you can have custom zoom levels. Now, the USGS DRG maps are in .TIF format, and are HUGE! So a BIG CF memory card is probably warranted here. However, you can use compressed images (like JPEGs). But I've got a 128MB card, I'm all set :).
In any case, I also ended up buying a new GPS receiver, too. I went to Best Buy (after looking other places), and found a Magellan GPS315 which was returned for some reason for $99! These sell new for $150! So I bought the unit, as well as the $9 Besy Buy warranty (fuck, it's only $9), and the Magellan serial/power cable so I can hook it up to my PocketPC. I walked out of there paying only $158 total (including tax)! It'd probably cost around $220 normally! Cool!
So, with my new toys I visited a new GeoCache here in the Toledo area (Maumee, actually). And I couldn't find the damned thing. I was able to get the location OK, but did not find the cache. It's located in the Side-Cut MetroPark in Maumeee in a light-forest area along the Maumee river. It's a bit muddy, but it was a beautiful day! In any case, I spent an hour or so on Saturday night, and THREE HOURS on Sunday trying to find it. I'm assuming it's been taken by kids or something. If someone else does find it, I'm gonna be pissed :).
In any case, an eventful weekend. I've got a lot of maps to calibrate :).
Seems like a stupid thing to bitch about (uh-huh), but it just gets at me.
Kind of crazy in the financial world, from what I can tell. People getting pissed at tech companies, taking their money out, and putting it back into other sectors (alcohol and tabacco, among others).
So let me get this straight. People are getting laid off in droves. They can't afford to eat at Wendy's anymore, but prices on beer and cigarettes are getting cheaper! Fuck it! Let's all stay home, drink, and smoke a few up!
Christ... time to start shoving money under the matresses.
OK, so here goes the positives of the past few days...
Did you see the Sopranos seasion premiere last night? Holy shit! They brought back Olivia from the dead with digital imaging. I could tell it was fake, but it was so fucking cool they could do that! And the combination of the spy theme with 'Every Step You Take' was so absolutely flawless, I couldn't believe it! To things even cooler they threw tings in like Pussy showing up in the the closet mirror when Tony opened the door. That was fucking wicked! And then another guy was peeking in from the stairs, but I couldn't tell who it was! But it was freaky man! I realize they almost had to make the season premiere a two-episode affair to write-off Olivia. But I think it was very, very cool.
I think they hit the third season off very well. It seems to me they took some of the best things about the first season of Oz and combined them with the mind-blowing talent of the Sopranos crew to create something extremely well created. I loved it very much.
...
Well, I think I lost 20 pounds this weekend, I guess that's positive...
What else? I got to see some nice forest views and rocks!
I guess that's it...
Now on to the RANT!
Did you read this? It says a cracker got a hold of the source code used with the GPS satellites! Holy fucking shit! Imagine what that could do? It's mind numbing. Cargo ships crashing into each other, airplanes crashing... this is no shit. Everything uses GPS nowadays. This is serious!
Then I read this regarding NASA cancelling the X-33/X-35 space flight projects! FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. I really hope this isn't due to Bush cutting NASA's budget. I REALLY fucking hope so. You know, I just can't fucking stand it anymore. Everyone on this miserable fucking planet bitches and complains about polution, the ozone, urban overpopulation, but yet, when it comes to a possible answer to all that (space exploration and possible planetary migration), everyone scoffs! Even at a time when people are talking about killer comets and asteroids destroying this planet and wiping the human race forever, the inevitible answer just keeps getting pushed off, because of fucking stupid people and even more stupid politicians! Holy shit! We have the technology and the people to make things happen! If we don't like this planet, then let's fucking leave! People are so scared of exploration now, it makes me sick. We're so content with our cities and our skyscapers and running water that the very thought of venturing off into the wild black yonder, makes most turn away. The people of this planet were at one time all explorers and farmers! We can do it again!
We've built a computer network (i.e. the Internet) that spans this planet, and is very nearly impossible to destory. Even if major major connecting nodes on the Internet were nuked, the network would live on. Well, why can't we do that with humanity??? We can't we start putting humans on other planets so that if (space forbid) the earth were totally destroyed (i.e. by an asteroid), or made totally un-inhabitable (i.e. by nuclear winter, total ozone depletion), then humanity would just not die! We would survive on other worlds! We know how to do it! It's just a matter of funding!
Why am I getting so pissed off at the funding cut of some project? Because this project is a stepping-stone. This project is our way of launching into space more cheaply and more effectivly than with the Space Shuttle. The Shuttle's are aging. It's time for retro-fit. The X-33 was the plan. Build something to represent the technology of the 21st century. And now we're slashing our wrists.
They say that with the Internation Space Station (ISS), there will forever be a human in space. So what if the humanity on earth gets wiped out? We'd still have the 7 or so people on ISS, right? Wrong. ISS depends upon the earth. It's needs air. It needs food. They could survive for months (years maybe?) but that'd be it. Run out of air, run out of food and water, and they're dead. That's it. Humanity is fucking gone. All of our amazing wonders, gone. 6 billion individual minds fucking gone because of lack of foresight.
And it's all about money. Mother-fucking-cock-sucking-money (ala Tony Soprano). Period.
Onto another much loved negative subject. The moral of a country.
I've been reading article after article in the past few days relating to military blunders. It seems to me that when the well-oiled military-machine starts to break down that we've got a huge fucking problem here. Am I the only one to think so???
Along the same subject lines, is it me, or are we heading right into Cold War version 2.0? Holy fucking shit! It's like we've got new young blood in both offices, and they're both just young punks! Fuck! Where did it start? 1950 something? It ended in the early 90's? Right? Did we just take 10 years off or something? Just an intermission? Did the world get fed up with what little peace we did have? Fucking hell! I guess we need a war to weed out the poor content bastards. But I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking "Not me... please not me!" FUCK FUCK FUCK!
I got lost in a forest yesterday with my GPS. How the fuck do you get lost in a forest when you've got GPS equipment??? Failure to realize there was a third dimension. Here in Toledo/NW Ohio, things are flat. But where I was yesterday, things were definately NOT flat. There were some steep hills in thick forest. I sure the fuck wasn't ready for it. Wow. Time to re-equip.
In any case, it brought out some of the explorative instincts in me. It made me realize that I couldn't just call a fucking cab and have them pick us up (we were traveling along a stream in the middle of probably hundreds of miles of woods). It made me wonder. How many people would survive if they were placed in a situation like this, and actually given the tools they needed to get out. Would they rough it out? Would they make it with the tools? Even if they used the tools, would they be able to hold up, physically AND mentally? Does the human race have so many psychological problems that we couldn't even get out of a forest without consulting a shrink??? FUCK!
We'd better prepare ourselves AND ESPECIALLY our children with some explorative instincts here before we doom ourselves to extinction!
As I'm writing this, I'm trying to follow this unfolding story regarding a school shooting in California. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this country's educational system is FUCKED. Bush! You want to do something? Step in here buddy. Start cleaning up the mess that's been accumulating in the closet here for years... Our our children so absolutely underprepared for life that they can't fix their own problems without KILLING each other??? Now, I can understand kids getting in fights. I think that's actually good for kids (huh? what?) Some people can't be reasoned with without getting a good solid knock to the dome. But no one fights anymore. It's done with either a knife or a gun, and it's FATAL. You get in a fight and you live (depending). You get shanked or shot, and chances are you're fucked.
Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way. Maybe we should have an ad campaign around the paradigm that if we start migrating to other planets, we could have sex and make babies all day so we can make humanity as disaster resistant as the Internet. Sound like a plan????
Of course, that doesn't take into account STDs.
Maybe the human race is truly doomed. Maybe we've evolved so far and so fast that it's time we get taken out, just like the dinosaurs before us.
In any case, look forward to a rather LONG and MIND NUMBING rant tomorrow. I'm to tired to write it out right now, but there's been a lot happening lately, and I've got A LOT to say!!!
Although the site's primary purpose is to boost my ego *grin*, it's also here for you all! If there is ever anything that you dislike about the site, please let me know! Well, unless you don't like my front page ranting. That, unfortunately, isn't going to change :). I'll always have something to bitch, complain, and whine about... if I offend you or your country, please accept my apologies, and also please realize that I bitch more often about my own country then I probably do yours!!!
Check out www.geocaching.com!
People hide some 'stash' in a plastic container for others to find! It's pretty cool. I've hid the first one in Toledo! It's not been approved as of this writing, but it should be by the time you read this! Check out my new GeoCache Page for more info!!!
Holy Shit! Lot's of variables to keep track of for world politicians, for sure. But you know my motto --> Fuck Politicians! :)
Well, I just bought a new CD player for my car to replace both my ailing Audiovox Prestige (which liked to turn itself off when I touched it) and my MP-ROM this weekend. I bought an all-in-one, super-duper, Aiwa CDC-MP3. Certainl a beautiful piece of electronics. Tons of options (including driver/passenger stereo adjustment), the ability to read/play MP3s from CD-Rs & CD-RWs, as well as a neat steering wheel remote (see today's webcam pic). I think it's pretty cool. The only downside to it is if you've got an MP3 CD with like 150 or more songs, it seems to take forever in reading the disc before it will start playing. The manual said it can take up to two minutes. Wow, don't think that quite impresses me. However the ability to play both standard CDs & MP3 CDs in one DIN sized unit does! I was able to replace THREE DIN units (My old CD player, MP-ROM, & CD-ROM) with this one model! Great!
I'm trying to plan my next mini-vacation. Probably a weekend trip to Washington D.C. Will take LOTS o' pics :).
For the fuller pictures, see my Picture Archive Page. I've added a Montego Bay, Jamaica section!
In any case, I've got TONS of pictures and such. It will take me a while to sort through them all, but I will post the best when I get through!
Ugh. Monday.
Unless I can find Internet access while I'm down in Jamaica, this may be my last post for a week or so. However, be assured that when I come back I will post a bunch of pics for ya!
BYE!!!
I was never much into football. I played for three years in high school, but could never get full grip on it. I loved defense, that was simple. Go out and kill someone. OK! But I swear I could never remember an offensive play for the life of me. Just too many things going on and too many things to remember at the same time. I could drill a play a thousand times, but just couldn't get it down. Oh well.
If you couldn't tell already, I've set up a webcam page! It's not a web cam in the traditional sense, though. It's never going to 'live'. Just when I see something that I think is funny, or I'd like to make a small pic of, I'll take a snapshot, throw on a funny caption, and post it.
The fourth episode of the second half of the fourth season of OZ is on tonight (holy shit, what did I just say???)!!! Can't wait to see what the super-aging drug does to the Oz crew!!!
Check out the articles on Yahoo regarding Clinton's exit... I hope our nations children are reading these...
I've got 9 days 'till Jamaica... ahhhh.... the beach...
It's payday.
I got my Casio digital camera tonight!! I can't wait to take it out tomorrow and snap some pics. I will post some samples as soon as I can!
Sometime soon here I'm going to start a webcam page for myself. It won't be a constant cam thing, but every so often (hopefully a couple of times a day) I'm going to try and take some snapshots of things I find funny or myself just for the fun of it!
Fuck all you pro-life people. Fuck you all.
Another thing that really gets under my skin is the saying "It's a woman's choice". Oh yeah? Well what about the saying "It takes two to make a child?" Eh mutherfucker? I'm starting to think that we're going to need new legal precedents here. If a couple has an unwanted pregnancy, then the decision must be made as a couple. If a woman gets pregnant and decides to keep the baby against the fathers wishes, then she should be made to 'sign-off' on it to the father.
Am I serious? Deadly...
The couple has a choice to right the wrong. If the mother wants to continue with the wrong but the father does not, then the father should not have to spend the rest of his life paying for something that could have been averted.
Please do not get me wrong. I think people should be smart enough to have safe sex, and talk about what would happen in the event of an unwanted pregnancy BEFORE they have sex. I think the pill should be an over-the-counter drug. I think every woman in this country should be offered the pill as soon as she is old enough. And I also think the government should foot the bill. Yes, you heard right. I think the taxpayers should come into play here. We're going to have to pay for a baby if it happens anyway... why not save that from happening in the first place!!!
A young girl is not going to ask her parents for the pill. And I'm seriously doubting she's going to consult her doctor without her parents. Even if she managed to, it's not like the doctor is going to give it to her without telling her parents. But she's going to have sex whether her parents like it or not.
Society has come to a point where ignorance runs rampant and common-sense is hard to find. Current sexual education just doesn't work, that much is obvious. All I learned in Sex Ed. was how to do a 69 and what phone sex was. Of course they tell you to think about what you're doing before you do it, but when you're a teen and confronted with a naked woman you're going to fuck the shit out of her. You're not going to ask "Are you on the pill?" or "Do you have any condoms?" And you're probably not going to pull out, either. Your hormones are driving you fucking insane and that's all there is to it.
And please don't give me that shit about "two wrongs don't make a right". Tell that to the baby that is born deaf or blind. Try explaining that to the child that was born mentally retarted. If a person is not ready to care for a child, then that's all there is to it. A lot of people are unfit to parent. You fucking know this. You know people like that.
Ever watch cops???
Whether you agree with my ideas or not, you at least have to acknowledge that this country has a problem, and that making abortion illegal is not the way to make it right.
Less than 2 weeks and I will be in Jamaica...!
That's what I said to myself after reading today that Big Willy Clinton is going to spill the beans about Monica Lewinsky and tell the truth...IN ORDER TO AVOID INDICTMENT. What a This is absolute bullshit, and the American People shouldn't have to fucking stand for it.
It just makes me fucking want to puke when I think about it. First the nations children got a quick lesson in oral sex from this person, who in their minds is our nations main man... then he taught the nations children about how the judicial system REALLY works if your famous (although I guess OJ did that, too, a few years back), and now this. Hey kids! Want to get away with anything? Be the President!
And then I get to this article entitled: "Bush Talks Tough on Iraq, Vows Work for Peace"! What a total fucking misnomer! Isn't that ironic? Oxymoron anyone?!
I'll probably still be asleep tomorrow during his amazing inaugural speech. Too bad, I bet he's <SARCASM>REALLY going to unite the divided American People</SARCASM>! Hmmm.. makes me want to move to Iraq and start a comedy channel. But instead of cartoons & South Park, I'd play U.S. CNN & MSNBC...
Bush has a big fucking job ahead of him, but it seems to me like he's already started with the double talk... and that is a REAL bad sign.
Or how about on a trolly or something? Aren't they electric? Holy shit. Saw an article on cnn.com which shows a store-owner in his own shop next to a sign saying he's closed because the power is out. Fuck that! He's losing mad money because of this!
I think that the deregulation experiement has failed. It was good to try, the people want less government, and this was a step towards that. But as we can all see, it just didn't work! Let California be an example to the rest of the country. Let's stop this now! I'd much rather not have to worry about my lights going out! Electricity is something a person like me takes for granted. It 120VAC isn't pumping out of that trusty outlet, then I'm fucked... if my computers go down then work stops getting done. And I'm sure that's what Cali is thinking right this minute.
They tried, they failed. Let's fix it and try to put it behind us! But never forget, or else someone else may make the same mistake, and more may suffer!!!
Sometime a week or so ago, some local TV stations broke into regular programming to annnounce that former president Ronald Regan fell down and broke his hip. Wow. That's news. It was all over CNN and the like.
Monday night I caught the news, and it was filled with Bush Jr.'s inaugural bullshit. A week to go, and every station is going nucking futs. Wow... that's news.
Now, in the middle of all this, there was a 30 second clip of President Clinton, in which they said that Billy had a 'cancerous lesion' (SP?) removed from his back. Clinton had fucking cancer? And they give this a 30 second spot? Bush isn't even fucking swarn in yet, and he get's more publicity than our current president (who, if war were to strike today, would be our supreme commander in chief) who had cancer removed!
I dunno. Maybe it's me. Am I the only one who didn't know he had cancer? WTF?
This is totally fucking blowing my goddamned mind. And then, I come to work, and I have to read this article on Yahoo. It says that Iraq is pledging victory against the U.S. on the tenth anniversary of the Gulf War. Makes me fucking sick to my stomach.
To add insult to injury, we've got Bush Jr. coming in, and he took his fathers presidential campaign personally. You think Saddam isn't going to say something to piss Bush Jr. off and make him push some buttons??? (Like the little red ones that may launch nuclear weapons???)???? Hmmm. ...
On a brighter note, I saw this article on Slashdot regarding the long-awaited movie Rendezvous With Rama, an adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's first book in the Rama series. Unfortunately, it gives a release date of 2003. Holy shit!
#1: Microsoft, Dell, & Unisys to create new voting system!
What? Microsoft? What? Lemme get this straight. The same goverment that declared Microsoft a monopoly which DOES NOT SERVE THE BEST INTERESTS OF IT'S PEOPLE is now nominating said company to INVENT A NEW VOTING SYSTEM? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH OUR POLITICIANS TODAY???!?!? I wonder if the justice department that we so idolize has the ability to declare our own goverment a monopoly??? Or maybe declare itself a monopoly?!? Maybe we should have two goverments... that way they fight with each other, but leave us citizens the fuck alone. Maybe the cold war era was better. At least then we knew who the enemy was...
#2: We apologized to N. Korea for some bullshit.
I'll be the first to admit that I probably know next to nothing about this, but why are we, the United States, taking it up the ass on this one? They never did anything bad to us? What? Did they ever apologize???
OH WAIT... it was Clinton who apologized... ha! Ha! Ha! The same person who went on TV to 'apologize' to the U.S. people, but never managed to say the words 'I apologize'... fuck you Bill!
If N. Korea is dumb enough to believe anything that comes out of Bill's mouth, then they're dumber than our politicians.
#3: AOL Buys Time Warner
What? This went through? What? Microsoft's a monopoly, but they own part of AOL? What? Huh?
For all the wonders of modern communications... i.e. the Internet, e-mail, the cellular telephone, the alphanumeric pager, it amazes me to the Nth degree that our politicians in this country just CAN NOT FUCKING COMMUNICATE! But they sure can read our e-mail and listen to our phone calls scanning for words like 'Bomb', 'Iraq', 'Chemical Weapons', 'War', 'Conspiracy', etc... holy shit, where am I? I thought I was in America, the land of the free. Hmm.. must have been a goddamned pipe dream...
In any case, not much going on here. Had a relaxing stay, and got some rest. Not working on the 'smart-house' much this week due to some painting they're doing. Will return next week...
Mark your calendars ladies & gentlemen (if you're into this kind of thing...), next Sunday at 10 starts the new Oz episodes!
I think this year is going to herald some very interesting technological announcements. Look out on the fronts of nanotechnology for sure, as well as things like the space station.
But at the same time it's kind of scary... going into a new presidency and all. Got some messed up shit going on in the 'holy' land. You know Bush is going to up the Defense spending, but I just hope he does it in a manner which doesn't send us into any unwanted situations... a.k.a. war.
Anyone try and catch the New Years celebrations? What the fuck??? Was every network still hungover from the year 2000 celebrations or what??? I didn't see any decent coverage of it. I've got a DirecTV satellite receiver and was flipping through most all the news networks as well as MTV and such. As far as I could tell, they all sucked! I finally tried a local station, and saw that fireworks were going off. I decided to hell with it and rushed outside (where it was 15 degrees or so) to see them (I'm about 7 miles or so from downtown, but I could see them from here).
Boy these holiday meals are killing my diet :). I'm gonna have to workout for quite a while to drop all of that turkey, stuffing, and ham!!!
It's been a very busy today on the Pocket PC front! I've been able to solve several problems that have been frustrating me, as well as findout that DOOM now works on the Casio E-125! I love it!
This is the calm before the storm. Pretty soon next week there will be TONS of end of year stuff to get done here at work. ACK!
Ahhh... but I have Jamaica to look forward to in February...! I need a time machine!!!!
I've found a place that offers insurance for your PDA (Palm/PocketPC)! Cool! God knows I wouldn't want to pay another $1000 for all this stuff. $5/month! See my Casio E-125 page for more info!
In case I don't get back to you all in the next week, have a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!!
Ain't it a bitch how Christmas weekend comes and gas jumps 20 cents??? :)
We sure got some snow last night! Wow! We all had to take turns snowblowing the driveway.
So we know who our next top dog is. So theoretically all this 'Wall Street Uncertainty' should disappear, right? Nope. Dow is down, Nasdaq is down. I guess any excuse is a good one for a big sell-off. (EXCLAIMER: I know nothing about the stock market :). I just like to bitch about everything!).
Gas is down in price. This is good. (See, I can be nice!).
<RANT MODE=ON>
OK, I had a little experience with FedEx this week. On Friday, I ordered an E&B Slipper C100 case for my Casio E-125. Paid extra to get it shipped 2-day via FedEx. I figured I'd get it on Tuesday along with my 128MB CF memory card.
So Tuesday rolls around and I get an e-mail from a guy at E&B telling me FedEx says my address is invalid, and that I would have to pay $10 to change the address if I screwed up!
Well, the address was correct. After some more e-mails and a phone call, he got ahold of FedEx and found that my package had been delivered to an address on my street less than a quarter of a mile from my house on Monday. I called FedEx to see what they were going to do, but they said they were not going to go back that night to pick it up because of 'inclimate weather'. Ha! It wasn't that bad until later Tuesday night. Anyhow, I went to this persons house several times, but they weren't home. Finally I got ahold of someone there.
This old lady answers and wouldn't even open the damn door so I could talk to her. So I had to yell because she was old and was behind a think door. I told her who I was and that I know a package had been delivered there accidentially. She got steamed and said "The package isn't here! We took it back! IT'S NOT HERE!" Holy shit! I was just asking! And it's not like I was going to bitch at an old lady or anything, but jeeze...
You know, sometimes I just don't get it. This person lives quite near my house. Instead of looking at the address label & dropping off at my house (which I would have done... in fact, I wouldn't have cared if she just dropped it off at the door, shoved it in the mailbox, left it on top of my car, threw it in my driveway or yard... whatever...), they took it back to FedEx, which is like seven miles from my house!!! Holy shit!
So it took most of Wednesday before I could track it down. Finally I got someone on the phone at FedEx and said the package is at their location (seven miles from my house), and they'd hold it for me. Fine, I'd pick it up after work.
Of course there were several inches of snow on my car when I left work, and everyone was driving 12 miles an hour on the expressway, so I decided not to press my luck, and put it off until today.
In any case, I made it to FedEx this morning and picked it up... nearly a week later.
SHEESH!
Hopefully I can get my [shipping] money back :)
<RANT MODE=OFF>
I've moved my "What's New" section to the very front page of the site. After taking a look at some other sites I like to read, I've re-evaluated my site, and am trying to make it more user friendly (i.e. changing some colors to make it more readable, removing some backgrounds which made it to hard to read the text, changing this page, etc...). If you've any questions or comments, Click here for the archives...