Sunday, February 25, 2007

So yesterday the wind blew steady at ~30-40 mph most of the day. In Texas, when this happens, it can result in a wicked sand storm. This happened yesterday. The sky turns dark brownish red, and it looks like something you imagine the deserts of Iraq to look like. I didn't get a chance to take any pictures, but I wish I would have, because it is something that really can't be imagined without experiencing one first hand. It lasted several hours, this disappeared as quickly as it began.

During the wind activity, a particularly strong gust came around and obliterated part of my wooden fence in the back yard. The section was supported by two landscaping timbers that are about 4 inches in diameter. They were snapped like a toothpick at the bottom, and when this happened the approximately 10 foot section crashed down, scraping along the house and taking out a 10 foot vertical gutter with it. There was shrapnel all over the back yard, and about a 3 foot section of attached fence dangling in the wind.

This is a real ass pain to repair, but it gives me an opportunity to install a gate on that side of the house, which is something I have thought about from time to time. Also, it gives me a chance to put in some steel posts to replace the crappy wooden ones the builder installed when our house was built, back in 03.

This is not my first foray into fence repair. We had a similar problem on two other sides of the fence last year, also due to wind. Each post was in the ground and surrounded by about 1 foot diameter chunk of concrete. The problem is that the concrete was put in too deep, so the wooden post is slightly under the ground, thus resulting in water affecting the strength at the bottom when the wood rots. It takes an entire day to fix, and it sucks pretty bad.

I will probably obtain all the material during the week, then begin the repair next Sunday. I am sure I will take a few photos to document the process, so if you are a real freak, you will have something to look forward too.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Not a whole lot going on this week I guess. Still on the hunt for a new computer chair. The weather is starting to change over to "Spring like" conditions, so that will bring on lots of new topics.

I am starting to feel old. I mean, I know I am getting older, but recently, I am starting to feel different. It is hard to explain. Do you ever think REALLY hard about what life will be like in 20 years? Its easy to fantasize about living in a mansion, eating lobsters every day, and driving a flying car, but do you ever realistically think about the mundane day to day things. It seems like life is a series of various things, such as vacations, holidays, events, etc... I always look forward to vacation. When I go on vacation, I have a blast, and like everyone else, I feel shitty when I get back into the day to day grind of life. So I immediately start thinking about the next vacation, or the next holiday, or whatever.

I have always been the type to just kinda do whatever. I believe that people should enjoy themselves and do whatever they want, because you only get to ride once, but I just can't help but feel like I am missing something. I think a natural societal progression would deem that people get married and start a family. I have never been one to conform to what other people think should be happening, and I know TONS of people that have families that are completely miserable, and would give anything to not be in their respective scenarios, whether they can admit it or not. In other words, just because society pushes certain beliefs on you, it is not necessarily the answer. There is a whole lot of philosophical shit to get into on the subject of why humans exist, and what is the point of life itself, but that's for another day.

I kind of got into a rut where I do the things I do, and I truly enjoy them, but as I have gotten older, I have departed from a lot of the dynamic, spur of the moment, impulsive things that I used to enjoy. There is nothing stopping me from doing those type of things, and the only reason I can surmise for this is that I have gotten older. I may not be clearly describing the concept here. I am not talking about a set of things I no longer do, but just deciding suddenly to do this or that, then doing it. For example, deciding on a Friday at 5pm to go camping, having no plans to do so prior to that moment in time.

Also, I have the means to do these things on a grander scale then I did years ago. For example, when I was 20 years old, I might decide on a Friday at 5pm to go camping. Now days, I might decide to go camping on a Friday at 5pm, in the Grand Canyon, and I could, but I don't.

I don't know how to sum all this up. I think spring time might help out. Feeling old sucks. It's really not a downer or anything, and I am not trying to sound all negative, or depress anyone. I can just tell that things are different now, and it is strange.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

This was going to be about change. I had a post a while back where I stated that I was going to look at change with a different attitude. This time, I am referring to product changes.

I am a consumer. I buy a lot of stuff. When I find something that works particularly well, or something that tastes good, or something I just like, I tend to stick with it, as I am sure most people do. Today I was looking for a new computer chair. I bought one for my special lady friend a couple of years ago, and it is a fantastic chair. It was around 300 bucks. So I need a new chair really badly, so I just went to Office Depot where I got hers, ready to buy. and of course, they just don't have them anymore. This got me to thinking about other stuff I REALLY enjoy, that has gone by the wayside. Diet Code Red Mountain Dew is one. I bought it on a whim one day and turns out it was amazing. I drank the shit out of it.... for about 3 months. Now, it cannot be purchased anywhere near me. I even contacted the manufacturer and asked. The closest place to buy it was Moore, Oklahoma, which is about 4 hours away, so 8 hours round trip. They probably don't even have it there now, I believe it was being phased out. Also, when I was little, I used to drink Lime Kool-Aid. Well, they don't have that anymore. It has been replaced by some kind of lemon/lime shit, and it just is not the same.

Go to any grocery store in the land and look around. You will have a hard time finding regular basic things. Everything has been replaced by the new and improved "flavored" kind, or the "organic" kind. I saw Mayonnaise "with lime juice" today. Lime Juice! Try to find regular tomato sauce.. good luck. they might have 1 or 2 on hand, but I bet they have 35 jars of flavored shit... meaty, organic, mushroom, extra chunky, home style, etc.

Additionally, a lot of TV shows that I like get cancelled, sometimes in the middle of the season! There are endless examples: Kidnapped, Smith, John Doe, My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss, Stella, Dig Bites Man, just to name a few.

I guess its just the way the world is. People want convenience and variety. Anyway, I was kinda pissed earlier about everything having to change and be replaced with something I consider to be of lesser quality, which is usually the case.

So, instead of being pissed about it, I am going to refer back to me previous article on change and accept the new world order. I mean after all, this now gives me an opportunity to get a different kind of chair that I normally probably wouldn't have.

By the way, there is a website called http://www.bensbargains.net which is really decent. Basically, it is a collection of all the advertised (and some not) specials that various places have going. It is a really convenient way to see all the cool shit that's on sale or has a special deal going. Also, there are links to take you straight to the page with the item on it. So check it out.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Well, I gave up on looking for a book I was talking about the other day. I looked on amazon.com fairly exhaustively and all I could find was shit. Maybe someone can suggest one. Oh well, onward and upward.

We have been trying to get rid of a piece of shit system at work. I will spare you the details, but it is long overdue that this mechanism go away. We have a programmer and a couple of other guys that are highly intelligent that worked on tools to get rid of said system for months. Even after all their hard work, it is pretty much a manual process. Essentially, what is having to happen, is for someone to open a user's mailbox, and dig through it manually folder by folder, and find items that have been archived into this system. Then you have to highlight the items, then click the restore button, then move on to the next folder. Well, the problem is, that end users are for the most part, complete retards. They do not know how to properly maintain their mailbox, or they do know how, and they choose to not. A typical user at my company has between 25 and 50 sub folders under their in box, and rules to send mail to these folders automatically. Additionally, they appear to never empty their deleted items or sent items folders. There are typically thousands of emails in each users box spread across say 50 folders, so needless to say, it is a long arduous process.

Anyway, so there is now pressure to get this done as soon as possible. There were only two guys working on it, in addition to their other tasks, so it was moving quite slowly. They were averaging 3 per day each. So 6 per day total. My theory is that when something like this comes along, you pretty much have to go full on, all out, hamster kamakaze style. This way you get it done quickly, and then it is out of your hair forever.

So Thursday of last week I kicked it into full gear, and dedicated every free second I have to only doing this task. I was averaging 12 per day until yesterday. Yesterday I decided that I could increase output by using more machines to do the job. Today I got 18 done, and the bottleneck is still the computers, and not me.

...Moving on to the true heart of this matter. I have noticed in my life that I tend to approach things like this as much as possible. Something strange happens to me when I get into a serious groove on something. I sort of go into a tunnel vision trance kinda mode. It is hard to describe other than to say that my body adjusts to doing the function, and it sort of goes into cruise control, which allows my mind to focus on other things. This happens every single time I do something that is repetitive. I have found that in this mode, I can do something for hours on end without really putting much thought into it. I have used this mode in the past for activities like walking, running, etc... I am certainly not the only one who does this, I'm sure most people do, but it is interesting what people are capable of doing. Maybe I can use this somehow for my 30 day project. More on this later.

Friday, February 9, 2007

I had to talk to someone on the phone today at work, and I needed to make them come around to my way of thinking. I realized that I am fairly decent at what I guess what would be referred to as suggestive or persuasive speaking. For some reason, when I get into the mode of trying to make people think a certain way, it just flows like water. I think this is something that anyone could easily learn, which makes me think there is probably already a litany of books on the subject. I think I will take a look around and try to find a good one and read it. If there isn't one, perhaps I will begin the process of writing one myself.

I suspect that what I will find is a bunch of books on how to sell shit, or how to be a salesman, but that's not what I am looking for. I do not consider what I am referring to to be salesmanship, although I suppose the techniques could be used for selling things.

I am not sure why I am so obsessed with language lately, but I find myself tuning in more and more each day to the words people use and why they use them. I found myself today using the word "ideally", over and over again, and each time I said it, I stopped and thought to myself, why the hell do I keep using that word? I also probably overuse the word "theoretically" at work. I consider myself as having a fairly decent vocabulary, but I guess there are only so many words that apply in certain scenarios, so people tend to use the same adverbs and adjectives repetitively. Working with servers all day, I deal a lot in theory. I am constantly talking about what would, could, or should happen , I suppose that is why I use the word theoretically so much.

More on this subject later, for it is Friday, and there are brain cells to kill.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

So some big wigs were coming in to the office for a few days so they made everyone wear business attire. we were told we didn't have to wear full suits, but shirts and ties for sure. I have never really understood this concept.

For one, its hypocritical to make yourself look like something you aren't. Wouldn't it benefit everyone more for the board of directors and top executives to see how things truly are on a day to day basis? Wouldn't the shareholders ultimately benefit from decisions made based on reality, rather than some sort of mythical magical fantasy land? I think so.

Secondly, there seems to be some sort of old school mentality that what type and form of fabric you put around your naked body somehow impacts performance. The same thing could be said for hair length, body piercings, etc... There are people on this planet, that wear a Metallica shirt and "Fuck You!" hat, and have 14 ear rings, that are 100 times smarter than you will ever be.

Come on people, join the new world order, these superficial things mean nothing! Do you want your children growing up in a society that would favor a less talented person based a shirt?

I didn't think so.

Sunday, February 4, 2007

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. People that use the word "actually" appear to mostly be full of shit. It is my experience that when people use the word "actually", they are either trying to emphasize a point, or they are just lying. It is my belief that damn near every instance of the word in people's speech could simply be removed and the meaning of their dialogue would remain the same. For example..

"I read in the paper about a service where people actually break into your house to show the vulnerabilities in your security system"

"We won't actually arrive until two hours later"

"Our product will actually test your environment, and locate system bottlenecks"

"Twenty-Five Gadgets That Actually Save Money"

In just about every instance of someone using the word "actually", the word could be removed and not change the meaning in any way, shape, or form.

Can anyone think of a reason that you would need to include this word in your speech? I suppose ultimately that it is simply an adverb which is used to emphasize a statement, but my findings conclude that when I hear this word, it is usually because someone is trying to blow smoke up your ass.

Keep this in mind when you venture out into the world, and when you hear the word, think about why the person said it, and whether or not they really needed it. I think you will be shocked at the results of your study.

Friday, February 2, 2007

I got my Biaviaan symbol from Riley Martin a couple of days ago. I did talk to Riley on the phone and he had some interesting things to say. I pulled a few audio clips which can be heard over at:

http://www.snotpocket.com/rileymartin.htm


Here is the symbol (not actual size) :



The whole experience was fantastic, and talking to Riley was one of my personal goals. Yaaay!