… There’s only one more sleep ’til Dragon*Con.
The next 4 days of posts will be coming from the Marriott Marquis hotel in the heart of Atlanta.
Category: Random Thoughts
The general category for posts on this blog.
Scamazon.com
Over at not much’a nothin’, Cliff has run into Amazon.com’s price scam.
It’s simple. If you shop there often, they build up a database of the things you buy, the things you look at, and the things you store in your wish list. All of this is supposedly aimed at focusing your shopping experience. If you buy lots of DVDs there, you’ll find that DVDs start getting recommended to you in the genre’s you shop most. Buy a TV and the next time you log in you may find yourself looking at a screen full of TV accessories… DVD players, VCRs, TiVo units, stereos, etc.
But they are also doing something else… the more you buy with them, the more likely you’ll get what Cliff got, a small price increase. Yes, I said increase.
Now, if the only thing you buy there are paperback books, DVDs and pre-orders, you aren’t likely to run into this much, but don’t be so sure. What you need to do to protect yourself is before buying anything, log out and check the price again. You could easily save yourself hundreds of dollars depending on what you are buying and how often you buy there.
You’d think that a company would reward long term patronage, but that’s just not how things work any more. The new customer is king, a returning customer is someone whose business you already have, and it is all about broadening the client base. So, shop safe, shop blind… don’t let them know who you are until you’ve already got your items in the cart. Remember, its your money, not theirs, so keep your eye on it until its time to pay.
Happy Birthday PC!
Sure, personal computers had existed before, but today marks the 25th Anniversary of the melding of Microsoft and IBM in the form of MS-DOS.
I’ve always liked computers, and seeing as how I was not quite 7 when this monumental merging occurred, and 11 when I got my first PC, its no surprise that MS-DOS is a huge part of my computer history. It seems unfathomable now, but when I took my first job working with computers, Windows 95 was out but wasn’t the standard yet. I was still installing MS-DOS 6.22 on machines, and Windows for Workgroups 3.11. I had a briefcase (and I used to wear a tie to work every day) and inside was always stashed my trusty copy of 6.22, and a few cobbled together boot disks for diagnostics and virus scanning (DOS had no “Safe Mode” to load into to hunt down spyware -of course, there wasn’t a whole lot of spyware- you can to book from a floppy disk and scan from there).
Long before getting a job though, back when I was 11, my parents brought home our first family PC, a Leading Edge IBM PC Clone. It was an 8088 processor, 8MHz, with 512k of RAM. Yeah, that’s a “k” there, half a megabyte. It had a 20 megabyte hard drive in it, and it seemed like we’d never fill it up (20MB these days is about 4 or 5 MP3s). There was a switch on the back where you could set the processor speed down to 4.77MHz, just incase 8 was too fast (and it was for some games). It didn’t have Windows, it booted into DOS and then from the autoexec.bat file it would load up a program called PCMenu, where you could get to the Leading Edge Word Processor, Lotus 1-2-3, and a few other applications. All games were played from disk. We spent a ridiculous $350 to upgrade that machine to 640k of RAM, and another $200 or so on a modem, I think it was 1200 baud, maybe it was an early 2400. And for $50 of my own hard earned cash (you have no idea how hard it was for me to save that and not buy other stuff), I bought an AdLib soundcard from a kid named Ari at school so that our games could play a little more music instead of just beeps through the PC speaker. Not music like you hear out of PCs today, but hardly more than synthesiser, it was awesome. Through the modem I discovered BBSs, back when you’d have to pick up a local trade magazine, or in my case a MicroCenter sale paper, to find the numbers. That’s right, we dialed up the BBS direct on the phone and logged in. There was an Internet, but at that point only schools, the government, and few businesses were really on it. I even ran a BBS for a while, one summer, and only at night when no one else wanted to use the computer.
Eventually we got a new PC, a 386. It was either 16 or 25 MHz, and it had 1024k of RAM, a whole megabyte. This one came with Windows 3.0 installed. And it had a SoundBlaster sound card and a VGA video card. Finally, games played in 256 colors! Well, when they supported them. My parents let me keep the old 8088 in my room, even got me my own phone line, and that pretty set me in with PCs for the rest of my life. Of course, even with a computer in my room, I still used the 386. I mean, the 8088 couldn’t play games like DOOM, Warcraft and Lemmings. Then one day, my friends and I all chipped in and bought network cards (co-axial, naturally) and would get together and play games of DOOM and Warcraft against each other. And when I say “get together” I mean that we would disassemble our PCs, and take them over to one person’s house where we’d put them back together, install network cards, hook up and play into the wee hours of the morning. It would still be a while before ISPs showed up in our area.
After that, when we bought the Pentium 90, the computer history gets a little less interesting (to me anyway). We put Windows for Workgroups on it (made the networking LAN parties easier), and eventually upgraded to Windows 95. It was another PC that saw Windows 98. And since then I’ve gotten a new PC every couple of years, each one at least twice as good as the last. Now my laptop PC, that I’m writing on right now, has double the horse power of my desktop, and my desktop is old enough that it can’t play any new games anymore, except World of Warcraft and other games that go for style over pushing the limits of your machine. My network has gone 100% wireless. And instead of using my phone to connect to the internet, I now connect to the internet to use my phone.
Well, this trip down memory lane was fun. But now its done, and I have boxes to unpack. Feel free to share your own memories of PCs gone by and raise a glass to MS-DOS… I still have my disks of 6.22, its just a shame that PCs don’t come with 3.5″ floppy drives anymore.
Sometimes it is Worth the Splurge
The wife and I finished painting the kitchen yesterday, mostly because he had to. The cabinets are next, and they have to be done before Saturday. Why? Because Saturday is when the appliances get delivered.
We bought a fridge a few weeks ago. Found a good deal on one at Fry’s. Yesterday, we went to go check out hhgregg since they had some sort of super summer tent sale going on. Everything was still too expensive. But, Sears had a dishwasher that we liked for a good price so we decided to hit Town Center Mall and go ahead and buy it. While we were there, as usual in any store these days, we walked around looking at the ranges. Mainly, for anything that is stainless steel (the appliance scheme we have chosen) prices start around $500 for crappy basic gas ranges and go up to… well, if you so desire you can spend $8,000 or more on a new range. Anyway, we are looking around and see this really nice range. Basically, its just about everything we want. Gas, range with the flat cooktop, oven that is conventional and convection, etc… but it retails for $1,499, and that’s the price it was the last time we were at Sears. This time though, they have the floor model on sale for $1,099, four hundred dollars off. We talk it over, we discuss the budget and we decide to go ahead and buy it.
Wait, it gets better.
So we get the sales woman, Renee, to ring up our stuff, range and dishwasher. We are chatting with her about the house, it turns out she purchased a fixer-upper house a number of years ago and is still fixing it up. Then she rings up the range and it comes up $587. The wife blurts out, “Do we get it at that price? Like at Kroger?” “This isn’t Kroger,” Renee says. She voids it and scans it again. $587. She selects the item and pulls up the details to make sure it matches. It does. Then she goes to find a manager. When she comes back, Renee smiles and says, “Looks like you get it at that price.” Awesome!
We walked out of Sears with a $1,499 range for $587. That’s just more than 60% off. I still can’t believe it even though I have the receipt right here.
It is kinda funny with this house. We’ve got a major bad news/good news vibe going. My car breaks down, we get the house. I get flat tires, the inspection goes well. I burn the crap out of my foot on my father’s porch (I was barefoot, the sun had been shining on the wood for about 6 hours, I’m an idiot), and we get a new appliance for 60% off. Also this Saturday the cable is getting installed, and I’m trying to cheat… since I’m a new Comcast customer, they want me to pay $99 for internet installation, which I don’t need since I can do it myself, however if I were an existing cable TV customer self installation of internet is free. So, I’m getting cable TV done Saturday, then I’m going to call and add internet to my account with self installation to avoid the $99 charge. If my karmic balance holds, I wonder where the retribution will come…
Painting the Walls
First off… no, I am not redesigning the website again. I do have new header images planned, but they are on the back burner for now.
If you have lived in apartments, then you know that many of them don’t allow you to paint the walls. So, you end up living in a box surrounded by some shade of white or beige. For many years now, one thing I have wanted more than anything was to paint my walls. Now that I own a house, I can.
But what color to paint? This is the crux of most of my troubles of late. The kitchen, the dining room, the bedrooms, the den, the media room, the bathrooms… what colors? what shades? Every wall already has a color, but the previous owners took “earth tones” far to literally and the whole place is some variant hue of brown. From a nice chocolate color in the kitchen to faux finish light swirls in other rooms to bland flat medium brown. And faced with the ability to choose any color I want, I find myself unable to choose a color.
The walls will get painted, that is a certainty, but what color and when? That remains a mystery.
I`m got house
So, Friday I bought a house. I then spent Friday night, Saturday and Sunday doing some work around it… putting up ceiling fans, changing the locks, etc etc… if I don’t post much in the coming two weeks or so, it is because I’m too busy with my house.
Doing Your Part
So, for the first time ever on this weblog, I’m posting something that is going into multiple categories. This is going to be a long one, so, bear with me.
Smokers.
I don’t dislike smokers because of cancer. If people want to kill themselves, fine. What I find distasteful is their impact on me.
1) Smoke stinks.
Even if you aren’t blowing it in my face, I can still smell it. And it is fairly putrid. You know that phrase “smells like a dirty ashtray”? There is a reason it is considered a bad thing. Along those same lines, smokers stink too. Most of them don’t realize that they trail a pungent odor around with them, that their clothes are dripping with stench, because they have become accustomed to the smell. The smoke gets in their clothes, the walls of their homes, the pulp pages of the paperback novels they own, and everything else. It permeates their very lives.
2) Cigarette butts.
The picture I have included with this tirade is of the grassy area just outside the Doraville Marta station. There is a good ten foot by fifty foot grass area with a couple of trees that parallels the kiss ride drop off. The entire area looks like that photo. There are probably quite easily a few thousand cigarette butts in the grass, and they clean this area when they mow the grass, which I think they do monthly, perhaps more often. All this despite there being at least four trash cans around the entrance to the station.
And this isn’t an isolated incident. It is the same just about everywhere. Ever looked at the side of just about any major road? Chances are it’ll be covered in butts from drivers flicking their’s out windows as opposed to actually using the ashtray in their car.
So, if you are a smoker, at least try to do your part… I won’t bitch at you for smoking if you promise not to be a jackass and litter.
And that leads into the next point about litter in general. Most people don’t want to live in a shithole. But they seem to have no problem with contributing to making the world a shithole.
I ride the bus and MARTA most days (some days I work from home, and some days I’ll drive to work because its faster), and the number of people who will leave behind trash is pathetic. Want to know how to shame an entire train car load of people? If you see some newspaper, plastic drink bottles, or fast food bags on the train rattling around on the floor as everyone pointedly ignores it, at a stop where a trash can will be relatively near your door, pick up the trash (be loud about it, crinkle the paper or bottles), ask someone to hold the door (using a loud voice, project from the diaphram to ensure people hear you), and step out to throw away the trash. When you come back, thank the person who held the door and say something like “Just couldn’t stand seeing that trash on the floor. People should throw out their own stuff.” Then enjoy as the entire car of people shift uncomfortably and avoid eye contact. Oh, there might be one or two who smile and even say something to you about how you did a good thing, but probably a good thirty percent of those people will have left trash on a train car before, and the rest of them have seen trash and never done anything about it. The best part about it, though, is that you will feel good. First off, it feels good to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. Secondly, rubbing people’s noses in their own indifference is its own reward. Remember, they wouldn’t be shifting uncomfortably and avoiding eye contact if they weren’t guilty of leaving trash or ignoring trash.
Outside of making people feel like crap about themselves on MARTA, its generally a good idea to always try to leave any place better than you found it. If you go to a park, or camping, or even to a movie theater, be better than other people and throw out your trash. Yes, they have people they hire to do that, but where do you think the money comes to pay the people who clean up after you? Movies don’t cost $9 a ticket for shits and giggles. Federal and local funded parks, it comes from your taxes. So, like the title says, do your part, don’t litter and maybe pick up a piece of trash every now and then.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging…
The Home Stretch
Yesterday’s home inspection went well. Nothing is wrong with the house that we didn’t already know about and budget for. The lawyers for HUD finally got their act together and the closing is set for next Friday. So in a week I will officially be a homo… err… home owner.
It feels good to finally get through all the mess. The waiting, the preliminary paperwork, the ninja utility work… yeah, the HUD contractors are complete idiots, so we snuck into the house one night and capped all the open water pipes and gas hoses so that we could turn the utilities on for the inspection. If we hadn’t done that I suspect our inspection might have occurred some time in August with us moving in perhaps before 2007.
This whole experience gives me absolutely no confidence in government institutions. Its not just the triple paperwork, but the sincere lack of job pride that these overpaid overbenefitted slackasses possess. I would be hardpressed to find people outside of cushy government jobs who work so little and manage to make it sound like its hard work.
Anyway, one more week and I’m done with them for good.
Design By Committee
As a programmer, I pride myself on being able to, after the grunt work is done and the program is made functional, make my programs look pleasing, pretty. Usually this involves picking a color scheme using the well known color wheel (paint stores usually provide free ones, they are worth picking up). I start with the company colors and pick others that are complimentary and so on. I pick colors that sharply contrast for things such as alerts, alarms and errors, to make them stand out. I also usually fire up my trusty copy of Paint Shop Pro and craft some graphics to help round out the designs of menus and reports, and I always keep the sizes small so they don’t impede the loading time of the pages.
Then I give the program to the testers and the clients who usually come back with the most idiotic of requests. “Can we make the highlight color a light green text on a purple background? It will be easier to read.” “Can you remove the graphics from the menus? Just leave them blocky tables, we don’t need them to look good.” “Can you make my name appear on the top of every single page in giant 48 point font so that I always know that it is me who is logged in so I don’t use someone else’s account?”
And I have to do them, because my boss thinks that “the customer is always right”. But I know, since it happens every single time, that once the testing phase is done, they are going to ask things like “Why does my name appear in 48 point font on the top of every page?”, “Green on purple is awful, why did you choose those colors?”, and “These menus are so bland, can you jazz them up a bit?”
People wonder why I hesitate to put in my best effort the first time around…
Working From Home
I look forward to the new house. There are many many reasons for this, but one of the ones on top has got to be my office. The house is a two story, three bedroom house. The three bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, and two full bathrooms are all on the “top” floor. I put top in quotes because the front door for the house is in the middle of both floors, with a half flight of stairs going up and a half flight going down. Originally the lower level was unfinished leaded some people to describe it as a “raised ranch”, ranch meaning everything on one floor with raised meaning they put a basement under it. Anyway, the bottom floor also has a full bath, but most of the floor is a large media room/living space that has a place where there was (and will be again) a bar. Then there is the garage, also on the lower floor. Originally (I believe) it was a 2 car garage that ran deep, with lots of room for a workshop or something. The previous owners enclosed that part of the garage and made an office. This is going to be my room.
Working from home has always been a problem for me, mostly because there are usually two places to work: my computer desk or in front of the TV. In front of the TV never works. No matter how stupid the show, you can always find something on the idiot box to stare at. My Super Sweet 16 is the most offensive and retarded show ever. I think I’ve seen them all. My computer desk isn’t much better because its where I do all my gaming and stuff. The temptation is just too great. The one thing I’ve always wanted is a room that is more dedicated to work, separated from the TV and my gaming PC where I can be a little more easily focused. So this new room, my office, is going to freaking rock.
Aside from location, the biggest issue with working from home has to be the tendancy to remain in my pajamas. I think some people enjoy doing that, but for me, if I don’t shower and get dressed it will take me about 4 hours to get my day going instead of being able to jump right in. That’s a personal thing to deal with, but I feel that having an office in my house will help with that because since I have to pass through the garage to get to the office, I’ll be more inclined to be dressed, and I can actually make a morning routine of it because I’m still “going to the office” in a manner of speaking.
Sometimes though, I just like going to the office to get out of the house, so even if I am allowed to work from home all the time, I’d still prefer to have a place to go to escape distraction. We’ll have to wait and see what the future holds, but not too long, I should have my home office by the end of the month.