Archive for August, 2004

The beauty of IMAP

8/3/2004

I recently found a solution to my e-mail problem, which is: How can I get to my mail from the web, use a local e-mail program like Thunderbird and have all this stuff “sync” with each other? Answer: IMAP.

IMAP is a neat thing because it keeps all the mail on the mail server rather than downloading it directly, sorta/kinda. It works much the same way webmail does, with one exception: You can backup your mail locally if you want to, which is something I absolutely require.

I actually had IMAP offered by my web host provider this whole time and never knew it, who’da thunk it? (grin)

Yes there are good points and bad points to IMAP, but all in all this is a good solution for me. I can now get to my mail from a web browser or from an IMAP enabled mail client (like Thunderbird or Outlook Express), and they all “sync” with each other since all the mail is kept on the server. When I get too much mail on the server I can download all the mail then back it up.

Good deal. :-)

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Messin’ ’round with the template.. again

8/5/2004

The look of this site is changing over again. Right now it’s very plain as I write this, but I will spruce it up shortly. That is all, carry on. :-)

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NOW I know what it means!

8/6/2004

For the longest time I had no idea where the word “blog” came from. I thought it was just one of those made-up computer words like WYSIWYG (pronounced “wizzy-wig” which means What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get). “Blog” is not a made up word, it’s just a bad shortening of two words combined for no reason.

And here’s the definition:

“Blog” comes from “weblog” which comes from “web log”, which means “an electronic journal” more or less.

I never knew it went so deep. (grin)

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Almost

8/6/2004

I almost (repeat: almost) moved this site over back where it used to be. Wow, would that have been a dumb move or what? Seriously, the whole point to me moving this site over here in the first place was that I could speak freely without having the watchful eye of people who annoy the bejeezus out of me scan every word I say. I mean, yeah, eventually those annoying people will find this site - but it will be a while before they do.

I’m glad I figuratively smacked myself in the forehead and said “Whoa, STOP. Where you are is just fine.”

Phew.. that was a close one. (grin)

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Anti-cow

8/11/2004

I’m starting to wonder if I’m lactose intolerant. I didn’t used to be, but it seems that whenever I drink milk or eat ice cream, I get really nauseous, but not to the point of throwing up - just a bad stomachache.

Ah well, no big deal. I’m not going to miss drinking milk or eating ice cream anyway since that only happens rarely to begin with. And I only get nauseous when I drink straight milk or eat ice cream.

Such is life.

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The fool strikes again

8/11/2004

I, being the fool that I am, bought a new car several years ago and have been making payments on it a long time, something like 3 years now. I consider anyone who buys a car and cannot pay it off in 2 years a fool (including myself).

But anyway, I will be doing a foolish (depending on your point of view) move again. There is currently a few bucks left that I owe on the car. I have some money in the bank and am going to pay off the car entirely as soon as I get my next check next week (not this week).

This could be a foolish move or a very smart one. I will be severely depleting my savings to pay this darn thing off. On the bright side, there will be no more car payments, and all the money I would be sending to car payments I can now keep to myself. Correction: I can pay off my credit card, and then keep the cash to myself. (grin)

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Laziness and Responsibility

8/12/2004

I’ve been connecting to home from work for a few days now - everything seems pretty stable which is good. I get kicked off the connection every now and zen but otherwise it’s tolerable because I can just reconnect.

I have been getting very lazy concerning the screenplay I’m writing, and I’ve got to get that done and not let it just sit there. That has been bothering me for a few days now.

My Counter-Strike team is still looking for team players who will actually show up when they’re supposed to. I am having (what I consider) a large problem getting people who apply to the team to actually BE there when tryouts are scheduled. This is what happens: They sign up, get their application approved, have a tryout scheduled and then ditch. They they contact me AFTER they ditch and explain “why” (which is a guaranteed lie). Sadly enough, most teenagers (the age group who plays Counter-Strike mostly) have absolutely no sense of responsibility when it comes to commitments of any type. Very, very frustrating - and annoying to boot. I guess that’s what you get when you deal with teens. Most of them just expect to have everyone else take care of them and not suffer the consequences of their actions. But I don’t play that. (grin)

It’s also getting closer to the big day when I pay off the car. I look forward to it but at the same time fear it for obvious reasons. See my previous post on that for the reasons why. As the day gets nearer, I’m reminded “Wow, I’ve been making car payments for seven years!“. Yeah, seven years. Making car payments for what seems like forever happens because most of us will “roll over” an old car’s loan into a new one in order to get a new car. That’s what I did several years ago. It’s also the reason I’m still making payments today. But not for long. And man does it feel good to say that. The happiness outweighs the fear here. Yeah I’ll take a big chunk out of my savings to pay off the car. But I will have a paid car. Paid, paid and paid. YES. (grin)

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Yep it’s official

8/16/2004

On my biz site (a site I’ve had forever, which is since 1999) I decided to announce a link to this site. Yeah I know, I said before I wouldn’t let anyone know about it, but after speaking with a friend tonight… who gives a shit. It’s my site, my blog, my words. If people don’t like it, then whatever - I couldn’t care less. Some people will be pissed off that I was blogging and didn’t say anything to anyone, but hey, it was my decision. Now I’ve made the decision to “go public” again.

Being that I’m in a ranting mood, I will state the following:

To the people who continue to e-mail me or AIM or whatever: If I don’t respond, it’s because I’m busy or I don’t want to talk to you. Depending on who you are, you probably know which one it is.

To the teenage morons who I’ve kicked off my Counter-Strike team - I do not want to talk to you AT ALL. The only reason I kept in contact with you in the first place was because you were on the team. Now that you’re not, I have absolutely no reason to speak with you. Your usefulness has come to an end. Go away.

In addition about the Counter-Strike thing to those ex-team members: I am not your high school buddy. I am much older and am an adult. I have a job and pay for everything on my own. Contrary to your little friends at school, adults don’t play that “teenage drama” bullshit. If you screw up - you do not have the chance to patch things up because you should’ve known better in the first place.

Ah, now I feel better. Back to business. (grin)

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Boom

8/17/2004

Last night I mailed off what is probably the biggest check I’ve ever written. And you guessed it - it’s the one to pay off my car. **Scary**, very scary. Then again, it needed to be done. Yes I sent it early, I couldn’t wait any longer and my courage was waning. (grin)

I should note that I didn’t send the entire amount due. I will owe around $149 bucks after the check clears. I had a few reasons for doing this. First of all, my car loan goes up about $1.25 a day (for those who don’t know - car loans vary in what is actually owed day by day, for real). So if I paid off the whole thing, I’m quite certain I would be left with a $2.50 balance because it takes a few days to get there and process.. and like hell if I’m going to write a check for $2.50.

In addition - I’m not sure if there is a penalty for paying it off early. That’s the 2nd reason I didn’t pay the whole thing off in one shot. I will be calling them as soon as I finish writing this (they have a 24-hr toll-free support number, neato).

I pray to God that no unnecessary crap happens with all this. Banks hate it when you pay stuff off early, because they lose money when you do it, hence the reason they don’t like it.

And sure enough - a problem happened with the car today. The blinkers decided to stop working for about 5 minutes. Then they came back on, then went off again. I think I have about 1 or 2 months of warranty left of this thing, so that’s another call I will be making tomorrow. I will just make it before the warranty expires. (grin)

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Getting back to zero

8/19/2004

That big check I sent off for the car payment hasn’t show up as “cashed” yet on my eBanking account. I half-expected this to happen because whenever you send large checks, banks will wait several days for it to “clear”. Hopefully it will clear soon and then I can get on with paying off the credit card, and then (insert dramatic music here) I will finally be back at “zero” again. Trust me, this is a good thing.

Everyone I know is in some sort of debt, be it a mortgage, credit card(s), car(s) or whatever it is. No one I know has small debts or is anywhere near “being at zero”. Usually, the average debt I see for my age group (27 to 32-ish) is somewhere between $25000 and $45000 or more - not including any medical stuff which will add a few ten thousand more.

I got a few friends who have “consolidated” bills. Personally I think the consolidation thing is a stupid idea. Don’t know what it is? This is what it is in a nutshell:

Take all your bills, and get a debt consolidation loan that ‘pays’ all those bills, then pay back the loan. The monthly payment for the loan is smaller than all the bills combined you were paying previously.

I said this was a bad idea. This is why:

• Consolidation doesn’t mean you “paid off” anything at all. It just means you handed the bill to someone else and now you’re paying them.
• In most instances, it will take you longer to pay off the consolidation loan than it did to just pay off your bills “the normal way” in the first place.
• Because it takes you longer to pay off a consolidation loan - you are literally pissing money away. Most people who have get these loans have no credit and get socked with a wicked high interest rate. They have to deal with it because of their sucky credit.

My advice to anyone who’s got bills: Pay them off the traditional way, don’t get caught in the “miracle cure” of a debt consolidation loan because it’s not a miracle. It’s just a way for other companies to take your money.

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