Archive for March, 2005
3/2/2005
To those who tried to get a hold of me today, I wasn’t available. Reason: Werk was really, really rough. As soon as I got home I had dinner, then lied down for a minute and *zonk* I was out like a light.
Werk sucked today because half the people that are supposed to be there didn’t show up. We had some snow dropped on us last night (but NOT THAT MUCH) and everyone decided to take a day off. I, knowing that the snow wasn’t too bad at all really, went to werk. Guess what, the roads were wet, but CLEAR for the most part.
There are only very specific weather-wise situations that will keep me from going to werk (or anywhere for that matter):
1) Ice.
Snow is one thing. Ice is another. In snow you have traction, even if limited. In ice, you don’t have any traction at all. It’s gone. Bad ice will keep me homebound every time.
2) Extremely poor visibility.
If I can’t see more than 25 yards in front of me I won’t go out. Why 25 yards? That’s easy. At 25 yards you can see brake lights and/or other bad things in front of you should there be any and have time to STOP. Conditions that can cause this are drifting snow or hard rain with high winds and dense fog. Not more than 2 months ago there was fog bad enough where you couldn’t see more than 10 FEET in front of you (it was so bad I pulled into the wrong driveway to get to my own house).
3) White-out.
Anyone who lives in a region where it snows knows what white-out conditions are. This is where you literally can’t tell where the road starts or ends unless you have something above the road (like a stoplight) to guide you. Very scary situation. It’s caused by massive amounts of snow covering everyrthing. Guard rails/posts, mailboxes, curbs and other things on the side of the road are completely covered. The only thing you can see is a white sheet in front of you. You can’t see tire tracks because the snow is covering them too quickly, and literally have to guess that you’re going the right way. Fortunately for me I’ve never hit anything during a white-out condition because I’ve been smart enough to get off the road fast when it happens.
4) Hard rain/winds.
Hard rain with wind normally occurs at the beginning/middle of summer around these parts. You’ve got poor visibility (see above), “sheeting” and spraying by cars on the highway, and tons of debris (and possibly downed power lines/trees) on residential roads. Flooding also sometimes happens.. but not in my area, we’re too far away from the coast. Out of all the situations above, I would probably still drive in this anyway. Rain, while deadly when heavy, can still be driven in if you’ve got everything in check, like good wipers, a clean windshield and your wits about you (a.k.a. not driving tired).
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3/2/2005
Yeah, I changed the look of this site again. Fortunately this time ’round it’s not too much of a drastic change which is my normal way of handling my own sites (insert sheepish grin here). Essentially I just wanted to add a little color.. so I did. I also put the site “in a box”. Fortunately, I can take the site out of the box anytime I want because of CSS.. so I was smart this time. ;-)
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3/4/2005
I ordered a new Dell Inspiron 6000 a few days ago. Should be arriving in a few weeks once it finished being built (custom order). The decision has been made that yes, I will be switching full-time to a laptop instead of a normal tower computer. Regular readers here have heard off and on that I was trying to create a small PC. I searched into using Mini-ITX mainboards and other small form factor means of creating and using a smaller computer. Unfortunaetly the plain fact of the matter is that smaller = slower, something I definitely don’t want.
The best small computer to this day is still the laptop (or notebook or whatever you want to call it). I researched many different small form factors, and the laptop is the best way to go small when it comes to computers you can actually use (that’s the key word there).
Cool thing about Dell’s: When outfitted with a Dell Coupon Code, you can get new laptops cheap these days. Even without the coupon code you can buy a new laptop for under $650.00 - something unheard of even as little as two years ago. This translates to somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 bucks a month if you finance it (and yes I financed mine). So if you’re in the market for a laptop, why wouldn’t you get one? The prices are the lowest they’ve ever been.
It will be very nice when I get the new laptop. Bye-bye bulky tower, hello slim’n'trim laptop. Having that extra desk space will be super cool, no doubt about it. ;) The fact I can bring the computer places is also very good.
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3/4/2005
My left wrist started having a small dulling pain here at werk after typing on the keyboard for a few hours. It’s not a bad pain, just a small one - but it’s enough to notice. That’s bad. I know several people who have carpal tunnel and I don’t want to be next.
So I spoke with management and they gave me one of these “Microsoft Natural Elite” keyboards. You know the kind. Really funky looking things with a huge split in the middle.
After using this thing for a few hours, guess what. Pain’s almost gone. This ergo-board really does work. Who’da thunk it?
At home, my keyboard has a large wrist rest attached to it and I feel no pain when using my home keyboard. At werk, I was using a standard Dell 104-key keyboard with a squishy wrist rest - but I guess that’s not doing the job any longer. The natural ‘board is doing much better.
Contrary to popular belief it does not take forever to get used to one of these things. Some keys are in different places but it’s nothing that anyone couldn’t learn. I guess we’ll see if the pain completely goes away or not using this thing. I hope it does. No pain is a good thing. ;-)
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3/6/2005
A few days ago, long time friend Ben calls me and says his computer is on the fritz. He asked if I would fix it, because he got the computer on the expectation that the internet would work on it (he’s never been on the ‘net before). “Sure”, I said. I do computers for a living so this isn’t a stretch for me. He comes on by with an older Dell Dimension (a “3800″ if I remember correctly), and has all the CD-ROM’s ready - including the one with the operating system on it which was good. He had the original Windows XP disc that came with the Dell and had the proper license stamped on the box so it was 100% legal - a good thing. (For most people that ask me for rebuilds, they request that I “give them” Windows XP or something like that. Three words: No can do.)
So anyway, this is an easy rebuild. He leaves the box with me and I rebuild the thing. It’s a slower 1.1GHz Celeron but it’ll do the job. I format the drive and the rebuild goes through without any problems. I update the bejeezus out of it, give it Service Pack 2 and any other updates it needs. I put on AVG anti-virus (the free version) just to be on the safe side. Then I tested his dial-up Juno internet to make sure that worked. Everything did.
Yesterday he comes by and picks up the box. I turn it on and show him how to connect to the ‘net, how to send/receive e-mail and so on. I also add my e-mail address to his “Address Book” in his Juno e-mail account, so everything is good to go. Everything is okay with him so he takes the box home.
Shortly thereafter I start getting e-mail from him, so I know that he was able to hook it up and got everything working. I think he must have spent something like 3 or 4 hours on the ‘net yesterday.
So off Ben goes into virtual world. Another ‘net junkie is born. ;-)
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3/6/2005
I think everyone does this from time to time. You’ve probably typed www.[yourstate].com just to see what shows up. Sometimes it’s something good, sometimes not so good.
Before continuing, you should be aware that true official state web sites are simply [state abbreviation].gov, such as ct.gov, ma.gov, ri.gov and so on… just take the abbreviation of the state and put dot gov after it.
Anyway..
Connecticut.com has been owned by a company (not the state) for as long as I can remember. For years (and I mean years) the domain just sat there with a really BAD web design and nothing ever happened with that site. It was never updated and it just turned into a graveyard. I mean seriously, they could have done so much more with it. I would have, anyway.
Today I take a look at it after not looking at it for a long time. It finally changed. Hooray. Now it says:
“New Portal Coming Soon!”
Um, yeah, we’ve heard that before. Try again, guys.
“Visit the Govonor’s Mansion Christmas Decoration 2004″
Yes, you saw that correctly: “Govonor”. It’s misspelled. It should be Governor.
Hooray, Connecticut! Our state-name-dot-com is run by retards who don’t know how to use a spell checker or that it’s even 2005! Whoopee!
Additionally, that “Govonor” link goes to something called “Interventions into Natural Spaces”. Hmm.. sounds dirty to me. Maybe someone over there likes cattle prods in the pooper. Who’s to say for sure.
Anyway, Connecticut.com sucks, and it’s run by retards. I would much rather see a “page not found” than what’s on there now… or at the very least correct the darn spelling. Might be nice to fix the busted link at the bottom, too.
I have absolutely no tolerance for people who can’t spell. Yes, I make spelling errors also, BUT.. at least mine aren’t in BIG HUGE TEXT for the whole world to read.
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3/8/2005
My Dell Inspiron 6000 is now officially stated as “In Transit” according to my customer account at dell.com. Good deal, however there were a few snags in the way mainly due to shipping crap, but I think I got that all worked out.
And ya know, I seriously can’t stand people with foreign accents I can’t understand. Any time I call Dell I am always speaking with someone who can barely speak English correctly. I hate that, truly I do. If I didn’t hate bumper stickers so much, I would put one on the back of my truck that states “Welcome to America, SPEAK ENGLISH OR DIE.”
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3/10/2005
Recently, I’ve been reminded that great ideas can be stopped cold by a lack of funds. I, like tons of other people, have great business ideas. In the same token, I, like tons of of people, don’t have the startup cash to get these ideas rolling. This is better known as startup capital. Either you have it or you don’t.
There are basically two ways to get startup capital. Either you scrimp and save all your pennies to build a nest to spend off of, or you borrow it from someone else (the bank, for example). In my last major effort to run a business full time, I did the first option - it’s the safer of the two. Why safer? Because when you run out of cash (and most of us do,) you don’t owe anything to anyone.
There is a potential business venture up in Maine. The people involved have been egging me to get up there a lot. Problem is, the startup capital simply doesn’t exist.. and it has been hinted to me that I may need to pony up some out-of-pocket expenses up front. Um.. no. That’s not going to happen. Maybe if I had reasonable assurance the biz would work I would go - but I don’t have the assurance. There’s no business plan, no future projections, nothing. definitely not in my best interest. I have been asking (more like pleading) with the leader of this project to put something on paper that shows what this whole shin-dig is all about - and nothing has come forward. Not even a mission statement. Bad call on his part.
In addition to all this, I’ve been reminded me that Connecticut sucks and that I will most likely end up here with all the other failures of society if I don’t get out there and do something with my life. I understand the intentions are all well and good, however, taking my entire kit’n'kaboodle up to Maine with no assurance of a solid foundation of business is just plain dumb. For every business success there are 10,000 failures or more.
In my last biz effort I was able to get out “clean” because I knew how much I had and how much I needed to get out of it if disaster struck (or just running out of money). In this particular venture, there is no disaster plan. No beginning, no foundation, no contingency plan, nothing.
I tried in my best effort to explain all this to a friend last night.. but the only thing through his mind was “Get out there and do it anyway, you only live once”. Being that I know he will read this: NO. When the time is right I will make my move. Now is not the right time. A business needs proper planning and execution. No plan = no biz. I am not about to sacrifice my personal security (both fiscal and mental) on a loosely based idea that has no foundation or method of recovery, period.
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3/11/2005
Note: Title of this article has obvious influence from this Homestar Runner cartoon.
My new Dell Inspiron 6000 arrived today. Before I get into the nitty gritty of it, here’s what I have to say about Dell first: They’re support department is absolutely fucking horrible. Here’s why:
——- Start Rant ——-
(skip to “end rant” if you want to skip this part)
When I originally ordered the Dell, I put down my home address as the shipping address on the expectation that I could have the signature on the package waived. All packages shipped from Dell require that you sign for the package on arrival. I said to myself “Okay, I’ll order the unit, then call Dell and have the package held at the Bozrah, CT UPS place. Shouldn’t be a problem.
Or so I thought.
Before continuing: The reason I have signatures waived on signatures is because UPS delivers before I get home from werk. So when they deliver, I can’t sign for it obviously because I’m not there (duh). Then they hold it at Bozrah, CT after a failed attempt.. to which I go and sign for later.
So anyway, a full WEEK before Dell made the shipment I made FOUR PHONE CALLS to Dell to try (and fail miserably) to tell them to simply HOLD the package at UPS in Bozrah instead of shipping it to my house.
All failed.
Every single idiot (who couldn’t speak English to save their life) I spoke with at Dell could simply not understand what “Hold at UPS facility” meant. No one.
So basically, I gave up. I called UPS. They told me “Wait until one failed attempt, then call us and have us hold it in Bozrah.”
Which I did. Today I finally got the package.
——- End Rant ——-
Okay, now the good stuff.
This is my first experience with wide screen on a computer. My display is 1680×1050. This is the 2nd best display offered with this laptop model, and I purposely did that. The best resolution is 1900+ pixels wide. No thank you - that would definitely be a problem if I couldn’t even read my own Start Menu (1900 res is very very tiny on a laptop). I’m happy I stuck with 1680, it’s just right.
I should have ordered a stupid laptop bag, but didn’t because I thought my old laptop bag would fit this thing. It doesn’t. Too wide (insert sheepish grin here). Now I gotta go spend 40 bucks on a bag. Ugh.
The LCD screen is awesome. I remember LCD screens from laptops of the past. Absolutely horrible, and they would give you headaches. This one, however, is crystal clear, colors are virbrant, true and look better than my Sony LCD screen does(!)
Sound quality is above par for a laptop. I’ll be honest, I don’t care for laptop speakers - because they’re small. They have no bass response at all because of their size. But for lil’ speakers they aren’t so bad. It won’t be horrible to use them. They do the job okay. Note to the masses out there: Nothing beats standalone speakers. Nothing. Anything “built-in” to a computer simply doesn’t do the job, trust me on that one. ;-)
This is my first Intel Celeron M powered computer. Processor speed is 1.5GHz for those interested. The “M” is for “mobile”. What can I say about it… it works. It’s not blazing lightning fast, but laptops are slower than regular computers anyway. Besides which, Celerons run cooler than “true” Pentiums. This is the first computer I have purchased for work rather than entertainment/gaming. I think it will do the job nicely.
So far this laptop is whisper quiet, and man is that awesome. My last computer was so darn LOUD. Fans were blaring all the time. Very annoying. The way “power” computers work is basically like this: You need really fast processors, really fast RAM, really fast drives and so on. All that crap generates a lot of heat. When you have a lot of heat, you need a lot of fans, big-ass heat sinks and sometimes a water cooling system. All that garbage = LOUD LOUD NOISE. It’s loud enough so you notice it.. and who wants to be annoying by their own computer? I don’t. So anyway, this whisper-quiet laptop is a welcome change for the better.
The TouchPad (a genius invention if I do say so myself,) is easy to use, but I did hook up an external USB mouse. When not using it, the ‘pad works well. I can definitely notice a huge improvement over ‘pads of the past. There are many more options available to configure for it in the Control Panel also. My only gripe is that my left thumb sometimes touches the ‘pad when I type. Not a big deal though.
And finally, I can say with confidence that I can use this computer like a real computer. Laptops in years past were best classified as expensive toys.. you couldn’t really do much with them. For this one, however, I can do everything I did with my previous computer and a little bit more. I can do my audio, my video, burn CD’s/DVD’s, go wireless when I get the wireless router eventually, do BlueTooth stuff (can’t wait to test that out,) and everything else I did on my old PC.
Additionally, this laptop is truly portable. It won’t break your shoulder when carrying it around. Nice touch.
Overall I’m happy with it. I’m hoping it will stay working for a long time.
Oh, one last thing: I love laptop keyboards. I can type so frickin’ fast on this thing it’s ridiculous. ;-)
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3/12/2005
I have a backup Juno internet access account. Ten bucks a month. Can’t really beat that, the price is right. Just for the “fun” of it I’m writing this article while on dial-up. Fortunately I’ve designed this site to be fast, so it’s not a chore to surf it even on a slow connection.
In a way I miss how the internet used to be. Dial-up back in the day wasn’t all too bad because the majority of the web sites out there weren’t so clogged up with graphics and other useless crap. Nowadays you can’t even surf yahoo.com without waiting almost 20 to 30 seconds for it to load up on dial-up.
Ah well.. the days of fast loading web sites are all but gone if on dial-up. Guess it’s just a sign of the times.
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