Anticitizen's Ramblings

Yeah, my ex had the nerve to message me on myspace, causing me large amounts of undue stress and the like.

She claims that I was ballsy to talk to her the way I did (YOU ARE THE LAST PERSON I WANT TO TALK TO *click*). Well, when you tool around with my computer with the intention to wreck it, what do you THINK I'm going to say?

Just get out. Please.

But she tops it off with this.

"I have a heart you know..."

She's trying to flip the guilt switch now. Ooooooh man is this not good...because she knows I'm going to take it sooner or later.

So it continues as I screw around under this somewhat handicapped set of specifications.

This computer is still somewhat workable, amazingly. I can still use my original set of applications. However, it slows down, almost to a halt.

I switch tabs in Safari? Beachball of doom.

I switch programs? Same thing.

Pretty much anything I do will result in a halt. Installing applications and updates...working as normal in the Finder...

As an insult to injury, it also would appear that AirPort is also completely crippled. Before all this crap went down, I was able to connect to the city's wireless network and enjoy it to it's full capacity. Now my computer just drags it's feet and takes five minutes to load google. Google! Five minutes! Jeez.

This happens as well with ANY wireless network I get on. So the one option I'm left with is reapplying the 10.5.2 update and hoping for the best.

I made that mistake on letting my parents use my MacBook to go to Oregon. Sure, fine, whatever.

But when it came back...clearly this isn't the MacBook I let go. It's been bastardized, destroyed, defaced, whatever other words you can fit here.

Let's go over the damages.

The iSight has been mutilated. Looks like someone took a ballpoint pen, scribbled all over it, then proceeded to stab it a couple of times. No more photo booth for me.

512MB of RAM...gone. Yeah, you heard right. Someone REMOVED half of my memory, leaving me with only 512MB in Leopard. This causes massive amounts of beachball-spinning and kernel panicking.

Top of the lid is FUBAR I had stickers on the lid. Someone removed them--with a putty knife. The result? Gashes and deep scratches, all over the lid.

AirPort antenna disconnected. Someone's been under the hood...Perfect.

I'll be back when I've got it all fixed. In other words: Hiatus.

So, Cinco De Mayo fun today. Woohoo. I go with my girlfriend's family for it. That's okay, fine. But then, one of my girlfriend's sisters makes the mistake of pulling out an awfully familiar camera.

One, that looks a lot like my Canon Powershot SD800IS which went missing around the graduation party last year. (Which, ironically, I had said camera at the party which was in turn at my girlfriend's house.)

So, I ask to see the camera. Thinking nothing's wrong, she hands it over. I look at the back.

Small dent in the bezel above the upper-left corner of the screen? ...I remember that occurring when I dropped the camera during the first week of ownership.

I'm on to something, I think, so I immediately flip open the door covering the battery and SD card. Wait, what's this? A 128MB card with the letters "CT" written on it? WHAT?! This is definitely mine!

So what would anyone else do over a $400 dollar camera? That's right, begin raising hell. Which I did. And her sisters instantly double-team me, saying they bought it off someone. That's understandable, yes, but when I pointed out the obvious blemishes, the memory card, and the slightly damaged battery (all of which I caused), They were quick to make up stories about how they caused that, claiming they dropped the camera, were naming the card for a certain occasion, and claiming they got the wrong charger for the camera, respectively.

Bullshit. All of it.

I would have accepted that they bought the camera from someone, yes, but they went and told me they stole it by lying about the damages to the camera. They could have gotten away with it had they said that those damages were there when they bought it, but no, the dipshits decided to screw it up.

So, I began making offers. I offered to buy the camera back, among other things, and was refused, and was simply told "The camera is hers, and there is nothing you can do to prove it, and I have the box and the reciept to prove it."

Wrong There IS no box, because *I* have the box!

So, failing that, it's time for the last resort. Total. War.

I'm filing a police report on the camera, and will have the police-a-knocking on their door tomorrow. Screw that.

I swear, at my Slaveway we seem to have a ton of customers trying to get free passes on things. And yes, all of this happened today. Quite amazing.

So once again, it's me (this time, stocking the soda aisle. Fun) and F, my totally kick-ass all-around awesome manager. (Going to attempt using a cut again, apologies in advance if it fails.)
( Cue suck one )

Suck #2, shortly after #1
( I don't decide the prices. )
This next one may not count (Seeing as person doing the shopping was from corporate, but not working), but it pissed me off quite a bit.

( We all make mistakes. What part of that don't you get? )

And cue the final two sucks...

( LEARN TO READ )

If it wasn't for my manager, I probably would have jumped ship by now.

Unfortunately, it's been broken into. Which blows mightily. I hope Microsoft is still going to cover the repair for it, as I'm giving them a call to send it in for repair.

Even if I have to pay for it, it'll likely cost me less than a retail core system, or even a refurb core system. Which means I still won in the end.

But, paying sucks. My minimum-wage paycheck can't cover it...

We'll see what happens.

I bought a busted Xbox 360 today for $50. The Xbox gives off the usual 3 red lights of certain doom. However, what I was after was the two pristine wired controllers, both of which outvalue the price I paid for the entire bundle.

I am going to attempt contacting Microsoft over the RRoD, but I'm not holding my breath. It looks like someone's been inside the Xbox, judging by the marks on the plastic outer casing.

I'll report back tomorrow with pictures and such.

Okay, yeah, so today was my last day at my work before running to Monument Safeway. I was pretty quiet on the reasons on why I wanted to leave, mostly boiling down to "I moved, so I need to transfer".

This couldn't be farther from the truth. I have one other reason why I left. Some people I couldn't stand. I just couldn't. Some may say that I am weak and I let those people win, but between my life outside of work and my type 1 diabetes, I couldn't take too much.

First off, however...how did I even end up at Denkinger? A few know, but for those who don't...I originally started at Monument, and Food Maxx opened up a new store in the plaza kitty-corner from the plaza Monument was in. This drove our business into the ground, and as such, people were transferred. Me, and two checkers were transferred to Willow Pass. I couldn't make it to Willow Pass every day, so I requested that I be transferred to Denkinger as it was more convenient.

However, on my first day, things were not all good.

I immediately clashed with the front end manager and the manager himself over my medical condition. They claimed they didn't know at all what diabetes is (WTF? Have you been living under a feckin' ROCK for the last few years?!), and called bullshit on me having to go on break RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IT'S AN EMERGENCY. Also, I asked a checker for my break. HOW DARE I? That's how we did things in Monument. I don't adjust to new policy in a day; don't expect that of me.

Eventually, it got to the point that I had to take a trip to the Emergency Room. At that point, things cooled down a bit, and I got my hours cut to give me more time to manage myself.

But more problems arised when I had to call out from work. Bob, the manager, gets REALLY FURIOUS when you can't come to work. One day, I had caught the cold, and for diabetics, especially myself, a cold will pretty much take you out of commission for a bit. It's horrible. So I had to call out one day, and I was torn a new one for doing so. He does this with all his employees, and I don't like it at all. It's not cool to make your own employees shake with fear of your temper.

After that, things got quiet for a few months, until the Super Bowl. I happened to be out on carts for a good few hours, and I have had management come outside and tell me that I am doing a shit job. On Super Bowl day. I had even come in and REQUESTED THAT I HAVE SOMEONE HELP ME WITH CARTS. I'm a diabetic. My physical endurance is diminished because of it. I can't hold up out there.

But the true dose of irony comes when later on, two courtesy clerks were scheduled for carts, and not even they could keep up with the demand. The cart pen was continually empty. I felt like screaming at the assistant manager that I was wrongfully blamed for poor performance when TWO OF YOUR BEST CC'S CAN'T EVEN KEEP UP. FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK.

That problem quieted down a bit after that, but began recently kicking up again. I'd get blamed for carts being a horrible mess when in fact, I was out there. My performance was also judged negatively. I will once again, point to the fact that I am type 1 diabetic and have diminished physical endurance. It's impossible for me to keep at it for an hour straight, let alone two or three. It's honestly not my fault management failed to listen to me when I was trying to explain this fact to them.

But while I was a bit pissed off with the management, I'll never forget how awesome some of my co-workers were. They even move me to come back one day, which says a lot. I'll name a few:

Katie, Ashley (Both Ashley's) and Tori: You guys are great, honestly. You made me laugh my ass off when I was in the worst of moods. That says quite a lot.

Kathy: For just being a totally awesome courtesy clerk in the morning. I never really had to worry about anything not being done.

Gary: For the reason above. I'd have to say he's the Chuck Norris of courtesy clerks.

I can't think of any specific reasons, but the entire team of courtesy clerks were awesome to be around.

Micah: Just being an all-around awesome kind of guy. Very caring and very sympathetic.

Alyssa: Hands down the best front end manager the store's ever had, IMO.

I probably missed a few, but a lot of you out there were very awesome co-workers. I like you all. It's just a shame that some things totally killed the otherwise awesome time I had at Denkinger.

But as I've said...I may be back...You'll never know.

Time to rip apart an article that was written on Computerworld.
Link: http://blogs.computerworld.com/five_reasons_why_vista_beats_mac_os_x

The conventional wisdom, that Mac's OS X is superior to Windows Vista, is flat-out wrong. In fact, despite much belief to the contrary, Vista is a superior operating system. Here are five reasons why.

Vista is a bloated OS, known to slow even the beefiest of computers, yet Mac OS X Leopard can run on last-year spec'd machines? Who's superior, I wonder.

Reason #1: Vista runs more software

Mac OS X is a very pretty operating system, but beauty runs only skin deep. An operating system by itself is a poor thing -- it's the applications that run on top of it that matter. And here's where Mac OS X falls short. It can't run much common software, including enterprise applications and games.

"Much common software?" The Mac can run Quicken. It can run Microsoft Office. It can run Photoshop. It can do many things that you aren't aware of.

Virtualization software like Parallels Desktop for Mac won't solve the problem. Parallels can't run even the most basic Vista games such as FreeCell, Hearts, Pinball, Solitaire and Minesweeper, because it doesn't support DirectX 9. And virtualization software creates big problems for enterprises with regard to volume licensing, technical support, creating standard enterprisewide images and so on. So it's no good for running enterprise applications either. Vista beats OS X here, hands down.

Freecell? Hearts? Minesweeper? Who in their right mind wants to run those anyway? Oh yeah, let's not forget Boot Camp.

On top of that, let's consider this: On the Mac, you have one or two choices of software to do one thing. On the PC, you have no less than 100 choices on one thing. On the Mac, it's a cut-and-dry decision on what you need. On the PC, you have to look at every package and determine which one suits your needs, which is a time-consuming task.

Reason #2: Vista is safer

As I've written before, Vista is a more secure operating system than Mac OS X. Mac OS X was easier to crack in a recent hacking contest. And security researcher Dino Dai Zovi had this to say about Vista versus Mac OS X when it comes to security:

OKAY. Let's see here...Vista is safer how? Because it stops you and asks you to confirm for every little thing you do?

Genius.

Many of the OS X vulnerabilities are ones that no one takes advantage of. There is no vulnerability so far that has been taken advantage of on a widespread basis. Time to board the failboat.

Reason #3: It's the money, stupid

If you're got a lot of extra spare cash laying around that you don't care about, then by all means, buy a Mac. But if, like most of the world, you've got to work for a living, then you'll find that a Vista machine is far less expensive than a Mac.

TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP! TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP! Say it together.

A Mac lasts five years, minimum, with no upgrades. Try that with a PC; you'll likely be upgrading it once a year.

Reason #4: The Mac is closed; Vista is open

Any person or company who wants to build a PC with Vista on it, and either sell it, or use it themselves, is perfectly free to do so, as long as they buy the operating system. Try to do that with a Mac, and you'll be spending some face time with Apple's attack dog lawyers.

I'll give you that one.

Reason #5: Two words -- Steve Jobs

There's no doubt that Steve Jobs is a master marketer. And he also knows good design. But he's also vindictive, sends his lawyers after people who report leaked information about Apple products, and has hypnotized Apple users into drinking the true-believer Kool Aid. Don't reward him by making him richer.

I'll quote John Gruber of Daring Fireball fame on this one:

A good rule of thumb, by the way, is that the more a writer attributes the actions of Apple, an enormous corporation with thousands of talented employees, to Steve Jobs, who is just one man and neither an engineer nor a designer, the more likely the writer is an idiot, a hack, or both.

1. Failure is ok.
2. Do not attempt Free Bird if you can't play through medium difficulty.
3. Jordan sucks if you don't know what's coming.
4. Jordan will cause your fingers serious harm.
5. THE WHAMMY BAR DOES NOTHING! NOTHING!!! (Erm, okay, SP it does)

This is mostly a place for personal stuff to clear out my main blog:

http://phorium.wordpress.com/

Also, I wanted to post to a few communities here as well.

I'll update here and there.