My computer has been having trouble for the past couple of months. I never had any problems, and then suddenly, it started to struggle. Then one day...it wouldn't start up. The computer would power up, start opening Mac OSX Tiger and stay that way, potentially forever. A friend of mine managed to treat the computer like an external drive, and get my entire drive onto his external. My files are all in tact.
I found my reboot disks, and used them to restore my computer to factory settings. And it worked wonderfully for a day. A Christmas Miracle!
The second day it worked, I decided to join a new dating site. I can't do eharmony (they wouldn't know how to match us!); I don't think I'm Match.com ready- bitches are ready to get married and junk. So I elected for OkCupid! It actually asks questions and you get matched up to people, instead of waiting for people to say "Your cute" and then be upset by their terrible spelling. If they do select the correct "you're" it's usually because they were educated in the 60s.
In the middle of updating my profile, the computer shut down. It won't turn back on. I now have messages from guys on the website. I can't check them from work- it's blocked. I can't check them from home.
That seems more like my life.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Posts I can't seem to finish (The Tech Edition)
We pretty much suck at updating this blog now that NaBloPoMo is over and Tim's computer apparently exploded, or a ghost took it, or whatever happened there of that I can't keep track. I have about 15 blog topics I am working on right now.... none of them are finished. But, if you'd like a little taste of the good stuff, here are the ones I probably will never finish. I kept it thematic, they all have a technology-ish theme going on:
-Since I've gotten my iPhone, I've paid more attention to the ads for the competition... you know, so I can say to myself, "you made the right choice" by selecting to drop Verizon like it's hot and join the ranks of people who have AT&T only because they have the best smart phone out there. I said it. What makes me laugh is how all of the other phones keep name dropping Google. Powered by Google. With Google. I get that Google is awesome and probably the most popular search engine/email service/ etc etc etc, but must we all brag about how Google can be accessed or is somehow powering a phone? How does Google "power" a phone or 3G network anyway? Is T-mobile's myTouch on a 3Google network? (That's a serious question). Here's what I have to say about the Googley-eyed smart phones out there. Google is a floozy. It will hop on any bandwagon because Google likes to be popular. Google doesn't care if you are a Droid, a MyTouch, a Whoosiewhatsit or an iPhone. To find google, you can just type in www.google.com. Okay, so when you click on the internet on the iPhone, Google's main page doesn't show up.... but, wait for it, wait for it, there's an app for that. OR, you can type in www.google.com. Or you can bookmark it. Just like any old computer with the internets. I would give more credit to the other guys out there if they said "with Yahoo" or "Decisions provided by Bing!" because then at least they are offering something different and unusual even if it is something subpar to Google. Let's be honest, Droid, Googs is just using you, like he's using everyone else. Bragging about having Google on your phone that connects to the world wide web is like patting yourself on the back because the 7th grade prospective class president wants to be your friend. Yes, you, four-eyes McGeek with the bad habit of wearing oversized sweatshirts that have tigers screenprinted on them and who hasn't discovered Proactiv. Do you really think Mr. Popular wants to be your friend? He just wants you to vote during 5th period elections and then he won't remember your name until he has to copy your test answers in History class.
-I have a lot of great ideas. No really, I do. Once my friend Heidi agreed with me on that and she said she'd keep a list for me. Where's that list, Heidi? Thanks for nothing. Anyway, my point is, I could be sitting at dinner with my parents and come up with a great idea for a site that connected people with things that they want and all the people who have those things. I'd call it "Wishlist." The next day, I am eating lunch with one of my friends who is a bitter bridesmaid, and that's when I come up with my idea for a gift registry for single people called "Pity Party". Later, I am driving to Boston with my dad, wishing there was an App for people who forget their EZPass or Fastlanes, and wishing even more I could be the person to develop it and sell it. Or, I am drinking (a lot) with friends and decide to make an alternative to facebook called "Earbook"... So you can "hear" what's up. Get it? Get it? HA HA HA HA HA HA . So, basically, I just think I am on the wrong career path. I wish I had "done something with computers" like a grandmother might say. I could be rich. I could be famous. I could be everything I wanted to be. Instead I'll just go travel somewhere....Sigh.
-I never used to be a big cell phone person. I got my first one when I studied abroad in Italy and then when I got home I got my permanent one (senior year of college, I suppose I was a late bloomer, as per usual). Up until a few weeks ago, when the iPhone joined my family of one, I was known to keep my phone on silent even after getting home from work, forgetting it at home, leaving it upstairs (out of sight, out of mind) while hanging out downstairs, etc. I just never thought about it. My theory, there is voicemail for a reason. Leave a message and I will check it in 3 weeks when my mailbox gets full. Your better bet would be just to hang up. Curiosity would get the best of me (7 hours later when I notice the missed call) and I'd get back to you with a "I saw you called....?" I was no stranger to voicemail tag and I sometimes looked forward to it; in fact, on more than one occassion I didn't want voice on voice action. I have nightmares about calling people and having them answer and me hanging up on them in horror. Point of this ramble: Now that I have a better phone that deserves more than a life on a dusty end table in between the bed and the bookcase, I wonder if I will become one of those people who is obsessed with their phones? These people really irk me and I think I should write a book about proper phone etiquette in the age of cell phones. I'm not the only one that has noticed all of these newfangled contraptions are ruining the way we socialize. On another note, could you imagine if the Fax machine really caught on in the way cell phones did? Could you imagine faxing your friends at 2am: "Just made out with my boss at the holiday party. LOL." What if there were mini-wireless-portable fax machines. HA HA HA. Whenever I think about fax machines I think about Back to the Future 2 when there are the fax machines in everyroom spitting out "YOU'RE FIRED." Okay, now I don't even remember the point of this mini post. End scene.
-Whoever came up with the idea of Online Dating I'd like to smack. If it wasn't bad enough that my generation was already socially inept in terms of dating, some whiz kid had to go and add internet into the mix, making things even more complicated. It probably started with the idea of a chat room (remember those virtual rooms you could stumble into at the age of 13, pretending to be 25, and then your neighbor ends up on Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" special) and then when on AOL there was no such thing as privacy so you could search everyone and anyone who had set up a profile with their screenname and chat them up until 2am at sleepovers. Somehow, all of this evolved into people setting up websites like Match and eHarmony, to "make things easier" for those of us who couldn't seem to snag a significant other the normal way. Well, you know what I'd like to say.... I bet things would be easier if these alternatives didn't exist. I'm not against Facebook or Match or anything, but what if we couldn't Google our high school boyfriend to find out what time he ran in the Manchester Road Race, or log into a website that supposedly evaluates you on 30 plus different levels in order to find your soulmate? Since when did we become so passive and scared? I feel like the best love stories are the ones where the protagonist seizes the day and jumps into love... it usually isn't a tale of someone going online to scope out this new person he/she met in a bar the night before via Facebook. (Well, aside from You've Got Mail, but that had Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan so it worked). Before I get all bitter betty on dating and the internet and bla di bla bla, I'm going to stop ranting. And yes, I know internet dating works for many many people. I say, power to you, for figuring out how to make the system work and for taking chances. In the end, love is love, no matter how you slice it.
*Sorry about any spelling mistakes. I am too lazy to re-read this with a fine tooth comb, and my spell check is apparently busted. Did I just prove one of my points by even saying that? Totally unintentional. I'm a jerk.
-Since I've gotten my iPhone, I've paid more attention to the ads for the competition... you know, so I can say to myself, "you made the right choice" by selecting to drop Verizon like it's hot and join the ranks of people who have AT&T only because they have the best smart phone out there. I said it. What makes me laugh is how all of the other phones keep name dropping Google. Powered by Google. With Google. I get that Google is awesome and probably the most popular search engine/email service/ etc etc etc, but must we all brag about how Google can be accessed or is somehow powering a phone? How does Google "power" a phone or 3G network anyway? Is T-mobile's myTouch on a 3Google network? (That's a serious question). Here's what I have to say about the Googley-eyed smart phones out there. Google is a floozy. It will hop on any bandwagon because Google likes to be popular. Google doesn't care if you are a Droid, a MyTouch, a Whoosiewhatsit or an iPhone. To find google, you can just type in www.google.com. Okay, so when you click on the internet on the iPhone, Google's main page doesn't show up.... but, wait for it, wait for it, there's an app for that. OR, you can type in www.google.com. Or you can bookmark it. Just like any old computer with the internets. I would give more credit to the other guys out there if they said "with Yahoo" or "Decisions provided by Bing!" because then at least they are offering something different and unusual even if it is something subpar to Google. Let's be honest, Droid, Googs is just using you, like he's using everyone else. Bragging about having Google on your phone that connects to the world wide web is like patting yourself on the back because the 7th grade prospective class president wants to be your friend. Yes, you, four-eyes McGeek with the bad habit of wearing oversized sweatshirts that have tigers screenprinted on them and who hasn't discovered Proactiv. Do you really think Mr. Popular wants to be your friend? He just wants you to vote during 5th period elections and then he won't remember your name until he has to copy your test answers in History class.
-I have a lot of great ideas. No really, I do. Once my friend Heidi agreed with me on that and she said she'd keep a list for me. Where's that list, Heidi? Thanks for nothing. Anyway, my point is, I could be sitting at dinner with my parents and come up with a great idea for a site that connected people with things that they want and all the people who have those things. I'd call it "Wishlist." The next day, I am eating lunch with one of my friends who is a bitter bridesmaid, and that's when I come up with my idea for a gift registry for single people called "Pity Party". Later, I am driving to Boston with my dad, wishing there was an App for people who forget their EZPass or Fastlanes, and wishing even more I could be the person to develop it and sell it. Or, I am drinking (a lot) with friends and decide to make an alternative to facebook called "Earbook"... So you can "hear" what's up. Get it? Get it? HA HA HA HA HA HA . So, basically, I just think I am on the wrong career path. I wish I had "done something with computers" like a grandmother might say. I could be rich. I could be famous. I could be everything I wanted to be. Instead I'll just go travel somewhere....Sigh.
-I never used to be a big cell phone person. I got my first one when I studied abroad in Italy and then when I got home I got my permanent one (senior year of college, I suppose I was a late bloomer, as per usual). Up until a few weeks ago, when the iPhone joined my family of one, I was known to keep my phone on silent even after getting home from work, forgetting it at home, leaving it upstairs (out of sight, out of mind) while hanging out downstairs, etc. I just never thought about it. My theory, there is voicemail for a reason. Leave a message and I will check it in 3 weeks when my mailbox gets full. Your better bet would be just to hang up. Curiosity would get the best of me (7 hours later when I notice the missed call) and I'd get back to you with a "I saw you called....?" I was no stranger to voicemail tag and I sometimes looked forward to it; in fact, on more than one occassion I didn't want voice on voice action. I have nightmares about calling people and having them answer and me hanging up on them in horror. Point of this ramble: Now that I have a better phone that deserves more than a life on a dusty end table in between the bed and the bookcase, I wonder if I will become one of those people who is obsessed with their phones? These people really irk me and I think I should write a book about proper phone etiquette in the age of cell phones. I'm not the only one that has noticed all of these newfangled contraptions are ruining the way we socialize. On another note, could you imagine if the Fax machine really caught on in the way cell phones did? Could you imagine faxing your friends at 2am: "Just made out with my boss at the holiday party. LOL." What if there were mini-wireless-portable fax machines. HA HA HA. Whenever I think about fax machines I think about Back to the Future 2 when there are the fax machines in everyroom spitting out "YOU'RE FIRED." Okay, now I don't even remember the point of this mini post. End scene.
-Whoever came up with the idea of Online Dating I'd like to smack. If it wasn't bad enough that my generation was already socially inept in terms of dating, some whiz kid had to go and add internet into the mix, making things even more complicated. It probably started with the idea of a chat room (remember those virtual rooms you could stumble into at the age of 13, pretending to be 25, and then your neighbor ends up on Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" special) and then when on AOL there was no such thing as privacy so you could search everyone and anyone who had set up a profile with their screenname and chat them up until 2am at sleepovers. Somehow, all of this evolved into people setting up websites like Match and eHarmony, to "make things easier" for those of us who couldn't seem to snag a significant other the normal way. Well, you know what I'd like to say.... I bet things would be easier if these alternatives didn't exist. I'm not against Facebook or Match or anything, but what if we couldn't Google our high school boyfriend to find out what time he ran in the Manchester Road Race, or log into a website that supposedly evaluates you on 30 plus different levels in order to find your soulmate? Since when did we become so passive and scared? I feel like the best love stories are the ones where the protagonist seizes the day and jumps into love... it usually isn't a tale of someone going online to scope out this new person he/she met in a bar the night before via Facebook. (Well, aside from You've Got Mail, but that had Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan so it worked). Before I get all bitter betty on dating and the internet and bla di bla bla, I'm going to stop ranting. And yes, I know internet dating works for many many people. I say, power to you, for figuring out how to make the system work and for taking chances. In the end, love is love, no matter how you slice it.
*Sorry about any spelling mistakes. I am too lazy to re-read this with a fine tooth comb, and my spell check is apparently busted. Did I just prove one of my points by even saying that? Totally unintentional. I'm a jerk.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Fall-ing apart
The Fall semester is winding down. Actually, it's falling apart, melting down, whatever you want to call it. Everyone is sick. Students are run down and ready to go home. Staff want them to go home even more. We normally have weird situations and conversations in here, but we are operating at a Friday level by Wednesday.
I called someone a smartass earlier and I defended the professionalism of doing so by claiming that if a swear is part of a larger word, it's not a swear; like smartass, or jackass. The staff and several tutors then discussed whether or not you could do this by combining two swears, like "Fuckass." I'm not sure.
There is a bell and a crazy handclapper that we ring and clap when getting students to register. I have the bell under my close watch because it drives me crazy. One time I threw it. I hid the handclapper between my cubicle and the wall. My boss asked me where it was to which I responded "I have NO idea!" I may have to dig it out, because apparently she bought it and now she's threatening to buy more.
Our student worker slept for 20 minutes last night, so she is fitting in just fine with the staff today. I had her working on a project in Photoshop. She forgot to save. It crashed. Whoops. So she yelled at the computer.
"You have learned the lesson of yelling things out loud."
A student came in and was talking to the student worker about working in restaurants. He then said to Jenny, in front of another student "I should just go to the gym and become a stripper" and then flicked one of his shirt buttons open. Lost it. Weird, he has my same career goals. I didn't think I had anything in common with the students.
Then the flying monkey came out. I flung it at Jenny.
"Was that really necessary?"
"Is any interaction we ever have REALLY necessary?"
I missed hitting a student coming in to test by seconds. Oh well, next time. Between the monkey sound, the giggling, the yelling, and the running around, I'm not sure she wanted to be dropped off with us.
I have decided that our office is like the class in Finding Nemo.
We work. We just don't function well.
I called someone a smartass earlier and I defended the professionalism of doing so by claiming that if a swear is part of a larger word, it's not a swear; like smartass, or jackass. The staff and several tutors then discussed whether or not you could do this by combining two swears, like "Fuckass." I'm not sure.
There is a bell and a crazy handclapper that we ring and clap when getting students to register. I have the bell under my close watch because it drives me crazy. One time I threw it. I hid the handclapper between my cubicle and the wall. My boss asked me where it was to which I responded "I have NO idea!" I may have to dig it out, because apparently she bought it and now she's threatening to buy more.
Our student worker slept for 20 minutes last night, so she is fitting in just fine with the staff today. I had her working on a project in Photoshop. She forgot to save. It crashed. Whoops. So she yelled at the computer.
"You have learned the lesson of yelling things out loud."
A student came in and was talking to the student worker about working in restaurants. He then said to Jenny, in front of another student "I should just go to the gym and become a stripper" and then flicked one of his shirt buttons open. Lost it. Weird, he has my same career goals. I didn't think I had anything in common with the students.
Then the flying monkey came out. I flung it at Jenny.
"Was that really necessary?"
"Is any interaction we ever have REALLY necessary?"
I missed hitting a student coming in to test by seconds. Oh well, next time. Between the monkey sound, the giggling, the yelling, and the running around, I'm not sure she wanted to be dropped off with us.
I have decided that our office is like the class in Finding Nemo.
We work. We just don't function well.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Report card
This blog is almost 1 year old. It is still pretty cruddy, but I think it's going...somewhere.
My computer is dying. I am currently on my work computer. My ibook, which has stuck by me for 5 years, has been going through some hard times. Last night it just...stopped. Now when I turn it on it says "Starting Mac OSX" for-ev-er. I will be pissed if it dies, but I'll get over it. My music I can get back with or deal with it. My sketches I have printed out so I can retype them. I will take this time to realize I need an external drive and to get organized.
I was going to update from my ipod last night. Because I walked to work in the pouring rain last week, it got water logged and now the backlight doesn't work. This is the trend with my technological devices as of late. Because my phone charger was literally spit out of the wall (I think we have a ghost) while my phone was charging, the phone only works when in the open position (it's an Envy 2- that flips open to text). So to call people or pick up calls I have to open it, press the correct button, and then re-close it if I want to look like a normal boy.
Last night I decided to plug in my humidifier, because I need noise to sleep and it's getting too cold to have a fan going. I plugged it in. It does not work. Yup.
I have no money right now. I work 40 hours a week, and yet I am going to need a part time job. Granted, I go out too often, which I am going to stop doing...as much. Even if I stop doing that, I just need more money to save, oh and buy a new computer, and maybe ipod and phone. Perhaps part time job adventures await this blog.
Take a mental picture. December 1, 2009. Things are not the best. They will probably continue to get comically worse for a bit. Things breaking. Mini explosions. Perhaps I'll get hives. But then, they only have to get better at some point. I'll try to hold off-the explosions and hives are more entertaining.
My computer is dying. I am currently on my work computer. My ibook, which has stuck by me for 5 years, has been going through some hard times. Last night it just...stopped. Now when I turn it on it says "Starting Mac OSX" for-ev-er. I will be pissed if it dies, but I'll get over it. My music I can get back with or deal with it. My sketches I have printed out so I can retype them. I will take this time to realize I need an external drive and to get organized.
I was going to update from my ipod last night. Because I walked to work in the pouring rain last week, it got water logged and now the backlight doesn't work. This is the trend with my technological devices as of late. Because my phone charger was literally spit out of the wall (I think we have a ghost) while my phone was charging, the phone only works when in the open position (it's an Envy 2- that flips open to text). So to call people or pick up calls I have to open it, press the correct button, and then re-close it if I want to look like a normal boy.
Last night I decided to plug in my humidifier, because I need noise to sleep and it's getting too cold to have a fan going. I plugged it in. It does not work. Yup.
I have no money right now. I work 40 hours a week, and yet I am going to need a part time job. Granted, I go out too often, which I am going to stop doing...as much. Even if I stop doing that, I just need more money to save, oh and buy a new computer, and maybe ipod and phone. Perhaps part time job adventures await this blog.
Take a mental picture. December 1, 2009. Things are not the best. They will probably continue to get comically worse for a bit. Things breaking. Mini explosions. Perhaps I'll get hives. But then, they only have to get better at some point. I'll try to hold off-the explosions and hives are more entertaining.
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