Archive for March, 2006

2006.03.16

iPod Diagnostics

I found this page on how to enter a “secret” diagnostic mode on the iPod. It has built in utilities that will help repair your ailing iPod! For most new iPods you have to restart the iPod (hold Menu and Select) then when it restarts and you see the Apple on the screen hold Back and Select. Instructions are slightly different for older iPods so check the link. You’ll find at the link descriptions of what the various diagnostics do as well.

2006.03.14

Marketers Motto

If it ain’t broke, fix it.

(Thanks, Dave, for pointing that out)

2006.03.12

Now I See Separation…

Now it becomes so clear how eager the Bush administration is to keep a clear separation of Church and State.

2006.03.06

Shark for Vendetta

Argh. The Sunday Curse. I lay me down to sleep at about midnight. Fell asleep and promptly started dreaming about surfing with friends. Noticing a couple sharks I start getting everyone out of the water. One person didn’t make it despite my trying to drag her away. Damn.

Wake up. Wide awake. One AM. After about half an hour of not being tired at all I switched on the lights and picked up V for Vendetta, the lovely graphic novel by Alan Moore. Soon (this month) it will be a movie.

I guess there is some small degree of controversy surrounding the movie as it seems on a surface level to deal with terrorists blowing up buildings. Ironic, really. If this guy is a terrorist then so were the leaders of the American Revolution. V (the main character) is indeed blowing up buildings in London, but the setting is a future England where racist, totalitarian fascists have taken over. From the fascist’s POV of course he’s a terrorist.

I read V for Vendetta until about 4AM. Finally fell asleep. Almost overslept. Work is going to be rough today. Blech.

Stupid sharks.

2006.03.05

CA Population in Decline?

Now if only more people would leave so the cost of housing would get back into the realm of human reality because that is, apparently, why people are leaving.

For the first time since 1998, the people who relocated from California to other states outnumbered those who migrated in from other states, according to a report released by the state’s Department of Finance on Thursday.

“The outflow hasn’t changed much, but fewer people are coming here,” Roth said. “Houses were already unaffordable, but they’ve become more so in the last two years. It’s discouraging people from taking job offers in California.”

According to DataQuick, the median price of a house in California was $452,000 in January. In the Bay Area, the median price was $607,000.

I would really like to get a house here since I don’t really see myself leaving any time soon, but the costs are prohibitive. As I and many others have said in the past, what the Bay Area needs is a good earthquake to scare the hell out of the long term tourists and drive them away. I wouldn’t wish anyone hurt, ever, but it would help the out of control costs of housing.

Yes, I have evil thoughts from time to time, but I never said I was an angel.

2006.03.02

Impeach the Fscker

Replace every instance of what President Bush has done and pretend that Bill Clinton had done them instead. Try it. I beg you. You would finally have a reason to actually impeach Clinton and I would join your bandwagon.I just don’t get it. The Republicans went all out to impeach Bill Clinton when he got a blow job. That was something that should have remained between him, his wife and the idiot who blew him. His. Private. Life.

Yet here we have a Republican president who has:

Committing a fraud against the United States, for example, the President saying he has not made up his mind about invading Iraq, when all of the documentary evidence shows otherwise.

Making false statements to Congress, for example, the President saying he has learned Iraq is attempting to buy uranium from Niger, when he had been warned by the CIA not to say that.

The War Powers Resolution and misuse of government funds, for example, redeploying troops and initiating bombing raids before receiving Congressional authorization.

Federal laws and international treaties prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment–for example, ordering detainees to be ghosted and removed–and tolerating and laying the legal ground work for torture and mistreatment

Federal laws concerning retaliations against witnesses and other individuals; for example, demoting Bunnatine Greenhouse from the Army Corps of Engineers because she exposed contracting abuse involving Halliburton.

Federal laws and regulations concerning leaking and other misuse of intelligence; for example, the President’s failure to enforce the law requiring disciplining those who leak classified information, whether intentional or not.

That’s quoted from John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on the Judiciary. Yes, conservatives are going to write it off as a nay saying liberal trying to bring down The Man. Those conservatives are a pack of idiots.

Read the rest of this entry…

2006.03.02

A Helping (Technology) Hand

I’ve always felt weird accepting any sort of payment for helping out friends with their computer problems. I realize that for some computers are this strange, mysterious and arcane machine that they have to deal with because that’s their modern world. I also realize that they really don’t know how to fix them when they go wrong.

It still makes me uncomfortable to charge them, though.

I fell into technology through the back door. I play music and in 1995 or so bought a used Apple Macintosh IIci off a friend. I bought it so I could do music on the computer like I had in college. Futzing around with the thing gained me some proficiency.

It wasn’t until I move to San Francisco, though, that it became an income. I needed a job. The first job I was offered was an entry level systems admin for a translation company and I took it. I’m in the field for that one simple reason; needing a job.

I learned on the job. I never took a class. I figured things out by trial and error (I still do) and eventually by using the fledgling Google. I always felt like a fake when I compared myself to some who went to school for this stuff, or studied hard to get certificates just to prove they knew what they were doing.

I don’t love what I do, and I suppose that’s one reason why I’m probably pretty good at it; I want to get the job done as soon as possible, I want the user to understand how I fixed their issue (and hopefully fix it themeselves or not repeat it in the future), and I want to get on with doing my own thing.

Because I’ve never considered myself an expert I feel ackward being viewed as some technology guru. I’m not. I just happen to know more than some people. Charging people feels like cheating. At least with friends. Buy me a drink, feed me, show me a good time, return the favor, but don’t pay me.