Venting

[Howlitzer]

The problem with option 3 is that "the cheapest mac possible" still isn't very cheap.....and isn't very good.

[Shadow Wulf]

The problem with option 3 is that "the cheapest mac possible" still isn't very cheap.....and isn't very good.

I sincerely agree on this. My high school had the cheapest Mac laptop possible and it cost at least around $800, and I came up with so many problems with them, mainly with Mac OS just starting up. It freezes up on everyone half the time on startup, I don't ever have that problem with Windows to say the least.

[RedEye]

I still say talk to your counselor. This sudden "requirement" smells to high heavens to me (as in this "teacher" is getting a "gratuity" from the local Apple distributor for each item that he gets his students to buy).
And that's illegal as all get out, by the way.

Things to find out: Is there a specific model you have to buy? Is there a code you have to use when you buy it, or is there only a single Apple retailer where you are going to school?
I ran this by some professor-types at Cal-Tech, and every one of them said it didn't sound kosher. It may be this teacher only understands how to de-bug an Apple product, or something knowledge-related like that; but really, making a requirement this late isn't something a responsible teacher would do.

If the requirement was for the tablet you used, that would make a lot more sense than the computer requirement, IMHO.

Talk to your counselor. Please.

[Renorei]

I agree with what others have said. That requirement sounds fishy.

[Set]

Right. Well. I've grown increasingly irritated with my new OS. There are just some things about it THAT ANNOY ME TO HELL AND BACK.

Just getting the sound to work was a right out b****. Getting it to work AGAIN after the latest update broke it was beat-it-with-a-sledgehammer worthy.

The software for it sucks. No really, it does. Trying to hunt for a decent dock drove me batty. I hate them ALL. They are too ugly (AWN), not what I'm looking for (Gnome-Do + Docky), need to be compiled from source (Kiba), or too complicated and in badly translated French (Cairo). I can't seem to find anything that actually does what I want it to and doesn't give me a headache because I have to fight with it for hours. At least I knew how to use the crap I had for Windows.

What the hell is with some of the keyboard shortcuts? Some of them don't make a damn bit of sense to me. I've yet to figure out which one brings up the run dialogue, and am absolutely not used to the fact ctrl+alt+delete brings up the shutdown menu now instead of the task manager. Gods forbid I ever need to force kill a program I don't know the run name of.

Speaking of "s*** I don't know", where in hell does this damn thing actually put the programs I install?

More of a minor gripe, but the lack of decent skinners on what's supposed to be one of the most customizable operating systems disturbs me slightly.

I also find it absolutely bizarre that you can't globally change a single icon. Or the boot screen. I could do that on XP with the right program.

Packages and repositories and tar balls and...adjkwfebhjgrjbgr...half the time the repositories are painfully out of date, and no one actually tells you what in hell you're supposed to do with .tar files once you get them. I had to learn what a makefile was on my own, read every scrap of documentation and I STILL don't know what to do with half of those tarballs. The whole this-is-dependant-on-this-but-WE-FORGOT-TO-TELL-YOU-THAT-SO-YOU'LL-HAVE-TO-FIND-IT-IN-SYNAPTIC-ON-YOUR-OWN-LOLOLOL thing got old really fast.

The next person to say this is supposed to be the most "user friendly" distro will promptly get a knife thrown at their skull, kthx.

[Howlitzer]

http://www.scottklarr.com/topic/115/lin ... ollection/

Those are fairly helpful for some things...

as for the rest, Google is your manual if you know how to use it.

Welcome to free, open source software. You get the support you pay for.

[Set]

http://www.scottklarr.com/topic/115/lin ... ollection/

Those are fairly helpful for some things...

O hay cool...

I'm actually fairly happy with it, I just have random bouts of FRUSTRATED NERD RAGE OMG. Then I'm good.

[Gevaudan]

I didn't get the lead role that I wanted in a school's production of The Wiz. I got a worse role in this than the role I had gotten in their previous musical. I know that it's part of being an actor, and I'm really happy for the guy that got the role I wanted, but it still stings. Especially since I know that I'm pretty good, that my audition was pretty good (I got a callback), and that I've wanted a lead role in something for the past 7 or 8 years of my life. I've only had supporting roles, never a lead. I can handle rejection, but consistent rejection really hurts.

It's consoling to know that there are others in this production who are also pissed off. Some of them were better than me, and they got less-than-decent roles too.

[RedEye]

Yeah, I'm dealing with a rejection notice too; but the margin notes on the manuscript (I did a SASE and they sent it back) are priceless.

Something to consider: Supporting actors don't get the glory, but they work a heck of a lot more than some "Star" or "Lead" who's become identified with either a specific role or character-type.
They may not have the mansion in Bel Air, but they do have a steady income.
There is that...

[Howlitzer]

So yeah, I now have multiple people refusing to acknowledge my existence for reasons I can't be 100% sure of.

Last week I may have caused this by coming across as slightly harsh when I was voicing my opinion on recent things that had been going on...said things involving my frustrations on people not wanting to finish projects they drew me in on, and more recently people somewhat inconsiderately dropping out of conversations for many hours on end.

Instead of an honest response to my honest opinions....I have not been able to get a single word for over 4 days.

I can't be sure if I caused this, or if something else is going on. So right now I'm a mix of angry, ashamed, and all-around frustrated right now.... I don't know if I caused this, I don't know if I was at fault, I don't know why they won't talk to me, and I don't know if they're putting me through this as punishment, a defensive reaction, or as some attempt to intentionally guilt-trip me.

[Shadow Wulf]

I will tell you right now that you are by no means guilty Howlitzer. I agree you do deserve an explanation and I find it unfair that it isn't given to you.

EDIT: I also want to point out that no one is guilty in this. You guys just need to work out your differences between you.

[vrikasatma]

God, I can't believe I DID that!!

Okay. Last night I did a bake for my Farmers' Market booth. I hit on what I thought was a bright idea to put each focaccia dough in its own roaster pan to rise, bake and get oiled in. Contain mess, eliminate a step, and cut my kitchen rent time.

So I did that and found that the breads weren't baking all the way through. What's worse was that I found out late in the process that they were doughy in the middle. I had to scrap the whole batch, five sheet pans worth of half-baked focaccia down the tubes!

So today, I'm finding out whether I can book the kitchen tonight and do a re-bake. The cost isn't too bad, ingredients-wise, and I'm still on trial period for the kitchen so they're not charging me. The darn thing is that I don't think the kitchen will be freed up until around 10PM, I take about 7 hours to do the bake, so that means there's no way I'll be able to do a booth tomorrow. I'll be stiff, sore and too tired.

On top of that, one of the roof trusses in my booth, and my market chair broke last week. So that means I'm selling my breads in the consignment booth.

Eh, well. Live and learn. I'm still being a silly foodie with this big, well-equipped kitchen and still noodling around with recipes. The good news is, I've created a doughy batch, a crackly batch and a burnt batch, so I know where my major lines are. It's a question of finding a happy, consistent medium.

[Wingman]

Eh, well. Live and learn. I'm still being a silly foodie with this big, well-equipped kitchen and still noodling around with recipes. The good news is, I've created a doughy batch, a crackly batch and a burnt batch, so I know where my major lines are. It's a question of finding a happy, consistent medium.

Doughy on the outside, burnt in the middle, and crackly all over.

On a focaccia-related note, I ate one the other day, some sort of five cheese concoction. It was rather tasty.


As for venting, I was playing Demon's Souls earlier today and took an elevator down to do battle with a spider boss in a mine shaft. I died, because for some reason the spider could spit fireballs, and when I respawned I ran back to the elevator. It was at the bottom of the platform. The lever to operate the platform is on the platform...at the bottom. So I manned up, cast a protection spell and jumped down. It was then I realized I couldn't see the bottom. Splat. And, since I died twice I lost all the Souls I had, which was only a couple thousand so I can get them back in a couple minutes, but annoying none the less.
It's unfortunate, since I'm no longer alive, which sucks, and I need to fight that boss at one point or another to progress further into the game. The best I can hope for is to go to the other areas and fight the other bosses and come back when I am more powerful and hope to hell I can survive the fall at that point. The game remembers when you use levers and stuff like that, so they stay opened so you can take the shortcuts even if you leave the map and come back later. Convenient for not having to run through the castle and open the portcullis every time, but very inconvenient in the case of elevators.

[Terastas]

I'm going to [expletive]ing pop a vein in my forehead if my mother orders me to Google "that Google job" again.

That's it. That's all she knows about this miracle job that will fix all of our problems. She can't remember where she saw the job offer, who was offering it, what it supposedly payed. . . [expletive], she can't even remember what exactly the job is for! All she remembers is that it involves Google somehow!

But even though she knows next to nothing about it and what little she knows meets the very definition of an internet hoax, she's absolutely hellbent on getting me to find it again for her so she can apply for it.

This is, of course, also the woman that still needs my assistance with checking her e-mail. So not only does she know next to nothing about this job, she should also know damn well that whatever it is, it's something she isn't qualified for, which automatically gives me that impression that her real intent is to do it just long enough to arrange a payment plan before she passes it on to me (it wouldn't be the first time she cashed a check for work I was doing).

And all of this is going to be on my computer, of course, because her [expletive]ing Pandora's zip files from her real estate office evidently haven't screwed things up on my computer enough for her liking.

Am I wrong in being upset about this? Does it stink to high hell of impending regret and financial woes to anyone else? I know times are tough, but there's no such thing as a quick solution for all of your problems and it's really pissing me off that she's upset I haven't found one for her yet. >_<

[CaptainWolfe]

I'd have to say that, instinctively, this smells of a hoax. There are always ads all over the net claiming you can make hundreds of thousands posting an ad on google or working for them. When in reality, there's rarely ever large amounts of easy money lying about. Anyway, you can't really blame her for being hopeful and for not understanding how much the net can lie if she isn't acquainted with it well. What I would do is go to a legit job hosting site (such as monster) and show her that the job isn't listed. If anything it will make her believe that the job is no longer being offered.

As for messing up your comp: what if you just set up a different user account for her. Except make it with restricted access lol. That way she can't mess anything major up.

[Terastas]

*nods* I actually get spam e-mails about that sort of thing three or four times a day. But she's one of those people that is just absolutely impervious to advice -- the people that think their own personal intuition just naturally trumps any sort of logic or insight you could offer them. >_<

Though the situation with "the Google job" did sort of resolve itself as it were. She finally got sick of waiting for me to find the "Google job" on Google and stepped in to try and find it herself, and though she didn't actually say so, I suspect that helped her realize just how inexperienced with the internet she really is.

So even though she's still looking for a quick fix for all her problems (and I suspect I'll be venting about the next one too), "the Google job" is officially over.

[AngryGothChick]

I'm getting tired of these idiots I'm surrounded by. So many morons, so little time. In Bio, I have three idiots breaking down my next, and six or seven in math class. I already told my friend if anyone pissed me off today,I would be close to ripping their face off or their throat out. But then again, I'm like this most of the time.

Other than that, it's issues over my past relationship that I can't get over.

[Terastas]

So. . . It's half an hour after midnight and I'm more than ready to hit the sack. . . But I haven't yet because I know this the dang carbon monoxide detector is about to beep at me to let us know the batteries are low.

I haven't done it yet because there's a sticker on it that says "caution: remove power," and I want to call up our landlord first before I even entertain the thought of touching it just to see if there's anything we should know before I try anything (he has the instructions all the websites I've checked have told me to look for). My mother, on the other hand, refuses to call him because she's terrified he'll just say "oh don't worry, I'll handle it" and then he'll see that we live in anything less than a [expletive] Martha Stewart catalog.

So. . . I guess I'm half upset about the detector, but mostly ranting about my mother's continued obsession, not so much with neatness, but just with trying to convince other people that we are 100% neat and organized.

My favorite among her odd quirks is that she always has to have the shades down so nobody can see inside. . . Not because she's afraid of the peeping toms -- she just doesn't want them to know the house is messy.

*sigh* No need to reply to this one. I'm probably just ranting to stay awake.

[vrikasatma]

Have to get this off my chest.

I was working Market yesterday (Tuesday), in the park blocks downtown.
Farmers' market season ended last week, but the artists from Saturday Market are keeping Tuesday Market going through the winter. Yeah, we get snow here, but not terribly much, maybe 3-4 inches that usually melts within a day or two. And frankly, I was wondering what to do over the winter to bring in money.

So I signed up for the continuing Tuesday Market and went downtown to sell bread. There was one other vendor there, and we quickly learnt that there is, indeed, safety in numbers.

See, on the Tuesday Farmers' market, there's usually 20-30 vendor booths and their customers keeping the downtown contingent of homeless people, anarchists and other unsavoury types off in the periphery. We generated enough capital to hire a security guard who helped out, too.

Unfortunately, myself and my colleague were there on our own, completely on our own, and we were outnumbered by the homeless who regard the Park Blocks as "their territory."

I wasn't too worried. I have a fire extinguisher in my booth because it's required, and from personal experience that I won't go into know that it can make a capable weapon if used in that fashion. And it wasn't too bad; the homeless youth gangs with their pit bulls tend to hang out further west in the Whitaker neighbourhood.

Anyway, the most disturbing event was when a large homeless guy, severely insane, saw us, smiled and walked over. He was mumbling to himself, and when he got to within 10 feet of us, he started walking in circles, carrying on a conversation with the air — and — ick — errrr — soiling his trousers. Did I mention it was rather windy that day?

Thankfully he didn't come any closer otherwise my bread would have been rendered contaminated. I'd have had to trash $65 worth of bread and pack up the booth. That's not what's bugging me, though. I grew up in Santa Cruz, California, and that was Homeless Central. They all went there because of the gentle climate and tolerance from the city council. And in the 20 years I lived there, I never saw anything like that guy yesterday. It's shocking to see how far a human being can fall. I'm guessing he was in his mid-twenties, and so far up the river he is just an articulate human rat with no bladder or bowel control. He could talk alright, but other than smiling at us, he didn't show any signs of acknowledging us.

I just sat there in my booth, avoiding eye contact, trying not to breathe, and desperately thinking, "Good God, what's he doing on the street? Why isn't he somewhere, getting help? What can I do?"

And today, while out doing errands, I saw him again. He was out on the west end of town, walking along the main strip.
I think if he comes back next week, I'll call the crisis hotline and get him some help.

[Sevena]

.

[vrikasatma]

We have a group in our city that exists to aid the homeless, it's called "Cahoots." Yes, they will come and take him off the streets, and get him into a secure place where he won't be tire-ironed and set on fire by a gang of skinheads.

Have you heard of "power of attorney?" Families use that to make decisions for family members who are non compos mentis, like the homeless guy I saw yesterday.
Your advice to not force help on someone against their will only applies to people who have the power to make decisions for themselves. The man I saw yesterday was incapable of that.

1.) He is in danger of severe injury or death. Eugene is a bad place to be homeless, there are gangs here who go around beating up and killing the homeless.
2.) He may or may not be dangerous. I think it's the latter, but if he has no control of his bowels then he's spreading disease. Therefore, he is both in danger of his life, and a passive danger to people he makes contact with.

And a response in regards to the pepper spray —

GOOD GOD, WOMAN!! How dare you blithely suggest that I blast someone with pepper spray when they're in trouble to begin with! It's called "compassion," have you heard of it? Shame on you for even suggesting that.

The Bush Administration died a year ago. We are no longer in a dog-eat-dog world where we turn a blind eye to suffering and trouble.

By the way, it's spelled "they're," not "their," and "you're," not "your." English, learn it.

[Sevena]

.

[vrikasatma]

The fact is, he wasn't just homeless, he was saddled with a severe mental illness. If he was just homeless and bothering us I'd have told him to buzz off and called the cops if he got nasty. I wouldn't have shrunk back and pretended he wasn't there. But when mental illness is brought in as a factor it can go any direction — another reason brandishing weapons or spraying him in the face with pepper spray wasn't an option. Calling Cahoots is — and yes, they'd come take him to a secure place where he could get help and maybe heal up — and your trying to pull the uber-liberal line of "You can't force someone to accept help" was completely beside the point. Like I said, that only applies if the subject is capable of making a decision for his- or herself.

I blew what you said out of proportion? That's possible, but you were definitely being presumptuous if you thought I was afraid. I wasn't worried about myself, I was worried that he'd splatter on my bread and render it inedible and unsellable; and also, I was concerned about his vulnerability given the rise in attacks on the homeless in the area. You can call it "pity" if you want, but you'd be presumptuous again. You said a douchy thing and any decent person would have been as outraged as I was. Someday you'll figure that out.

[Sevena]

i suggested you spray him,if needed.and i didn't even really suggest you do that, i said buy some pepper spray.i did not suggest you spray him for the fun it.if you were not afraid then why did you "avoid" eye contact?yes in some cultures it is a show of respect, but i don't think that applies here.making eye contact with such a person ,is more a show of strength and it is likely to make them weary of you.usually leading them to just leave you alone.yes in some cases eye contact should not be something you do, if to say you were walking through the hood ,its best not to actually,lets people know your minding you own beez wax.don't think im calling you afraid, but if i was that person ,i would have thought you were.i don't feel i said anything that could be considered douchy.i speak from one point of view and you speak from another.

[Terastas]

I can kind of see the logic in both arguments. The real problem is that he's clearly cheating death every time he even so much as wakes up in the morning, but Vrik, don't do anything to compromise your own safety just because he doesn't know any better.

*deep breath* Anyway, onto something else. . .

GodsWar Online
Teen.com
Macy's
Blinx

These are just a small fraction of the products I will never use or shops I will never visit ever again because they apparently chose to advertise THROUGH A [expletive] STEALTH SPYWARE PROGRAM THAT RANDOMLY OPENS FIREFOX AND EXPLORER POP-UPS EVEN THOUGH I HAVE POP-UPS BLOCKED WITH BOTH PROGRAMS AND HAVE RUN MULTIPLE VIRUS SCANS IN THE LAST 48 HOURS!!!!!


The worst part is that I actually do have the latest update with three separate security programs (and these are real programs, not the crappy ones that you can download for free but don't work for crap unless you buy the premium version), and yet I still get em.' I think I've sort of figured out what the problem is; when I check the Processes in my Windows Task Manager, there are eight different programs named "svchost.exe" running (all at five figures, so I'm obviously also crawling along right now). I'm right in thinking that's too many, right? Only problem is that WTM doesn't exactly help you differentiate between programs of the same name, so if I accidentally try to shut down the real svchost.exe, I'm screwed.

I know I wasn't posting all that frequently before, but until I can get this damn thing cleaned up, expect to see even less of me.