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This entry is also about computers
So, my parents now have a fully functioning Windows XP installation. Their printer, however, is another matter entirely.
I didn't really discuss this much yesterday, but one of the biggest pitfalls of maintaining my parents' computer is having to deal with my parents. I'm sure that this is not uncommon among people my age, but my parents approached regular use of a computer with a great deal of trepidation1. And while they've both become fairly competent with the use of their computer, they have done so by learning very specific patterns of clicks and button presses that produce the desired result, rather than learning the underlying mechanics. So whenever anything changes they get completely lost, and they get pissed. I understand this, I really do, but when I've spent considerable time trying to un-fuck whatever is fucked on their computer and they start coming at me with complaints that some extremely minor thing has been altered slightly, I can't help but lose my cool.
The printer has been a sore spot for quite some time. When we purchased the computer four years ago, we also got one of HP's All-In-One printers, which is a combination printer/scanner/copier. This thing is a piece of shit, and it hasn't worked reliably since the day we got it. I've tried to explain that swiss army devices such as this are almost always garbage and that we should just get a separate printer and scanner. They mention that the copier function would then be lacking, and when I try to explain that the "copier" is just scanning and then printing, they totally shut down. So when the printer kicked the bucket today, I had to trundle off to Best Buy and try to find the least offensive of the All-In-One devices available. Against my better judgement, I went with another HP. Honestly, this decision was based on the fact that of all of the display models, the HP in question was the only one that was actually able to scan and then print something. I admit this was probably an elaborate Best Buy ruse to trick me in to buying their overstocked device.
In order to install the new printer, I had to first remove the old printer. I drafted my mother for this task, since moving light objects seems to me a fairly inoffensive task. I was not prepared, however, for her reaction to what lurked behind her computer desk when we wheeled it out from the wall. Behind every desk I've ever seen that hosts a computer is a rat's nest of cabling. I know that some people zip tie cables together, but this becomes a total hassle when you need to replace things. My mother was apparently not prepared for this inherent cable jumble, because she lost it when she saw this and began lamenting the state of her house. This did not prove very helpful in the installation of the printer, so I had to banish her from the room so I could get the damn thing over with. As I was sitting among these cables trying to tease out the power and USB cords that needed liberating, I began to reflect on how often doing some favor for my parents has caused me to yell at them.
I mentioned earlier that I do understand why they act like they do, I can see how unnerving it would be to have something change that you consider a fundamental aspect of the way you use said thing. Understanding, however, has not come close to staying my temper. I feel like I'm getting better, though. Yesterday when I needed help finding the backup CDs for the computer, mom claimed to have already given them to me. Since this was not the case, I calmly persisted in asking where, if anywhere, some CDs might be if I did not already have them in my possession. Rather than considering this, she proceeded to assign blame to me for not having them, and wiped her hands of the whole mess. And despite the huge bait laid2 before me, I was able to move on without comment. So, hooray for progress!3
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1 While looking up the word "trepidation" to ensure I had the correct word, I found the following definition:
tremulous fear, alarm, or agitation; perturbation
I found this pretty funny.
2 I spent about five minutes reviewing the uses of "lie" and "lay" before I could remember the correct one to use here. I'm still not fully confidant I chose correctly. So much for the 35 I got on the English section of the ACT.
3 Regarding the use of footnotes, I've been reading House of Leaves. I apologize.
Posted at: 19:00
[path: /teiac] permanent link
I started using Debian exclusively a while ago. I've had kind of an on again, off again thing for linux over the past five years or so. I'd install it to dual-boot with Windows, and then I'd try to see how long I could go without booting into the Windows partition to see whether I could permanently make the switch. The thing that always brought me back to Windows was that I wanted to play video games, and they just don't really make video games for linux. While it is possible to emulate Windows for the purposes of gaming, it doesn't tend to work very well or reliably, unless the game in question is pretty old. At least that is my experience. So I'd invariably switch back to using Windows full time.
When I moved home in December, I decided that I wanted to quit playing World of Warcraft, permanently. I decided to merge my infatuation with linux with the desire to rid myself of the possibility of easily playing an MMORPG and installed Debian. And that brings us to today.
The point of all of this is that while I've been running Debian exclusively for about seven months, I didn't make this switch because I harbored any ill will towards Windows. I just wanted to try something different, really, and since thinking differently costs so much damn money, I went with the cheaper route.
So it has been interesting that while I've been using Debian, my parent's Windows PC has been nothing but trouble. Until recently I'd been using Windows PCs for the past 13 years or so, and in all that time I have never seen nor heard of a computer with such problems. They're all software problems, and they are all apparently inexplicable. I consider myself to be fairly competent technologically speaking, so it's pretty much only a matter of pride that has kept me from reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling Windows. It's gone on so long, though, that I finally gave in and started the process this morning around 9:00AM.
My mother asked how long I expected this to take, and I said not much more than an hour or so. Well, the time is currently 5:46PM, and I'm still not done. The lion's share of this huge waste of my day was installing Windows Updates, roughly 200 of them, over the course of about four hours. And rebooting every 15 minutes or so.
So while my exodus from the Windows world was rooted in no real animosity, I am now convinced that the work required to install Windows is far more than any inconvenience Debian could possible present me with.
Posted at: 18:00
[path: /teiac] permanent link
So school is in session, and my short love affair with public transit is, sadly, over. At first, taking the bus from Olathe to Lawrence was all right; in fact the novelty of it was kind of exciting. I also felt pretty good about the money I was saving. This ended on Friday when I drove to campus for the first time. There was a test on Friday, and I knew I wasn't going to want to hang around for a few hours on campus without homework to do, so I drove and paid to park. I suppose that since I hadn't yet provided myself with any basis for comparison, the bus seemed like a good option. Now that I've seen the other end of things, however, I have a hard time condemning myself to the restriction of movement and the huge loss of time that bus travel represents. If I drive, I can wake up 30 minutes later, still have time for breakfast, and I get home a full hour earlier. So now I'm trying to decide how much my time is worth; whether I can afford to spend two to three times as much weekly on my commute. Realistically, though, things are not looking good for all this bus nonsense.
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Calculus has been an interesting experience. It has been about eight years since I've had to think about math any more complicated than arithmetic, so taking the engineering calculus was kind of a gamble. My other option was to take a pair of lower level calculus courses, which would add another year onto the time I have left. So I decided to bet on an ability of which I've never shown myself that capable, the ability to actually put my nose to the grindstone. I've been pretty pleased with the results so far; this class has at once made me feel smarter and stupider than I have in quite some time.
The calculus experiment was also a sort of precursor to returning to school full time. I started out by taking the class that arguably will be the hardest for me, to see whether I could actually become serious about graduating. As of now, I remain cautiously optimistic.
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I went to see Megan and Sara at their roller derby bout on Saturday. I will admit that I really did not want to be there, but Megan and Sara started in on this almost a year ago, and it's important to them, and I'm a huge sap with no ability to control my own (extremely limited) free time, etc. Really, though, I was planning on making some bullshit excuse but Alex called and said that he was going to be stranded in KC for two hours because Megan had to get to the arena earlier than they would let him in, so I caved. Alex and I got to the arena pretty early, so we had a lot of waiting to do. I commented that this is probably how fathers feel, dragged to whatever ridiculous performance hobbies their kids are into. Alex agreed.
Once the bout actually started, however, I discovered that roller derby is actually pretty fun to watch. It doesn't hurt that it was effectively a number of pretty hot women throwing each other around for my amusement, but the "sport" of roller derby is also pretty damn exciting. It took a while for me to pick up the rules and scoring, but once I understood the basics, I appreciated the game.
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PS: I am still ripping CDs, and I still haven't gotten my X-Box 360 back from Microsoft.Posted at: 11:34
[path: /yt] permanent link
X-Box 360 - May 20, 2006 - June 3, 2007
WE HARDLY KNEW YE
Posted at: 09:05
[path: /teiac] permanent link
Night Shift, Fruition, and Public Transit
I started my new schedule at work this week, 3:00PM to 11:30PM. I've really enjoyed it so far. I take calls for the first four hours, then dinner, then I answer e-mail for four hours. I wish that I could just answer e-mail all day long because even though people tend to be bitchier through the veil of semi-anonymity e-mail provides, at least I don't have to talk to them. It's also nice because I can listen to my MP3 player for the last four hours. My music collection is feeling kind of stale, though, so I've begun again the arduous process of ripping my huge CD collection. I hate ripping CDs, it takes such a long time that while I'm waiting I keep re-ordering the "must have" CDs for the evening. I guess if I do five or so a day I'll be done in a couple months. I've actually purchased songs on itunes before to avoid having to find and rip that CD.
I find it pretty amusing that there is such a stark difference between the people that work the day and night shifts. The people who work during the day are, for the most part, pretty straight-laced and tend to be a bit older. As soon as 7:00PM rolls around and all of gentle folk go home, the freaks come out of the woodwork to occupy their desks. During the day shift conversations usually tend to focus on weekend plans, sports, children, tv shows, etc. As an example of typical nighttime conversation, here's something I heard last night in reference to the author of an e-mail: "This is the kind of guy that wants you to stick your tongue up his asshole until he coughs."
It wasn't until I moved to the night shift that I realized how uncomfortable I've felt at work the whole time I've been there. It's not that there's anything wrong with my day shift coworkers, it's just that I never felt I had much in common with them. They tend to be true adults, instead of my permanent man-child state, they have kids and real estate and I always kind of felt like I had to watch what I say around them. I haven't quite mastered the "polite society" conversation filter, so when I start to get comfortable around people I can say some "impolite" things. A poor example of this, my mother and I were at Applebee's the other day and talking about people getting married who shouldn't be married, differences in values, etc, and I made the comment "I could never marry someone who was religous." She was surprised and asked if I was serious, to which I responded "I could never marry someone who believed in a god or gods." The previously loud and talkative couple sitting next to us stopped talking and stared at me continusously throughout the remainder of their meal. Oops!
So while it was very nice for a time to have a shift that allowed me some sunlight on my commute home from work, I have to say that I feel much more comfortable with the night shift.
Also, my new supervisors took me out and treated me to dinner last night and we bonded. It was very nice.
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In October I came to the realization that I was very unhappy with the direction that my life had taken thus far, and that in order to break out of the rut I'd worn for myself I would need to make some significant changes. To that end, I moved to my parents house, found a higher-paying job, began saving money for tuition, and made various health-conscious changes. Most of these were geared toward finishing school, having dropped out of college twice already for lack of direction and purpose I spent a long time trying to honestly suss out some core passion that I could latch on to and somehow turn into a career. I'm fairly certain that I've got a firm direction now and after almost eight months of planning and saving, school starts again on Tuesday.
I've started to wonder how I'm going to be able to suppress my old behaviors that have always led to difficulty and disillusion and caused me to falter and fail. I feel confident now that I'm on track, that I can change for the better and finally grow up. But I wonder whether this passion will fade again in two weeks, a month, a year, when I am tired and questioning the drive that takes me to class every morning. Living at home should help this, I doubt that my parents will let skipping class pass without comment. But knowing that I had trouble waking up to drive five minutes to class, let alone walking from Stephenson or the house on Indiana, how much more difficult will it be to wake up for a forty minute commute to Lawrence?
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I love public transportation. That statement is probably pretty ridiculous to those who depend on public transportation on a regular basis, but I've lived in the suburban Midwest my whole life. I never even took the bus to school, so my exposure to public transit is fairly recent. My first trip on a subway was in Toronto in October when I was visiting Justin and Amy. It was probably more the excitement of being in a new city with good friends, but the rush of running to catch the train, jumping off amid the throng of others trying to enter and exit so we could catch our transfer bus, all of it was very exciting. So when I heard about the K-10 Connector bus running from the Edwards campus to the Lawrence campus, I got pretty excited. Having done the math, it looks like it should save me a ton of money, a round-trip on the bus is $3.00 whereas I would spend roughly $8.00 a day on gas, not to mention the cost and frustration of parking. I will have to wake up awfully early to make it to the bus on time, and I'll be stuck in Lawrence for an hour and half after my class gets out. Hopefully that I'll be able to use that time to force myself to study and do homework.
On Tuesday I decided to get up early and take the bus for a test run. Shawn met me at the bus stop in Lawrence and we ate breakfast and ran around for a while until the time the bus was leaving. I can see that taking the bus will give me a whole new perspective on regular travel, with very strict deadlines I'll need to be pretty obsessive about the time. Despite these minor negatives that I'm sure will seem very major in a few weeks, I'm still pretty enamored with public transit.
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I cannot recommend strongly enough that you go read this right now. It really made my day.
Posted at: 10:34
[path: /yt] permanent link