To The Metal

So there’s this girl on Myspace who on a fairly regular basis reacts to the latest political hotbutton. The other day, she went off about how Obama apparently called Hillary Clinton a “bitch.” Now truthfulness aside, she made it sound as if this was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and the outrage was indicative of feeling ‘betrayed.’ Her post follows.

he’s right up there with bush!
how dare he call hillary a bitch. i’m not sticking up for her but this guy is a damn child. he throws temper tantrums, he’s a fuckin bully, and by most he is INSECURE and IMMATURE. and this is who people want as president? not over my dead body. that’s a sign of a WEAK president. as the years go by, the system spits out arrogant whack jobs just so they can have the so called title “President” in front of their name. I am sick and tired of leaders who can’t handle their duty for America. I mean seriously all the next candidates for 2008 are all losers. Whatever happened to good people like Truman, Lincoln, Kennedy?

So I read this, laughed, and responded:

The whole thing is a dog and pony show, no move or word is not calculated here to exact a specific reaction from the useful idiots that abound our great society. There isn’t a candidate in the lot capable of running this nation, and discounting Obama for calling Hillary Clinton a bitch simply shows that you’re falling into line exactly where the powers that be want you to.

For God’s sake, we have real live KLANSMEN in Congress right now, and you’re concerned about someone calling Clinton a bitch? Maybe someone will get tape of a politico calling Obama a “Nigger” so you can shift your vote again.

If you’re happy being a sheep, then by all means continue to rabble on about the falling sky. Truman dropped nukes to end a war, Lincoln freed the slaves to end a war, and Kennedy ate a bullet to keep one going. Pick up a book, please.

So then I log in this morning and see that she’s put up another bulletin titled “No apology.” The kicker, the ability to comment has been removed. Whats this? A political novice removing the ability for others to dissent? Noooo… Maybe it was the “useful idiot” comment?

apparently i hit a nerve with my fuck obama bulletin and have received a lot of complaints, insults, or praises.
i just wanna say thanks for all the “love” mail.
i rather shoot myself than take any advice from any form or shape of a republican first off. afterall, look at the fool who you put in the white house. obviously the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
and to everyone who said i need to pick up a book and read. thanks i do-i have lots of books. maybe if you took your head out from your ass you would see things a lot more clear.
i am aware of other problems that is going on in politics but my little outburst was focused on obama for that split second because how he stooped to a level of a child by the name calling. what a great example to set. throughout the months i have bitched about obama and if you think that my last bulletin is what did me in on why i don’t like him, then i hate to say it but you’re all idiots – that’s why you’re all republicans! that’s the problem with you’s, you always jump in full speed ready to swing without sitting back to see what was said or going on in the first place. so who’s the idiot now? remember, you don’t judge a book by its cover.
take your own advice and read.
and i still say fuck obama.

Cliche cliche cliche rabble rabble, I get it, I’m a generalization and a stereotype. Definitely the result of not being a free thinker. So I drop her a response via MySpace email and leave it at that…

Looks like I struck a nerve. For starters, I am not a Republican, I am a registered Conservative – and a moderate on most issues. You’re right though, I did vote for Bush twice. Attack me with all of the generalizations you like, but your passion has made you blind to the truth. Your reaction has proved my point.

I would never expect anyone to apologize for their beliefs. Simply put, excoriating Obama over 1 word is as pointless as excoriating Bush over his lack of speaking ability. There is so much more to it – but a majority of your posts seem to focus on the surface instead of what lies beneath. If you’re happy with that, then by all means – continue.

When it comes to discussing politics, or bringing up the weak points of an individual arguments – I find the best method is to read as many sides of an issue as possible… not simply focus on those who agree with me. Gets rather boring that way. I was attacking the basis for your argument – not you. Suggesting that you pick up a book was merely constructive criticism.

Emotion is the enemy of independent thought, most of your posts are based entirely in reactionary emotion. Venting if you will. I can understand the frustration as just about everyone in our so called Government is a joke with little or no consideration for We The People.

I’m rather honored to be the subject of your latest blindly passionate and emotional rant. I don’t think you’re an idiot, but I thank you very much for proving the point of my original response by removing my ability to comment on this one.

So I finally get a response to my latest comment…

My message went to everyone. I got a lot of responses not just in the bulletin but email-wise with people starting out with I’m a republican and so fourth. That’s why I had to make my point clear that I am far from it. Now some people think I’m with Hillary now and to be honest I would never vote for her. That one word does do damage. Especially one who is running for President. You have him siding with Oprah and she has many female supporters. Since he used a derogatory term, female activists are squirming over this. Sometimes little things count but I don’t like him just because of that. I think the 2008 race is a joke and a lot of the candidates are lacking one thing or another.

I may not be a conservative as you are, hence that’s why there are different parties with different beliefs but when one is being attacked and automatically everyone is ruling out my opinion-I am just a little peon who knows nothing.
It’s not that my reaction proved a point, I am not one to take anyones shit. That’s who I am – I stand my ground.

I may post things on the “surface” here and there but people can’t simply judge me without actually having a conversation to get what lies beneath to get my full input. (Just speaking in general). Thats why you never judge a book by its cover.

Politics is always gonna be a part of me cause I come from a family who was in Congress. Not that it matters but talking about it or whatever the case may be, it’s just always there being a part of me. I may not talk about it a lot on here cause I get enough of it at home but to think my passion has made me blind than so be it.

Cough, Sniff, Whimper. I’d love to know who the other people were who said the exact same things I did. I nailed it on the head, they didn’t care for it – and to end it all they send me this whiny, tear soaked, cliche ridden final response.

Last but not least, I have the last word.

As a side note – do you have a link to the story where he actually was tagged for saying it? I was looking around and couldn’t find anything…

I still literally have not found a single instance where Obama labelled Clinton a ‘bitch.’ Makes me wonder if this girl on MySpace is just a shill for the Clinton campaign working to pump MySpace full of unverifiable misinformation to make us feel bad for Clinton and dislike Obama. Really. Pathetic.

Mind you – I do not dislike political discussion, but I’m long past the days where I would simply smile and nod, and let this shit stand. If you’re stating your opinion – more power to you – but have it verifiable with FACT or don’t even bother.

Deadly shooting outside Newark diner

Both victims were bouncers at a club I frequent down in Newark… This pointless bullshit has got to stop.  Killing someone because they kept you out of a club?  Are you fucking serious?  Good to see that the mayor’s improved policing has had some real significant effect on the murder rate.  Maybe he’ll run for President in ’12.

My prayers go out to the families of the victims.

As for the shooter and his asshat cohort, I hope they see it coming and even get a chance to scream.

Playing an RPG and expecting to have a POINT.

I thought I finally found something WoW like that actually had a point.  I’m talking about Overlord of course.  I found myself in the same exact hole I was digging in WoW.  Doing the same thing, over and over again.  Kill some bad guys, lose some minions, jog back to the spawn point for more minions.  Kill some bad guys, lose more minions, jog back, etc…

I guess after playing the genre for a couple years, learning my lesson, I needed one last test to see if I was really dumb enough to waste my time again.  The maps are huge, the graphics are gorgeous, and I’m sure for some people the game play amounts to more than beating ones head into a wall repeatedly – but for me, I’ve lost interest.

Time to sort my Gamefly queue again and yank anything resembling an RPG.  I’m not even going to bother anymore.  To each their own, but I’ll stick to racecars and machineguns, thankyouverymuch!

I tell ya, the Christmas spirit is exhausting.

The past few years, I’ve been Scrooge.  Didn’t like the holiday, didn’t care for it.  I’d buy a slew of gift-cards and booze just to fit in, but overall I didn’t really care much.

Not sure what it is about this year, but I felt it.  Maybe it’s being in love and ready for that next big step.  Maybe it’s being accepted into a new family – future in laws – and experiencing new traditions.  Every time I tell someone that we’re doing it in Spring of 2009,  we’re just a little bit closer.  I’ve got a feeling that the day will be here sooner than I expect.

Back to the Spirit.  Now I don’t know what Christmas means to you – but to me, it’s a time where everyone can have a moment of peace and joy – and share it with others.  This year I vowed not to do the gift card thing, and I stuck mainly to immediate family, and tried to come up with gifts that I believed they would like.  That’s the trick, the reason that gift cards are so easy – too easy – it doesn’t require actually KNOWING someone.  Just hand them a piece of plastic and let them buy their own gift.  Anyone actually remember the last thing you bought on a gift card?

Anyone remember the last really good gift they received?  Exactly.

One of my favorite hobbies is cooking.  This year, I baked.  I baked all last weekend, nearly 160 cookies in different varieties.  Chocolate Chip -w- Pecans, Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip -w- Pecans, Snickerdoodles (cinnamon/sugar coated sugar cookies), and an experimental hybrid of my own design – the Gingerbread Oatmeal Raisin cookie.  Just about everyone got a selection, plus a gift.  My cookies never last long once they’re made available for eating – I rarely get to sample my own fare.  Not that I mind, I always get a kick when the requests come in for MORE!

Once the baking was done, I set to install my fiancee’s gift in her car, a new stereo.  Holy cow.  I haven’t done a stereo install in years, and the folks at Chevy are BASTARDS.  Strong language for this time of year, I know.  See, most cars all one has to do is remove a plastic cover, some bolts, unplug a few wires, and swap in the new deck.  Oh no, not the Chevy.  First, you don’t just get the radio, you also need a special wiring harness which enables the chime and a few other dashboard functions which was conveniently included in the factory head unit.  Also, you need the antenna adapter because Chevy  radios have a special plug.  That’s not all!  No simple install here – you need to unbolt the dash board cover, remove it, then unbolt the entire front of the dash board and remove it or slide it out of the way.  Last but not least, put everything together while trying to wedge the new radio into the small opening with all the added wiring…  How hard is it for manufacturers to allow a little extra space for wires?  I’m half a mind to take it all apart again and Dremel out a larger opening so the radio isn’t wedged in so tightly.  In the past, it’s taken me about an hour to do a radio install.  This took about 6.  The happy bouncing Mi made it all worthwhile though. 🙂

The spirit was back, stronger than I’d felt in years.  Speaking of feelings, what is the deal with people at church?  Last night I headed off to midnight mass with a few friends.  I saw girls wearing skin tight cleavage shirts, hip hugger jeans, mini skirts and hooker boots, you name it.  What happened to young people dressing respectable at church?  Jeans, sweaters, long skirts, button down shirts.  I know the stores are selling sexy for anyone old enough to walk, but is nothing sacred?  I honestly felt disgusted walking out of church after seeing the equivalent of a Seventeen magazine fashion show while trying to celebrate the day with friends and loved ones.  So much for the Roman Catholic church.  The parents should be ashamed of themselves.

That aside, it was the only real rub for the past few days…  Everything else was joyful, peaceful, and fun.  Didn’t think it was possible that I’d find the holiday spirit again.  In short – thank God I did.  To everyone, regardless of denomination, faith, or lack thereof – Merry Christmas.

Cheers!

Wrong, sir! Wrong! Under section 37B of the contract signed by him, it states quite clearly that all offers shall become null and void if — and you can read it for yourself in this photostatic copy — “I, the undersigned, shall forfeit all rights, privileges, and licenses herein and herein contained,” et cetera, et cetera… “Fax mentis incendium gloria cultum,” et cetera, et cetera… “Memo bis punitor delicatum”! It’s all there, black and white, clear as crystal! You stole fizzy lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized, so you get nothing! You lose! Good day sir!

Coca Cola Invents Santa

I’ll admit this was the first year I heard the myth perpetuated, and I almost bought it.  In comes Snopes.com with a rescue in the last few moments of the game.  Santa rules.  Some people who think too much would like to remove Santa from the scene just as much as they’d like to eliminate Christianity, Judaism, and other religions that hold special celebrations around this time.  Santa is secular, but he is a source of belief, if not faith – in something greater than ourselves.

That’s the threat.

Honestly, if you’re threatened by a fat man in a red suit that brings joy to anyone who believes in him…  You’re pathetic.  Get over yourself and let the kids be kids, heaven forbid they have some fun before they realize how cold this world really is.

Long story short, had a big migration to perform at the job over the past few days.  It’d been planned well in advance, but that didn’t stop ‘ol Murphy from showing his fat Irish mug and tossing a few pints onto the problem.  We’d been switching from one provider to another, doing it in the middle of the day so that if something went wrong, help would be there.

So the old provider tosses a monkey wrench into the works by starting part of the move 3 hours early – insult to injury, they move the bits to the wrong damned company.  Not only do they screw that up, they won’t move it for us because we don’t show up as the owner.  Real fine.

So in the mean time, I had a contingency set up, spare bits that’d keep us covered in case something bad happened.  Well, the new provider didn’t have the bits ready.  I told them about 3 weeks ago to have them ready in time.  After much gnashing of teeth they finally gave me a list of bits… just no guarantee that they’d work.  The day before the change I’m being told that the spare bits aren’t important, that there’s no chance we’ll get hosed.  Go figure, come time for the migration and they’re still not ready.

So now instead of utilizing the weeks of time to get everything in play, they’re rushing the bits into place so we can be back in business.  While that’s going on, 99% of the bits have been migrated from the old provider to the new one.  It’s that 1%, that critical 1% which just happens to be the primary batch of bits that we’d been using for over a decade.

Now we can just grab ’em from the old provider – but they won’t do it without the permission of an exec.  What do they do?  They go home.  That’s right.  I’m already there 3 hours overtime trying to un fuck this cluster and they’re gone.  The contingency is in place, we’re technically back in business, but the job isn’t done and they went home.

Not only that, but nobody’s answering any calls.  Each call goes to voice mail, each email goes into the nether.  I’m close to losing my mind, so I finally throw my hands in the air and leave.  Sure, it’s working – but I don’t like leaving any job like that.

I get home late, have a glass of red, and try to forget the day all the while trying not to think about the next.

Wake up, rinse, repeat.

I get into the office and come to find that nothing has progressed.  The 1% is still not working.  I start reaching out.  Now we’re not just waiting for the guy I know to approve grabbing the bits – we’re waiting for some unknown VP to approve them.  No real answer, no ETA, we’re waiting.  Just like we were night prior night when everyone went home and left me holding the bag (well, me and a few fellow victims of that bastard Murphy).

If I told you how miniscule the cost was that had been holding this whole mess up – you’d laugh.

So now I’m livid.  I’ve snapped.  I strap on my BOFH armor and get to work.  Fire up the browser, open Google, search the company’s name.   I find it, not only do I find it, I find their stock offering.  All the execs are listed.  All I know is I’m waiting for a VP to approve a pittance to put an end to this debacle.  I pick the VP’s, and fire off an email with everyone, including them, included.

Within 2 minutes responses from the underlings start rolling in like waves during a tsunami.  My direct contact calls me, inflamed like a raging hemmorhoid, pissed that I pulled a BOFH.  “It’s the other provider’s fault” he says, I put him on hold.  Let it sit for a bit, then get back on the line.  “My job is to get this done by any means possible I’m waiting for some mystery person who I don’t even know to resolve this when I can’t even get the regulars to respond.”  I don’t apologize.  I didn’t intend to light a fire under their asses, I intended to light a fire under the ass of the nameless, faceless executive who was too important to be reached last night and was already ruining my morning.

It worked, within a half hour, all was resolved.

The punch line, I got all the email addresses wrong.  The names were right, the addresses were wrong.

I’ve discovered through trial and error, mainly error, that when I need to depend on someone I don’t work with directly to do their job – I get screwed, royally.  I don’t want to micro-manage, I don’t want to be a BOFH every single day, but it just seems that when I’m not there, in the face of the whoever is holding things up – nothing will happen.  It’s a recipe for burnout and I like what I do far too much to let that happen.

Next big project?  I’ll be paying attention to every bit – hoping that everyone’s doing their part.  If they’re not, I won’t hesitate to escalate.  Being a laid back nice guy IMHO is why I got stuck like this and I’m really sick of opening the door into my nose every time I expect someone else’s ducks to be all lined up for me.  I can’t be a nice guy all the time and still be a sysadmin.  That’s a surefire way to get stepped on and passed over.  I know when to be a BOFH, and when to be a nice guy – I just can’t flinch when it comes to being the BOFH, some people just need to get a foot in the ass to realize they’re standing still.

BOFH = Bastard Operator From Hell, btw.

Nothing quite says “iced in” like a game of Doom.

Not on the PC mind you, on my Xbox 360.  It’s the coolest thing, for a few points (translation: bucks) many arcade and other game classics can be quickly downloaded to the 360 console and played.  There I was, playing Doom with Soundgarden’s Superunknown cranked in the background.  Took a lot less time than it did 15 years ago to beat the game – but it was no less fun.

I think that’s something which has been invariably lost in the evolution of gaming through the past 15 years – the fun.

Sure, some titles get it right – but IMHO there aren’t many today which can give Doom a run for its money – even without spiffy graphics or the abilities to jump and aim.  That’s both impressive and sad at the same time.  Millions of dollars and hundreds if not thousands of hours are invested into creating the next big game – only to have something which could be surpassed by Wolfenstein 3D on a black and white monitor.

Personally, I’d be overjoyed if I could get Duke Nukem 3D and Rise of The Triad on Xbox Live Arcade. 🙂