OK, I'll admit it. I am a computer snob. If I don't think you know what you're talking about and you think you do, I can be somewhat rude about it. For instance:
A law firm for which I do some side work just took on a new attorney who has his own computer guy. This guy says he doesn't know much about computers and he's 100% correct. He doesn't know dick. How do I know that? Well, the computer guy spent over $1000 on a server (which he leased) when all he needed was an external hard drive, which runs about $120. And what makes me so sure that that's all he needs? Because he told me this morning that he's going to use the server unit as a storage device. This, my friends, pissed me off. Why? I'll tell you.
I've always worked under the premise that 'if you don't need it, don't buy it'. This, of course, does not apply to my personal life, but has always in business. I constantly try to save money by coming up with ways to reuse equipment, find cheaper equipment, or just do without, and it bugs the shit out of me when someone takes advantage of his employer. And in this case, I think the attorney is being taken advantage of because he doesn't need a server. Not at all.
I guess the other thing that irritates me is that the computer leased the server. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you don't lease servers. Why? Well, once you get something like this working, it's not easy to install a replacement, especially if this is the only server in your organization. In my opinion, it becomes too valuable a device to have to start worrying about shipping it back in a few years. Leasing regular workstations is a better option. they can be rotated through an organization more easily than a server. I don't recommend it because we're simply not outgrowing processors like we used to. PCs can go for several years without becoming obsolete simply because we can now shove a ton of RAM and hard disk space in them.
Anyway...I'm just irked that the attorney paid about 10 times more than he needed to and there's really nothing I can do about it. It's not my place to question him or his computer guy. Rest assured Dear Reader, that should I have the opportunity to express my feelings, I will do so. With gusto!
Promise me something, Dear Reader. If you're going to order equipment and you have no idea what you're doing, contact me. I'll help you any way I can. That way, I won't make fun of you when you order shit you don't need.
TO: The inventor of the Elliptical trainer
FROM: Howard
You, sir, are an evil-minded bastard to create such a device as this. It should be banned by nations around the world as a torture device.
You know, there are times when I wish my parents would just keep quiet and leave me alone, especially my Dad. I’m so sick and tired of hearing his ‘morals’ lecture that I could just scream. Ever since I told him that I’d started doing a bible study, every few weeks or so he tells me that he’s worried about my decision because of problems he sees with my morals.
The thing that pisses me off the most is that this lecture is coming from someone who’s had questionable morals his whole life, even before he became Christian. It’s like being told not to murder by Charles Manson. Yes, that is an extreme example, but it fits. I’m being told not to do X or that I can’t be a Christian until I stop doing X because it’s hypocritical. It’s hypocritical because he’s saying, in effect, that I can’t get baptized until I stop doing something with is wrong in the eyes of God. What I fail to make him understand is that there will NEVER be a time that everything I do is right and proper. It’s not possible. But he doesn’t see it that way and continues to lecture me on it.
Let me tell you something about my Dad. I love the guy, but he is certainly not the person to lecture me on morals. I’m not going to get into the family history or any bullshit like that, but I will share a few things with you. I have to. I have to get this off my chest so I can stop thinking about it.
My Dad’s issues have always been about money. When he first moved to MS, I used my good credit with the utility companies to setup his local and long distance phone service, water, and electricity so he’d not have to pay deposits. Well, imagine my surprise when I find out that a collection agency is after me because of bills that my Dad didn’t pay. Since I used my Social Security number to set them up, I was ultimately responsible for them. It’s not that he couldn’t pay; it’s that he refused to pay because of some warped ideas in his head. When I told him what was going on, his comment was, “Just tell them it wasn’t you and don’t worry about it. I’m not paying them.” To say I was pissed off and completely floored by this is an understatement of epic proportions. As it turns out, I had to fight BellSouth and MCI for 6 months to get this bullshit straightened out. And you know what? My Dad never blinked an eye at it. It’s like it never happened.
Dad also recently filed bankruptcy because he owed quite a bit on money on his credit cards. We’re talking in the 6 figure range. Why? Well, you may not believe this, but it’s because they wanted him to pay. Yep, they wouldn’t work with him to adjust his interest rate so he said ‘fuck you’ and filed to have his debts wiped clean. At first, I felt sorry for him, because he can’t seem to get a break when it comes to money. But then, after thinking about it for a while, I realized that the only reason he was in this mess was because he continued to buy shit knowing he couldn’t pay for it. I’m not talking about food, clothing, or shelter, I’m talking about tools and books and yard equipment and stereo equipment and more tools and more tools. If he’d been in this situation because he needed his cards to live, then hell yeah I’d feel differently, but not now. This, in my opinion, is stealing. You bought something knowing you couldn’t pay for it and when it came time to do so, you said to hell with it. I’m going to wipe the debt away and it’s all legal.
You see, Dear Reader, this is the problem I have with being given a moral lecture from this man. Again, he’s my Dad and I’ll always love him for that, but how dare he tell me I can’t become a Christian because of ‘moral issues’. And the more I think about it, the angrier I get. I tried to nap, but couldn’t because this whole conversation kept running through my head. And I’m still mad.
When I went to the gym at lunch, I noticed some writing on the windows of a coworker's car. Apparently, homecoming for their child's high school was this past weekend since several references were made to it. I found this one most interesting:
Sophmores Rule!!
Maybe they should work on spelling instead of ruling?
When creating a new Exchange server for your company it is imperative that you remove ALL test users from the new server before putting it into production. Otherwise, you may end up with the following email:
Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.
Subject: RE: Service Outage
Sent: 10/11/2005 10:59 AM
The following recipient(s) could not be reached:
Jablomy, Heywood on 10/11/2005 10:59 AM
The message was undeliverable because the recipient specified has changed address permanently and forwarding was not applicable.
Be sure to remove your USB drive from the computer you're rebuilding before running the fdsik /mbr command from a boot disk. If you don't, this utility will write the new master boot record to your usb drive rendering it completely useless until you reformat it.
In other words, don't leave the drive plugged in or you'll lose all the shit you had on it. All of it. Gone. Poof.
Does Tivo'ing the Sunday morning Methodist church service count as actually going to church?
Well, Dear Reader, after much thought, probably more thought than I've ever put into anything, I made a decision. This past Friday, September 30th, I became a Christian.
I've not told anyone in my family except for my Dad. He converted several years ago so I knew he would understand my reasons. He was very supportive and seemed really happy for me. I will tell my brother when I see him in December. I don't know if I'll ever tell my Mom.
It's funny. I went to Church with a friend of mine last night. Folks down here are big on Wednesday night church. I don't know why, but I'm sure I'll learn. It's more of a study time than an actual worship service. You gather at the church, eat supper, then move into study classes. No, that's not the funny part. The funny part was when they introduced me to another guy who used to be Jewish. We said 'hi', I found out he was from Philly, and that's about it. I'm not sure if they thought we'd hit it off or something or we'd have this whole "You used to be a Jew? Wow! So was I!" kinda conversation, but it didn't happen. To be honest, the guy was kind of a schlub. A nice guy, but still kinda schlubby.
I'll write more about this later. Gotta run. Just wanted you to know what was going on around here.