24 Things I Noticed While Moving for the Umpteenth Time
What every new home needs!
I turned in the keys to my old apartment today, and so I once again bid farewell to one apartment while getting settled into a new one.
- Whily my method of shuttling stuff back and forth with my compact car is horribly inefficient, it gets me plenty of exercise.
- Okay, yeah, its ridonkulous and I should just do everything at once next time.
- I thought “why is it pink instead of blue?” upon seeing the toilet paper and rubber duckie above and then I saw the Susan G. Komen card and pink ribbon. Ohhhh. Derp.
- Speaking of which, I always leave a roll of toilet paper in the old place. I’m not sure why, its just something I do.
- Sometimes I wonder if I am really this elated at being here, or am I just high from paint fumes?
- It only took two trips to move the crap that wouldn’t fit in my car, so yeah, I should have packed everything else up.
- Cable guys are much more efficient when you have the apartment folks call them.
- That’s a good thing, too, because once again, I’m facing the wrong way to get a satellite. Rats.
- Digital thermostats are awesome.
- The new place’s built-in shelves can hold all of my games and movies, and it is BEAUTIFUL!
- I have been in such a better mood now that my commute has been cut in half. God, how I hate traffic, and once those really tall ramps (or skyways as I like to call ‘em) on 281/1604 are done, the commute should be smooth sailing.
- My commute should be cut about in half, which is good because holy cats, gas is getting expensive!
- It really says something when even the dollar store in the new neighborhood is nicer.
- The nearest HEB is an older one. Somehow, this isn’t a problem.
- The nearest Wal-Mart got upgraded from a “Raunchy-Mart” to a Supercenter since my last visit. Nice.
- The nearest Best Buy might just be a little too close, I think I need to freeze my credit card…I mean literally, as in ICE.
- I should have gotten rid of that old living room furniture a LONG time ago.
- Shopping for new furniture has been a drag so far, maybe I should just get a bunch of beanbags, or move my bed into the living room.
- Moving stuff while working the 9-6 shift work during the wintertime SUCKS.
- Really, it wasn’t until that first Saturday that I went, “Gee, this is what this place looks like during the day.”
- The water heater at my old place didn’t hold enough hot water to take a bath, no wonder I was so cranky there.
- The oven here isn’t much bigger than the one at my old place, but at least it has A LIGHT! Seriously, the last one felt like an Easy-Bake.
- The margin of error on that thing is pretty darn thin, though, one long paragraph or trip to the bathroom and I end up with dark brown instead of golden brown cookies.
- My TV looks kind of small now, maybe its time to upgrade!
Upgrade or Die!
YOU GET NOTHING! YOU LOSE! GOOD DAY, SIR!
There are many common terms that have different meanings when put into the context of computers. To most people, “monitor” means to keep an eye on something, but to us IT Guys, its a display device. “Legacy” is another one of those terms; in the computer world, it is a nice way of saying “obsolete.” I learned this at a previous support job where the company pushed and pushed for its customers to upgrade (and spend more money on) the Latest and Greatest version of their software, but there were plenty of hangers-on that were content to use older versions. That’s the way it was, it worked, and they liked it.
Eventually, a new service pack or new version of Windows would come along that would completely break the software, and there wasn’t much else we could tell those guys besides “well, you need to upgrade.” The customers would get mad and stomp their feet and demand that we fix it right away, but 95% of the time, that wasn’t going to happen. If the customer didn’t upgrade, they were out of luck. On a certain level, I can understand the desire to not change something that works (heck, I still use Microsoft Money 2000 and WinAmp 2.9), but at the same time, nearly all computer software will eventually go off into the night of obsolescence because eventually the developer will decide that it isn’t worth the expense of continuing development and support.
One common customer response I would hear (and still do) to this situation was that we were awful people that wanted them to spend more money. To that, I say: I’m sorry, but this is a BUSINESS, it exists to create a product, provide a service, and make money. If we don’t make money by releasing new products and lose money by devoting too many resources to old software, we go out of business and all lose our jobs. Yeah, it royally sucks for users (I myself had a printer that was ‘orphaned’ when Windows Vista came around) but it is a necessary part of the software “circle of life.”
At least that’s how it should work, but instead, many companies insist on continuing to support outdated software, and continue to sell it in many cases. The end result is that tech support gets driven bonkers trying to support the old stuff on top of all the new stuff that comes out and it can get overwhelming. It also results in poorer customer service because techs have to take extra customer time to dig into knowledgebases and ask senior techs about programs that were written for Windows 95.
This is one of the few things I love about Apple. Instead of letting software linger around and stink up the place like old cheese, they have the cojones to tell their customers that the bar is closing, its lights out, so go to the newer nicer bar down the street or go home. They did it when they nuked support for ‘classic’ Mac applications in Leopard, and again by no longer supporting PowerPC applications in Lion. In both cases they waited until four years until after the product was discontinued before pulling the plug and did not hesitate to do so.
In the short term, yes, some customers will be upset and some will go to competitors, but in the long-term, the company can continue to move forward as opposed to having the dead weight of zombie software hanging around their necks like an albatross. I guess we can put this in the “painfully obvious observation that senior management never gets” file. I can’t wait to see what happens when Windows XP support goes away in 2014…or maybe I can.
Lights Out, Lights On
The blackout is over and it’s back to unusual here on RANDOMIZER9.COM. While SOPA may be down for the count, it certainly hasn’t gone away and so we must stay on our guard to make sure it or some other misguided attempt to regulate the Internet never ever rears its ugly head again. Stay informed, everybody, and a big ‘way to go’ to everyone that participated!
For the entirety of January 18, 2012, I am shutting down RANDOMIZER9.COM in protest against the Protect-IP Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). These are bills that are currently making their way through the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America.
While my blog is but one of millions that are fighting for your attention on the wild kingdom that is the Internet, I feel that if I can make my few visitors aware of what is going on, then I will have done my part.
My blog is currently a labor of love more than anything else, but I do hope to one day make a living from my other creative endeavors and so the topic of piracy is important to me. While the intentions behind those two proposed laws may have been good, their language is so broad and their methods are so draconian that they cannot be allowed to become law.
I don’t expect everyone reading this message to support this effort, but I hope that you will take the time to read up on the subject and decide for yourself whether we should let control of this crazy new wonderful thing called the Internet fall into the hands of corporations and the government.
Thanks for reading
–Eduardo “Randomizer9″ Soliz
Tablet Thoughts
As I work on my Acer Iconia TAB A100 review and read the headlines coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show, I keep hearing about why Android tablets haven’t quite caught on. I keep hearing the same arguments: Android is fragmented, Android tablets are all the same, blah blah blah. What I don’t hear anyone talking about is how overpriced some of these Android tablets are.
Any tablet that costs $499 or more is not going to sell unless it is an iPad. Period.
The iPad is the ‘gold standard’ in tablets right now, and the least expensive one costs $499. If a competing product cannot be as good as an iPad then it has to cost less, or else that person will just buy an iPad. Android is nice, but it is not as easy to use as iOS.
Keep in mind that I am referring to the average person when I make these statements. Nerds such as myself are willing to live with a learning curve and some obfuscation. We like figuring things out, we’re just funny that way. The average person isn’t as patient, though, they want to turn a device on and be able to do things from the get-go. That is why iOS is as successful as it is. Granted, there is a lot that you can’t do with it, which is frustrating to nerds like myself, but the majority of people tend to not care about stuff like HDMI ports and memory card slots.
I think Amazon did two smart things with the Kindle Fire: first, they sold it for cheaper than the iPad, but more importantly, they didn’t make an iPad. The Fire is significantly smaller than an iPad, and doesn’t look like one when you start it up. Sure, if you’re a nerd you can argue about how yes, its really Android under the hood and does mostly the same things as an iPad and all that, but to the average person it is different.
Sadly, the bargain prices for the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet are going to make it harder for other 7-inch tablets to gain any traction unless they drop in price as well, so it may not necessarily be a good thing for Android in general. Then again, the functionality they leave out is fairly significant, so it may not necessarily be a bad thing, either.
20 Things I Noticed During Ikkicon VI
Since the last Ikkicon, I actually have helped run an event (two even, the Mezasu mini-cons) so my checklist of “things I have done at a con” is pretty darn close to complete. This time, the band I drum for, named NeRiMa ねりま, was scheduled to play Saturday night, so Friday was pretty much a ‘free day.’ Because of my involvement with the event, I don’t feel right ‘reviewing’ it so without further ado, here’s another list of things I noticed:
- I am not going to bring up the drum thing. I am not going to bring up the drum thing. I am not going to bring up the drum thing. I think the drum thing was our fault, anyway.
- Okay, the drum thing: I need to invest in an acoustic drum set…once I’m sure there is space for it in my apartment, I’m sure it’ll fit in my car, and I won’t get thrown out of my apartment from the noise…so yeah.
- So Band 1 plays before Band 2, but Band 2 does their sound check after Band 1 does theirs and immediately before Band 1 performs…granted, I’m fairly new to the whole “rock band” thing, but am I the only one that finds that weird?
- I’d heard there were three versions of the schedule floating around, which probably why nobody minded that we started playing late.
- I was a little distressed at seeing such a small crowd at first, but it turns out Safety was checking bags for alcohol at the door, so we waited and it slowly grew.
- I think I like playing on Friday better, because we can practice the night before and having the show constantly on my mind for most of the con took a little bit of the fun out of it.
- I had a fun time at the concert itself, it was also nice of them to remember the fog machines were there about 2/3 of the way through. :/
- I totally forgot to check out the game room, perhaps the memories of last year are way too fresh.
- I’m guessing a lot of folks got the Nintendo 3DS for Christmas. Either that or System Settings is much more engaging than I remember.
- I finished 4 Streetpass panels during the event and almost finished Find Mii a second time, w00t!
- According to my 3DS’ pedometer, I averaged 6,000+ steps a day, and my legs feel like it today.
- Once again, no microwave in the room. I guess if you can afford to stay at a place like the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center you aren’t going to be nuking popcorn and noodles for sustenance.
- Luckily, the venue was near the University of Texas, so there was plenty of pizza and burger jonts within walking distance.
- I love how the layout was prioritized: artists and dealers in the mezzanine, panels and some artists on the first floor, and con alley in steerage, er, I mean, the basement. They aren’t the only ones to do this, BTW.
- The AT&T Executive yadda yadda is split in two between the hotel and the conference center, which is probably why there weren’t too many insane elevator wait times. That, and it only has seven floors.
- I was afraid of that the venue was going to be too small for the number of attendees, but it didn’t seem to get too packed.
- I attended the My Little Pony panel to see if I could somehow finish the blog entry I’d been working on for the last two WEEKS. Mission Accomplished.
- In spite of my friend Chris’ best efforts, I was not tied down to a chair and forced to watch My Little Pony like the guy in “A Clockwork Orange.” Jerk.
- What is it with badges? Guest badges, even?? Once again I got a temp badge to start off, but they found the band’s real ones halfway through.
- I can’t claim this one (credit goes to my friend Justin of Nine Tails) but I have to include it: while looking at the Sunday schedule, a friend wondered “How come they never have Steampunk 102?”
For me, at least, Ikkicon VI was fun: a good-sized crowd showed up, the location was better in quite a few aspects, and our concert went well. While there were a few wrinkles here and there, the problems that did come up got taken care of and a good time was had by all.