Ya Gotta Love It...
In case that you haven't noticed or I've failed to mention it, I plan my life these days around what I see on the NOAA Website and the Weather Channel.
As I've said before, if I was 17 years old again instead of 47 and I knew what I know now about the development of career opportunities for weather nerds I would have studied meteorology in college instead of engineering and you would possibly be able to tune in and see my ever greying, ever balding head on TV instead of Jim Cantori's shiny knob each evening.
Early this morning I noticed that the radar loop out of Jacksonville looked like we had a slight rotation in the weather sitting offshore between our little island and Daytona.
Now the weather nerds over at the Weather Channel are talking about it causing the Space Shuttle having to scrub it's landing plans twice today and I'm looking outside at wind gusts up near 30 MPH and a nice rain falling--thereby preventing my afternoon bike ride over to pick up a copy of the local newspaper from the Sea Palms Clubhouse.
That's OK, because I have a new generator, insurance, and gallons of drinking water standing by just in case another Katrina-like event stands up and blows us all away overnight.
I've taken a day off from the jobsite and spent the time finishing up eight pages of drawings for the Duplex renovation, and after an early morning trip tomorrow morning to Home Depot and Walmart I'll once again be grinding around building new wall framing and punching holes in concrete block.
Thank goodness my existing debris covered roof is still sound so I can work inside in the crappy weather that is apparently going to be with us through the weekend.
Y'all have a Happy Summer Solstice...enjoy the day with longest period of daylight of the year, if you will...
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Still Infected
Anyone Have Any Digital Penicillin?
I'm sorry to report that my computer spent most of yesterday afternoon and the early evening either hiccuping , farting, and belching, else it was tied up spinning and banging and whirling around as it was being scanned by my Norton 360 software for the same fungus that's had us in it's grips since last Friday.
I was afraid to touch it during most of the process for fear of catching the same infection in the cuticles of my toes or somewhere else important like my crotch or gums, so not much got done around here since about 3 PM yesterday.
Once I revived myself and tried to get going again about 2:00 AM things seem to be OK as I haven't been interrupted by any fake Bellsouth DSL screens thus far this morning.
I'm not holding my breath, however.
I absolutely have to get my building permit application delivered to the City of Brunswick in the next couple of days else I'm going to be finished with the job and have the building inspectors kicking me in the head with stupid details that really don't matter in retribution for violating their government imposed rules.
I find it to somehow be damming that the government gets in the way of me improving a building that was built in 1959 and currently has clunky plumbing and no central AC or heat.
Who are they to tell me that if I don't leave things in their current ancient decrepit state that I have to jump through flaming hoops wearing $150 running shoes and pay them $90 for a permit to work on MY BUILDING.
MY BUILDING.
The building that I paid cash for a little over three years ago and have dropped another $1,000 of tax money on since then.
The building that one dumbass left in the middle of the night owing me $825 worth of past due rent money two years ago.
Yes...THAT building.
Screw the government...if they don't like it I'll tear the whole thing down and pay reduces taxes on the bare dirt like the guys did next door and across the street.
Dammit...
I'm sorry to report that my computer spent most of yesterday afternoon and the early evening either hiccuping , farting, and belching, else it was tied up spinning and banging and whirling around as it was being scanned by my Norton 360 software for the same fungus that's had us in it's grips since last Friday.
I was afraid to touch it during most of the process for fear of catching the same infection in the cuticles of my toes or somewhere else important like my crotch or gums, so not much got done around here since about 3 PM yesterday.
Once I revived myself and tried to get going again about 2:00 AM things seem to be OK as I haven't been interrupted by any fake Bellsouth DSL screens thus far this morning.
I'm not holding my breath, however.
I absolutely have to get my building permit application delivered to the City of Brunswick in the next couple of days else I'm going to be finished with the job and have the building inspectors kicking me in the head with stupid details that really don't matter in retribution for violating their government imposed rules.
I find it to somehow be damming that the government gets in the way of me improving a building that was built in 1959 and currently has clunky plumbing and no central AC or heat.
Who are they to tell me that if I don't leave things in their current ancient decrepit state that I have to jump through flaming hoops wearing $150 running shoes and pay them $90 for a permit to work on MY BUILDING.
MY BUILDING.
The building that I paid cash for a little over three years ago and have dropped another $1,000 of tax money on since then.
The building that one dumbass left in the middle of the night owing me $825 worth of past due rent money two years ago.
Yes...THAT building.
Screw the government...if they don't like it I'll tear the whole thing down and pay reduces taxes on the bare dirt like the guys did next door and across the street.
Dammit...
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Official Transcripts
Local Stupidity...
It's a wonder I've managed to not kill a couple of the so called Condo Board Members or at least bruise some of our tourists (smiting them with the jawbone of an Ass or some other appropriate measure) thus far in the process of residing here in paradise.
Here's a sample of some of the stuff that goes on down here on our little island. First there is this little slice of the going's on from February of this year:
Dumbass A: "Gosh..look at that bicycle rack that's been sitting over there unused most of the time for at least the past three years. "
Dumbass B: "Yep, I just noticed it because those "mere renters" up there in "D" building started parking their bright shiny new $600 bicycles there back in November."
Dumbass A: "You know that the Condo Covenants say that all bicycles have to be stored inside the utility rooms, even if the utility rooms are full of various bullshit that the property management company never bothers to remove to the dump and the only bicycle rack in the D building is loaded with crappy abandoned bicycles with flat tires that haven't been used in this decade?"
Dumbass B: "Oh the injustice...I Know...Let's correct this situation by dragging the bicycle rack with the two shiny new $600 bicycles attached to the rack by cable locks out of the breezeway and around the corner, across the lawn, into the utility room where they belong."
"Then we can cram them right in there tight beside the trash cans. Forget the fact that we could easily walk upstairs and ask the owners (you know, the "mere renters") to open their combination locks while we move the rack on short notice...after all...we're in charge of busting"mere renter's" chops in the process ofmiss-managment our micromanagement of the Condo Association Ordinances."
Dumbass A: "Yeah..sounds like a good idea to me..that'll teach those mean old "mere renters" to clutter up the property."
Now fast forward your clock and calendar to June of 2007, and take a listen:
Dumbass C: "Oh my, oh my, how will we ever cram our shiny new piece of shit bicycles into the utility room racks in order to comply with Grandma's Condo Association ordinances?"
Dumbass D: "Just twist those other bikes (you know..the aforementioned shiny new $600 bikes that were dragged across the lawn attached to the aforementioned bicycle rack that had been sitting in the breezeway for at least three years previously) over at a 45 degree angle out of the way and force our bikes into the rack--God forbid that we park them on the balcony or leave them on the sidewalk for the few days that we are here--thereby violating the Condo Association Covenants...How dare they be "mere renters" and clutter up the place365 days a year with their stuff..."
Dumbass E: "Hey, this is a really neat LED battery powered headlight--I need something like this...so I'll just take it off Virgil's, the "mere renter's" bike, and take it home with me..."
Dumbass A: "Heh, serves them right...Damn Republicans..."
It's a wonder I've managed to not kill a couple of the so called Condo Board Members or at least bruise some of our tourists (smiting them with the jawbone of an Ass or some other appropriate measure) thus far in the process of residing here in paradise.
Here's a sample of some of the stuff that goes on down here on our little island. First there is this little slice of the going's on from February of this year:
Dumbass A: "Gosh..look at that bicycle rack that's been sitting over there unused most of the time for at least the past three years. "
Dumbass B: "Yep, I just noticed it because those "mere renters" up there in "D" building started parking their bright shiny new $600 bicycles there back in November."
Dumbass A: "You know that the Condo Covenants say that all bicycles have to be stored inside the utility rooms, even if the utility rooms are full of various bullshit that the property management company never bothers to remove to the dump and the only bicycle rack in the D building is loaded with crappy abandoned bicycles with flat tires that haven't been used in this decade?"
Dumbass B: "Oh the injustice...I Know...Let's correct this situation by dragging the bicycle rack with the two shiny new $600 bicycles attached to the rack by cable locks out of the breezeway and around the corner, across the lawn, into the utility room where they belong."
"Then we can cram them right in there tight beside the trash cans. Forget the fact that we could easily walk upstairs and ask the owners (you know, the "mere renters") to open their combination locks while we move the rack on short notice...after all...we're in charge of busting"mere renter's" chops in the process of
Dumbass A: "Yeah..sounds like a good idea to me..that'll teach those mean old "mere renters" to clutter up the property."
Now fast forward your clock and calendar to June of 2007, and take a listen:
Dumbass C: "Oh my, oh my, how will we ever cram our shiny new piece of shit bicycles into the utility room racks in order to comply with Grandma's Condo Association ordinances?"
Dumbass D: "Just twist those other bikes (you know..the aforementioned shiny new $600 bikes that were dragged across the lawn attached to the aforementioned bicycle rack that had been sitting in the breezeway for at least three years previously) over at a 45 degree angle out of the way and force our bikes into the rack--God forbid that we park them on the balcony or leave them on the sidewalk for the few days that we are here--thereby violating the Condo Association Covenants...How dare they be "mere renters" and clutter up the place365 days a year with their stuff..."
Dumbass E: "Hey, this is a really neat LED battery powered headlight--I need something like this...so I'll just take it off Virgil's, the "mere renter's" bike, and take it home with me..."
Dumbass A: "Heh, serves them right...Damn Republicans..."
Who Are These People?
And Why Do I Have To Keep Providing Them With Oxygen and Money?
It seems that NY City Mayor Bloomberg is running around out there putting his money (and other donors money) where his mouth is, and the "advocates" for the homeless and the poor don't like the concept of responsibility and the correlation between choices, decisions, and life's outcomes:
NEW YORK - Poor residents will be rewarded for good behavior — like $300 for doing well on school tests, $150 for holding a job and $200 for visiting the doctor — under an experimental anti-poverty program that city officials detailed Monday.
The rewards have been used in other countries, including Brazil and Mexico, and have drawn widespread praise for changing behavior among the poor. Mayor Michael Bloomberg traveled to Mexico this spring to study the healthy lifestyle payments, also known as conditional cash transfers.
In New York, the two-year pilot program with about 14,000 participants will use private funds Bloomberg has raised because he did not want to spend government money on something that is highly experimental. More than $43 million has been raised toward the $53 million goal, Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs said.
The theory behind cash rewards is that poor people are trapped in a cycle of repeated setbacks that keep them from climbing out of poverty. A person who doesn't keep up with his vaccinations and doctor's visits, for example, may get sick more often and struggle to stay employed.
Bloomberg, a billionaire Republican, said he believes paying people in such circumstances to make good decisions could help break those patterns. The program "gives New Yorkers in poverty a financial incentive to look ahead and make decisions that will improve their prospects for the future," he said in a statement.
But some critics have raised questions about cash reward programs, saying they promote the misguided idea that poor people could be successful if they just made better choices.
"It just reinforces the impression that if everybody would just work hard enough and change their personal behavior we could solve poverty in this country, and that's not reflected in the facts," said Margy Waller, co-founder of Inclusion, a research and policy group in Washington.
Waller, who served as a domestic policy adviser in the Clinton administration, said it would be more effective to focus on labor issues, such as making sure wage laws are enforced and improving benefits for working people.
Among the possible rewards in New York's program are $25 for attending parent-teacher conferences, $25 per month for a child who maintains a 95 percent school attendance record, $400 for graduating high school, $100 for each family member who sees the dentist every six months and $150 a month for adults who work full time.
Can you believe this crap...this idiot Ms. Waller bitching about people GIVING money willingly to people to help them change their lifestyle and conditions versus using the GOVERNMENT to FORCE private citizens to pay artificially high wages and pay taxes so that the government can try to accomplish exactly the same goals with the typical lack of success we've all seen since President Johnson's social experiments of the 1960's first took effect.
Look at this again...
But some critics have raised questions about cash reward programs, saying they promote the misguided idea that poor people could be successful if they just made better choices.
"It just reinforces the impression that if everybody would just work hard enough and change their personal behavior we could solve poverty in this country, and that's not reflected in the facts," said Margy Waller, co-founder of Inclusion, a research and policy group in Washington.
negros, blacks, African Americans, people of color should take a good look at Jessy Jackson and Al Sharpton and see where their bread is buttered in the process.
It seems that NY City Mayor Bloomberg is running around out there putting his money (and other donors money) where his mouth is, and the "advocates" for the homeless and the poor don't like the concept of responsibility and the correlation between choices, decisions, and life's outcomes:
NEW YORK - Poor residents will be rewarded for good behavior — like $300 for doing well on school tests, $150 for holding a job and $200 for visiting the doctor — under an experimental anti-poverty program that city officials detailed Monday.
The rewards have been used in other countries, including Brazil and Mexico, and have drawn widespread praise for changing behavior among the poor. Mayor Michael Bloomberg traveled to Mexico this spring to study the healthy lifestyle payments, also known as conditional cash transfers.
In New York, the two-year pilot program with about 14,000 participants will use private funds Bloomberg has raised because he did not want to spend government money on something that is highly experimental. More than $43 million has been raised toward the $53 million goal, Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs said.
The theory behind cash rewards is that poor people are trapped in a cycle of repeated setbacks that keep them from climbing out of poverty. A person who doesn't keep up with his vaccinations and doctor's visits, for example, may get sick more often and struggle to stay employed.
Bloomberg, a billionaire Republican, said he believes paying people in such circumstances to make good decisions could help break those patterns. The program "gives New Yorkers in poverty a financial incentive to look ahead and make decisions that will improve their prospects for the future," he said in a statement.
But some critics have raised questions about cash reward programs, saying they promote the misguided idea that poor people could be successful if they just made better choices.
"It just reinforces the impression that if everybody would just work hard enough and change their personal behavior we could solve poverty in this country, and that's not reflected in the facts," said Margy Waller, co-founder of Inclusion, a research and policy group in Washington.
Waller, who served as a domestic policy adviser in the Clinton administration, said it would be more effective to focus on labor issues, such as making sure wage laws are enforced and improving benefits for working people.
Among the possible rewards in New York's program are $25 for attending parent-teacher conferences, $25 per month for a child who maintains a 95 percent school attendance record, $400 for graduating high school, $100 for each family member who sees the dentist every six months and $150 a month for adults who work full time.
Can you believe this crap...this idiot Ms. Waller bitching about people GIVING money willingly to people to help them change their lifestyle and conditions versus using the GOVERNMENT to FORCE private citizens to pay artificially high wages and pay taxes so that the government can try to accomplish exactly the same goals with the typical lack of success we've all seen since President Johnson's social experiments of the 1960's first took effect.
Look at this again...
But some critics have raised questions about cash reward programs, saying they promote the misguided idea that poor people could be successful if they just made better choices.
"It just reinforces the impression that if everybody would just work hard enough and change their personal behavior we could solve poverty in this country, and that's not reflected in the facts," said Margy Waller, co-founder of Inclusion, a research and policy group in Washington.
I don't know about you, but in my opinion it's experts and government idiots like this that keep the poor poor. While we're at it, I think that all of the
Birthday Girl
Everybody Run...It's A Wild Dog...
Here's a picture of a sweet little girl that just turned six months old at our house today...
Happy Birthday Miss "Missy."
Here's a picture of a sweet little girl that just turned six months old at our house today...
Happy Birthday Miss "Missy."
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Seek & Yea Shall Find
Amazing Realizations...
Believe it or not, within 12 hours of my posting Norton 360, I received this E-Mail communication from Cicilia Daclan at Symantec:
Dear Mr. Rogers,
I ran across your blog post below about Norton 360. I'm sorry you're running into issues with your computer moving in slow motion. I can't say for certain what could be causing this as I'm not a technical support representative, but if you are open to it, I can put you in touch with one over the phone. They can help troubleshoot the issue.
If you are interested, please provide me with your telephone number so they can contact you.
Regards,
Cecilia
First of all...let me state that I'm amazed that my little blog goes where it goes and is read by as many people as it is from time to time.
Next, let me state that I might have been premature in asserting that the Norton 360 product was the source of everything negative that was happening here on my computer over the past few days.
I in fact said the same thing in my answer to Miss Cecilia:
Miss Daclan,
Thank you for your offer.
I must admit that I may have been a bit premature in publicly lamenting the performance issues I'm experiencing and blaming your company's product in the process.
I am committed to correcting my system problems and following up my experience in writing on my blog to set the record straight when I finish. I will contact your customer support if and when I finish reading the help sections on setting up the software and IF I am still unable to correct the situation.
In my defense, there does seem to be some "spyware/malware" residing on my computer that has as yet to be purged by your company's product and is the source of at least some of my performance problems. I've reported the site online to Norton and hope to have things cleared up in short order.
Again, thank you for your prompt response. It is quite surprising to me the reach a simple little blog posting has on the World Wide Web, and it is nice to know that your company and it's employees are paying attention.
Best Regards,
Virgil Rogers
Meanwhile, I've got a Dynamic Vibration Absorber to design...so I've got to go now...
Believe it or not, within 12 hours of my posting Norton 360, I received this E-Mail communication from Cicilia Daclan at Symantec:
Dear Mr. Rogers,
I ran across your blog post below about Norton 360. I'm sorry you're running into issues with your computer moving in slow motion. I can't say for certain what could be causing this as I'm not a technical support representative, but if you are open to it, I can put you in touch with one over the phone. They can help troubleshoot the issue.
If you are interested, please provide me with your telephone number so they can contact you.
Regards,
Cecilia
First of all...let me state that I'm amazed that my little blog goes where it goes and is read by as many people as it is from time to time.
Next, let me state that I might have been premature in asserting that the Norton 360 product was the source of everything negative that was happening here on my computer over the past few days.
I in fact said the same thing in my answer to Miss Cecilia:
Miss Daclan,
Thank you for your offer.
I must admit that I may have been a bit premature in publicly lamenting the performance issues I'm experiencing and blaming your company's product in the process.
I am committed to correcting my system problems and following up my experience in writing on my blog to set the record straight when I finish. I will contact your customer support if and when I finish reading the help sections on setting up the software and IF I am still unable to correct the situation.
In my defense, there does seem to be some "spyware/malware" residing on my computer that has as yet to be purged by your company's product and is the source of at least some of my performance problems. I've reported the site online to Norton and hope to have things cleared up in short order.
Again, thank you for your prompt response. It is quite surprising to me the reach a simple little blog posting has on the World Wide Web, and it is nice to know that your company and it's employees are paying attention.
Best Regards,
Virgil Rogers
Meanwhile, I've got a Dynamic Vibration Absorber to design...so I've got to go now...
Monday, June 18, 2007
Virgil 1...Software 0
I Beat Myself...
After wrestling around with my computer for almost four days, things are almost back to normal here in the Golden Isles--at least in our residence in the Sea Palms Community.
As a result of my new technical success, and since the letter came today from the Glynn Art Association accepting my work "Night Vision," I thought I'd take this opportunity to show it to you:
After wrestling around with my computer for almost four days, things are almost back to normal here in the Golden Isles--at least in our residence in the Sea Palms Community.
As a result of my new technical success, and since the letter came today from the Glynn Art Association accepting my work "Night Vision," I thought I'd take this opportunity to show it to you:
(final image to be 32" wide x 14" high)
It's a PhotoShop edited inversion of a photo of a cypress tree swamp I found beside the road last fall somewhere down between Tallahassee and Mexico Beach, Florida.
And then there is something I call "Just Looking":
(final image 24" wide x 30" high)
I made this photo last winter of some Turkey Buzzards roosting up in a dead tree on the north end of our little island. Again, Photoshop was employed to do a "negative inversion" effect on the original color image taken on a dreary day.
Both will be professionally printed out in California from my digital files, hurredly shipped to me via UPS or Fed EX, and framed and matted by my friend Tracy over at Artisan's frame shop in Brunswick.
Then I'm going to toss them on the wall down on Mallory street on June 30th and step back and wait for the dust to settle in the exhibit which runs through the month of July.
Wish me luck, if you will...
Norton 360
Let Me Pay You To Torture Me
OK...I guess that I have to admit that I'm guilty of mindless consumerism.
You see, last Friday I realized that my HP Notebook must have picked up some kind of web based Fungus because every time I clicked on the Internet Explorer Icon I ended up looking at a BellSouth DSL connection screen with the User Name and Password already filled in.
If you waited around for a few seconds the password screen would disappear and be replaced with a "You have successfully logged into Bellsouth DSL service.'
Funny thing--there's no telephone line connected to my computer. I guess that I should feel privileged to have free DSL service without the bother of hooking a RJ11 cable to my computer
Somewhere back here in the real world I realized that since I use a Comcast cable modem, I must be looking at the product of some useless asshole's efforts that elects to break into complete stranger's homes to perpetrate crimes.
I hope that important body parts rot and fall off of such sub-human morons.
Any way, I logged into the Symantec website with the intention of renewing my anti-virus/anti-spyware software for another year and instead I opted for the Norton Utilities 360 software package that includes backup utilities and a firewall in addition to the aforementioned features.
So far I hate it.
It's like I bolted an old Converse High Top Tennis Shoe onto a thoroughbred racehorse...
Everything seems to be moving in slow motion and the stupid Bellsouth DSL bullshit still pops up every once in a while.
This from a $59 program?
Further, now I can't get pictures to upload to Blogger to put on my websites so nobody can enjoy my fabulous photo ability that will be displayed in the upcoming "Welcome to my World" exhibit being held next month down on Mallory Street in the village here on the island.
Let me ask you:
Where do I go to complain, and can anyone tell me if I'm wrong here?
OK...I guess that I have to admit that I'm guilty of mindless consumerism.
You see, last Friday I realized that my HP Notebook must have picked up some kind of web based Fungus because every time I clicked on the Internet Explorer Icon I ended up looking at a BellSouth DSL connection screen with the User Name and Password already filled in.
If you waited around for a few seconds the password screen would disappear and be replaced with a "You have successfully logged into Bellsouth DSL service.'
Funny thing--there's no telephone line connected to my computer. I guess that I should feel privileged to have free DSL service without the bother of hooking a RJ11 cable to my computer
Somewhere back here in the real world I realized that since I use a Comcast cable modem, I must be looking at the product of some useless asshole's efforts that elects to break into complete stranger's homes to perpetrate crimes.
I hope that important body parts rot and fall off of such sub-human morons.
Any way, I logged into the Symantec website with the intention of renewing my anti-virus/anti-spyware software for another year and instead I opted for the Norton Utilities 360 software package that includes backup utilities and a firewall in addition to the aforementioned features.
So far I hate it.
It's like I bolted an old Converse High Top Tennis Shoe onto a thoroughbred racehorse...
Everything seems to be moving in slow motion and the stupid Bellsouth DSL bullshit still pops up every once in a while.
This from a $59 program?
Further, now I can't get pictures to upload to Blogger to put on my websites so nobody can enjoy my fabulous photo ability that will be displayed in the upcoming "Welcome to my World" exhibit being held next month down on Mallory Street in the village here on the island.
Let me ask you:
Where do I go to complain, and can anyone tell me if I'm wrong here?
Calling Mike Nifong
Send Him Up To The Space Station...
There is apparently a bunch of problems with flying in space these days, and no one wants to admit that things have slipped a little since we stopped letting the guys with the slide rules make the decisions and the Russians started making computers rated for space flight.
I think that in the process of reviewing the current situation that I've accidentally found a new job for recently discredited North Carolina Prosecutor Mike Nifong.
I say that NASA pack his useless, lying, lawyer ass up on the next space shuttle flight and send him into orbit, spending the balance of his life "prosecuting his agenda" on the so called "International Space Station (ISS)"
Let him sit around all day denying that there are any problems up there like he did up in Durham, NC over the past year.
Maybe he can even be persuaded to don a space suit and do a little space walking, duplicating the scene in "2001 A Space Odyssey" where "Hal" the computer cuts one of his human buddies loose for one final solo trip into the dark reaches of the great unknown.
Now that's what I'd call Poetic Justice...
There is apparently a bunch of problems with flying in space these days, and no one wants to admit that things have slipped a little since we stopped letting the guys with the slide rules make the decisions and the Russians started making computers rated for space flight.
I think that in the process of reviewing the current situation that I've accidentally found a new job for recently discredited North Carolina Prosecutor Mike Nifong.
I say that NASA pack his useless, lying, lawyer ass up on the next space shuttle flight and send him into orbit, spending the balance of his life "prosecuting his agenda" on the so called "International Space Station (ISS)"
Let him sit around all day denying that there are any problems up there like he did up in Durham, NC over the past year.
Maybe he can even be persuaded to don a space suit and do a little space walking, duplicating the scene in "2001 A Space Odyssey" where "Hal" the computer cuts one of his human buddies loose for one final solo trip into the dark reaches of the great unknown.
Now that's what I'd call Poetic Justice...
