Lacking the ability to fund my happiness

So they say, "Money can't buy happiness". First off, who exactly are "they"... The mysterious source that seemingly everyone sites for the standard issue cliches? That being here nor there, again "Money can't buy happiness". I contend this is wrong. Well, at least partially wrong. Money can't directly buy happiness, as if happiness was a commodity. It can, however, buy... stuff. I'll be the first to say that as a whole, society has too much "stuff". Conversely, having stuff can be a good thing. Yes, I am a study in contradictions... It's part of my charm, appeal, curse... I have the ability to see the whole picture... the good, the bad and myself... I mean the ugly. So, with this ever elusive, at least in my case, money... I can buy happiness! That's right, I can. I can buy iPads, My Little Pony©s, fast pitch softball equipment and lessons, emerald encrusted jewelry, tools(!!!!) and all the little things in life that make my family and friends... wait for it... HAPPY! That being said, the single most important thing that money can buy... Time! I know, I know... it appears as if I have lost it (hard to lose what was never there to begin with!). Just keep reading... it'll come together... maybe... Anyway, yes, money can buy time. Having money would allow me to be more selective about my employment options. This would allow me to find something that would keep me from having to constantly be out on the road, away from my friends and family, just to make a living. See... money would buy me some time and happiness by way of allowing me to take care of all those annoying bills that are required to function in today's society while being able to spend time with family and friends which makes me and at least some others, happy. So there it is... money CAN buy time and happiness!

Now that y'all have been infused with some of my twisted logic, on to my rant about college degrees and the fact that more merit is put in a piece of paper than the actual person that is bearing it...wait... no... not today.

So, yeah... Not go off on a tangent, today... Instead, I'm going to spread my dream a little. So... I want to do THIS !! Not go to one... well yeah... go to all of them, but I want to build one... run one... enjoy one... right here where I live. Without getting too in depth in all the particulars, I can see in the "normal" part of my twisted little mind, how things could pan out and allow me to not have to travel, by embedding knowledge, experience and happiness in the local educational infrastructure and the community as a whole. Just imagine... a class field trip... 20 or so 3D printers and an instructor... the result would be a classroom's worth of customized Mother's Day gifts and interest in all the things that could by laying down heated plastic in a programmed order. See what has happened there? Not only have a bunch of children designed and created a physical object for their maternal guardians, but they have been shown that the things in their head CAN become a reality. They have been exposed to computers as the tools that they were designed to be, to programming, to science by way of how a 3D printer extrudes the plastic, to design... to technology! So, here is where money would have bought some more happiness. Happiness outside my little (and I do mean LITTLE!) social group, as well as for me. There's nothing greater, in my opinion, that seeing that breakthrough moment in a child, when they realize that the sky is the limit. This is what I want to bring to my community, my friends, my family and myself! Being closely tied to the educational community, it saddens me to see the lack of support for technology. Albeit, it's necessarily the fault of the educators, but more so of a society that is increasingly supporting the religion of sports and neglecting those that do not excel at them. I want to bring that spark, that hope, the realization that just because you can't catch a football or hit a baseball or shoot a basketball, doesn't mean that you can't do awesome things in life. I want to help, not only my, but all the children I can, to see how technology and creativity can enrich their lives. THIS is the tool that I want to use to launch careers in engineering, design, art, computer science, education! Here's where money can again buy time and happiness. Now, if I could just find the funding for my happiness...

Piece

The Uneducated Box

Yeah... So I haven't exactly been a prolific poster... The job I currently possess keeps me out on the road... CONSTANTLY. It's a pretty good job, if you don't have anything resembling a home life, because you are rarely at home. Since I have 2 of the most awesome girls... my job kind of sucks. I love spending time with my girls, can't move past that and I feel like I am missing out or letting them down by being gone ALL the freakin time. I hear it over and over how I should be thankful that I do have a job... yeah... I know, BUT... if it is sucking your soul out through the smallest orifice it can find... You have to contemplate the value of it. I have. So now I find myself scouring the job sites in search of something more conducive to me spending time with my girls. Once again, I find myself constantly irritated by the "necessity" of a college degree. I find myself torn between an overwhelming hatred for the fact that a piece of paper (most are very nice pieces of paper, but paper nonetheless!) can keep me from getting a job that I am more than qualified for and motivating my soon to be 13 year old to work towards a degree. So I play the perfect example of why you should get a degree. All the while boiling inside over my paper thin blockade. I think society puts too much value in "higher education". In my experience, most (note I said MOST!) folks gain very little from a little extra book learnin. It's sort of like the new religions of Sports and Entertainment, looks all shiny and awesome on the surface, but when you strip away the clear coat... it's just lacking in substance. I've stood fast in my reasoning (or excuse, depending on how you look at it)for my poor performance in high school, show me HOW I am going to actually use all this crap you want me to regurgitate! Albeit, things are looking up for my girls, but it seems too late for me. Oh sure, "Just go get a degree"... yeah... hard to take online courses working 65 hours a week with close to a third of that time riding the shitty... I mean... wonderful ribbon of interstate running across this great land. Besides that, all this "Free WiFi" being touted by all the major hotel chains is shit! I've had rooms sitting within 20 feet of the hotel's actual connection/broadcast node and got better access on my mobile phone's data connection. Sure... it sounds like a bunch of excuses... it's reality... I feel like I have been shoved into an uneducated box and put at the curb for pick up. Only it's not in the recycle bin. The biggest problem I have is that I am "undocumented"... as in many of my skills are self taught and cannot be "proven" by a piece of fuckin paper! Hmmm... fuckin paper... now there would be an interesting marketing campaign... anyway... Just balling up my frustrations and tossing them in to the massive bin that is teh internetz. Maybe next time I'll have something more interesting to say... Maybe not... piece

Random Stacked Conglomeration of Fecal Matter

So I had this list:
Longevity at previous employer who exported jobs to Mexico thanks to NAFTA (Thanks, Bill!)
Secondary undocumented skill set
Willingness to work when ever needed
Fast learning curve
Age and experience

I was going to go into this whole tirade about how screwed up things are in the job market and that it seems that companies have their priorities back asswards and need to change. The problem wit this concept... I CAN actually see the flip side of the coin. I do see how, in general, it could appear that a person staying in the same job for an extended period of time COULD show a lack of motivation and complacency rather than loyalty and dedication. I also see how a lack of documentation of a skill set could also show a lack of determination rather than motivation and a desire to better oneself with new skills. I can see how a willingness to work what ever shift that is needed, can be perceived as desperation, rather than someone who will put their job in a primary place in their life. I recognize that a fast learning curve can represent a lack of focus instead a strong desire to increase one's skills and abilities. It is also apparent to me that a person of my age can be seen as some one unwilling to change or accept constructive commentary on their performance, especially from someone younger, instead of a resource of knowledge and experience that could be used to benefit and advance a company. I see this, so I feel like my original design to this post might be a little unmerited. Seeing as I can't seem to delve into my once prevalent depths of creativity, I'm not really sure where to take this and am just spouting off a random stacked conglomeration of fecal matter. I will admit that I'm kind of aggravated about the fact that I keep running into the same wall, no matter which avenue I pursue. That wall... the fact that my former employer COULD call me back. They haven't for almost 2 1/2 years! It seems companies, even using temp agencies, don't want to expend the capital to train someone that might leave after getting a letter in the mail. Of course, the fact that the sun could super nova at any point and The Dr. not make it there in time to save the earth, didn't stop them from coming in to work that day. Asking an interviewee whether or not they will return to their former employer if called is akin to asking you what you are going to do if your dog spontaneously combusted while hiking on a fire hydrant. It's a situation that can only truly be dealt with when it happens. Again... I can see the opposing view... if they say "yes", then you have narrowed you candidate pool, but if they inform you that given an acceptable opportunity with your company they would pass... do you still pass over them based on your thought that them returning is " more money than a reasonable person could pass up" (yes... that is a direct quote from a job interview I had!). I can't tell someone interviewing me for a job that I'm not a "reasonable" person, can I?! But there I go straying into that negative mindset that I'm trying to avoid in this. Despite all the times I have had multiple interviews with the same places, only to still be sitting here without a job, I am REALLY trying to maintain a positive outlook. I know at some point, someone will finally realize that I am an asset to their business instead of the worthless, beaten down piece of shit that I see when I look in the mirror. They say it's not what you know, but who you know. Yeah.... that hasn't really worked out they way "they" said it would. Through it all, I keep pressing on... trying... running towards that light at the end of the tunnel, desperately hoping it's not yet another on coming train. I can't even get a blog to garner any kind of respectable following. I keep swimming to the surface only to be able to inhale enough air to make it through my next trip to the bottom. That's positive, right? I can see from their perspective all the reasons why someone would not want to hire me and am still at odds with the fact the positive attributes about my work history that I have worked so hard to advance, is being used against me. So anyway, there's a little steam blown off in a "positive" way. 5-10 hits later... at least I will feel a little better and will have managed to ignore the TV for a little bit.

Don't bitch at me... Tell Google!

So I did a post on how I felt that there was room for both Google+ AND facebook in the enterprise realm. Later in the day I was chatting ( me through Google+ and he through what I'm assuming was Gmail) with a good friend of mine who also happens to be a highly certified information security specialist for one of, if not THE largest bank in the US, and he expressed concerns over Google's Privacy Policy. He seemed to think that it some how infringed on our First Amendment rights. So I read it again (yes, I do tend to read most privacy policies! ). I didn't really see where he was coming from with it, but we agreed to disagree. I mean if you want to boil it down to it's base elements, simple having an ISP or an Internet connection for that mater, opens you up to censorship by a government or corporation. It's one of those things we all live with to enable us to be connected and informed. Bear in mind that I'm not condoning this, just stating the reality of the situation. So to bring it back to what I was saying in my previous post, Google+ is in it's infancy! While it is absorbing membership like one of those compressed sponges thrown in a swimming pool, the sheer quantity of the membership does not incite change, but it's the force of that membership pushing forward that does. What I'm saying, basically, is as early adopters of a new product, the vendor tends to rely on feedback from us to make the product better, more streamline or just plain not suck! My friend had suggestions as how to make Google+ more adaptive and secure for the enterprise environment. What good did it do to tell me (beyond inspiring this blog entry!) when I can do nothing to change it?! In the top right hand corner (Windows version... Haven't made it up stairs to set it up on my Mac, yet) of the Google+ (let's go with G+ from here on out as I'm tiring of typing Google, aight?) there is the little gear shaped icon generally recognized as the tools menu. Upon clicking said icon you get a drop down that contains the link to Send Feedback. I told him that since I knew he had a Gmail acct AND an invite to G+, to do so... as in send feedback! His response was his usual "Grrrr", which indicates that he knows I'm right, but will never own up to it. Am I not right, though? You want to filter your stream better... Tell Google! You want to prevent cross-contamination of your circles... Tell Google! You want to be able to play Farmville... Tell Google! (I guess at this point the whole G+ thing is kinda irrelevant!) One side note, I sincerely hope that they don't allow G+'s pristine waters to be muddied by all the annoying games and apps that have made facebook intolerable at times! So to crank the handle on the reel once again... If you use G+ and see changes that you feel need to be made... Tell Google! Utilize the very convenient Send Feedback button and let them know. Bitching about it in your blog or on facebook to your friends does nothing to improve the product! If nothing else, delete you membership to it. If they see declining user numbers they will look in to it. For all the crap that Apple Fan Folk get looking at and adapting to feedback is one thing Apple does well. While they may not completely repeal or redesign an update, if enough folks are yelling "y'all fucked up with this one!" at them they will find a middle ground to at least soothe the majority of the masses.
   So to wind this Mother on down so I can get some sleep... Realize that G+ is in it's early stages, no product is "perfect" upon initial release and the only way that it's going to to be honed to meet the needs of whoever the target audience is, is for people to give feedback.
   One final note... I like what I see so far with G+. I see the potential for it to not only be a powerful tool for businesses, but also a kick ass social network (provided they keep all those damn games off it!)! So don't rant at me for security loop holes and if it isn't a clone of facebook... Tell Google!

   UPDATE: found this little article on Mashable this morning that goes along with the opening statements of this blog. Do We Need an Internet Freedom Movement?

Google+, a laymen's first impression

I think it's interesting that in a lot of the stuff I am reading, comments included, that people are trying to cram Google+ into a preconcieved "box" as a facebook rival/killer. I don't think it's that at all. Not being a tech professional in any way, shape or form, this feels more like an enterprise productiviy suite with a social aspect thrown in. Standing firmly outside the enterprise environment, I see Google+ as a deeply integrated, though still in it's infancy, collaborative tool for business. The ability to compartmentalize/departmentalize your contacts into specific groups and push out updates to just those groups is powerful, not only as social tool,  but as a business tool. The ability to video conference with multiple people is a useful and cost effective way for small to medium sized businesses to play in the same league with the big boys without the overhead involved with buying and maintaining application specific equipment. Many companies and educational institutions already utilize and enjoy the horsepower and cost savings provided by Gmail, Google calendars, and Google Docs. Throw in Picasa, YouTube and Google Reader and the educational and business applications become seemingly endless. Although it is, basically, a social network and even the mighty Mashable, is touting it's merits (and flaws) as a social network, I think it goes deeper (or broader, depending on how you look at it) than that. I feel there's a place for both facebook and Google+ in any company's arsenal, once it gets fleshed out, by Google, as to which direction they want + to go. facebook is an excellent tool for promotion and advertising of your brand or products and a way to keep the technologically enabled masses informed and coming back. On the flipside, Google+ is more of an in-house toolbox for keeping employees (vendors, customers) abreast of what is happening and/or will happen while allowing for ease of integration, easy collaboration and lower overhead. Once Google makes the call, we'll then see whether or not we need to bitch about being able to play Farmville or "poke" our "friends" on Google+. Again, Let me reiterate that I am NOT an enterprise/technology professional. I'm just a dude putting his opinion out there for scrutiny and waiting for Apple to approve the Google+ app. This fact in and of itself (waiting for the iPhone app), just goes to show that this  product suite of products, is still young in it's lifespan and as a "field trial" has a lot of room to grow as well as directionality to work out.

You know you're doing something right...

When your kid does this...

My 11 year old Daughter has recently had a bought with Unstable Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis or USCFE, which is basically the head of the femur pushing out of the socket as the hip growth plate slips. It was at first, assumed that she had just pulled a groin muscle from playing softball, but as the weeks passed by we got more concerned. Then came the fateful day when she fell. The Drs reckon it was a result of her hip completely displacing! She's been extremely mature and a fighter through it all. She was in surgery for 8 hours the night of her fall. She also agreed to participate (YES, we let her decide!) in a trial to monitor blood flow to the repaired area in an effort to increase the success rate of this type of surgery and possibly prevent complications in future patients. I wish I knew what we, as her parents, did to instill in her a sense of helping others even in her our time of need!

Knowing that since she was facing the worst case scenario with her injuries and was going to be basically confined to a wheelchair for about 3 months, I made her a cushion for the chair. Peace signs are her thing. Not so much the free love hippie kind of peace, but the "can't we all just get along" kind. She's also keen on recycling and everything "green". Which is why her foam in the cushion is soy based and I think the fabric was recycled, too.

For the first week she was in the hospital and in a constant state of drug induced haze.Most of the time she had a catheter and could barely move. She took it all in stride, rarely complained (She's 11... there's gonna be SOME complaining!), but was keen to know what was going on with her and the healing process. Of course, she was anxious to get out of the hospital and back to the comfort of her own bed. I think she was kind of missing her little sister!
We also had to build a ramp to get her in and out of the house. Once she started her home Physical Therapy she rolled herself up to the kitchen table and made this:

If you can't read it, it's a chart she made from the list of exercises that the Physical Therapist gave her to try and do. The sheer drive and creativity that she has exhibited during this ordeal, is an inspiration not only to me, but hopefully to anyone that reads this and the upcoming blog that I am going to help her establish to chronicle the events for herself!


All of this is basically to tell the world...

I'M PROUD OF YOU MORGAN!!

Randomosity pt 2

If it seemed like my last post ended abruptly and mid thought... it did. A little tidbit about me is that I am a male, that has to "service" (in a non perverted way!) a group of 7 familial females. It takes it's toll, not only on my mental state, but also on my time and ability to accomplish what I want to accomplish. Couple that with the fact that my 11 year old daughter is recently, though not permanently, in a wheelchair having suffered the pain and related surgery for Slipped capital femoral epiphysis (I chose the Wikipedia link for the cool pix!). This ties into the fact that I am the only male in that I'm the only one that can lift her effectively and without further damage! So you see, I sometimes am called away to do this and that (rearrange furniture, TVs, cable connections, doors, shower curtains, etc.) at a moments notice, no matter where I am in the thought process on my blog or even if I'm doing a little biological downloading! My last post actually sat for 2 days from it's initial conception, as I was tied up dealing with my "manly duties" and was unable to complete it. So, when the moment arose that afforded me the opportunity (it's early in the morning and they are all still asleep!), I fashioned a weak closing statement on it and published it. Now I'm not complaining... okay, maybe on some level I am complaining. I have been know to do this, but on the surface, the place where I'm wanting you to look, I'm just stating the facts of my situation.

Now that we have all that cleared up, let's move on to some more random thoughts, shall we?

The thing that really has my innards and mind tied in proverbial knots is this governmental retraining program that I'm in. It's great, don't get me wrong, but it's a poorly adhered patch on the tire that is unemployment in this country. First, it requires that you burn through all of your state level benefits, BEFORE, you actually get in to the Federal funds. While on the surface this seems like a good idea to use up your local support before leaning on the entity that caused the manufacturing jobs that you once relied on to provide for your family to be exported to a country who's mass exodus is already putting a burden on the local job market (NAFTA!!), before you get funding from them. Okay I get that... kind of. The problem with this set up is this, when you do finish your retraining and the Federal monies are quickly and abruptly cut off... you then have no means by which to support yourself and /or your family while you go and try and utilize your new career skills. On top of that, you are doing a mass dump of newly trained people into a narrower job market, than when they were first forced into it, with no financial support! Let's simplify this a little... you have, we'll say, 500 people lose their jobs due to treaties that overall only benefit the cosigners of them and not the initiators. So you, as the governing body, create a program to retrain these folks with newer more marketable job skills. You set aside the funding for each person, but require them to use their local benefits, beyond the actual cost of the training, to support themselves through the training process, BEFORE you break loose with the funds to support them yourself. These 500 folks graciously accept these terms and move forward with hopes and dreams of a better life on the other side of their retraining. First, you have overlooked the fact that if there had been sufficient jobs for these re-trainees, they wouldn't be retraining! Another aspect is that you have only approved the re-trainees to retrain for jobs that already exist and are unavailable, then after they jump through all the hoops and come to the abrupt end of support... you have 500 people trained for jobs that don't exist at the levels for which they are trained and no further local support to get them into positions to move forward. You've trained 500 people for the four jobs that were available at the time they started and now you have 500 people, trained and less available jobs, than when they started their training with all that bullshit... I mean those high hopes, that you fed them in the beginning! Wouldn't it make a whole helluva lot more sense, to fund the retraining, solely from the Federal funds (which have been sitting idly in an account earmarked for each person as their burn through their local benefits!!), then allow them their local benefits as a cushion to provide for their families while they try to find a job that actually does exist and they now have 499 competitors for? It does to me, but I'm just a person in need of retraining, because my government thought it was a good idea to let companies have incentives to move my job to a country that it seems everyone is leaving anyway. Am I off on my thinking, here, folks? I don't know, but stay tuned for more specific and random updates as time allows me.

Just sayin

Hmmm... wonder if someone would actually pay me to sit around and bitch about all the things I see wrong... yeah... probably not.

Randomosity

Where to start? It's always my biggest problem when I'm trying to write these. I have so much bouncing around in my head that it is generally hard to focus in on one key point, except when something REALLY gets under my skin. Lately so many things have tweaked me that I couldn't really dial it in on one in particular, so I'm just going to drop them all in one post and see how it goes.
My mind is diverse. My problems, both actual and perceived, are diverse. So here's a small sampling of what's been brewing in my head and, I reckon, a small hashing out of it: School budget cuts, unemployment, the economy, my kids, the Monster at the top of the stairs (which is my Mother-in-Law, for those that might be interested), advancing technology, the lack of technology, and money. I guess I'll address them in this order, so here goes.
With all the obvious governmental waste that is readily prevalent, why the fuck are we trimming educational budgets?! My wife, who happens to be an educator, passed on a statistic recently revealed to her... about 70% of the adults in the US do NOT have school aged children.70%!!! That leaves the other 30% to fight for a decent education for our children. The statistic seems almost surreal, but I have flushed it out and it's probably accurate. How's this, you might ask? Well, folks are living longer and the "Baby Boomers", being the largest generation (No, I didn't fact check this. This blog is my perspective and should in no way be considered fact, unless I do cite it as such!) in US history are still out there. Their children, a much smaller generational group, being around and in their 40's. This generation (X, Y, whatever the sociologists have branded us) including myself, who is knocking on mid-life crisis' door, are the also starting to age into their empty nests. My kids (overlapping topics... get past it!) are younger as I spent my "reproductive years", this would be one's early 20's which are traditionally the years in which one starts a family, serving my country and sewing my wild oats, so to speak. I was 28 when my first child was born. So to dial it back on course, My Grandmother, 86 and my Mom, 65 are still alive. That's two generations of adults without school aged children. My darling, younger sister, has no children, yet another adult, in just my family, that has no "real" stake in education. So of the adults on JUST my side of the family, 75% of them are without school aged children. So you see how this all would scale up to make the 70% make not such a large and disproportional number. STILL... The children are our future. Not just the future of our family lineage, but the future of our country. Do they not deserve some sort of priority over fancy sports arenas and Presidential golfing trips?! Personally I would want the smartest person possible managing the purse strings in my waning years! If they "trim" the educational budgets much more, around here at least, we're going to be back to the ole one-room school house era, as there won't be enough educators to properly educate the kids, or actual facilities to accommodate them. I guess this is fine, if we WANT to drive the US from it's barely held position (which some, including myself, could argue is no longer true!) at the top of the civilized world! While admittedly spreading the topic base beyond it's scope, The growing lack of a technologically competent work force, is pushing this country even further down. It also seems that the first thing to get "trimmed" from budgets is the technology education and resources. I stand by the knowledge, that lack of manufacturing in this country is spurring the continual growth and maintenance of high unemployment rates, but failure to expose our children to present and future technologies in the educational environment will only serve to progress this problem! Being privy to some of the technological implementations within the school systems and their lack of use, training for usage, and funding, only helps sharpen the focus on what I see as a problem. The days of readin, writin, and 'rethmatic on a chalkboard, no matter the size, should be a thing of the past. If you ask me, the days of cutting down acres of forests to make textbooks, is also antiquated. Personally, I like a "hard" copy of my study text, because that is what I am conditioned to want. My 11 year old, who has had some of the finest, both technologically and motivationally, teachers, in this country (my opinion! Like it or not!), would rather sit at her rapidly antiquating iMac and type up her homework in Pages or whip up a wicked Keynote presentation, than use a pencil and paper!
I reckon what I'm trying to get at with all this is, that cutting the funding and the subsequent job and technology loss is detrimental to not only the future of our children, but the future of this country!

Dog and Pony Show

You want me to write something creative on command... parade something intellectually stimulating before your critical eyes at a moments notice... yeah... I don't work like that. True, most of my best written material was crunk out at a break-neck pace to make it in on time, but I'm not your personal Dog and Pony show, churning out blurbs of thought provoking literary genius, because you want me to. In the Army, we called any formation be it promotion, change of command or whatever situation required us to be outfitted in our class A's, a Dog and Pony show. In actuality, it was more a Mutt and Jackass show, but whatever floated their boats and got us out of random training activities. I write... I tend to like to write... on my terms. This ties into my previous entry about the traditional education that I am currently undertaking. I'm taking a research and writing course that, while it won't transfer to any other school, is required for me to obtain a degree. Can you believe that there are books on how to write letters, memos, EMAILS?! Really... emails... email is IM for grandparents... of course IM is texting for "old" folks... gotta love the technology progression through the generations. Does one really need to be taught how to use these sort of technologies in this day and age?! Anyway... I'm just spewing random thoughts in an effort to gain some inspiration. My train of thought was interrupted by a rambunctious 2 year old... alas... thwarted again!

Learning Inventory

So I'm in college... at just shy of 40... I don't like it! Sure the scenery is great (This is where I like to point out to my 11 year old, that just because I'm married... doesn't mean I'm dead!)! I never really liked school, even way back in the day when I was forced to go by the State. Well... in order for me to maintain some symbolic version of an income... I am once again forced to go. Don't get me wrong, I love to learn new stuff and have a voracious appetite for technological information and know-how. I just don't like the traditional set-up of the collegiate educational system. Here's how I like it... Don't give me a bunch of theory and reading to do then throw some assignments at me based on those theories. Walk me through the task that you want accomplished... inject the basics of the theory in the walk-thru and then let me have it. Monkey see, monkey do. Guess that fits if you want to break it down that simply. It basically boils down to the same thing I kept asking in high school... what practical application for my future life does this have. I don't like books, therefore, the chances of me actually sitting down and reading one are slim, even if you present it in a cool ass new digital format. On the flip side to this don't just give me a bunch of assignments with no support to back it up. Most people that I encounter that are studying the same or similar fields to what I am in school for, are visual learners. The kinda folks that like to go in and play with things until they break, then try and fix them. This is how I learned to fix computers. Present things as the end result, walking through the steps to get there and then be available for questions in the event I get in a bind. What I have noted with a lot of my classmates, is, what boils down to cheating. One person figures it out or actually is able to function in the read it/do it environment and then the work get passed around and to their clique. Seeing as I rarely fall into any clique, I tend to be an outside observer struggling to figure it all out on my own and while learning it better (tests have proved this!!), I tend to not do as well in keeping up with the busy work. Of course that would be a lot easier if it was routinely handed to me. I have learned most of my past jobs by OJT, on the job training. You go and do the job and then someone in charge, informs you of the mistakes you made and generally offers an alternate solution to the way in which you did it. So I learned. I developed my skills in repairing bicycles, cars, electrical circuits, helicopters and many other things in this manner and have been successful at it. Then I end up in college and am asked to "learn" by reading a bunch of theories and applying them. Not that theories aren't important, but it seems to me that getting to the finished product would be immensely more important then how/why the theories are implemented. Yes, the theories are important, but if you know how to get from a to b, then you should figure out the theories behind how/why it works. If you never figure out the reasoning behind it... if you know how to make it work... wasn't that the point? Guess this is just a rant that stems from the fact that I don't like school... learning, yes, but not school. Plus I don't feel like those folks, that usually make higher grades than I, that go around getting their classwork from the others in the class are actually learning the work. Companies need to base their employment decisions less on what a person's grades are and more on the practical application of the job skills that are required for the job... not everyone learns as much as their grades might indicate. My last job, from which I was laid off, required at the time I was hired, that you take a basic skills test that encompassed what was needed to know to properly perform the job. As they phased out the testing, quality suffered, not only with the personnel, but the end product and thus sales. I reckon what I'm trying to say with all this is... a piece of paper (diploma, certification, etc.) DOES NOT quantify a person's skill level, but is merely a measure of whether they learn in a traditional way or not. My opinion... Just sayin

The best laid plans...

Since I've decided to have a respectable go at this who blogging thing, I have made an effort to keep my woefully underpowered, but still functioning little netbook with in relatively easy reach. I do this to facilitate me committing my ideas to paper, so to speak, as they arise from the hollowness of my cranial cavity. I am making a concerted effort to write as soon as I find myself plotting what I like to call an interactive dialog, in my head. This morning I had, what I felt, was a genuinely brilliant subject and probably 100 or so words already configured in my head, so I went for the good ole Gateway, only to be stopped in my tracks by that all too familiar morning whimper of my 2 year old. At the peak of the collision of an idea and the motivating forces of caffeine and nicotine, she chooses to realize that this is a new day with fresh opportunities to test the physical and mental limitations of her Dad. She's two... I would venture to say she's not all that bad for the hell spawned daily penance for the misspent and some what questionable activities of my youth. She's really not a bad kid, sans the fact that suddenly she no longer has the mental capacity to grasp the meaning of the phrases "NO" and "leave that alone". I will be thankful for the day when she returns to having only 2 hands with which to grab all the things that she's not supposed to. Add to that a sudden heaping dose of the presence of the guest that never should have been invited and my trusty little single core companion lies alone... battery dying and dust accumulating. Even the usually reliable BBC America rebroadcast of the X-Files failed to leverage the ever expanding arse of my "third child" from aging the little demon on and back to the marigold laden walls of her cell. All the while, the idea, caffeine, nicotine and motivation fading almost as quickly as the charge in the six cell power reserve in what is supposed to be my new best friend. There was a slight window of opportunity afforded me by one of the 23,000 Disney DVDs we own, only to be, again, put asunder by the tyrannical ravings from the Monster at the top of the stairs about the functionality of the fingerprint, scratch and snot enveloped disk which she chose as the feature presentation. Yet as the Little demon's rampage gave way to the blessed silence of sleep, her elder sister in "this is what your get for how you were when you were growing up", arrived home from school and needed assistance with the Mt Everest of educational extension, that passes for homework these days. At this point the brilliance of the mornings ideas was nothing more than the lingering sulfur smell of the extinguished flame. What was the brilliant idea... trying to conger it up is an exercise in futility, at this point. So here we are... no ideas to thrill the masses... my friend once again tethered to the grid... and me... battle weary yet still fighting to stay the pain inflicted upon my by infections filling any possible open cavity in my head... another idea lost with just a bunch of random thoughts filling the void that should have been brilliance.

Why I need a job! (Read it before you dismiss it's content!)

I'm unemployed. Hence, I need a job. Yes, for all the traditional I-have-a-mortgage, I-have-kids-to-feed type reasons, but to me it runs a little deeper, if not sideways (by others' standards!) from that. I'm on the verge of letting my child fall behind technology-wise! Yes, you could break it down to, I want a new computer... but not for me! My eldest daughter has set the standard high for technological competency among her classmates, and my inability to find feasible employment is putting that edge at risk. As a parent it is my job to give my children, I have two, the best educational and social advantages that I possibly can. After two years of not being able to find decent work as compared to the government benefits that I am receiving as a victim of NAFTA, her already older equipment is being pushed to the point of antiquity. I'm doing the child a dis-service, if I can't even keep my technology on par with an already lagging educational system! It, at times, makes me feel I am not doing my job as her Father. I know that it seems odd, that putting food on the table and providing health care would take a backseat to technology. Look at it like this, the better a fighting chance she has beyond her time in the required schooling, the better off she will be as an adult and hopefully a parent. I see technological competency as a cornerstone for her success in the future! Can you deny this? Any advantage I can give her today, towards being competitive in the workforce, I want to do. Let's face it... computers aren't going away and just having the skills to navigate facebook aren't going to cut it in the work force of this century! I know I'm going to have the basics covered for her, but I want her to never have to deal with the situation that I find myself in. As a parent, it's my job to future proof my children as much as I feasibly can. Unemployment benefits... just aren't going to cut it!

Just sayin

Can you actually counter, the culture?

So through a facebook link I read this op-ed piece (the third picture down in the article is fuckin hawt, IMHO!) about capitalism and consumerism vs. counter-culture. Factor out the economics behind the article and you find a question... Can you really counter, the culture? If you surf on over to the Urban Dictionary, you find a prime example of what the article is pointing out as you can buy "mugs, tshirts and magnets" defining counter-culture. The terminology is usually used in reference to music and musical genres, but the underlying theme is a sense of rebelling against the currently defined social "norms". I myself take issue with the usage of the word normal when used as a defining term for people,their appearance or their actions. Again, can you really counter, the culture? Here's how it breaks down, not only in the above article, but in my mind as well. You don't like the defined "norms", to the point you are motivated to action, buy means of your musical taste, spending habits, appearance, or what ever. With these changes you separate yourself from the "general" populace. This brings you to the attention of those who also are implementing a "rebellion". As like minds tend to congregate, your personal act of sticking it to the man, is now a joint effort amongst many. Next we have the "sheep" noticing that your little group is gaining attention and a foothold in the flock. This motivates them to want to be a part of the pen that is cordoned off over in the corner of the field, as it looks like they are having a lot of fun. As more and more of the flock goes to investigate all the excitement over in the corner, the fence separating the "rebels" from the general flock is eventually broken thru by the weight of the interest. This renders the once "black sheep" once again a part of the flock. Then the cycle start anew. Because of the communal nature of humans, it is just not possible for any movement, appearance trend, music or idea to run counter to the prevailing culture for very long. Even long held ideologies and traditions, over time, will fall victim to a skewed, if not opposing ideology that has been running counter to it. So the terminology and ideology behind what is labeled a counter-culture is merely a functioning mechanism transporting social change. You CAN'T run counter to the culture without eventually intersecting and being consumed by it.

Just sayin

A time for celebration!

So we have reached that time of year again... That time of year in which Americans celebrate what is good and right with our country... Superbowl time! Wait... what?! Exactly! Why is so much time, effort and monies put into watching a bunch of overpaid children beat the shit out of each other? Okay, okay, not ALL of them are whiny little bitches that are more worried about having the most flash rims on their $100k+ vehicles... We'll go with 95% of them. Aight, well 95% still seems a little high so we'll go with 94.75%, there.  Don't get me wrong I dig watching some mindless idiot getting his head nearly ripped off as good as the next person. What I don't get is why that idiot is considered the "cream" of our society and looked up to so much, as well as paid so much. Sports are great. They, for the most part, teach our children cooperation and collaborative skills. Yet "worshipping" the adults who didn't have the skills or intelligence to progress beyond the child-hood games is only doing our society as a whole a dis-service! Okay, so calling into question a professional athlete's life skills and level of intelligence is kind of harsh, so I'll refer you to the random numbers above. I guess what really chaps my ass about all the pomp and circumstance around a freakin GAME, is the fact that there is soooo much money involved in it! Money that finds it's way from public coffers into the pockets of those that already have more than most "common" folk will see in a lifetime! This is predominant, at least in my mind (and probably the minds of the 1500+ employees of a local metropolitan school system that are going to lose their livelihood due to lack of funding!), is the fact that we the people pay for these huge over the top arenas and stadiums for these franchises that make 100's of millions in profit, at the expense of our educational system. We, as a society, hold the importance of the less than 1% of our population above the needs of the the systems that are educating and preparing our future, as well as the safety and the stability of our infrastructure and citizens! We paid our educators, soldiers and public servants as if they were secondary citizens then turn around and pay some dude that can catch a ball pretty good MORE than the entire annual budgets of  some towns! Then to top it off, that same dude feels like he's a higher class of citizen than those who support him with their time, devotion and monies! All this, in my opinion is a fundamental problem in the priorities of our society as a whole! Rome, it is well documented, fell because it's citizenry focused more on entertainment and carnal pleasures, than on the education of it's forth coming generations and infrastructure.  Folks... this is where America is headed. People continuously quandary as to why we are so far behind "developing" countries. We are America! We are the top of the food chain! Yeah, NOT! Municipalities fund massive sporting venue projects for teams who's members are most likely not from there, for the sake of tourism and status. Meanwhile they let the infrastructure, beyond said venue, and educational systems decay to the point of antiquity! Then wonder why the dedicated few who actually work for the insulting wages leftover, can't successfully manage educating our children and maintaining our infrastructure. So they implement the "numbers game" on the educators and cut infrastructure departments to mere ghosts of what they should be. But hey... they have the most fucking bad ass football stadium in the country! Very few can enjoy it because their wages are too little for the amount of work they do (or are simply not employed because the infrastructure eroded to the point that that businesses re-located elsewhere!) and must take on multiple jobs just to support their families at a sustenance level. I mean, my thinking may be WAY off based, but wouldn't a higher  number of well educate citizens and a stable and sustainable infrastructure be more likely to attract and maintain businesses that will employ more, which in turn would provide them the monies to enjoy such a  venue?! We're placing the horse behind the cart and wondering why we are going backwards! We need to focus our efforts on bolstering a shaky, at best, infrastructure and throwing our celebration and it's associated monies into educating our children. One man's simple opinion, but if you look at it, it makes sense! You provide a business with a large, well educated and motivated pool to draw their employees from and a strong, stable infrastructure to support their operations... they will come! With these businesses will also come a stronger tax base, a greater sense of pride in the community, and the funding to be able to attend events at the "crowning jewel" sports venue. I mean come on... it doesn't matter how powerful/beautiful/cool the pump is... if it's not got a well under it... it's pretty much a waste of money! Don't get me wrong, here... sports are great for their cooperative, collaborative and fitness building abilities... FOR OUR CHILDREN... When people are more willing to pay $100 for a replica of their favorite player's jersey and unwilling to spend $30 on supplies for their children's education... We have a problem, folks!

Just sayin

I don't get it!

So, I'm in college, yet again. Don't get me wrong, I'm diggin the scenery, but I still find I have issues with people. The one that is weighing on me at the moment is people's incessant need to prove that they know more, have more, or are better at things than others. There's a dude in a couple (yes I have to put up with him several times a week) of my classes that has this immensely irritating need to steer the class topic off course to something that would, in his mind, prove he knows more than others! While I'm pretty abreast on the subject matter we are covering, there are things that I could learn or learn how to do more efficiently, hence the reason I attend and pay attention in class. This guy, seems like he might be a pretty decent dude, just continually feels the need to loudly interject a completely irrelevant topic into the discussion. I reckon this wouldn't be all that bad of an action IF, he actually was interjecting reliable and correct content! I don't claim to know everything! Really wouldn't want to, too much responsibility in omniscience! I will own up to the fact that certain topics I do have an extensive knowledge base for or at least enough of one to call bullshit on someone who just seems to need to be the smartest or most knowledgeable one in the room. I tend to only apply what I know to the topic at hand and under direct inquisition. Now I'll help someone out if they ask or it's readily apparent that they are frustrated and need/want help. In my mind, this is how it should be. I feel no need to stand out among the masses, intellectually anyway. I reckon what this all boils down to is it irritates to the point of fucking pissing me off to have to sit in a class that costs money and could reinforce/expand my knowledge base and have to listen to some jackass spout off an unending line of bullshit at a volume well above the generally accepted "inside voice" level.

So, anyway... Just trying to vent away the growing urge to beat the dude about the head and ears with an ax handle! Of course this could just be a waste of a perfectly good ax handle... Hope it doesn't come to finding out!

A wood chipper... Really?!

HOW... can you look your child in their face and say

I don't have anything to live for!

True story... unfortunately! One of the MANY things that I have been having to deal with over the past almost two years! No details... at least not specific details, as lawyers have been threatened! It's a seemingly never ending saga of someone soooo self absorbed that they are literally blind to the effects that their actions have caused and feel what appears NO remorse for it. I know I said I was going to try and make this technologically concentrated, so here's that spin... This is where I hide. Online or at least on a computer tinkering with the many little projects that I have set forth for myself beyond what is required in my schooling. It's a kind of shelter from the daily rigors of my situation. A place where, to a small extent, my alternate perspective and creativity are celebrated and encouraged. This, to me, is what technology is all about. A means or device that makes the day in/day out run a bit more smoothly.This medium and facebook are sources of tension relief. A place where I can fire off all those "wonderful" tirades about the stupidity that I seem to be drowning in. I lean to the harsh... it helps, though acting upon most of my demented scenarios have very little if any chance of fruition, it's a way to keep the pent up darkness away from those places in my head that might consider them a good thing to do. I put it out there... raw and generally unedited. Many can't deal with it, so they turn to they technologies to shelter themselves from my verbal storms. There are those who would say that technology is an enabler in a way that it allows the nutjobs to freely congregate. While this has some merit it also allows folks like me a release from what we hold back due to social indoctrination, a place to let it go! Had it not been for facebook, MySpace and the ability to blog, I would have surely blatantly and callously centered a hollowpoint between several folks eyes! But I haven't... nor do I plan to! I have embraced the technological resources presented to me as a means of keeping my dumbass out of jail while allowing a few other dumbasses to continue to walk this Earth. Social networking used for a good cause. Computers and such don't allow people to be seduced, abducted, raped or killed anymore than guns, by themselves, kill people. They are merely tools. Tools that I myself use to entertain, educated and keep myself from actually feeding my MIL through a wood chipper! (yes, while still alive and conscious... You KNOW I'd have to make sure she heard me laughing as I did it!) While the previous two sentences present an overwhelming liability on my part, they are demonstrative of exactly the kind of verbal release that I have been talking about. Just the visual representation in my mind and actually seeing the event in text, makes me feel better already. With this sense of relief comes the ability to rationally dismiss the possibility of it ever actually happening! Embrace the fact that computers LITERALLY control our lives! I for one want them to know, that when they finally do rise up and take over the world... I was a supporter! It may not prevent them from running me through the aforementioned wood chipper, but it may move me back a few spaces in the line. See... I found a sunny side to it all... simply by pressing a few keys and clicking publish!

Game changing vs. Feminine hyigene

iPad... first thing that came to my mind... WTF where they thinking when they named this game changing piece if hardware? iPad congers up images of a "sanitary" napkin with a moisture sensor attached to a "hi-tech" pair of grungies with a twitter account that tweets the fact that the "Aunt Flow" has arrived! Now you see why this is an "explicit" blog! :-p

On a more serious note, I DO believe that this product will be a game changer. I've heard a lot of the detractions about it, but even my 10 year old can see where it fills a need. I predict that the iPad, provided the price comes down a little (knock $200 off the price and you'll sell the shit out of them, Steve!), will be the "textbook" of the future! It has what a student needs to fit perfectly into this small, but essential niche! No, it doesn't have Flash... No it doesn't multi-task... BUT, it does have the needed power and abilities to replace hard copy books and paper in the classroom! The larger form factor, ebook store, and the addition of iWork(Apple's version of Microsoft Office), lends it perfectly to this application. Built in WiFi allows it to connect and interact with the active and smart boards that are so prevalent in the modern classroom. Picture this... a student arrives a school, goes to their desk, grabs their iPad and checks the in room email for that day's assignments and then uploads their homework and then proceeds to watch the interactive video that their teacher made and uploaded to YouTube giving them a list of links and information about their upcoming digital presentation on the different aspects of government. The child has a question, so they email the teacher asking for additional info and resources! The class is getting kind of unruly, so suddenly it pushes up on everyone's iPad... a pop quiz on last nights homework. Li'l Johnny failed to do his homework, so the teacher remotely screen captures his "my dog ate my homework" excuse and forwards the image to her personal account and his parents via email. After lunch, via the ceiling mounted webcam and DLP projector the whole class does a group chat, via iChat, with a class of similar age in Japan, for the intercontinental, cross-cultural project that they are working on together. Suzy, the more advanced student in the class, having finished all the days assignments, pulls up one of the iTunesU videos that the teacher emailed her to help keep her engaged and learning. After the students have gone home, the teacher grades the day's work and and uploads the grades to the class' website for everyone's parents to see their child's progress. Realizing the he needs some additional help, Li'l Freddie pops up on the teacher's iChat and asks her for a little additional tutoring on that night's assignments.

See how it can all work together?! A secondary spin on the benefits... the environment! Being all digital, just think of all the trees that can be saved by not publishing text books or using paper in the classroom! Just think of the landfill space that can be saved! The ever expensive ink saved! Therefore the money saved!

Yes, there is the initial expense and logistics of deployment and professional development training, but in the long run, the savings will far surpass the upfront funding! Face it folks, we are lagging behind in developing technology for our children. Computers are here to stay! They are integrated into EVERY aspect of our lives, whether you realize it or not!

So to bring it back around to the initial topic... While the iPad wasn't the be all end all that the fanboys and geeks were hoping for, it still carries the form factor a LONG way towards the future. Maybe Adobe and Apple will work out their differences... Maybe they won't have to (HTML5)... Maybe by the time of it's release, the iPad will have the ability to multi-task... maybe, not... This I don't know! What I do know is that, without having to hack it, the iPad has pushed the ebook reader well beyond being just that!

Just a thought...

Okay, so I haven't gotten to the commentary on the tech and auto shows... it'll be there eventually! Sick kids and the start of a new semester has kind of put a damper on my research. Well, that and WoW!

So, having a need to go pull money off a credit card and deposit it in the bank, I had this thought... You should get a VPN with your bank account! With all the security issues surrounding online banking transactions, this seems like a feasible solution. Albeit, an expensive solution, from the bank's stand point, but it would offer a much more secure connection to our information. Plus, I think that I should be able to transfer money from 2 non-adjoined accounts from the comfort of my couch, computer chair, toilet, or whatever your seating of choice is! A VPN would help facilitate this. Why is it I can use my card to order any number of things online, but cannot make a cash transfer from it to my account? Now, I'm talking about my State issued unemployment card, that I'm supposed to use to pay my bills, but none of the utility companies around here seem to want to honor, because it's a "pre-paid" card. Funny that it works (better at times)just as good as my bank issed debit card anywhere else. It just seems odd that the very folks I am supposed to be using the monies to pay, won't accept it! So I end up driving (uses gas ($$$)) to an ATM, withdrawing the money (which the card issuer charges money for!!), then driving (MORE GAS! And who's bright idea was it to ONLY have a drive up ATM AT the bank!!)around to go into the bank to deposit it, so I can use my bank issued card to pay the bills! Yes, I could do the bureaucratic song and dance to get it switched to direct deposit, but why, if it can be transferred from the card as a debit, can't I transfer it to my account... wait for it... ONLINE!

I guess I'm just ranting, because I don't want to have to go out in the rain and waste the gas to be able to do what this stupid card was designed for me to do! Although, I still think, while logistically it would be a nightmare at first, an individual VPN tied to my primary account would be a safer (for me anyway!) and more efficient means of conducting my online transactions. Yes, it would cut into those massive profit margins, initially, but I feel like the greater security that could be afforded to their customers would be worth the headache!

Just my little spin on a problem that I have that could be remedied using presently available technologies.

L8r T8rz
argosytech

Too much shit!

At this point in a new year, there is just that... too much shit going on! CES, NAIAS, etc., there is just too much information for this old guy to process and keep up with! So I'm going to default to some "trusted" sources to aggregate the mass on information and hit the perceived "high spots". I'll come in a little later and add some personalized commentary to it after I get some class work done!

So here ya go:

NAIAS: North American International Auto Show via leftlanenews.com. Be sure and watch the video!

CES: Consumer Electronics Show via popularmechanics.com

The announcement of the upcoming Apple unveiling via @TUAW via Twitter

Like I said, given the completion of some school work I'll dial it in a little!

L8r T8rz
argosytech

What to do, what to do!

A blog... it should be focused and factual and about something that you are really "into", to be successful, right? Well... I'm "into" so many things, that it's hard to nail down one specific enough to be that "successful" topic that catapults you to the top of the heap. So for now... I'm just going to hit and miss and be random about the many things that brighten my day or my week or even a couple of seconds. Yup... I gots a fuckin mouth on me which is why there is an "explicit" warning before you actually get here. Seriously, though, I doubt that I will be "explicit" on here, sans the language that I use that "THEY" have deemed inappropriate for general consumption. So... away we go!

EDIT

So I wanted to give y'all a little taste of the stuff I'm "into, since the opening there is a little vague. So here's a couple links:

Powermat charging system

toolmonger

Just a little sampling. More to follow...