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Blog - April 2004 |
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This page stores my blog entries from April 2004. The entries are dated April 8, April 15, April 19, April 21, April 25, and April 28.
Kentucky-Fried BIOS: The Death of A Computer, Yet Reborn / File-Sharers Similar to Terrorists? / Note on Following Sections // Sarah Brightman: International Cover-Song Girl / More Thoughts on Missionaries Thursday, April 8, 2004 This month's blog entries marks the first set of entries being written from my new computer. In effect it is a new computer, since the only hold-overs hardware-wise from my old computer are my case, floppy and CD-RW drives, the power supply, the modem, and my audio card. It's interesting to note my CD-RW drive, since Plextor has been a thorn in my side for a couple of months now. My old drive (the PX-W4012TA) died four months after its warrantee expired. I got a refurbished PX-W4824TA, but that one wasn't working, either. This time, though, it seemed like a compatibility issue or something. The whole system would lock up during a large burn ( > 600 MB). Plextor's technical support suggested three possibilities to fix the problem: upgrade the IDE drivers, add the jumper to the back to make it run in multi-word DMA rather than UDMA, or flash the BIOS on the motherboard. Given the age of my computer, only certain IDE drivers seemed to make any difference for the stability of my system. So, I got the best ones that made sense, but they didn't make any changes to my drive's use. My old motherboard did support UDMA, so, to me, it made no sense to mess with that. I had thought about performing the self-test on the drive itself, but this problem seemed to affect the whole system and not just the drive. So, the only option left that I saw was to try to flash the BIOS. I dreaded the mere thought of doing so. Besides never doing such a thing before, I've heard the horror stories of cool computers being turned into giant paperweights. If the flashing fails and you can't re-flash the old BIOS, the computer will not boot. From what I could tell, it seemed like the BIOS for my computer was rather old and not the most-recent. So, I figured it was worth a shot. The only non-beta BIOS I could find was one that I had downloaded a year or two ago. For some reason, ASUS removed this BIOS in favor of a beta BIOS, which I didn't want to mess with. I prepared myself, started the computer up from the floppy, and I started the flashing. It progressed nicely, and then ... "Could not verify bios." Roughly, this is when I started panicking. No matter what I tried, whether flashing again with the old or the original, I got the same response. Contact with a local computer shop made me confident in feeling that either it's fried or something prevented me from flashing it to begin with. Either way, the only other option seemed to be to shut down and see if it'd restart. I did, and it didn't. So, out went my once-very-stable computer:
My DVD-ROM drive, an Afreey 8x DVD-ROM, flaked out on me numerous times, sometimes trying to indicate that I had a DVD-ROM in the drive when it was a CD-ROM and then refusing to do anything. So, I took my system to a local computer shop and had it souped up to the following:
I kept Win98SE, since I had it already and all of my programs run on it. The shop installed everything, backed up my old hard drive, reinstalled Win98SE, and updated Windows with all the updates. They even gave me a $20 credit for my old motherboard, CPU, and RAM. So far, everything is going well. I'm having issues with Norton Systemworks, in which Norton Antivirus isn't happy with something. That's the only kink I'm working on now. I had to troubleshoot why Windows Media Player 9 wouldn't play my CDs and why WinDVD wouldn't play my DVDs, but those are fixed. As a bonus, my refurbished Plextor CD-RW drive seems to be working so far. (As a side note, Plextor also refunded the double charge rather quickly.) Frankly, I wouldn't suggest spending over $500 just to get a CD burner to work. ***** As I drove over to Pam's work today to have lunch with her, I remembered a time on the web when I could pretty much find any song in mp3 format. I never used any of those file-sharing programs, feeling no trust for such programs that could be so easily used for virus propagation and such. I never really downloaded much of anything, either. Usually it was just to check a band out or something. There used to be a whole site filled with mp3s of underground metal bands, and I loved to download from it and check the bands out. I always bought the albums I liked. I remember when mp3.com had mp3s from all sorts of bands and applications to use to play and make mp3s. I think it was there that I learned about WinAMP. Nowadays, one has to lurk around through file-sharing programs and servers hoping that the file they're downloading isn't a fake planted by the music industry. I'm sure there are other possibilities towards sharing mp3s and other music files, though the other options aren't too obvious to me at the moment. That metal web site doesn't have any mp3s but has links where you can buy CDs in Australia. Apparently Cnet bought MP3.com and is modifying its previous local/unsigned-band orientation into a different format. The tools that proved to be rather important for me to check out new music is no longer around. A fleeting thought landed on the comparison between the RIAA's witch-hunt of music-sharing people and the government's "hunt for terrorists." Maybe it's more of the impression that the media tries to instill about it through not supplying information. Think about it. Music-sharers used to be all over the place with their treasure rather easily gained. Now, they're cornered into much more underground means towards doing what they enjoy. The impression about terrorists isn't much different. Granted, this is only an impression and probably not representative of reality. But isn't it funny to think that the hunt for these people is similar to a hunt for terrorists? ***** I tried to prepare the following two sections of this entry just before my old computer died. I wrote the Sarah Brightman one today, but the missionary one after it had been written in its entirety before the great BIOS Burn-Up. ***** ***** On the night of St. Patrick's Day, Pam and I went to see Sarah Brightman. We were given tickets, and we both thought it'd be an interesting evening. I had heard of Sarah Brightman before, but I hadn't really heard much from her, feeling certain sensations that she sang semi-operatic pieces. I can't say that either of us left with a better impression. Within several cover songs (not including the pieces she sang from Cats and The Phantom of the Opera), she sang covers of:
I kind of liked her version of "A Whiter Shade of Pale", but the rest seemed rather lackluster. I know Pam found the Phantom songs rather disappointing, especially any song that should have been a duet. Sarah sang her part, but nobody sang the other part at all. The only male singer with which she sang sounded awful, too. A few times I got rather irritated with the crowd. At times, they clapped right in the middle of Sarah's singing, completely interrupting the moment and ruining the mood. Near the end, people clapped, stood up, and started to leave when it was clearly not over. Sure, some people would need to leave to get home early, but I'm talking about whole sections of "fans." Both of these instances ruined parts of a decent performance. The above is not to say that we didn't enjoy it. There were some good parts to it, and Sarah had great vocal range. I really couldn't connect with the music that night, though. Granted, many who know me would say that it's a far stretch from the usual punk and metal that I enjoy. But, I do enjoy Enya, and Sarah just didn't have the same connection for me. The costumes and props were interesting, though it seemed overly simple and without any real interest. A lot of it just seemed plain and lacking any purpose. Again, maybe it was just the mood or something that I was missing. ***** After writing my bit about missionaries, I began to feel I was a little harsh. It's not that I disagree with myself, since I do believe in what I wrote. Being the personality type who can see both sides of a situation, I felt I didn't give myself the time to consider slight holes in my issues. Generally, the key to the success of any entity with a product is advertising. If you want people to buy what you have, you need to let them know you have it. Not only that, you have to convince them that what you have is better than the rest of your competition. A person wanting to seek a notion of a Higher Power, whether starting with one or finding a better notion, would have all sorts of sources for this: friends, family, and anything listed in a phone book. If people are not in an area that has those luxuries, including assorted third-world countries or in-the-middle-of-nowhere sections of countries around the world, someone would have to broadcast their beliefs in order to, in a manner of speaking, gain listeners. In one sense, this is what missionaries can do while bounding around the planet. If the people don't know about their religious views, there's no way they'll know about it or whether it'd be right for them. Depending on how missionaries conduct themselves in other countries and to those citizens, one could operate by setting up some sort of "missionary store or museum" to attract the populace and let them choose for themselves. Overall, it does become a personal choice. Along with that, not much stops any other religious entity to hop in on the same grounds as the other missionaries and peddle their own beliefs. I don't know how many religious institutions actually do missionary work or what laws bind them to certain actions or non-actions, though. Either way, other institutions could open their own religious museums or such, also letting the populace know about their beliefs. Now that I think about it, it doesn't seem too much a big deal for people to bound off and attempt to convert people. The active and seeming forcefulness of such an action is what I detest. If that's what happens, and if the mindset of such an action is what I think it is, then I would certainly be against such arrogant thought patterns. On the other hand, if they treat people with respect and allow the people to make their own decisions, then I can't see having a problem with it. Yet. <grins>
Blurred Official: Why is a Site Seen as Something It's not? / Big Mutha Truckers: One Awesome Game / "You!": Our Private Exclamation turned National Commercial Campaign / Tax Day = Jackie Robinson Day / Budding 1-Year Anniversary Plans Thursday, April 15, 2004 My friend Gabe has a response feature on his web site. It's a great way to contribute one's thoughts and develop a conversation with people of varying mindsets. It is prone to abuse, with many entities using it to flood his site with advertisements for their lame sites. What I find more interesting are the people who write, thinking that his site is some major entity itself or a major authority on any subject. What is it about his site that makes people think he's a major authority or the major entity from which he quotes or reports the interesting findings? I ask this merely because it's an interesting phenomenon that makes me wonder what people see in the site that leads them on this path. For example, his site certainly isn't CNN or a major retailer like Wal-Mart. On rare occasions, people will leave comments on his site, acting as if he was. Or, is this something different? I know Gabe's site ranks rather highly on Google. Maybe these people hope that the company with which they have problems will see their comment and give them a more direct reply? I suppose that's possible. I know companies keep a good eye out for their intellectual property (Games Workshop comes to mind) and scour the web for infractions on their rights. It's possible that his site might come up on searches. It does help that Gabe's site is clean and professional-looking. Maybe, if I get the time and chance, I'll try to interview one of these people and see what they say. ***** With my PowerColor Radeon 9600 Pro video card came a couple of full games. One of them is Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness. At the moment, I'm horribly stuck at a point and, for the moment, have lost all interest in the game. This allowed me to try out the other game, which is too cool for words. "Big Mutha Truckers" plays like a combination of a road race and a trading game. You start out as one of four children who are vying for your mother's business. With your truck and an initial delivery to sell, you have to earn the most money out of the four in order to win your mother's business. What you can buy and sell depends on the type of trailer you're towing: a flatbed, a tanker, or a refrigeration trailer. Marketable items range from pork bellies to gold bullion and platinum. You have options to add onto your truck, including better suspension, armor, and more efficient carrying capabilities. Throughout your game, you have to keep track of your gas consumption and damage to your truck, refueling and repairing as needed. When driving between cities, you can participate in races with other drivers for money. Similarly to Carmageddon, you gain monetary bonuses for knocking around other cars. I know that if you knock around enough cars in succession, a green icon will show up above all other cars. It seems to indicate repairs, and when I hit something with the icon above it, it said that I was repaired. So, I guess having your semi repaired after managing to hit enough cars in succession is your reward for that rather difficult feat. You have to be careful with which vehicles you beat up, since some could prove disasterous to your deliveries. If you hit a police car, they'll chase you until you arrive safely at the next truck stop, or they'll arrest you and send you back to where you started. Bikers, when hit, will shoot at you and try to hijack your trailer by walking along the back of it. Fortunately, the cops are easy to outlast, and the bikers can be shaken off pretty easily. In the bars, you can get tips on what's selling well. I've found the occasional scrolling notes more interesting and helpful. Those show up while driving between cities. The bars also provide occasional missions where, if successful, you can earn a lot of money. So far, the biggest payoff was $1,600,000 for the ones I've completed successfully. That's a lot of money considering you start with $25,000. The game has a different mode where you can just play through all the missions. I don't think you'd see all of these in one game of the other mode, but it's good practice for when you do see them. It ranks each success by a number of stars, totalling them up as you go along. Once you've completed a mission, you can go back to try to do better. Overall, "Big Mutha Truckers" is an awesome game. If you like driving games and enjoy some humor surrounding hicks and such, certainly check this game out. ***** Since before Pam and I met, I used to point at my cat and say, "You!" At first, it started as an exclamation expressing guilt at the cat for doing something she shouldn't have. Now I just have fun spooking her with it, though that rarely happens now. My exclamation spread to my relationship with Pam not too long after we met and started dating. I'm not sure if the meaning is the same or not, since I use it freely for any occasion. Pam uses it herself now. Normally, this section would seem utterly pointless and like a meandering babble about my relationships with my cat and Pam. It is, that is, until Pam and I saw the cell phone commercial on TV with all the couples exclaiming, "YOU!" concerning their phone bill. It surprised us to see our little private banter being used in a national commercial. ***** Major League Baseball declared April 15 to be Jackie Robinson Day. Why did they pick such a day as Tax Day to commemorate Jackie Robinson? Before I knew that it was on that day in 1947 that he started playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, it seemed really weird for him to be commemorated on that day. It seems weird because people think about Tax Day in such negative terms. You have a government entity demanding money from you and a report on how much you earned over the course of the previous year. The fear of forgetting something or misrepresenting earnings or credits could mean an audit, though less than 1% of all people get audited. So, on a day that coincides with my 11-month anniversary with Pam, raise a toast to Jackie Robinson. ***** Pam and I took some time recently to plan our 1-year anniversary. We haven't figured out everything just yet, but the general course of events seems to indicate:
We're both looking forward to it. At the moment, we're both hunting down things we want to give each other for our anniversary. We've both had fun teasing each other about guessing what the gifts will be. I managed to successfully guess my gift two times in a row, but I know it'll be more difficult as time goes on. I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to give her, and I think I finally decided on something that will work well.
Computer Issues / SureWest Issues / Issues with Tannins: Current Wine Thoughts Monday, April 19, 2004
I'll take the time to update Norton Ghost and see what I can do about some of the seemingly-random missing files on my computer (mmefxe.ocx, disktool.dll, and CaPlgin.ax). Hopefully I'll find the answer and things will flow swimmingly. ***** The bittersweet relationship my parents and I have with SureWest may not stick for much longer. We enjoy the cable service, since it gives us many more channels that we'd actually watch compared to Comcast. I can, once again, watch White Sox games on WGN. The History Channels and various nature channels will go over well for all of us. The thorn in our sides comes in the shape of SureWest's phone service. Since switching over, we experienced a 50% decrease in Internet connections via dial-up. I'm pretty certain it's due to line noise, since both my parents and I hear a fairly loud buzz that hums over conversations. A service representative came and apparently fixed something, but it didn't make any difference in the service. Once or twice I had the impression that the customer service representatives did not really know much concerning cause and effect. I had one person tell me that they could not do anything about my reduction in dial-up speeds (for some reason, he thought I said "download speeds", which I hadn't). When I mentioned that a representative and I the week before (who didn't call me back) had figured it must have been line noise, this representative perked up and said, "oh, we can do something about that." I hope they will find a way to fix this, though I doubt we'll stay with them long enough to find out. I'm already telling everyone I know to stay away from their phone service. ***** I had dinner with Pam each weekend for the past couple of months or so, and we had a different bottle of wine for nearly each weekend. I enjoy trying out different and new wines as I discover them. I recently had a couple of bottles of Chardonnay. One came from Beaulieu Vineyards, and the other came from Buena Vista. The BV Coastal Chardonnay, a bottle I drank on my own, had a nice fruity flavor with a very clean taste. That bottle marked the first time I remember liking a wine from the very first sip. I rarely know that quickly with wine. Pam and I had the Buena Vista Chardonnay with dinner recently. Pam liked it, but it seemed to lack something for my palate. Pam noted an apple flavor that drifted through the wine. I could faintly detect the same flavor, but it seemed lost in a different sensation. I'm not sure what tannin tastes like in wine, so I can't say whether that was the problem to me. Our next bottle of wine will be a bottle of Black Opal Shiraz. It's an Australian wine that Pam had at Outback Steakhouse some time ago. We both loved it, so it'll become a liquid centerpiece for our anniversary dinner. We rarely spend much on a bottle of wine, and that Black Opal Shiraz will continue that trend at $5.99 a bottle.
Wallpaper Removal Art: The Continuing Saga of the Hidden Wallpaper Made Fun / SureWest and their White Noise / Kinko's Hiding Prices? / Possible Norton AntiVirus Fix? / Birthday Ramble Wednesday, April 21, 2004 My bedroom unveiled an interesting hidden "feature" a few years ago that, ironically, has developed into a fun and interesting pastime for me. Before we moved into this house, my parents and I washed all the walls and repainted. The walls in my room had shades of medium brown all over. When finishing the washing segment, they looked white. The faint smell of tobacco penetrated out sinuses, alerting us of the cause of the stains on the wall. We let the walls dry and painted them a white-ish cream color. It looks much more white than cream. From closing up my bedroom at night and having my computer on all day, my room always got a bit warmer than the rest of the house. I think my room must be slightly uphill from the rest of the house or something, since any scent from the kitchen inevitably collects in my room. After several nights, I noticed an interesting pattern developing on the walls. It looked like the paint was crackling and peeling off. Much to my surprise, the previously-unknown wallpaper under the paint was crackling and peeling off the walls! Neither of us actually knew that such wallpaper actually existed on the walls. For some reason, the person who laid the paper placed it on the walls horizontally, and the seams connect very smoothly. Pretty much all the peeling occurs around my bed. After getting irritated with pieces falling on my bed, I took a pocket knife and started cutting it away from the wall up to where it firmly attached. Patterns started showing up in what I cut away. I saw my hacking away as some sort of new, bizarre art form with the wallpaper paste dictating what I cut away from the medium. At one point, the vacant spot looked like Minnesota wearing a thin stove-pipe hat. Now, when looking straight on, it looks like some sort of clay golem rising from the ground. When laying down on my bed, it looks like Fred Flintstone. We'll see what other forms appear as I slice the old wallpaper away from the wall. I'll have pictures of the golem/Fred Flintstone sometime in the near future. I notice patterns in the stains on the wall as well, and pictures of those will appear eventually as well. ***** I hear interesting things from SureWest concerning the bizarre drop in dial-up speeds through their phone service. One person theorized that it had something to do with an analog-digital conversion issue from my modem to their digital lines. A technician told my grandfather that they use a white noise generator on their digital lines, and apparently it's putting out too much white noise. The latter would certainly cut down on my download speeds. Allegedly, SureWest should have a software fix put in sometime in the next week. We'll see what happens. In thinking about this, since I will no longer be attached to the old analog phone lines of SBC, I should, in theory, be able to reach actual 56k speeds through these digital lines. I know many factors could inhibit it, including the white noise SureWest so generously provides. I'll have to ponder this further at some other point. I think the bandwidth limitation would be the analog lines within the house. ***** Kinko's made my eyebrows raise recently. They got rid of the key counters and make you either use an ATM card or one of their pre-paid cards to pay for things. Unfortunately, I haven't seen anything to indicate what they charge for various things. Even the basic copying charges, as I observe it in action, doesn't seem to make sense. I'll have to look into that further the next time I go in. ***** I'm still approaching any "progress" with my computer with skepticism. One suggestion on Symantec's Knowledge Base was that my problem could be due to a bad registry entry dealing with Auto-Protect. It instructed to disable it, reboot, enable it again, and then reboot. Allegedly, if the registry entry caused the problem, this set of actions should remedy the problem by re-setting the registry to where it should be. So far, it seems to be ok. I still have lots of doubt since my computer seemed ok on numerous occasions, only to exhibit the same symptoms over again. A couple of files seemed to be missing with respect to Norton AntiVirus and Norton Utilities, but I don't know if they're crucial or not. I'm waiting to see what Symantec says. ***** In the past, I would religiously remember the birthdates of most of my high school friends and wish them a happy birthday. Initially, I got annoyed because nobody would wish me a happy birthday save a rare handful of my friends. Given that I wasn't a complete gem at the time, I'm not surprised. I'm doing a lot better as a person, but figuring out how the "Me" of today fits into the old group has been a struggle. The birthday of a friend of mine passed yesterday, and it reminded me of how I used to be in some respects to the old group. I stopped wishing people a happy birthday some time ago. I think of it more as a feeling that birthdays, in general, really aren't all that important anymore. Or, are they? By the time you reach 21, you don't have any more "landmark" birthdays until you retire or turn 40, 50, or 60. As one ages, it seems that birthdays gain a connotation that never leaves. Yet, if the day belongs to someone you love and care about, it should be a good and special day regardless. When I die, I'd want my funeral to be a celebration of my life and the people who enjoyed having me in their lives. I wouldn't want people to be sad and mourn the loss of someone they loved. One's death encompasses such a minimal amount of one's time on this planet, and the celebration should entail the greater part of one's life. I see birthdays, regardless of age, as something that should mirror the same core philosophy. Of course, I'd prefer the celebrant alive, too. We all love and appreciate the people in our lives who make life fun and enjoyable. We should all take that time to express that during the lone day of the year that belongs exclusively to them. On that note: Happy Birthday, Epoch!
Catch-22 Career Hunt / Double-Space is the Way: Reflection on Typing Peeves / A Wedding With Pam (as Guests) / Computer Woes Continue: Stupid Norton Sunday, April 25, 2004
I think my job search will incorporate more of a thought about what companies for which I would enjoy working. I know a part of this is in effect, but it had been used more for weeding out possible jobs for which to apply. ***** One of my great annoyances with HTML WYSIWYG editors is the inherent inability to recognize my double-spacing between sentences in a paragraph. I constantly have to insert a non-breaking space in order to create the visually-appealing result. To me, it just doesn't look right when all the sentences are crammed together. It's easier, to me, to read paragraphs with two spaces between sentences. I guess it makes it easier for me to recognize individual sentences and think more analytically about my writing and its flow. Fortunately, web browsers recognize and implement the non-breaking space whenever I place it. When it comes to writing that isn't my own, I don't notice whether the typist used one or two spaces. I find it just as easy to read. The controversy between using one or two spaces came to my attention recently, in which Gabe wrote:
I tried to look around online for any sort of support for either case. It's apparent that, on a strict level, one space should be ok with no reason to use a double space. In general, it depends on the font used and its use. Overall, it depends on readability, which seems to be more of a subjective judgement. One web site's bottom line states:
Since I consider my blog to be personal correspondence and find the double-space helpful for legibility and stay consistent with it, I'll stick with using double-spacing. Given the trend to go back to using one space, this would certainly be something I'll have to keep in mind if I ever write professional correspondence in Word or other things like that. I know I never have a problem or notice it when reading other people's writing, including professionally-written material (frankly, a rather loose term these days). I'll lump this into the "something I learned today" category. ***** Pam and I attended the wedding for one of her co-workers. We sat with Pam's other co-workers and rather enjoyed the festivities. The woman and her fiance held their wedding in a Roman Catholic Church. Pam and I expected a full mass, but the service lasted only a half hour with no eucharist or such elements. From what I understood, not everyone attending worshipped the same thing, so it was just as well. From there, the wedding party traveled over to the reception and had a great time. Hors d'oeuvres and assorted drinks, including wines, beer, lemonade, and water, greeted us in a converted gym. Many tables with centerpieces and little silver bells covered the floor, with a set of tables for the newlyweds and maids and groomsmen sitting up on stage. The hors d'oeuvres table held stuffed mushrooms, grapes, strawberries, kiwis, assorted cheeses (including Pam's favorite, brie), crackers, and something that appeared to be small pieces of french bread cooked with cheese, pesto, and a slice of tomato on top. Waiters paraded around platters of quesadillas, which had a lot more onion than I would have conceived. They stuffed the mushrooms with a mixture of some sort of cheese, garlic, and who-knows-what-else. The wine selection included a chardonnay, a white zinfandel, a merlot, and a cabernet sauvignon. The beer selection included Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which was the only thing I had from the beer. All of it, including the quesadillas, tasted great. As we sipped on the assorted wines, the parents and grandparents made the necessary speeches, leading up to the champagne toast after the bride and groom gave their little speeches. Not too long after that, dinner was ready. They made a rather nice buffet spread, and the order of presentation showed careful thought towards guiding one's eating habits towards the healthier end of things. Bread and butter started the table off on the end, with two different kinds of salad following them up. One appeared to be a modified caesar salad, and the other had a more traditional salad look with blue cheese and toasted pistachios. Fried potatoes met us right next to large pots of rice. At the end rested the main dishes: chicken and some sort of beef (possibly tri-tip). I had the beef, though the chicken looked good as well. The first dance for the newlyweds occurred after dinner, with the D.J. asking the other couples to join them soon after. Pam and I danced a few times. I found different ballroom-ish dances to fit the music, including applying an East Coast Swing to Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean." I know I managed to find one song suitable for a salsa as well. We did a little middle-school slow dance to some other song, including one in which we were called off the dance floor rather early. The D.J. asked for all couple on the floor. Then, he asked for people who were married less than a year to get off, gradually working up until they had only three couples left. I think one pair had been married for 38 years. The wedding cake came in three different flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and carrot cake. The chocolate cake had a raspberry filling inside. It was a wonderful topping to a great time. We hung around, clowning around a bit with Pam's co-workers, and left as most people gravitated themselves to the door. Pam and I both hope the happy couple live a long and wonderful life together, and we thank them for a great time! ***** As a fair warning to my readers, there might be another short period of silence sometime soon. My computer is still not working quite right. For some reason, Norton SystemWorks 2003 Pro simply does not want its Norton AntiVirus segment to cooperate with Windows. So, I'll be taking it back to the store who put this together to see if they can figure it out. I tried to get some idea via e-mail, only to realize that they might not have much of an answer without actually taking a look. I intend to take it back early Tuesday morning when they first open.
HIRED! / Weird Inteview Experience I: The Non-Forthcoming Employer / I Say "No!" to Sales / Poorly Dressed, or Really Hot: Indicator of Age? / Computer in Tomorrow Morning / Kids in School Wednesday, April 28, 2004
This interview surprised me. The president did a short interview and, after leaving me in her office for a minute, came back and eventually offered me the job. She suggested that I might want to think it over on the way home, but I simply could not see a downside to working there. I'll be doing a lot of driving, but I rather enjoy driving. It's rather relaxing. I wrote the other sections of this entry before this event occurred, so the fact that I did not have a job at the time plays into how I wrote them. Also, it doesn't make those thoughts and observations any less valuable towards my career progression. ***** In the past week, I had two interviews for positions with two different companies. Both came from the
same career fair, though one came from a booth and the other came from a wandering stranger scrounging the parking
lot and attendees for possible employees. I respected the booth-bound one more than the other, but both ended
the same: no interest on my end. My job hunt moves forward with one good possibility today. We'll see how things go with that. ***** As a result of my current experiences in interviews, I can say without a doubt that I don't want to get into sales. I wouldn't mind selling people things, but I prefer a much different approach that probably puts me in a completely different bracket. I believe that a person will know what they want when they go into a shop or store of some sort. I firmly do not believe in trying to force someone into something they don't want or doesn't fit their needs. I'd rather help a person or couple towards finding what they do need and assist them with such decision-making and purchasing based solely on what they want and need. I hate the concept of commission-only sales. Just the thought of it gives me that uncomfortable, tingling feeling under my chin. It feels like a forced incentive to shove the product down people's throat. To me, a good product should sell itself based on its own merits, but I guess that's not practical for relatively unknown items and services. I'd rather be paid on my ability and not by how much more I could do than someone else. To me, promotion should be the reward for doing better than others or performing at a level consistent or higher than the company's goals and mission statement. After all, a leader should be a key representative of those elements. After a talk with a friend of mine, I understood that all the conditions I would have to make on a sales position for me to enjoy it indicated that I would not enjoy sales. In conversation, I said I could if I were paid a decent base salary, if it were a product I could stand behind, and other similar "if" statements. She told me that if I truly enjoyed sales, I'd probably love it regardless. I'll continue to follow my gut instinct when it comes to such things. Interestingly enough, "sales" does not appear on the list of typical career paths for my personality type. Thankfully, my personality and gut feelings agree and follow each other in this respect. ***** When exiting a local grocery store, I saw a girl/woman (who will be referred to as "girl", given the uncertainty of her age) walk in, carrying one kid with another in tow. She wore some sort of tight-ish top with really small shorts. Very skinny. My first reaction? I shook my head in disbelief. As I left for home, I began to wonder if not initially thinking, "she's kind of cute" or, "she's hot; I wonder what she'd be like in bed" was a sign of someone getting old. Pam and I both agree that my tastes are more mature than that. <grins> ***** I think I'll be able to take my computer in tomorrow morning for the shop to take a look at it and figure out what's going on. Not only does Norton AntiVirus not work well, but LiveUpdate isn't working correctly, either. I tried the knowledge base article that Symantec's technical support people suggested, but that procedure didn't work. I'll have a small list of things for the guy to take a look at when I bring it in. The money spent to fix things up will be well spent, since I've spent entirely too much time, stress, and frustration over this. ***** Some things in life come to me automatically, but sometimes things I know don't quite fit all together until a bit later. I went to private schools all my life, yet I never stepped into a parochial school until high school (ignoring the one-day stint in first grade). To me, between September of one year and June of the next, kids should be in school. School, to me, meant going to a physical building where adults told you things that should be true. I haven't been in a school of any sort for a year or two now, and I will see kids who, in my mind, should be in school. Just today, I thought about the different reasons why someone would be "in school", in which the kid could:
The first two would concern me, since the student still misses class, not realizing the effect too much of this could have on his future. The other two would be completely legitimate reasons for not being "in school." I had never thought about this until now. It makes a good check on how I react and think about things whenever I see a school-age student walking along the road or in a mall. |
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