Geek

I took a peek at the beta version of Microsoft’s latest version of their operating system, “Windows Vista”. I figured I needed to see what the fuss is all about since I’m going to end up supporting it at work. I planned on writing a detailed review of what I thought and sharing it on my other blog, The Geekdom.

I couldn’t stand using it long enough to garner enough to write a review. Granted, it’s a beta (pre-release software) and not indicative of the final product, but I saw enough. After wading through security screen after security screen and being chastized for not having an anti-virus program installed when I first installed the program, I decided I had had enough.

I hate it. Absolutely hate it.

I approached the experience with an open mind and a desire to love it, hoping this would finally be the bees’ knees of Windows experiences. I mean after all, Microsoft has been working on this beast for the better part of a decade.

I hate it. Absolutely hate it.

At work we have to use Windows as our operating system. While I’ve kicked and screamed about this for the past year, my arguments will pale in comparison to what I will do if I’m told I need to switch my work computer to Windows Vista.

I hate it. Absolutely hate it.

So here’s the deal. I will never touch Vista again unless I’m a) being paid a lot of money or b) being held at gun point. However, if a friend or family member wishes to learn the virtues of becoming a Maccie or wants to know what this Linux people are mentioning is about, then I’m your man, I’ll be glad to show you for free.

But I have officially slammed the Windows shut.

Today I received a call from the radio station I worked at a couple of years ago. They needed some helping fixing a server I had built for them when I worked there and apparently I hadn’t shared all of my secrets with the necessary people so they were a little confused by my wizardry. I snuck over during my lunch hour and had them up and running in no time.

While I was there, I met up with the owner of the company and we chatted a bit just like old times, like that time I had to sit in his office and tell him that DJ Repulsive had told listeners that Britney Spears was at the station for an interview and when they found out she wasn’t, they had mobbed the parking lot and were disassembling the van.

Anyways, while I was there, I asked him if I could borrow the jingle CDs from over the years so I could make copies for my growing collection of radio jingles.

I think I’ve mentioned before that my absolute favorite part of being Program Director of a Top 40 radio station was orchestrating the sound of the station. I loved being clever with those little “Mr. Voice” thingees you heard between songs (i.e., “Let’s keep it simple, the other station sucks. This is Wow FM, The Beat of Central New York.”) Once I was bestowed with a budget for that sort of thing, I went for the big time and bought professionally made jingles every year.

I love radio station jingles. You can travel all over the country and hear the same jingles from your favorite station back home, just with different words. I knew that I had picked the right jingles for the station when I heard a group of kids singing them in the mall. I called this jingle “The Anthem”.

The Anthem. If you lived in Seattle in the mid 1990s, this probably sounds familiar from KUBE 93.

I first introduced the area to the screaming diva jingles with this one. This would sound familiar to someone living in Indianapolis and listening to “99 and a half ZPL”.

I picked another jingle to play every hour beginning at Friday 5:00 p.m. and going right through until Sunday at midnight. That would Weekends Sound Best. If you listened to 103.5 ‘KTU in New York in the late 1990s, that one probably sounds a little familiar.

I have a generic version of the jingle I call Move To It, and I often play it between songs while I’m spinning in a club. Another ‘KTU favorite.

And of course, simple is always best, as illustrated with one of the basic jingles you’d hear sprinkled between your two favorite songs.

Back in the day Earl would occasionally comment that I had the gayest sounding radio station in the land (go figure), as we’d kick off commercial free music with “Get ready for another Wow FM Beat Blitz (random sound clip, for example “Thank You Sir, may I have another!” or “Oh Zephyr Winds which blow on high, lift me now so I can fly!”) and then segue into a screaming diva jingle*.

Ah, the good ol’ days.

* When I first contacted Reelworld Productions to produce our jingles based on what I had heard elsewhere, I found out the female singer’s name was Karen. I was surprised by this, because I always thought she sounded like a Shaniqua and I told them so. They’d heard that before.

I am truly a blessed geek. I’ve been fortunate enough to have access to computers since 1982. I’ve been given the go-ahead to basically what I want when I get my hands on a computer, so I’ve had more than my share to learn, troubleshoot and play around with technology for a good portion of my life. I realize that many others do not have the same opportunity, whether it be a lack of access to technology or the fact that they really can’t wrap their head around the concepts involved in computer use. I fully understand that, for some it just comes naturally, for others, well, they’re just not wired that way.

In the new and improved department I work in now I’m often working with end users that are trying to that are having any random computer issue. Often the trouble can be traced to a Windows glitch but I do my best to rule out any trouble on our end of the connection before I start blaming Microsoft. I understand that in this corporately run world, Microsoft is the mediocrity that people have settled for and it’s up to us geeks to keep it all together.

Today I had a customer call that was having a problem dialing in to the network. After going through all the various settings on her “new computer”, as she called it (it was running a spiffy new copy of Windows 98) and determining that everything was pretty much set up correctly, I asked her to make sure she has dial tone on her phone.

“Oh, I don’t have a phone anymore.”, she responded, shocked that I would ask her to do such a thing. “We’re talking on my cell phone.”

“You no longer have phone service to your house with Verizon or something like that?”, I ask.

“No. I don’t use it. It’s too expensive.”

“Uh, since you don’t have a land line, I’m pretty sure you’re going to have difficulty connecting to the internet over your _dial-up_ connection.”

“Well I thought you would upgrade my account to go over the cable.”, she offered.

“Um, no. You would need to contact your cable provider for that.” I was doing my best not to go all Bea Arthur on her and get sarcastic.

She hung up on me.

The following is a well written entry lifted from a blog I follow, In The Thick Of It I’m asking for your help today on keeping the internet the way it was meant to be.

Congress is currently pushing a law that would end the free and open Internet as we know it. Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard against Network Neutrality, the Internet’s First Amendment and the key to Internet freedom. Network Neutrality prevents AT&T and Verizon from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T or Verizon more. Network Neutrality would insure that Amazon doesn’t have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer.

Grammy-nominated musician Moby made a goofy, yet poignant new video about the very real attack on Internet freedom that is happening this week in Congress. Watch the video.

Learn more and sign a petition telling congress that your Internet is not for sale to the highest bidder.

The very nice Adelphia technician came and fixed our internet connection today. Oh yes she most certainly did. She replaced a filter out on the pole and now it is flyin’. _Flyin’_ I tell ya. Apparently the filter keeps us from getting cable television (we have DirecTV) and it looked pretty fried. I didn’t want to disagree with her in anyway, because though she was a very, very nice person, she looked like she could beat the crap out of anyone she wanted to.

I shouldn’t let material things like this sway my mood but this has just made my day. We can actually talk on the phone now (over VoIP) without it s ndin l ke th s.

Now I can finally get rid of my cell phone.

“We’ll feed you pizza and wings” is what the e-mail basically said. It was an e-mail from my aunt, who was asking her favorite nephew and computer geek to visit one night this week to help out with some computer woes. I take a certain pride in maintaining the various computers in my family and I’m always eager to help out. Plus, Earl is out of town on business tonight so I would have been a little lonely around the house.

So I headed west on the New York State Thruway.

More importantly, the 50 minute drive gave me the opportunity to listen to the latest album I’ve downloaded to my iPod: “The Very Best of Stars On 45”. I never cease to be amazed by the Stars On 45 medleys from the early 1980s; there’s a different version of each medley for each country it was released in, due to musical clearance issues, and there’s a ton of variations of the “Stars On 45 Theme” and the “Stars On 45 Jingle”.

So tonight was a geeky good night after all: good music, IT superpowers used to spread good will and great conversation and laughs with my aunt, uncle, cousin and my mom.

Sign Geek strikes again.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

I’ve mentioned before that I am a huge “road enthusiast”. I love driving. I love roads. And I especially love road signs.

ADOT, otherwise known as the Arizona Department of Transportation, has the best signing practices in the entire country, bar none. Whenever I complain about another signing gaff to NYSDOT, I always tell them, take a vacation in Arizona and see how they do it.

To the average motorist, you probably don’t see much of a difference in the design of this sign from those on your own commute. But there are subtle differences that makes this sign better. I won’t bore you with the details, but I just had to say that ADOT rocks.

By the way, I climbed up an embankment at a rest area to get this shot.

Today I had a typical IM conversation with someone I often converse with:

Them: What are your plans for Easter?
Me: Earl and I are doing our traditional Easter picnic close to home, probably at the Town Park, because I’m on call.
Them: What?
Me: (cut and paste) Earl and I are doing our traditional Easter picnic close to home, probably at the Town Park, because I’m on call.
Them: I can’t hear you.
Me: What?
Them: They’re running a floor sander over my desk.
Me: What?
Them: I have to watch for blinking lights.
Me: I have no idea what you are talking about.
Them: Good-bye.

When I got home for lunch today, I was unfortunately not surprised to find that our high speed internet connection was dead once again. It typically goes dead during the day, a fine example of the quality service from Adelphia Communications, the local bankrupt cable provider in our area.

I called their tech support number, on my cell phone which I thankfully have not canceled as of yet, though I do intend on doing so, and reached their automation hell. I was prompted to enter my ten digit phone number and then select from the 65 or so options as to what my problem was. After jumping through several menus and numerous hoops, their system bonked some touch tones in my ear, apparently in an effort to transfer me to a human. I reached friendly Dave, who the inquired as to my home telephone number (which I had already punched in), my address, my account number (let me check the tattoo on my ass for that one) and my social security number. Asking me for my social security number always makes me bristle. I mean, what does my internet connection have to do with the benefits I’ll receive or my tax return? Is that number suppose to be a guarded number and not thrown about like something trivial like one’s net worth or age? Dave demanded the social security number so that they knew they were talking to the right person in the interest of security. I gave him the last four digits and told him that I strongly object to this method of confirming one’s identity. I highly recommended that everyone make the same amount of noise when it comes to your social security number; no one except select organizations in the federal government should care about your social security number. Everyone screams about a National ID card and then gives out their social security number to just about anyone. It’s just wrong.

Anyways, Dave pittered and pattered on a keyboard within his reach while my modem was unplugged and ran some diagnostics. He couldn’t see my end of the circuit. I resisted the urge to say “No shit, Jiffy-Pop, the modem is unplugged.” but instead I went along with his script. He needs to send a technician out to the house. On Thursday. Between 1 and 3 p.m.

This is not good. I’m on call this week and I rely on a working internet connection. Dave didn’t care. I have to be here at the house on Thursday between 1 and 3 p.m. Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’ll leave a love note for the Adelphia tech to get a clue.

Earl has joined the blogosphere. I never thought I’d see it happen, but he loves the new version of MovableType and is now maintaining his own blog. You can see it here.