Sometimes we need a little wit in our lives. It all leads to Happy Endings.
[evp_embed_video url=”https://blog.jpnearl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/salary_negotiations.mov”]It Just Works.
I’ve just spent the last 15 minutes trying to wake up my MacBook Pro so I could write a blog entry before going to bed. After forcing the computer to power down, turning it back on and going through two black screens of nothingness, I’m here at my blog entry point.
As Steve Jobs always said, “It Just Works”.
Unfortunately, that’s the only thing that is stuck in my mind right now and I have no idea what I was going to blog about.
Why am I reminded of this Apple ad from 2002?
I should not have to restart my computer three times in order to wake it up. Especially since this MacBook Pro is less than a year old and I barely have any third party software installed on it.
I know there are other options out there but they suck worse than Apple. And if they’re not sucking, they’re sucking my data and I don’t want my data sucked for ad opportunities any more than it absolutely have to be, em, sucked.
God, I miss Steve.
Growth.
Every once in a while I will put “All In The Family” on in the background while I’m working. For those not familiar with this ground breaking show, “All In The Family” was a ground-breaking sitcom that debuted in January 1971. The show wove comedy with often heated discussions/fights/explosions on the topics of the times. Over 40 years later, the show is still a television masterpiece.
When younger generations look back on “All In The Family”, they’re known to comment on the fashion sense of the early 1970s (what were we thinking), how out of touch Archie Bunker was with the times, Edith’s shrill voice, etc. Some may recoil at some of the language used. There are many elements of the show that are dated but they are vastly outnumbered by the sheer timeliness of the show. Archie and Meathead were fighting about things that Americans fight about today.
How sad is that?
In the past two days I’ve heard arguments on the show about computers and they way they’re changing society, women’s rights, gay rights, the economy, politics, the environment, religious and bigotry.
How disheartening is it that the American society is arguing about these exact same topics? It’s like the citizens of the United States have made absolutely no progress in these hot topics in nearly 50 years! People still call gay folks “fags”, others call minorities by horribly offensive names. Women are relegated to second-place status in our country (God forbid we have a woman president!) and religious nut jobs are still trying to convince us that we should all behave according to their beliefs and everyone else is wrong.
I’ve always hoped that during my lifetime I would see encouraging, positive change in our country. Poverty would be dealt with. Folks wouldn’t care about color or race or sexual orientation. Women would be right up there with men. At one time I felt quite encouraged about this, don’t get me wrong, we’ve made some great progress, but there’s a lot of people out there that want to see us go right back to the attitudes of 1971.
I’d like to think they just want fodder for another top-notch television show like “All In The Family”, but I doubt that’s the reason.
As Americans it’s our responsibility to steer our country in a forward moving direction. We should be electing officials that want everyone to grow, not fostering an atmosphere of holding people back and reintroducing uneducated segregation amongst our people.
Luckily, “All In The Family” is still an unbelievably great show that will continue to entertain. Unfortunately, it’s a shame that the topics are still so topical.
Motivation.
How I enjoy the sexy vibe of this video. Formal wear, mischief, hotel rooms… all quite sensuous. Here’s a little motivation for your Friday.
Armin Van Buuren featuring Nadia Ali, “Feels So Good”.
https://youtu.be/_WOwRVTKJUw
Word.
I had to go back and view this today. Recent events in our country keep reminding me of this clip.
Ignorance.
There’s some sort of saying about a frog in a pot of boiling water that doesn’t realize he’s being boiled to death and just sits there until he dies. The water just keeps getting warmer and warmer and he’s comfy and then he’s dead. Done.
I feel like that’s the current state of the United States of America. “I can watch my reality shows, I can be appalled by the airlines and other media driven outrages, I can eat my McDonalds, I’m good.”
While traveling last week I was able to steer clear of social media for a bit, especially during the work portion of my trip. When crashing for the night at the hotel after a long day of work in an isolated conference room, I didn’t really have the energy to go through to see what Trump and friends had been up to so I used the barometer of, “well, I’m still alive and I don’t see missiles in the air, so he must not have found the button yet” and figured I’d live another day and probably get home to see my husband and family.
Once back in Central New York I started catching up on the latest political and other news and I’m finding myself feeling depressed. At least when we’re in Chicago or when I’m in Greenville for work there’s enough going on around me to keep my mind occupied enough to not focus the shenanigans in our government.
The president has the lowest approval ratings in modern history of any new president in their first 100 days. He has accomplished little to nothing, despite the fact that all the chips (Republican Senate, Republican House, etc.) are all on his side. Demonstrations of historic proportions are taking place all over the globe. The man can’t put together a coherent sentence or even contiguous thought but there is a sizable number of people that would vote for this idiot again without question.
Take three minutes out of your day and watch this.
In the mid 1980s I had nightmares about Nuclear Armageddon and similar scenarios. When the Cold War calmed down those nightmares went away for the most part. They were replaced by environmental disaster films in my head that, while scary, were somewhat survivable. With the election of Trump and his apparent need to seek out some sort of disorganized attack on someone in the world, coupled with his constant screeching about beefing up the military, I’m now losing sleep on a regular basis wondering if civilization is going to survive another day with this man in the White House (occasionally) and the nightmares are back in full force.
All because people are content with being ignorant. And petty. And honestly, just plain stupid.
While there is bliss in being ignorant of the current political climate and what’s going on in the world, I can’t bring myself to turn a blind eye to what is happening around us. I refuse to boil to death in a pot of hot water when there is some opportunity, any opportunity, to jump out.
Here’s a transcript of Trump’s interview with AP White House Correspondent Julie Chase. If you can translate it into something coherent and not be concerned about the man holding the highest office in the land, then there’s probably not going to be any reason to read this blog or associate with me any longer. We have nothing in common.
Good.
I don’t feel like I do enough good in the world. I want to do more but I don’t know where to start.
I’m sure I’ll find the path soon.
Patriotic?
Trump supporters are always hootin’ and hollarin’ about how patriotic they are. They are Making America Great Again. They are bringing ‘Merica back to her core values, embracing the Heartland, draining swamps.
In actuality, Trump supporters are doing their best to rid the United States of any sort of decency, education, intellect or quite frankly, class.
If you find any part of this picture appropriate for the White House, please cut off any and all ties you have to me. I don’t want to know you.
Hillary Clinton has done some amazing things for the people of this country, but by God we’ve done everything we can to make sure the small percentage of bad choices she has made are first and foremost discussed constantly.
Mama always taught me to take my hat off whenever I’m in the house. I guess these two didn’t get the memo.
I wore a sport coat and slacks to tour the Washington Monument. I’d probably wear a tie if I knew I was going to visit the White House. The White House is worthy of the respect of all citizens of the United States and should be treated as such. I wouldn’t let a man walk in with a hat and I certainly wouldn’t let a woman walk in Monster Truck Rally attire. The afghans and whore heels would stay home.
There are a lot of people in this country, in this world, that I don’t agree with, but I would still treat them with respect. What I see in that photo is unbelievable to me.
My God, how far this country has fallen in less than six months. Horrible.
We are better than this.
Passengers, Rearranged.
I caught this on Reddit this evening. It’s a YouTube video discussing how much darker the movie “Passengers” would be like if they rearranged the acts. An intriguing approach. I have to admit I liked “Passengers”, even for all its flaws, but I think I would be very interested in seeing a rearranged cut of the movie as described in this video.
Fanboy.
I no longer shy away from the label of “Apple Fanboy”. I’m a Crazy One. I love my Apple products. I’ve tried everything else and lord knows I’ve wretched about Apple over the years, but when you shake away all the complaining, the fact of the matter is I find that Apple still provides the best computing experience available. Other hardware pales in comparison. Windows 10 feels cobbled together to me. And, as much as I’ve tried, I just can’t get behind the idea of Linux on the desktop (or laptop). That is way too much work.
So I wear my Crazy One t-shirt in pride. I proudly gave a presentation at work this morning using my work provided 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, including the couple of dongles I needed to connect to the projector and network. There was an ooh and aah from the crowd as I made my way through my Keynote Presentation. It had that extra bit of polish that I strive for.
I look forward to what Apple has in store for us. I know they will continue to delight.
