Month: September 2013

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It’s funny how heartbreak affects us.

When we lost the B dog in July I was mostly quiet about it. I was hurting and sad but I focused on the S dog and worked hard to get his life re-arranged to a “New” normal.

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I guess I was a little too focused on him.

So much so that I didn’t notice how the heartbreak was affecting the other human in this house.

As I posted there’s a foster dog in the house.

While I’ve been dealing with the observations of the foster dog, (Things like obsessive behavior, aggression, eating, hip problems, sore feet, general interactions with the world, and stress level brought on by a new environment) I’ve also been observing the human.

I’m sad to say I really had missed how sad that other human was over the loss of the B dog. 

Now with the foster dog in the house it’s all about the fostering. The other human will talk endlessly about the fostering program, the needs of the dog, the upcoming vet visit and 10,000 little issues, all surrounding the dog. 

What I’m noticing is that the other human seems to be, in my opinion rushing things. Yes, the foster dog needs attention and care. I’m not implying that he doesn’t. But he also needs time to breathe, to get his bearings, to relax and sniff the air. 

Hell, the poor guy isn’t even responding to his “given” name (I personally think there’s a language barrier. His former owners were Asian and probably spoke their native language at home. Perfectly reasonable and normal!) it’s obvious that this dog has been worked with and knows how to interact with humans. He’s house broken and very polite when he’s inside the house.

The human on the other hand is being obsessive about the dog. After reading the humans initial report about the dog, which got sent to the rescue people I’m thinking that I’m going to have to start writing reports from a more clinical perspective.

It’s funny, I’m actually more concerned about training the human, than training the dog. 

 

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The weekly roundup…

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No War! (Well, no additional war)

The Syrians claim a victory. The Russians show diplomacy, The Americans show??? What?

I’m still amazed that the possibility of us going to war, (regardless of what the White House says it would have been a declaration of war to bomb or fire missiles in to another country during their civil war) over what was clearly an internal conflict was ever a matter of discussion.

I’m glad that cooler heads prevailed. I’m somewhat stunned that the cooler head apparently belonged to Vladimir Putin. But I’m glad nonetheless.

Apple announced new iPhone

Wallstreet unimpressed. Microsoft takes advertising pot shot at Apple and demonstrates yet again that they are completely disconnected from the real world. As an ancillary point they demonstrated that their sense of humor is somewhat childish.

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Windows Surface? How’re those sales guys? I saw Microsoft is offering a $200 trade-in for iPads if you purchase one of their tablets. Talk about not being able to give ’em away.

iPhone 5c phones have not sold out during pre-order. That’s a bit of a first for Apple. I find myself wondering if the smartphone market is saturated. None of the smartphone offerings from any manufacturer have been particularly dazzling.

I take that back, Samsung had a dazzlingly bad, perhaps embarrassing is a better term for it introduction of the galaxy s4.

But the smartphones in & of themselves have become somewhat homogenous.

Yes as I’ve mentioned, I’m probably going to go iPhone, but this time around it’s not because its an iPhone, but because I’m heavily invested in Apple tech and it’s just a lot easier to have a single environment to deal with.

Colorado

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Colorado in addition to the flooding also recalled two politicians from the state government over gun control.

Whats amazed the hell out of me in this is that Twitter came alive with Gun control discussions but very little was said on either side of that discussion about the flooding or loss of life.

This re-ignition of the gun control discussion is rather like an endless repetition of a bad Gilligans Island episode. The discussions have begun to bore the hell out of me because they’ve become formulaic.

Gun Control Advocate: Guns are bad, there are too many children dying, guns don’t make us safer, the 2nd amendment is dated and no longer relevant, we need more gun control, no-one needs an assault rifle that can spray bullets to kill people, Only the military needs guns… on and on they regurgitate the same tired and more often than not erroneous sound bites that the media and politicians have spun to reinforce their position on gun control.

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Pro Gun person: Criminals are bad guns are not, yes there are too many children dying but it’s not because of responsible gun owners. Guns do make you safer if this were not so why then are “Gun Free” zones also places with the highest national crime rates? Existing Gun control laws would be sufficient IF the state & federal governments would enforce the laws already on the books. Define assault rifle. So called assault rifles do not “SPAY” bullets they are not machine guns, the fire one bullet with each pull of the trigger. The 2nd amendment is not outdated, The 2nd amendment was about providing the ability of the people to protect themselves from a tyrannical government. And on & on until the cows come home.

In point of fact gun related deaths are by the FBIs & CDCs reports overall down. The CDC report really disappointed the Obama administration because it took the legs out from beneath their arguments for stricter gun control.

But since the CDC report refuted the “Collective Wisdom”, very little media attention was given to the CDC conclusions. And the beat goes on…

There’s a saying… don’t confuse someone with the facts.

I’ve gotten bored with the whole gun debate because it’s not a debate. It’s one side misrepresenting one set of facts and the other side trying to refute specious arguments.

At this rate, the politicians will remove the 2nd amendment provisions while no one is looking and screw us all for a couple hundred votes.

Then they’ll wring their hands and rend their clothing when the whole country has a crime rate like Chicago’s and ask what went wrong. I’m sure at that point we’ll hear calls for stricter penalties, laws and god knows what else.

In other Gun News…

The idiots in the California legislature have sent a bill to the Governors desk that would ban kits designed to make rifles look like assault rifles.

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Yep, you read that correctly. It will now be illegal in California to BOLT on plastic or metal bits designed only to make a legally owned rifle LOOK like an assault rifle.

They’d have done more of a public service making people with face lifts gone wrong illegal in public.

This does nothing but demonstrate how almost incomprehensibly stupid the people running this state are. Or it demonstrates that these people do actually understand the difference between and “Assault Rifle” and a regular hunting rifle and have an agenda to remove both from the hands of the public.

NewImageThey’re also after removable magazines, I have no doubt that they will broaden their focus from rifles to pistols leaving the only legal option for Californians a revolver.

After all a revolver is “old timey looking” and therefore not nearly as dangerous.

They’ll be forced to legislate more when they realize that a .357 magnum is a revolver that contains 8 rounds. Or that a .44 magnum is a revolver too and it contains 6 rounds.

Harry Callahan: I know what you’re thinking, punk. You’re thinking “did he fire six shots or only five?” Now to tell you the truth I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow you head clean off, you’ve gotta ask yourself a question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?

The point is, much like a Ferrari vs a Hundai, it’s not so much what the gun looks like… its how it performs.

Our legislators don’t understand this.

Condoms in Porn

These have been some back page articles.

Another porn actor has been diagnosed with HIV. And the CONDOM heads are all a dither pointing to this as reason that their NewImagecondom law in pornography should be extended from just LA to all of California.

What they didn’t point out is that the two porn performers recently diagnosed with HIV 1 man , 1 woman were romantically involved in their private lives. Also not mentioned is that the porn industry required medical screening turned up the HIV before these folks had a chance to spread the infection on set,  and that the screening is routine, broad spectrum (looking for HIV and other STDs)

LA County is noticing a drop in the number of permits for Porn film shoots as well.

While surrounding counties are noticing an increase in permits. Additionally more porn studios are filming completely outside California.

Miami, Phoenix, and Las vegas seem to be popular destinations.

Other studios are noticing that condom porn isn’t necessarily affecting their bottom line. However for aficionados of bareback it’s likely bareback production studios will be leaving LA if not California.

For that matter other studios may simply leave the state “preemptively” anticipating onerous laws and regulations. After all why NewImagespend money on permits, in California when you can go to Phoenix or Las Vegas and do your filming unimpeded.

Then there’s this, while you can force condoms to be used in a film… you’re not going to be able to force people to use them in their personal lives. So are these laws really doing all that much good? Or are these laws nothing more than a renewed puritanical movement?

The actors themselves are pretty free to choose how they engage in sex.  I know of several male actors that do solo shows only. The same is true of using condoms or not.

I find myself questioning again and again how many laws like the LA Condom law are about “public safety” and how many are simply about puritanical squeamishness.

So that’s it folks.

These are the odd bits of news that penetrated my thoughts this week. On the plus side I managed to miss all of President Obamas speeches. On the minus side… HEY! There is now down side to that!

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Weird Nightmares & Dreams…

I wish I dreamt like Dali or even Picasso. At least then I could easily tell that the dream wasn’t real.

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I mean really, how often do you see clocks melting & running down the wall? 

No, I’m not that lucky. I have full color vividly real dreams. Oh I know if I see Godzilla I’m dreaming, but usually my dreams are mundane and completely real. There’s not a detail that’s inconsistent within the context of the dream or nightmare.

Oh, the overarching theme of the dream / nightmare might be somewhat unbelievable but there’s a consistency within, and lets face it that’s where we tend to be during the dream. The same could be said of reality too. 

Remember 9/11? I seriously thought I was dreaming. I kept waiting to wake up, safe in my bed feeling sheepish for paranoid “Irwin Allen” fantasies. Except that I was awake and burning buildings were a part of our collective memory forever.

This past week I’ve had disturbing dreams every single night. (Or Morning… since some research shows we dream only in the hour or so before we wake up. Sometimes it’s just minutes but as we all know the dream can seem like hours.)

This past week, I’ve dreamt of the collapse of the US several times.

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In one of these dreams I’m hiking through rugged terrain with a backpack. (that I actually own, I guess thats why it feels real) I’ve got a standard recurve bow, an ample supply of arrows and my pack just has the essentials. A few clothing items, a jacket that handles 4 seasons and packs small. My tent, (another item I actually own).There’s a GPS and compass, maps, and tools for cleaning and cooking food. Nothing fancy with the exception of the GPS and a radio there’s nothing electronic. I’ve got a solar panel to recharge the radio & GPS batteries. It’s strapped on the outside of my pack.

My hair is long, as is my beard. I’ve been out for a long time.

Then suddenly, I see a uniform (Nothing like military or police we’re familiar with. It’s more like an Nazi SS uniform). I’m commanded to stop. With no other warning or explanation the uniforms are firing on me.

I take a few out with arrows and lucky shots, but know it’s a losing proposition. I yell at them “Why are you shooting?”

They yell back “Because you’re hunting on public land you belong in prison for defying the mandate to go to the relocation camps. You aren’t allowed to feed yourself you must be dependent on the government.” Then they start shooting again.

I’m hit several times, I fall to my knees, I’m bleeding out,  I see the blue sky, wispy clouds, and then an angry man in uniform kicks me in the head. I wonder why they can’t let me die in peace, there’s a hawk in the sky, the uniforms start shooting at it, makes me angry… Then I wake up.

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Another dream is me answering my front door. There are strangers there, they look dirty, tired, and hungry. I swing a shotgun into the gap between the door jamb and the door. I point it right at this guys face and tell him to leave. He begs for food and water but I’m firm with him. 

I know they’re from LA and they’ve walked over the mountain to get here. They’re heading toward Las Vegas instead of the farmland in Central California. I know they’re going to die in the desert. They’ve got nothing, no maps, no preparation at all. They’re simply the latest of the 100s who have passed this way begging for help.

It’s help that I can’t provide. Even if I tried to steer them in the right direction, toward the farms they’d take it as softness, they’d linger, then a crowd would form thinking I had food or water to share and I’d have to start shooting.

I close the door, sliding down it to the floor. I’m crying for them, and angry that I’ve become a heartless bastard.

I wake up crying.

The last dream is one in which I’m trying to check into a hotel. 

I’m actually carrying paperwork for three other people to check myself and them into this hotel. It’s not a nice hotel and I’m NewImagestanding in a long line. I’m being patient and waiting my turn.

Then I notice that all the people standing in line are white, but the people being helped aren’t. I wonder where all these folks from other countries are getting into the line?

Then I realize they’re just walking past the line and being allowed to do it. The receptionists and the guy keeping us all in a nice neat line are ignoring the fact that all these other people are cutting in front of those of us who’ve been waiting.

I ask the man keeping us in line about this. He pulls a gun on me and shoves it into my mouth. He snarls “Shut the fuck up! We don’t want any trouble so they get to do what they want to.” Pretty soon all the rooms are full and we’re still waiting in line.

I’m very angry. 

I wake up angry and it takes me a few minutes lying in bed to calm down. It takes even longer to convince myself that I’m angry because of a stupid dream, nothing more. 

I watch the sun rise over the hills to the East.

It’s a cool morning, and the sky is pretty. I’m relaxing letting go of the tension from the anger. 

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Time to get coffee, and wonder if I’m losing it.

Before you think, “Dude, you’ve been watching too much Terminator, or Mad Max, or conspiracy films.”

I haven’t. One X-files over lunch every couple of days is about it. I don’t watch the news because it never ceases to annoy me with it’s one sidedness.

I read the paper briefly in the morning but try to avoid any “back page” politics either national or local. I’ll read the front page political articles & that’s about it. Mostly I’m reading the technology & science sections.

These dreams / nightmares aren’t fun. I think they speak to my personal loss of faith in our government. No I’m not pining for the “Good ‘ol days”. I’m also trying very hard not to ascribe much meaning to any of this. Normally, I might have one or two dreams like this in a month or three. But this last week it’s been every damn night.

I suppose this may be the final inevitable death of my idealism.

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I’ve held on to the belief that things over time get better in general. Sure you have dips and peaks, but I’ve always believed that the general trend was up. Like wall street and land values. My faith that things get better has sustained me in some of the darkest times of my life.

Over the past 6 years things have gotten decidedly worse for me personally and I believe for the country in general. Perhaps I’m projecting because I don’t want to feel alone. Perhaps I’m just not able to delude myself anymore. 

It’s frightening to think that the one constant, my life preserver if you will, may be fading away.

It’s not something I dwell on because It’s depressing as hell. But obviously my mind is trying to sort things out during dream time. 

I’m drawn to Native American beliefs when I have these kind of dreams.  I find myself watching for “spirit animals” especially in these weird ones.

Over the past year I’ve seen the Wolf, Lizard and now the Hawk.

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Lizard speaks to agility or the need for/ability to change. Wolf is the finder new paths and teacher. Hawk is a messenger. This is according to my very limited understanding of such things.

The thing is I know I must change. I must adapt to the new realities of my career (or lack thereof). I’ve got to put aside the anger, and the hurt at feeling thrown away.  I’ve got to find a way forward into the rest of my life. 

Right now I’m in a holding pattern. I suppose that honestly I’ve been in a holding pattern for a very long time. It’s been so long, that I’ve forgotten what I’m waiting for.

Maybe that’s what these dark dreams are telling me. Move in a direction or you’ll not be happy. 

It’s something I’ve known for a while. I’ve even written about it in this blog. It’s scary to change, it takes strength, courage, and sometimes just plain dumb luck. I’m not sure I have any of those characteristics anymore. Maybe the dreams are telling me I do and to use them. I don’t know…

So now that I’ve thought about it…

CAN I GET SOME SLEEP?

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Whee it’s here! Whaaat?

 

NewImageApple announced, as expected the new iPhone(s) on Tuesday.

The new phones were in line with what a month of media leaks said they were going to be, and there were no surprises.

Looks like the pundits, wags and Wall Street are not impressed.

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I guess I understand that they wanted to be WOWED again. In their disappointment they’re perhaps being unduly snarky. 

The new iPhones are beautiful, all of them.

I don’t really give a shit about what the pundits and wags from PCMagazine say (I haven’t paid them any attention at all since they savaged the Newton and then embraced the Palm Pilot. WTF? I liked my Newton a hell of a lot more than any Palm or Handspring device I ever owned.)

My bottom line is that I need a new phone… It’s not just that I want a new phone, my current phone is full of so much bloatware from my carrier that it’s almost useless. 

I normally only use 6 features on my phone.

I call people… sometimes.

I like having a calendar

I use text & messaging.

I will sometimes use the phone to look something up on the web, but since I often have a computer or tablet at hand I’ll go to one of those before I use the phone.

I take pictures with my phone (if it’s the only or most convenient camera I have at hand.)

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My carrier seems to think that I want games, and internet radio, and more games, and to be reminded to restart my phone and billing reminders and honestly a bunch of shit that I don’t even have a clue about. More importantly, its stuff I have no desire to learn about.

The stuff they think I need cannot be removed. Unless I play their “lets unlock the phone game“. This is apparently as “easy” as giving birth to Rhinoceros twins… through my penis. Frankly I don’t have the time.

This unlocking procedure involves me contacting them, them looking up some information, me winking and nudging at the appropriate times, them asking questions, me answering questions, them sending me a code, me contacting them when I receive the code, them acknowledging the code, and my phone is unlocked.

Here’s an idea… How about them just sending me the damn code when the phone is paid for, and the contract expires. Better yet why don’t they simply remotely unlock the phone at the end of the contract?

I guess that’s just too easy…

My current phone is Android based.

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That was fine and dandy for me until I realized due to carrier interference I wasn’t getting the latest bug fixes and updates.

The reason wasn’t that the updates weren’t available it was because it takes time for the carrier to bundle all their bloatware into the version of the operating system & then push it out to it’s users. 

I hate living with crashes. I hate having my phone seize up for no reason when I’m trying to make or receive a call. I hate getting text messages 2 days after they’ve been sent. And I really hate that because of all the crap running on my phone all the time that my battery life is inconsistent as hell. One day the battery will last 8 hours (idle) and the next day it will last 3 hours (idle). But while I’m not using the phone and it’s supposedly idle. There’s some other process or processes just cranking away doing god only knows what. No matter how many times I terminate individual or ALL processes they restart and there’s no explanation as to why they’re running or what they’re doing.

Thankfully, there’s nothing on the bills indicating nefarious activities. The antivirus application running on the phone says nothing is going out or coming in. For all the world it looks like the phone is senile and just muttering to itself.

This has led me to the decision to buy an unlocked phone. NO CONTRACT.

I’ll jump ship to the next carrier, and the next, based on saving money, better coverage, or better customer service.

It’s that simple and this is why for so many years the cellular carriers fought the ability to take your phone number with you.

If a customer can take their phone number, their phone, and have no contract to boot. The onus is squarely on the shoulders of the cellular provider to provide not just mediocre service but to compete! They must provide excellent telephone service and their customer service has to be exemplary as well.

All of this leads me to the purchase of a new phone. 

The iPhone 5s is predictable in it’s sameness. The iPhone 5c is fun with it’s colors and it’s specs are remarkably similar to the 5s. Both phones are incremental improvements on the iPhone 5 itself. Perhaps with the iPhone 5 Apple reached the pinnacle of form dictating function.

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The Galaxy phones are beautify done, but they’re big. Too big to fit in my front pocket and we all know that if I have one in my back pocket I’m going to sit on it and snap that large expanse of glass right in half.

For me, the iPhone is just about the right size. I can slip it in a pocket, I can carry it in my existing holster. It’s got all the functions and applications that I want and I already have an app store account because of my iPad and computer.

Moreover I intend to OWN the phone from the get-go. I don’t intend to allow bullshit applications to reside on MY device. I’ll have the ultimate say. if I want to delete something I will.

I have considered the Galaxies I also was curious about the MotoX.

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As I mentioned the Galaxies are too big. The MotoX (build your own) is AT&T only at this time. I have no desire to ever darken the door of an AT&T store or see their logo again. We had a falling out several years ago and I plan to keep that nasty divorce final.

I was interested in the Moto X precisely because I could in theory build my own. The ability to customize the color combinations is cool. To be able to build one with a walnut back cover and choose other elements of the phone to make it uniquely mine is attractive. However it’s not attractive enough to make me go back to AtT&T

So I’m going to play with the iPhone when they hit the stores… OH HELL NO not the DAY they hit the stores, I’d have to crawl over salivating 18 to 25 year olds all of whom want to buy one, yet none of whom can afford it.

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I’ll wait a couple of days, until the youngsters have drooled and cooed. Then I’ll walk in ready to do business.

I plan to look at both the phones the 5s and 5c. There are slight differences… Fingerprint sensor, better camera functions, processor chips etc. 

For me it’s going to boil down to bang for buck.

I’ll probably go for the 5s due to the processor horsepower. 

I’d like to see an iPhone last as long as my Macs do.

Typically I get 4 -7 years out of a Mac on average. I’m thinking that the better processor may enable me to keep and use the phone by upgrading IOS versions longer. Only time will tell. 

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That’s a key issue for me personally. I want bug fixes and OS improvements on a regular ongoing basis. Apple provides that through IOS, Google/Android doesn’t.

I’ve been through a Blackberry, and two different Android phones.

In a very real way, I’m looking forward to going home to iPhone.

I’m sure my disentanglement from Google and Android will cause some bumps in the road with the attendant swearing.

But in the end fingers crossed, I’ll have a happier, simpler user experience.

That is what we want right? 

Ubiquitous technology that we don’t have to think about using?

I know at this point in my life that’s exactly what I want…

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More complicated than it seemed.

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This morning I began the simplification of my internet life.

I hadn’t really considered just how complex it had become over time.

Turns out that I have more than 10 email accounts. 

REALLY??? 

When did I think I needed all those? Was I stoned or just stupid? Had to be the latter I don’t do the former…

I suppose this could be an cautionary tail of the hazards of drunk computing… But I don’t recall being drunk. I think it was more about not paying attention.

Of course this affords an opportunity to flush accounts that have become largely SPAM collectors. 

This presents a challenge to an orderly shutdown. Even the SPAM collectors are still associated with some legitimate business accounts like various utilities.

I’ve got to search through the emails that are stored in several of these accounts then contact the utilities  to change the email to one of the accounts that I will be using in the future.

That takes time, and means that I have to keep the email account active to receive the confirmation email about changing the email address. It’s a pain in the behind. One of my own creation.

I have been able to de-activate 3 email accounts as of this morning. Seems like only a billion to go!

I’ll take the small successes.

The biggest problem is going to be the gmail accounts. (Yes, multiple gmail accounts. Don’t ask!)

Why go to all this trouble you ask?

Simplification of my life. 

I figured I’d make it easier for the NSA, FBI, IRS, CIA, SAS, and whoever else wants to read my email to do so. (I did think of a maddening method to drive those guys crazy)

I think in large part it’s that I want to pull away from Google. I have the resources I don’t need “FREE” email accounts and why should I provide them with all kinds of marketing and demographic information if I have no need to.

Unless Apple really screws the pooch with the new iPhone I’ve pretty much decided to move away from the Android platform and standardize on the Apple environment until something demonstrably better comes along. That means I have no need to maintain gmail accounts to support my phone anymore.

Take a look at your online life.

You might find there’s a lot more about you on the internet than you realize or are comfortable with. Use me as a cautionary tale, don’t let your email addresses or your other online data get out of control.

It’s a pain in the butt to clean up… Trust me!