Category: Technology

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Arrrrhhhhggggg!

Sad Mac 400x400

Two days Ago I had an event in my Computer.

I was running along nicely having a pretty normal day when out of the blue my machine started asking me for passwords to email accounts.

This made little sense because those passwords are all stored on the system and shouldn’t be required.

I entered the first password without thinking then the second one, the the third one and that’s when the event caught my attention.

I thought Whoa! Something bad is happening. So I saved my work, closed the programs I had open and told the computer to reboot.

That’s when all hell broke loose! What I got back after that reboot was a system that had been mostly reset to it’s factory defaults. 

I don’t have esoteric settings in my systems. For the most part I’m an average kind of user.

I work at being just an average user I’ve spent so much time being a “Test Jocky, Monkey, Software Quality Assurance guy” that when it comes to my home systems I just want to sit down turn the computer on and do what I’d planned to do without a lot of drama. God save me from endless updates and reboots.

That’s why I use a Mac.

99.998% of the time I fire up my Mac and don’t think anything of the fact that I’m using technology, because it’s not in my face.

Well, two days ago was the .002% of the time when I was reminded.

This machine is barely 3 months old and it’s possible it was experiencing a hardware issue. So I pulled up the console logs and saw some very weird stuff. As I was stepping through the log I realized I didn’t know enough about the way Apple does things, to really be able to tell if the errors I was seeing were do to the failure or due to normal errors (Yeah… there is such a thing as a “Normal” error).

So I called Apple. I figured that the data was toast and I was looking at minimum at a restore of my system from my backup. I had a couple of questions, the first of which was how do I send log files to Apple?

After dealing with a first line phone rep for all of about 2 minutes (Thank you BTW for realizing that I wasn’t calling with anything ordinary.) I got transferred to this really great guy whose initials are RR.

RR listened carefully to what I said and we started walking through some items. This makes sense because he couldn’t see my screen and he must get 1000 calls a day from people who’ve forgotten to plug their system in.

Within a few minutes of talking, I’ve got a log collection tool running and he’s looking at my screen. (He can’t actually click on anything or control it… that must be maddening.)

After poking around for a bit he admits he’s never seen anything like what happened to me ever.

The logs get sent to the Gurus in Apple engineering.

Then I’m pretty much ready to call it a day and restore my whole system from the backup. When RR says, “you know… that might not be a good idea.”

I think about it and don’t like at all where he’s going, because he’s absolutely right.

Since we’d pretty much ruled out a hardware problem. That means that software has to be to blame. (Hardware Engineers around the world are rejoicing… Industry inside joke.) 

If I simply restore my system from the backup, it’s likely that I’ll be resetting the conditions that created this problem in the first place.

Which leads inexorably to a complete format, & rebuild of the system. Including reinstallation of every single piece of software. Then we get to pick and choose the bits from the backup that we absolutely can’t do without. Like the data!

As much as I don’t want to… RR is right.

Best to bite the bullet, reformat the drive, reload a completely pristine copy of the OS, then reload copies of the applications and then make a backup of the computer in this new pristine state.

You’d think that given the age of the machine I’d have a pristine backup… Well you’d be wrong.

When I got this machine a few months ago, I moved all the programs from my older MacBook to this one. Then I upgraded the Operating System on the new machine, so god only knows what bits of incompatible flotsam and jetsam may have been floating around on the disk.

Approximately 20 hours of work later I have a system that is mostly like what I had before. I know that I will be stumbling over bits of unlicensed software for weeks to come.

When I stumble over one of these applications I’ll have a choice. Find the license key… or toss the software. Realistically if I haven’t used a bit of software for weeks… I probably could do without it.

I like a clean system that works. So I’ll probably be tossing these little bits of software.

I did notice while reinstalling software that there are an awful lot of applications that ask for access to my contacts list. I understand Word asking… It’s trying to make writing letters easier by linking contact data. But some of the other applications made no sense at all.  Needless to say they were denied access.

I’m kind of a fan of Apple, NO… I’m not a rabid fan boy. But I like Apples machines.

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Honestly, Apple does it right most of the time.

There are some things that they screw up on in big ways but in general they do a good job in design, implementation, and support.

If you’re thinking Apple for your next computer purchase. A word of advice…

Buy the full boat machine. Max Memory, Max hard disk, top of the line… You’ll never be sorry and the machine will probably have a usable lifespan of at least 5 years possibly more. Think about it, you and your Mac go to College and graduate with a Masters degree 6 years later. Can you say the same of Windows?

As I’ve been reading email & writing this blog, my machine has been backing up to a different TimCapsule drive. I want to keep the old backup for a few weeks in case I need to go pick something out of it that I can’t recreate or live without.

I’m back online, back to working and Hopefully this is a “One Off” event.

RR wherever you are… Thank you!

Talk about great service! RR called me several times to see how things were progressing and was always there when or if I hit a snag. He’s the consummate professional and genuinely knows his stuff. Even if I did make him a bit nervous by fiddling with the UNIX underbelly of the Mac OS.

I hope that if he reads this he’ll take what I say next, the right way. I hope I don’t have to talk with Apple again. But If I do I’m going to see if I can have a chat with RR.

Now on to the next thing… 

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Why I hate Microsoft

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It’s not that their products are bad per se. Some of them are darn nice. I like their Office suite…

It’s that virtually everyone has Windows, and being a computer guy everyone expects me to be about to work with whatever Microsofts Flavor du Jour is.

It’s not uncommon to run across Windows XP, Vista, and Win 7 in the same office. Every one of these has a quirk or two and all of them are susceptible to various viruses.

Many folks turn off auto updating, the firewall,  and too many folks run without anti-virus protection.

There are those who think they’re running with their Virus protection turned on, but in fact at some point in the distant past they were compromised and the Anti-Virus is nothing but a dummy shell whose functions have all been subverted by a trojan or some kind of malware.

Then you have Microsoft who in it’s effort to hide? the problem will just show a meaningless dialog box that is all but useless except for an error code. 

Even I have to go look up the error codes and I’ve been doing this stuff for years.

I know I’m in deep when Auto Update, Firewall, and Windows Defender ALL fail to work. Something bad happened to the system I’m working on and that badness probably can’t be fixed by Microsofts happy crappy tools.

It would be so nice if Microsoft, instead of telling you something completely useless like “The application you’re trying to download is included in Windows version XYZ and doesn’t need to be downloaded”. Would do something like give you that message, and how to use the application. Then say something like If you still need to download ZYX application click here.

Then that link takes you to a page that explains if you’re seeing failures in the following programs, click here for an installer that will re-install all of them for you.

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The assumption being that the computer you’re working on has been compromised by some kind of malware.

 But no, Microsoft has you play ring around the KB articles until your head is spinning and you’re tired and you just want to get out of the office you’re in and move on with your day.

What do I find on Google?

A simple explanation of the cause of the problem and instructions, all written on one page with links to a repository where the damaged files can be easily obtained.

Come on… Microsoft wrote the software and should have figured out what the problem was. Why is it that some amateur on a forum can put a simple concise document out on the net that makes sense and the creators of the software can’t?

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I figured it out

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I’ve mentioned in the past how frustrated I’ve become with the job search.

I’ve been puzzled as to why this task is so darn frustrating for me.

I finally figured it out.

It’s the difference between the Old and New way.

In the old days, back in the beginning of time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth we would look religiously through the newspapers each day or every other day.

We’d read small descriptions of the jobs being offered then dutifully write a cover letter. We’d stuff the cover letter and our resumes into an envelope then put a stamp on it and drop it in our local outbound mail box.

I’d sometimes send out 5 or 10 resumes a day. Sometimes I’d send to a company I knew of “Blind” because their HR would actually file a resume for 6 months or so, sometimes longer…

Often, these applications would generate nice little letters addressed to me.

Many times these letters would say in a nice way the position had been filled but that my resumes would be kept on file.

Other times the letter would be something like “Thank you for your interest in our company we have no openings but will call you if we do.”

The best day was when a company you applied to called you to schedule an interview. That was a WHOO HOOO DAY!

Now we apply online and each application requires MORE time to fill out than writing/mailing a simple cover letter & resume.

Dice

Monster

Cybercoders

Careerbliss

Careerfinder

All of them have their own method of accepting information. They all want you to have an account, and then you have to cut and paste your resume into their form. You’d think that would be that… once the information was in their format… You click apply and all that data would be sent to the hiring company HR and bing, bang, boom, you get called for an interview.

You’d BE WRONG!!!!

You log in, search for the job, click on apply, THEN you get to fill out a 20 minute survey about the job, followed by an essay exam “Tell us why you think you should be presented to our client.” “Make us believe that you are worthy of our attention.”

The problem is this, when I start talking about what I do 50% of the words don’t make sense to the average person. Those that actually understand the words still don’t understand what I do. So I’m faced with a conundrum… Do I write something simple enough that an average person will get it without bleeding from their eyes, or do I write something assuming that a hiring manager is going to see what I wrote and understand? 

I’ve tried both ways with little difference in result.

(I’ve noticed that the job application process gets a WHOLE lot easier with these people if there are a lot of jobs and very few applicants)

Where I could crank out a nicely customized cover letter  and have it and a resume in the mail, in about 15 minutes. NOW it takes closer to 45 minutes to apply for some of these positions.

There is ONE of the above headhunter sites that is awful in this regard.

Almost every single fucking application requires that you answer different questions and move little sliders around then enter the number of year experience you have. It’s maddening! Especially since all this information is already contained in my resume. And that same information is already contained in their specific forms that I filled out when I created my account.

I’ve actually gone back to sending a fax or mailing a cover letter & resume whenever possible!

Even that can be fraught with difficulties.

Since so many of these sites link to other sites which link to other sites it’s pretty easy to get messed up thinking you’re responding to an ad from one site when it’s really from someplace entirely different.

In general, I prefer to send something I wrote, and had control over from start to finish rather than turn my future over to a snot nosed idiot.

Back in the day… If you were going to use a professional placement agency… you’d contact someone that specialized in your industry and you’d work with a single agent.

That way you could actually build a relationship and that person could sell you because they knew you. It was an implicit recommendation.

Now, you never speak with the same agent twice and you’re damn lucky if they speak English.

So to all you job placement firms… Understand that some of us have little to no desire to spend our days filling out 4 job application forms online when we can type and stuff 8 or 10 of our cover letters and resumes into an envelope or fax machine in half the time.

Heck, I have a fax machine and a nifty little usb fax modem… I might as well get some use out of them!

Maybe I should get into the job placement gig. Perhaps it’s time for OLD SCHOOL standards to return.

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Blank Pages

There Blankpageyou are my nemesis.

You mock me with your blankness.

Is your blankness a reflection of what’s in my mind?

Featureless and smooth an ephemeral phantom of real paper.

You ghostly simulation of what once had form, texture, smell, and which would take my words by soaking up the ink with which I wrote them, forcing me to choose my words carefully and with purpose.

The smell of white-out permeated the room when I chose poorly, announcing to all that I had made a mistake.

You were my blank nemesis then too. But I could touch you, tear you, crumple you and discard you with satisfaction. Knowing that I had lost the battle of words but could still snatch victory from defeat by destroying you completely.

Your blankness now is nothing more than a dance of electrons through a backlit gel. My ink is composed of the same electrons and is just as fleeting. No-one knows of the errors, the poor word choices or indeed my identity at all unless I will it.

There is no satisfaction is deleting you, or turning off the device within which you abide.

You’re ever present silent mocking still confounds me each morning.

I fear that one day you will not be blank, that one day all my mistakes will somehow fill your blankness and then all will see the typos, poor word choices and run-on sentences that I’ve carefully expunged for years.

Apparently that day is not today.

There you appear in all your blank glory, patiently waiting for me to pen something…

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Go pack the wagon Mabel

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I killed my Facebook account this morning.

I guess some people would say this is a huge step backwards. As if I’m reverting to some pioneer life and entering an unexplored desert.

I’m thinking it’s more of a step forward.

Like getting through that teenage phase where you’re on the phone for hours and hours with your best buddy or that heart wrenching first love. At the time you can’t believe how important it all is.

Once you’re through the phase you can’t believe how trivial it all was.

Of course Facebook didn’t want to let me deactivate my account without a few questions… “everyone loves social media” 

I answered their questions and went so far as to explain my reasoning in the little box they provided.

I doubt that anyone will ever read what I wrote, but at least I tried to tell them why I wanted to deactivate the account.

It’s nothing personal, I just was getting creeped out by the whole deal. There were a lot of “Friends” that live within 40 minutes of my house that I never see. 

It’s not that we try to get together and our schedules are too hectic…

We don’t even try. No phone calls no casual “how are you?” nothing but the occasional message via Facebook.

This led me to wonder are these people really friends? 

If they are friends and start calling on the phone because they can’t reach me via Facebook then obviously Facebook is having an opposite effect on society than was intended.

If on the other hand I never hear from them again… then they weren’t friends in the first place.

Either answer is acceptable. 

I’ve decided that I really do want a life that’s “real” not some simulation of life and friends on the internet.

So if you want to talk… call me, or email me. 

Just don’t look for me in your Facebook timeline… I’m not there.