Category: Things that make you say hmmm?

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Yet another example of poorly thought out projects.

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In an earlier article, the LA Times mentioned in passing that several of the schools that iPads were being distributed at, didn’t even have internet. 

I’m not talking about WiFi, the Times article led the reader to believe that internet wasn’t available at all.

This is a situation where the school district is wasting money right from the get go for Political reasons not for the benefit of the kids.

Now it’s clear that the software is far less complete than the first article led the reader to believe.

Yes, That first article listed a plethora of issues

No interenet at schools

No WiFi

Software that was being rolled out but was incomplete.

Teachers with little or no training on the software, or how to implement it in their curriculum.

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Now this morning there is a report of 71 iPads missing albeit apparently from a pilot program. Followed by this article describing that the students had “hacked” the iPads.

This is not hacking. This is nothing more than kids being handed something that frustrated them. Their natural response was to say “fine I’ll really screw it up!” Then they discovered the hole in the software that let them actually use the device as it was intended to be used, sans incomplete buggy software.

Second, the sites that the children were accessing should have been blocked at the school district infrastructure level.

This is done in corporate America all the time, it’s no mystery and not magic. Sure the iPad would work normally at a Starbucks but who cares? The kids aren’t at Starbucks if they’re in class are they?

Another article in the Times said that the iPads weren’t allowed to be taken off school grounds when did that change?

And then lets not forget that LAUSD figured out that they’re probably going to need keyboards. D’OH!

I’m all for education.

But I’m more for having a plan. Technology can’t and shouldn’t be expected to fix all ills. Poorly implemented technology is worse than no technology.

There’s nothing wrong with a book, or a school library. Or for that matter computers in controlled educational settings.

This debacle is going to cost not only the tax payers in dollars, it’s going to cost the kids in time lost in the classroom fiddling with technology when they should be fiddling with learning.

The software company who’s developing the programs for LAUSD and their contract should be reviewed by an independent group to figure out what was agreed to, what was delivered, and how deadlines were arrived at.

If LAUSD rolled out the software and iPads prior to the originally agreed upon time, then the folks at LAUSD should be replaced.

Sorry, but rampant stupidity just spins me right up…

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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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I really shouldn’t get so spun up… BUT DAMN!

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My Nike+ Fuel band is broken and needs repair. I look up the warranty and find the receipt then discover that I only have to take the fuel band down to the local Nike store and they’ll repair or replace it.

Great! I print out the receipt, and the warranty page which clearly states “To obtain in-person warranty support bring the defective product and sales receipt to a Nike retail store…“

Yesterday Morning, I sync the last data out of the fuel band, locking up my computer in the process.

Really?

You choose NOW to lock up? I swear I’ve done exactly this same procedure 100 times in the past 8 months and had no trouble at all.

But this time WHEN I need to get out the door, It’s a hard lockup.

Great! I sit down, disconnect all the cabling from the laptop open it, press and hold the power button then restart the system. I reconnect all the cables and boom I’m out the door.

I saddle up and drive the 45 minutes to the Nike Store.

I’m in the parking lot and heading for a parking space when a crazed bitch pops through the parking lanes does a U-turn in front of me and whips into the parking space I was pulling into then she gives ME Shit for being close to her POS car WHILE she’s talking to her phone in speaker phone mode and I’m the one who’s in the wrong…

Riiiight! I called her a bad name, I actually called her a fat assed one…

I backed up a little and went to the furthest parking spot in the freakin parking lot.

I don’t want no trouble, I just want to get into this shopping center, do my shit and get the hell out of here and home BEFORE it gets completely insane!

I hoof it to the store, wait in line and get to the cash register.

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I hand the clerk the broken fuel band and the receipt plus a printout of the warranty… then ask him “who should I talk to about this?”

He looks at the warranty paper then goes to get someone else. OK Fine…

The new guy looks at the warranty paper and the receipt and says “you bought this in December from Nike”

I’m starting to get a bad feeling but I figure nope, I’ll be nice.

“Yep direct from Nike. The button is broken I just need to exchange it. Under warranty which is 1 year and we’re not there yet.”

He says, “We’re supposed to get them in tomorrow.”

Which begs the questions I think to myself “You’ve never had them in the first place?” or “Is this just a way to get me out of the store”

He continues, “To do the exchange we need to have all the parts that came with it.”

Now I’m sure this is a delay tactic. But I think to myself I’ve still got the original box, and the parts and accessories I can pack ’em all up and come back tomorrow.

I point out that the band is the failure point and that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just have a big box of the bands without their clasps in the back room and simply do a replacement from that stock. Just swap the customers clasp right there in the store it would take 2 minutes tops and would prevent the bands in the back from being pilfered since they’d fall off without the clasp mechanism.

But THAT would of course be too freakin intelligent. 

Ok, I’m annoyed… but not ticked off. 

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I head out to my car and sure as shit, there’s a rusted out POS parked crooked and so close that I can’t open my drivers door.

Fine! I crawl into the passengers side and squirm my way into the drivers seat. It’s 97F outside. Inside the car it’s well beyond that.

I fire the beast up and hit MAX on the A/C then pull out of the parking lot.

I have one more stop to make. I need to deposit a couple of checks at the credit union. I head toward them, make a right, make another right, then make a left into a shady parking spot. SCORE!!!

Go inside, stand in line… and stand…. and stand… and stand. WTH?

Only Two tellers and both of them occupied with two crazy women. One demanding that the money be recounted (6th time) “‘cause she be knoin she gave dat teller another $40” at one teller window and at the other window the woman is explaining her boyfriends access to the various accounts and that she thinks he’s cheating on her and she needs to get herself some money that aint his money… 

At which point my eyes and ears are starting to bleed.

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I’m wondering if the ATM would be a better option when miracle of miracles a third teller appears at the counter and waves the guy in front of me over. Progress! My eyes and ears are still bleeding. But I might make it out of the credit union before 9PM this evening.

Finally my turn, I hand the teller my endorsed checks, I swipe my ATM card and enter my PIN (Might as well have done the ATM thing) and tell him I want to deposit these checks and get $100 in cash. And that’s when it all fell down…

He looks at the checks, and then logs out of his computer. “Please wait, I’ll be right back…” 

ZIP he’s over conversing with a woman that looks like she put the whole lemon forest in her mouth. After 5 minutes the young guy comes back.

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I ask him what the problem was… He couldn’t read the first word of the spelled out amount… Sigh…

I remind him about wanting the hundred back. Then I’m done… Out the door and across the parking lot I see… a POS parked too close to my passenger door and an orange cone near my drivers door. WTF?

Oh the orange cone is from the mobile car wash guy who’s working on a Mercedes and has gotten my car with the water as he rinsed the Mercedes. He’s looking at me with fear in his eyes.

I guess by rights I could demand a free car wash but the poor guy looks so sorry, hot, & tired, I don’t have the heart. Besides my car is filthy the most he did was add to the water spots already in the dust on my hood. Big Deal!

It’s 99F when I get in the car. I’m on the road again heading North. 18 Wheelers are taking up 3 of the 3 lanes and not giving anyone a break as we inch along toward the freeway.

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Eventually the 18 wheelers manage to take up only 2/3 of the available lanes, me along with everyone else squirts through the opening and ahead into open lanes. Shortly though several cars are playing Indy 500 pace cars and we’re all crawling along catching every light.

Grrrr….

Finally the Freeway! Zip… I’m on cruising and all is well. I come up on Day Creek there’s enough room for 2 cars between me and the guy in front of me. The two cars merge perfectly and get on the freeway without problem. I’m watching the traffic as we approach the I-15 Northbound it bunches up in this area and it’s not uncommon for someone to realize they need to get on the i-15 and they’re not in the correct lane. This results in someone sailing across 6 lanes of traffic and further increase in the backup around the transition.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a white infinity SUV ON MY RIGHT! There’s either no lane or they’re about to run out of lane but they’re accelerating! There’s no room ahead of me, what the hell are they doing?

I’ve been moving at the same speed neither faster or slower there’s 1/4 mile of open road behind me and this dumbass has accelerated and is trying to force herself in to a space that is too small for her bloated ass and why is she doing this anyway?

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I’ve got nowhere to go, I can’t change lanes, and I figure the minute I touch my brakes so will she and we’ll still have a deadlock.

I keep moving at the same speed and hope she figures out that her best choice is to drop behind me like a good little BITCH and stop trying to cause an accident.

I momentarily think of the relative values of our vehicles and her probable impact point on my car, Yep! It would be her fault and I’d sue the fucking hell out of her. But nah… I just want to go home.

So I accelerate a bit to get out of her way because I still have nowhere to go… and the dumb bitch accelerates too!

Now it’s insane! She finally drops behind me as she should have done in the fucking first place and gets on the freeway.

As she takes the faster lane next to me another little bitch…

(I’m thnking a much worse word that is prefaced with Rancid, Diseased, Dried up, and ends with the bad word)

…in the passenger seat flips me off with her $90 manicured nails and enough diamonds on her fingers to make Xerxes I of Persia jealous.

I can’t stop myself, I safely signal and change lanes, I pull my phone out of it’s holster and snap a picture of them from behind.

NOW is when they get concerned that maybe, just maybe, they’ve pulled the wrong fucking guys chain. They speed off and I change lanes back to the slow lane to make the transition home.

You know, I just want to go about my life, It shouldn’t be an ordeal every fucking time I leave my driveway.

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This is one of the reasons that I’ve wanted to leave California for the last 5 years. I’ve actually wanted to leave this state for about the last 20 years but you make sacrifices for your significant other. The last 5 years however have made me want to be somewhere else I’m almost to the point of ANYWHERE else.

When do I get to go someplace that’s civilized?

I couldn’t help but think as I was finally heading home about that old saying “an armed society is a polite society” and that California is mostly disarmed now days.

Then there was the usual bullshit going up the I-15.

I’m going to get a sign to post in the back window of my vehicles, it’s going to read;

HEY DUMBASS!

It’s a simple rule…

SLOWER TRAFFIC TO THE RIGHT!

I finally get home. I’m hungry, spun-up and what should have been an hour errand at most, turned into a 3 hour tour. I think that’s going to be a new saying for me. “example, Then I was on a Gilligan – Something that should have been over far sooner than it actually was.“

I’m pissed off and storming so I sit down at my computer.

Logic, rationality, and calmness are what I’m craving.

I click on my browser, I want to look at some settings on the blog and maybe read the news.

The computer locks up… again… I have absolutely no control…

REALLY??????

AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

I need a drink!