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Hey Apple, here’s a thought…

I saw that you were having some trouble getting people to come into the office.

It’s in The Wall Street Journal today.

You know what? I’d come into the office. I’d work for a reasonable salary, and not demand much of anything.

Give me some reasonable medical coverage, and enough cash after taxes to pay my bills and I’d be a happy camper. Put me in a cubicle and give me software to test. I’d keep my head down, do my job, and leave at the end of the day.

I’ve got 40 years of experience in technology. I’m not particularly political, (at least not at work,) I don’t give two shits about catching COVID, been there, done that.

I’m not interested in social justice, or trans rights, all I want is a job. In my view none of the politically charged stuff has a place in the workplace. That’s stuff that each employee can pursue in their personal time.

Oh I’ll be polite, I’ll be Politically Correct, I’ll listen to people decrying the injustices they’ve endured but I’m not going to comment or engage with it.

I’d come into work, do my job, and that’s it. I’m not interested in office politics or becoming management. I’ve done both, and am old enough now to recognize that neither is my cup of tea.

I’d like to just work in the trenches.

You’d know that if you’d ever bothered to respond to the multiple applications I’ve filled out seeking employment in my field with your company.

Honestly, my offer seems like a reasonable one. A trouble free employee who shows up on time, does their job, and collects their paycheck.

I have zero social media profiles except for this blog and LinkedIn. I’d not be Twittering, Facebooking, Instagramming, or posting on Tic Toc, during working hours.

Seems like that would be an employer’s dream.

Given that you’ve ignored my applications for years, I can only assume you’ve become far more interested in Social Justice Work than making reliable products and software.

Nonetheless, if you change your mind, fire off a comment to this post. I’m sure we could talk.

I’m even willing to relocate. Bear in mind, if you’d want me to move to Cupertino or Northern California it would affect my base pay requirement calculation. The rents up there are wicked high. One thing though, I’m white. Hiring me could negatively affect your diversity quota.

Just a thought Apple…

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The FBI did something right for a change

FBI Forensics confirmed what most people already knew.

Alec Baldwin pulled the trigger.

ABC News reports the gun had no malfunction per the FBI Forensic report.

Alec is in big trouble. Though I doubt that he’s going to see the inside of a prison. He should, but we all know that if you have enough fame, fortune, and appear often enough denying that you did something wrong you’ll get away with it.

Halyna Hutchins’ family will perhaps finally see some justice.

Baldwin showed up on CNN still denying that he was negligent, careless, and stupid. He makes it sound like somehow Trump is involved, in that he feared for his life after Trump’s comments on the matter.

Baldwin seems to be counting on people who hate Trump to lose any objectivity at the mere mention of the name and therefore believe his lies.

He goes on to whine about losing jobs.

Big Deal Alec! At least you have the capacity to lose jobs over this, unlike Hutchins who is dead by your hand.

I’ve written about this before, here, and here.

I still haven’t changed my mind. Alec Baldwin was careless, probably didn’t follow the safety protocol for guns on set, and deserves to become persona non grata in Hollywood.

I hope that he’s tried somewhere where the jury pool has a working knowledge of guns, and that the judge in the case throws the book at him.

Poor little Alec may finally learn that guns don’t kill people. Ignorant people handling guns improperly without due respect, kill people.

I think that Alec should be left destitute, or forced to make appearances as the poster boy for gun safety training at the NRA.

Unfortunately, I suspect that his scum bag attorney will spin it so that the poor Armorer takes the rap. It’s likely that will be the direction this goes she doesn’t have the wealth to mount a really good defense and Alec desperately needs to blame someone else.

Even if he destroys that person in the process.

I can’t watch The Hunt for Red October, or Betelgeuse, anymore without focusing on Alec Baldwin. It’s drained the enjoyment out of these movies for me.

His whining about his victimhood hasn’t done anything to help his image either.

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No Apple, It’s not you. It’s me

See, I have this personality flaw. I expect shit to work consistently and reliably.

I’ve got 3 pairs of HomePod speakers in this house. 4 HomePod Mini’s and 2 of the standard HomePods. I’ve got an iPad, and iPhone, a watch, 2 Apple TVs, AirPod Pros, Oh and my MacBook Pro.

On the matter of the MacBook Pro, this is my old computer because my new one was stolen while I was trying to return it to you because it was defective right out of the box.

Of Course, YOU Apple, can’t be bothered to help me out. And because your guy in sales had me flush everything and reset the computer to factory conditions, I can’t even track the machine to whoever stole it. I could have, had you not told me the procedure was to make sure the computer was wiped and disconnected from my account… So Thanks a TON!

FedEx screwed me, and Dollar General (The FedEx drop-off point) screwed me so now I’m paying for a computer that I don’t have and I’m sure the fucker that stole it is just happy as hell to have a dumb white fuck paying for their fly computer. Given that they’re probably listening to nothing but RAP I doubt they’ll notice that the sound quality is shit until the audio shuts down completely or the computer shorts out completely and burns their home down. (Hopefully with them trapped inside.)

The police say they have no evidence that the computer was stolen they’re just listing it as a missing package so I can’t even file a proper police report.

Okay, I get it nobody is at fault. Except of course the fucker that stole the damn package. Oh and by the way I’m pretty sure I know exactly who the person is. It was the person who “Scanned” the package but somehow that scan didn’t actually get recorded by FedEx. But without proof I can’t make allegations.

So I’ll suck it up, pay for the damn computer, and continue to use my old machine. You know, the one that almost immediately went from 6 hours of battery life down to 3 hours of battery life after your wonderful OS upgrade called Monterey… Yeah, Thanks for that.

Before you go into the bullshit about batteries having a limited lifespan. Yeah, I know that. So why does the battery still say it’s got 94% of its charge capacity, and is in good health? Why did the battery drain begin literally the day after the Monterey upgrade?

The thing is, I’d probably be able to let it go except you Apple keep getting in my face. HomePods randomly report they’re not available. Then after considerable screwing around with them they magically come back. The Big HomePods reported yesterday that they weren’t on the same network as my iPhone. Wrong! The Router said the iPhone and HomePods had ip addresses and were pingable on the network.

Turns out… only one of the HomePods had a problem but since they’re a paired set well, the only way to sort it out was to ungroup them, then reset the one that was complaining and then regroup them.

This after the same set of HomePods asking me 3 days running for the passwords to my apple accounts and both of them working just fine as the sound system for the AppleTV while I was watching movies. Oh and just as a point, these HomePods had been set up from the phone they said wasn’t on the same network. Oddly, the other HomePod minis on the same network where fully functional.

Today, I thought I’d put a TV show on my computer while I was doing some other stuff. You’d think this wouldn’t be a problem except that the Apple library doesn’t show the second season of the TV show but Apple TV+ does.

My Archer collection is horribly screwed up, apparently because I had the temerity to purchase a multi season bundle. Not ONE of the episodes in that bundle has ever indicated that it’s been played, so if I wanted to watch I had to search through and remember what I’d already seen.

It gets better! I’m watching the show that I wanted to watch after finding it in AppleTV+ “up next”. I’m using my office HomePod Mini’s for sound and for no apparent reason, the right speaker simply shuts off.

The speaker is on the network, the router shows it talking to someone. But all the audio is coming through the left speaker. It was working just fine, nothing changed in the configuration other than time passing.

Restart the computer, power down the HomePods power up again, and things worked for 5 minutes, then boom, the right speaker is off again. What’s really cool is that if I touch the right speaker’s interface it starts playing music. While the left speaker is still playing the audio from the TV show. So much for them being a stereo pair!

Just FYI Apple this kind of shit is exactly why I dumped Windows and PCs.

Either be broken, don’t work at all, or work as advertised. I swear to God I unplug or reset at least one HomePod once a week because it suddenly says it can’t connect to the internet, or it’s taking too long to contact a device on the network, or it’s forgotten a password, or, or, or, or.

The point is, all of this crap just happens randomly. I’m not changing network settings. I’m not changing passwords. I’m just walking into the house or the room and shit mysteriously isn’t working.

The Homekit application on the phone is next to useless. The HomeKit on the computer is worse and that’s frankly inexcusable. You’ve got all the competing power of the MacBook at your disposal for diagnostic capabilities and you send the user to their iPhone or iPad for help that is nothing more than mental masturbation that literally has never solved a HomeKit or HomePod problem.

Instead you leave the user guessing about what could possibly be the trouble. Additionally, your support pages are next to useless because they provide no answers, and often not even decent steps to troubleshoot.

So Apple it’s not you. It’s the phase of the moon, sunspots, the router, the internet connection, or anything that doesn’t point to you having put out shitty software.

Just once it would be fucking nice to hear you admit you have a problem.

Here’s a thought… Stop dicking around with gender confused narcissists, and filling diversity quotas, and do us all a favor.

Hire people that can do the job. You know, good software engineers, and testing people.

By the way I’m probably not going to be buying another Apple Watch. I’ve discovered that I prefer a watch that works without recharging and at $1000 for one of your ruggedized watches. I’d rather wait a few years and spend $6000 on a nice Omega.

I’m probably not going to upgrade my iPad and I’m not likely to be buying a new iPhone in the near future.

As to buying a new Apple MacBook Pro… Well, I’ve already purchased one of those, even though apparently I donated it to some thieving motherfucker at your direction. I’ve reported that serial number to you Apple as stolen and had some expectation that when that SN popped up on the network you’d maybe report it to the Police.

That hope is fading fast.

So if Apple won’t report stolen equipment to the Police and is no longer interested in producing equipment “That Just Works” I am really having a hard time seeing why I should pay a premium price for Apple products.

In this world, perhaps it make more sense to just buy the same shit that everyone else has and replace it when it’s a year old, stolen, broken, or comes in a new color.

(Like Apple did with the HomePod minis last year… Nothing new except a color change, really Apple? Is that all you’ve got left?)

How’s that going to work for your Green Agenda? Apple can recycle their stuff all day long but if fewer folks are buying their products it’s not going to matter much is it?

I can buy a new android phone for $99 at Walmart and throw it away next year. I could do that for 10 years and just start to come up on the price of an iPhone.

$300 for a Windows Laptop and it’s the same equation.

$69 for an Alexa, or whatever and I still have the same shitty performance, connectivity to my smart house, and a speaker.

That’s going to do a lot of landfills good across the country isn’t it?

So no Apple it’s not you. I’m just tired of paying a premium price for mediocrity.

Believe me Apple you’ve become mediocre.

Now where did I put those speakers that I can plug directly into my USB Hub?

Maybe I’ll put one of these HomePod minis in the kitchen and another one in the garage. No point in expecting them to work as stereo speakers is there?

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30 Years

I’ve been a little blue the past few days. I’m not sure why that is.

On the other hand God knows there’s a lot that I could be blue about. Almost all the news is bad. I find myself waiting for the next new atrocity to come out of some country or our own government.

Yesterday was particularly tough. I wasn’t sure why, but the day seemed just harder than usual. To be fair, the day started out with a glorious sunrise. The smell of fresh brewed coffee wafted from the kitchen. The dog sniffing my face asking, “Are you awake yet?”

I scanned the headlines, pausing to read one of the many articles about the new preponderance of IRS agents. I smiled thinking about my Dad he’d be having a shit fit about it.

Dad really didn’t like the IRS, and apparently the feeling was mutual.

Then it hit me. It was the 30th anniversary of my Dad’s death.

Whoa! I thought I was doing the math wrong. I wasn’t.

I hadn’t really been paying attention to the number of years that had passed, but I wonder if some part of me was acknowledging the anniversary without bringing it to my conscious mind.

30 years ago, by this date it had been a rough couple of months. Little did I know at the time, but things were going to get a lot rougher before some semblance of “normal” would return.

In that moment 30 years ago, I had only what was immediately in front of me. A family that I barely knew telling me how they thought I should do things.

My younger Brother, (who was old enough to carry a gun in the DMZ in Korea and later Desert Storm, but couldn’t buy a beer,) who I was trying to protect at least from the most egregious of the “Helpful” suggestions? Commands? Demands?

My Dad had been through some rough times in the last few years of his life, he was trying to stand up a business doing something that he seemed to love. He’d left the state he grew up in, and moved in with his mother in her home state. I think his plan was to jump start the business and then purchase his own home in a, sort of charming, small town in The South.

I don’t know. He never shared his plans with me. I can say that Dad had reduced his possessions considerably and become a minimalist. Whether that was due to financial need or life choice I also don’t know.

Somewhere along the line, he’d discovered he had cancer and it was too far along for any effective treatment. Perhaps that was part of the drive toward minimalism on his part.

When he died, as the eldest Son, the responsibility for all the “after life” decisions fell to me.

My Brother had been raised by my Dad more so than I. It only seemed right that he should be calling the shots so I gave my Brother as much control as he wanted. I took on the things that were “too much,” given the circumstances, and the role of running interference with the family.

I’d like to think that Dad would have appreciated the arrangement. Especially when he understood my reasoning.

All of this flooded back crashing into my brain. Suddenly, I was reliving it in a way.

I felt terribly alone.

Many times over the past 30 years I’ve wished Dad was around. I’ve wished that I could chat with him, discuss politics, have a drink, go shooting, or get his take on trouble spots in my life. I’d have appreciated his wisdom even if I went my own way. While I wouldn’t have appreciated his knowing grin when going my own way blew up in my face, I’d like to have had the experience.

I suppose I could use a bit of a pep talk from Dad. Over the past 5 years or so, I’ve felt like I’m being kicked and beaten, then kicked again while I’m already on the ground. I’m having a very hard time getting up and wonder, “why bother” often enough that it worries me.

I’m losing the game, and have no more plays. I’m out of clever tricks. Why not just take my ball and go home?

I could really stand to hear, “Son, you’re alright. Rub some dirt on it, walk it off! Get up off your ass, FIGHT! Tear the fucker’s throat out. I’ve got your back.”

Encouragement like that would be welcome right about now, just as it was when I was a boy.

Yeah, I’m 60+ but my Dad is still my Dad, and I’m still his Son.

Hmmm… Okay Old Man… Message received. I’m getting up off my ass, give me a minute.

I miss you Dad…

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Sigh… Writing and blogging misfires!

It’s been one of those time in my life where I’ll start to write something and then it all just goes to hell.

I’ll write a paragraph, get to the end and think, “Where was I going with this?”

Oh I’ll push on hoping that everything resolves itself in the end, but it doesn’t.

Things just get worse. Then I’ll go back an re-read what I’ve written and think, “This is really not worthy of me.”

The blessed [DELETE] key is pressed and my computer dutifully asks me if I’m sure.

“Of Course I’m sure! Have you read this drivel?” I say outloud to the computer.

The computer responds, “Not my Table!”

The offending document is hurled into the bit-bucket and I try again.

I suppose all writers have times like these.

I’m just tired of feeling like somehow I’ve dropped 50 points on the IQ scale.

On the plus side, if my IQ is dropping maybe soon it will drop to a point where I don’t know how stupid I am?

I don’t know if ignorance is bliss, but the way things are going I may soon find out.

I moved on from being unable to write. To reading something from a gentleman whose writing I always find informative and educational.

The piece is called:

My Gratitude For the Apologies and Sincere Expressions of Regret

As most of you know, I love a good bit of sarcasm

The author is Thomas Harrington. Here is his short Bio

Thomas Harrington, Senior Scholar at the Brownstone Institute, is an essayist and Professor Emeritus of Hispanic Studies at Trinity College in Hartford (USA) where he taught for 24 years. He specializes in Iberian movements of national identity Contemporary Catalan culture. His writings are at Thomassharrington.com.

Professor Harrington’s piece might not make sense to you if you are unaware of the CDC’s recent reversal of position on COVID.

For your convenience, here is another piece from Brownstone Institute. Within the piece is a link to the actual CDC report. The article itself does a good job distilling the salient points.