Am I Going To Try This Again? Probably!

Every once in a while I still revisit this blog and I think "damn, I'm a pretty good writer", and then think that I really should continue with this thing.  But then laziness sets in and before you know it, I don't write anything for a year or two.  It's not *exactly* a case of writers' block (though sometimes I get that too), more like "waaah, I don't feel like thinking enough to compose an entire post."  It wouldn't be so bad, but given that I'm somewhat of a grammar nazi, this shit can be time consuming.  And even then I see mistakes in my writing!  Boo-urns.

And man, my life has changed soooo much since I started this thing back in 2006.  I don't really feel like listing the myriad ways that I am pretty much a different person now, but let's just suffice it to say I've changed man, I've changed ;P

Anyway, I'm not even sure what to write about these days, but I'm sure if I brainstorm I'll figure it out.  Ugh, and then I've gotta edit all of my old posts and make sure the font color/size matches throughout all of my posts, and, yeah, that's another reason I've been so lazy.  That and the fact that sometimes I just flat-out forget that this blog exists.

So, what has inspired me to try (for the umpteenth time) this thang again?  Eh... mostly my boyfriend.  You see, he's this musician guy (super obsessed, super...) and I really have nothing of my own that I'm good at.  But wait a second!  I'm fairly good at writing, well, I'd like to think I am anyway.  So, here we go again, hopefully!

Now to sit and think of things to write about.  Sadly I'll have to type most of everything on a mobile, so that'll suck, but I'll try not to let that deter me.  Whatever -_-

Hello world, I'm back... kinda... maybe... I think *shrug* hopefully!

iEat my words

A little over five years ago, on January 28th, 2008, I went off on Apple. Why? Mostly because they had a douchey advertising campaign. Well, things change. I can admit when I'm wrong, and I was pretty much dead wrong about Apple sucking. I mean, they have had some shitty products (I still don't think the classic iPod, original iPhone or OS9 were anything great, at all), but seeing as I'm typing this from a MacBook Pro I should probably go back and make some amendments to that original post. Besides, it finally gives me a reason to post again :)

iThink Apple Sucks

iHate Apple and it's obnoxious advertising campaigns and even more obnoxious fanbois.

That much is still true. Their ad-campaigns as of late don’t seem as douchey as they used to though, but the fanbois can still be obnoxious. But really, fanbois of anything are annoying. Reading this old post of mine, I feel obnoxious!

iAm mostly talking about the iPod and iPhone, iReally can't speak for the computers, but iWould never buy one of those either.

The classic iPod, the iPod that millions of people bought before the iPhone/iPod Touch came out, wasn’t nearly as remarkable as people made it out to be. That much I can still stand behind. As far as the computers… well, I am typing this from a Mac, so yeah, I must eat those words too ^^;

Apple has a way of making the not too spectacular looks super desirable because they are stylish. Yes, Apple makes pretty products, but style does not equal substance. iWanted an iPod for a long time, but iEnded up buying a Zen Vision M because it's just plain better. Although, admittedly, iWatied for the Zen Vision M because all of the Zen products before that were butt ugly.

My Zen Vision M, funny story about that one, it randomly broke one day. The hard drive is still accessible, so technically it works, but the screen went out for absolutely no reason one day. When I Googled around about the issue, apparently there was a class action lawsuit brought against Creative over this issue. It seems it happened to a lot of people, and Creative’s response to pretty much everybody was “bugger off”. I wrote several e-mails to them asking for a resolution to the problem, but since my unit was out of warranty they gave me that “not our problem” crap… even though there was a freakin’ class action lawsuit! Oh, and then to add insult to injury they gave me a diagnostic tool, for the software on the Zen. Yeah, a screen implosion isn’t a software issue, Einstein. I eventually gave up, but in my final e-mail to them I told them that they shouldn’t be pissing their customers off when their competition is the iPod. I then bought my iPod Touch, and I totally love it. I still have my ZVM, it works as portable storage, but not much else.

The only thing the iPod can even claim to have over the Zen Vision M is that it has games. Crappy little games. Block Buster, or whatever it's called, is like so 1982. Also, the Zen doesn't have support for Macs, but who cares about that? If you have a Mac you're already fellating Steve Jobs anyway, so it's a good bet you have an iPod.

The games on the classic iPod were lame. The games on the iPod Touch are quite awesome though! As far as the ZVM not supporting Macs, they don’t, but I needed to get files off of my ZVM onto my Mac and found a nifty little utility that did just that. Oh, and also, as a proud owner of both an iPod Touch and a MacBook, I’d still have to say that Steve Jobs is most likely a douche.

Whoopty doo, Apple, you made the most basic music player ever, it doesn't have a radio ($50 extra) and iTunes is a terribly shitty program. If you have an iPod you *have* to use iTunes to put music on it. Yes, you can also use a plugin using Winamp, or a variety of other programs, I'm sure. But the fact of the matter is Apple wants you to have to use iTunes. Heaven forbid they just support the ever so new and revolutionary technology knows as "drag and drop". iAlso hear you need iTunes just to activate an iPhone. Way to push your proprietary bullshit, Apple.

As I’ve said before, I am not changing my tune on the old “classic” iPods, they were pretty damn basic for what the hype was. I did indeed have to plug my iPod Touch into iTunes before it would do anything, but oh well. I wasn’t thrilled about it, but I survived. As far as iTunes itself? It’s still not my favorite program ever, but it’s not nearly as bad as I made it out to be. Once I figured out that the auto sync function could be turned off I was happy. iTunes/iPods are still lame in that they don’t want to let you transfer your music from you iPod onto the computer (apparently, transfers are only supposed to go one way…), but there are plenty of applications that solve that problem. Should iTunes/iPods automatically support that? Hell yeah. But nothing is perfect, so you just live with it. Also, iTunes really does work better on a Mac, the fanbois were absolutely correct on that point.

Speaking of the iPhone, there are plenty of other capable phones. But oh, the iPhone is shiny! iWas still using a Sidekick 2 until recently and iStill preferred it to the iPhone. iJust wasn't too impressed with it when iPlayed with it. iAm sure glad iWent with the Sidekick LX instead of the iPhone (like it was ever even a contest). Just the simple fact that the iPhone doesn't support copy and paste is laughable, add to that the crappy touch keyboard that you can't even use a stylus on, and it just doesn't sound so great anymore.

As everybody and their grandmother knows, iPhones/iPod Touches now support copy and paste; it was included in an OS update. The first iPhone wasn’t all that though. I was definitely underwhelmed. I think what really changed everything was the introduction of the App Store. I am absolutely in love with my iPod Touch because of everything I can do on it. The touch keyboard still kind of sucks though, and AutoCorrect makes me want to torch kittens, but all in all it’s not that horrible. It still would be nice to be able to use a stylus sometimes, but the touch controls really are top notch, and multi-touch rocks. Also, as far as graphics/eye candy, the Sidekick line never could compare with the iPhone. The Sidekick has recently been re-released though (only running Android instead of the Danger OS) and I’ll need to look into it again at some point. This is an unrelated tangent, but I’m still pissed at Microsoft for killing Danger. Also, I’ll probably still never buy an iPhone. Android can definitely hold it’s own, and besides, I already have an iPod Touch, which is basically the same thing.

iAlso really hate those "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC" commercials. Way to compare a modern Mac running OSX to a PC from 1995. Hey Apple, while you are running obnoxious ads, why don't you compare a Mac running OS9 to a PC? iHaven't played much with a Mac running OSX, but iCan tell you OS9 is a pile of shit. OS9 is the only operating system iHave ever seen that was even slightly affected by Y2K. iCan only go on my own experience here, but when iWas trying to figure out the piece of crap know as an iMac running OS9 something kept coming up on the screen saying something to the effect of "Your clock is set to a date before 1900" or some such crap.

OS9 was AWFUL! It was clunky and unintuitive. OS9 is the reason that I (along with a lot of other people, I’m sure) wouldn’t even hear of giving OSX a chance for a long time. I couldn’t figure out much on OS9, but after like an hour of playing with OSX I pretty much had the OS figured out!

There is just one more thing iWould like to say about the whole Mac vs PC debate. Would all of the Mac fanbois who say "Macs don't get viruses" kindly STFU already? You don't get viruses on a PC either unless you're a total retard. Truthfully, if you're dumb enough to click on free porn or open an unknown e-mail without a halfway decent virus scan, you deserve exactly what you get.

The virus thing? It’s probably one of the major reasons that when my lappy took a dump I decided on a Mac. You see, I’m not a stupid computer user, I pretty much know what I’m doing. So when some stupid fake anti-spyware thing comes up (XP security 2011, I hate you) and compromises my computer to the point where it won’t even freakin stay on, I know something is wrong. Even before my PC took a dump, I was using Ubuntu more and more. As far as my PC taking a dump? It was my fault, I’m sure. I abused that thing like there was no tomorrow. After 5 ½ years, it was like “I’m sick of your shit, Star” and decided to not power on. I’m definitely planning on getting it fixed sometime though. You see, even though I now have a Mac and have drunk the “Apple Kool-aid”, I still see no reason to have an OS bias. I probably still won’t update to a version of Windows after XP (which is probably a big part of the reason that I was becoming more and more susceptible to viruses) for a long time yet (thanks to Vista being a huge POS when it came out), but all of the OS’s have their place. My new MacBook wasn’t a replacement for my Toshiba, it was just a new computer.

iReally could go on all night, but iAm done. End of rant, iAm spent.

Was my original rant ill-informed and biased? Hell yes! However, Apple didn’t do much to endear themselves to hardcore PC users (which I once was). When you’re a smug a-hole, it tends to turn people off.

All of that being said, my iPod Touch is an awesome PMP and I am head-over-heels in OS love with OSX. Does that mean that I think people who choose other MP3 players/operating systems are stupid? Nope, everybody to their own. Personally, even though this MacBook pwns (it really does), I still can’t wait to get my old lappy fixed. They both have their place, the MacBook is nice and portable and my Qosmio has a huge screen and some hardware that the Mac doesn’t.

I’m now a Mac. I’m also a PC though, not to mention a smelly Linux nerd :P

The moral of the story? Brands aren’t religions, and using more than one OS won’t kill you.

WeeHaw!!!! New Blog Post? No Wai!

I've started drawing again recently. I've also been thinking that I actually *can* be a funny person, so I'll put "comedy" in my bank of talents.

That being said, I've made a comic. I'm not sure if it's a one-off yet or not, but either way I need practice. The drawing sucks, it was edited in MSpaint, and the story is kind of lame, so any comments pointing any of those things out will be laughed at.

I only have the first (of two) page finished so far, so I'll go ahead and post the pictures of what the process went like from first sketch to something (somewhat) usable.

Also, my grammar/spelling probably sucks a little more than usual right now. Ever since I lost my job I've been keeping the strangest hours... so yeah, I'm tired.

Anyway, here it is!

The end, for now.

I've decided that I want to be a (successful) female cartoonist. We'll see how that goes. I think I've given up any dreams of acting or anything like that. I've gotta face it, I am not A-list looking and I still have my social problems...

So yeah, hopefully this takes me somewhere. If I have to live another year of my life wondering why the hell I was put here I may as well just put a gun in my mouth. I must be *something*, I must!

*after checking this post*

Okay... so the pictures are too big for the page, etc. I don't care right now. Dude, I need to get off of this computer!

Am I A Total Perv?

The other night on TV I saw a commercial for something called a Red Rocket Grill. That in and of itself seems innocent enough, except for the fact that I watch South Park.

As anybody who has seen the episode "Proper Condom Use" remembers, a "red rocket" is something that you get when you're "milking" a dog.

So, here's the question, am I a total perv for dog weenies being the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the words "red" and "rocket" together?

Red Rocket Grill



Red Rocket

Having Shitty Credit Is Freeing (In A Way)

A lot of people are constantly worried about their credit score. After all, I suppose that's a huge part of your life if you ever want to buy a house, car, or get a credit card. I, on the other hand, no longer care.

It all started when I was nineteen and working my first job. I had a pretty steady income, so I figured it was time to get my first credit card. I called a certain creditor, and boy was I surprised when I was informed that I already had a line of credit with them. Okay, so my name was stolen, but it couldn't be that bad, right? Wrong.

A couple of years later, when my husband and I were renting from some really anal bitches (the rest of that nightmare is a story for another day) they ran a credit check on me. Was I ever shocked when I discovered that I had thousands of dollars in debt dating back to the early 2000's. Problem is, in the early 2000's I was under age. So, like any halfway responsible person, I tried to fix my credit.

Also, there were a couple of addresses listed on that credit check, and it was everything I could do to not go to those houses and torch them. I'm a really nice girl until you fuck with me...

Anyway, you know how all of the credit card companies run ads proclaiming that they care ever so much about identity theft? Well, that's a bunch of bullshit. I went online to try to fix my credit, and was kindly informed that I wasn't me. You see, I was born in 1984, and my credit doppleganger gave a birthdate in 1975, so obviously I wasn't me. After all, how could I have run up all of those charges if I wasn't old enough for a credit card? Also, as an interesting aside, I've apparently even had a second mortgage taken out in my name.

I remember watching a talk show some years back about people who steal other people's info. What stood out the most in my mind was some fat cow bitch whining about how it was Christmas and her kids needed presents so she started down the road of identity theft. Guess what bitch? I don't give a fuck about you or your kids, and going on Montel and trying to make me feel sorry for your scuzzy ass isn't going to work. Boo hoo, get up off of the couch and get a job like everyone else. Man, I hate talk shows... trying to make the unsympathetic into victims. Screw you Montel, Oprah, Maury, and especially Dr. Phil (okay, so that's a different rant...)

Anyway, once I take three deep breaths and lower my blood pressure, I realize that I don't care. I...just...don't...fucking...care. Why don't I care? Because it really is freeing in a strange way. In other words, it gives me free reign to screw with debt collectors. I love messing with the people who give me vaguely threatening calls.

Oh wow, if I don't pay you, what are you going to do? Is this going to go on my credit score? Oh, have fun with that. Also, there is this thing called the statute of limitations, and anything you're trying to collect on is actually too old for you to still be harassing me about. Ever try to squeeze blood from a turnip? That's what you'll be doing. Have at it!

Actually, there are only a couple of bills that I actually owe on. The rest are from whoever used my name. I still get the bills for a $3,000 tennis bracelet sometimes. Yeah, like I'd spend that much money on something that stupid.

So anyway, I may never get this mess straightened out, and I may never be able to get a credit card that isn't attached to a debit card, but I could care less. Besides, if you ask nicely, most people on eBay will still take money orders (having an excellent feedback rating helps).

Okay, so now I'm going into rant mode and not really writing at my most coherent. Time to stop for the day.

Before I sign off though, the message of the day is this: don't let debt collectors scare you. What the hell can they do? All they can do is sit at their miserable call center jobs and make impotent threats. If they're rude to you, be rude back. It's fun, try it. Especially if you've had a bad day, there's nothing more fun than telling someone harassing you to go to hell.

I'm just disappointed that the number that I tried to call back today wouldn't take calls from blocked numbers, like I'm going to let them know my real number...

A Message To The Average Person: ELECTRONICS DEPRECIATE IN VALUE!

Disclaimer: I'm not complaining, I swear I'm not complaining.

The other day I was offered a computer for $200, and the part that sweetened the deal was that I could work the computer off. Well, ended up that I got the computer for free, and that is a very good thing. You see, somebody told the person who was given the computer that the computer was worth $300, so to sell it for $200 seems like a good deal, right?

WRONG!

It seems that the average person doesn't realize how much electronics depreciate in value. Hell, the way I figure it, the second you even use any item electronic in nature you can take at least 10% off of the original price right there.

Anyway, this computer is a Dell Optiplex Gx260, and from what I've surmised it was pretty big in the corporate world, oh, 5 years ago (by my assumption). It has a Pentium 4 processor, which is decent, the RAM is nothing to write home about, but 512 is decent as well (I mean, come on, not super great by any means, but it gets the job done). The optical drive... let's not talk about that... CD-ROM (that's right, it only reads CD's) is soooo 1995. The hard drive is 111 GB, which isn't bad, though it is quite an odd number. So, in 2002, when this computer was manufactured, it was indeed worth $300 (or possibly more).

The problem is, I looked it up on eBay, and this exact computer, with an even bigger hard drive (200 GB) is currently going for $60 on eBay. That means, of course, that $200 was a huge rip-off for this machine. The thing is that I know nobody was trying to rip anybody off by selling this computer for such a super inflated price. The lady who said it was worth $300 actually believed it was worth $300. Nevermind that a quick eBay search would prove that theory wrong. To them, selling a computer that was supposedly worth $300 for $200 is a pretty good deal.

Okay, so it did come with the appropriate cords, a faded keyboard, a ball mouse (yech) and a tube monitor (double yech). Those add-ons do sweeten the pot a little I assume, but the fact of the matter is that the tower is worth about $50 (since the HDD size is smaller than the one going for $60 on eBay), the monitor is worth about $6, the mouse is worthless... okay, maybe worth 50 cents, and we can say the keyboard is worth 50 cents as well. Along with the 2 cords, which we'll say are worth $1 apiece, we have a grand total of $59. That's my appraisal and I'm sticking to it, and truthfully that may even be a little high.

Ah, but let's not forget the software end of things. Windows 2000, Outlook, and a few other programs nobody cares about. Ah, and we can't forget the CD burning software, even though the CD drive is read-only. I'm not really sure what good that could possibly do, unless it magically makes a read-only drive write as well.

So anyway, I'll say it again, electronics depreciate in value. And the percentage in which they depreciate isn't a small one either. Let's take another example, one that still kind of bothers me, my beloved laptop. It is a Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513, purchased in 2005 for the insane price of $3,000. When you consider all that it does, it is one insanely bitchin' laptop. TV Tuner, Media Center, DVD-RW, beautiful screen, the list goes on. And of course the RAM, HDDs and crap like that are decent too (I'm too lazy to type *all* of the specs). Anyway, at the end of 2005 my mom bought that laptop for me for $3,000. You'd think "Oh, that was only a little over 3 years ago, it's still gotta be worth a couple thousand". That's where you'd be totally wrong. The highest price it is going for on eBay right now is about $850. I suppose it's still expensive considering the age of the technology, but it's less than one third of the original price.

Anyway, it would do people some good to learn about Moore's Law and realize that with technology getting cheaper and cheaper every day, things that are even a few years old will have an insane depreciation in value.

Once again, I am not complaining. I am never one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Even though my laptop is great, it is still more fragile than a desktop. I needed a workhorse, and I got one.

I just needed an excuse to rant and finally post to my blog again! Plus, I really do think that this is a lesson that people should take to heart... look up the value of things instead of making your own arbitrary value based on prices from years ago.

With all of that being said, I'm off to try and install Windows XP on this beast!

hello

hello, this is a post to tell people that I'm not dead. Sure, stupid candy and whatever other shit I feel like writing about may not be your deal, but I am certainly still around, just too damn lazy/too damn busy downloading torrents to blog!

I hope to be back soon!