If You Can’t Do It Right, Bugger Off

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Dear software developers:

If you are unable to create your software in a way that follows standards clearly put forth by Apple, Microsoft, etc — please don’t sell software. As a possible exception, if you feel the need to create non-standard software that only works on a standalone computer and only works for the user that installed it, offer instructions on how you’ve done your misdeeds, so someone like me can fix it post-install. As a last resort, if you must sell absurdly written, voodoo requiring software, advertise in your sales pitch that it’s total crap and will only work if you use it at home. Institutions actually rely on well designed software, so that our network infrastructure can like, function and stuff.

I’m talking to you Adobe.
I’m talking to you Inspiration.
I’m talking to you Microsoft, but I know you’re not listening.

I’m sick of writing scripts, moving folders, creating aliases/symlinks, chmod -R 777ing, and otherwise borking my workstations so we can use your new whizbang crap. I hate you all, just so you know.

Your Pharmacist Knows Best

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tussionex.jpgI don’t remember yesterday. At all.

See, as many of you know, I’ve been sick for about a week now. I finally went to the doctor (Donna made me, I won’t lie), and he gave me some prescriptions, and took some of my blood. He also took some of my money, so it seems a little unfair.

One of the prescriptions he gave me was for Tussionex, which is a cough medicine that contains codeine. I’m allergic to codeine, and my medical record shows I’m allergic to codeine, but the doctor said I should be OK. When my wife went to the pharmacist to get my prescriptions filled, HE noticed I was prescribed codeine, and HE thought it was a bad idea, but since the doctor acknowledged my allergy and said it was OK, the pharmacist did fill it. I should have listened to the pharmacist.

The first few days, I handled the codeine just fine. I took it before going to bed, and managed to get decent sleep. The third night, however, was not so great. I took the medicine before bed, and didn’t get a moment of shut eye.

All night long, I itched from head to toe. In fact, I still have some red marks on my face from scratching all night long. I couldn’t get out of bed, because I was so dizzy I couldn’t walk straight. And to top it all off, by morning, I didn’t feel any better, and apart from the itching lessoning, I kept feeling worse. By midmorning, I was so dizzy, I could barely walk to the bathroom — but walking to the bathroom was pointless anyway, because I couldn’t urinate no matter how much I tried. (Overshare, I know)

Apparently, I felt the need to get out and move around (maybe to work the medicine out of my body), so I volunteered to dog sit for my sister in law. I vaguely remember that. After THAT, however, I guess I helped our youth group rake a lawn, and traveled across town to a pizza party. The only thing I remotely recall about the latter is sitting in a couch, with no idea how I got there, or how I got home afterwards. It made for a scary realization this morning when I woke up. I was messed up yesterday!!!

So yes, the doctor will be getting an earful tomorrow. I’m not going to sue or anything, but dog gonnit, I’m gonna call him out on the carpet. The moral of the story? Listen to your pharmacist. And your wife.

Sick and Tired

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sick.jpgI’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. And sore. And hot, then cold. And cranky. And recliner-bound. And probably stinky. And wearing glasses. And being unshaven.

I’m ready to be better now. Seriously. Any time.

Any.

Time.

NOW.

Scary stuff

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This scared me today:
picture-5.png
But it was healed a bit later. I didn’t realize how much I depend on Google… Even my NaNoWriMo novel is on Google, so they better pay their electric bill, because I need them to stay running!

(Novel is going very slowly, and the site redesign wasn’t just me procrastinating, it’s something I’d been working on a while. 🙂 )

Gaming

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I recently wrote an article about the Quake III gaming engine being released open source, and the games that have developed from it. It’s here, but unless you’re a Linux Journal subscriber, you can’t read it yet. (Feel free to subscribe, by the way ,it’s a great magazine, and they have a pleasant habit of giving me money…)

Anyway, today, we had an after school gaming program. Thankfully, I just happen to have some recent experience on some free multiplayer games. 🙂 Yep, there was a lab full of kids playing open source games, and loving it. No, they weren’t using Linux — but hey, baby steps. At least all the students are familiar with Linux!

It went great, and it’s tied into tutoring of At-Risk kids, so it’s a win-win situation. Well, I didn’t win much, but the kids do. 🙂

UPDATE: Huh, 3 links to Linux Journal in one post. I’m feeling a bit like a fan boy. Here: Have a couple other links not related to Linux. (BTW, that Garfield comic is one of my favorites!)

Novel Update

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I’m sick, I’m miserable, and I’m terribly behind. I haven’t given up or anything, but I feel like crud. I’m going to plug away a bit tonight, but I’m not going to let my behind-ness be an excuse to quit.

Hope you all are doing well. 🙂

Wordcount, Day 1

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I wrote 1833 words today. Which is, not too bad. The really cool part is that for the first time ever, I had FUN writing fiction! Not looking back and just writing was hard, don’t get me wrong, but it was also freeing.

My characters actually came to life a bit, and it was really fun watching them interact. I’m sure there will be drudgery, but I had so much fun today, that it will hopefully be worth it in the end.

Good night all!

NaNoWriMo, baby…

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NaNo Baby!I decided to write a novel. 🙂 Yeah, yeah, I’ve been saying that for years, but I’m taking advantage of National Novel Writing Month, and I’m going to try to really do it. Basically, for the month of November, entrants must write like crazy, and by the end they must have 50,000 words.

The catch? Well, for one, that is a lot of writing! Two, you’re not allowed to go back and edit, etc. The whole point is to GET ‘ER DONE. Since my inner critic is so nasty, he’s stopped every other novel writing attempt at about 150 words. I keep going over and over and over that initial 150 words, and never get any further.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep the bass turd at bay, and get the novel done. It’s about 1,667 words a day, including Thanksgiving, so I should get started!!! (If I post less often, now you know why. I’ll try to update on my progress though. Feel free to spurn me along.)

Unsolicited Leopard Review

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leopard1.jpgI keep reading reviews about how great OSX 10.5 is, and how much I should praise Steve that I have such an OS. Like in my pre-release review, I’m still less that excited. Here’s a list of 7 things that frustrate me about Leopard:

1) Time machine, it all it’s awesome splendor, is pointless for me. Sure, I could repartition my drive, and make a spot to mirror to — but would it really have been that hard to allow me to just point to a folder? Come on, it doesn’t do anything magical to the second drive (or partition), so why make me reserve a crapload of space? And don’t get me started on the inability to use my Airport-friggen-Extreme hard drive for Time Machine. Guess why I bought that overpriced access point? Yep, the upcoming “amazing” program. Ugh.

2) Mail got all crazy, what with it’s ToDo, Notes, etc. I’ve read that it’s so much faster now, but I haven’t noticed ANY speed increase on my IMAP connection. The one redeeming quality is that I can actually have it permanently accept my self-signed SSL certificate — I was never able to figure that one out in Tiger. But still, I’m not impressed with the redesign, and since I despise HTML mail anyway, Mail seems to be ALL fluff.

3) While I understand the need to ask about opening a new application, that “first run” acceptance window just stinks of Vista. Again, I know it’s a feature, but it just makes me throw up a little in my mouth every time I install a new app.

4) iCal doesn’t sync with my 10.4 machines. I haven’t actually tested this with the retail version, because it borked up my calendars so bad with the pre-release. Does it have to be so tied to the OS that a simple application update couldn’t bring them up to speed?

5) iSync in general is a bit odd. Do I really need my Dock to sync? What if I have different applications? What if I use some things at work, but don’t want to even see the icon at home? It just seems like a weird feature to me, but since this is my review, that’s what matters. 🙂

6) Spaces is a feature that I’ve always liked about Linux. I don’t use it very often, but I like that the idea has finally made it to OSX. It’s not easy to figure out how to move applications to other spaces, but it is possible, so I won’t complain too much. It just doesn’t seem as easy as with Gnome or KDE.

7) Here’s the real deal: I don’t see any reason at all to upgrade. I know, that’s harsh, but really — apart from a few more translucent menus and such, Leopard has been a really expensive upgrade that amounts to a new, “theme.” WTF? Why are all the reviewers so amazed and so happy?