Why'd I do it...

I'm wondering why I left my nice, work at home tech support job for an incoming call center... adn we've barely taken any calls.


Oh, yeah. money.


*sigh*

Despising Windows 8 still

It absolutely flabbergasts me that people can call Windows 8 more usable, or an upgrade.

Maybe with Balmer leaving, they can fix some of this... still.

Example for today: Windows Update.
Windows 7 gives you a smallish window. YOu can look at it, tuck it aside as it checks while working for other things.
Windows 8? Search, it takes you to the full "PC Settings" window. A Metro window. Full fucking screen. For ... a bit of text sayign "updates found" or "you're up to date." Yes, you can scoot it to 1/4 or 2/3 of the screen... which shrinks your desktop, where you're trying to get real work done.

Who thought this was a good idea?

I fucking hate Windows 8. Still.

*grumble*

So. How do you tell someone who seems impressed with... certain information, but thinks it goes "over their head," that the site they're so impressed with is more full of shit than a backed up sewer system in New York?

I just can't think of a tactful way of doing it...

Not going to say who referred me, but I was referred to this site full of past life, spiritual levels, NDE (near death experience) stories, etc. And the only thing I can say about the entire site is it's nothing but a bunch of new-agey, useless bullshit. I read the site, and I see bits and pieces snagged from an interpretation of the bible (strike 1, given there's no evidence of heaven or hell, and the bible's ... well, got plenty of factual issues of its own just dealing with earthly things,) some NDE book (strike 2, as NDEs haven't been proven, BUT the exact same "experiences" are reproducible just via things like pilot testing in centrifuges... and that NDE "experiences" get so much wrong when they're "hearing the doctors" and "floating above their bodies" - such as not seeing out-of-place, easily described objects put on top of cabinets SPECIFICALLY for this sort of thing, like playing cards,) a bit of hindu-ish sounding stuff here, about the only thing missing is dancing around with some crystals going woo-woo-woo.

What pisses me off MORE about the site, though, is that this person - I will hesitate right now in calling the person a con artist, they may well believe the bullshit they spew - is making MONEY on this. What's more, they're apparently "helping" soldiers who are having trouble and need, well, therapy. Someone QUALIFIED to talk to. And instead, this charlatan is doing this bullshit past life regression hypnosis *crap.*

Yes, it makes me seriously *angry.* Just like homeopaths with their "diluted to a drop of water in the ocean, because water has memory!" bullshit alternative medicine ripping people off, or "psychics" that "talk to the dead" by means of cold readings rip people off (and people keep going back - because they DON'T GET CLOSURE - so these assholes keep making money while keeping the person in pain) and the like.

They all need to either prove their stuff scientifically to stay in business, and if (if, ha, try when) they can't, have their assets siezed and returned to their victims and spend some serious time in jail.

Maybe they can read each others crystals and grope their auras while they're in there.

Did I mention...

a bigger telescope?

So my brother had one he hadn't used for a while... older Meade DS. Seems the eyepieces are a little odd - and trying to focus in on something with the 4mm is problematic to me (lenses don't seem parfocal, and 4mm is a keyhole to peek through no matter what,) but I've gotten a closer view of Venus -

Need to play with the electronics some and get that figured out. And find a .965 to 1.25" adaptor for the eyepieces. 

Also - still keeping fingers crossed for word back on a new job. Another $5/hr would be very helpful.

Downside of apartment living

I like my apartment. And I like being "home." Really, I do...


... but it sucks for astronomy.

Admittedly I want a bigger telescope, too, but I've been trying - weather permitting - to catch the Venus-Jupiter-Mercury pairing (tripling?) and I've caught... venus. Jupiter's too low, Venus sets early... and I have rooftops in the way. Blah. (And trying to catch this while weather's semi-cooperative and work is slow, I can't drive out to the middle of nowhere...)

Bigger is better...

... at least when it comes to telescopes.

I want a bigger telescope. Badly.  The little Orion scope I have now isn't bad - I can pick out stars I can't see with the naked eye, I've seen (sort of) Venus and Jupiter - enough to pick out the Galilean moons.

But they're still dots. Big dots, mind, but still dots.

I really want to see detail.

... I also want to get somewhere I can *see* these things, away from lights, apartments and garages blocking things, etc.

Anyone have winning lottery numbers? :)

Random snarkiness...

Soda that's flatter than my ex. Now that's an achievement...

I live... elsewhere, now!

Well, look at this... yes, I've been busy and thoroughly forgot about this. Not like there was a huge following, hmmm?

So, what's happened since my last update? Well, my mom got cancer. (Again. Or still. It moved.) And, after caring for her as best we could, after fighting it, after her being exceptionally brave about the inevitable... she died. It was peaceful, though I wish she could have not had to deal with her final week or two. Not that it was painful, it was just... the worst part of the decline, I suppose. On the other hand, we had the support of the family. She died Feb 13, 2012. Rest in peace, mom. We may not have always agreed - in fact, on many things, we didn't - but you were an awesome mom, and a spectacular example of what a parent should strive to be, even with human failings.

We sold the house, and I moved back home. I now have an apartment maybe two miles from where I grew up - and a very short drive from my sister, nephews and nieces (and slightly longer drive to two of my brothers.) I could probably do with a cheaper apartment, to be honest, but working from home, having an office is nice. And it's where I want to be.

I've had my first REAL winter in years. Yes, snow! Piles of it. It was glorious. Not least because I didn't have to shovel it. (Part of why I'm an apartment dweller.) Sure, too chilly to walk most days, but it's getting warmer now, so it's time to... get better walking shoes and get walking.

NCSoft killed City of Heroes, my mainstay MMO... and were absolute bastards to any attempt to keep it running or for anyone to buy it out. (The studio was working on ways of going independent, actually, and buying it back... NCSoft's "working with" them? Sure, they set up offers and conditions. Let's just say it's like having a 7'7" basketball player telling a three year old they can have their crayons if they can reach them, while holding them at arms reach over their head and pissing on them the whole time.) They did not, from any report, negotiate "in good faith." They negotiated like bastards. There are other efforts to get a superhero MMO out there now... but it'll be years if any bear fruit. Still, I'm getting art done of my characters from old screenshots. I had far too much fun in that game - and not least due to the people I met and became friends with.

I'm making music again... well, trying to. I need to practice much more. I'm freaking rusty as hell.

I'm also probably setting up two more blogs - one dealing with various things about atheism, another for my model building. Just because they're two things important to me. I'll try to update this more, too... but hey, who's actually reading? :) Still, the writing is good exercise. Think I'll try to set up a schedule of updates and stick to it. We'll see if THAT works... *snicker*

In the meantime, some Sting: