Source Jockey

I used to like dating.  You know, back in college, where really all I had to do was study, eat, sleep, and play Goldeneye on the Nintendo.  Yeah, those were the days!  I had a part time job that paid well, so I could go on all the dates I wanted to, all while saving money.

Well, responsibility kicked in.  Dating wasn’t as easy.  There isn’t as much time, and the environment has changed.

When I go on a date now, it’s taking precious time away from what’s left of my free time.  Work takes up hours of my work day, and after that little post-21 metabolism slowdown, the gym has become more important than ever.  So when a date isn’t worth it, it’s not just a little money wasted on an undeserving girl, it’s TIME that gets flushed away, all for the hope of finding someone awesome.

It’s a high price to pay.

I’m not a smoker.  I don’t think it’s something I could ever do.  Something I’ve noticed, though, is that even smokers don’t like the smoke they emit.  Sure, they like to inhale, but exhaling, well, you don’t want to breathe THAT shit in, right?

I know this because I see smokers in their cars all the time–take a drag…then they blow it out the window.  Or they let the cigarette hang out the window (what, no ashtray?), and that’s aggravating.  You may ask why I care–well, when you’ve got someone smoking, blowing the smoke out their window, it goes into MY window.  Or even if I have the AC on, I can smell it.  The worst, actually, was some dickhead threw his cigarette butt out the window of his car, and it got stuck in my grill.  Yeah.  NOT pleasant.  I actually pulled over and removed it after I figured out that’s what the issue was.

Anyway–if you’re a smoker, and you like to smoke in your car, do us non-smokers a few small favors:

1. Smoke with your windows up.  Keep your own smoke.  It’s yours.
2. Dispose of your cigarettes properly, don’t throw them out your car window.  It’s illegal anyway (you know, littering?)
3. Don’t hang your hand out the window with a cigarette–it smokes itself in the wind and we smell it.  Yech.

I’m sorry, Bank of America, but you’ve worn out your welcome.  When you make changes to account policy without telling me, fee me based upon that change based upon an event that proceeded the policy change, then claim you notified me and refuse to refund the fee, you’re toast.  I can’t trust you anymore.

More importantly, BofA, if I may call you that, you’ve made a poor decision.  In an economic downturn, which we are obviously experiencing, you shouldn’t be raising the minimum account balance 50%, and increasing the fee when a balance falls below that.  It’s just not right.  I remind myself that I as a taxpayer have given you $15 billion dollars to help you with your poor decisions, and yet you’re not giving out more loans, you’re charging your customers more, and you’re letting your customer service slip.

I’m sorry, BofA, it’s just not working out.  I’ve found someone else, and they’re happy to have my account no matter how much I give them.

A bit of a warning–no, I’m not passive aggressive.  Usually.  But this post will make you think I am.  Driving in Los Angeles, as many of you know, is a lot like fighting small battles every day.  People cut in and out of traffic, breaking numerous laws in the process.  Drivers rarely signal, and when they do, it’s usually with their middle finger.

Every once in a while, someone will actually make space for another driver–allowing them to safely change lanes, turn, or do another procedure that would otherwise require more aggressive driving.  When someone lets me change lanes, I give them a little wave as if to say “thanks!”  After all, we’re a polite society, no?

Well, I too let people in.  And while waving is a polite thing to do, I’d say MAYBE half of the people do it.  I suppose I shouldn’t expect a thank you wave–but honestly, it’s the polite thing to do.  Today, I was feeling particularly generous–I slowed down about ten times to let people change lanes in front of me–and not one of them waved.  I was a little disappointed.

I could almost write another post about the same thing, but holding doors.  Though it’s worse–because they’re right there.

From as far back as I can remember until mid-2002, I hated Apple products.  It didn’t matter what they were, it didn’t matter what they did–they were enormous piles of crap.  I remember fixing them in high school, and scoffing at their goofy designs in undergrad.  Their performance was terrible.  OS 9?  Not even true multi-tasking!  Come ON!  Who’d spend thousands of dollars more on a Mac?  Then they starting saying how they were FASTER–but it sure didn’t seem that way, what, with all the crashing and other issues…

Then something happened.

I was at Washington Mutual at the time, doing computer work; Windows XP had just come out around that time, and boy, it was KILLING the Macs.  I decided to buy a 20 GB iPod; I had outgrown my measly 4 GB Creative Nomad; and it was DOG slow.  I opened my new, EXPENSIVE iPod.  It was sleek.  Attractive.  Solid.  Perfect.  I was amazed at the quality of the product.

After a month or so, I decided to leave WaMu to get my masters, and one of my colleagues told me to buy a Mac. “They’ve changed,” he explained.  So I read up on it.  Sure enough, OS X had gone through two iterations by that point, 10.0 and 10.1, and 10.2 was coming out that week.  I still had a bad taste in my mouth from the Macs in high school, though.  So I sauntered across the street to the Northridge Apple store where I purchased my iPod, instead to check out the Powerbooks.  Visually, they were stunning.  Titanium case, striking screen, gorgeous layout.  One mouse button.  Hmmm.

The salesperson (Specialist, as I came to know), told me about the machine.  I mentioned that I had been in IT, and that I wanted everything laid out to me technically.  He obliged, “It’s a 15 inch screen, 800 MHz G4 processor. It’s fast, though–faster than its Intel counterparts that are twice the clock speed.”  I was doubtful.  I didn’t like the dock.  I didn’t like that there was no “Run” command in the Start menu.  I didn’t like that there was no Start menu!  I could have (and I think I did, at some point) make a list of all the things I hated about it.  Then he showed me the Terminal.  And it had everything I needed.  I played with that computer for over an hour, and by the time I was done, I was convinced.  This was the computer for me.

So I walked out with a brand-new Powerbook.  A new Apple.  My worst nightmare–I had become what I hated!  For a month afterwards, I hated on the laptop as much as I could.  I told everyone who’d listen, “I’m the only Apple owner who hates the computer.  I hate it!”  Meanwhile, I had two major problems with the computer that resulted in Apple replacing it with a VERY upgraded model…  A gigahertz processor, bigger hard drive, better graphics, a DVD burner…  Amazing customer service.  I had problems with Dells, HPs, Compaqs, and Sonys before…but no one handled the problem as well as Apple.

I used the computer for another month, hating it all the while…when suddenly, I realized I didn’t miss the features I wanted to have so badly.  Sure, I couldn’t customize the size of the text in the title bar–but I found I didn’t need to.  I didn’t need the Start menu, and the Dock works great.  I became a convert.

So the years have passed, and I’ve owned a few Macs.  I now use a 15″ Macbook Pro, and while I love it, I wish I had held out for the 17″.  Nevertheless, it’s a beautiful system that I love to use.  And I wish more people would consider Macs.

Hopefully you’ve read this far, because the story above is merely background to what I actually wanted to talk about…  Microsoft is, as usual, attacking the Mac.  Rather than spending time improving their operating system, they’re still trying to make Apple look like the bad guy.  The first tried by making non-sensical commercials with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld.  Then, they made “I’m a PC” ads with lots of people (which turned out to be made on Macs.  Oops).  Then, they put ads of little 4 year olds using the PCs.  No comment.

Now, they’re getting people to go out and buy a computer under $1,000.  They’re asking them to pick a feature that is important to them, and then get the computer.  If the computer costs less, they’ll pay the difference.  So far, a woman wanted a 17″ screen.  She ended up with an HP model because it was $699, versus Apple’s $2,799 Macbook Pro.

Not a bad idea, actually.  They’re essentially telling people that Macs are more expensive than PCs.  Except for a few little things.  Obviously, there is an enormous price discrepancy in the example above.  $2,100 is nothing to sniff at.  Except that they’re very different computers.  I won’t get into details…but the HP has a slower processor, less RAM, a smaller hard drive, worse WiFi, no Bluetooth, a MUCH worse battery, no Firewire ports, a SIGNIFICANTLY (and this is very important) worse display card, and a few other silly things that don’t matter much (ie, the mouse, lit keyboard, etc.)  I’m sure the HP has a memory card slot.  But their screen is worse, too–lower resolution, and terrible viewing angles.  They’re comparing a Porsche to a Chevy Aveo.  Similar size, different animal.

Anyway.  I don’t really have much of a vested interest in this (I think I own three shares of Apple), but every time I see someone switch to a Mac from a PC, they’re happy.  And Vista…well…it’s not that bad…it’s just not good.  Compare it to OS X, especially 10.5 (the current version), and…wow.  Apple’s more efficient, reliable, easy-to-use, and FASTER!

Ok–I’m getting off of my Apple soapbox.  I didn’t intend this to be that long, I’m sorry.

Yeah, I know, I’m a loser–but I love Costco.  Where else can you buy a laptop and a crate of Vanilla Soymilk, and still have room in your cart for an electronic keyboard, blender, Kirkland socks, and a pick-up truck?

No where.

Yeah, I know that buying in bulk doesn’t ALWAYS save money, but really, I’m going to eventually finish all 10,000 pills of glucosamine, and that pack of 90 oatmeal pouches?  Well, give me 5 months, and I’ll get ‘er done!  Don’t even start me on the electric tooth brush–at least I have a backup now, thanks to the two-pack!  No cavities for me, thank you very much!

Costco embodies our instincts to stock up.  It just makes sense.

With one exception: If you don’t like that trailmix…too bad, pal, you’ve still got 15 lbs to go.

While I was driving on the 210 today, I saw a guy in a Lexus SUV driving a little differently than I’m accustomed to seeing.  While he wasn’t swerving through the lanes, he was slowing drifting within his own lane, only to suddenly jerk back.  He did this about ten times or so.  I thought to myself, “he must be text messaging someone.”  Sure enough, as I passed, I looked, and the guy was completely involved in his phone.

Yikes.

I passed him, and kept going.  Someone needs to make a nice application for phones that will to speech-to-text for people just HAVE to email/text while they drive.

There’s a good chance I’m slightly addicted to television.  I watch way too much of it.  Some shows I consider my “must watch” shows, and others are more…elective.

MUST WATCH

• NCIS
• The Office
• Law & Order
• House
• Hell’s Kitchen
• Battlestar Gallactica
• Chuck
• Heroes
• Family Guy
• Lie to Me

ELECTIVE

• Bones
• ER
• CSI: Miami
• CSI: New York
• Knight Rider

I can’t think of the others at the moment.  I know there are more, but that’s pretty much the gist.  I can’t believe I have enough time to watch ANY of them.  What a waste of time!