2.4.2k9
I don't really give a damn that I don't know my way around LA very well. I don't intend on staying here long enough to become an expert. So, like many of you, I bust out Google Maps to light my way when I'm going somewhere I ain't been before. This is usually a so-called "slam dunk," but when Goog starts telling me to "Flip a bitch," or, "make a U-turn" as some of you call it, I call bullshit. I had to take Ez to the vet ... er ... pediatrician ... and while I knew the back way to it, I wanted to know the fastest way.
So into Google Maps goes the starting point and the destination. It spits out the predictable route (the same way with a slight mod for my place to MY doc) but it says to take a right at Manchester, flip a bitch and continue the opposite way down Manchester - all this in the place of taking a LEFT at Manchester, a traffic maneuver I know can be legally made.
It took some fucking with the little blue line on the Google Map, but I found the magic zone that let the Google route take the left turn, so I knew that the Google Map robot was quick to suggest the U-turn.
Forward a few weeks and I'm going to my doc at his Marina office and as I haven't been to it before, I Google Map out a route. Sure enough, the route orders a U-turn at Mindinao. "Crap!" I declare and shrug off the suggestion, deciding to circle around west of the office, turn left and left again and thereby approach from the south. Sounded pretty good and worked up to the point that there was ... uh ... NO LEFT TURN onto Lincoln (my northerly left turn). On through the light I needed to turn at I went, and wound around the hospital complex and found another NO LEFT TURN. Farther and farther on before I could turn North. I had to then go pretty far west and eventually found myself on Google's suggested path ... to the point that I got to it's suggested U-turn ... which was clearly marked as a left-turn lane with U-turn privileges. One tire-squealing U-turn later and I'm right where I should be. At this point I felt not unlike the turd that had been circling the fuckin' drain for a while. Dammit.
Tonight - Homestead.
bye-ee!
whrr ... clik!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Fenestratio !
2.3.2k9
Fer better or worse, computers are quite crucial to my life. Communication, entertainment, research, news, "relaxation," and my CAREER have computers as the key component. I'm really happy with my home computer setup. I got a slick, fast, feature-rich PowerBook that runs a fantastic operating system. I got a huge storage drive that currently has about 50 days-worth of music. And I got a phone, a camera and another gadget that play nicely with the computer.
I'm not having the same joy with my work computer. Sure it's fast and the applications work as they're intended to, but dealing with the Windows OS has always bummed me out. Recently there's one particular thing about the Windows experience that kills me: The "Windows Button."
If you don't know of the "Windows Button," it's fairly simply explained. One button to the left and to the right of the spacebar is the "Windows Button." Pressing it one gets booted out of the application they are in and presented with the "Start Menu" that contains shortcuts to applications. Ok, on the surface it's a fine idea. A hard-wired shortcut that MS knows by god that its customers NEED. Realistically, though, it sucks. It sucks because when one augments their primary input device (in my case a Wacom pressure-sensitive graphics tablet and stylus) with the keyboard to quickly change tools, the "Windows Button" is strategically located to get in the way. My work demands attention, concentration, focus and precision. I cannot afford to break concentration by looking down at my keyboard, let alone be totally derailed by accidentally touching the "Windows Button" when trying to press CTL or ALT and being presented with a shortcut to MY DOCUMENTS. It's retarded. It needs to go.
So I'm putting a call out to a List Member. I can't remember who it was but they had a kid. A clever kid. A young lad that will be going places in his life. This kid modified his daddy's computer's keyboard. And I'm talkin' CUSTOM mod. And with a non-standard tool: His SHOE! This kid extracted the Z key from his dad's computer with his shoe. I need to rent that kid and his shoe to get over here and rid me of this "Windows Button."
Will no one rid me of this meddlesome button?
Tonight - The Attic.
Lori... that's in your 'hood!!
Here's tonight's: Find the Reference!
BART-friendly!
bye-ee!
whrr ... clik!
Fer better or worse, computers are quite crucial to my life. Communication, entertainment, research, news, "relaxation," and my CAREER have computers as the key component. I'm really happy with my home computer setup. I got a slick, fast, feature-rich PowerBook that runs a fantastic operating system. I got a huge storage drive that currently has about 50 days-worth of music. And I got a phone, a camera and another gadget that play nicely with the computer.
I'm not having the same joy with my work computer. Sure it's fast and the applications work as they're intended to, but dealing with the Windows OS has always bummed me out. Recently there's one particular thing about the Windows experience that kills me: The "Windows Button."
If you don't know of the "Windows Button," it's fairly simply explained. One button to the left and to the right of the spacebar is the "Windows Button." Pressing it one gets booted out of the application they are in and presented with the "Start Menu" that contains shortcuts to applications. Ok, on the surface it's a fine idea. A hard-wired shortcut that MS knows by god that its customers NEED. Realistically, though, it sucks. It sucks because when one augments their primary input device (in my case a Wacom pressure-sensitive graphics tablet and stylus) with the keyboard to quickly change tools, the "Windows Button" is strategically located to get in the way. My work demands attention, concentration, focus and precision. I cannot afford to break concentration by looking down at my keyboard, let alone be totally derailed by accidentally touching the "Windows Button" when trying to press CTL or ALT and being presented with a shortcut to MY DOCUMENTS. It's retarded. It needs to go.
So I'm putting a call out to a List Member. I can't remember who it was but they had a kid. A clever kid. A young lad that will be going places in his life. This kid modified his daddy's computer's keyboard. And I'm talkin' CUSTOM mod. And with a non-standard tool: His SHOE! This kid extracted the Z key from his dad's computer with his shoe. I need to rent that kid and his shoe to get over here and rid me of this "Windows Button."
Will no one rid me of this meddlesome button?
Tonight - The Attic.
Lori... that's in your 'hood!!
Here's tonight's: Find the Reference!
BART-friendly!
bye-ee!
whrr ... clik!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Beer Bong
2.2.2k9
One thousand bloggers have blogged about cell phone etiquette and the lack thereof. I'm not going to bark about any of those tired subjects, but I will bring up a cell-related behavior I've noticed about many people: Some people answer the phone with an inquisitive "hello?" even though their phone's caller ID reveals the caller's identity. Why? Why do people do this?
Is it a holdover from simpler times when the rotary phone and its real ringer rang and it was anyone's guess whether it was Aunt Jenny or that fucker selling time-shares? I can't imagine it being anything but that. My smarty-pants phone even displays a picture of the caller, so even if I'm bleary-eyed, I know it's Linkey-Loo Robot calling me with Tonight's Venue (I'll get to that in a minute). My phone rings, it's Linkey-Loo Robot, I answer and say, "Hey, Linkey-Loo." Not, "Hello? Who is calling, please?" No.
Look ... even when the phone rings with someone not in its address book, I don't answer it with an interrogative ... I know it's that fucker selling refinanced mortgages, so I say, "State your business, and make it good," or "If you're calling about a mortgage, I'm a renter," or "This better be good." More often, though, I decline from answering.
So ... if you're one of the few who's not in my address book ... you can always find me here if ya need me.
Tonight - Lucky 13.
You lucky devils!
bye-ee!
whrr ... clik!
One thousand bloggers have blogged about cell phone etiquette and the lack thereof. I'm not going to bark about any of those tired subjects, but I will bring up a cell-related behavior I've noticed about many people: Some people answer the phone with an inquisitive "hello?" even though their phone's caller ID reveals the caller's identity. Why? Why do people do this?
Is it a holdover from simpler times when the rotary phone and its real ringer rang and it was anyone's guess whether it was Aunt Jenny or that fucker selling time-shares? I can't imagine it being anything but that. My smarty-pants phone even displays a picture of the caller, so even if I'm bleary-eyed, I know it's Linkey-Loo Robot calling me with Tonight's Venue (I'll get to that in a minute). My phone rings, it's Linkey-Loo Robot, I answer and say, "Hey, Linkey-Loo." Not, "Hello? Who is calling, please?" No.
Look ... even when the phone rings with someone not in its address book, I don't answer it with an interrogative ... I know it's that fucker selling refinanced mortgages, so I say, "State your business, and make it good," or "If you're calling about a mortgage, I'm a renter," or "This better be good." More often, though, I decline from answering.
So ... if you're one of the few who's not in my address book ... you can always find me here if ya need me.
Tonight - Lucky 13.
You lucky devils!
bye-ee!
whrr ... clik!
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Can your pussy do the dog?
2.1.2k9
I had a great Venue Announcement ready to go about sneaking into the bus depot across the street and gender-bending their ice sculptures with some ironic adds here and take-aways there, only to be emotionally, spiritually, psychically and physically derailed by the sad, sad news that one of my rock heroes, Lux Interior of The Cramps, has died. It took the VA right away from me. Console one another at the bar. Rub up against the rock stars that will be there tonight. Stick out your can.
Tonight - Homestead.
bye-ee!
whrr ... clik!
I had a great Venue Announcement ready to go about sneaking into the bus depot across the street and gender-bending their ice sculptures with some ironic adds here and take-aways there, only to be emotionally, spiritually, psychically and physically derailed by the sad, sad news that one of my rock heroes, Lux Interior of The Cramps, has died. It took the VA right away from me. Console one another at the bar. Rub up against the rock stars that will be there tonight. Stick out your can.
Tonight - Homestead.
bye-ee!
whrr ... clik!
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