Bye, Apple!

Apple, I tried. I really did. You just aren’t up to my standards anymore. How could you possibly put an Intel graphics chip (and a bad one, at that) in your computers, when your computers are being used by graphics professionals? You’re alienating your user base!

Of course, that’s not the only reason I’m leaving. I’ve already dealt with the above problem for about two years. The real shot in the arm for me to leave Apple is that my laptop’s ports (including the power port) were either poorly constructed or couldn’t handle the kind of use I made of them. In any case, they no longer work, making my laptop non-functional. On top of that, it would cost $750 to have the system repaired.

So, I’ve decided to start using (hopefully only temporarily) a new HP laptop. Of course, I’ve upgraded from the base config. Here’s what I changed:

• 2 GB of RAM instead of 1
• Added a Fingerprint reader
• Upgraded to the 512MB ATI Radeon(TM) HD 3450
• Added 802.11g and Bluetooth

Plus, since I know that I run my laptop into the ground, I went with the Accidental Damage (read: Drop this laptop off a building and we’ll pay for it) plan. Hopefully, things will turn out better this time around.

Now all I have to do is wait a week for the new laptop to arrive. This is going to be a long week.

What an election!

Well, that’s all, folks! The election is over. As we know, this was a hard-fought battle for all candidates. Hopefully the new Obama administration will be better than what we’ve had to deal with for the past eight years.

Answer the questions, Sarah!

OK, Sarah. I’ve got some news for you: No one cares that Alaska is an energy-producing state, especially since most people don’t live there.

I’ve got some more news for you: There’s a reason that the moderator asked you questions. It wasn’t so you could go off on a tangent about how you and McCain will change America. It also wasn’t so you could tell us about your energy policy when the moderator was asking about taxes. No, the real reason was so that we, the American people, could learn about you. Of course, that’s probably what you were trying to prevent.

To everyone else who watched the debate: What are your reactions? Do you think Sarah Palin is qualified to be the Vice President of the United States? And if she were to become President…see you in Canada!

You shouldn’t need help on an open-book test

When you were back in school, remember that student who just wouldn’t get it? Yeah, that’s my whole class (except for me and maybe two others). We just had an open-book test, and the entire class asked for help. Scary, yes?

Why are they in here, you ask? Simply because my school is new, so they wanted to come here instead of their default high school. Needless to say, it has been a very interesting experience.

New Software

For those of you who haven’t noticed, we’ve been having some very strange issues on our web servers. To make a long story short, Apache sucks all the memory and the servers crash. Back when we were using Feisty on the servers, they actually worked. Now we’re lucky to get a few hours of uptime per restart. Back to Feisty I go.

Sara Palin for Vice President?

I’m not the only one who thinks Sara Palin is one of the least qualified to be vice president. Even a former advisor for McCain shares my belief:

Mike Murphy, former McCain advisor: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor work. Engler, Whitman, Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. And these guys, this is all like how you want to (inaudible) this race. You know, just run it up. And it’s not gonna work.

Peggy Noonan, former Reagan speechwriter: It’s over.

Murphy: Still, McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.

NBC’s Chuck Todd: Don’t you think the Palin pick was insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson, too (inaudible)

Noonan: I saw Kay this morning.

Murphy: They’re all bummed out.

Todd: I mean, is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

Noonan: The most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political [B.S.] about narratives and (inaudible) the picture.

Murphy: I totally agree.

Noonan: Every time the Republicans do that because that’s not where they live and it’s not what they’re good at and they blow it.

Murphy: You know what’s really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism and this is cynical.

Todd: And as you called it, gimmicky.

So, now you’ve heard the news’ take. Here’s mine. McCain is thinking one day: “Hmm…I need to get women to vote for me. Maybe I should pick a woman VP.” So he does. Later, we hear her saying that she can see Russia from her house, so she understands them. Well, I can see Republicans from my house. And I sure as hell don’t understand them.

Jobs with Fancy Titles

One thing that pisses me off is entry-level (or below entry-level) jobs having fancy titles. Whether you call him a Sanitation Engineer or a garbage man, it’s still the same job. Leave the flashy titles for the people who deserve them: people who actually got promoted.

I’m back.

So yeah, I decided I wanted a blog again. You can expect more and higher-quality posts from now on.