Geek at Play

What year is it?

Wow. Turkmenistan is banning beards? Haven’t leaders learned anything? Look around! Fully grown adults resent this sort of thing, and will resent the makers of such laws. Want to foster unrest? Be sure to tell your people how to shave. Or dress. Or talk. If people can’t feel in control of the trivial parts of their life, they quickly become cranky. With crap like this, might Turkmenistan be on its way to being the next messy middle-east problem?

Evil mechanism

My chair at work is trying to kill me, but at least it’s doing it in a clever (almost Goldberg-ian) way. If I’m really concentrating I put my feet kind of back instead of out in front of the chair, on my toes. Three times now I’ve rolled forward just a touch while in this position, causing my calf to nudge the piston release, dropping me down suddenly. This also jams the tilt-release onto my heel making the seat pitch fully forward and ramming me into my desk, chest high.

Other than the bruising, the new job is pretty cool.

Hung

I’m now approved and certified to belay in two area climbing gyms. Now all I need is a partner for the other end of the rope. Granted, I won’t be doing any climbing until my hands work again. Ow.

Week 1 done

I made it through the first week at my new job and, really, there is nothing to report. I only got lost on the way to the bathroom once, and I don’t think I’ve completely made an ass of myself in any situations. At least I’m finally working for a place where I know what I’m supposed to be doing (after some initial confusion). A project, milestones, specs. Refreshing.

Google snapshot

I was really disappointed to see that Google’s first result for the search “jack the sound barrier bring the noise” is (today) an entry by some guy in the Wesley Clark campaign blog. What a crying shame. One of the greatest phrases in sci-fi literature (from Snow Crash) is associated with politics more than sci-fi.

Where did all the nerds go on the internet? It used to be full of clever manipulations of pi and other geekery, but now it’s corporate, shiney and as homogenized as any other mainstream media. Now you really have to dig to find those gems.

Also note that this means the CDI(Chicks Dig It) factor for the internet has gone to hell. “Pft. A web page? A blog? Everyone has those!” Geeks just ascended from our own primordial ooze (or at least dark basement corners in Math Department buildings), and we’re already slated for removal from the gene pool. We’ll be extinct within a generation.

But then who are you going to call when you can’t figure out how to hook up your DVD player, huh? Suckers.

Zombies

After last night, I’m officially annoyed at my gym. They decided the way to improve the gym was to mount TV’s all over the place. Yay. Now it’s gone from a “gym” to a “place where I have to walk around clusters of zombies and ask people if they’re done using the machine they’ve decided to convert into a couch while watching ‘Best of UFC’ clips”.

I think the number of people in the gym has gone up lately, too. This is probably partially due to the TV’s as well. I happen to know that I’m a daydreamer, and the gym is a bad place for that. So, I went out and bought a $9 Casio with a stopwatch: when I finish a set, I start it. That way, when my brain inevitably drifts off onto random topics and suddenly snaps back to the Real World(tm), I can look at my wrist and know if I was flaking for seconds or minutes, and when I ought to start the next set. It doesn’t look like many other people in my gym have such discipline. Add in the TV’s, and you have people in the gym for twice as long, periodically remembering to pick up something heavy, and mostly staring up at TV’s.

And getting in my way.

TV’s don’t belong among freeweights. By the cardio stuff: fine. Cardio is long and often boring. Strength trainging is about focus and paying attention to sets, time, and the response of your body.

Uncontrolled giggling

Ok, so, Tim pointed me to this fantastic site. It has really changed my life… Pffft. No, no seriously. Snort. I mean, this guy has real insight. Did you know that UPC codes are the mark of the devil? It’s right there. Chortle. On the internet! And, I know this is a shocker, but it turns out that Santa is an anagram of Satan! Gasp. This guy meticulously researched that this is true! And, fortunately he also takes on thost blasphemers who postulated about what Jesus might drive.

I know, I shouldn’t make fun of people who are well meaning. It’s cruel. So I’ll stop. Just read the site. I don’t have to do any mocking, he does it himself.

Snowball’s chance

Thanks so much, stupid computerized dating service! According to your personality test, about 1% of single women would be attracted to me. I am now overflowing with hope and will return to my cave.

Morons

Again this week I was reminded of how stupid salespeople are. I went into a boutique electronics store to look at projection TV’s and was utterly ignored. I watched men in suits walk in and get pounced on. Apparently, my choice of jeans doesn’t make me look like a serious spender-of-dollars. You’d think that in the Bay Area, of all places, people would realize that the slightly disheveled young guy with quirky (not dirty) clothes probably has a good-paying computer job and loves toys. Treat him well, and he’ll come back again and again. Eventually the “seasoned” sales guys shoo’ed the new guy over to me. Me and Mitch talked to him again the next night and had good discussion of features and tradeoffs.

That young guy moved $11k in TV’s today. A chunk of it came from guys in jeans. Get your head out, old guys. You cannot judge a book by its cover.

Stupid human tricks

Man, every time I accidentally stumble across something pen-spinning related, I get annoyed. I haven’t the fine-control dexterity to be this cool. I also don’t know why I repeatedly run across pen-spinning related things. That’s actually more troubling.