I’m always posting pictures of my workspace right after I rearrange it, so it’s sparkling clean and all nice and organized. Lots of people have commented that they wish they could be so clean.
Here’s my dirty little secret my desk isn’t always that clean either. 
I do try and keep it clean but this week I’ve been extra busy and neglected keeping up with it. Without further ado here is my embarrassingly messy desk.
Serves me right for getting all excited about it I guess. I’d hoped to be able to get a regular job for a change of pace at least and to bring in some more $$ but it looks like that’s not goign to be possible as I’d have to travel about 30 minutes each way for any job I’d get.
Miss Daisy went in for inspection and didn’t pass. She needs a tie rod and brake caliber before she will pass. In addition to that the mechanic said she’s a bucket of rust underneath and we need new brake lines that’s a $500 job and out of budget right now.
In addition she needs rear struts, some sort of spring in the rear and there’s still an oil leak that we don’t know where it’s coming from and probably isn’t worth fixing. On top of that is an issue with it starting — sometimes the key has to be turned twice for it to kick over. I would guess that’s the starter. The plan right now is to get what needs to be fixed for inspection then run it around see how reliable she is. If she’s reliable up around here I’ll save up over the summer and get the brake lines done then the struts.
A car this old probably isn’t really worth it and we didn’t pay that much for it so I really cannot complain but expected for it to be usable for at least 6 months or so. The real kicker is she runs so smoothly and has some real nice get-up-and-go for a 6 cylinder. Ah well I guess I better get things done with the car and enjoy it while I can.
Tuesday we finally got a new car. God bless Mom’s friend who had been on the look out for us for quite a while. We did have a car but it was very small and I couldn’t drive it. With mom’s eyesight getting worse and worse it was hard to rely on Mom to drive. I would worry myself sick whenever she’d be out driving and she would get all frazzled too. I cannot imagine what it’s like not to be able to see clearly. 
We bought a 1995 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme with 136,000 miles on it. The car has some minor cosmetic damage scratches and the like but that’s to be expected with a 15 year old car. I’m really surprised at how luxurious it is. Everything is all power, leather seats, it has a power port for the passenger seat which was a surprise considering how the age. It even has keyless entry! Which most people take for granted but we haven’t had a car with that in quite a while. For what we paid for it so far it’s a steal. There’s minor problems but she rides real nice. The only problem that needs to be addressed right away is it seems like the starter is going because sometimes you have to turn the key twice to get it to kick over. We needed two new tires so we got them on Wednesday. If has the optioned 16″ tires so they’re a bit more expensive then regular old 15″ but we can always get 15″ rims down the road and swap them out.
Let’s get to the pictures~
There she is after I cleaned ‘er all up today. She was really filthy on the inside. The person we bought it from was an old farmer apparently farmers don’t clean their cars. It looked like the dashboard had never even been wiped down. I guess it’s good in the way all the dirt caked on prevented sun damage. I cleaned the whole car inside orange degreaser then armor-alled everything it really looks like new as you can see in the pictures except for some wear on the steering wheel and seats.
I took my arse on over the car wash and spent about 20 minutes vacuuming, all kinds of leaves, gravels, and crap. I vacuumed everything including the trunk and under the hood. I also washed and waxed her, the only the I couldn’t do is the rims as I didn’t have any cleaner oh well that will be another day.
The stereo in this baby is kicking. Like all GM cars they have a pretty decent OEM setup, we don’t get many radio stations so I have to figure out something to get my iPod to play over the speakers. I’ll either buy an FM transmitter or one of those tape with a wire on it that plugs into the headphone jack.
It’s real nice to be back driving again it had been almost a year and it was killing me but the real great thing about the new car I can take on Mom’s driving responsibility. It will be like driving Miss Daisy. The first plans are to get mom in front of an eye surgeon to see what can be done for her cataracts she had one but she has other health complications that aren’t conductive to her being put under for the operation so we’re looking for someone who can do it with just a local. It would be phenomenal if mom could get her eyesight back.
Other than that now that I’ve got wheels under my ass I can get out and look for a regular job. I’m looking forward to it, I’ve been out of the work force for to long and a steady income would do me well.
Lastly, I have to figure out what to name the new car. The last car I named “The Beast” that was a Town Car that always had something going wrong with it. Betsy is to common for a car. Maybe Sally.. I don’t know 
She goes in for state inspection on Tuesday so wish me luck!
Ewomack a member of BTWIMHO, a cool catch all general topic forum which I frequent posted most of these in the Funny Pictures Thread. I couldn’t help but jack them and post them here. The old ads are funny as hell to me and it amazes me how sexist advertisers were back then and no one called the PC Police on them.
Those of you that frequent my blog know that I reorganize my desk setup about once a month, I’m almost obsessive about finding the best use of my desk space and the 3 computers that I have stuffed into my bedroom. The newest update isn’t all the different from a previous change. I’ve cleaned up a lot of the clutter on my main desk by moving my second monitor off the the main desk and on to the table beside it. Aside from that my Mac is back on my entertainment center again wired to my TV. I still haven’t found a great use for it but plan on using it for streaming in the future.
One thing that occurs to me after every time I switch around my desk is how much having a real computer desk (instead of 2 folding tables) would benefit me. I can never seem to find anything in my price range that has enough room for all my stuff. Ideally it would be a corner unit that has space for 2 monitors, a good amount of shelving, plus some place to throw my laptop when I’m not using it. A few draws wouldn’t hurt much either to hide all my junk.
Here’s is my main work station:
This is where I work pretty much every day. It’s got my 22″ monitor which has been great for the 2 years I’ve had it. Just a couple weeks ago I started to have some dead pixels which are annoying the crap out of me because it makes me think my monitor is dirty. I like it spread out like this gives me some room to move around. That monitor is driven by an off the shelf HP sporting an AMD dual core processor at 2. something Ghz and 3GB. I upgraded it to Windows 7 over the winter and couldn’t be happier with it. I dual boot with Ubuntu from time to time. Just this weekend I installed the RC of Lucid it’s awesome!
The secondary desk:
I bought a second monitor over the winter thinking it would make me use my Mac more as previously I was switching between the Mac and my main desktop on my main monitor. The second monitor turned out to be a waste because even with Synergy I rarely used the Mac when it’s screen was sitting beside my main screen. Plus two screens on one desk was kind of cramped. Now the monitor sits there to be connected to my laptop as a desktop extension here and there. For what ever reason the screen flickers when plugged into my laptop so it’s more of an exercise in annoyance. I rarely use my laptop at the desk so it is kind of a waste but I don’ t know what else to do with it. 
This isn’t part of my desk but it’s had a computer on it so I’ll include it. The Mac mini is connected to my TV and I use it here and there for a quick IM conversation or email check. I’ll probably use it streaming once I reactivate my Netflix account. For what ever reason the Mac doesn’t detect my TV’s native resolution (so much for it just works eh?) so the picture isn’t that great but I really do like the Mini and could use it as my every day machine if it just had a little more umph.
There have it “Big Dan’s Dungeon”
How hard is it to engineer a coffee pot? I would say it isn’t too hard. Coffee is a big part of life in our house for everyone but I easily drink the most on a daily basis. As you may have guessed we bought a new coffee pot for the house. Our old coffee pot was just old. It wasn’t keeping the coffee hot enough or brewing fast enough for my mother. I surfed on over to Wal-Mart.com where we picked out a new toaster oven and coffee pot. There aren’t too many features which we care about. We don’t need all the gadgets and timers that have become prevalent in coffee pots on the market today. All we need the coffee pot to do is brew coffee reasonably fast and keep it hot until we turn the pot off. Pause and serve is a nice feature but not a requirement Sounds simple enough, right?
Mom choose the Proctor Silex 12 Cup Maker with Silver Accents. She liked the color and the price was right. Overall it’s a nice pot that brews fast, has a reusable filter, keeps the coffee hot, and has automatic shut off after two hours. It came with a clock and brew timer which we really don’t need or use but I guess it’s nice to have.
The first issue with this pot is the clock. It’s not back lit which means you have to bend down and get up real close to see the clock. We have other clocks in our kitchen so it’s not a big deal. The couple of times I’ve had to set the time it was annoying though.
The second issue is an annoyance every time we use the pot. The fill reservoir is very narrow. I’m talking maybe 3 inches at it’s widest area which makes filling the pot hard especially since the carafe leaks if you pour fast (as most carafes do). To add insult to injury our coffee pot is right next to the sink and our sink has a pull out faucet head. With the old coffee pot I just stuck the faucet head in the reservoir and let it fill. It was easy and less messy with the leaky carafe. This pots reservoir is too narrow for the faucet head; even if I hold the faucet and switch it to pour water still goes all over the place.
Here some pictures I took with my phone to show you what I’m talking about:
You can see the problem unless I pour the coffee very slow I get water all over the place. So, I ask again, How hard is it to engineer a coffee pot?
Last Saturday my aunt and uncle came up to visit from Long Island and they left today. As always it’s great having them visit and I hope they come back soon. It’s always a lot of work when they come up as the two days before they get here I’m cleaning and everything then when they’re here I do the all the cooking and cleaning. Not that I’m complaining just I’m already tired by the time they arrive then with the cooking and cleaning while they’re here I’m wiped by the time everyone is ready to sit down and play poker.
On Monday and Tuesday my uncle helped me paint the kitchen and living room. It really needed it the walls were so yellowed from nicotine. Blek! We were supposed to do my bedroom on Wednesday but I was wiped out so we skipped that. Luckily mom decided to pick up Chinese so I didn’t have to cook or do dishes. I’m planning on painting my room, the bathroom, and hallway over the weekend.
My uncle was a huge help with the painting we banged out each room in about 3 hours. It’s funny he’s 3 times my age and I had a hard time keeping up with him but he’s had a lot of practice painting over the years.
As much as I enjoy them being here, I’ll be glad to get back in my own bed tonight. When they’re here I give them my bedroom and sleep in the living room, which isn’t too bad but I hear everyone going back and fourth to the bathroom all night plus my uncle wakes up around 5 AM and is out front ghosting around which I hear. I twist and turn until about 9-10 then get up. The lack of solid sleep plus all the work while they’re here really drains me.
The weather was crappy most of the time they were here so we didn’t get out for a walk or anything like we normally do but we played lots of cards at night. I’m the designated dealer which gets annoying after a while. It’s funny today, the day they leave the weather is beautiful and it’s supposed to be hot tomorrow and Saturday.
I completely went off my diet and exercise plan while they were here. Big lunches & dinners plus cake and coffee at night. I figure why not enjoy it while they’re here as I don’t see them that often and buckle back down once they go home. I didn’t walk the whole time but probably would not have anyway since the weather was so crappy but I think (or hope at least) that the painting partially made up for my lack of walking.
Today I’m doing laundry all my blankets and sheets plus my the clothes and towels. So much fun I can hardly contain myself. The dryer should be about done.. Bye for now. 
Every so often I change the passwords on all the accounts I regularly use. Yesterday I decided to change my instant messenger passwords: Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and Skype. Yahoo & Skype went off without a hitch. For ease of remembering them I use the same password for all my IM accounts. Due to the fact that I’m using the same passwords across different networks I use long phrases with numbers and capitals mixed in and change them often.
Apparently MSN & AIM allow you to type in and confirm however long a password as you want but then truncate it on their end without telling you. This isn’t much of a problem for MSN as their client does the same invisible truncation before login but when trying to connect with a third party client typing in the full password results in an incorrect password error. After about 10 times I figured it out and figured out where it truncated so it’s okay for now although I’m going to go through and change all my accounts to a shorter password so they’re all the same.
AIM/AOL I don’t know what happened but I now cannot login to an account I’ve had for 4 years. It allowed me to change the password but won’t accept it. I know I’m typing it correctly because I pasted it in. Luckily I only use AIM to communicate with a couple of people.
I’m wondering why any service would prevent you from choosing a password as long as you like. With all the talk about phishing, hacking, etc a longer password is better. MySpace also pulls the same crap with arbitrary short password limits. It just doesn’t make sense.
We’ve all heard about the Toyota floor mat recalls and more recently the Toyota recall that dealt with a stuck accelerator which wasn’t caused by the floor mat. Today on the news they’re reporting some that Honda’s being recalled for ‘squishy’ brakes which may not stop if not repaired.
A couple of things I’m wondering about the situation. In the Toyotas why weren’t there more fail safes? If the computer is controlling fuel injection which is based user input on the accelerator why aren’t there several check systems in place that the drivers foot is actually on the accelerator.
Secondly why couldn’t the driver just shift into neutral or kill the engine by turning the key? I’ve had older cars since I started driving and not one car ever prevented from changing gears while driving. It’s not a wise thing to do but quite a useful for safety.
With all the BS sensors in new cars, I mean seriously they have senors that tell you when to change the oil. Why aren’t car manufactures putting censors on important systems or upgrading the existing sensors? I’d rather start the car and have it not go anywhere because of a bad sensor then be driving along and have sudden acceleration that I cannot control or not be able to brake.
As much as I am a tech guy computers have made cars infinitely more complex for very little gain overall and when there’s a glitch in a cars computer it’s whooper of a bill to repair/replace. Perhaps, it’s time to go back to the basics and just drive cars without all the bells and whistles afford by the integrated computer systems.
Often times I’m awake in the morning when mom wakes up. As to whether I’m just waking up and having coffee or winding down and getting ready for bed is another story but usually I’m on my computer checking on my sites, email, or reading my feeds. The routine is pretty much the same for morning or night: Check on the sites, follow up on any messages, look at the news, and maybe write a blog post or read a few blogs depending on how much time I have or how tired I am.
Mom wakes up and throws a monkey wrench in things. She likes to chat in the morning which in and of itself isn’t a problem. Chatty mom becomes a problem when I’m trying to concentrate on something (like reading or writing) and mom keeps interrupting my thought process. I cannot help but get annoyed because it’s not like we’re having an actual conversation. After we say our good mornings I go back to what ever I was doing and mom turns on the TV. With in a few minutes comes the little comments about what’s on the news. I’m still not so sure her comments are directed at me but since I’m the only one else awake I tend to think she’s talking to me. Invariably there will a “Can you believe that” or “I keep telling you people are nuts these days” blurted out. A majority of the times my reply is “Yeah, I know I read it earlier” because I read the news long before she got up.
After a few of Mom’s interjections I get annoyed because every time she talks I have to respond which makes me lose my place in whatever I’m doing. Then a light bulb goes off in my head and I say I’m obviously not going to get anything done while until mom has her second cup of coffee and gets on her computer so I turn off my monitor and go sit in the living room. For someone reason once I sit in the living room mom’s no longer chatty. I wind up grabbing my laptop iPod and to play a game, check my email, or start drafting a post such as this one and mom starts talking again. It amazes me every day that the minute I’m concentrating on something else Mom wants to talk. After a couple times of being interrupted I sigh and put the iPod down and watch what ever brain sucking show mom is watching for a bit. That normally gets an “Am I bothering you” from mom. Then I feel guilty.
I feel guilty for even getting annoyed in the first place as I know that someday mom won’t be around to chat with and don’t want her to feel she’s a bother because she’s really not except for the interjections part 
. It’s not that I don’t want to chat with mom because I do. I think the problem is we’re not having a regular conversation it’s little interjections, blurbs if you will. Me being me I like to keep my mind occupied. So, if I’m not interested in what’s going on I start doing something else. When I’m doing something and get interrupted I get annoyed. It’s why I keep my instant messengers off most of the time. Heck as I’m writing this a friend and I are texting and I’m annoyed because my phone keeps going off when I’m in mid sentence here.
Over the past few years Mom and I have had a couple of discussions about this mainly due to my sister who is perpetually bored interrupting me with dumb questions while I’m busy doing something I really have to pay attention to like working on a database or some other geeky thing. It wound up that mom got the hint too and now when she starts talking to me when I’m at the computer she asks ‘Are you working?’ even if I am I normally say No because I’ve already been interrupted by the question so I should just see what she wants.
I’ve tried to deal with interruptions in a few different ways my best solution was to simply close my bedroom door which worked out quite well. However, I soon realized it made others feel like shutting them out and I was but not to be mean just to keep my blood pressure down! After I realized that I was unintentionally causing some hurt feelings I started leaving my bedroom door open again. It’s weird because for me it gets pretty monotonous and even more boring when your behind a closed door and don’t have those little interruptions yet those little interruptions can annoy the living crap out of me.
The big problem at least in my opinion is that even though computers connect you to the world through the internet they cut you off to real life around you. As your concentration needs to be on what ever your doing on the computer so you’re not paying attention to those around you. I imagine a lot of computer centric people share the same sediments about interruptions.
My new plan is to just not try doing anything on the computer in the morning once mom wakes up. I’ll sit and have coffee with her and once she goes on her computer I can go do what I have to do. If I really need to concentrate on something I’ll just close my door until I’m done.
How do you deal with interruptions?
