At one time, I loathed Football. I couldn’t understand why anyone would willing sit in front of the TV and watch as a bunch of guys threw themselves around the field like rag dolls. In fact, my little brother called it the “Falling Down Game”. Risking life/limb? Putting on plastic pads? Jock Strap? For what? Scoring points? Fame?

Fortune. Consider that big paycheck.

Okay, so today I’m a different person. I appreciate (though often times don’t fully understand) the game. Seems like there’s just too much that causes a player to earn a yellow flag, and there’s a lot of players. Those refs must have one hell of a system worked out.

Anyway, Sunday is looking good. We’re hosting a big-game party at the house on the big screen. Should be a bunch of fun.

Back to work. No more slacking this morning.

Gregsta’

Geek style, yo.

From time to time, I take the opportunity to step back and look at all that I’m doing. Curiously, I realized this morning something that shocked me a little and is something of a wakeup call:

I’m de-Computer Geeking.

That’s right. My interest in tinkering with computers is fading quickly. No longer am I thrilled about anything on the computer. I read the other day that people who are into security and pinching pennies in the IT organization are the ones that have job security and are sought after. Security and pinching pennies is a large part of why I became a computer geek back in the day: There were no big security issues and we could garner a huge fee.

The things that were good about being a geek are gone – free music, limited local social networks of other like minded geeks, hacks that do something interesting, knowing that your anti virus was sufficient protection and discovering new things that you could geek out on.

It’s not all the fault of an industry that is influenced by dollars and dingbats. I’m changing. I don’t find a thrill anymore in having the latest gadget or writing 100 lines of code that actually do something. Now it’s just kind of interesting.

That’s not to say I don’t love what I do for a living! It’s still lots of fun!

But now, the varnish has worn off and the cracks are being exposed. I suppose it happens to everyone at some point or another. Who knows. A Computer-geek revival may be in store for me…

Lamingly,
Gregsta’

The Sony Crap-o-Matic iPod dock…

Everyone is up in arms in the sub-tech community (the community that tinkers with Linux and refuses to pay for anything) over the DMCA and the RIAA and the resulting “Pay for your music, damn it!” attitude they take.

I have a solution that would make the music industry come out with what little dignity they have left:

Stop selling music. It has no value anymore as a commodity.

Stop recording mass-produced crap. Clearly, your customer base largely doesn’t appreciate it enough to pay for it. Move on to other industries. Maybe those record company execs can get a job at Unicef or Greenpeace and use their clear mastery of the courtroom for good and go after polluters and dolphin killers.

It’s too easy for people to “steal” music. It’s really easy for me to breathe, hence why I don’t get charged per-breath. If it’s too easy, why should you pay for it? Funny how that got overlooked.

Music lives on in profit by means of live performances and licensed broadcasting (i.e. radio, events, etc.)

People wonder why I don’t have a huge collection of MP3’s that I downloaded for free? Because there’s nothing out there I want out in the first place that isn’t already free. I’ll pay for anything I really want to keep from being a target of that industry, despite the fact that I thoroughly despise their tactics and principals. They have more lawyers than I do.

Gregsta’

Watching what is happening with the world right now is a weird spectator sport. I can’t help but feel like I don’t know the whole picture and I’m being fed some interesting FUD that is supposed to make me act a certain way.

Here’s my take on it: The world doesn’t have a lot of resources. America has been using more than its fair share of these resources for a long time. We’ve developed some nasty addictions (oil, gadgets, fashion, etc.). We know we need to quit. We can’t. Meanwhile, parts of the world are picking up the same addictions while we flounder around about if we want to kick the habit or not. The rest of the world is consuming more than before. We’re consuming more of their things than our own. Some of us are being coerced to create artificial demand. We still want everything as cheap as possible, and driving everything into the ground as a result. We are telling ourselves that we ought to innovate differently, and we’re starting to learn. But we’re still trying to make the kind of money at it that we used to under the unsustainable model. Parts of the world learned our innovation secrets and is running (quite profitably) with them. We’re left in the dust.

A little disjointed, but you get the point.

Gregsta’

I guess I should know better than to complain about no snow… Or should I?

Check this out:
Go to http://www.netdisaster.com/ and punch in your site URL and get a great animation of the masses protesting your site, God pointing to your cursor or have all the text “sucked” off your page.

Stupid? Waste of time?

Yes on both accounts.

After .75 bottles of wine and at 1:18 in the morning, I find things like this entertaining. The question really is: Why isn’t this sort of thing interesting or otherwise grabbing my attention during the course of a normal day? Nobody knows.

There is now a sheet of snow on the street.

I’m happier than before.

Why am I still up at this late hour? Because it’s snowing, Betsy is still studying (and she has to be to school before I have to be to work), and I still have wine in my glass.

LikeAFoxingly,
Gregsta’

Winter would never come for Portland in 2008…

I’m a simple man. All I wanted was for a few inches of snow to blanket Portland for at least 3 days. Instead, I’ve heard nothing but “It’s going to snow tomorrow” comments for the last 2 months that have amounted to NOTHING. I’m considering taking a few weather-people hostage until we get a good dumping of the white stuff.

It wouldn’t be the first time I decided I didn’t like those bastards.

Winter Weatheringly,
Gregsta’

I used to like winter. Everyone hunkered down and did low impact, quiet things throughout the season.

Now, thanks to the eco-terrorists and REI, there are Bicycles everywhere in January and all of a sudden it's fashionable to stay active and do things outdoors again. I say, stay indoors, read a book or watch TV (depending on your disposition) and focus on indoor things.

I'm moving to the most miserable, desolate part of Oregon. At least there I can have some quiet.

Oh! It's Friday! Yippie!

Grumpingly,
Gregsta'

A computer guy is lying to you if they blame your problem on anything except Microsoft, Viruses, or Hackers.

Gregsta'

I was considering this new fangled thing called "Twitter" – nothing more than text messaging and blogging (al beit limited) in one. It really serves no other purpose than to enable those who are stalking you or have considered stalking you. My twitter log would look something like this:

Gregster has just gotten in his car and has started driving to work.

Twitteringly,
Gregsta'

It happens to most of us at some point. We go to work one morning, feeling fine. Before lunch is over, you have this bizarre feeling like something isn't quite right. You're not feeling like you. Instead, you have been possessed by a crazy ill feeling that won't go away.

That about sums up my afternoon yesterday. Now I'm sitting at home, trying to feel better and get caught up on some reading, DVR programming and (believe it or not) – work. Focusing on the big picture, being distracted by co-workers and other tasks have been taking precedent over getting any real work done.

After lunch, I think I'll finish up that dastardly 2008 budget that I've been dreading so much lately. Then after that: a nap.

Mendingly,
Gregsta'