The Blog with No Name

My laptop’s hard drive decided to get ultra-corrupted this morning. Nothing fixes it. Not fsck, not disk utility, and not Diskwarrior, which is completely worthless software. The only thing I have left to do is zero the drive and reinstall OS X. The problem is I’m not sure if I have any valuable data on the drive that I don’t want to lose. Of course, it’s pretty much lost already . . . good point, Steve.

I don’t know how I do it, but I have the worst luck with hard drives. I just got my tower’s hard drive issues figured out and now my laptop decides to explode.

Anybody ever watch Dragnet? Man, that was a good show. Joe Friday always turned down gifts of thanks for a job well done with a gentle yet firm, “Just doing my duty, ma’am.” See, that’s why I could never be a cop. I can’t pass up free stuff. Well, I can. I pass up free junk mail all the time. And what about Square One’s Dragnet spoof, Mathnet? Good times. Monday wasn’t as cool as Friday, but she was pretty cool. Of course, this reflects the work week too. Mondays are never cooler than Fridays. Ever.

Another work week down. If I retire at 65, I have roughly 2090 more work weeks left to go, assuming I never take a vacation. That’s a lot of working to do. Remember what Solzhenitsyn said, “Work is what horses die of.” Something of which to be mindful as we toil with the cursed ground, struggling against the thorns and thistles. Fortunately for me, the earth I till is in the realm of the cyber and my thorns are few. Work is going very well, and I’m quite happy with where I’m at these days. To think a year ago I was suffering through the final weeks of first year law school. Looking back on that experience now, it’s like a vague nightmare.

I have fleshed out a more substantial “philosophical” post in my mind, I hope to get it down on cyberpaper sometime tomorrow, but for now I don’t have too much to say except hi.

I dare you to have a better weekend than me. Double dog dare you.

A few words of advice/shout outs to some of my fellow drivers:

To all you dudes in convertibles: Look, guys shouldn’t be in convertibles normally*, but if you’re going to be in a convertible do not drive around with smooth jazz thumping. Everybody is already smirking becuase you’re in a convertbile, adding the Yanni just makes us snicker. The only music that is acceptable in this scenario, a scenario that should not be occurring anyway, is ’80’s metal.

*The exception to this rule is if it’s a classic and/or muscle car.

To people in sporty coupes: You people have cars that can go faster, turn sharper, handle better, and accelerate quicker than most other cars. Please drive like you own a sporty coupe rather than a top heavy, iron-framed SUV built in the ’70’s. Going 5 under in the passing lane is completely unacceptable, and you should have that neat little Crossfire taken away from you.

To the wiggers in the Lincoln town cars bumping phat beats: You are in a stock Lincoln town car that isn’t blinged out to the max, yet you still have enough attitude to blast your hip-hop. You are cool because you make me laugh. Thank you for not driving the stereotypical chromed-out Escalade with spinners and other ridiculous accessories. Now, if we can just work on your musical choice . . .

To the people with all sorts of alternative fuel/environmental stickers on the back of your car: It’s cool that you fret over the environment, and because I like alternative fuels I will ignore the haughtiness of the stickers proclaiming you use biodiesel. However, I will not ignore the fact that you’re obviously an environmental nut yet you still flick your cigarette butts out the window of your stupid Volkswagon. Look up “hypocrite” in a dictionary. Learn it. Love it.

To the guy on the street bike with a hot girl in leather on the back: I’m jealous. For obvious reasons.

Apple announced the new 17″ Macbook Pro today. That thing is a beast. An excellent mobile desktop solution. I’d be more interested if I didn’t insist on having a burly desktop and a slim laptop. Two machines for two purposes. That’s how we geeks roll.

The Volokh Conspiracy has a post promoting online dating. The comments are probably more interesting than the post itself as numerous people have responded affirming that online dating does indeed work. I’m surprised how many people have met a signficant other via online dating sites like match.com and eharmony.com. I have always thought online dating as being semi- to full-blown weird. I’m not sure if it’s odd that I feel this way or it’s a sign that I have the vestiges of normalcy in me. My entire life these days largely revolves around virtual communication via the Master World Network. My work, my play, my nerdery all involve continual communication with people I only know by pixels and text on a computer display. So why am I so turned off by the thought of online dating? I think there are a few reasons.

First, in general I never have to meet the people I interact with online in my current day to day life. The whole point of online dating is to eventually engage in real world interaction with the other person. The end goal, I suppose, is for the online dating to be the primal cause of the most initimate of human interaction. Think big picture here, people; I’m not like that. The idea of virtual relationships being transformed to physical relationship is an idea that frightens me. I’ve interacted with enough people in the online world to know that 99% of them are completely nuts and should be left at the far end of the chain of electrons. They may be fine as I interact with them now, but they need to stay on the other side of my computer monitor. Besides, have you seen the Craigslist personals? Astonishing. Frightening.

Second, I am too young and have too much potential to resort to something I consider to be a last resort. I think most of the commentors over at Volokh assent to this. Many say that online dating is much better idea for people in their 30s who are sick of the “normal” dating scene (viz bars, clubs, bowling alleys) and do not have the time to engage in other efforts. I’m definitely not in this stage of my life. Indeed, this June I will be entering the prime years of my life. I figure I have another 5 years in which my sex appeal will be the maximization of stunning good looks, maturity, earning power, vehicular prowess, youth, and an utter lack of baggage. Ignoring women who want some old fart to spend lots of money on them, I will be an ideal guy for virtually any woman age 18 - 30. Bottomline, I don’t need no stinkin’ website to hook me up.

Third, I’m not desperate nor am I in any rush. Granted, I’m meeting zero women these days, but this is a minor annoyance and that only in my most emo of moments. If anything, it’s more fun to complain about it than it is to actually meet the women. With women come responsibility, and I have plenty of that right now, thank you very much. As I mentioned above, I’m starting the prime years of my life, and I kinda like the idea of spending a good portion of that not tied down to another person.

My friend Soini IMed me a link yesterday that I found to be more enlightening than even he probably anticipated. Check this out. First you’ll notice text about how Iran’s president is once again describing tiny Israel as a threat to 20 other Arab nations and it will be “eliminated”:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Israel a “permanent threat” to the Middle East that will “soon” be liberated. He also appeared to again question whether the Holocaust really happened.

“Like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation,” Ahmadinejad said at the opening of a conference in support of the Palestinians. “The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm.”

“But, Steve,” you say, “This is nothing new. How is this enlightening?” Ah, look at the pictures now:

Look at how short he is! He can barely see over the podium! Yes, our next war may very well be sparked because of one dude’s serious case of Little Man Syndrome. Somebody just give him a big SUV and all will be well.

My buddy Greg’s blog is jacked up and he can’t make any posts, so he asked me to make a post to let mutual readers know. I’d let him guest blog here at steevak.com but he writes crazy stuff and that makes me scared!

Another failure of diplomacy. Iran has joined the nuclear club. It’s unsurprising that El Baradei, the IAEA, and the UN failed. Diplomacy may work when you’re dealing with people who are rational, not diametrically opposed to you, and not belligerent, but I think it’s usefulness ends there. You just can’t talk a guy with a messianic complex who has called for the utter destruction of other countries out of his toys. I think I’ll start placing bets on when Israel bombs the crap out of Iran’s nuclear facilities, which would be a nice distraction for Iran from pumping terrorists into Iraq.

In all seriousness, can anybody point to one time when diplomacy undeniably caused a rogue state/dictator/belligerent country to give up his weapons/cease hostilities? Diplomatic success immediately after coups, massive internal changes, and the deaths of heads of state doesn’t count. I can’t think of a single instance. Libya might be an option, but I would argue that decades of diplomacy and embargos did nothing until the Coalition’s show of force in Iraq toppled Saddam. If anybody can think of any, I’d like to hear it. (via Drudge)

Another failure of appeasement. It’s perplexing that the French — of all people! — haven’t learned this lesson:

French students, emboldened by President Jacques Chirac’s cave-in on a youth jobs measure, prepared new protests Tuesday to try to get rid of other government labor reforms.

Unions declared victory on Monday after Chirac abandoned the measure that had spurred nationwide unrest, paralyzed secondary schools and universities and created a crisis for the government.

Maybe they think appeasement just doesn’t work when dealing with Nazis. I also can’t help but point out that a 22% jobless rate among youths is amazingly high. Our youth (16 - 24) unemployment rate last summer was 11%. (via Cox and Forkum)

In my mind it is undeniably Providential that I got my job at T-Mobile when I did. Had I still been working at my former job, earning the pittance I was earning, I would be completely hosed financially now. By “completely hosed” I mean I would be deep in financial ruin. Even bankruptcy would have been an attractive option. I find it remarkable at the precise moment large, unavoidable costs come into my life is also the precise moment I started earning a paycheck that could pay those costs. If I am ever unthankful for my current job, I surely will have reached a new low of selfish ingratitude.

With that being said, I do have a small amount of frustration that even though I’m earning more than I ever had in my life, I seem to be spending nearly all of it on things I don’t want to spend it on. I can’t believe I’m still broke even though my income doubled. I remarked to a friend the other day that when I was dirt poor, it was easy to be cheap and be happy, but now that I’m actually making money it’s harder to be cheap and be happy. For once, please, just once, I’d like to treat myself and buy something completely unnecessary. I want to splurge just a little. I want to ignore, just once, financial discipline and sound advice. However, I must wait. Again. Fortunately(?), Vice always has one Virtue: patient determination. It will always be there waiting for me.

Today I found out getting truck brakes replaced is freakin’ expensive.

I hate taxes, so do you. Here’s a list of how the 50 states rank in total taxes and total tax per capita. Interestingly, Alaska (#8) has a higher tax per capita than Washington (#17), which is held solidly in the grim clutches of Democrats. There are some attractive states on the bottom half of the list (including Colorado at #47), so maybe I’ll move there.

Speaking of taxes, tax day is coming up. I have my own personal, creative accountant who knows all the loopholes doing mine this year, so I plan on scoring an absolutely massive tax return!

Well it seems spring is in the air. Perhaps love is in the air too. Maybe. I dunno. Probably not. The weather these days is great, and I look forward to yet another splendid Seattle summer. I’m reminded on days such as these of how dreadfully dark and dreary Seattle winters are. It’s wonderful to come home from work with hours of sunshine still available. Winters in Alaska didn’t seem so bad because winters up there actually had a purpose (viz. snow and skiing). Down here winter is a pretty pointless exercise in drizzle, cold, and clouds. Anyway, one of the first things I’m going to do on the first truly gorgeous day is drive down to the waterfront after work, get a martini, and watch the sun set. I’ve been wanting to do that for over a year now. Literally.

It occurred to me last night that if the worst thing that happens in my life is my spoon falls into my clam chowder, then my life must be pretty good. Unfortunately that’s not the worst thing, but it is extremely annoying. I spent this past weekend being sick, being very tired, and fixing my desktop once again. I thought for sure this time it had reached the very end of its long life. But, yet again, I was able to coax it back to life and function properly at my behest. My guess is that I was stressing out my power supply, so during strenuous tasks the hard drives would fail to get enough power, glitch out, and then get corrupted. I did read other Mac users’s reports that were very similar to mine, but they attributed the issue to failing hard drives. I’m going shut my eyes and ignore that possibility.

Things are on the up and up it seems.

The demons living in my computers have pulled off a real coup. Somehow they managed to screw up my connection to World of Warcraft and only my connection to World of Warcraft. If anybody has any idea how I can break their little blockade, I’m all ears/eyes. Anyway, since that’s going on, I’m watching a movie that got on my Netflix queue and I honestly have no recollection putting it on there. So, I’m watching a movie that looks like it’s going to be some chick flick . . . and there are no chicks around.

. . . oh wait, this is definitely not going to be a chick flick . . .

On Sunday I found out about a large tour coming through town literally an hour before it started, so I went. I knew the show was going to totally rock because there was some dude face down on the sidwalk outside the doors with 3 or 4 cops around him and tazer wires coming out of him. Apparently, it was not a good night for him, and I resolved to make sure that I had a better night. I saw a bunch of bands, but I’ll just highlight the important ones and keep it short. As I Lay Dying was the first band I saw and it was good. As I Lay Daying are masters of the metalcore genre, and their live performance drew three black lines under the “metal” in metalcore. There’s nothing quite like dudes in black chugging out big riffs while in the guitar power stance and headbanging in synchrony with big hair flailing. It was pretty killer. Story of the Year played too. Yawn. Thrice played, and they were quite good. Their live and studio sounds are quite similar, and they were backed by an impressive set of lights. The headlining band was the Deftones who are okay I guess, but about halfway through their set it all sounded the same to me and I swear they played the same song twice.

I have it within my power to pay off the rest of my truck immediately. I would have the title of my truck and would no longer have to deal with an annoying bank. I could also get cheaper insurance. You’d think this decision would be a no brainer, but I can’t deny the allure of my other option: buy a sweet gaming rig. I got it all specced out on newegg.com. I just can’t pay off my truck and purchase the computer. I know, I know. You’re all saying, “Dude, what are you thinking? You don’t need three computers! Each one is like a space heater, your apartment is going to get so hot during the summer!” Look, I’m willing to pay that price for an exquisite gaming experience. It could be said gaming is in my blood. There’s something about it that has always attracted me ever since I was knee-high to a bullfrog and playing Lode Runner, Wings of Fury, The Duel II, and Gauntlet. Now, gaming is my chief form of entertainment outside of interaction with 3D IRL friends. Unfortunately, I’ve always played on sub-par computers, and, now for once I can afford to buy a sweet box that can run even the most demanding of games. I relish the thought.

The past few days I’ve spent probably close to 90% of my waking hours out of the apartment. I’ve been doing more important things with my life besides being a lump at home. Aside from work, I’ve been spending considerable time getting cultured. I’ve been to two rock shows, one play, and a couple of social occasions. The first rock show was a Zao show. Even after all these years, even after seeing them more times than I can remember, Zao still is a real hoot to see live. I thought I was too old to for the pit, but there’s something about Zao that sucks me in and brings out a side of me very few people have seen (and I’d like to keep it that way). My right shoulder is still jacked up by something that happened that night, but at least I didn’t get a nose bleed uncorked like some poor kid at the show. Blood was all over the sink in the bathroom. My only frustration with Zao shows is that I get so excited and caught up in the energy of the pit that I almost always forget most of the words to most of the songs. This only seems to happen with Zao, and it’s really annoying.

I also saw a small play called Beau Jest in which my friend Nic starred. It was a romantic comedy that involved a fake boyfriend who’s supposed to be Jewish but really isn’t, a stressed out Jewish daughter trying to impress her parents who are bent on preserving the Jewish bloodline, and the ensuing familial chaos that goes along with love, relationships, deceit, and male escorts. I’m not sure what it is about romantic comedies, but I find them very entertaining. I get into them, which seems very odd to me.