Day 2 of the new shift.

Buh, it's going to be tough getting used to waking up at 5 AM almost every day. My new schedule at work started, I now am working 7:00AM through 4:00PM instead of 9:00AM through 6:00PM. This means that in order to get to work on time, the latest I can leave in the morning is 6:20, in reality this means that the latest that I will now leave for work is 6:00AM. I prefer to be early.

It's good though, getting off work at 4:00PM means that I now have a little extra time in the afternoon to maybe make dinner more often instead of eating whatever crap happens to be handy. Maybe there will be health benefits? I don't know.

Happy Monkey!

Okay, so the folks at the Apple apple store were quite friendly, I signed in early just in case they could help me out before my actual appointment and spent a good half an hour wandering around looking at all of the Mac toys. Lindsay was there hanging out with me so it wasn't completely boring.

My appointed time rolls up and I get introduced to a black-shirted fellow whose name I can't recall. I show him the cracked screen and explain what happened. No bullshitting, it fell out of my pocket and I let him know. No warranty, oh well. So how much does it cost to repair the screen on a32 GB iPod touch (third generation)? About half as much as buying a brand new iPod. I'm kind of hesitant at this point, trying to decide if it would be worth it and if I can afford to put that money towards a new device... possibly upgraded to 64 GB!

The "Genius" notices my hesitancy and decides to explain my options a little bit better. They are as follows: I can repair the device for $162.00, or I can trade in the device for a %10 discount on a different iPod, or I can get a case with a screen cover and just keep using my broken toy. Well, option three is out right away! I barely had to think about that. Option two is more tempting though! %10 off of a 64 GB iPod would be a $42.90 drop. I explain to the "Genius" that I'm still hesitant because I could always try to repair the thing on my own, just the cost of parts, void warranty, and risk of bricking the thing.

Then he tells me, "Oh, no we don't replace the screen, we replace the whole iPod for that price!"

Done. That was the fastest "repair" I've ever experienced.

Sad Monkey.

Boo000,

I now get to experience the distinct pleasure of getting my iPod repaired. Clutzy me leaned over to pick up something and the darned thing fell right out of my pocket! The screen is nicely shattered thanks to my carelessness. If I'm lucky the Apple person that I talk to will cover the thing under it's still-active warranty. I've heard of this happening to people in the past.

If the repair is going to be ridiculously priced, I don't know what I'll do. This device was a gift, so I'd feel like a douche if I just abandoned it, but if it's going to cost more than it's worth to repair it, I'd feel like a knob for wasting money that I don't have. I guess I'll wait until my appointment with the "Genius" bar tomorrow -- Yes, you need to make an appointment to speak with Apple's entry level tech support, I think that silly in it's own right. -- when I'll find out what this is likely to cost me.

So, what's new?

Things change, though not always drastically. The accumulation of small changes eventually develop into a major change though. I still work for a local Tech Support company, as I have for a little over two years. When I first started, my only computer knowledge was some basics about Linux, minor troubleshooting of Windows systems, and what Mac OS looked like. Now, I'm a CompTIA A+ Certified tech, I have a good knowledge of hardware troubleshooting, I can clean a computer virus like a motherfucker, and I know that this is not a long-term career for me.

I've finally been given a writing task at work and I haven't been more content with my job in the entire time I've worked there. Client computers and phone calls interrupt me on occasion, and that's to be expected. It's a not-horrible diversion that forces me to get up and move around every hour or so.

I went through the original documents that I'm expected to work from, modify, update, et cetera, one of them was workable, though I think I killed an entire red pen in my first run-through. The formatting was somewhat workable -- I could at least tell what the intention was. The entire 38 page document was rife with typos, mixed persons, and inappropriate comments. I think with my first draft I've managed to keep the feel of the original, but refine it to the point where it might be usable in a corporate environment.

The second document, on the other hand, was almost entirely un-usable. I will probably have to completely re-write at least %75 of it. I don't mind, really I don't; especially since I wasn't given a hard deadline for the project. A particular challenge I might face is that the two documents have a significant amount of overlap in the topics that they discuss, but I don't really like the idea of copying and pasting between the two. I would like them to remain distinct if at all possible.

This is a Test Post.

I recently downloaded and installed the current Beta of Microsoft Office 2010. The upcoming offering from Microsoft for all sorts of office needs. Apparently Word has blog integration, and that is where I'm typing this post. I assume that when I click on the "Publish" button, my post will automatically be sent to my Blog. That would be pretty neat. There may be security issues in doing this, but I don't really have a huge readership and tonnes of enemies waiting to pounce on any insecure packet that may have my sensitive information. Maybe one day when I'm insanely Internet famous that will be an issue, but not now.

I'm also currently studying for some Windows 7 Certifications, there's a lot that I don't know! That's not really surprising though since my job doesn't really expose me to any Enterprise level IT. Just virus cleanings and hardware installs; It's rarely challenging, and only sometimes is it particularly interesting. I am working on an internal documentation project though, so that's pretty cool!

Anyways, I'll spew some more words later.

Happy birthday!

So I had my birthday dinner with Mom, Dad, and Lindsay last night. It was pretty awesome! I am now the proud owner of a new iPod touch (thanks mom and dad!). That's actully where i'm writing this post from... Cool eh?
Actually it's kind of a pain so I'm going to stop now ;)

Plagiarist

Lindsay has been doing a lot of reading lately about plagiarism. It's a serious concern for artists I would imagine. Perhaps my views on software piracy relate here, people justify software theft by saying that it's just 1's and 0's on the Internet. Well a book is just ink stains on paper, should I be allowed to scan a best selling novel and sell it for my own profit? A painting is just pigment on a medium, can I copy Pablo Picasso's work and sell it as my own?

Computers are a strange beast. They contain so much stuff, but there's really nothing about that stuff which can be identified or differentiated from the computer its self. So when I install a program on my computer it essentially becomes a part of the defining characteristics of "my computer". This is why proprietary software companies deliver an End User License Agreement (EULA) with the software. Almost every EULA says essentially that you don't own the software that you've just purchased, you only have the right to use this software in a specific way.

That may be a part of the problem with Software and Piracy. EULA's aren't necessarily recognized as binding, and certainly not on a global level. I'm sure if the logistics could be sorted out we would have to sign a proper contract before buying any new programs for our computers. Software developers don't really have much in the way of legal protection yet for the tools that they work very hard to produce, so instead we get Digital Rights Management (DRM) and watchdog groups like the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

It's too bad that people think that they deserve something for nothing, but they do. Until a time when people can be trusted not to steal, there will always need to be people willing to help prevent theft and organizations that can help report it.

Sooo bored.

And a little bit stressed about money. My current job either needs to provide a raise, or full time hours, or I need a new job. All of those options are difficult to ask for. Difficult to talk about even. It's been a very long time since I've had stress about money. I'm not used to it.

It was so eazy working at LP. I didn't have to think particularly hard about things, and I got paid a decent living wage. I wouldn't say I was particularly happy working there, just that it was easy. I could buy what I needed, and I could afford what I wanted.

Now I'm happier. I work in a place where I get to use my brain a little bit more, though it's still not incredibly stimulating. I get to be with my Lady-Friend almost all the time. I live in a decent house that is substance-abuse free. I eat good, fresh, and healthful food. I have access to any amenity that I desire. And yet, because of the pay cuts, I have incredible difficulty paying down my debts, I have to worry about cheques bouncing, and I can't really afford to do anything special for anyone... At least, not in the sense that I'm used to.

I'm complaining unnecessarily here, I know. I have it pretty good. Caring friends and family, Good food, good shelter, employment. I have nothing that I can't handle, I'm just not used to life having challenges.

I think I'm spoiled.

Ahhh!

I moved my computer into the living room today and attached it to the television screen, I also dug up my wireless keyboard and mouse. I may have to do this more often. 

I'm a little proud of my computer, it's the first one that I built from scratch using all new and actually decent parts. I've got an Antec 900 tower, a Gigabyte EP45-DS3L Motherboard, an Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo processor @ 3.00 GHz , 8 GB of PC8500 Kingston HyperX RAM, and an EVGA nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX+ graphics card. It's big and lovely, and a pain to haul up and down stairs. I have a few laptops as well, I should sell two of them... I could probably get a couple hundred dollars. 

Lindsay and I were watching old episodes of CBC's Marketplace on line yesterday and there was one called “Gouged by Geeks” it was all about how on site technical service companies often do not employ technicians who are actually skilled. Of ten companies that were called, only three were able to correctly identify correctly a problem RAM stick in a bait computer. Most of them claimed that a different part was at fault, then proceeded to try to sell the “client” a whole new computer. A certain squad of geeks stood out as the worst as far as sending a salesperson rather than a technician to the house call. A company that sends nerds to your site stood out as having probably the worst service of all that we are shown, the fellow diagnosed the wrong part as failed so badly that I could scarcely believe it, then proceeded to copy all of the clients personal data to his laptop without asking permission. I was quite disgusted by the whole affair.

It actually made me feel kind of good about the company that I work for. I may not know the skills of all of our techs. But I work there, and I know that I wouldn't have misdiagnosed the problem.

This is harder than it looks.

I spent today in an attempt to write all day. I'm petering out now. I wrote pretty steadily from 10:00 a.m. to around 2:00 p.m. Then Lindsay and I went to the Dog and Duck Pub for lunch and had greasy burgers (A Garden Burger in Lindsay's case.) that were quite tasty. Then we came home and I wrote a couple more paragraphs in a story that I've started. Now I'm writing here, I could try to write more of my other story, but I think that I have to let it stew a little more. Tomorrow I will continue with it. I think that I should try for between half and a full hour of writing every day, probably more on my days off. I need to be careful to to burn myself out like I have today though. That will take practice and commitment on my part. I think I'm ready for it. I'll try to keep the blog up to date too, though I can't make any promises.

In other news, I've scheduled my next CompTIA A+ exam. July 13, at 2:00 p.m. It will be good to complete that particular project.

Lets start off with some good news!

I'm currently working towards getting some tech certifications. I've passed the CompTIA A+ Essentials at this point, now I want to do a bit more studying before taking the bench technician cert. After that I will probably pursue the Linux + papers. That will give me a good base for CompTIA. I'll probably look into getting one of the Microsoft papers after that. I know it's mostly just resumé padding, but it's better than nothing at all. I didn't go to school for this stuff you know. So far this has been a really good resource.