The Workermonkey

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Signs of aging... 

# posted by ron @ 12/30/2008 11:56:00 PM

I tried to copy a DVD from blockbuster today...
and failed.



I used to actually know how to us a PC. Now I feel like the damn thing owns me. I'm also not warming up to Vista but I'm afraid to format because I think I might lose all the cool things my laptop has to offer like the quick shortcut buttons, volume controls (more external buttons) and the card reader. Not to mention stuff like the touch pad. I few more weeks and I might just be forced over the edge...

11 comments

If you want my 12 year old cousin can come over and show you how to do it.

By  Brancibeer, at Wednesday, December 31, 2008 12:30:00 AM  

Windows listens to record companies and hollywood who think they own the content you paid for. Linux doesn't, so you can play and copy DVD and music without knowing or caring about DRM (just what the hell is "rights management anyway?) or region codes. And actually Linux is getting quite nifty with card readers, volume buttons and the like these days too, but for a less involved solution, try http://dvdshrink.org/what_en.php

Your friend, who is still very much a geek.

By  Damon, at Wednesday, December 31, 2008 7:44:00 PM  

Sounds like someone needs to get laid.

By  Anonymous, at Thursday, January 01, 2009 3:42:00 PM  

Ha ha! You bastard.

By  Brancibeer, at Thursday, January 01, 2009 5:13:00 PM  

damon, what distribution do you run? or what would you recommend that I run if I were to give it a try.

By  ron, at Friday, January 02, 2009 2:57:00 PM  

Format the shit out of it Ron. No computer can tell you what to do.

By  Brancibeer, at Friday, January 02, 2009 5:51:00 PM  

Um, not sure how blunt I want to be about this, but said activity was last done this morning, and involved person has since called and asked for repeat tonight.

Well for something easy Ubuntu is all the rage. Take a look at desktop environments Gnome, and KDE. If you like KDE, it's Kubuntu. Look at XFCE and E17 if gnome and KDE don't float your boat. Ok, if you want something faster and are willing to learn more about your computer and OS try Arch, or Gentoo. I used Gentoo for the past 3 or 4 years, but Arch seems to be the same idea but doesn't compile everything from scratch. Compiling on Gentoo gives you flexibility to use whatever program and feature combination you want but means your pc works hard for hours during install and big updates, vs just minutes for a binary distribution like Arch, most others, and Windows. Finally, know that if you don't like something in Linux you can change it, rebooting doesn't fix problems and doesn't even need to ever happen, and it's really sweet to be able to legally download and install any program in minutes rather than buying it. I have to go, but I'd be happy to help you (or anyone else) with it.

By  Damon, at Friday, January 02, 2009 8:01:00 PM  

So what's this dude's name, Damon?

By  Anonymous, at Monday, January 05, 2009 6:16:00 PM  

[sigh] why do I visit this blog with its middle school humor? I assume you are asking about my sexual partner and are implying it's a man. While there would be nothing wrong with that, it happens to be a woman. And if you aren't convinced my linux knowledge doesn't hold me back, know that I've been with her for over 18 months, she has switched to linux, and allows me to date other women, the latest of which is coming up tomorrow. Hopefully my new laptop comes around then too. I don't know which is more exciting. So there, I"m a geek who gets plenty of action.

By  Damon, at Tuesday, January 06, 2009 6:56:00 PM  

You keep coming back because at heart there is a little middle school kid in you that likes to play dumb.

I hate to call you out here but it doesn't get much more middle schoolish than bragging about getting ass. I can only speak for myself but honestly, I don't care who you fuck.

What kind of laptop? I got Lenovo Y530. its good minus the OS. I'm going to give the Kubunt a try when my balls finally drop.

By  ron, at Tuesday, January 06, 2009 8:32:00 PM  

Hey I didn't bring it up.

I got a Lenovo T500. It's annoying Lenovo won't sell it without an OS. It's sweet that it's got switchable graphics, like turbo: there when you need it, but not wasting energy when you don't.

By  Damon, at Wednesday, January 07, 2009 8:12:00 PM  

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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas! 

# posted by ron @ 12/24/2008 11:20:00 PM

To all those I didn't get to personally say it to....

Merry Christmas!

Let's all be thankful for what we have.

1 comments

you too buddy, hope it was a good one

By  josh, at Thursday, December 25, 2008 10:54:00 PM  

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Monday, December 15, 2008

i'm going to miss you circuit city. 

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 12/15/2008 07:43:00 PM

over the weekend i did a little christmas shopping. i went to circuit city looking to purchase a GPS which i had seen on sale in their add. should have been easy. i get there, they don't have the right model, nuts. so i started talking to this other guy looking for the same thing. then this like 18yo kid comes over to help us.  nice kid and a good sales man but the store screwed him. me and this other guy had picked out the best one and it had a good price. but the kid looks at it funny and say, aahh nuts, this is last weeks price. i have to give it to you though. cool thanks kid. then we look it up in the flyer and its a different price, and then a second time in the same add with a third price. we were perplexed. so the kid called a manager over and he said they were all wrong, this model was even cheaper, a forth price. the kid lost it and started ranting over he he had just been lectured about a one price promise and had now given us 4 different prices on the same item.  it was awesome. but long story short, circuit city lost 50$ each on 4 GPS units before they figured out what had happened. now mom has a much nicer Garmin under the tree.

7 comments

FOLLOW UP: i've had the same credit card for about 10 years now. its held by a bank in VT. over the last few years i've bought some items for more than 100$ from circuit city.every single time i've done this, my credit card company has deactivated my card due toa suspicious purchase. the first time it happened, was less than one month after i had travels over seas and to mexico and used that card numerous times. that didn't set it off. it was the laptop i bought from the circuit city down the road from where they send my bills that tripped it. today, i find out its the 200$ GPS i bought for my mom on sunday that deactivated my card. the excuse from the company? "well we give you 18 hours to call us and lets us know you've made a purchase." oh really? i have 18 hours to call you every time iuse my card because random stores cause you to throw a fit and cancel my card. i have 18 hours from a completely made up starting point til they shut my card off and i can't use it. i have no way of knowing when this 18 hours starts, or why or what items i purchase will do this. but i have 18 hours to call them before they fuck me in the ass for it.

if anyone ever wonders why i move to a deserted island and lose contact with the rest of the world, its because of incidents like this.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Thursday, December 18, 2008 12:11:00 AM  

you should get a new card.

By  ron, at Thursday, December 18, 2008 10:29:00 PM  

Even before all the bullshit with the banks, i have liked Chase. On the occasion some thing suspicious is purchased, mostly large online purchases, they call me and ask if i just tried to do that, which to me is reasonable.

Not to mention they are 100% liable for any purchases you dont make, so i get what their doing. But this leads me to another silly thing people say all the time, "I dont shop online, i dont think its safe."

Oh and while im at it... another group i dont get is the debit people. Why would you not want miles to fly around the world, free lattes at Starbucks or just plain old 3% cash back and an extra month to pay your bill?

Oh and another one, when did Christmas eve become a Holiday? Everyone is talking like its a holiday or something? No one talks about Thanksgiving eve or 4th of July EVE, was Mary in labor for like 30 hours or something and its like the day she almost gave birth to Christ or what?

By  Anonymous, at Tuesday, December 23, 2008 10:04:00 PM  

I'm one of those debit people... Yea I know. I'm pissing away 3% if I could only remember to use my discover card. Come to think of it, that's probably the worst thing I could do security wise (use my debit card).

My favorite holiday eve? good Friday eve.

By  ron, at Wednesday, December 24, 2008 8:24:00 AM  

I'm also one of those debit card people. Although I do use it like a credit card as much as possible to get points. But the rewards suck. Problem is...I can't get approved for a credit card! It's messed up. Apparently having a mortgage, paying off all student loans, and having a steady job just aren't enough for creditors.

By  Brancibeer, at Wednesday, December 24, 2008 11:48:00 AM  

When did Christmas become a holiday? Since the vast majority of our celebration (everything except Mass and the Nativity) is from the Pagan celebration of the solstice as the shortest day/longest night, it is reasonable to think the party happened at night. In mostly atheist Sweden, the Eve was the focus, but this was the case for most holidays so that the party happened the night before the day off from work so it could be used for recovery.

By  Damon, at Wednesday, December 24, 2008 12:53:00 PM  

i spent a lot over the weekend, so my bank (1st financial) called me as well. i confirmed all my xmas shopping, a vet appt, car insurance, and our new tv. then i laughed my ass off at the last item to confirm: $9 for a lunch i charged on friday. i should've denied that one.

also, a holiday is a holiday. i use them for relection/relaxation, and a time to see family and friends. i dont care what it's for, i'll take any holiday you want to give me as long as i can (and will) celebrate my own way.

By  josh, at Thursday, December 25, 2008 10:54:00 PM  

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Awkward moments in professional development 

# posted by Brancibeer @ 12/10/2008 12:42:00 PM

So this new job I'm in is going to be a lot more smoozing and people oriented. Not to mention I'm dealing with a bunch of stuff I have no clue about and WAY over my head. Such is the way of new responsibilities... I had an important meeting today with another Agency and their top people. Big shots if you will. The meeting had the potential to go sour from the start- very contentious issues. As they are walking into the room, I'm introducing myself and shaking hands. One of the directors walks in and seems like a nice fellow. I go to shake his hand, but something went wrong and the grip positioning somehow got misaligned. He had my hand in somewhat of a perpendicular grasp. Like the kind a lady uses when asking for help down from a carriage. Yeah, like that. So I was forced to pretend through it and move on. But god damn it. The whole meeting I couldn't stop but thinking I was somehow this guys bitch now.

(ps the meeting went fine)

4 comments

I've been there. Here's how to handle it because it's awkward for both of you. You stop the shake, say something like "whoa, sorry, how about we shake like men?" and then proceed with a man shake.

By  ron, at Wednesday, December 10, 2008 11:43:00 PM  

I have to agree with Ron. I've been on both sides of your situation, and to some people a hand shake still means alot. Next time you meat with that guy, make sure you give him a solid grip. Otherwise, he might think you're a fag.

By  Anonymous, at Thursday, December 11, 2008 5:12:00 PM  

"A man shake"? Is that what we do when we're done peeing? Or would doing that with a new acquaintance make us what T suggested? How about something more substantive? What were the contentious issue?

By  Damon, at Friday, December 12, 2008 6:59:00 AM  

Back in the caveman days, one would just whip it out and shake your noodle in a circular fashion. (No joke, saw it on Discovery) The 'man shake' is a degenerate form of this practice. These days, the strength or your shake is directly proportional to the size of your wang. So after Branci's incident, this guy was sitting in the meeting hearing his case for getting some money. He must have been thinking, 'I feel sorry for this guy who has a pansy shake. He doesn't look like a fag, but you never know with these hippies.' He probably wasn't even listening to the pitch and came to the conclusion that he'll approve the funds as long as it includes some man-training for upper management.

By  ron, at Saturday, December 13, 2008 10:49:00 AM  

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Monday, December 08, 2008

Job security 

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 12/08/2008 06:48:00 PM

ok, who actually feels safe in thier job right now? this seems to be a big issue lately with all the layoffs and the economy crumbling and what not. me, i'm paranoid as it is and my busniess card say's "Automotive" on it, so yeah, i have reason to think my job may be on the line. we've layed off 20 people so far (20% of our workforce). we saw sales drop almost 30 percent over the last two months, which for us, is beating the market average of 40%. we actually have a ton of new work coming down the pike but right now, with so few people we're struggleing to get stuff out the door. money making stuff. its kind of crazy right now. how's your job being affected by the downturn?

6 comments

people are retarded and easily distracted. my job is safe for now.

By  josh, at Monday, December 08, 2008 8:15:00 PM  

I'd feel safe in my little corner of UVM, which got $16M for 5 years from the federal government, if I weren't quitting and my boss didn't already know about it. But most indicators I see for renewable energy and efficiency are up, so I'm not worried about finding something else. Ask me when I default on my mortgage in 6 months though.

By  Damon, at Monday, December 08, 2008 8:57:00 PM  

A little worried, but I would have at least a year's notice before the money ran out since I'm on a grant. You know, its like if the sun exploded- we would have 40 minutes of sunlight before the world ended. Well, that's not really a good analogy. Anyway, I would look at any change as an opportunity though. Fuck it, I'll sell the house, buy a cheap motorcycle and do something completely different. My program is Federal in origin, so all these bailouts and deficits worry me a bit. I mean, it's got to run out at some point right? The government can't just keep going into more and more debt right? Well the current stream that I swim in could dry up any year. It's actually an annually appropriated program so we have to worry every year. However, there is promising hopes of climate change legislation money that could be funneled to the states. This could be the next big thing for wildlife funding. I'm optimistic about that.

By  Brancibeer, at Monday, December 08, 2008 11:46:00 PM  

I feel pretty safe, but you know anything can happen. If it does I'll foreclose on my house, pack it in and move to Europe to become a pro cyclist.

By  ron, at Tuesday, December 09, 2008 7:35:00 PM  

Semi-pro Ron. Semi-pro

By  Brancibeer, at Thursday, December 11, 2008 9:23:00 AM  

dude, I'm already semi-pro

By  ron, at Thursday, December 11, 2008 10:10:00 PM  

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Thursday, December 04, 2008

Keep that fire buring! 

# posted by ron @ 12/04/2008 11:10:00 PM

Every article I read about the current recession has to do with trying to gain consumers confidence and getting them to buy shit to prop up the economy. Now I'm not an economist, or much of a market analyst here but if you ask a simple man how to put out a fire, he wouldn't answer with "just throw some more fuel on it". Over spending and leveraging created the scenario we have today. How is cutting interest rates (possibly to zero) going to help? "Oh, it will free up the credit markets". Yea sure, I think that banks got the idea pretty quick not to issue more loans that aren't going to get paid no matter what the interest rate.

Inflation is going to go through the roof in the next 2-3 years. Those who will benefit the most from this are exactly the people who fueled this imbalance. Those with the most debt will basically get let off the hook (as there debt is lessened by the weakened dollar). Those of us who are responsible with our money have nothing more to hope for than to hope we bet on the right stocks for 5-7 years from now and suck on crappy CD rates.

bottom line: the market needs to correct itself & bailouts=inflation

3 comments

Well this auto industry thing gets me. We are supposed to operate in a (somewhat) free market. Which means companies either adapt or go away. We can't prop up failing businesses with tax payer dollars. It doesn't matter how big they are or how long they have been around. The American auto industry had plenty of time and warnings about the way the market was turning. I can sum it up here: Oil = finite resource = price slowly increase over time = adapt your fucking business. We can't and shouldn't tell these businesses about how to run their companies. THAT'S THEIR JOB. They did it wrong and now its time to face the music. Yes it will suck, but it leaves room for new and better businesses to start booming- and bam- a stimulated economy. Proactive companies like Honda and Toyota are adapting (slowly) and will probably make it through. END rant.

By  Brancibeer, at Friday, December 05, 2008 2:01:00 PM  

i agree with everything brian just said except the last sentence. read up on the toyota way and how they revolutionized manufacturing with Lean and Continuous Improvement. Toyota has been the shit since the late 70's. the style of thinking they use and hold to is all about continually improving everything. the big three haven't changed shit since the 50's. some of the plants i've seen would scare you to know that those cars/trucks/buses on the road are not safe. they are built by hundreds of layers of redtape and idiots. everyone of htem making their mark along the way.


but anyway, rant over. let the big three fail. it'll be the start of consolidation in the autoindustry. more standardization is the way to go. less makes and models, but at higher quality. go toyota go.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Monday, December 08, 2008 7:03:00 PM  

Yeah, I agree with that. I should have said, "have been continuously adapting.."

By  Brancibeer, at Monday, December 08, 2008 11:38:00 PM  

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Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Wife Accidentally Shot During Sex 

# posted by Brancibeer @ 12/03/2008 04:25:00 PM

Damn, some people are in to some kinky shit!

2 comments

i thought plaxico burress was still in new york

By  josh, at Wednesday, December 03, 2008 11:44:00 PM  

Ha ha, good one. They didn't mention anything about sweatpants though...

By  Brancibeer, at Thursday, December 04, 2008 7:01:00 PM  

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