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Searching for Work: Worldwide Consideration
Sunday, March 22, 2009  In the past, I would have thought, "Oh, hell no." Yet, now I am much more open and willing to consider and do it. I've put in my years of working in America. I've done my time of 15 to 20. I am free, unencumbered, and excited at the prospect of pursuing my interests in living overseas. I am willing to go almost anywhere to live and work. I think I would prefer somewhere warm, but I would hit the cooler climates if the weather is moderate year round. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I was born in the UK. Out of curiosity, a lark really, I wondered, am I still a citizen? 'Cause once you are naturalized in the US they make it seem that you can't have dual citizenship. Well, at my ripe old age, I certainly am still a citizen there. Moving to the UK wouldn't be a hard transition. I have plenty of family there. They speak, somewhat (snicker), the same language. The few times I've gone "home" it took me a few days to understand what people were saying. They air all the same horrible TV programs and movies shown here. Aside from driving on the wrong side of the road, a lot of things are pretty similar. I am willing to do it! I need to leave America for a while. I really do. I need to miss this place. Worst of all, I'm bored with living here. The other 49 states are more of the same shit, in different places. I've visited enough of them and long enough to know. I know a lot of Brits are fed up with their country. I don't assume the grass is greener. I probably would start to bellyache like them the minute I get there. However, they get more vacation time, and at least everyone is covered with health insurance. The draw for me, is to be somewhere very different for a period of time. So, I've decided to expand my options to live anywhere in the Anglo-ized world (or is that the EU zone?), and I'm relaxed and rather excited about it. Now, actually pulling this off without making a disaster of it, is my next challenge. Labels: career change, Europe, relocation, United Kingdom, work posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment Intelligent Filtering of Spam Wednesday, February 18, 2009 I'm offended by Spam. Not because of pornographic content, it insults my intelligence. I don't care if everybody, but me, or only one person, falls for the scam. The sight of these things piss me off. I don't care to grow a bigger penis: I don't have one. However, I would be fascinated by a software program that builds a list of names of men who do respond. Oh, that would be so telling. I don't care to know about an unbelievably hokey story of inheritance from anyone, anywhere, and how they need help getting millions out of one country to move to another. Give me a break! I mean for real, some stranger needs your piddling bank account to hide that much money? It's a non-starter. I especially hate e-mails that start with, "Hi, it's me Sara!" It gets deleted. I can filter my email like a fiend, because no one I know, I mean no one, sends me an email with a vague, or funky, subject line. It doesn't happen. The funniest ones are those that come from "administrator" or "admin." That's a terrific way to download a virus. Spam is like having someone who belongs in a psych ward getting in your face on your way to work or just going somewhere. I hate overly coy, personal space invading, solicitation from strangers asking me to do something for them no matter the method, medium, or circumstance. Get out of my face online or offline. Spammers need a sucker's rating system, that way they can send all the garbage to people who like to receive email from them. I would love for Artificial Intelligence to be used for filtering spam. Maybe it does now. I think it's possible if it learns what the recipient wants to receive. This, to me, is intuitively different than just looking at the incoming email, addresses, and certain key words to decide what's acceptable. For example, spam filtering should be based on a personal profile, lists of likes, dislikes and interests, then growing refinement, recognition, and understanding of these preferences. I will never, in this lifetime, want to see email about growing bigger (in any sense of the word!). Seriously, outside of boobs, what woman does? A standard spam filter is only going to look at verboten words, phrases and email addresses. It should be able to scan the entire email, figure what the topic is about (and if it is incoherent like most spam is), and ban that email address. I would allow for double-checking to see if this type of email (same topic or category of nonsense) comes from this same address, which would insure permanent banning. Just the thought of this type of product makes me smile. I have to look and see if it exists. Labels: artificial intelligence, email, programming, software, spam posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment Vista and Dell Studio Laptop Monday, January 19, 2009 I bought myself a Christmas present: a refurbished 64-bit Dell Studio Laptop, 15.4" screen, massive memory of 4 Gig, 250 Gig hard drive, and all the wonderful bells and whistles, like wifi - minus all that bloated trial software. I like it so damn much, I may buy another one in a couple of months. I originally thought the screen was not going to be wide or big enough, but it is more than sufficient. The laptop runs on Vista Home Premium, which seems to have all the features I need. It is not the headache I feared it would be. Frankly, it fixes some flukes that come with XP. It's an upgrade basically. Yay! I always love a new PC. It's faster, it's easier to use and less of a pain-in-the-butt. My old monster box seems pathetically slow compared to the laptop. Makes life easier for me, which is all I've ever wanted, at least in this case. Anyhoo. This means I have to go back to the monster box (where I watch my online films via a digital projector and home theater system) and wipe it clean. I will format the hard drive and start from the beginning. When that hard wipe will begin is another adventure sometime in the future. Labels: Dell, laptop, windows vista, windows xp professional posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment The Consulting Business: Web Programming & Design Tuesday, January 13, 2009 The worst thing about this business for me is my shyness. It is truly an affliction. I'm an extreme introvert, and it's like trying to function under a heavy itchy blanket. No fun this. There are a million ways to drum up business, but I'd be happier if I didn't have to sell (myself). I'm not an outgoing person, and everything in this society is geared towards the loud, outgoing extroverts who are incredibly unselfconscious. I used to be like that, but I don't know when and why I became this church mouse. I would be happier simply doing the programming and consulting and leave the pushy salesperson persona to someone else. I don't like answering the phone, or even answering technical questions. It is not that I do not know the answer, it is that I like to gather my thoughts to give a simple non-technical (for the lay audience) and thorough answer. That wont work because people are so rude today. If one is not quick witted, and an extremely glib liar, then Gawd help you. I am not one for excuses, so I will have to work with my condition, and find better ways of dealing with it. Labels: business, consulting, programming, web sites posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment America: The Consumptive Society Wednesday, December 31, 2008  Definitions of consumptive according to an online dictionary: ADJECTIVE:Consumption is no longer used to describe a disease. However, I want to apply it to this topic. America is a consumptive society; we are sick. We are consumers of the worst sort. What happened to saving for a rainy day? Where did this constant need to purchase what we want, and what we don't need become the sole focus of this society? Everywhere one turns there is a billboard, a radio ad, a television ad, magazine and newspaper ads, pre-movie commercials, Internet pop-ups, and everywhere else they can stick this intrusive medium, urging us to consume. We are not even referred to as Americans, but as consumers. It's an ugly word. I can't stand hearing it. I see this constant cycle of digging into the earth to pull up precious metals and natural resources. This process leaves devastation, destruction, and unlivable conditions and habitats in its wake. These resources get molded and shaped into "stuff" also known as consumer goods, and at the end this "stuff", aka pollution, gets shoved back into the earth as non-recyclable, non-reusable, non-treatable, toxic, and non-biodegradable garbage. There are people in developing countries living atop of this refuse who, due to their poverty, accept our garbage. It is piling up around the world with nowhere to go. If we didn't consume so much, we would not produce so much pollution. I feel guilty every time I toss something out. I appreciate and respect our capitalistic society. I appreciate and welcome new developments in technology, but somehow, somewhere, something has gone horribly wrong. I am hoping that we Americans get back to saving, that we get back to moderating our tastes and excesses. I hope that we learn to purchase what we need (with cash). It doesn't hurt to learn how to wait before we purchase what we want (without credit cards). I ask myself all the time: Do I need this item now? Why do I want it now? Do I already own something that would take care of my needs? If this new and improved item fails to make any kind of necessary difference, then I decide to pass. It's just a passing phase. I don't like the way the media, our national brainwashing, propagandizing arm of consumptive industries, constantly re-enforces this delirium that we must buy, buy, buy, and shop, shop, shop. I cannot stand the words disposable income. It is your money to keep, save, invest, and enjoy, it is not disposable. We've worked too hard to treat it as something we need to immediately get rid of. The economy will recover, because we are the economy. We will recover, but I wish for the sake of national (mental) health people will be encouraged to save, to moderate, and measure the impact of their lifestyles. Labels: consumers, consumption, consumptive, corporate America, disposable income, environment posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment Organized Chaos: Keeping Up With Technology Saturday, December 27, 2008 I realize I am not as organized as I've imagined myself to be. Or I spend too much time taking notes, working to type up these notes, and over analyzing a "game plan" I pretend I want to carry out. The funny thing is I rarely have any intention of following through with it. For example, I need to, and should, keep abreast of the latest technology, software application development languages, and tools, and I'm in a tizzy over what to study and keep up-to-date with. I have a rancid, poker-hot, decaying and putrid affection for technology. There's simply too much to work with. I get the feeling companies (or their incompetent and clueless IT managers and executives) don't know what works, and love to waste millions, and people's valuable time, trying to find out what does. And yeah, do these guys love to drop the acronyms! I used to work with Data Warehousing applications such as Microstrategy and Cognos. I've attended numerous classes and created many reports. Yet, any type of reporting for sales, for finance, for whatever, bores me stiff. Don't even ask me any questions about how these tools work. Learning about .Net (all these years since its introduction and counting) is a joy draining exercise. Every few years I'm reviewing Microsoft's .Net Framework, ASP.Net, VB.Net and C#. As soon as I'm done with the books, training material and classes, I forget it. Doesn't matter if I've coded it for work, or practiced on my own time. Nothing sticks. (Yes, I am exaggerating.) Applications software development, this task of creating efficient usable software, which used to excite, now feels like the entire process is a peon or slave to bloatware. Sometimes it's difficult to determine actual value from technological advancements. I was excited by and enjoyed the DOS-Basic programs I wrote in college to determine financial aid. I shudder to think what writing it in the .Net platform would be like. No fun at all. There are too many steps to take before coding starts: applications that have to be (purchased!) downloaded, hardware memory, O/S requirements, planning application layers and setting up classes, etc. No, thanks. Next year, I will be taking a class in Adobe Flash. I could have taught myself it, which is what I've done with a lot of software application development tools. However, I've looked at many Adobe offerings to create content online, and I simply hate it. This is one of those times I want information spoon fed to me. My plans for next year: ensure that the technology information received is streamlined, simple, and hopefully! actionable. Labels: .net framework, Adobe, application development, asp.net, C#, Cognos, data warehousing, Flash, Microsoft, Microstrategy, software, technology, vb.net posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment A Very Special Madoff: Cash Rules Everything Around Me Saturday, December 20, 2008 I may be misquoting Method Man, or someone else, but I do recall this was a popular rap back in the day. Truer words were never spoken. Lemme give some props to Paul Krugman first: The revelation that Bernard Madoff — brilliant investor (or so almost everyone thought), philanthropist, pillar of the community — was a phony has shocked the world, and understandably so. The scale of his alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme is hard to comprehend. Yet surely I’m not the only person to ask the obvious question: How different, really, is Mr. Madoff’s tale from the story of the investment industry as a whole? .... Yet, at this point, it looks as if much of the industry has been destroying value, not creating it. .... The answer, I believe, is that there’s an innate tendency on the part of even the elite to idolize men who are making a lot of money, and assume that they know what they’re doing. After all, that’s why so many people trusted Mr. Madoff. Now, as we survey the wreckage and try to understand how things can have gone so wrong, so fast, the answer is actually quite simple: What we’re looking at now are the consequences of a world gone Madoff. Picture this first image: a black male goes into a KFC. Perhaps robbing it, at gunpoint, of $500 bucks, maybe even $5,000. If he commits this crime some where in the south, especially in one of those "tough on Negro crime" states, he will be sentenced to life in prison. Weirdness of the criminal justice system in all its stupid glory: he'll spend more time in jail, than if he killed his estranged wife, live-in girlfriend, multiple children, and some neighbors. In case you think I am making this up. I forget the state, but there was a TV news story done years ago about a southern white woman judge doling out sentences of 100 years for armed (perhaps not?) robbery. I also know people who work for a correctional facility: murderers don't spend a very long time in jail, especially when they kill women they know. I hate thieves. I can't abide stealing, but she was proud of locking away people for extremely long periods of time. Think of the resources she was draining from the state: warehousing able bodied men without any indication of attempting to rehabilitate them. I wont delve into whether it is possible or not. I wont even talk about IQs, race, single parent homes, poverty, illegitimacy, illiteracy, recidivism, and the like. That's for the useless experts to hash out. Picture this next image: an old white man rips off thousands of people, costing them billions. He shows up at court. The judge grants immediate leniency: he can stay under "house arrest" in his penthouse. Gawd forbid, this white man has to stay in jail with the unwashed masses. The criminal justice system not only acts obsequious, they seem nigh apologetic. "Gosh, we're sorry we're disturbing you, oh-magnificent-rich-privileged-thieving-old-white-dude, but it looks like some of your suckers are complaining. We have to pretend we want to do something about it." What ever happened to the joys of this wonderfully free unregulated market? Anyone? Folks who invested with this guy are the same ones who told politicians to back-the-funk-off-of-Wall Street. There's no limit to how much money we can make! Three-card Monte on the street corner seems more legit. At least you know from the get-go it's a con. What? You're surprised? Why? Oh, that's right, he went to the right (sotto voce) exclusive, extra extra special, brightest in the room, highest IQs in the world, no coloreds allowed, country club with all the other jackals. He must be legit. What's that German word? Schadenfraude. If he gets even half the time a KFC armed robber would receive, I'll be shocked, shocked! Bernard Madoff might spend a little time at Club Fed. There he will get to network with the other scheming and sneaky crooks on how to rehabilitate his tainted image. In his case though, he might be too old to start over. I always thought that the casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas made more sense, and was easier to understand than Wall Street (what's left of it). Labels: Atlantic City, Bernard Madoff, investments, las vegas, money, New York Times, Paul Krugman, thief, Wall Street posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment Web Site Critiques Sunday, November 30, 2008 Color Contrast Could people please think of hooking up their websites with black text on white background instead of vice versa? I know not everyone thinks about an audience, or cares, but some people do have interesting things to write about. However, some people insist on unreadable colors like light blue text on a dark blue screen or orange text on a red background. I mean, Why bother? It's criminal. Flash Sites Even though I plan on taking a class in Adobe Flash, frankly, I hate the software application. I can't stand animation on any web sites. I admit I like to read sites like Craigslist, NYTimes and Drudge, because s**t! isn't floating wildly and distractingly across the screens. Animated, and disabling, full screen icons are like having a big disgusting bug on the screen that you cannot kill. I hate wasting time having to hunt for the close button, or mute the damn thing. Log-in / Register I am done with this. No mas. I have so many damn accounts, just to what? read less than four sentences? No thanks. Social Networking Seriously, what purpose do they serve? One is never going to meet (or want to) these people. Real conversations are non-starters. Oh, well. Another fad waiting to die. YouTube Seriously guys and gals, fix the video lag time. It's getting lame. Internet Addiction I have it: I must break it. Labels: Adobe, colorblind, Flash, unreadable content, web sites, YouTube posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment Making Things: Ladder Shelves Wednesday, November 26, 2008  Every blue moon I have to give into my urges. This past August, I gave into the strong urge to make something. The last time I felt such an urgency to create, it was a couple of years ago. I bought material, patterns, and went to work on sewing a couple of pants and skirts. I didn't need the clothes; I needed to make the clothes. When the feeling moves me to build, I feel like I could build a house. Oftentimes, I draw my dream houses. One day I may complete that project. As a kid I built a make-do desk for myself. I replaced the legs on an old coffee table, so I could have someplace to study. I have no actual carpentry skills. I learn by observing, reading, drawing mock-ups, visualization, measuring and re-measuring. Following are pictures of some of the shelves I've made. Over a three month period, starting in late August, I spent roughly $450+ at Home Depot (love those guys there!), and Lowes. I bought: an electric miter saw, nails, screws, corner braces, and lots and lots of pinewood. I created 7 shelves / cabinets, with one going to my Mom. Pinewood is easy to stain. I didn't do it, since I don't like the strong smell of that stuff. Shelves: most of the wood was 6-8 feet, which I had cut into pieces ranging from 16-23 1/2 inches. Sides: wood of 6-8 feet, a majority of which was 6 feet, only two shelves are 8 feet high.
Labels: carpentry, electric miter saw, Home Depot, ladder shelves, Lowes, making things, pinewood posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment Letting Go of the Telephone Thursday, November 20, 2008 My brother was able to do it. I can't bring myself to do it. I would like to. I wish I could, but I cannot disconnect my landline telephone. A cable company salesperson stopped by the house. He was trying to convince me I could switch to an all encompassing service package - telephone, internet and cable tv - and keep the original telephone number. I said I would think about it. I really was going to consider it, but a chill of doubt went up my spine. See, I'm one of those people in which everything that can get screwed up will. I feared losing my number, I feared not getting anyone to contact me during that down period when there was a real! critical emergency! In the end, I don't want to change. I'm sort of satisfied with my service and when I'm ready to, I'll disconnect. As of right now, I see no reason to. Labels: cable company, cable tv, disconnect, internet, landline phone, phone posted by GoldenAh
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