Aimless Wandering

Yesterday was a horrible day, it was probably one of the worst travel days I’ve had in years…

It started fine - at least until I got outside the hotel.  I had pre-paid and pre-reserved my transfer to the airport,  so I figured that if I got downstairs and checked out by 7:00 I would have not problem making my 7:15 transfer to the airport…    And almost didn’t make it on the van…  It would seem that the driver had already been there for 10 minutes and there were 18 folks trying to get on the van…  They didn’t have reservations though and after reminding the driver that I had paid and reserved my trip I made it on the van…

So it was off to put my bag in the van - and I wasn’t thinking about what I was doing and managed to throw out my back in the process…

I hobbled into the van - sat down and just as the door closed realized I left my travel pillow back in my room…

On to the white knuckle drive to the airport… It probably wasn’t that bad, but I was in so much pain that I had a death grip on the seat.

I made it through the airport with no problem - go to the gate and waited…  then waited… and waited some more…  Five minutes before the scheduled departure the gate agent shows up and gives us some information…  First off a note to gate agents - If it’s 5 minutes before departure and the plane isn’t here - it’s obvious that our flight has been delayed, at this point you’re better off telling why the flight’s been delayed than just informing us that we’re delayed.  We waited an hour for the flight to arrive because they apparently needed a flight crew.  However I’ll give the airline credit - they turned the flight around in 20 minutes once the plane arrived.

I was extremely hopeful that things would start getting better now - and arrived in Chicago to discover that my next flight was delayed at least another hour…  On the plus side it felt better walking than sitting and I got lunch - but it was another hour stuck in an airport.

So I finally get to San Francisco, and pay for parking.  The long term parking there requires you to pre-pay to exit and there are not manned booths at the exits, and of course I get to the exit and discover that the gate won’t read my parking stub.  I had to back out of the exit gate and drive over to the office to get show them that I paid and get them to manually open the gate so I could go home…

As expected - I got stuck in traffic, in San Francisco, in the MINI - and with my back bothering me it hurt like hell to shift gears..

It was a difficult night - but finally things are starting to look better…

So this week I headed to Dayton OH for some training, and as I traveled I’ve compiled my list of notes and observations…

• First, I’m starting to really hate the airport I tend to have to fly out of. It’s not that it’s a particularly bad airport - It’s just that the flights to the destinations I typically head to tend to either be red eye flights or leave some time between 6 and 7 in the morning - combine that with the fact that it’s an hour drive just to get to the airport and the whole situation just sucks.
• Note to inexperienced travelers - waiting in line to go through security is not the appropriate time to re-pack your carry on bag.
• Delaying the boarding of an entire plane so that you can say goodbye to your loved ones - rude.
• I don’t care how great a singer you are - it is not acceptable to hum on a crowded plane.
• KEEP YOUR EYES TO YOURSELF!!! If I wanted to share the movie I’m watching on my iPod with you I would turn it to face you - maybe even offer you a headphone to listen in with… But when I turn my iPod away from you it becomes fairly obvious when you’re leaning over to watch…
• This trip was the first time I saw a Kindle in the wild - it’s bigger than I expected.
• If you’re giving a class to a room full of folks who are either instructors or work in the training community you better make sure that your presentations follow the tenets that are standard in the training community.
• Ending your class late when you know that the next bus isn’t for an hour and 95% of your students don’t have a car is extremely inconsiderate.
• The overall timing of this trip just sucks - The Wife is flying out the same day that I get back, we’re both flying through the same airport but she leaves 3 hours before I get in… Great….

I was eating lunch and reading an old magazine that was lying around.  There was an article talking about the digital picture frames infected with a virus that Best Buy was selling a few months ago, and a reminder about the iPods that were sold last year with a virus on them…

It got me wondering - we all assume that the electronics we purchase and rely on are “clean” and don’t come infected with malware out of the box.  More than that, these same electronics that we rely on are typically manufactured overseas… 

This got me wondering - Would it be all that hard for a government or organization to insert some sort of malicious code into the equipment used in the manufacturing process?  In particular how hard would it be for that code to be injected at a point in the process that would cause it to be replicated onto every device produced?

Think about it - by injecting a malicious program into a device, especially if it’s a sophisticated and difficult to detect program - a hostile government or organization could cause havoc with the devices that we rely on and even gain access to all kinds of sensative or private data… 

Ok, so I freely admit not actually seeing the incident that provoked this - but still…

I was picking up The Boy from preschool this afternoon when I overheard another parent say to their child:

Stop hitting people before I smack you.

I paused for a second as I tried to contemplate how you teach a child not to hit by hitting them…  Not that I’m opposed to spanking - but it would seem to defeat the purpose in this situation wouldn’t it?

I found this story from Marketplace over on The Consumerist, I understand the desperation but reading the story just made me ill.

I know that the resetting of interest rates has been traumatic for people and as a result have put many in some pretty severe dire straights…

Without even looking at the fact that prices have slumped and that many are now upside down on their mortgages - something that I don’t think many would have expected, or at least would have expected that prices would have dropped as much as they have - the fact that interest rates were going to rise was something people people should have seen coming.

Lets face it interest rates are volatile, they always are.  ARMs are fine options if you go in to them with the understanding (and expectation) that rates at some point will almost definately rise.  It was always a huge fear of mine when we had an adjustable rate loan (other than a charge card) that rates were going to rise and I was very happy that we re-financed those loans long before rates went up.  The extra money we were paying with a fixed rate over an adjustable rate was worth the piece of mind that we weren’t going to get hit with a rate adjustment.

We were also very careful when we bought our house to make sure that we would be able to always afford our payments it was why we bought the house we did at the price we did.  When we were negotiating for our house the sellers agent tried to get us to agree to raising our offer because our loan was approved for almost 60k more than the listed price of the house.    We made it clear that just because we were approved for that loan amount didn’t mean we wanted to or felt we could afford to make the payments on a loan for that amount.

But when I read stories where people have an attitude like these folks outside of Stockton it makes me ill.  I feel for the fact that they can’t make their house payments, I truly do.  But this attitude that they took of - well we stopped paying our mortgage and now we have savings and can go out and spend money again - bothers me.  The fact is these folks are going to be evicted.  Fine, the courts and such are so backlogged that they’re going to get a few more months in their home before they get thrown out, but the fact is they’re going to loose their home.  The money that they’re spending now probably isn’t really their money since the owe it to the bank, and even if the bank doesn’t collect all of it they’re going to need money to find a new place to live…

Maybe the family used a poor choice of words when they said it feels “great” to not be paying their mortgage - but the way it comes across just sickens me.

So I’m watching the coverage of the Olympic Torch “Run” in San Francisco.  So far it’s been more of a torch drive with the torch packed on to a bus and driven to a point in downtown San Francisco where it appears that folks will get to run with the torch.

Thanks to the protests the route has been cut short and the route has been altered so that nobody really knows where they are going.

Now, I don’t begrudge people’s right to protest, and I agree that the subject of the protest is just…  But I don’t agree with the protestors trying to disrupt the torch run or attacking the runners.

I like the Olympics - I prefer the Winter Olympics to the Summer Olympics, but I like the Olympics.  I think it would be pretty neat to get the opportunity to be a Torch Bearer.  I don’t think that being a Torch Bearer is a sign of political support for the policies of the host nation for the games, and I don’t think that it’s right that the Torch Bearers are being in a sense victimized by the protesters.    If I was a Torch Bearer taking part in this once in a lifetime event I would be very upset if gangs of protesters interfered with and/or obstructed with my chance to be a Torch Bearer.

The protesters at this point have turned the entire event into a sham.  The symbolism of the Torch being the beacon of the games traveling to the event has been destroyed.  Now it’s more like a sad game, the protesters are trying to disrupt the Torch Run and the Chinese are insistent on the run progressing to essentially thumb their noses at the protesters…

Ok, just to make sure that this doesn’t get misconstrued - I think lower speed limits around schools are a good idea.  I also have not gotten a ticket for speeding through a school zone…

But I think way too many municipalities sign their school zones poorly at best..  One thing that they get right in Florida is that school zones are very well marked - it’s very evident that you have entered a school zone and when you have exited a school zone.  Even better is that many of their school zone signs have flashing lights that alert you when the school zone is active (kids are out and about) and when it isn’t… 

Then there are school zones like the one I drive through every day.  First there’s a sign that indcates when you have entered the school zone - but none to indicate when you have actually exited it.  Ok fine.  But then there’s the wording of the sign:

School Zone.  Speed Limit 25MPH When Children Present.

At first glance it makes sense - if there are kids around slow down.  Fine. Sure.  But is that when kids are around because it’s the start or end of the school day, or when kids are in the school, or maybe when they’re out in the school’s play yard?  Better yet, how am I supposed to know when kids are present?  The school is set back from the road and it’s hard to see if any body is there until your at the school, so am I supposed to know the school calendar?  Is it my responsibilty as a driver to know when school is in session even if I don’t have a child that attends this school?

But that’s ok because in the three years I’ve driven past this school I have never seen a child at any time of day.  During pickup and dropoff times the school is protected by a phalanx of SUV’s belonging to the parents picking their kids up from school so even if there were kids outside I’d never see them due to the SUV barricade.

There is a crosswalk that crosses the street in front of the school.  It’s well marked with an overhead sign and flashing yellow light.  Maybe that’s when we’re supposed to slow down?  Of course the light rarely is turned off on days when school is not in session so the light has a tendency to blink when there’s nobody around…

Oh, and then there’s the fact that this is an elementary school located on a  rural road - with no sidewalks and relatively narrow shoulders.  Few if any parents would allow their kids to walk or ride to school along this road…

So why again is there a school zone?

MSNBC and others are reporting that independent truckers around the country are driving slowly or just not running today in order to protest the high cost of diesel fuel.

I understand where they’re coming from - but I just don’t think that they’re going to have any effect other than to RAISE prices for the things that they are supposed to be hauling.  Burried in the story is the comment that somebody somewhere is hoping that the protests will pressure the President to use the Strategic Oil Reserves to increase the amount of diesel for sale and lower prices…

There’s a few problems with the entire plan…

First, overall consumption of petroleum is only part of the issue.  Yes global demand is extremely high and that is causing prices to be higher than they were just 4 years ago, but it’s not the only reason.

Oil is priced and sold in US dollars - and the value of the dollar is extremely low ($1US = 1.56 Euro and 1.97 GBP).  Heck the US dollar is worth less than the Canadian dollar ($1US = $1.02 CAN).  With the dollar being so weak it costs more to import goods into the US since our dollar doesn’t buy as much on the world markets…  Oil from the Strategic Oil Reserves isn’t going to effect the poor buying power of the US dollar.  The economists need to guide the Administration with crafting an economic policy that reverses all the issues that are causing the value of the dollar to plummet on the world markets.

Not only that - but back in the first years of the Bush Administration they actually went and released oil from the Strategic Oil Reserves in an attempt to lower gas prices…  and it didn’t work!  If it had any effect, prices moved a few pennies at most, not enough to make any real difference in the cost of fuel to us.

So just how are protests or even strikes by independent truckers going to force fuel prices to drop?

Or is it that with fewer trucks on the road, demand will drop, causing supplies to rise and prices to lower?

So NewTeeVee is reporting that Comcast’s Senior VP of user Experience Gerald Kunkel is saying that Comcast is experimenting with putting cameras into devices so that Comcast can know who is in your living room… What Comcast is trying to do is have your DVR or cable box recognize you and then serve up show recommendations or targeted ads.

Mr. Kunkel (aka Big Brother Wannabe) says that the system wouldn’t use facial recognition but rather some sort of general body form recognition so that supposedly Comcast (aka The Ministry of Love) wouldn’t have a picture of you on file…

Now I’m not a conspiracy theory, tinfoil hat wearing kind of person (besides the tinfoil just makes it easier for the aliens to read our minds not harder) but this – this scheme just creeps me out… Despite what Comcast says this scheme just reeks of George Orwell’s 1984. TiVo has been reporting viewership information on it’s DVRs for quite a while – but just cataloging what I watch is very different from WATCHING me watch TV. I may have a blog – but I don’t broadcast all my activities for the world to see and I DON’T want some company or worse the government keeping that close a watch on what I do.

Which comes to my other concern, the government has already been conducting warrantless wiretaps of people’s phones which sadly doesn’t seem to upset most folks. What’s to stop them from now tapping in to Comcast’s video feed of my living room? Or worse coercing or encouraging Comcast to improve the camera quality so that the government could peek in on what we are doing? In the last 8 years we’ve given away many of our civil liberties in the name of increased security – but allowing a company to put a camera in our living room to better personalize our viewing experience or some crap – NO, NO, NO, NO!

In all honesty it’s not much further of a jump for Comcast after installing such cameras to start sending us messages like:

“Hey Bill, you’re looking a little chubby there. Maybe you need to add fitTV to your channel lineup.”

“Mary, the living room is looking a bit dirty, maybe you should straighten up… but leave your TV on.”

“Roy you perv, we’re turning your porn off go find a preacher and confess your sins!”

“Betty, we saw you with the milkman and we’re telling your husband…”

Really, what’s to stop these from becoming like the two way view screens in 1984 that were used to spy on the public? Hmm, I wonder if Comcast is next going to decide that their bills are too wordy and experiment with sending them in Newspeak?

Honestly I can’t believe that a company would be so daring to even try something like this. I have been a Comcast subscriber in the past – but with them even considering something as creepy as this I’d have to think long and hard about ever subscribing to their service again…

But since I really don’t have much to do today (or at least much that I want to do today) I ended up becoming inspired while on a visit to the office supply closet…

As a result I have embarked on building a rubber band ball (old school!) with a rubber band core (hard core too!).  I’m not sure what triggered this impulse especially since I’ve never created a rubber band ball.  Although I once worked some where that had a rubber band ball that was larger than a soccer ball and weighed over 20lbs - when I left it was 6 years old.  It was so large we couldn’t stretch single rubber bands around it but rather had to tie two together in order to add more rubber bands to the rubber beastie.

Although right now I have not so much a ball, but more of a rubber band nugget or maybe a rubber band larva.  At best maybe a rubber band football.  Of course I have a 4oz bag of number 19 rubber bands (translation- a whole lot of skinny rubber bands) at my disposal to properly shape my rubber band ball…