"thank you, new york state" written by Zobar on estrip.org

04/22/10 12:17 - 46ºF - ID#51437

thank you, new york state

for making my life just a little bit weirder. This is the endorsement on the back of my tax check:

In other news, I wholeheartedly support the Paladino campaign, if only for its entertainment* value.

- Z

_______________

And, possibly, profiteering. We came up with some sweet bumper stickers we could sell to the Tea Party: 'I FUCK HORSES TOO, CARL! PALADINO FOR GOVERNOR.'

Permalink: thank_you_new_york_state.html
Words: 66
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/10/10 11:07 - ID#51365

consulting sucks

I just started doing my taxes, and I just want to say that Form 1040 Schedule SE ["Self-Employment Tax"] is total bullshit. It raised my taxes from $2000, which is reasonable I guess, to $6000, which sucks balls. Don't bother giving me helpful tips for next year, I'm not doing it anymore or ever again. Buy me a drink & I'll tell you how I really feel.

+1 for Orchid Asian Bistro (e:leetee,51352) we went for a sushi lunch this afternoon and gave it a shot. Their spicy tuna rolls are among the best I've had.

Apple/Adobe is a soap opera and I'm trying not to care. Fact is, this isn't the first time I've switched from Mac. Some time after System 8 I got tired of waiting for preemptive multitasking and switched to BeOS R4* which I used until it was basically discontinued. Then I switched to Linux [Yellow Dog?] until Mac OS X v10.1 came out. I don't think I have enough pull with the teeming masses to start an exodus, though, and if I did I like to think I'd make them do something more fun than switching operating systems. Human pyramid, maybe.

(e:tinypliny) - It looks like some guy is already making builds of Chrome OS

from the "Chromium OS" developer project. I have a spare USB drive so I might give that a shot, but I think I'm probably going to stick with Linux in the end.

You can also install Ubuntu and probably other Linuxes [Linuces?] onto a USB flash drive to test it out without taking the plunge. [You can run Ubuntu right off a CD but it's mad slow.]

- Z

_______________

Yes I am one of those guys.

Permalink: consulting_sucks.html
Words: 294
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/10/10 12:32 - 35ºF - ID#51361

i got the ubantus

i got the ubantus

I've probably had about 75,000 calories today and I haven't even had dinner yet. (e:dragonlady7)'s coworker Strongly Suggested that we stop by Paula's Donuts on the way in to work today, so we bought a dozen each for our respective people. The glazed twisty-stick was decadent; the "strawberry shortcake" - a quarter-poundish jelly doughnut with twinkie-like filling - was obscene [and I have it on good authority that the lemon jelly donuts were heavenly]. For lunch the company sprung for chicken finger pizza, which is pretty good if you don't think about it too much. But if you do think about it too much, fried chicken in a butter-sodium sauce atop mozzarella covering a layer of bleu cheese dressing tends to sit a little heavy.

I've installed Ubuntu 9.10 on a trial basis to decide whether I can use it full-time at home [or, I suppose, work]. If it works out ok I'll do a real install when Ubuntu 10.4 comes out in a few weeks. I've been using Mac OS X since before they named them after cats and it's a little boring. Also it seems that Apple has decided to start beef with Every Company which does not bode well, so I'll wait this one out until Steve's man-period blows over.

Ubuntu is very brown, but aside from that it's pretty good for a product whose logo is a hippie drum circle. Seems to me I had more driver issues with Windows 7 on my MacBook than with Ubuntu [none yet? knock on wood].

- Z

tinypliny writes at 10:11:33 04/10/10 - Comment #55717: It's so not fair that you peeps understand when I am talking technical but the reverse doesn't work...

jim writes at 08:10:30 04/10/10 - Comment #55716: Yeah, selling Creative Suite to Mac users is probably to big a slice of revenue to cut off. Plus if they cut Mac users off for software like you're talking about, they'd be doing what Apple did to them, and they would lose the moral high ground. Adobe wants to increase penetration and make Flash a suitable cross-platform tool for mobile development. Dropping to the cut & kill level would just fracture their reach more.

I am 100% fine with not allowing a flash plugin in mobile Safari, I think it'll speed up HTML5/Canvas/WebSocket/etc adoption and that's the real future of the Web. And I despise Flash-only or Flash-mostly web sites.

I am very unhappy with Apple about not allowing 3rd party tooling on top of the public API (the latest SDK dev agreement changes).

tinypliny writes at 07:59:37 04/10/10 - Comment #55715: Imma waitin' 4 ChromeOS.

paul writes at 01:38:51 04/10/10 - Comment #55714: I know it's all about money but I keep wondering why adobe doesn't pull the final fuck you on apple and just remove the mac version of creative suite. I bet have the people that own macs would not if there was no Photoshop.

paul writes at 01:29:28 04/10/10 - Comment #55713: This is so exciting, I sense a mac exodus. I started with system 7 riding through each iteration till now and I just started to totally lose interest because of mac politics and because of the fact I fear there computer OS will soon be the attacked by hackers as popularity soars and because I think it will sit on the backburner in favor of iPhone ipad os. Those OSes are too appliance style for me.

tinypliny writes at 07:59:49 04/10/10 - Comment #55707: I am so sick of windoze and I am a wimp - which makes me gutless and unwilling to experiment with ubuntu.

Permalink: i_got_the_ubantus.html
Words: 260
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/06/10 08:50 - 50ºF - ID#51340

more about blood

Inkjet ink costs less than twice as much as human blood. What a steal!

- Z

_______________
ps I am told that even if the Red Cross won't take your blood, UNYTS often will.

Permalink: more_about_blood.html
Words: 40
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/02/10 04:34 - 76ºF - ID#51313

priorities

If you think a free t-shirt is appropriate compensation in exchange for a pint of blood, you might oughta reexamine your priorities. The crackers alone should be enough.

- Z

jenks writes at 05:42:33 04/06/10 - Comment #55664: yeah, it's stupid. I mean yes, I understand wanting to screen out people at high risk for HIV. But just because someone is gay doesn't mean s/he has AIDS. ugh.

and when you donate and do their screening questions, there's all the stuff about your travel. (which is really getting out of hand. you have to add up the total number of weeks you've been out of the country over the last like ten years- not just "have you ever lived in africa" like it used to be.) then all the "have you ever had sex for money or drugs?" "if you are a man, have you ever had sex with a man?" "if you are a woman, have you ever had sex with a man, who has had sex with another man?" To which I usually respond 'i hope not'. They are never amused.

jason writes at 04:04:32 04/06/10 - Comment #55662: At first I thought you all were joking about the whole them not wanting gay blood thing.

heidi writes at 01:52:01 04/06/10 - Comment #55661: Article on the political battle to allow gay blood donations. :::link:::

"Between 10,000 and 15,000 of the 25,000 Americans with severe hemophilia -- a hereditary disorder that disrupts blood clotting and often requires large-scale transfusions -- are believed to have been infected with HIV via tainted blood products in the late 1970s and early 1980s, said James Curran, who at the time headed the first AIDS task force at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

....

"Because blood drives are frequently held in schools and businesses, the donation policy can stigmatize gay men by preventing them from participating in an activity often used to build camaraderie and teamwork, said Sean Cahill, a managing director at the Gay Men's Health Crisis of New York.

The current ban "promotes the idea that gay men are a health threat," Cahill said."

libertad writes at 01:56:26 04/05/10 - Comment #55646: Of course they don't want our gay blood either. My mom (in Florida) just got free tickets to Disney for her blood. Kind of ironic since they don't want gay blood.

jenks writes at 12:54:19 04/04/10 - Comment #55631: They refused me because I didn't have much time, and couldn't wait in the whole line. I mean, I guess it's obnoxious to ask to cut to the front of the line- but if they're really as desperate for donors as they always act, you'd think they wouldn't turn away willing people. ah well.

tinypliny writes at 06:54:27 04/02/10 - Comment #55607: They give you Naked(TM) juice now when you donate at Roswell. (Or did, last year). I tried pretty hard to get in because my priorities are in the right place, of course and who in their right minds says no to Naked(TM) juice, right? But they point blank refused me because I didn't meet their weight criteria. :/

Permalink: priorities.html
Words: 32
Location: Buffalo, NY

03/28/10 09:43 - 42ºF - ID#51285

from the rink

I need a button like this on my work computer:

Ready to roll:

- Z

Permalink: from_the_rink.html
Words: 19
Location: Buffalo, NY

03/26/10 12:33 - ID#51271

jerzmati

This box of Rice-A-Roni was purchased [probably] in Jersey City some time after August 2001, and sat in a cupboard until January 2003. It was then moved to a different cupboard in Hastings-on-Hudson until almost exactly two years past its expiration date. At that point it was inexplicably moved to a third cupboard in Buffalo, where it sat until this evening.

I bought this box of Rice-A-Roni before I knew (e:dragonlady7). At the time, I slept on an air mattress, and most of my furniture was boxes I hadn't bothered to unpack. I drove a red 1992 GMC Jimmy with broken air conditioning and power windows. I ate more Chinese take-out than is advisable, from two restaurants: one had good food but crappy egg rolls; the other had good egg rolls but crappy everything else. I spent a lot of time wandering around lower Manhattan. I didn't know anyone in the area, so I was that weird guy who went to shows alone. My two favorite live bands were Cordero and Big Lazy, both of whom still seem to be active. I drank a lot of Skyy gimlets and the best ones were at Tonic, which is closed now, where they used fresh-squeezed lime juice.

When I bought this box of Rice-A-Roni, gas was $1.35 per gallon. Enron had yet to prove that the system works. The World Trade Center was still the easiest way to tell which way you were facing when you came out of the subway. The United States was not at war.

Goodbye, Chicken Teriyaki Rice-A-Roni. I knew the magic had gone from our relationship when I picked you up and a cloud of dust poofed out from the bottom. You may not be missed, but that is not because of any lingering animosity; it is because you are an eight-year-old box of Rice-A-Roni.

- Z

Permalink: jerzmati.html
Words: 324
Location: Buffalo, NY

03/24/10 10:34 - 39ºF - ID#51262

ok i get it

The architecture of my office is nowhere near as awe-inspiring as the Roswell Park tuna can. But check out this sweet view from the corner office!

- Z

Permalink: ok_i_get_it.html
Words: 30
Location: Buffalo, NY

03/23/10 10:36 - 36ºF - ID#51256

drainage situation at work

- Z

metalpeter writes at 05:57:09 03/24/10 - Comment #55486: Clash Of the Titans does look really good. hey if that grass is as crazy as it sounds maybe The Discory Channel could do a special on it.

tinypliny writes at 05:47:23 03/24/10 - Comment #55484: Bet it's an energy-conserving move-or-the-lights-go-out-automatically green building - yes?

jason writes at 02:26:22 03/24/10 - Comment #55479: Speaking of Kraken, I'm super geeked about the Clash of the Titans remake. So and so from Avatar is playing Perseus.

libertad writes at 01:28:52 03/24/10 - Comment #55474: I was also thinking all of the same things regarding this building, I just didn't want to say so.

jim writes at 01:24:03 03/24/10 - Comment #55473: It is always waterlogged and full of fowl (and kraken and sea serpents).

james writes at 10:42:54 03/24/10 - Comment #55472: Ugh. Not to mention that it is an ugly building surrounded by lawn that is constantly swampy. Plant some freakin' trees, would ya!

drew writes at 10:27:41 03/24/10 - Comment #55471: That is the most architecturally depressing structure ever built. It seems designed to kill your soul a little bit each time you look at it. The monster helps though.

james writes at 10:08:24 03/24/10 - Comment #55469: Thank god for touch typing.

jim writes at 10:00:03 03/24/10 - Comment #55467: That's where my face went :(

The blood constantly pooling in my uncovered eyes sockets prevented me from seeing you were the culprit.

zobar writes at 08:57:13 03/24/10 - Comment #55464: I also sit at his old desk and go to his meetings and pick up his paychecks and wear his face as a mask.

- Z