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12/31/2007

Well. This is the last day of the year. Lots of things have changed. *sigh* I'll be moving out of my apartment and giving a room share a try. It could be fun?

I'm also giving a new city a try. And a new county? Wow. More big steps in my life. But, I'll have fewer bridges to cross which means less toll to pay. I have a lot of stuff to move, however. I guess I'm having mixed feelings about this, as I do about most anything. I just need to stay positive, keep upbeat, and not let the negativities bring me down.

I'm hoping 2008 will be a better year for me. My business takes off, my depression lifts and I find a solution for this chronic frustration and apathy!


12/26/2007

There are a few things (getting back on those online presences and portals for companies) that bug me. This becomes especially obvious when one company swallows another and changes everything over or discontinues everything you hold dear.

It was very unfortunate that NetBank "failed" and its deposit accounts were acquired by ING Direct. I liked NetBank. It was my first bank. A pioneer in the Internet banking world.

Well, I finally got to learn what "ING" was. Yes. That lion. Orange. All of it. It's got a cute concept with great returns, but a lot of inconveniences. In the conversion process, a grace period was given for checks written and cashed before or written before and cached after a certain date. It was a courtesy. But previous to this, customers were encouraged to begin the process before this "conversion" date. Unfortunately for me, I had half my funds in one account, and the other half in another (I still needed my debit card ? which was killed before I had a chance to open an Electric Orange checking account). Oh the confusion. Which account will have checks cleared against them and when? Here's an idea: I'll hold my check until after the conversion process (even though my rent would be late and incur a fee). Apparently, I dated my check wrong, and, I was warned about writing more checks. Anyway, the check bounced. Ha, ha. Lots of fun. Add another fee to the late payment fee.

Oh, and why the fuss about checks? ING doesn't handle paper checks unless they were sent by ING itself. It's a way of saving costs. Which indeed does, as interest on deposits was quite impressive. A fact that is exhibited every chance they get. A flash "Interest Paid" counter, a flash money-blowing megaphone? Yeah.

Let's see how long it takes for my interest earned to cover the inconvenient fees I was exposed to?


12/18/2007

Well, here I am again. I'm getting to be more regular now, aren't I? Okay, tonight, we're going to have another rant. Sorry.

What frustrates me so much is the infrastructure of society. Rules to protect or punish. And all the innocents who get caught in the middle. Yes. I speak to you as an innocent. What happened? Oh, I got to experience withdrawal symptoms from a medication because of mistakes, accountability and, well, timing. After numerous attempts to get my refill, with stopgap measures to "tide me over" for a few more days (in vain, as nothing was done to rectify the situation!), I was driven by dizziness to post for the medication on craigslist.org. I know, so lame. *sigh*

But this is only the half of my rant. The other half is about "help." Yahoo!'s help is just oh so helpful! :-) It is! It's so easy to find obvious or irrelevant solutions. :-D Ha. Yes.

And when things break on Yahoo!'s side, whose fault is it? Hmm? Mine? Really? Oh, and if you're suffering because of a mistake made with your medication? It's still my fault? Even though I was made an addict by the system? Aww, that really sucks.

Good news. I finally got my medication and Yahoo! still has Yahoo! Maps Classic.


12/9/2007

Have you heard the news again? More shootings. Killing, fraud, meanness. Why does it keep going on and on? From people to Mountain Gorillas, violence is being unleashed on all.

Everyone has their own agenda. Everyone wants things his or her way. Everyone wants what they don't have. Some won't share what others need.

Why?


12/8/2007

One day. One day things will be easier, better, brighter?

It's cold outside. But it don't look nuthin' like the month of May?

I love song lyrics. Although the lines above aren't direct quotes. It's amazing what we enjoy and even how we enjoy them. Do you enjoy reading? Good books? Movies? What about good conversation? Getting to know someone?

It seems harder and harder to connect with people, despite how connected we are. I think we've come to take each other for granted. Sure, we've got lots and lots of other people to choose from, but—as someone has suggested to me—is quantity better than quality?

Sometimes it seems to be the case, especially when the few quality friends you may have are scarce, busy or occupied. When you've got more quantity, there's bound to be someone else out there. Right?

Well, there's another issue. When a quality friend is there for you, she's there for you. When a random "friend" from a multitude is there, is he really there for you? Yes, someone to talk at, have your attention directed towards and so forth, but is there a true connection? Should you say something slightly upsetting, or express your true feelings, will this friend suddenly become "unavailable"?

I think I'm going to hold out for those special friends…


11/11/2007

If you're not interested in being acquainted/associating with someone, just say so. Don't ignore the person until you start to feel like you're being harassed. That helps nobody.


9/18/2007

I just found it! It's here! It's, it's Under The Umbrella Tree! You can finally get it on DVD. I'm just so stoked. Wow. It's like a dream come true. This was some of the finest entertainment available during its day. During the best times of The Disney Channel.

My sister and I had such fond memories of the Umbrella Tree gang. It's funny. Just recently, I had a dream of the show coming back in some form. I was just talking about it with a friend and decided to "Google" it (as I had in the past, but found very few results). Wow, I found DVDs! Awesome! Totally!

Well, anyway, I just had to share this with everyone. Some of these wonderful and beautiful creations would be lost without devoted fans and followers.

Do you ever wonder
what could happen under
under an umbrella tree?


6/10/2007

Red light cameras. Fines. Bail. Oh the laws in this state (California). I recently received a red light violation notice that allegedly occurred while I was making a right turn. I'm rather offended to be lumped in with "red light runners." Drivers who knowingly and willingly speed up to race through an intersection just prior and after a red light occurs.

Was I hoping to blow through the intersection without killing anyone? No. I was executing a turn as efficiently as I could. I'm not going to go into all the details, but I feel that the presence of the camera flashes themselves contributed to my not coming to a "full and complete stop." Too distracting. Could those flashes have been a car rapidly approaching me from behind? Could I not possibly avoid this possible collision if I did not come to a complete stop? Eh!

Okay, next on the list: Bail. Am I being asked to pay a fine? No? I'm being asked to "post" "bail." Excuse me? "Bail"? Am I trying to get out of jail?

Okay, back to the fine thing. Red light running is a heinous offense. It can cost lives. Not coming to a complete stop while executing a maneuver that most often does necessitate a complete stop reduces efficiency in traffic flow and penalizes drivers that may well be aware of any possible dangers of initiating such procedures without awareness to the repercussions of being unaware of events in the environment likely to be impacted by these actions. (Mainly, cross traffic and pedestrians.) Sometimes the presence of these hazards can be resolved before reaching the intersection. Well, I'm not going to pursue this any further?

Continuing on with fines (yes I know, again), littering gets you a $1,000 fine while. A big deterrent, yes. Running a red light and the risk of killing someone? $200-$400 fine. Are running red lights so common an occurrence that fines shouldn't be too "steep"? Or are the parameters for what constitutes a violation too strict (as far as automated systems are concerned)?


6/3/2007

Life is interesting. Making friends, losing friends, stealing friends, ignoring friends. Too bad friendship doesn't come with a manual.

Friendship should be a required course in school. Kids should learn how to treat their friends, how to recognize signs of betrayal and how to gracefully end a friendship. This reminds me of the Cuddle Party. Learning to say "no" is one of the featured activities. If something like this could be done for basic relationships?that would be great; I think.


4/15/2007

The Internet. It was supposed to be one of the great achievements of the 20th century. Don't get me wrong, it's great, but yet, it's lacking. Too much spam, too much predation, and profiteering.

You go to an address you knew from the past, and you're taken to a placeholder or squatting-type page pretending to be what you were looking for, but just full of ads. Then there's the phishing to steal, and the overwhelming volume of junk mail.

What I'm leading up to here, is that the Internet seems to be reaching its breaking point. Sites seem to take longer to find and experience apparent outages that may merely be due to congestion.

Worms and viruses creating their own traffic and problems. I know two people who've had their computers trashed by these things. It's all just so terribly frustrating!


3/4/2007

Violence. Crime. Death and destruction. I'm so tired of catching a glimpse of the latest news only to be confronted with all this senseless killing. It's really sickening and it hurts. It makes me question reality. I feel so lost when I consider a utopian environment. The reality is that there is no such thing.

It would be so wonderful to live in a world where everyone cared about each other, where the greater good of the whole world was the most important consideration anyone should have. How can anyone have optimism that capitalism or moral superiority can accomplish this?

When will all this selfishness end?


2/25/2007

I just found the perfect replacement for Mechanisto! It's called Art of Illusion. I'm already familiar with many of the conventions used here, as they very closely mirror those of Mechanisto. :-) This is indeed a happy day!

Now I can return to the world of 3D modeling and animation with ease. In just a few short minutes, I was able to throw together a simple scene.

Another great thing about this program is that it includes raytracing support! Finally, real shadows. This should be a most excellent adventure.


2/23/2007

Did I mention how stoked I was that iTunes is blue again? Yeah! The notes have returned to blue after all those years of green. I'd gotten used to iTunes changing colors over the major version releases, then it got stuck at green. Sad. °L°

Well, that's all I've got for now. Pathetic, I know. Oh well.


2/12/2007

These bunnies are making me so tired! I went to Petco to get a corner litter box for the new bunny (who shall henceforth be known as Annabelle. The cashier who rang me up has a bunny too. Interesting. She couldn't take on any more pets, however.


2/11/2007

I got a call Friday from my apartment manager asking if I'd take in an abandoned bunny. I agreed to. The problem? Lance can't stand her. She's an intrusion into his special place. *sigh*

This is a bit stressful. I'm torn between two bunnies. My first, who I must be loyal to, and the second, who I can't just ignore.Stress?


2/3/2007

Sudoku was fun while it lasted. I've been playing on my phone (as if I wasn't already nearsighted enough). I started out at easy, them moved all the way up to the most difficult setting. It's gotten harder to do as I've gotten more tired. What used to lead to confident finishes now does it a Rubik's cube of a mess.


2/2/2007

Grumpiness. Too many people are grumpy today. Yesterday, while driving, someone in a lane merging with mine was trying to pass me. I didn't think that wise as there wasn't enough room for that (and besides, I was ahead already). After turning onto a wide "residential" street up to a queue of cars, the idiot pulls to the right as if he's passing to make a right turn. Nope. He cuts right in front of me. Just to spite me!

Urg!!!!

It seems that so many people don't care about anything but themselves. After he cut me off, he was bumping his head to some music ("ghetto," I'm sure). Movies and music idolize folks who don't care about anyone else. You killed somebody? Oops. Oh well. Urg!! If everybody felt that way, then nobody is safe.

So sad, too bad?


1/28/2007

Well, I missed much of the end of last year. Oh well. I've been wanting to do some posting this month, but I needed to finish the new format (PHP powered by MySQL) for this psuedo-blog before making any new posts. These last few months have been a little rough. The extreme cold, the fighting, and the impossible housing prices. But, now that I have this easier to add to posting setup, it should be easier to post more often. I'll list a few things to try to talk about next time:

  • Doctor Who
  • Superman Returns
  • Sudoku
  • Craigslist
  • magazine/work
  • Pizza and Cheese Cake