adrian232

So, kids, I'm here to tell you the story of how big bad Google started a chain of events almost a decade ago that affected my life this week. Back in 2004 when Google launched their invite-only Beta of GMail I was invited to "try it out for free" and become an early adapter. As a web app developer, it is my job to sample popular web apps like GMail so that I can see what the competition is offering and try to make a comparable product or recommend the product in question. I tried it, I liked it, and noted the couple of interesting UI and filtering ideas they brought to the table, but I didn't need a new email address and didn't want to be stuck using their webmail since I pay for my own domain to have more control. Note that at this time there was no way to delete my GMail account, so I just left it, thinking it couldn't possibly do me any harm if I just didn't use it.

( Little did I know... )

So to sum up: Google almost made me miss the birthday of an important family member, which surely would have started another huge mess and made me waste an entire night fixing the problem. All because of their shady business practices and lack of attention to detail and technical support.

I have since deleted both of my GMail accounts, and never intend to use GMail ever again. I encourage those who use GMail to try it out and attempt to change their primary email address to something other than GMail. You will find that it is impossible. Still believe that Google is a do-no-harm company that doesn't employ "locked-in" techniques to draw business? Think again.

So, I've been messing with the new Windows 8 preview and thought it was time to give my thoughts about it. In case you don't know anything about Windows 8 or the new features it brings, you can watch this creepy-looking Uncle Fester dude show you how it works. The big changes coming from Microsoft's desire to expand their OS for a better tablet experience.

( Here is my Review... )

So in summary, despite the fact that I like the Metro interface, particularly the Start Screen and gestures, all the new features seem to favor touch-screens at the expense of losing usability with the mouse. As it is, many of the Metro gestures are mimicked by the mouse using corners, which isn't very intuitive, and relying on that makes using it in a VM very troublesome even in full-screen mode. The hybrid system, while having the strengths of a full desktop computer on a tablet, suffers from feeling too much like there are two separate OS's sitting on top of each other both competing for your attention. The inability to avoid Metro, and the confusion this will likely bring to 90% of all desktop users, is why I predict Windows 8 will not be well received outside of the tablet market. Unless Microsoft implements a ton of changes to unify the two interfaces, and/or ports a crapload of old Windows 7 controls and apps to Metro, it may even fail in that market, too.

Microsoft has some good ideas, but I don't think what we've seen is enough to merit this OS any cookies. Not just yet.

On February 1st, Joe Biden made the claim:
"Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive"

At first look this would appear to be wholly true, as Osama bin Laden, as far as we can tell, is not still living, and GM just ran an expensive Super Bowl ad, so it does appear to be alive. However, considering this is the new slogan for the Obama campaign, it must require more careful consideration and scrutiny. I mean, there is that slight video evidence that Obama was directly involved in the assassination of bin Laden, but he wasn't there, you know? Maybe the video was staged and Obama was just watching? As far as GM, it was Bush who signed the bailout so Obama must have been totally against it and thus had nothing to do with it, right? And I'm sure he wouldn't have tried to give them more bailouts in the tax code just last year... Romney says Detroit should have been allowed to go bankrupt, so maybe the bailouts weren't really helpful to GM and were actually more harmful to them staying alive instead. We just can't know, since studies can't prove that bailouts => alive.

In any effect this statement would only be eligible for a "Half True" or "Mostly True" ruling considering your well-established historical definition of "truth" on the Truth-O-Meter, right? They totally have no right to take any credit for these things, and your past rulings would agree.

-Adrian

So today I decided to put my daily activities into a calorie calculator. This chart has all sorts of activities from sweeping to unicycling, even crazy things like broomball and motocross, and gets as arbitrary as "playing with children" and "automobile repair" (by which I assume you are actually *doing* rather than sitting and waiting for, otherwise I would be a twig by now). However, I looked but couldn't find "pick up coffee mug and place to mouth", go figure, which is odd considering that I just found out if I went ice fishing (sitting near an empty hole) for 2 minutes I could burn a whole 6.5 calories! Also, as it turns out, cooking those fudge brownies (as opposed to forcing someone to bake them for you) reduces its total caloric value by 80 -- that's better than switching to low-fat! (and it won't literally taste like shit)

So after all this I've discovered that my best daily activity for losing weight in a small amount of time is walking up stairs. I need to do this more often... Stairwell, be warned!

I've been using Mac OS X Lion since the day after its official release, and saw it through past its first update. So now I've decided it's high time to compile a list of the top Lion bugs and quirks that bug me. I plan to keep this updated with new things that I find, fixes, and features that are clearly missing from Lion.

FYI - I am very happy with Lion in general. It is a great OS upgrade, very seamless transition from Snow Leopard, and I would recommend it for most Mac users and non-Mac users alike despite all of the following things. So this rant is simply to point out minor imperfections that Apple has overlooked and will most likely address in the future (I hope).

( So here it is... )

OK, due to this issue popping up on the news again, I want to state a few things that nobody discusses when talking to birthers. First of all, whether Obama was born in the US is not an "opinion", it is a fact. So when talking to a birther do not say "I think" or "I believe", it is strictly "he is" a US citizen.

Contrary to some beliefs, the terminology "Certificate of Birth" and "Certificate of Live Birth" are one and the same. In fact, there are some long forms that are called "Certificate of Live Birth"! The original long form is used for data entry into the official record, and the paper you are given is always a short form copy... in every jurisdiction in every state in the US. Even Trump's posted certificate is the short form issued by his state! As long as there is space for both parents listed on the form, it is a valid, legal birth certificate. And that means Barack Obama's posted birth certificate can (and has) been used to obtain things such as a US passport and a driver's license at his DMV.

Also note that the information on the short form is an exact copy of the information that is on the original long form birth certificate. So that means when his short form says he was born in Honolulu, his long form says the exact same thing!

There. Now everyone knows the truth and what to say to debunk ignorant birthers like Donald Trump.

Reporters need to stop covering this issue that feeds these conspiracy theorists, and definitely should not hint that there is legitimacy to their claims when there is clearly none. If you want to call yourself "fair and balanced", when Donald Trump stands up and takes 5 minutes to make the claim "he could have been born outside this country" you must then spend 5 minutes displaying an image of Barack Obama's birth certificate and repeat the facts of the case stated above.

When you write LOL, do you really make a sound?
When you LMAO, does your ass fall onto the ground?

When you're flagged IDL, are you up getting a snack?
When you shout BBL, how do we know that you'll be back?

When you spoke IMHO, were you ever really humble?
When you whispered BRB, are you sure you didn't stumble?

When you go AFK, do we trust you are away?
When you call me BFF, will that last throughout the day?

When you giggled J/K, was it really just pretend?
When you told me cya l8r, could that moment be the end?

When you share an FYI, do you even have a clue?
Then when you tell me I♥U, why should I believe it's true?

AFAIK by *adrian232 on deviantArt

Spring has begun, and the sun is shining warm. And everything I can say is best expressed in song:



Oh yes, it's that time again. So get outside and celebrate spring!

I came onto LiveJournal after all this time, and seeing the message "It has been 50 weeks since your last post." was really bothering me. So I decided to rectify this situation. I can't believe it has been almost a whole year since posting anything significant online...

It is hard to imagine myself not creating, not leading, and not experiencing things. Needless to say, this past year has had its ups and downs. But most recently, the ups have been in a one month period of time: October. Between finally being onboard a full-time job, having my ideas and decisions not only heard and recognized -- but respected, and having something I have waited on for over three years finally be realized, I have started looking forward in life.

Unfortunately, with the good comes the bad, and looking for a new place to live this life has come with a blast from the past. An explosion, that is. Apparently the apartment I used to live in way up in Baltimore back in 2005, has a problem with me. I know I have moved out, paid off whatever rent was owed, and finished the lease. Even got our deposit returned to us. But yet still there is a looming issue which apparently has not been resolved -- their paperwork claims they have an open case against me. What is this? I do not know. I have never been notified, or chased down screaming. And it seems neither have they. But somehow this will be fixed. I will make sure of it.

Yet it is still good to know that this is, as of yet, the only thing left holding me back in life. And that alone is enough for me.

All of the nurses said it is very rare to have Dr. Garro's patients stay for more than one night, but nonetheless they kept me there for two. Well, the surgery itself was a success, but I don't think anybody anticipated the amount of bleeding that I was to endure...

"Have you been known to experience excessive bleeding?" I remember that question being asked during the pre-op appointment by one of Dr. Garro's nurses. Throughout my entire life, up unto this point, ( my experience was quite the opposite... )

This is why I was quite startled to discover that during the night after the surgery I was swallowing large quantities of blood. Throughout the day pain had definitely been a factor, as I had felt that for the 3 hours I was unconscious they had me sleeping under a pile of bricks... despite the fact that immediately after waking up I was feeling spectacular and was carrying on a nice conversation with the hot nurse in the recovery room. It wasn't until after they moved me to the corner so I could wait that extra hour longer than expected for my room to be cleaned that I began to feel my body's delayed reaction from the surgery. They shot me up with two syringes of 8mg of morphine and two sets of two pills of Tylenol 3 to try and alleviate my pain, but I was convinced that neither of those medications were having any effect.

I didn't start to swallow blood until the night nurse was on duty, who seemed to speak or understand very little english. ( Read More... )

So here I am, finally home from my extended stay, a bottle of Percocet in hand, still bleeding slightly, and hoping that this is all going to pay off soon and no longer have to live my life with constant sinus pain hopped up on Claritin D and unable to breathe... But most of all, I am looking forward to being off that damn liquid diet and finally enjoy a real meal for a change.