Category Archives: Rants

Sometimes I just need to vent. It’s not always pretty.

Alone

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So I just sat down to start cutting my fingernails. I know, I haven’t posted in weeks and the first thing I come back with is fingernails. Well, deal with it. There’s at least a reason for it.

One month ago while messing with the plugs for lights on a U-Haul tow dolly, I bent my thumbnail back. It hurt like hell, and there was really no reason for me to have done it. Why should you care? Well you probably won’t even after I explain it (I’m not sure I’ve even got any readers anymore), but here I go anyway.

One month ago is about the last time I knew what I was doing. I’ve been in Madison for almost a month and I’m still completely lost. Sure I’ve got this job, and I’ve got this great girl with me. But I have almost no clue where I am or where I’m going. Too make things more fun, on this particular night I happen to be sitting alone in an empty apartment after angering said wonderful girl for something very stupid. So here I sit, listening to depressing music wondering where she’s gone and why, after three weeks I still have no clue what my job is. Why I’m even here.

The girl has been telling me since we got here how lonely she is and if it weren’t for my job I would be in the same boat. I don’t think I’m really that far off though. Sure I have something to do during the day but I have yet to meet anyone I would consider a friend.

That night I bent my thumbnail back is now probably one of the last memories I’ll have of Manhattan and how my life used to be. This would have to be the first time since graduation that I really wish I was back there, or home, or pretty much anywhere but here. My parents are mad at me, the girl is mad at me, we have no friends here. Isn’t life grand.

Currently Playing: Flickerstick – Coke

Petition? No Thanks

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I started work today at noon in Van Zile. When I got here I noticed that there were two girls sitting at a table in the lobby collecting signatures on a petition. Over and over again I heard “Have you heard about the AIDS in Africa event/epidemic?” At which point they would ask people to sign their petition. I have a couple of problems with this.

Now before I go on, let me be clear…I understand that the continent of Africa has a serious problem with AIDS and I am not belittling that in any way or trying to say that people shouldn’t care or even want to sign petitions about it. My problem is this: almost all of the people that signed this petition in the last hour did so without really having any idea what it was about. There were some comments about money to help stop the epidemic and sending it to the government to make a statement, but most didn’t even ask those questions. What does it really mean to put your name on this petition? I doubt most of them even read the top of the sheet. The majority of the people who chose not to sign after being addressed did so simply because they were in too much of a hurry to stop.

To make matters worse, the girl who apparently organized the event and the petition left shortly after my shift started. That left her roommate; she had their little spiel memorized but really had no idea what she was talking about. I finally did hear a few people ask what they really hoped to accomplish with the petition. She didn’t know the answer. And people wonder why the world is so messed up! How can a person lobby for something and encourage others to sign a petition when they don’t even understand it themselves?

Currently Playing: Howie Day – Collide

No Attention to Detail

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I’m a guy who likes condiments. Now read that sentence again because I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. That’s stuff like ketchup, mustard, relish, ranch dressing, etc. Sometime this year, Van Zile decided to trash the individual ketchup bottles in favor of the “spoon-it-out-of-a-giant-bucket-under-an-inconveniently-placed-sneeze-guard” method. Now, I understand why they might not want to continually buy individual bottles or even fill up those bottles from a larger container. What I can’t understand though, is why they won’t just go buy a pump for the container to simplify the whole process and return the ketchup and mustard to the end of the counter where it belongs. It wouldn’t be so bad if the little cups they provide were actually bigger than the utensil used to spoon the Ketchup out with, but no, that’s apparently too much to ask. Since they can’t do that, I definitely won’t hold my breath for the pump…

Anyway, the result of this catastrophe of Ketchup is inevitable spillage onto my fingers. As such, when I get to the table to sit down, I immediately need a napkin. So I reach for one, only to come up empty. I take a closer look and realize the napkins are in the basket upside-down.

Now paper napkins are generally folded in a very specific way so as to leave a flap on one side for easy grabbing, whether it be out of a dispenser, off the top of a stack, or out of a basket. How hard is it to make sure the stack goes in flap side up? Apparently, when the baskets get refilled, people are just guessing at the appropriate orientation (badly). It’s all about the details people…

Currently Playing: Los Lonely Boys – Heaven

Early Start, Late Finish

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That’s my Mondays for you. I start at 5:40am with a wake up call so I’m not late for work. This morning it’s been pretty easy, but I have a feeling I’ll be struggling through this shift about half the time. After I get off, I’m headed for breakfast (this morning an “eggchilada”?) and then possibly back to sleep. I’m gonna need all I can get.

Next on the agenda is Alcohol class, lunch, and then 4 more hours of work. But that’s going to be the easy part. Chance to get more homework done and make more money.

Tonight is when the real fun starts. I’ll be spending about 3 hours in the ARH office talking to people about committee stuff. I’m hoping things won’t get as crazy as last year. Then after Exec Board is over I have a feeling I’ll be sleeping for an hour or two because I’ve gotta be back at work at midnight.

Start the day before 6am, end after 3am. What the hell was I thinking when I scheduled those shifts?!

Edit: Apparently “eggchilada” = breakfast burrito. Who knew?

Currently Playing: Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams*

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don’t know where it goes
But it’s home to me and I walk alone

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
and I’m the only one and I walk alone

My shadow’s the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart’s the only thing that’s beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
‘Til then I walk alone

*Note: this song in no way denotes my current mood, but I’ve been there before and that makes me appreciate it so much more.

Computer Security Failing

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I just came across a study done by AOL and the NCSA (National Cyber Security Alliance) on security of the home PC. Unfortunately, the results seem to follow an all too familiar pattern.

I’ve been helping people clean up their computers for quite some time now. Personally, I’ve been pretty lucky on the whole and only had a few run-ins with viruses and probably only two of them have caused me much heartburn. However, I’ve seen some really messed up computers and I’ll have to say the results of that little study don’t surprise me at all. It’s interesting that the article touches on who is responsible for internet security: software companies or consumers. I believe the responsibility falls on both parties, but there are some big mistakes being made in the industry that aren’t helping consumers hold up their end.

  1. Most packaged computers come with a free trial of one antivirus software or another. Trials of 30, 60, or 90 days are about the worst idea ever. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the thinking: get a user hooked on your software with a trial so that they’ll be willing to pay for it when it expires. There’s just one problem. The software doesn’t expire in that it stops working, it simply stops updating virus definition files. Therefore when someone tells me they’re having problems with their computer and I ask if they have antivirus software installed, they happily respond “Yes!” when in fact, their software is outdated by a good 6 months or more. By allowing these trials on new machines, consumers are lured into a false sense of security. Meanwhile, their trial quietly expires and the latest virus finds its way onto their computer with ease. “But how did this happen? I just ran the virus scan yesterday and it didn’t find anything?!”
  2. Unfortunately not all software is helpful. Worse yet, most people can’t tell the difference between the good and the bad. Some definitions easily found via Google…
    malware
    a) A generic term increasingly being used to describe any form of malicious software; eg, viruses, trojan horses, malicious active content, etc.
    b) Malicious software that is designed by people to attack some part of a computer system.
    spyware
    a) A general term for a program that surreptitiously monitors your actions. While they are sometimes sinister, like a remote control program used by a hacker, software companies have been known to use spyware to gather data about customers. The practice is generally frowned upon.
    b) A technology that assists in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge. On the Internet, “spyware is programming that is put in someone’s computer to secretly gather information about the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties.” As such, spyware is cause for public concern about privacy on the Internet.
    adware
    a) While not necessarily malware, adware is considered to go beyond the reasonable advertising that one might expect from freeware or shareware. Typically a separate program that is installed at the same time as a shareware or similar program, adware will usually continue to generate advertising even when the user is not running the originally desired program. See also cookies, spyware, and web bugs.
    b) software that may have been installed on your computer by a remote site. Many free utilities that you download from the Internet will install hidden software that sends details of the websites you visit and other information from your computer (which can include your email address) to advertisers so they can target you with popup ads and spam. See Spam, Spyware.

    Most people have experienced that moment when they find something on their computer that they don’t remember installing. Most simply brush it off, but those that don’t will usually find things that fall into one of those three categories: malware, spyware, or adware (I’ll refer to everything as spyware to keep it simple). One could argue that they are all related and therefore part of the same issue. Security. Privacy. Call it what you like, it’s a problem that is getting ridiculous. I’ve worked on computers with literally hundreds of items considered to be bits and pieces of spyware. The problem isn’t necessarily apathy (although it definitely can be), but more often it’s a lack of education. Users see a box pop up asking them a question and click without thinking. They download a program with some extra stuff along for the ride, and just like that they are infected.

    So what’s being done to combat spyware? Well, there are companies out there like Lavasoft USA and Safer Networking Limited, creators of Ad-Aware and Spybot – Search and Destroy. Both will scan your computer for items considered to be spyware and remove them for you. I recommend both programs and use them every week or two. Finally, some companies are beginning to take a stand on the issue and Congress has gotten in on the act as well, passing anti-spyware legislation. Still, I won’t hold my breath for big changes. Some people must make a lot of money from software like this or there would be no reason to keep making it.

  3. Wireless networking is becoming increasingly popular. It’s everywhere from PDAs and cell phones to laptops and even desktops. And while it makes some people’s lives a lot simpler by freeing them from the bounds of wires, there are big security risks that most people don’t even consider. As of now, there is still no wireless security standard comparable to that of wired networks. The most common form of wireless security simply requires a pre-shared encryption key that once learned will give a person full access to a wireless network. Give me a day or two with the right tools and I could probably learn the encryption key of any wireless network without ever needing to ask for it.

    To make matters worse, most wireless networking components have security turned off be default. And while it may be much simpler to set up your wireless network without worrying about encryption keys, you’re leaving yourself extremely vulnerable. Since I got my laptop with it’s built-in wireless card, I’ve had occasion to visit friends off campus and notice the sheer number of wireless access points available. I’d say 80-90% are unsecured. Not only could people potentially steal internet access, but in the process they’re connected directly to your network with little to no effort.

It’s probably foolish to think there is such a thing as a perfectly secure system. But there are plenty of things you can do to get closer to the ideal. Install a popup blocker (better yet, run a web browser that does it for you like FireFox). Download and use Ad-Aware and Spybot (don’t forget to keep them updated). Turn Windows Firewall on. Oh, and download Windows Updates (something I haven’t even touched here). Slowly but surely, the industry is providing the tools for consumers to protect themselves, but knowing where to look is half the battle. I’ve made it my personal goal to start educating users on these issues by teaching them to respect their systems and explaining why they’re having problems rather than just fixing things for them.

Internet Access

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Who knew it could be such a task to get it? When Amber said she wanted to move her computer upstairs so she could be more productive with less distractions, it didn’t sound like that big of a deal. Drill a few holes, pull some wire, run it around the obstacles, done. Haha, not so fast.

First of all, you need the right tools. That includes a drill, which no one had. That includes a tape measure longer than 12 feet, which I had but would have to drive 15 minutes to get.

Second, you need to know for sure how you want to get it done. And you don’t need someone to try and sell you a wireless router right in the middle of your planning. That leads to approximately an hour of wondering if that might be the best solution. Then as you think about it you realize that a wireless router is expensive (even at a discount) and you still have to buy a wireless card on top of that. So you’re back to square one. Where do you drill and run this CAT5 cable?

Well the office in Amber’s apartment has an air intake vent. It runs to the ceiling. Let’s use that. HA. You only thought you were smooth; the intake only goes to the ceiling of the main level, not to the floor of the upper level. You have no way to drill a hole inside the wall. (At this point we still had no way to drill a whole period).

Ok, so we decide we’re going to just try and find a spot that would be convenient to go through and end up in a corner between two doors in the hallway upstairs. But how much cable do we need? Some quick measuring and estimates say about 85 feet of CAT5. So let’s do some research: walmart.com, radioshack.com, staples.com, newegg.com…CAT5 is damn expensive unless you want to wait for it. Any local retailer it would cost at least 50 bucks to buy 100 feet of cable. Ok, let’s regroup. Home Depot sells CAT5 by the foot. How much does it cost? $.15 a foot = $12.75 for 85 feet. Sweet! But wait…you also have to put the ends on the cable which requires buying RJ45 connectors and a crimping tool. Ok, no problem. Except that the tool costs 20 bucks and you can’t buy less than 25 RJ45 connectors. Well, it wouldn’t be so bad to have my own crimper tool…

So we’ve got our cable and we’re ready to try and get through the ceiling/floor. So Amber goes door to door to come up with a drill. Three apartments and five minutes later, she’s got one. So we pick a spot upstairs, pull the carpet out of the corner and drill a hole. We straighten out a hanger and I drop it in…clink clink. Guess what? You just hit an air duct. Not the intake kind that would have room temperature air flowing through it. Ok, time to try again. Where the hell are we gonna put this hole?

The upstairs hall closet sits right above the pantry in the kitchen! There’s no light in the pantry and they back up to the stairwell, so there shouldn’t be any ducts or wiring in the floor there. Alright, try again. Pull the carpet back, drill the hole, drop the hanger…it sinks a foot! Ok, now we’re getting somewhere. Time to try and measure to get an idea of where to drill the matching hole from below. Not as easy as I’d hoped. Realize the walls don’t quite match so I’m just gonna have to try it. Drill a second hole. Make a sheetrock dust mess.

Back upstairs to drop the hanger through. Yeah right. Not that easy. Fish around, find nothing. Enlarge both holes, find nothing. Stick a pencil through the bottom hole trying to get an idea of where it is…nothing. Finally: have Amber hold a flashlight to the bottom hole while you run upstairs and try to see where the light comes from. Fish around aimlessly and with a little luck hit the spot. Wow, that only took forever.

So now it’s just a matter of routing the wire out of the way, wiring the RJ45 connectors, plugging everything in, and praying it works the first time. At this point Amber had to leave to babysit but I wasn’t about to leave without this thing getting done so I stayed and finished up. This is actually where things got a lot easier. I wired the plugs in about 10 minutes and everything worked right off the bat. Whew. It’s only 6pm so you’ve got time to sit back and revel in a job well done. Wait. What I meant to say is it’s time to catch a ride home from Amber’s roommate and begin frantically working on diagrams and screen shots for your design document for which you are meeting with your group at 9pm.

Here’s the important thing: Amber can now sit in her room with her computer and internet access, away from other tempting distractions like roommates (well, that’s the idea anyway). I can also play with her computer more often because I don’t have to go downstairs to get to it 😉 It only took a week and a half to get it done. Now I don’t want to give off the wrong impression. While this little project was a pain at times, I was happy to do it.

Currently Playing: Creed – Stand Here With Me

You always reached out to me and helped me believe
All those memories we share, I will cherish every one of them
The truth of it is there’s a right way to live and you showed me
So now you live on in the words of a song: you’re a melody

Just when fear blinded me you taught me to dream
I’ll give you everything I am and still fall short of what you’ve done for me
In this life that I live I hope I can give love unselfishly…
I’ve learned the world is bigger than me: you’re my daily dose of reality

Deceit

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In all honesty, I would prefer to forget that I ever paid to see Michael Moore’s “documentary” film, but the media keeps publishing stories about it and for some reason I keep reading them. I don’t really expect anyone to look at this in its entirety, but here is a list of 59 deceits in Fahrenheit 9/11 by Dave Kopel. I have yet to read much of it at all (though I plan to read as much as I can), but just from the intro I can see that the writer goes about his critique in a way that mirrors my mindset as I sat and watched (fought off sleep?) his film. This paragraph from his report sums up my thoughts rather nicely:

Quite obviously, there are many patriotic Americans who oppose George Bush and who think the Iraq War was a mistake. But Moore’s deceitful movie offers nothing constructive to help people form their opinions. To use lies and frauds to manipulate people is contrary to the very essence of democracy, which requires people to make rational decisions based on truthful information. It’s wrong when a President lies. It’s wrong when a talk radio host lies. And it’s wrong when a film-maker lies.

I’m not saying that I knew as I was sitting in the theater that specific bits of information of the movie were deceitful or downright false. Still, a part of me was realizing that Michael Moore has his own agenda as much as President Bush or anyone else, and why wouldn’t he stretch the truth or twist things around to show people what he wants them to see? It boggles my mind how many people sat through the movie and took every word of it as “fact” simply because it was labeled by some as a documentary, a word almost synonymous with facts and truth. I’m not saying that good points weren’t made or that he didn’t bring interesting things to light, but the way in which he went about it really bothered me. Thoughts from Boston University Law Professor Randy Barnett:

…I was struck by the sheer cunningness of Moore’s film. When you read Kopel, try to detach yourself from any revulsion you may feel at a work of literal propaganda receiving such wide-spread accolades from mainstream politicos, as well as attendance by your friends and neighbors.

Instead, notice the film’s meticulousness in saying only (or mostly) “true” or defensible things in support of a completely misleading impression. In this way, Kopel’s care in describing Moore’s “deceits” is much more interesting than other critiques I have read, including that of Christopher Hitchens. Kopel’s lawyerly description of Moore’s claims shows the film to be a genuinely impressive accomplishment in a perverse sort of way (the way an ingenious crime is impressive)–a case study in how to convert elements that are mainly true into an impression that is entirely false–and this leads in turn to another thought.

If this much cleverness was required to create the inchoate “conspiracy” (whatever it may be, as it is never really specified by Moore), it suggests there was no such conspiracy. With this much care and effort invested in uncovering and massaging the data, if there really was a conspiracy of the kind Moore suggests, the evidence would line up more neatly behind it, rather than being made to do cartwheels so as to be “true” but oh-so-misleading. If the facts don’t fit, shouldn’t we acquit?

Hopefully this will be the last from me on Michael Moore (unless it’s more stuff of the cartoon variety), but I make no promises. Frankly I’m tired of hearing about it, but if I happen to spot other interesting stuff, I’ll probably put it on here. Don’t stop reading over it. I highly recommend clicking that Christopher Hitchens link up there. It’s also worth reading or at least skimming. Plus he made one comment that made me laugh out loud: I never quite know whether Moore is as ignorant as he looks, or even if that would be humanly possible. I’m starting to like this guy more and more, hehe.

Some more interesting news later after I watch a comedy that should require little or no thought of anything political or otherwise 🙂

Currently Playing Watching: 50 First Dates

Rant and Stuff

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Summer staff gets taken for granted all the time. It really pisses me off sometimes (OK, maybe a lot). Last summer it was maintenance replacing toilets without notice, then screwing things up so they had to come through a second time. Next was fire alarm testing starting early in the morning. Then it was dining center staff giving us crap about taking food to go for other Cool Cats, then it was getting treated like crap when we had to eat with the football players at the training table. Heaven forbid we sit in the nice chairs at tables near the TV before they’ve even arrived, or go through the same line as the players.

This summer hasn’t started much better. Over a week ago I wrote a work order to have my flickering bathroom light replaced. Today, Bozo (not his real name), the wonderful (sarcasm) maintenance man (did I mention sarcasm?), finally came to replace my light. He starts messing around with it and tells me he needs to replace the ballast too. I’m thinking, “Why are you telling me this? I don’t really care, just fix my light so I can take a shower without feeling like I’ll have a seizure.” So he leaves. Two minutes later he’s back and messing with it again. Meanwhile, there are other maintenance men talking on the radios using their Echo, Foxtrot, Charlie codes. I’m just wondering if they realize how ridiculous they sound when I hear one of them say, “Yeah, I’m about to shut off the water in Putnam. Everyone who needs to know should know already.”

I’m thinking, “Bullsh*t! What about me? I didn’t know about this, and I’ll guarantee none of the other Cool Cats knew either…”

So Bozo turns to me and says (and I quote), “Oh yeah, by the way, they are shutting off the water.”

I’m thinking, “WTF? I haven’t taken a shower yet and I still need to do laundry. Thanks for the warning, @$$hat.” So I ask him how long it will be off. He says a few hours, which translated from maintenance-speak equals “I have no idea.” Then he says, “Well, I got your light fixed.”

Gee, thanks.

In Putnam, shutting off the water means there will be absolutely no water pressure. I can’t even wash my hands. I’m glad Bozo is a lazy bast*rd and didn’t come five or ten minutes sooner. I might have been in the damn shower when the water slowed to a trickle. If I’m lucky, it will be back on in time for me to get cleaned up and do laundry before I work tonight at seven. It would be nice to have clean clothes to wear tomorrow.

Luckily I was looking at this as Bozo left, so my mood has lifted a little. My favorite is King James: Lost in Translation because it’s something I’ve often thought about myself. Enjoy.

Oh, and by the way…to quote Stewie from Family Guy: “It’s not so much that I want to kill him, it’s just, I want him not to be alive…anymore.” In all seriousness, he’s not horrible, but I have been less than impressed with his work. He’s managed to put a dent in my door and screw up the door frame of my bathroom, not to mention the stupid stall door he nearly demolished when we asked if it could be removed. He’s not always as inefficient as this case either, but it wouldn’t be a rant if I didn’t exaggerate a little, now would it.

Currently Playing: Seether – Driven Under, Flaw – Best I Am, Saliva – Rest in Pieces

Ode to the Nice Guys

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This rant was written for the Wharton Undergraduate Journal

This is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beautiful/smart/funny/sexy their female friends are at the appropriate moment, because they know most girls need that litany of support. This is in honor of the guys with open minds, with laid-back attitudes, with honest concern. This is in honor of the guys who respect a girl’s every facet, from her privacy to her theology to her clothing style.

This is for the guys who escort their drunk, bewildered female friends back from parties and never take advantage once they’re at her door, for the guys who accompany girls to protect them from all the creepy guys, for the guys who know a girl is fishing for compliments and give them anyway, for the guys who play by the rules in a game where the rules favor cheaters, for the guys acclaimed as boyfriend material but never end up as boyfriends, for all the nice guys who are overlooked, underestimated, unappreciated, and crushed, for all the nice guys who are manipulated, misled, ignored, and unjustly abandoned, this is for you.

This is for that time she left 40 urgent messages on your cell phone, and when you called her back, she spent three hours painstakingly dissecting two sentences her boyfriend said to her over dinner. And even though you thought her boyfriend was a jerk and a player, you assured her that it was all ok and she shouldn’t worry about it, because you knew she didn’t want to hear what you thought. This is for the time she interrupted the greatest single life run you’d ever had on Halo to complain about a rumor that romantically linked her and the guy she thinks is the most repulsive person in the world. And even though you thought it was immature and you had nothing against the guy, you paused the game for two hours and helped her concoct a counter-rumor to spread. This is also for that time she didn’t have a date, so after numerous vows that there was nothing “serious” between the two of you, she dragged you to a party where you knew nobody, the drinks were awful, and she flirted shamelessly with you, justifying each fit of reckless teasing by announcing to everyone: “Oh, but we’re just friends!” regardless of how much it hurt you. And even though you were invited purely as a symbolic warm body for her ego, you went anyway. Because you’re nice like that.

The nice guys don’t often get credit where credit is due. And more disturbing, the nice guys are ignored far too often. And I wish I could logically explain this trend, but I can’t. From what I have observed on campus and what I have learned from talking to friends at other schools and in the workplace, the only conclusion I can form is that many girls are just illogical and manipulative. Many of them claim they just want to date a nice guy, but when presented with such, they say irrational, confusing things such as “oh, he’s too nice to date” or “he would be a good boyfriend but he’s not for me” or “I can’t, he deserves better” or the most frustrating of all: “no, it would ruin our friendship.” Yet they continue to lament the lack of datable men in the world, and they expect their too-nice-to-date male friends to sympathize and apologize for the men that are jerks. Sorry guys, girls like that are beyond my ability to fathom. I can’t figure out why the connection breaks down between what they say (I want a nice guy!) and what they do (I’m going to sleep with this complete ass now!). But one thing I can do, is say that the nice-guy-finishes-last phenomenon doesn’t last forever. There are definitely many girls who grow out of that train of thought and realize they should be dating the nice guys, not taking them for granted. The tricky part is finding those girls, and even trickier, finding the ones that are single.

So, until those girls are found, I propose a toast to all the nice guys. You know who you are, and I know you’re sick of hearing yourself described as ubiquitously nice. But the truth of the matter is, the world needs your patience in the department store, your holding open of doors, your party escorting services, and your propensity to be a sucker for a pretty smile. For all the crazy, inane, absurd things you tolerate, for all the situations where you are the faceless, nameless hero, my accolades, my acknowledgement, and my gratitude go out to you. You do have credibility in this society, and your well deserved vindication is coming.

Fu-zu Jen, SEAS/WH, 2003

[I edited it a little]

Just When You Think You Know What’s Up

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Wow.

There are some things in the world that a person just expects to remain constant. Some things have always been the way they are, and the chances of them changing seems very slim. I mean, there’s always that possibility, don’t get me wrong, but you figure it is so remote it will never happen. You assume it’s rock solid.

Then someone goes and changes things on you. That someone knows what I’m talking about (if you don’t know right now what I’m talking about, it’s not you). And before you get all weirded out by this, finish reading. It’s not that I think change is a bad thing, in fact it can be quite wonderful. I really don’t know what to think yet. First one change, then another (a big one!) is revealed and suddenly the picture becomes much larger than previously thought. And everything is different. Or is it? Maybe it is still very much the same. It’s hard to digest it all, and I really haven’t decided what I think yet.

I’m sorry for those of you that don’t know what this is about. It probably makes absolutely no sense. Maybe that’s even true for those that do know…Anyway, I guess my point is that nothing in life should be taken for granted. Those pillars in your life that you think will always stand tall, someone might come in and knock them over one day. Now maybe those pillars were blocking a beautiful view and it’s actually a wonderful thing that they are gone. On the other hand, perhaps they were holding up the roof, and now it’s threatening to collapse.

One more thing. Believe in your friends. And more importantly, don’t give your friends a reason not to believe in you. Trust that you can tell them anything without fear of being judged, but that you’ll get an honest opinion and friendly advice in return. Don’t let all that other…stuff…hold you back, whatever it may be. If you’re lucky, they’ll return the favor.