Diary of a Wolfeman

I was talking with my girl earlier today about how sex can be a powerful motivation, and the Dark Side came out:

Well, sex is illegal with anyone younger than 18 if you yourself are over 18. So how do we motivate todays youth to do better in school?

Pass a law requiring libido-inhibitors in all minors, removable only after a diploma is awarded. The inhibitors would have to be designed to prevent only climax, though, so they still have the desire for sex and know that the sensations are enjoyable, but inevitably lead to frustration since they can’t finish.

Damn, I’m evil!

PBS’s I, Cringely wrote about how he feels the new USB standard Redmond is pushing will likely include hardware security controls that are designed to work in correlation with Windows Longhorn, and coupled with that, the new MS strategy for a BIOS-less mobo, thus making it useless while running Linux or possibly even MacOS. They have done it in the past, and much of what he says is true. He forgets one very important thing though: whatever can be done, can be undone.

I’m not saying it won’t be a pain in the ass; my own struggle with ATI drivers attests to the problems of running Linux in a Windows-oriented world. The fact is, though, that I did manage to get them working. Anything is possible if you put the rights heads together on a problem, and some of the brightest people in the world are Linux enthusiasts who take great joy in subverting Bill Gates’ dream of a computing world he controls.

On top of that, it is far more difficult to make something secure than it is to bypass those securities – it’s a simple fact of engineering. Take a look at your car: it has an ignition key lock that costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 to replace and locks on the door of a similar nature, but the doors can be openned with a simple piece of flat metal and the car started by simply bridging a couple of wires under the dash and kicking the wheel to break the turn-lock. Hell, I once stunned a frined of mine by bypassing his $7,000 home-security syatsm with a piece of wire and two alligator clips.

Now, the examples I just gave you are examples of illegal behavior. While Microsoft and it’s partners would like you to think so, using a device or tool for something other than it’s intended purpose is NOT inherently illegal – it’s the how you use it that may be illegal. Using a VCR to record a show for later playback is not illegal, it’s the distribution of that copy that gets you in trouble. What we’re talking about here is using a device for it’s intended purpose, just not in a way that MS & Co approve of.

It’s like using a pair of pliers to pound a nail. Is it the easiest way to do that? No. Will it work? Yup. Is it illegal? Get real.

The other day I ranted about how the Job Fair was such a wash, but I may have been slightly ahead of myself. While looking through some of the documentation, I noticed a listing for the local cable conglomerate, and realized I hadn’t checked their job board in a couple of weeks. Lo and behold, their were four positions I qualify for! A single Level I (installer), and three Level III (Internet installer) positions.

Since my last job entailed mainly re-selling their feed to my own customers, I have tons of experience with their stuff, so I hopped on those spots post haste. Basically, they could hire me and put me in a truck the same day with no training, so I’m feeling prety good about my chances.

On the other side of things, my roomie was able to point me in the direction of some work setting up a home network for one of his co-workers which is always nice. As a matter of fact, I get to go shopping tomorrow for his equipment. I love spending other people’s money :)

Those of you that know me know that I’m all about efficiency and appropriate use of time. I hate doing things that take longer than they should, or jumping through a bunch of unnecessary hoops.

A couple weeks ago, I started seeing advertisements for a job fair being held today, where several companies I would like to work for would be recruiting. The website recommended business dress and “bring lots of resumes!” I was quite happy to see this, since I have spent the last several months looking for work and being frustrated by all the “email your resume here” application processes. Sure, it takes less time to email a resume, but I always do better face-to-face. Up until now, I have gotten every job I have ever interviewed for, so I was really looking forward to a chance to actually talk to a recruiter.

So this morning I got up early, actually put on my slacks and my best shirt and caught the MAX out to the World Forestry Center with a big stack o’ resumes in hand. What did I find? Fifteen tables of bright-eyed PR types handing out sheets of paper with the companies’ opennings and a URL on them. “Here’s what we’re looking for, go to our website to apply.”

“Excuse me?! Let me get this straight: you’ve been advertising for open positions on things like the Unemployment Office website with open positions and instructions of ‘come to the job fair to talk to a recruiter’ for the past two weeks, and now that I’m all the way out here you’re telling me to apply online?”

“Well, yes.”

“So there’s really nothing you can do for me here today.”

“We have mints!”

Thanks. Be a good little girl and go fuck yourself now. Be sure to send me the video so I can at least sell it.

On the backpack front, I finally managed to get ahold of that cop who called. She had been off for a couple days, so didn’t have all the specifics right at hand, but apparently a woman was at least seen trying to pass some of the stolen checks.

Thinking back on it now, when I went out to the car the morning the pack was stolen, there was a grey-haired woman standing on the sidewalk waiting for her ride near my car, and I vaguely remember seeing a backpack on her, but can’t quite recall. It would be just my luck that she was standing right there in front of me with my bag and I was too oblivious to notice. I’ll have to call that cop back again later this week to see what’s up.

Twelve years ago, I lived in a section of town called Northwest Industrial. It’s the area north of Burnside and west of the Willamette. When it was all first built, it was bustling with river and train traffic, commerce on the move.

When I lived there, the glory days had definitely gone. Most of the folks in the area were barely scraping by, and what businesses there were tended to be places you wouldn’t take your mother to. Unless she was really wierd, anyway. The first apartment I had we got evicted from – they condemmed the top floor where our apt was. Still being mostly broke, we moved into the building next door – the one with the Phillipino-Mafia-owned restaraunt and the matching gay strip club. Then I got even more broke, and left the state.

When I came back, the area was called The Pearl. Yuppies had moved in and begun buying up the old run-down and partially condemned tenements and warehouses, either renovating them or razing them outright to build condos and lofts. The bums and homeless folks who had been squatting in these buildings were simply run out, left to fend for themselves someplace else. Property values skyrocketted with the influx of Californians moving up from Silicon Valley, and by all counts the area was a success story.

Now it’s twelve years later, and on a downward spiral. Some of the new apartment buildings went HUD and Section 8 at the beginning of the economic slump to keep occupancy up. Some of the newer buildings have yet to reach capacity, as folks started buying houses when the interest rates fell instead of renting or buying ridiculously-expensive condos next door to the poor and unwashed folks moving in across the street. Vandalism is on the up as apartment managers have had to cut spending on security. Places that were clean and beautiful are now dirty and ugly again.

I worked in one of those apartment buildings as a cable guy starting in 2000, and it was almost sickening watching them build these beautiful new buildings, when the one I was working in was getting worse every day. I just couldn’t understand how people would willingly befoul their own home at such a rate that even the most determined maintenance crew couldn’t keep up with it.

What has happened to humanity? I’ll be the first to admit that I grew up poor – my family has never been wealthy, and my mom was on welfare much of my childhood. Nevertheless, our house and property (when we had it) was always clean and well-maintained. Often, we made deals with our landlord for reduced rent in exchange for improvements to the property. I just don’t understand how someone could willingly do this to themselves.

I had a point when I started writing this, but it escapes me now.

For those of you cartoon fans out there, I watched the new WB cartoon series The Batman this morning. It has it’s good points and it’s bad points…

The Batarang went this way… Read the rest of this entry »

Took a trip out to Sauvie Island today with the EMC, her hubby and the Pookster to check out the Harvest Festival they were having. It’s been a long time since I spent any time at all on anything resembling a farm.

Pookie enjoyed the hell out of it, which is at least some recompense for the aches in my knees – I really need to get back into some sort of shape here. I used to be able to walk around all day long without any problems. Anywho, Pookie painted herself a pumpkin, rode a pony, fed the petting zoo animals, took in a magic show and had a good time in general. Which means, of course, that I will have to take her back out there again this October to do the pumpkin patch thing. Maybe I can talk BtFR out of his 4×4 this year – the mud last year almost ate the Little Black Beastie…

Ran across a couple interesting sites this morning urging folks to take one for your country.

The first is Fuck The Vote, which urges people to help keep Bush from a second term by trading sexual favors for a non-Bush vote this November. From the website:

At Fuck The Vote we provide a Pledge Sheet that can be used conveniently before becoming physically intimate with a conservative. The Pledge Sheet asks the signee to make a promise to vote for anyone but George Bush in the November election. FTV has not endorsed a single candidate but recommends strategic voting. We also encourage FTV fans to take road trips this summer to swing(er) states to collect pledges. If you collect a pledge let us know about it on the Swinger States page! Have safe fun fucking over Bush while fucking for votes.

A noble project indeed, and one I can get fully behind (or in front of, as the case may be!) Just remember folks, that “anyone other than Bush” has a chance of fragmenting the vote – you really should pick a candidate that has a chance of winning. Unfortunately, that means Kerry. I know, the choices suck AGAIN this year.

The second site is aimed at just getting more people to vote, by pledging to have sex with a voter on election day and/or withold sex from non-voters for at least a week after election day. To earn “American Hero” status, one would withold sex from non-voters for a period of 4 years. Votergasm has this to say:

# Pledge-fulfilling sex must be consensual, legal, and generous. And safe. And hot.
# Acceptable sexual positions include, but are not limited to: missionary, doggy-style, cowgirl, reverse cowgirl, leapfrog, butterfly, humpback whale, cling wrap, squashing of the deck chair, accordion, reverse piggy-back, advanced (“twin”) leapfrog. Male-male, female-female, group, and oral variations of these positions can also be used to satisfy the pledge.
…
# “Cybersex” does not satisfy the pledge, dorkwad.
…
# Achievement of a Votergasm during election-night sex is probable, but not guaranteed. Those encountering difficulty reaching Votergasm are encouraged to slow things down, talk about it, and reduce the pressure. Other techniques include the use of massage oils, toys, “dirty talk,” “ballot stuffing,” and “exit polls.”
# Per the U.S. Constitution, children conceived on election night are eligible for gigantic interest-free loans from the U.S. government, and special t-shirt

There you have it folks – get out there and persuade some voters!

A friend of mine made me the offer of a new kitty the other day, and I’ve been thinking about it very hard. My neighborhood currently does not have a tabby cat wandering it’s streets, which just seems very odd to me. The tabby that used to live with me (Sebastian, AKA Be’elzekitty) went home with his original owner some time ago, and the girl who had a twin to him moved away shortly thereafter. Heck, even that poor tomcat with the ‘lion’ haircut moved away.

Anywho, the kitty I have been offered is a grey tabby. He’s currently running under the moniker ‘Trouble’, and is the largest cat in his litter – roughly twice the size of his sibs at 10 weeks old. Big, curious, outgoing and atitude to spare – the kind of cats I’ve had all my life.

The only drawback I can see is the financial aspect. I’m not real big on taking myself to the doc, so you can imagine how often I take a pet to the vet. (Like me, my pets have always been healthy.) While the cat would be free to me, I would still need to take him in at least for his first round of shots (not a big deal) and the Breaking. (If something works, and you make it not work, it is breaking, not getting fixed.) This procedure currently costs about $125 – a fairly largish sum to be spending on a pet at this stage of my finances. This amount is offset somewhat by speculation though: I would have another couple of months before a vet would even perform the procedure due to his age.

Other considerations include the current non-human residents of Chez Wolfie. Zoe The Monster Cat has seemed a bit lonely since Sebastian moved out, and might like a new kitty. Or, she may not. On the flipside, Zoe doesn’t consider Tweaker the Hamster to be food, and a new cat might. The Ratboy would be very unhappy if he came home and found Tweaker’s cage open and hamster-breath on the cat.

So, I’m looking for feedback. What do you think?