In Line at the AirPort

See I'm taking Apple's AirPort pun to the next level. Today was training for the AirPort line of products, ya see. And, well it is a line of products but also the airports have a line that goes into them. Just pretend it's clever!

So I'm learning a little about AirPort. And the incredible resource that is Apple's internal knowledge base. A lot of the stuff I already knew actually. When I borrowed the laptop from work I experimented a little with airport that came with it. Didn't get very far, there's only so much you can do in a few hours with limited WiFi equipment.

On a separate note the mentor assigned to me at work turned me on to this web comic called Queen of Wands. So I started reading it. He could actually read a whole comic in about 10 seconds (at the most), takes me a little longer. Damn you readers and your incessant "reading". Anyway I thought I thought it was pretty good. I've been reading through he archives, made it to mid-march of last year. Something for me to do for about a week in between calls. For some reason I found this entry of particular humor, don't ask why. You'd have to an extreme geek to even begin to comprehend why that would be in any way humorous.


Well I would right more but it's bed time...

  ¶ 9:07 PM 0 Comments

 

"Tin"

I hate when I can't tell when I'm hungry. It can only lead to over-eating. And other unpleasantness. Hopefully you don't know what I mean. Maybe you do I don't know. Lets just say it's bad.

Today was a pretty good day at work. I won't bother going into detail but I will say there was tin foil involved. Lots and lots of tin foil. Apple...Macs...Tin foil...it's so obvious what I'm referring to ;-).

It was just a very laid back day. I got free lunch! Well there ya go. Also I recognized a former classmate from a class I took 5 years ago. And he recognized me. I have no idea what his name was. But he looked virtually identical to five years ago.

Last Friday I think it was I did learn at least one amazing thing about Mac OS 9: you can assign any folder you want to be the folder the OS will boot from. All you have to do is copy two files to a particular folder, the folder icon will change slightly indicating it is "blessed" and that's it. With Win98 for instance it's a little more complicated to put it mildly (as documented in prior entries of this blog, see archive for details). I don't know about Win2k, haven't messed it up enough to find out. I know it can't be that simple however. OS X is much more difficult to screw up and you can't really "bless" a folder to easily boot from that one however it is insanely easy to change for instance the root password. Which doesn't really make sense security-wise. What's the point of a secure UNIX environment with root user if you can change the password effortlessly without even need a user account or anything else? But I digress.

One thing I actually did learn on Monday: for some reason Macs don't like the DVD+R/+RW format. They spit those disks out, oddly enough. I don't know why. They just do. Seems like it's just a laser that has to be tweaked and the CD-ROM drives are more or less off the shelf parts anyway so why go out your way to make your drives read only DVD-Rs in a world of drives that do both dash and plus? Don't ask me.

And another thing: what's the deal with bumper stickers on a Lexus? At some point of 10's of thousands of dollars shouldn't a rational person say "that's too expensive and/or nice for a bumper sticker"? Bah. But wait! There's more: not only a Lexus with a bumper sticker, a Lexus with a John Kerry bumper sticker. Aren't you a little upper class to own a Lexus? Am I the only person in the world finding this so incredibly ironic?! Yes, probably. A John Kerry bumper sticker on a Lexus. That's going to entertain me for years to come...

Oh, and I got a cubicle.

  ¶ 6:48 PM 0 Comments

 

"Enter the ceiling fan"

I was busy since my last entry, whenever that was. Mostly because I only have 2 hours in between getting home from work and the time I should reasonable go to bed (8:00pm or so). So if I want to relax or anything there's time for writing (like this).

Friday was a really nice day at work. Apparently we're ahead of schedule so we kind of took it easy for some of it. Saturday I went down to the bay area and saw some relatives. It was kind of a celebration for myself, my sister, my cousin and my uncle not to mention a chance just to catch up.

I checked out a laptop from work and did a little "war driving" with the built-in wi-fi card. What fun it was too. Makes me want to buy a laptop of some type so I can do it more often. I did of course do this in "passive mode" and not use anybody's actual access.

Today (Monday) was the training for the iLife suite of programs so the group I was in got a hold of a video camera and got aboot filming for a 5 minute movie sequence. I happened to bring in some helpful video clips from home (most Jim Carrey movies) to aid us in the little project.

I don't know how it will turn out, or if it will turn out. And I'm sure it will never see the outside of the apple building.

Speaking of god-awful movies I did see Alien vs. Predator in the theaters while I was down there. Now I went in expecting it to be god-awful. And frankly you have to have some kind of idea when both the Alien and Predator license is used yet the movie is rated PG-13. I don’t feel like looking it up right now, but I am fairly certain all the Alien movies and both Predator movies were rated R. Yet the “AVP” movie gets a PG-13 rating. Makes no sense.

Some how this movie reminded me of last summer’s Freddy versus Jason. Don’t ask why or how I ended up seeing that one (it also was god-awful, didn’t see it in the theater). This movie was also kind of like the old formula of a haunted house type scenario and the tried-and-true whittle down to the last man standing formula. Although this one went a little over-board in the survivor portion of the thing. From the beginning, and as expected, you can tell this is a very low budget movie. I’m sure the studio could have another movie filmed and released inside of 6 months if they really wanted to.

Some how I doubt this movie had much to do with the video game or series of novels (ya, surprised me too) of the same name. But at least I was a little entertained for about 90 minutes. And isn’t that what anybody wants? I won’t give it a rating ;-)

As I mentioned I'm exhausted so I am going to bed. This blog won't die though, oh no.

  ¶ 8:32 PM 0 Comments

 

"Harrah?"

So now it comes to it. Why the sudden absence, you may be asking. At least you would be if you, a reader, existed. Which I guess you do just not very many. But anyway.

I didn't make an entry last Friday, Saturday or Sunday. But I had good reason. Mainly I decided I was moving about 40 miles away. That's 40 miles further I get to commute to Apple every day. Which means I get to get up even earlier, 4am in my case. Today was the first time I tried such a thing and arrived an hour early. But I don't feel I had much choice since there could be an accident and I absolutely can't be late.

Right now, around 9:30pm, I am writing in the blog because of some sever body-related problems I'm having. I won't go into detail (thank god!). Suffice to say various medications are settling various chemicals in various directions at once and it's too distracting to sleep.

Friday I packed up quicker than I ever have before, using my car to take an incredible amount of stuff. Upon arriving at the new location I printed out a bunch of documents for work on Saturday. This wasn't for apple, it was for a temp job I had before apple that I never quit (the temp agency for the "famous name brand money investing institution"). But I wasn't prepared due to all the activity. So Saturday went very poorly upon realizing I was missing a rather important document. I did finish the job it just took me a lot longer than was necessary and made a few people rather angry in the process. I don't need that temp job anyway (the money is nice though).

Sunday I purchased more clothes for my day job so I could ware blue jeans and t-shirts for once.

Friday in class is mostly a blur at this point, don't remember much about it. Today I did learn a few techniques for helping customers with problems and troubleshooting although much it I had already learned via trial-by-fire at the last phone-centered job I had a year ago.

I don't know what tomorrow will bring but I hope it will come out better than the last week. One can only hope.

As you might imagine from the time stamp I have to go to bed now. I hope this made some amount of sense.

  ¶ 9:22 PM 0 Comments

 

"century mark..."

This makes the 100th entry into my humble blog. Not visited at all maybe, but that's 100 entries.

Today I learned even more about Mac OS X and more on peoplesoft. And I visited with the mentor again. I ended up with a different one thanks to a department shift.

I did do more with the mentor today. Not going to say what exactly. It was very informative however.

Sounds like next week I'll be getting my own cubicle. Ok I think it's going to take a month or so to come to realization I'm actually working for Apple Computer. I'm just not getting that conceptually yet. I work for apple. Nope, nope still not gettin' it.

Actually what this is starting to feel like is just another brand of a particular product with all the for-instances that go along. It would be like working for HP and supporting HP printers in particular. They'd have some things to learn about and I wouldn't know the ins and outs of HP printers either. So like an HP printer I just have to learn Mac OS, PeopleSoft and supporting customers on/via those two items in a world-class best-of way.

Oh and it's no secret apple has a few instances of PCs here there. They have a "make the switch" line for users converting from PC to Mac. Since I am essentially switching from PC to Mac that'd be a good place for me (it would be familiar territory).

There's also iTunes for PC. That's another thing: there's a little phobia about referring to XP apparently. It's always "PC". This term is a little out-dated technically. Just say either "Intel platform" or "Windows". PC throws back to the IBM dominated clone compatible 80s/large part of 90s. But now? Probably referring to Windows since Linux apparently doesn't exist at apple. At least no one's mentioned it. According to an article on Slashdot.org Linux has a larger desktop user base already, although some how I doubt the validity of this claim. Based on no facts what-so-ever, just a feeling.

It occurred to me I should be careful on this unread site since for all I know some private investigator is researching my background and could find this. The odds are against such a through investigation or find it but I'm paranoid.

For the record this isn't for co-worker consumption (I won't be telling co-workers this web address, I never use my real name/city and I don't give anything away anyway).

Not that this will make any difference.

I did notice a few things about Mac OS X that are drawbacks to Windows-etc. line. Namely, and perhaps I'm the only one who does this, I can hold down control in a text document or any other text-related program and hit the arrow keys to jump from one word to the next. Hold shift with control and select as I jump from one word to the next. I love that feature! And it's universal across programs. But not on OS X. They make you use an icky mouse (insert puke sound here). That's OS 10.3.4 for the record. I think. A minor feature, absent from the beloved Mac. And the open-apple+C for copy? It's ctrl+c that's the ways I likes it...

Ok now I'm done. Happy 100th entry to me.

  ¶ 7:31 PM 0 Comments

 

"Day 3: That's what they all say"

I'm sure at some point I'll stop with the posts every day. But at least for these first five days, if I can swing it, I'm going to put in any entry. Of course next week may be exciting too. I think I'm going to get my cubicle next week. But I should be fairly settled by then, I hope.

In case you don't feel like scrolling down a couple inches I'm talking about my new job at Apple Computer. I just started the 9th of August.

Today I learned more on the O.S. and did a whole lot of PeopleSoft (which may or may not be any good). So far I'm more confused than anything else.

I have to say OS X is kind of starting to grow on me. Though I still can't see spending $2000 on a computer just to get it. Unless I got a used iMac or something. But that's just too easy to make fun of ;-).

I'm not a fan of the browser, Safari. I've only used 1.1.1, don't know (yet) what the latest version is.

I learned a lot about what to do when I get a call today, including scope of support and how to use the knowledge base. Again no details for fear of giving something away.

Looks as though there is one or two PC sections of Apple: the group that helps users switch from PC to Mac and the support for iTunes on XP. Maybe I'll work in that section at some point in the future.

It's so hard to go to bed at 9:00 now. Can you believe that? Who goes to bed at 9:00pm?! Oh. Working poeple. RIGHT! Goodnight.

  ¶ 9:00 PM 0 Comments

 

Day 1 part 2: The 2nd day

Creative titles are fleeting. Today was largely more of the same from yesterday except I learned about the database used to track calls and keep records of consumer instances. The one thing different was the assignment of a mentor. He had obviously been doing the call center position for a while and seemed very enthused and very good at what he did. There's no way you would expect anything different, I mean anybody doing something every day for 8 hours for weeks on end is going to get better eventually.

He was, I believe, above average however. He talked really fast and moved from call to call exceedingly quickly. Of course I can't say a lot for fear of giving something away inadvertently. I will say I simply observed how he operated and got a good idea of how a real pro does this kind of work. I even took notes. In at least one instance I came up with a suggestion to ask the customer about the mentor had not thought of. Wasn't a big deal but at least I half-know what I'm talking about.

The only other thing to report is more agonizingly slow progress on the VCR project. Or the project blog anyway (there's a link to your left). I'm supposed to receive another part tomorrow. With that at least I can do some height type tests.

I hate when entries get shorter and shorter.

  ¶ 8:39 PM 0 Comments

 

"Day One"

I thought I should at least chronicle my first day working for Apple. I don't know that I'll do this everyday perhaps but at least I'll have the first day.

Wasn't really a big deal. Hah-hah. Ok.

So this is my first experience in a new job that requires a security badge when moving between different sections of a building. On a side note the traffic to my local office is rather non-existent. Seems the place where it's located is more of a bedroom type town that everyone moves to so they can commute to their office in the city. So the traffic is going the other direction at either end of the day. Now where was I? Yes the badges. Aren't they great? I sat in class all day. Except for a more detailed tour of the facility. Looks like they do a rather brisk business to a rather dedicated following [note the lack of a derogatory modifier in that last sentence: see, I'm learning].

But 99% of the non-break time was spent in a classroom setting learning all about what we'll be doing the next several years of our lives. Pretty standard stuff really. Just do my job and don't screw around too much and you move ahead and/or transfer to where ever you'd like to be besides tier one tech support. Seems reasonable to me anyway.

See this is how tech support in a call center should be handled: with responsibility. Know how to handle suicidal callers for instance. Or knowing to end a conversation immediately if a lawsuit is threatened. That's stuff every tech support should know no matter how small or low paid the operation/person is. I am of course alluding to a job I had a year ago (hard to believe it's been a year).

Was that job worth it if that experience will help at this job? I'm still debating that point. As you can tell I didn't like that job from a year ago.

Overall I didn't hate today and I can't think of anything I disliked. Takes anybody a while to get accustomed to a new place like this, right?

Amazing about what I wrote last night. Now John Kerry says he would have sent troops to Iraq, even knowing there were no WMDs to be found, completely contradicting virtually all statements he had made previously regarding the issue, at least since he entered the primary. I was just saying not more than 24 hours ago he hasn't made any passing attempts at appealing to voters who would never think to ever look his direction. Then this happens. Some how I have to believe even the more dim amongst you wouldn't believe that given recent rhetoric, but what do I know?

Well time for bed. Short post since I already wrote last night.  ¶ 8:12 PM 0 Comments

 

"An Era and other myths"

So here it is Sunday, the 8th of August. The end of my last free week. The first day of the rest of my life, so to speak. Tomorrow I start my new job for Apple. That still seems weird to talk about like that. Me? Apple? It'd be a twist if it were a movie.

And what did I do this weekend? Yesterday I went to a recently opened Wal-Mart to see if I could find some good parts for my VCR project. The only thing I found I may have wanted was a "Walkman" style audio cassette player for only $5. And here I thought $8 was pretty cheap. But the line was too long and I could only pay for it at one register (which a helpful employee standing guard at that section informed me of when I tried to leave with it). So I left and come back that evening figuring most normal people would be having dinner. But nope still a long line. God forbid you open a second register or let people pay for things elsewhere. So I left once more.

Today I went back to that flea market I was frequenting around five weeks ago. I have plans of significant disfiguring of an Atari 2600 ya see. And as long as I was there I bought a walk-man style audio cassette player for only $2. Unless you count the $2 parking. It was still worth the no line. I also bought an Atari 2600 just with the TV-hookup. I do already own one, however that one is the 6-switch system and I wanted the newer 4-switch type system. The 4-switch is a little smaller and used in the example for the "Portable VCS" mod that turns a 2600 into a portable game system (and it keeps taking the 2600 cartridges). Also I have big plans for a 2600 on another project I'm working on. I haven't told any one yet so I may as well wait to announce it :).

But some how I got distracted. I was talking about starting Apple tomorrow and how today is essentially the end of an era in my life. That can be either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how I take it. To have a better first day I have been trying to ware my self out today so I can actually go to bed and sleep around 9p.m. tonight (I'm getting up at 5a.m.). I usually go to bed much, much later than that. Now this could be all for not. Could be I'll only last a few weeks at Apple and I'll be right back where I started from looking for more work. So this may not be the end-of-an-era but rather a brief-interruption-in-an-era, the same era, whatever era that is. I think I like the word 'era'. To era is human? I need to run a quick era? Ah forget it.

I must of done something right just to get to this point really. So I'm just hoping tomorrow isn't so bad I don't make to much a bad impression. Or that I at least make a semi-good impression. I can remember a week ago the proverbial class I'm in all seemed pretty nice. And the dress code is pretty lax.

So as would be natural I'm feeling a little nervous about starting tomorrow. It's only the start of a class I realize, but I still feel a little pressure to start it all out correctly. I'm also dealing with my Dad who's infamous as a demotivational speaker. Well demotivating me anyway. I don't know why he enjoys that so much or if he even realizes it. But I really don't need the mind games and shit while I'm trying to start the new job. So generally I'm going to try to avoid him if I can. I have money now so I can eat out a lot more. I would try the direct confrontation approach but I don't think I could stop myself once I got going and then I could be without a place to live rather quickly. The alternative approach would be to gently suggest a hobby or getting a fish or something else to otherwise amuse himself. Healthier I'm guessing than bottling up frustrations of work and venting via verbal abuse on me. If nothing else I am feeling rather motivated to save money and move out as soon as possible. I hate dealing with head games and/or senile parents.

On the election front I'd like to talk more generically for a moment. For instance in the last 50 or so years in the incumbent vs. senator races very few senators have won. Furthermore in any of the elections in which there's a "anybody but" line that person running as the "anybody" usually loses. I can give you at least three examples in recent history, in reverse chronological order: Republicans railing against Grey Davis in the recent election (anybody but Davis), Republicans railing against Hillary for Senate in the year 2000 (anybody but Hillary) and the Republicans railing against Bill in 1996 (anybody but Clinton). In all these cases the "anybody" portion, as I said, lost the election. So, generically speaking, in any case of incumbent versus a Senator the incumbent has won and in any case of an "anybody but..." motivated campaign the "anybody" has lost.

Now more specific: Kerry still hasn't done any thing to reach to the middle or those who may not have otherwise looked his direction. Further he still seems really left wing and his wife is extremely scary. Nothing has been done to rectify such a perception as far as I can tell. Kerry's campaign seems more like a war veteran-themed costume party than a real candidacy. Keep in mind I did not watch Kerry's speech at the convention but I hear it didn't go over too well. Something about it going too fast because he was afraid the TV networks would cut him off early.

  ¶ 3:30 PM 0 Comments

 

"Herman..."

Here it is Tuesday at 3:30pm. And no, I haven't had an Apple class. Seems not everybody was able to get everything ready having only a couple days worth of notice so the start has been postponed by a week. Which I will try to put to good use.

Yesterday for instance I bought my first OS X book (The Missing Manual I think it's called). Last night I purchased the motherboard that will go into the VCR Mod I'm working on and today I purchased an IDE cable and mini-ATX power supply. I also returned the all-in-wonder video card I had purchased and decided I couldn't use. Came in several pieces, didn't have a remote and was too tall for the VCR case. So I will purchase a "right angle riser PCI card adapter" so I can use a couple PCI cards that the all-in-wonder would have worked with alone. That's why they call it "all-in-wonder". Right?

Now I just have to start really working on the actual VCR. Problem is the pictures I take with that stupid camera take more time to finalize than the stupid VCR work does.

So I just need that riser card, the CPU, and RAM. And a lot of work with a Dremel.

But I'm getting off the subject here. The Apple class was postponed for a week, which is fine as long as it really goes through and starts.

I did recieve my official A+ certification the other day. A real diploma-looking thing in fact.

According to Matt Drudge the Speaker of the House, Denny Hastert, is ready to propose doing away with the IRS and adopting some other form of national taxation. Connected to this is a theoretical new agenda for the whole party. Now I could give a clichéd speech about "believing it when I see it" or "don't touch that Herman, it's horse shit" but why bother? Would any body what so ever actually believe this will even come close to true? I should hope not. I think he and the rest of his party are starting to realize the more conservative types are starting to express their disillusionment with the President and the party in general and have may therefore not bother showing up to vote. So this majority leader comes out and says he's proposing some massive sweeping change of something everyone if not conservatives only have complained about at one time or another. That'll make the conservatives slightly happier, they'll vote for bush and that will help getting Bush re-elected. At least that's my assessment.

  ¶ 7:30 PM 0 Comments