Category: Opinion

Just an opinion – take it with a grain of salt (or sugar)

Chuck & Journeyman

I believe that NBC is currently my favorite television network.  I started tuning in on Monday nights to watch Heroes, but I’ve fallen into the desire to watch the shows that surround it.
Chuck is a fun show.  I can predict a lot of what’s going to happen, but the premise of the show is awesome.  There’s a few technical details that they really messed up on, such as the dead hard drive incident in the first episode, but I find myself watching anyway.
Journeyman, I believe I’ve stated already, has even better circumstances.  They have really impressed me with the thought that goes into this show.  I’d have to say that this is my favorite between the two.
I’ve heard, however, that Journeyman hasn’t been getting the ratings that NBC was expecting, so it might not make it.  They need to give it more time… it’s got staying power.  Apparently Chuck’s getting OK enough ratings to keep it on the air, but I’m sure that if they switched the two time-slots that Journeyman would have better ratings.  I know that’s probably hard to do with a show as complicated as Journeyman, but I’m sure it’s just the time-slot.

Ubuntu 7.10 – Gutsy Gibbon

OK, so I have spent the last week strictly using Ubuntu at home. It has been quite nice learning my way through the installation and configuration.
I’ve gotten the advanced desktop working – you’ve probably seen the videos online of people using it and having a cube of desktops to spin through. I’ve got DVD playback, DVD ripping, software to sync my iPod with my music collection, and a way to share my files with my xbox media center.
I’ve read a lot of stuff about converting to Linux over the past several months, even over the past few years. Linux and the experience around it is improving quickly. I showed my mom the desktop effects on my computer, and she quickly said, “I want mine to do that!”
The articles out there that explain switching their mother, grandmother, or aunt over to Linux are missing out on a very critical point. They are the person that got it set up for their friend or family member. The articles make me want to install it for myself, so I can enjoy the ease of converting.
Therein lies the problem… I installed it myself, and it isn’t as easy as they said it was. My computer has an onboard Realtek network card that apparently has a problem. When Windows shuts down, it disables the card until Windows is restarted. I had to spend approximately 2 hours searching forums before I found out that all I had to do was disconnect the power to my computer for a good 15 seconds and then boot into Ubuntu to have a good network connection. Sure, it was my computer’s network card that caused the problem, but it was something that held up my work on the rest of the system.
I could enable the advanced desktop. Then I had to figure out how to activate the restricted drivers. Then there was installing the yet to be named video settings tool so that I could activate and set options for the advanced video card drivers.
For every thing that seems simple in Windows, it takes an average of an hour to set it up in Linux. Sure, maybe next time it will be quicker, but for the people who aren’t used to searching online forums all the time for code to make their video tool play DVDs or make something work just right are just going to give up and go back to Windows.
My PC is only a year old. The hardware is great. It just doesn’t fit into the specs of an ideal Linux candidate. I do a lot on my computer, and I have to make sure that everything I do works before I can make the full commitment to Linux.
So far, everything works, but I’ve had to put a lot of time into figuring out how. The Samba share was one of the dumbest things ever. I changed setting after setting, until I finally found a reference to a samba.conf file that I decided to read to see if there was a problem. Sure enough, six little semicolons were the only things standing in the way of what I was trying to do. I deleted them, saved the file, and all of a sudden I could see the folders from my xbox.
Ubuntu has come a long way in a short amount of time. I am going to continue using it at home until I find something that I cannot do that I need to do on my PC. Gutsy Gibbon is a strange name, but in the Linux community, they need the humor to keep them going.
If you really want to try Linux, try out a Live CD. Ubuntu distributes Live CD images on their website. The CD loads in memory so that your hard drive isn’t affected. Once you determine that you want to install it, they put a nice little icon on your desktop that says “Install”. It’s real easy up to that point. If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to try and answer them. I have a little experience.

Where is Common Decency?

Over the span of my short life of 29 years, I have seen human decency fall lower than I thought it could.  Respect for other people’s space, beliefs, health, privacy, property, and rights (to name a few) is almost a myth. 
Just 10 years ago, when someone noticed that a person didn’t cuss in their everyday speech, the person who cussed would normally keep their cussing down to a minimum when around that person out of respect.  People who smoked wouldn’t smoke around children (of course, after scientists discovered that it was bad for our health).  When a person said they were having trouble at home, the boss wouldn’t ask for all the gritty details.  Drivers didn’t drive on your property without expressed permission or damage your things just for the fun of it.  I remember living in an area where the neighborhood kids could ride bikes and play in the street without worrying about anything but letting people pass when they were driving down the road.
IMHO, I’m positive that the major reason for this trend is the fact that parents don’t go to church, or bring their kids to church any longer.  Church is an important place for a child to get involved and learn how to treat others.  I guess the real problem is that people today don’t have a relationship with God… I mean, how can they if they aren’t taught what they need to learn on a regular basis.  There are many children out there who want to know about God, and want direction/correction in their lives, but they’re not getting it.  We have children coming to our church without their parents that yearn for basic discipline.
I know what you’re saying… “yeah, right… what kid wants discipline?”  Every kid has it built into their DNA to look for authority.  The problem is that most of them never find it, and decide it doesn’t exist at a young age.  Just a few years later, they don’t look for or respect authority.  If they don’t believe in an authority, why on earth would they respect anyone else?
I’m bringing this up because someone I know is not being treated right.  The argument actually applies to more than a few people I know, but I’m upset about one in particular right now.  What is the best course of action for dealing with someone who is being rude, hurtful, and disrespectful to someone else you know?  I am currently questioning how to react.

President’s Poll Numbers Escalate

For the second poll in a row, the President’s poll numbers have come up.  This poll saw the President’s approval rating rise from 29% to 34%.  When you factor in the margin of error, and the fact that the poll questions are always skewed against favoring the President, I’d say his approval rating is somewhere between 45 and 50%.
The primary reason that his numbers are going up is most probably the fact that the troop surge in Iraq has been getting some good results that are apparently too good for the reporters to ignore.  The surge has only just recently begun, and the reports have been that more troops have made a tremendous impact.  The number of troop deaths per day has decreased with the surge as well.  Troop morale has made a shocking increase, and it looks as if that will continue.
One other reason that the President’s approval rating has increased is probably due to the number of presidential candidate debates on both sides of the aisle.  They all seem like the same words in different physical locations.  These candidates are doing nothing but making people lose consciousness in the boredom.  They make President Bush look wonderful.
I like the fact that these liberal dummies will have to stop using poll numbers to make their points once the numbers have increased.  The fact that they have used them so much has really been annoying.  What’s even worse, is when the senate had the lowest approval ratings in it’s history after a vote that supposedly let the administration know that they “wanted out of Iraq”.  I think they jumped to the wrong conclusion.  What America voted for was change.  We want to win this war on terror, and what our government was doing then was not getting the job done.  Once they were elected, the new senators did nothing to help the war.  That’s why they are so unpopular.
Somebody needs to let them know that we are not against the war, but we’re against losing the war.

Sopranos Finale

I know it’s a little late, but I felt this since a few days after the finale.  I haven’t posted it yet because I haven’t … typed it until now.
There’s been a lot of talk by a lot of loud people about how much disappointment they felt from the finale.  I don’t understand how so many people who have little to no creative cell can criticize a show you’ve been raving about for years.  Sure, there’ve been a few lame seasons, but if they were really all that lame, why’d you keep watching?
I admit, there were a few seasons that didn’t meet the expectations that were created in the first few.  I kept watching because I saw that there was a story being laid out before me.  It is not the writers of ANY show to make “everyone” happy.  If it ended the way that everyone wanted or expected it to happen, what would have been the point of anyone purchasing a subscription to HBO and tuning in?
The last episode had me on the edge of my seat feeling like I was about to have a panic attack.  I realized later, that Mr. Chase was giving me the same feeling that Tony Soprano always has.  Tony Soprano started having panic attacks because he never knows when the end is going to happen.  Watching Meadow try to park made my panic mode rise even higher.
The good part of watching the finale is that I get to go on living my life without wondering how Sopranos is going to continue.  The bad thing for Tony Soprano is that he has to live the rest of his life in a near state of panic.  The suspense will not end until it happens.
Beautiful work, Mr. Chase.

Randy Jackson

“Yo, Dawg, check it out… that was good, I mean, I’m not jumpin’ up and down or anything, but that was pretty good… a little pitchy in the middle there, but ya know what I mean?…”
Has anyone ever heard the following phrase out of Randy’s mouth? “…I’m jumpin’ up and down…”
Has anyone ever seen Randy Jackson jumping up and down? I’d love to see I guess I’d like to see proof that there’s a point to his usual comments.
I couldn’t find a compilation of that phrase on YouTube for some weird reason, but I did find this one. It’s pretty funny.
Randy, if you never jump up and down, stop telling us that you’re not doing it. For crying out loud, I hear you say that at least twice a night, and I can almost predict when it’s about to stumble out of your mouth. Build up your vocabulary and come up with a few different phrases that have the same basic meaning.
You know what’d be funny? Say it to all but one of them next week. Make sure they all know that you’re not jumping up and down. Maybe they can’t see you very well because of the lights. Then the following week, jump up and down for all but one of them. I insist that you actually stand and jump up and down for them. It’d be an interesting experiment to see if the one person you don’t jump up and down for is eliminated that week.
Heck, if you’re going to overuse the phrase, at least have some fun with it.

TV This Fall

This fall we have had our fair share of good and bad television, even though we don’t have cable or satellite service.  There’s more bad than good, of course; we just have less of it to watch.
The good:  Heroes, Jericho, Lost, My Name is Earl, Smallville, Studio 60, The Office, and Til Death.  SNL had a few good episodes as well, but seemed to fall back into a slump pretty quickly.
The bad:  30 Rock, Show Me the Money, and everything else.
I’m really looking forward to January when 24 begins another all new season.  Lost will have 16 new episodes in a row with no reruns.  It should make for an entertaining season.  I just have to remember to turn the TV off when one of these is not on.

Dancing With The Stars

I can not begin to tell you how stupid so many of these shows on television are these days.  I feel myself getting dumber while watching every episode of any “reality” show I have ever watched.  I do my best to limit my personal exposure to them.
As good as Mario is, I have to say that Emmit was better.  It just looks like Mario is trying too hard.  Emmit looks like he’s working to improve, but trying to enjoy himself at the same time.
I just wanted to share that, so that I can get on with my life… I promise I’ll limit my “reality” show discussions to a minimum.

Deleting Friends

I started deleting friends from MySpace.  One of them asked why I kept saying I was leaving and didn’t just leave… she’s gone.  I don’t care.  She wasn’t really a friend anyway, just someone who wanted to date me in high school, but I wasn’t attracted enough to her to actually start anything.  I know that may sound mean, but it’s true.  Her message wasn’t all that nice, either.
It’s funny how easy it is to let go of relationships when you get older.  It takes real effort to maintain relationships now.  That is probably why so many marriages fail these days.  Christle and I determined to stay together until death when we got married.  It seems that most people think they can change their mind 5 years down the road, and look for other relationships while they’re married.
With access to as many friends as you want, there needs to be a new word to describe people who used to be defined as friends.  “Best friends” doesn’t do it any more, because in today’s terms, “best friends” could mean someone you actually speak with on a weekly basis, yet never talk about anything that has any actual meaning.
I’m going to try to think of a new word to use with the old definition of friends.  Let me know if you think of one first.  If it’s a good one, maybe we can build a relationship and become “_______”.
While we’re on the subject, maybe we can come up with a new term for “marriage”?  Maybe we can come up with something that will have a more permanent meaning to society, such as “bondage”, but have a positive connotation, like “candy”.  “Cotton Bondage”?  “Candied Bondage”?  “Iron Love Candy”?  I’d use them, but they sound kinda naughty at the same time, so a lot of people would turn them down based on that fact.  Is there anything that would sound better?