fucking spammers
fucking exploiters
fucking suspended account
fucking extra work on a crappy day

think that says enough

Technorati Tags: spam, exploit, idiots, waste of my time

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Alot has happened in the last month since my update. After giving my notice at work, I spent the next two weeks up to my eyebrows in ‘last minutes’ to get done before I left. This included things like site tours, documentation, purchases and installations.. We also interviewed several IT consulting companies who we felt could be used to fill in some of the gaps in my absence.

Then I had a few days off and we traveled to MA for Thanksgiving.

That was my final reprieve, as we returned on Saturday and I flew out to Downey, CA on Sunday.

So I’m laying here now on Tuesday night, and I’m hear for another 3 days. I’ll be returning Friday night. I don’t have a car this time, so there isn’t alot I can do after I get done my work training. Granted, I didn’t finish until almost 6 tonight anyway. Originally, I thought I might see who was around up in LA from my Ithaca days and maybe stop by and say hi for dinner or something, but that’s not feasible without a car.

Luckily, on day one, I got a new mobile phone and laptop. So now that I’ve got it all configured, I’m actually paying for WIFI access in the hotel for the next 3 nights, and hence my ability to finally post.

I’ll talk more about the job later, but I wanted to comment on the flight out.

The worst flight I’ve been on in 25 years. We got in the air 45 minutes late, but then the pilot told us we might be in for some rough weather and he was going to leave the seatbelt sign on. He wasn’t exaggerating. He got on 3 more times to update us over the next hour. He apologized and said it was the worse he’d seen in years as well.

For an hour, we kept changing altitudes. 20k. 28k, 22k, 3ok. 25k. Trying to smooth things out. It didn’t work. I haven’t see a vomit bag used in 25 years, and I saw a dozen used on this flight. People would vocalized ‘woahs’ and ‘ahs’. We were holding onto headrests and arm rests. I found myself locking my fingers under the tray table and standing on the balls of my feet trying to deal with the shifts and bounces. I felt myself straining against the seat belt several times as we dipped unexpectedly. I’m glad I had a seat belt on, or I’d likely have hit my head on the ceiling.

Wow. Don’t make me go through that again please. At one point I thought, what a way to start a new job, dying in the mountains of western PA. When we arrived, we heard that we’d just missed being redirected to Ontario, CA because of the fog. Flights afterwards were, and that would have put me 50 miles from the hotel instead of 22.. The taxi at 22 miles cost my $64.. another employee got redirected and split the $130 cabfare with someone else. Heard later that there we delays all across the country. In LAX, outgoing flights were backed up several hours.

I’m so glad I didn’t have to add on THAT to the end of a horrible flight.

Let’s hope Friday’s return is easier on the insides..

I know I haven’t been sleeping well the last two nights.. Hoping staying up a bit and writing this will help me settle down… last night I was up at 3 and 5 and finally got out of bed and started my day at 6. Monday morning, I was up at 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. I wanted to attribute that to the plane ride + first day jitters, but today was day too.. Am I still nervous? A good night sleep will prove otherwise.

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ial; FONT-WEIGHT:Normal;'>Just testing posting remotely by phone.=

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…who would be constant in happiness or wisdom. ~Confucius

Well today was the day. After being with my current company for 12 years, I’ve given my two weeks notice.

While woodwindy (woodwindy) was wondering if we were moving to her neck of the woods, we’re not. We’re staying where we are, *but* I will be working in Philadelphia, so I guess that’s technically close enough.

This is the best thing for my family right now. I’m moving to a much larger company, and with that comes stability. The economy has really hurt my current employer (a real estate developer), and we’ve seen several years of decreased cash flow. This has affected our annual reviews, our year end bonuses, and our profit sharing. We’ve also had a round of layoffs starting last year (which incidentally coincides to exactly when I started getting serious about looking for another job, and then another just two weeks ago.

So while their future doesn’t look so bright right now, I think the future for me is much better. I’ll be receiving an increased salary and be part of an executive team for the first time. Sure, I may wind up working harder, but there will be benefits from that hard work. This change once again opens the possibility of a larger family, or a larger house - just two of the things I thought I had put behind me forever in the current economy.

Who knows where the future will take us, but today is about change. Certainly not on the same level as the Presidential change and the change in our country, but to me, change that is much more important.

Current Mood:  ecstatic

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..I always vote against.  ~W.C. Fields

So I voted today. All done. Gloucester County has early voting as of a a few weeks ago. At the Deptford Mall, they have a County Office (near Boscov’s). So it’s really easy to head into the mall, vote, and get out of there.

Early voting is up throughout the country, with a prediction of as much as 30% of the votes being early cast this year (as compared to 14% in 2000).

Early voting is a great way to get a chance on a vote that fits your schedule, rather than trying to make it fit into a single designated day.

You might want to look into it in your area.

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I just finished one of the best books I’ve read in the last 10 years. It’s called Little Brother by Cory Doctorow.

I would’ve enjoyed the book on its face, but it’s underlying themes really struck a chord with me.

Little Brother is a scarily realistic adventure about how homeland security technology could be abused to wrongfully imprison innocent Americans. A teenage hacker-turned-hero pits himself against the government to fight for his basic freedoms. This book is action-packed with tales of courage, technology, and demonstrations of digital disobedience as the technophile’s civil protest.

We’re living in a time where our personal freedoms are being slowly squeezed away in the name of protection. Each little thing slowly builds on the one before, creeping up on you. If you set aside the fact that the folk warning of the boiled frog is a myth, the anecdote still serves a purpose when examining our country in a post-9-11 world.

The boiling frog story states that a frog can be boiled alive if the water is heated slowly enough — it is said that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will never jump out.

The book does a great job of introducing the reader to modern technology items such as RFID, cryptography and pattern analysis. The narrator of the story takes the time to explain what they are and how they are used with very easy to understand examples - and that’s key to appreciating how these technologies can be used for either good or bad.

I’ve had a time in my life when I was a hacker. Not nearly as experienced or in depth as I could have been, but I understand the culture - another reason this book appealed to me.

But even today, I’m still interested in cryptography and ARGs. I’ve been on a  LARP.

You have several options for enjoying Little Brother.  Besides the traditional print copy, you might enjoy the audio version (listen to an excerpt above), or even download a version to read for free.

I can’t say enough good things about the book. I was already recommending it before I was halfway through, and now that it’s done, I wish I had more to read.

Don’t take my word for it. Read a review or two. I don’t want to make this entry much longer full of their words, but I encourage you to see the impression it has made on others, sometimes even being called a modern day 1984.

Whether it will have the same staying power 60 years from now that 1984 does, I can’t say. What I can say is that it’s an important reflection of today and where we could be tomorrow.

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Before you watch this video, it may be NSFW as I chose the uncensored version (mild language). I feel it’s important to hear people speak in their own words on important topics such as this.

These are very serious times we are living in, and everyone’s voice deserves to be heard. Your voice. In many parts of the world, you wouldn’t have a voice at all. But, as improbable as it seems, many Americans do not take their right to vote seriously, and often ignore it altogether.

If you don’t have 5 minutes to watch this piece here are some highlights:
1) You NEED to vote
2) You must be registered to vote, and there is a deadline which varies per state. Some deadlines are as soon as Oct. 4. You just can’t show up on election day and be part of it.

3) If you haven’t registered, check out http://maps.google.com/vote to get an interactive map. This will tell you, based on your address, not only where you can register, but how much longer you have to do it.

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Ok. I get it.. Some people like McCain.. but for pete’s sake, can anyone honestly believe that Sarah Palin could handle running this country if McCain was no longer president (and there is a 1/5 chance that should would become president).

Every day, the more I hear her speak, the more I realize how clueless she is and how she tries to turn every soundbite or question around into something she feel comfortable with.

Want some laughs at her expense today? It’s no wonder that the Republicans are trying to keep her in a bubble and avoid media coverage. Anything she says is just ripe with ridicule.

Read the rest of this entry »

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