Category Archives: About Me - Page 26

Humility On Display

Posted by anachostic on July 2, 2015 No comments

In the game Ultima IV, you play a character whose mission it is to become pure in virtue by only doing good things. It’s a rather sharp contrast to modern games, right? But anyway, knowing about these virtues makes for some positive change in your real life.

Some of these virtues are stronger in me than others. Honesty, Humility, Sacrifice are some of the stronger ones. In a real-life Ultima, I would probably end up being one of the wimpier character classes, like Shepherd. But, good virtues are good to have. I say this because I recently made a mistake. A big, big mistake at work.

I do a lot of my work on intuition, doing what I think is best and usually that works out pretty well for me. So when I was told to reactivate some application functionality that we had taken out previously, I immediately knew what needed done and where to go to make the change. The problem was, I didn’t read the details.

My change had been in use for almost a month and when Accounting went to do their billing, everything was rejected. And it was because of my change. I didn’t notice the instruction to leave the records open after processing. That was different than the way it used to be. And because of that, the company had lost a month’s worth of billing.

It’s not often that a person can say that they cost their employer a million dollars in revenue, but at that moment, I was in that exclusive crowd. When asked about the change, I owned up to the mistake and fixed it immediately. And then I started thinking about what I did, which is never a good thing.

I did the math and calculated the damage. What could I ever do to fix it? I can’t take a pay cut to zero dollars and work the next 15 years for free. Even if they fired me, that money can’t be recovered by my elimination. And there wasn’t anything I could do about it, that corrective work is in a totally different department working on a whole other level. All I could do was wait and see what would happen to me.

And as I thought about it that night, I wasn’t scared. I knew I could get another job easily enough. I was just sad. I just cost the whole company a substantial amount of money. Bonuses for everyone? Forget it. Pay raises? Nope. New equipment? Not this year. They could fire me, but the impact of my mistake would hit everyone. And for that I was sad.

The next day I went in to my boss’s office and I asked what was going to happen. He looked puzzled and then remembered our discussion where he explained that I missed a detail in my task. “Oh, that’s taken care of.” The honesty I gave him for my mistake, he gave the same honesty to the client that was rejecting the billing of all of our “closed” records and they agreed to work with us to reopen them and bill them properly.

So I was never really in any serious trouble. The fear was just something I invented in my head. But that mental invention, taking ownership of and feeling the impact of your actions on others, is a reminder of one of the principles of Reiki: I will do my work with honesty.

And, like many of my other instances of fortune, I am grateful for what I have been afforded in life. Never forget to be grateful.

Renewed Vigor

Posted by anachostic on June 25, 2015 No comments

I’ve had my car, a Mazda MX-5, for almost six years now. In that time, I’ve raced it in autocrosses, driven it in rallies, and destroyed the engine in a flooded street. Since that flooding event, I’ve given up on the hard-driving autocrosses, but it hasn’t slowed down much at all. I still put about 30k miles a year on it. The body and transmission have 174k miles. The engine, a little less at 100k.

Lately, it seems like I’ve been having to work harder at keeping the system running well. I was having a problem with cold starts on cooler mornings. This was cleared up by cleaning the IAC valve – the Idle Air Control valve. It’s a simple procedure involving unscrewing something and dousing it with cleaning fluid. You should do it each time you change the air filter, but I seemed to have to do it more frequently than that.

Then I started having problems with the engine bogging down when I decelerate to a stop. This was solved by cleaning the throttle body. That’s a slightly more involved procedure involving unbolting a part and dousing it with cleaning fluid, then wiping off the carbon buildup. I had to do it twice because I wasn’t thorough enough the first time.

Lately, things just didn’t feel quite right. I knew I needed some critical safety maintenance, like brakes and tires, so I got both of those taken care of. That made the ride much more smooth and quiet, but something was still off. The engine seemed like it was struggling and the shifting was rough. So I planned on doing some internal cleaning.

I stopped at AutoZone and picked up some Seafoam. I’ve used Seafoam on my cars for a while and each time I do, I am surprised by the results. There is a great argument as to whether it really does anything at all or whether it’s all in your head, but I am a believer.

I added a full can to my half-tank of gas yesterday when I got home. When I started the car up and drove it this morning, it was immediately noticeable that something was better. The engine was smoother, the acceleration was better, the shifts weren’t clunky anymore.

The weirdest thing was the accelerator. My car is drive-by-wire, so there’s no cable literally pulling on the throttle body. Yet somehow, the pedal was more responsive. I didn’t have the previous sensation of one position having too little power and with a slight pressure change, suddenly having too much power. That was causing me to surge in my driving, and I would spend a lot of time speeding up and slowing down. Now, I could hold a position exactly where I wanted.

When I noticed that the car was running smoother, I reset my MPG sensor. From almost six years of ownership, I know that my highway drive to work after resetting the computer would show about 34 MPG, and then it would drop as my city driving would factor in. Getting to work today, the MPG read 36.8. That has to account for something, right?

But I’m still not done. I’ll also be adding Seafoam to the intake line this weekend. Then I should be caught up on that level of maintenance. Cheap and easy fixes are the best.

Overanalyzing

Posted by anachostic on June 23, 2015 No comments

Today is Tuesday – Tie Tuesday – and I’m doing the tie thing. If you’ve seen Mai Ties, today is “The Distinctive” against a grey shirt. At lunch, the waitress asks me if I’m a car salesman. No, why? The tie. So, I shut her up by stating that it’s Tie Tuesday so you have to wear a tie. Duh, everyone knows that.

Why a car salesman? I mean, it could have been lawyer, banker, real estate agent, store manager, or anything else. Why was that the first and more logical thought? Yeah, there’s a car dealership nearby, but there’s dealerships everywhere.

Does wearing a tie make you seem dishonest? Wait a minute, does being a car salesperson make you seem dishonest? Where was I going with that… Do I look dishonest wearing a tie? No, not dishonest, do I look like I’m trying to impress someone? That’s not it. Why do car salespeople wear ties? What is that purpose, then I can figure out why I looked like I had that purpose because I was wearing a tie. Maybe.

But I’m wearing jeans. She didn’t notice that; it was just the tie. Is it the style of the tie? Maybe because it’s trendy and not traditional that made it seem car salesperson-y? Is it because I had a tie clip? My impression would be that not wearing a tie clip would be more casual and more salesperson-like. What exactly am I trying to figure out here?

The waitress was old. Maybe that’s a generational thing? She grew up always seeing car salespeople wearing ties? But back then, people would wear suit jackets as well. If I wore a jacket now, I would probably look more like a banker, except for the jeans, again. Maybe it’s my age. If a young guy was wearing a tie, she wouldn’t ask if he was selling cars. She’d just think he was a hipster. Or something.

Or maybe, she just sucks at conversation and commented on something that made me stand out from the crowd. There were a bunch of grungy people there. So…. car salespeople are not grungy. Check. I think I’ve got it now.

Filling In The Cracks In The Collection

Posted by anachostic on June 15, 2015 No comments

As I’ve previously noted, I have finished the acquisition phase of my CD collection. I have also completed the scanning of the cover art. The results of this have been added to Flickr and also as a series of pages for other’s benefit. To increase the benefits, I decided to contribute to a music metadata website.

I think I’d been through this before, and I had a big internal debate as to whether to use MusicBrainz or Discogs. Initially, I chose Musicbrainz, but something didn’t sit well with me during that experience and I gave it up pretty quickly. Recently, I submitted some missing information to Discogs and it went a lot smoother. So I think I’ve found my home, there. History shows I’ve said that before and ended up disappointed. We’ll see.

Discogs seems to be more of what I want anyway, because they focus on collectors, which is more and more how I view myself and my CDs. So, not only do you simply submit information, you also consume that information by tracking which CDs you own. I started doing that sporadically. I’m about half-way through with over 300 of my 600+ albums logged.

The problem is, when you are logging a collectable, you have to be very specific as to which collectible you have. In the case of albums, each album can be released under different labels in different countries under different catalog numbers. So as I was logging my collection on the website, I was pretty much choosing the most likely candidate from the multiple choices.

To be the most accurate (and there is a benefit to being accurate), I would have to have the CD in front of me to make sure I was choosing the right one, with the right label and catalog number. Instead of doing that, I decided I should record the Label, Barcode, and Catalog Number in the files’ metadata, so I can refer to them as needed. So, for a little while each day, I sit in font of my CD rack with my laptop and record that data into the files.

I had previously used Windows Media Player’s metadata feature to try and add all missing info using their metadata services. As I was going through and adding the actual info from my CDs, I discovered how inaccurate the results really were. How could an application determine what label the CD was on, when all it has is a ripped audio file? For every album I had to change from Sony to Columbia or anything else, I got really irritated. Not so much that it was wrong, because I understand how it could be wrong, but more because I could have been put in a position of giving bad information. I insist on being as truthful and accurate as possible.

One of the benefits of being accurate is that Discogs can value your collection based on prior sales of the same item. Of course, if you have a common or a rare release of an album, that can make a big difference in its value, so accuracy is important. Being about half-way through my collection, and with moderate accuracy, my collection has a median value of $1500. I have some CDs worth $60 and some worth $.75.

Completion

Posted by anachostic on May 18, 2015 No comments

Today, I purchased the remaining CDs to complete my collection of the entire MCA Master Series catalog: 44 CDs released between 1986 and 1990, including one album with vocals and a rare special issue compilation included with BMW vehicles from that era.

I thought I was done at 42 CDs. I knew about the country/vocal album put out at the very end of the MCA Master Series label’s life and I wanted to purposely disregard it because it has no interest to me. I never had any hope of finding the BMW CD, since it was made so long ago in probably an incredibly small quantity and who would keep something like a promo CD with a new car? However, as fate would have it, the completion of my collection came in a fortunate wave. The two expensive holdouts became available for less than I’d seen before, a search for the rare BMW CD returned a hit, and the vocals album was available for a penny. In a flurry of purchases, I was done, and done more than I even expected. That is the completion of Phase 1 of my music plan.

The status of Phase 2 – the scanning of all CD covers – is pretty sad. I have a LOT of CDs and little free time and even less time where I am motivated to work on them, especially when a batch of scans came out poorly and I have to rescan them. So I think I will reprioritize the scanning to focus on only the MCA Master Series covers so I can move on to Phase 3.

Phase 3 is the printing and framing of the CD artwork. I don’t exactly have a plan for this just yet. More on this to come…

Mai Ties

Posted by anachostic on April 12, 2015 No comments

This is a post about my tie collection. Yeah, another post about collections. No one cares – always remember that when talking about your collections. However, you shouldn’t mistake curiosity for caring. I can imagine that some people would be curious to see someone’s collection of something, even if they don’t share the same enthusiasm.

Anyway, ties to me were always an afterthought. I went to a Catholic high school (which was more like a country club with as little learning that happened there), and we were expected to dress up with button-down shirts and ties. Being teenagers, only about 2% took the dress code seriously. I was part of the population that didn’t really understand the significance of dressing properly, so I just went through the motions.

Back in those days, ultra-skinny leather ties were in fashion, but they didn’t get worn often because of the dreaded “tie-torqueing” personal attack. When yanked by an attacker, the leather ties would knot up so tight, they sometimes had to be cut off. My dad had taught me the full Windsor knot, which proved to be untorqueable, but came with the disadvantage that it was a massive knot. Once I learned the Four-in-Hand knot, I never looked back.

Knit ties were also in fashion then, and recently I have seen a small resurgence of them, but knit ties really aren’t making a permanent comeback. They are more like a novelty tie, which is fine with me. I only have a couple in my collection.

I’ve recently been attracted to ties in non-traditional fabrics, i.e. not silk. Linen, cotton, polyester, and even velvet have made it into my collection. I also like non-traditional shapes, like squared-off ends and I have one that I call a “razor” that has a single-angle end. That one gets compliments when I wear it. A couple of my ties are event-specific, like a red/white/blue/stars tie for July 4th or maybe Memorial Day. The velvet tie just screams Christmas time. My collection is evenly weighted between wide- and narrow-width ties, but most all of my recent purchases have been slim ties.

For me, the why of collecting ties is primarily the recognition. I always used to have four ties, give or take, that were used only for job interviews and funerals. But when some people at my workplace suggested “Tie Tuesday” to balance out the everyday casual attire, I joined in. And that’s when my tie collection started blooming. I’ve mentioned it before. People notice when you are dressed above the norm. But you can’t do it every day, because that then becomes your norm.

As far as cost goes, ties can be a really cheap accessory that adds a lot of style value. I don’t ever pay more than $15 for a tie, and the ones that are usually $30+ at stores are not even the fashion I like. They are more business-suit, power-executive ties. Likewise with tie clips and tacks – you don’t have to spend more than $20 for one. Of course, once you start getting serious, you will need a tie rack. I started with a combo tie/belt rack that had maybe eight posts to hang ties. I’ve since upgraded to a 24-post tie rack for less than $10. In the same way I limit the clothes I own to the number of hangers I have, I will limit myself to the number of ties my rack will hold. It won’t be long before I have to start recycling.

So, without further adieu, here are the ties:

	“The Razor” Kenneth Cole This one gets a lot of attention. I found it at a discount store and have never seen one like it since.		“Color Flash” Little Black Tie This was a nice gift from the GF. It works well with my black or my aqua shirt. The tie is black, but the end piece is a contrasting color that “flashes” when you move.
	“The 80’s” Sero This one is heavy 80’s with a really big, loose stitch. I think the low clearance price is the only reason I got it.		“Red Velvet” Original Penguin This is red velvet. It’s a bit thick and has limited potential, but it will rock when the holidays come around.
	“They Said I Had To Wear a Tie” Dan Smith This one is a polyester print. The pattern is cool and could probably be used at a youngster party. Definitely “phoning it in” as far as style goes. I use this a lot to practice knots because it’s thin and slick.		“Dark Marble” Unknown Brand This 80’s tie has a nice, tight knit and the red and blue color variations in it match up well with rich, dark shirts.
	“The Southwestern” BDG. (maybe?) This is one of my favorite ties and another gift from the GF. It’s linen, with a nice pattern and shape. It comes undone easier than most ties. Works good with Oxford shirts.		“The Suit” Calvin Klein This blue tie is made of suit jacket material and is part of CK’s Steel series. It’s like wearing a suit jacket when you’re not wearing a jacket.
	“The Distinctive” Original Penguin This tie is a mix of polyester, silk, and cotton. The fabric has a unique look and feel that catches your attention. The color scheme works with a lot of shirts.		“Understated” Buffalo This 100% cotton tie is probably going to be 100% rumpled. But I think that’s its charm. It’s not pompous or power-tie feeling and the neutral color could go with lots of shirts.
	“My Eyes!” T. Edwards This is an old-school tie for me, back when the purpose of wearing a tie was to be obnoxious. It comes out when it needs to.		“New Start” Jerry Garcia This was the first tie I bought when I became re-interested in wearing ties. It started a J. Garcia brand mini-obsession.
	“From the Past” Arrow Some of the ties from my youth I have no idea where they came from or how I acquired them. I keep this around because the color and pattern works with so many shirts.		“Jolly Roger” Merona I found this one at Target on clearance and since I’m into computers and you know, pirates and all… It’s a moderate conversation starter.
	“On Black” Jerry Garcia I wanted this tie to wear with a black shirt for the massive contrast. It did not disappoint. It also got a direct compliment, so, success!		“The Parent’s Tie” KETCH This is another silk tie from my long past. Probably a more traditional (meaning, old person) pattern.
	“Ocean” Jerry Garcia Blue is my first choice in colors, so this tie really called to me. I don’t wear it often enough. This is when I stopped buying J. Garcia ties because it was getting too predictable. I needed more variety.		“Just Silver” Nicole Miller I was really attracted to the shine and smoothness of this tie, but I think I’ve only worn it once. It’s too thick.
	“Old Balls” Ottimo Uomo Who knows how I got this tie. It’s old-school silk and has a design I like a lot: abstract modern. It’s really old, though.		“God Bless Murca” Jerry Garcia Even though I’d stopped buying J. Garcia ties, this one was cheap on clearance and it would be good for American holidays. I have yet to remember to wear it.
	“Oxford” Van Heusen Studio This tie is a super-thin, light cotton tie. Like the Suit Jacket tie, this one is like wearing an Oxford shirt when you are not. It adds a casual feel to a dress shirt, similar to “Understated”.		“Vibrant” Van Heusen Studio Another super-thin tie, this one in silk. It has a bold, deep blue color and modern pattern + accents. Worn against a white shirt, it demands attention. Against a dark shirt, the pattern becomes the focus.
	“The Suit II” Calvin Kline This tie is similar to “The Suit”, although it is not in CK’s Steel series. It’s a silk blend tie with blue/grey/black colors. It has a semi-iridescent sheen to it which makes it “pop”. Bought on clearance with an included tie clip, for less than the cost of a tie clip.

The Firehose

Posted by anachostic on April 10, 2015 No comments

Many yeas ago (geez, it hurts to say years), I had the idea the rework the Microsoft Money application. I got a little ways into it and just kind of stopped. Recently, the idea has been coming back to me, especially with the new Windows Universal apps design.

So, I loaded the code back up and saw that I had a pretty decent base to start with, so I do what I normally do when I have a large, daunting task in front of me. I mad a list of all the steps that need to be done. That usually works for me.

After making a decent high-level list of tasks to be done, I changed gears and started doing mock-ups of screens. I’m probably putting way too much time into the design, because I want it to look as similar to the original as possible.

That kind of design is difficult. If you don’t do it exact, and I mean exact, people will just say it’s a knock-off. But if you do your own thing entirely, people will say it’s nothing like the original. So, it’s really a gamble.

After taking a break from that, I decided I would peek into MS Money’s resource files to see if there were any clues as to what I need to do. Holy shit, bad idea. Microsoft kept all their pop-up forms in the resource file. There are over 600 pop-up forms in MS Money. Just the effort in recreating these forms is entirely overwhelming. Then considering the logic involved as to when they are shown and the processing after they are closed, I can’t process that amount of effort at the moment. Again, if you’re going to copy an application, you sort of have to do the whole thing, or at least have a roadmap as to when it will get done. My list just got a whole lot longer.

So I opened up my list and started analyzing again. I have about 45 top-level screens and most have multiple pop-ups. And I’m not even done analyzing the application yet. One good thing (relatively) is that my original scope was for the personal version and now I’m running the business version, which more than doubles the capabilities of the application. So, I can certainly lower my expectations for a first release if and when it comes to that.

As far as releases go, it would definitely have to be incremental. There’s so much to do.

Checkpoint II

Posted by anachostic on April 2, 2015 No comments

My hair stylist is observant. The last time I went in to get my hair cut, she asked, “Are you losing weight? You’re looking skinny.” I hesitated and said, yes, I was. Then she asked something peculiar: “On purpose?” And I paused again and decided to be honest. “Not really.”

I don’t talk about my health much at all, because no one wants to be around someone who’s going to depress them. I’m explained before that I am an uncontrolled diabetic by choice, just living out my life and facing the repercussions. I am fortunate enough to be around people who respect my choice and don’t badger me or try to have me committed.

Looks like I last discussed this about a year and a half ago. So what’s life been like since then? Well, I had plateaued on weight loss for quite some time, but that seems to have had a breakout recently. Not much fat on me at all, so it’s starting to eat some muscle. That makes a pretty obvious physical change, I guess.

If I had to describe the overall experience, it’s just like aging faster. My hair is getting a little thinner, but who knows if that’s just hereditary? I’m losing weight, like an old person does. I’m slowing down. But, I am still enjoying life, or rather, I’m appreciating it more. Choice between working extra hard to please the boss and get a promotion or getting out of work right on time and relaxing with a book at home? No-brainer. So, in some ways, I’m acting older, too.

It doesn’t mean I’m just kicking back and waiting to die. I still fund my retirement accounts. I still save money. And I’m still learning new things to help me in my career. My curiosity and quest for understanding is not diminishing. I believe when you stop being useful, that is when life is over. You hear it many times from people, when they don’t feel useful, they don’t care about life. So, become knowledgeable. Be the most informed about anything and keep yourself relevant. It doesn’t even matter if you become homeless. Be the best trash, can, and bottle recycler in your area. Take pride in what you know.

I’ve read plenty of warnings about diabetes being a slow and painful death. Pain-wise, I guess it’s ramping up a little since my last report. I get random sharp pains here and there, which certainly wouldn’t be normal. It’s usually at night and usually in my legs or feet, but I’ve had it in my forearms, hands, and even my dick. Yuuuup.

Despite pain, how’s life? It’s pretty darn good. I’m not immobile. I can get around with all but the most active. Stamina is a little lower, but then again, I’m not getting out and hiking like I used to either. I don’t really let myself get depressed for very long. It comes and goes. And so does everything. I guess it’s probably a tell-tale symptom, having peaks and valleys of energy, clarity, and mood. But I’m ok with it. One thing that seems a bit persistent is my disconnected-ness. I get lost in thought a lot lately. It seems I would be pretty ok with being alone all the time.

At one time, I considered creating a more detailed blog or journal of my symptoms and condition for anyone curious about living uncontrolled. Maybe it would be used as a warning for those who were unsure of what to do. I decided against it. Mostly because it would cause me to have to focus on the minor setbacks or troubles that I face each week instead of just living my life and doing the best that I can. You won’t hear me complain (much) and I won’t regret my choices. I certainly am not going to blame anyone else for the results of my choices.

And life goes on.

Gonna Be One Of Them Old People

Posted by anachostic on March 23, 2015 No comments

… with the leased telephone.

Verizon nags me non-stop about upgrading my Internet service so I can get faster speeds and a new router. The thing is, I know why they want this. They need to move on to a new standard for routers and until everyone switches, they’re pretty much stuck.

There’s an easy way to resolve it though. Just offer me a hardware trade. You want to get rid of the old router, so just give me a new router and we’ll call it even. I have little need for more speed. I got 60/60 in a speed test just now, but for $10 more a month, I can get 75/75. Sorry, V, you gotta try harder than that. I figure they’ll make the offer eventually.

I have mixed emotions about Verizon. FIOS has been rock-solid and a dream come true. I can’t complain about my bill either. The first time, the contract was under my ex wife’s name for 2 years, then I changed it to my name and got another new user bonus for another 2-yr contract. Then I worried about losing that special pricing in the next contract renewal. You wouldn’t believe it. My price went down. Not a lot, maybe $5, but still. Who ever heard of a utility bill going down?

No, my big beef with Verizon is their bundling. I don’t watch TV, I don’t need a land line. I have (and rent) one base-model cable box because I think I have to. Nope, I just need Internet, but it’s more expensive to not get the 3-way bundle. Still, how can I complain when my rate is dropping?

The Efficiency Of Procrastination

Posted by anachostic on March 23, 2015 No comments

Today is a Monday, both literally and figuratively. I left on Friday with something on my work plate and a clear plan as to what was needed when I came back in today. Nothing went as planned.

The project I was working on was a final push on a task that had been dragging out for months and months. It was an integration with another company. The dev on the other side and I were really dragging our feet on it. But management was having no more of that, so we both got told to make it happen in a week. I knew I didn’t have much to do in this, so I agreed right away. That’s when I made my plan of what I needed to do.

I arrived this morning and got to work. Preparing to do my initial smoke test, I fumbled around, because I hadn’t looked at the code in well over a month and wasn’t sure what steps needed performed for a successful service call. After half an hour of research, I figured it out. That is, I figured out it wasn’t complete. In fact, it was fairly incomplete. All the testing I’d done up to that point was manually faked.

So, I did what I normally do when I’m put up against the wall – I made a list of what must be done. The list was short, but wasn’t pretty. I had to get other people involved with some steps, so my “oversight” might be noticed. And some was just some tedious coding.

Then, I wasted no time and got to work. Within an hour, I had everything done that I could get done and now had to wait on someone else to do something for me. And as I wait, I write this entry… (this isn’t procrastinating, btw)

I read a quote recently that was something like, “Procrastinators can make a 15 minute task last 8 hours and can do 8 hours of work in 15 minutes.” Precisely. I just did it. Why didn’t I do it earlier? It might have been the feeling that came over me today when I realized I wasn’t done. Before I made the bullet list of work to do, I started thinking of what needed done and started second-guessing myself, wondering if that was really the best course of action.

It’s a problem I face regularly. When you know so many different ways to accomplish something, you can have trouble choosing which one to do. Everything has pros and cons, so you can talk yourself into (or out of) any choice you make. So you enter what is termed analysis paralysis. And you procrastinate, because if you make no decision, you haven’t made the wrong decision.

But, when it comes down to the wire, you have to make a choice and run with it. And usually, you will find it is a workable solution. If anything is horribly wrong with it, you can fix it then.

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