Anachostic

Check, Please

Posted by anachostic on May 29, 2015 No comments

There’s a recently-born phase that is cast about as an insult, “Check yourself” which is meant to convey to the target that they are essentially, out of touch. There’s a whole deeper meaning to the phrase that involves class warfare and the modern caste system, so using this phrase is really a lot harsher than it may initially sound.

“Check yourself” infuriates me. And when I get mad, I get very mocking. And when I get really mocking, I go redneck. Think of an exaggerated version of Larry the Cable Guy (if that’s possible). I don’t do stand-up comedy, but if I did, I would totally do this routine, despite the fact that it absolutely destroys my voice when I’m doing it.

Anyway, the idea that a person must tell another to “check their privilege” is reserved for people who a) have privilege and b) know what privilege is and c) know who should have it and d) believe they know who is affected by it. None of these apply to rednecks (in the Blue Collar comedy definition). They’re just simple folk who don’t want to get involved in the business of telling other people what they should be doing.

So I came up with a Blue Collar routine, in the format of “Git ‘er dun”, “Here’s your sign” and “You might be a redneck”. The premise being, what if a redneck heard about the phrase “Check yourself” and didn’t understand it (because they don’t have that concept), but wanted to make use of it because it was hip. Thus we get:

Check yerself!
You might have shit yourself with that fart.

Check yerself!
Your shoelaces are untied!

Check yerself!
Make sure your balls aren’t stuck to the inside of your leg.

Check yerself!
Your hat is on backwards.

Check yerself!
You’re walking where the dog likes to shit.

Check yerself!
You got boogers hangin’.

Check yerself!
Your truck ain’t high enough for that road.

And that’s all I could come up with on my drive home. It’s enough to start with, and it’s enough to take my mind off the stupidity of people trying to shame other people for what they have, either through their own work or worse, by simply being born that way.

Dining Philosophy As Work Philosophy

Posted by anachostic on May 18, 2015 No comments

Some time ago, I had written about a blog post about my dining out habits, or more so, about how I just eat out every meal. Lately, I’ve gotten a little better about that and started cooking some stuff at home. I got to the point where I said, “I can cook a damn hamburger seven days a week” and started doing it.

But anyway, one of the guidelines I lived by when eating out was, “Eat the expensive parts.” Get your money’s worth is what I was trying to express. When discussing job duties with the GF recently, especially when faced with overwhelming amounts of work to be done, I brought up the common phrase, “How do you eat an elephant? (One bite at a time.)” The convergence of these two bits of guidance was immediately obvious.

So, if you have an elephant to eat, where do you start? You eat the most expensive pieces first. So when consuming, make sure to get your money’s worth. When providing, make sure your efforts have the greatest impact.

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…

You Change, You Lose

Posted by anachostic on May 13, 2015 No comments

Today, I noticed a restaurant I used to visit closed up. it got me thinking about all the places that I stopped going to because they changed in some way for the worse. I keep telling myself that the one thing I wish I could express to the younger generation is that they have no idea what they missed out on, when fast food used to taste great. But anyway, these are my reflections:

Burger King: They used to have the best fries up until about 1996. They were so good, I’d get a large and another medium with my meal. Then this big craze of “coated” fries happened and everyone’s fries started sucking. Later, in the “Great Recession” of 2007, they decimated the double cheeseburger. That used to be single greatest value on the whole menu, then they turned the patties into tiny silver dollars. Now, if I ever go there, I have to get two double cheeseburgers and the smallest fries available. That’s maybe twice a year.

Wendy’s: My first experience with Wendy’s was a long time ago, maybe early-to-mid-80’s. It was amazing. I had to wait for a long time for one to open near me, but when it did, I ate there all the time. Then I moved away and I’m not sure if it was an operational coincidence or a geographical difference, but they stopped pressing their burgers. This made the patty a thick cube and significantly altered the taste. I tried to work through it, but ended up going less and less frequently. Their fries have also declined in taste, so it’s now a very infrequent visit. I feel bad because my nearest store just did a complete new and modern rebuild and I don’t even go there. The parking lot is empty every time I drive by, too.

Longhorn: I discovered their burgers maybe around 2003 on a vacation and ate them religiously until only a couple years ago when they changed their buns to some Brioch crap. I ate them much less frequently, then just gave up and started eating the 6oz steak instead. Longhorn’s fries have declined in taste lately, too. I used to eat there multiple times a week, and now it’s maybe every other week.

Chilis: I used to eat there a lot starting around 2005, then they changed their chili recipe from a Texas Red to something heavy on the beans (i.e. cheaper). I didn’t eat chili, but my SO at the time did, so we never went back. Fast forward a few years, new SO and new weekly+ enjoyment of Chilis burgers. Until recently when they changed their buns to some Potato bun crap. Seriously, it is like eating latex foam.

Green Iguana: I discovered this place maybe in 2012. It was somewhat close to work and they had great burgers and fries. Then one day, they were closed. Turns out they were moving to a new location. After patiently waiting, I hit them up soon after they opened. But it wasn’t the same. They changed their fries and changed from Coke to Pepsi, and overall wasn’t just as good. I went there twice, then stopped. They just closed down; maybe they lasted a year at their new location. There are other locations that I could and would be willing to try if I was near them.

Welcome To The Executives

Posted by anachostic on May 12, 2015 No comments

If you are a company executive, sometimes, life is really good. Obviously there is such a broad range of what constitutes being an executive, but when I’m using the term, I’m using it as a company person who is living and leeching off the company. Someone who is more concerned about what they are getting out of any deal than anything else. Someone who negotiates their employment to their sole advantage, because if the company can’t afford them, they’ll just move on to the next one. You get the idea.

So, if you are one of these persons, you want to make sure you are being taken care of and you want to be sure you are extracting the most from any business trip. I recently booked a couple-night stay at what I would consider an expensive resort. But if you’re an executive, that’s not a concern. It’s a business expense, so you want to make sure you are getting the best for the company’s money.

Naturally, you are a member of the hotel’s rewards program, so you can get extra personal benefits from the company’s money. Now here’s where it gets a little perverse.

This particular resort has add-ons that you can make to your stay, like included breakfast, or bike rentals. But they also have some other interesting add-ons. You can purchase, for a per-night cost, extra rewards points. Now, why would a normal person willingly pay more (and we’re not talking a little more, try $144/night) for the same stay, just to get reward points, which are literally a fraction of a normal dollar for redemption. $144 per night for three nights gets you 5000 extra points.

It’s crazy. But… what if it’s not your money you’re spending? Hmmmm. What if it’s just another business expense listed under Travel-Lodging? How nice would life get then? And what if you’re an executive – pretty much anyone who has seniority over the expense person in Accounting. Who is he or she going to complain to? Your boss? Your boss would pat you on the back for such an awesome idea!

My Level Of Security

Posted by anachostic on April 29, 2015 No comments

I’ll admit, I get around on the web. I go places that you shouldn’t go. But for the activity that I do, I’m pretty safe. There’s only a few precautions I take and I don’t think it’s all that difficult for anyone else to do.

First and foremost, I installed the MVP Hosts file. This file does a system-level blocking of any network application that tries to access an internet address that is considered advertising or malware. This makes nearly everything better, because websites don’t get bogged down with ads. There are some times that I do need to disable it, but those times are few and far between. Because it’s system-level, that means IE, Chrome, Firefox, or any other application is immediately protected.

If you go looking for it, there is a growing argument that ads should not be blocked on websites, especially legitimate content sites. I disagree. I recently read an article on the analysis of the spread of an unpatched vulnerability. The malware authors used a legitimate ad service that was utilized by many legitimate websites. This means that there is no ad service that can be fully trusted. My position is, if you want to display ads, you host them on your domain and you will take full responsibility for their content. And because the ads are on the same domain as the content, I can’t and won’t block them. Even if the ads aren’t malicious, legitimate ad services still serve up misleading ads, designed to trick you into clicking them. They make them look like authentic messages or toolbars or status bars. That’s not advertising, that’s flat-out deception.

Back to my security. Next, I block Flash, Java, and all other plugins by default on all websites. I used to do this in IE by changing the Flash plugin from blacklist to whitelist, but have come to prefer the ActiveX Filtering feature.

And I’m sure certain people would be screaming “You’re using the most insecure web browser evar!” I would respond with a hearty rolling of the eyes. Of the three precautions I take, this is the only one I perform at the browser level and without ActiveX, the majority of exploits are defeated. That leaves JavaScript exploits. How are these exploits delivered? Through ads. Ads that are blocked by the MVP Hosts file.

So, what’s the last piece of defensive software I use? Microsoft’s EMET utility, which blocks vulnerabilities at the code level. This is a really low-level utility and is not exactly user friendly, so I pretty much just run it at the default level. It’s hard to tell if EMET is working because it’s so low-level. I’ve seen it do its job twice. Once, when I was using a Java applet on Verizon’s pages to play my voicemail and another on a sketchy website where it looked like the website was trying to perform an SVG image exploit. I admitted already, I go to bad places sometimes.

Because I take these precautions, I hadn’t thought about being attacked in quite a while. On a whim, I ran MalwareBytes and it came back with zero results. My database was over 2 months old, if I saw correctly.

The only thing that I am vulnerable to is downloading Trojans and installing them myself. And that is simply a personal fault – no fault of my computer or software. I will comment that downloading software from websites has really become a minefield, with sites displaying many different “Download” buttons at once. You have to study the page and find the correct context for each button to make sure you are choosing the right one.

In summary, I feel I’m doing pretty good with the tools that are made available: KeePass, VeraCrypt (the replacement for TrueCrypt), MVP Hosts, EMET, and IE’s ActiveX filtering. I use two-factor authentication whenever it’s available. It’s not something I did all at once. I added each little piece as I went. And in total, it doesn’t slow me down at all.

Your Ecosystem Is The Poison You’ve Picked

Posted by anachostic on April 23, 2015 No comments

There will never be agreement and acceptance no matter what ecosystem you have chosen. Which is it? Apple, Google, or Microsoft? Anyone that tries to span multiple ecosystems is going to have a tremendous time trying to keep everything in sync between them. And for all the wonder an ecosystem brings, it’s also sad.

The Internet was created to provide a neutral environment for services. The first instance of the “walled garden” was AOL. “Walled gardens” existed before the Internet (Compuserve, Dephi, etc.), but that was out of necessity. AOL came and built a community within a larger community. And for quite a while, they prospered. But people started getting savvy and peeking over the walls more and more. Eventually, they wanted to experience the rest of the world.

The next attempt at corralling users was through authentication. Why do you need to have so many usernames and passwords when you could just use one? Microsoft was huge on that concept, with Passport, then Windows Live, now it’s just your Microsoft (or Windows) account. But it never caught on, right? Well, not until Facebook started providing the same shared login functionality.

The big battleground now is with mobile devices. You either have iOS, Android, or Windows Phone, which means you have either an Apple account, Google account, or Microsoft account. That’s how your data gets stored, backed up, and shared. Facebook was rumored for a long time to be making a mobile device, but they don’t have an operating system to back it up, so it’s unlikely that would happen. Amazon tried it and didn’t make it.

But back to the main point, what if you are a Windows user and have an iPhone? Why wouldn’t you want to have the full integrated experience of the Apple world and get a Mac? Conversely, why not have the full integrated experience with the Windows phone? Why not be platform agnostic and just use Google’s services from either OS with an Android phone?

I guess what I’m trying to get across is that the concept of integration is too tightly aligned with the concept of lock-in. And being locked in to any platform is never a good idea. I’m looking at you, Facebook.

Upon Death

Posted by anachostic on April 16, 2015 No comments

There’s a lot of people who are a little or maybe more than a little disturbed by my acceptance of death. It’s just not a fear of mine and I have no issue with its eventuality. I’m not even going to try and avoid it.

With such a straightforward view of death, it would make sense that I approach it in a straightforward way. Everyone keeps harping on the point that you have to have a will. Yes you should have a will if you own any significant possessions, and of course I do have one. But there’s another document you need and I imagine many people don’t think of this. It’s the “Upon Death” document.

Quite simply, this document explains what needs to be done after you die. It’s like a corporate succession plan. It can be the document that makes your departure much easier to bear for everyone left. Think about it, aside from the feeling of loss of your company, what’s the biggest worry people are going to have? They’re going to worry that they don’t know anything about you and don’t know where to begin to fill your shoes.

The Upon Death document needs to clearly spell out a few things to get people up and going.

Your mobile phone PIN and all your passwords
All your financial accounts/insurance policies
Where to find more documentation
Non-family members (business clients) that need contacted
How to do things that you did exclusively

Passwords

If you’re doing it right and you are using a password manager, this one is easy. Just give the master password to your password manager file. Otherwise, you are going to need to list out all the username and passwords for the sites you visit. At a minimum, you’ll need to provide your email account password so your successor can reset passwords on other accounts and access your email to complete the process. Also, don’t leave out your phone PIN, if you use one, and your username and password to your computers.

Financials

Again, if you’re doing it right and you use a Personal Finance Manager (PFM) like Quicken or Money, you just direct people to that file. It should have all your account numbers in it, ideally with contact information also. Most PFMs don’t have good support for insurance policies, so include any policies in the document. Don’t forget many banks have a small life insurance policy on their account holders, so check and see who has them and who to contact for them. Your employer may have a life insurance policy as well. Help your successor as much as possible here.

Contacts

If you have contacts outside your family, let your successor know what needs done now that you are gone. Maybe you work for an organization and you have some of their property or equipment. You need to get that back to them. Maybe you are a consultant and you may have uncompleted work for them. You need to get the latest work to them. If there’s anything some needs to take over, your successor has to pass along that info. You need to tell them what must be done and how it is to be done.

Training

This one is open-ended. If there’s stuff you did that no one else knows about or you know some tips or secrets that need passed on, here’s where you do it. Maybe the A/C unit freezes up and you’re the one that always fixes it. That needs explained. Maybe you manage the home network. A basic overview can be of help here. Maybe you can give suggestions as to who would be best to handle tasks in your absence. Maybe one friend is good at mechanical issues and another is good at computers.

Finally, let someone know this document exists. Keep it with your will. If you have a safe deposit box, keep it in the envelope with your will. Banks will let next of kin do a will search on a safe deposit box, where they can take the will out, but can’t get anything else until they can claim ownership of the account.

In summary, this document is filled with the things you would say from the afterlife if you saw your family and loved ones struggling to figure out everything that you did for them when you were there. Everyone says, “I don’t want to be a burden” when they are living. Few people think of how to avoid being a burden after they die.

Still Not Giving In

Posted by anachostic on April 15, 2015 No comments

I’m still using MS Money. And I’ve come across a couple of instances of it beginning to lose compatibility with modern systems. So now, I’ve actually started creating workarounds for them.

I’ve used a variety of online accounts in my many years. I’ve used HSBC, Capital One (the non-360 variant), Sallie Mae, and most recently, Ally. At this point, I’ve decided Ally is getting all my business and I’ve been in the process of moving accounts into new Ally subaccounts, which is very easily done on their part. Just today, I discovered the transaction download feature. There’s no MS Money OFX option, but I don’t think Money existed anymore when Ally came on the scene. Anyway, there is a Quicken download, so that is what I use.

MS Money is awesome in that it supports QFX files, however, the standard format of the file must have moved on in time, so now Money throws up when it tries to process the file. After a bunch of trial and error, I discovered that the reason for the error is a node in each transaction entry for the check number: <CHECKNUM>0</CHECKNUM>. Once you strip that node out, the file imports just fine.

In another case, my 401k provider, Transamerica, recently revamped their transaction download and their QFX files have a different problem. The file headers look like:

OFXHEADER: 100
DATA: OFXSGML
VERSION: 102
SECURITY: NONE
ENCODING: USASCII
CHARSET: 1252
COMPRESSION: NONE
OLDFILEUID: NONE
NEWFILEUID: NONE

But there is a space after the colon, which causes MS Money to report the file is corrupt. The header should look like:

OFXHEADER:100
DATA:OFXSGML
VERSION:102
SECURITY:NONE
ENCODING:USASCII
CHARSET:1252
COMPRESSION:NONE
OLDFILEUID:NONE
NEWFILEUID:NONE

So I made a script that will alter the QFX file and then launch the Money importer. All you have to do is drag the QFX file onto the VBS file and you’re good to go. If you want to get clever, you can put the script in your SendTo folder or map it as a default application.

Without further adieu, this is the content of the script:

dim fso,f,s,shell

set fso=CreateObject("scripting.filesystemobject")

set f=fso.OpenTextFile(WScript.Arguments(0),1)
s=f.ReadAll
f.close
set f=nothing

set f=fso.OpenTextFile(WScript.Arguments(0),2)
f.Write Replace(Replace(s,"<CHECKNUM>0</CHECKNUM>",""),": ",":")
f.Close
set f=nothing

set fso=nothing

Set shell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
shell.ShellExecute "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Money Plus\MNYCoreFiles\mnyimprt.exe", WScript.Arguments(0)
set shell=nothing

And then, you can import QFX files from Ally or Transamerica (and maybe some others that have the same problems) into MS Money without any errors.

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.