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I came home from work this evening, and you popped into my head again Charles. I can’t believe you left us 2 1/2 hears ago already. 21 is too young to go for such a talented, kind, and fun person. I haven’t forgotten all those good times we had playing computer games, discussing electronic music, and just hanging out. I think I’ll post one of your earliest tracks you did in Impulse Tracker back in high school ’cause it reminds me of all the good things about you. Wherever you are, you are still sorely missed.

Download Audio: Charles Blachly – The Doctor Named Wiley

I’ve been looking for a second job for part time in the mornings, and several places I’ve wanted to apply to only accept online appliations. This can be done in the store, or at home, but either way, most require ridiculous amounts of time because of hordes of questions such as:

I enjoy meeting new people
Strongly Agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

And the list goes on and on with the same type of question rephrased any number of different ways. The most ridiculous one was for the Kroger application. It said (and I kid you not):

I feel angry when a guilty person is set free.
Strongly Agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

What the holy hell does that have to do with bagging groceries at a grocery store? Whatever happened to filling out an application, then talking to a manager? Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but I like the personal aspect of hiring/getting hired. Not to mention I think it’s more effective for a manager to meet a possible hiree than only seeing what is on paper. But then again, there are always two sides to the coin, and I suppose it may help to have applications filed electronically versus paper. But please, please, drop the pointless personality questions. Do they really help you hire better quality people? Maybe there should be a question like this:

I think the last 100 questions on my personality are a helpful tool for hiring new staff.
No
Definitely Not
Seriously, they’re pointless.
Really, Really Stupid

Disclaimer: I’m still unknowledgeable about many things Linux, and most of these probably have answers. If only I knew about them.

1. It’s just so slow. In every distro I’ve tried, applications load faster and run smoother in Windows than they do in Linux. And file browsers like Nautilus? Can we say resource hog?

2. Sound Support. This one is more a personal problem, but my M Audio 2496 just doesn’t want to cooperate with Linux. Why can I get sound from OSS and not Alsa? And how exactly does OSS or Alsa work, why is Alsa supposedly better, and how the hell do I configure any of it?

3. Configuration Files. Speaking of configuration, so many cogs and wheels work according to their specific configuration files. If you know where these files are and what settings to change, you’re in good shape. Don’t know where/how to edit xorg.conf to get X settings just right? Tough shit buddy.

4. Non consistent UI. There are some smooth Gnome and KDE themes available. But what if I like to use K3B in Gnome and my Gnome theme is waaay different than KDE? And let’s not even talk about the ass ugly programs that still use GTK 1.

5. Hardware Support. While this has greatly improved over the years, I’m really aiming this one at ATI. My ATI X800 XL runs great in Windows, but boy oh boy are those Linux drivers dreadful.

6. Software Installation. I must admit, apt-get in Ubuntu is fabulous, but it doesn’t always work right, and for non apt distros,compiling from source is confusing and frustrating for non experienced users. Rpms aren’t too bad, but when you get caught in dependency hell, you’ll long for a simple Windows install.

7. Video/Media Playback. This has more to do with patents, MS only formats, and licensing than a Linux specific problem, but the fact that free distros can’t package support for DVDs, mp3s (in some), and many win32 codecs is a major drawback.

8. Games. Again, not a problem with Linux architecture as much as game vendors not porting games to the platform. Yet, in typical Linux fashion, the solutions to play Windows games in Linux will either cost you extra money, be extremely frustrating to set up, or a combination of both.

9. Dual Boot Setup. I’ve installed many linux distros in the past 5 years and this is not really a major setback for me anymore, but for new users who don’t wish to erradicate Windows from their computers, this is a major point of confusion and fear to get it set up correctly. Although I must give kudos to Mandrake (or Mandriva as it is now called). Their disk partitioning is the easiest I’ve used. Period.

10. I still have to dual boot. I’m mentioned 9 things I dislike about Linux above. I don’t really wish to bitch about Linux until I’m blue in the face. The fact is, I like Linux, and I get frustrated that because of the above things (and a few others), I still have to dual boot. I would like to switch completely over to Linux. It’s just not completely what I need, and that’s one of the most frustrating things of all.

Since the age of 16, I’ve been a ‘team member’ at several food service joints, namely Burger King, Arby’s, Papa John’s, and Denny’s. My newest job, while at a restaurant, is completely different than any previous food serving/making experience, and in a refreshingly good way. This newest restaurant is a more upscale place downtown and is owned and operated by a hard working, but kind man. And although I’ve only been there for 1 week so far, one thing I’ve sort of always known has really become clear in my mind: no one really cares about chain restaurants.

In my new joint, people who dine there almost all have a positive experience, enjoying the food, and tipping well I might add. Again, we serve a different clientele than, say, Arby’s, but just because you eat at the local Burger King, doesn’t mean you have to expect mediocre food and poor service. I think the reason I’ve seen people really enjoying themselves here is precisely because the owner really cares about his restaurant. It is his career after all, and if you’ve put so much energy (and capital) into a big project, you would be a fool not to care. And this is where I think a good local restaurant can always top a chain food place. In every chain place I’ve worked, people may care about doing a good job because they take pride in their work. Yet, I never met anyone who really cared about the chain as much as my manager cares about his store. After all, who would? If you are a general manager of a Burger King, do you think you would be that passionate about the Burger King franchise? You may be an excellent manager and follow all the procedures in the Burger King handbook, but would you feel a great sense of pride in making the same Big Mac that millions of other people around the world eat every day? Do you really care if people don’t really think the french fries you fried in vegetable oil are that spectacular?

I’m not saying all chain restaurants are horrid places to eat or work. I am just saying that even the best chain restaurant can’t hold a candle to your local eatery where the owner is passionate about his food, his restaurant, and especially his customers (and employees!).

I can’t remember if I’ve written about this before, but it’s something I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately. I think that, for me, I tend to try to consume too much content in any given day. I like to think of myself as a very curious person, but I find that the internet gives me access to so much information, that I simply try to take in too much of it at one time. The end result being that instead of learning more about a few things, I only remember vague pieces about a great many things, which of course does me no real benefit since I can hardly remember which topics I read about, let alone remember any in depth details about them. A better way to do things, perhaps, would be to try to take in more about fewer things since, after all, you can’t learn everything. Old habits die hard though. Yet if I could cut my blog/news/online reading time, perhaps I would gain more with reading less.