All a man needs out of life is a place to sit ‘n’ spit in the fire.

Month: August 2002

Olaia-isms Part III

We were watching CNN this morning, and the morning crew was talking
about Eminem, specifically how his lyrics affect youth today etc. Blah
blah. Paula Zahn was defending him, or at least saying that people like
him are not responsibile for problems with today’s youth. Bill Hemmer
was on the other side with the typical, "I think Eminem, although
talented and incredibly popular, needs to take to heart a sense of
social responsibility."

At which point, I said, "Aw, Eminem’s just a bunch of trash."

Olaia, looked up at me emphatically, and summoning all the credibilty
she could muster, "Daddy, M&M’s are not trash, they are CANDY."

It’s Not Software. It’s Drama.

Microsoft Windows fills life with drama. Everyone hates it, but everyone keeps it on their desktop. Why?

"Hey Bob, I need that sales report by 1 pm today."

"Can’t get it to you by then, I’ll be here late. Got this problem in
Windows that I need to track down. Something is corrupting the
registry, and I’m on the phone with MS Tech Support right now. They say
they have a service pack. Looks like the afternoon’s shot."

"Oh, okay, good luck man." And you can almost hear him say, May the
force be with you, like Bob, is locked in battle with the forces of
darkness, defending all that is good and noble, while at the same time
risking his very existence. We need for our mundane mostly non-creative
work days to be filled with meaning, excitement.

You don’t believe me? Watch an office go into crisis mode after
somebody opens an email with a virus attachment. All kinds of crisis
management actions get kicked into place. First somebody shuts off the
Internet connection, then they quarantine the guy’s workstation. Then
the forensic team, made up of PC Week readers start to speculate on
what’s been affected and how to fix it. I think we have to reformat.
Should do a sweep of the entire network. We have to change all the
passwords. And out come the service packs… and oh there are many.
This could be weeks of work. You can almost detect the glee. There’s
this smell of semi-anxious nervous exhilaration.

It’s an attack! We’re under attack! This is HISTORY! It’ll be rough
men, but we’ll weather this. We’re in it together. If we go down, I
just want to let you know that you’re the finest group of people that
I’ve ever had the pleasure to know.

And you can hear the ratta-tat-tat of automatic fire, and the screams
of "I’ve lost ALL my data!" amongst the chaos and the drama.

Sigh, I feel left out. Linux never lies to me about the level of drama
in my life. Never. It lies about as much as a hammer. Linux is boring.
Linux forces you to do work, or face the fact that you are not being
productive. Sometimes Linux pisses me off. It doesn’t crash. It never
loses my work. I never get a virus. I feel left out.

These other people are living this incredible drama that magazines
write about. News channels are dedicated to it. The federal government
is hot on the issue. Everybody has it. Everybody complains about it.
The entire nation is embroiled in this compelling soul draining soap
opera that is Microsoft Windows.

And me? Little ol’ me? I sit unhappily in front of my Linux workstation
wishing to procrastinate… searching for a struggle, a cause,
something, anything. But there I sit. Guess I’d better get back to work
or I won’t have anything to eat.

Cool Dude

jaimito_looking_cool_sm.jpgI just downloaded some pictures from the camera and found this one
of Jaimito that just keeps me chuckling (which I edited and put in a
different background). Look at that face, so earnest, so impish, so
knowing. What a stare. It’s like he knows he’s got you wrapped around
his finger, the little showoff.

He’s getting bigger and bigger every day and like his sister already
has a strong personality. He loves to play, laugh and is easily amused.
He also gets quite grumpy when no one is paying attention to him. If
left alone in his bouncer seat for two seconds, he’s wailing for
someone to play. You appear, and like magic, the floodworks are
instantaneously shut off. To tell you the truth, I think this picture
just about sums up his entire personality, the hint of a smile, the
feeling that he knows more than he lets on, and a reclining pose that
oozes self assurance.

Oh, he’s going to be trouble, that little one. *chuckle*

Death to Symbols

Lots of things have been happening to us (most not so good) so most
of it’s my internal coping, trying to come up with a method for dealing
with life. It’s not so bad though, just hard.

I’d like to clamber out of the crucible for a little while. Don’t get
me wrong. This crucible that is Puerto Rico, life etc. has helped me
become a better person. That I firmly believe. It’s also shown me how
woefully lacking is the world in great people, people of conscience,
people of passion.

Why can’t all these world leaders, caught up in their petty little
differences just make a bold move? At the moment of such hate, anger,
and fear… just reach out and embrace them. Do something so outside
the box as to stun the world into peace. It’s all there for the asking.
It just takes someone to make the leap. Sigh, there I go again.

Anyway, sometimes things happen to you and although they make you
better you don’t wish for them again. Take boot camp for example, a
worthwhile venture, but not one I’d care to repeat. Same goes for
Puerto Rico… however, it’s given me perspective on hardship that I
wouldn’t otherwise have.

If I was Arafat or Sharon, I’d resign. They are the two biggest
obstacles of peace in the Middle East. Two big angry idiots defending
their houses of cards. Each CAN NEVER admit fault. My system is
impeachable and I will fight to the death for it, they scream at each
other.

Show me a person willing to kill for his system of beliefs and I will show you a person that does not believe them.

Each is so scared of pulling one single card. What happens when you
pull one single card from the house of infallibility? Were we ever
infallible to begin with?

Not that simple, you say? You can’t
just make bold moves like that and expect to get away with it? Hah, the
world IS that simple. It’s motivated by simplicity, bold deeds, people
who take action, and move with passion. What’s blocking the Mid East
from moving forward is one single thing, so simple that I imagine once
they figure it out the feeling stupid will nag them for generations.

Don’t preserve your way of life. Preserve your people. What good is a
way of life if everyone is dead? Think about your people, struggling,
dying. Think about the children dying in the streets, growing up with
no hope. Save them. Here’s what you need to do. Fall on your sword,
Arafat, Sharon. Do yourselves in so that your people will be stunned to
peace. Show them you are leaders. Show them they are more important
than anything. Show them that you have failed and aren’t afraid to
admit it. That’s what leadership is. It is leading. Simple really, eh?
Admit failure and get out of the way, and start building a house based
on your people instead of words and symbols.

Kill all the symbols, get out of the way.

I am thinking that all this makes perfect sense, and I’m frustrated
that no one is making any moves… just sticking to careful little baby
steps based on past actions, past failures. I would not seek actively
to have such hardship thrust upon me, but, I think, I’m ready. I feel
prepared to make a bold move, to accept something so impossible, so
undoable, so gross an undertaking that my younger self would have fled
in its face. I’ve been battling rats for some time… sometimes, I
think, I’m ready to take on a that dragon.

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