khaosx.com

I’m done with iTunes and iPods and iWhatever.

Last night, courtesy of the fine folks at Amazon.com’s shipping department, I received a 16GB microsd card for my Nexus One phone. I’ve been really looking forward to moving the rest of my mobile experience to the Android platform, which has really become an integral part of my life over the past couple of months. I use it for virtually everything now, and I’ve finally discovered what people must mean when they talk about a smart phone. Google has come a long way with Android since I wrote this article.

In addition to becoming my main email/news/web surfing platform, I’ve started using some of the media functions of the phone (which, incidentally, are among the weakest of the Android offerings), migrating them off of the iPod. The first thing I did was load up Google Listen for managing podcasts. Then I started using booksshouldbefree.com to fill up my audio book addiction until Audible get’s their act together and releases an Android client. The only two things remaining? A Bluetooth interface for my car stereo (where I do the majority of my listening), and moving my music over.

I’m currently using a 32GB iPod touch, and prior to that, I was using an 8GB Nano. That’s where it gets tricky. My music library is about 60GB, so I had to find some way to pare it down to the essentials. I am NOT a random music listener, so I finally settled on picking the songs I know I want on my music player, no matter what. I added a comment of kris_ipod to each track, and then made a smart playlist inside of iTunes that sync’d that to the player. Add in audio books, podcasts, and a second smart playlist to add some random filler and that took care of things. As I moved forward into larger iPods, I made larger random lists, and the core list grew as I added music from Amazon’s MP3 store (clean, unencumbered, play-it-anywhere music in high quality, fully tagged MP3 goodness), but I made a habit of making sure that all of my music that I wanted available to me on a mobile player had a comment tag.

Meanwhile, last time I reinstalled iTunes and imported my library off the server, it started an annoying process of “normalizing” my volume – essentially trying to make every track on an album the same volume. It’s a process that takes forever, and no matter how many times I cancel it, it just starts back up when I launch iTunes. At some point, I finally decided to just let it run. Since the setting for “Don’t Do That” didn’t work, I figured I’d just cave in and let it go, just like I did with the equally annoying “Downloading Album Artwork” feature.

To shorten the back-story, let’s say that everything worked fine up to a certain point. I copied the existing card’s content over to the new card, booted up and tested a few key apps to make sure everything looked good. The speed was great, and all of my data was there.

That’s when everything went south.

I still don’t have a good solution in place for syncing my music over to the Nexus, so I decided I’d just do a Windows search against my library for everything with my tag, and copy it. When I did the search, I came up with a number of songs that was about 1200 less than what was on my iPod. After about an hour of trying to pin down the problem, I checked a couple of individual files on the server and realized that while iTunes shows the metadata as being correct and what I anticipate it to be, the actual metadata in the files was overwritten with a volume level code in the comments field, completely overwriting my own comments.

Thanks iTunes. Thanks Apple. Now I have to go back and redo that entire effort so that I can move my music. I am literally talking about hours of work, unless I can pinpoint where you decided to screw up my files and restore them from the backups.

I’d like to point out that my music library is METICULOUSLY maintained. Every single track has album artwork and correct tags. I did that external to iTunes, and I don’t want it dicked with. If you’re going to do that, do it in your own damn data structure, not in the data structure of the physical files. Also worth noting is that fact that all of the music I bought from Amazon has now had the fingerprint comment overwritten.

Why did Apple feel the need to do that? I’m glad you asked.

It’s because Apple firmly believes they know what’s best for you. They want to tell you how you should listen to your music, how you should organize your music, and how you should access your music. They know best, and that’s how you’re going to do it. You won’t move to another platform ever, so why should you care if your files are damaged? Don’t worry your pretty little head about it – we’ve got it handled and we’ll show you what you need to know.

I won’t lie to you, Marge. I love me some Apple hardware. iTunes, on the other hand, is one of the worst-designed pieces of crap on the market. It constantly adds crap that it decides you need (like, you know, a whole new web browser and an auto update mechanism and a new network protocol), whether you want it or not. Don’t worry, we’ll tell you what you need and you’ll be happy.

Apple builds a really beautiful walled garden. Once you’re there though, good luck getting out with your data intact. They cleverly conceal a number of locks on the gate.

Consider this my “Dear Jobs” letter. In a time where we are overwhelmed with choices in mobile media players and the software to manage them, I don’t have to settle for a significant other that never listens to me, tells me “Pipe down sweetie pie, the men are talking. We’ll tell you what to giggle at”, smacks me on the ass and sends me to the kitchen for pie.

Sorry Apple, it’s not you, it’s me.

I have a very long commute. It’s around 38 miles one-way, and depending on the day, the weather, and the time of departure, I’m looking at around an hour in the car. I cope by listening to a lot of audio books and podcasts, and it’s generally a happy time, unless it’s raining or there’s a car fire.

Seriously, that was yesterday morning. It took me two hours to get to work, and ran my collection of podcasts to dangerously low levels for the week. It happens…no big deal. Some days you’re the bug, and all that. Today was a bit of an odd one though, and it’s got me wondering just what in the hell happens in my brain sometimes. Traffic was fine, and I’m listening to the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series (the series of books that "True Blood" is based off of.)

There are two exits I can get off at, and which one I choose is completely time dependent. If I’m doing good on time, I exit early and go by Starbuck’s. If not, I go a mile further and take the direct route to my office. This morning I was doing great on time, so I decided to get  some coffee.

OK, bear with me, the set-up is necessary…

So, the exit becomes a three-lane exit. The two left lanes are for turning left, and there’s a separate lane for turning right. The lane for turning right leads into a short right turn lane off the exit with about twenty yards of solid white line. There is a yield sign, which seems redundant with the solid white line, for those exiting the interstate. I usually check the oncoming traffic and then turn right (well, whip through is a better way to put it) onto the main road. There’s rarely anyone coming, so my biggest concern is getting across three lanes into the turn lane to the development where Starbuck’s is.

This morning, there happened to be a guy in a minivan coming through, and he was trying to cut across the white line, while I was trying to ignore the yield sign. So, we were BOTH in the wrong, as far as technicalities go. No biggie, right? Horns blow, fingers hit the air, and we go on about our business. That’s how that usually plays out. Not this morning.

This morning, we had ESCALATION!!!!

The guy got in behind me and flipped me off, I raised my arms in the universal "What the fuck?" gesture, and we started yelling at each other. Yeah – two grown men, in our cars, where neither one can hear the other. That’s intelligent AND effective, right? And then it got really interesting. He motioned to the side of the road while still flipping me off and yelling, and then screeched into a parking lot. I slammed on my breaks and tore back through the parking lot only to realize that I couldn’t get to where he was.

Yeah, I seriously went back with the intention of getting to the guy and…what? What was I thinking was going to happen?

Let me say, for the record, that I hate confrontation. I cannot stand it, because generally it solves nothing and more often than not makes matters worse. Let me also say that despite the fact that I’m 6′1 and 245 pounds…I’m also a guy that sits at a desk all day long banging on the keyboard and making funny over coffee and doughnuts. I’m not exactly training for the UFC here, ya know? I take (/have taken/will take again) karate, and I am fairly fast and have good reflexes…but this dude might be someone who gets into bar fights on weekends for fun. So, again, what the hell was going through my tiny little mind right then?

Anyway, it ended up ok. I got into an adjacent parking lot, we yelled at each other (he called me a jerk off, I called him a fucking moron, we quoted road rules to each other), and I drove off to get my coffee.

I’ve got to start keeping a lid on my temper though – that kind of Mickey Mouse shit is going to get me in trouble one day.

(This is a reposting of an article I wrote for a podcast I co-hosted, once upon a time.)

Let me preface this entry by saying that I like to wear jeans and t-shirts as much as the next guy. Generally speaking, my wardrobe consists of more dark than a black hole. And we all know that if you’re going to be spending the day crawling around the raised floor pulling cables, common sense dictates casual clothes that don’t ruin easily.

My organization’s dress code calls for business casual, except on Fridays (when you can bribe your way into wearing jeans). For me, that generally means khakis (I recommend Bill’s Khakis, by the way – comfortable as jeans, and sharp looking as well) and a button-down long sleeved shirt.

Today is different for me, though. Today, I’m wearing a crisp white dress shirt with a tie, and the comments have already started. We’ve all heard them a million times, and in fact have probably razzed co-workers with the same words. Say them with me:

• “What’s up with that? Got an interview today?”
• “Trying to impress someone?”

or, my new favorite:

“I’d ask if you’ve got an interview, but I want to make sure it’s not a funeral first.”

By the way, the first question always amuses me, since if I had an interview, I’d be wearing a suit. Of course, you wouldn’t have seen me in it, since I’d have it in the car waiting to change in the bathroom of a convenient McDonald’s, a process referred to as “Dancing with the Clown”.

No, I don’t have an interview, and I’m only trying to impress one person. Me.

The way you dress is important for many reasons. The obvious ones, like meeting your organization’s dress code, representing your company well in front of visitors or during an off-site meeting, or just looking your best for an important meeting all come to mind. In my experience, however, there’s a much more important function to be served.

You see, I’ve been feeling a little whiny and off my game for a few days, and I need to get back in my zone. For me, the start of that is wearing a tie. What I’m trying to say is that how you dress can be a touchstone for your professionalism. It doesn’t hold true for everyone, but it is something to consider.

It can be argued that I can be just as effective in shorts and flip-flops, and from the perspective of someone who worked exclusively from home for several years, I can tell you that it’s a valid point. On the other hand, there’s just no substitute for putting on the uniform if you want to be a superhero.

When I wear a tie and a dress shirt, I remind myself that I am NOT some scruffy hippy who holds down a day job in IT. I am a professional systems administrator, with all the responsibility implied by that. I slouch a little less. I speak with more clarity and focus. In short, to paraphrase Clint Eastwood from Heartbreak Ridge:

When you dress like a professional, you’ll feel like a professional, and pretty soon, you might start acting like a professional.

Besides, when you’re up at 05:00, a tie is a great way to annoy yourself into staying awake!

So, it appears that the company I work for, which is otherwise a fairly sane and sensible collection of folks, has decided to "go green". Now, don’t get me wrong. I think we should all have some sense of stewardship for the planet, some sense of ecological responsibility.

I must confess though, this news from my company has me scratching my head.

HR drug a box through the corridors today, and dropped off a present to all the full-time employees.  A water bottle.

The idea here is that we will no longer offer bottled water in our vending machines, and we won’t be putting out plastic cups for people to use at our oft-broken, self-purifying water fountains.

Instead, people will now be saving the planet one water bottle at a time.

The kicker is, we’re still going to sell bottled water by the case to our customers. We’re not doing anything about the hundred or so cars that drive in every day. We’re not going to do anything about requiring business casual attire (which means dry cleaning). We still haven’t put in the bike rack. We still don’t do anything to encourage carpooling.

No, we’re going to spend money on water bottles. It’s a token gesture, barely. It’s almost offensive.

Seriously, check this out…

That’s just a small sampling of the parking at ONE of our HQ facility buildings.

If we allowed even 10% of these people (of the 30-50% of our HQ staff who are able and ready to work from home) to work from home 2 days a week, the positive impact to the environment would be something truly worth crowing about, and the benefits to morale would be priceless.

Instead, as so often happens, we embrace the idea of the winds of change without actually embracing the change. We stick with what has always been the norm, because it’s easier, or gives the impression that somehow it makes us more effective and professional (rather than understanding that true professionalism happens no matter what you’re wearing, or where you’re working from).

What a pity.

Update: We started a carpooling initiative, which is a very good start. We even have a few parking spaces marked for carpool only. Given that my cube neighbor still hangs his bike in his cube, I’m guessing we haven’t gotten around to the bike rack.

Specifically, my cat pisses me off.

This is comfortable cat position number 3. It’s the one where the cat stops walking and falls down into what looks like an insanely comfortable position.

Lots of people hate cats. I don’t hate them per se, I’m just really annoyed that no matter what position a cat is in, it’s the most comfortable position imaginable. Oh yeah, and the stretching thing – no human can possibly have as satisfying a stretch as a cat.

Pictured right is the screen I ran into on my system this morning after a couple of strange reboots and errors. "Odd", thought I. Since I’ve just gone through a case migration, so I ran through the usual checks – cable secured, proper port, etc.

Vista rolled through a consistency check, and "sorted" a bunch of files (which is never good), and we wound up here after the reboot. Well crap. This is just not good. What you’re seeing in that screenshot is the Intel RAID manager saying "I can’t see the volume anymore – you’re hosed."

This is a catastrophe. Well, sort-of.

I’m lucky in that I actually did a backup of my critical data prior to the case swap, and unlucky in that I now have to go through the gyrations of troubleshooting the disk problem and reinstalling the OS and Apps. I’ve been on 64bit Vista for a month or so now, and I haven’t done my usual job of creating an unattended, so if I go back to Vista, I have to do a full-on manual install.

I’m actually considering going back to XP, for a variety of reasons that I’ll get into in a later post. Suffice to say that I’m really not seeing enough of a compelling reason to stick with Vista. It’s just so…yawn.

As a side note, my first thought was "Oh my god – I’ve lost all of the 1000+ pictures I just scanned in". I then realized that I had uploaded all of them to flickr, which was a relief even after I remembered that I had a full backup of them on a local drive.

Further updates as events warrant.

Bill (you’ll know if you’re the Bill Stallings I’m talking to),

At the risk of sounding like a whiny little git, what did I do to you that pissed you off and caused you to break off all communications? You said "I’ll call you and let you know". That was several years ago. I’m still waiting. I’ve talked to mutual associates, I’ve left messages for your daughter…what the hell, man?

If I pissed you off, fine. So be it. I would think that you could at least call me and say "Hey…I’m not dead, you’re a schmuck and that’s that". If you got caught up in something and just never got around to calling, then fine. So be it.

I’d love to hear from you, even if it’s to tell me to piss off. Hit the contact button above and shoot me an email.

I thought this was an exceptional post regarding the reaction to James’ death, and how we as a community reacted to it. Also a nice thought about the "new media".

Some have speculated that James Kim’s tech celebrity drew disproportionate attention to his story relative to the thousands of other people who go missing each day. But I had never heard of James, watched his videos or read his articles.

This tragedy engulfed me because over the past 7 days I got to know the Kim family, not “know” as “a missing family” or “some traveling tourists,” but know. I watched James’ videos, toured Kati’s boutiques and trespassed on their lives. I read the comments of c|net colleagues. I watched the rescue efforts in real time, and my hope ebbed and flowed with the discoveries of pants and people. I bonded with the family on my own time and endured their heartbreak with thousands of others. A two-minute television flyover, sandwiched between an Iraq report and a Taco Bell recall, cannot offer that.

Those who argue that the media desensitize us underestimate the human spirit. We care as much as we ever have about our fellow people, but time- and space-constrained media do not give us people to care about. They castrate each story’s humanity to make room for more, and in the end they leave us with caricatures. If the UCLA Tasering weren’t on video, you would have read this on page 3 of your newspaper. Would it have made the same impact? Would anyone still be talking about Michael Richards if his outburst weren’t on tape?

We are no longer sheltered by constraints that squeezed human lives into printed paragraphs and television spots, and now they are unraveling mercilessly before us. The Web brings us closer to the ones we love, but it can also make us love the ones it brings us closer to.

From the comments:

That was masterfully put – castrating the humanity. I was just talking to a friend today about the story. Strip away all the technology, buzzwords, and promotion, and new media is really just us sitting around the campfire, telling stories, sharing moments, and being human beings, the way we did 10,000 years ago.

Ahhh, high school.

Remember the jocks? The kids that got to do and say whatever they wanted, because they were jocks?

Nothing has changed.

On April 23rd, professional football player Ricky Manning was sitting in a Denny’s with a bunch of his friends, when they noticed a guy sitting alone, eating dinner, working on a laptop. Manning and his gang proceeded to start picking on the guy, who eventually asked the management to have them removed.

So what happened next? Exactly what would have happened in high school. They beat the guy senseless, and fled the scene. He was sitting by himself, working on a laptop. They called him a nerd, and beat the crap out of him. Six thugs beat him senseless, because he was a geek.

Manning is currently charged with assault with a deadly weapon (his fists).

Odds are, He’ll get nothing more than a slap on the wrist, AGAIN. Why? Because this is America, and pro athletes are neither expected nor required to be men. We consider them role models for our children, simply because they can run faster, or throw farther. Because of a higher percentage of muscle tissue and better reflexes, we as a society allow them to be whatever kind of cowardly thugs they want to be, and then we reward them with multi-million dollar contracts. We do not hold them accountable for their actions.

Here’s the punch line:

Manning’s response after making bail, and finding out that he got signed?

"I was pretty down this morning because of the situation," Manning said."But when I found out I was a Chicago Bear, it kind of brought a little light to the day. … I can’t let something like this let me have a bad start to my football career in Chicago."

And the Chicago Bears organization?

A spokesman for the Chicago Bears says that the criminal charge will have no bearing on their $21 million, five year contract with Manning. In fact, the Bears scheduled a conference call Monday night to talk about their new player.

Update: Manning was suspended by the NFL for one game as a result of the incident, and eventually plead guilty to the charges in exchange for his second probation deal. He claimed that he “had words” with the man, but that his former teammates were the ones that committed assault. He also claims that the only reason he plead guilty was because he was “in season” and it might disrupt the team if he went to a jury trial. Disgusting.