Someone Must Own Stock in the Electric Company

Why would anyone paint if there is no drywall or water damage, and the past paint job still looks fairly good? Walls collect dirt just like everything else, and maybe some small scruffs from moving furniture. But nothing that would jump out at the average person to say "this wall really needs a coat of paint."

I have a sense that the point of painting the walls is to impress others (remember all you executive types reading this post, people are not impressed by the work you do, they want to see something fancy, totally unrelated to your line of work -- think Kozlowski and his $6,000 shower curtain, or any of those other crooks).

What about painting a room with something that is not a light colour that will reflect a lot of light back into the room, but that is a colour that will absorb a good amount of light. So the room will be darker.

How do you use a dark coloured room? Well, by turning on more lights. And these are not your super energy efficient light bulbs either. These seem to be the type that really use a lot of electricity.

And more electricity means more CO2 and NOx. Oh, oh, and sulfur dioxide (wouldn't want to forget that)

And in case you didn't realize, electricity isn't free.

So I ask you: Who owns stock in the electric company?

-- Andy

Just a Few Blocks Away

I don't think I can ever move out of the city. Everything just seems so convenient and easy to get around.

Of course, that is all from my perspective. If you ask my parents or my sister (who were all in town for Christmas), they will tell you another story.

It seems that I tend to label everything as just a couple of blocks away, when nothing really is. They did not understand that I do not measure distance in minutes or miles or anything like that, just a couple of blocks here and there. It was almost like the Smurfs. They (the Smurfs, not my family) were always hiking (they needed to do something to fill up the endless hours they were on TV, and while hiking they would ask Papa Smurf "How much further?" to which he would reply "Not much further" (and I am sure there is a Smurf enthusiast out there who will tell me I am getting the quote all wrong, but I will deal with that when the time comes -- the gist is correct.) The point is that I was constantly telling them the equivalent of "not much further", when they were already frozen by the weather and did not want to take another step. Where my sister lives (South Texas) -- they would not even step outside if the weather was that cold, but in any case the situation would be the same for my sister and my parents -- drive. When you drive, you know the distance (the odometer tells you). When you drive, you apparently get a better sense of time (I am not sure what to attribute this to). When you drive, you are out of the elements.

I just couldn't put up with any of that. You get stuck at every red light as you are on your way, and there never seems to be a great answer. I know that driving is often quicker than having to walk to the Metro, take the Metro, and then walk wherever you are going, but it is not nearly as rewarding. Once again, not very rewarding for me. I had many great walks while they were visiting, but I can't say the same for them.

I had friends in college who commented that urban folk never got to experience the elements, and never got proper exercise. Once again, I think the issue falls on the sub-urbanites.

Leeches

Leeches. No, that isn't their professional title, even those who believe in their power would probably catch on. Like the wolf that comes in sheep's clothing, the leeches tend to wear expensive clothing so as to fit in with the top level people that are responsible for bringing them in.

That leads to an interesting question. Do they really want to dress at the same level, so as to appear "as one of them", or do they want to dress even better than those at the top of the organization so as to appear better? I don't know, but I don't want to get into that discussion right now.

But, what I want to say, before I go any further, is that I did not mean any harm on wolves by using them in my analogy. The wolf needs to eat, and if dressing up as a sheep is successful, good for the wolf. Humans on the other hand have many ways of earning enough to eat, and choosing the life of a consultant is just sad.

"The Bobs" (some will understand the reference) can be hired to do just about any type of job imaginable (and some that no sane person could imagine). You could always choose to save money by not hiring a consultant in the first place, but rarely is that the option that is taken. It is far too easy to just spend more money rather than to be fiscally conservative.

I am willing to concede that there are times when there is a net gain from bringing in a consultant. I do realize that there is an advantage to asking for an outside viewpoint on something, similar to having someone proofread your work. But I will never understand some peoples seemingly unwavering belief that consultants are a panacea.

I actually had an opportunity to observe leeches in action once. They were taking notes, but it must have been some specialized note system -- from where I was sitting it just appeared to be a random collection of words.

Consultants tend to regurgitate what is told to them. Yet because of their "superior intellect" corporations tend to listen to them more than the employees they talk to (just read any of the Dilbert books, and you will see case after case of this). The hope that some of the wisdom passed on to the consultants from the employees will make it into the final report (or whatever it may be) that will sit on a shelf and collect dust.

Here is a suggestion if you ever have to talk to a consultant. Throw in some cool IT terms to see if they would make it into the report. Rave about you need to convert your data to XML running on 64-bit processors to really succeed. See if that makes it into the final report. Will they take you at your word, or will they have look into it to see if it makes sense. If you really want to push the limit they them you need a "twenty-twelve"-bit processor. Would that make it into the final report, or would they discover that such a thing does not exist?

-- Andy

=====
Etymology question of the day: Are leech and leach derived from the same root, or is it just coincidence that they seem related in definition?

Happy Birthday Mom!

Computer Stuff

Anyone who has not had a chance to try Google Suggest (a beta search component of Google), should check it out: http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en

Also, for all you Windows users, Microsoft has released their monthly security updates. I strongly suggest you visit Windows Update, and assure your computer has all the patches needed.

-- Andy

Fight or Flight (or Fight about Flights)

So, how do you define a flight of stairs? My good friends at Ikea (see story below) seem to have some a measurement that does not follow my definition. I would say that going from one floor to the next equates to one flight of stairs. The delivery folks of Ikea seem to think that each landing between two floors is a flight of stairs. Their contract says they can only haul furniture up a given number of flights of stairs, so it is to their advantage to count every single landing.

They also seem to have some odd concept of where to start counting flights of stairs. In my world (and I fully admit that my world does not seem to be the same as others) if you enter on the first floor and go to the fourth floor, you have gone up three floors. If you count landings halfway between floors, then the total would be 6 flights of stairs. My good friends from Ikea assured me I was well beyond 6 flights of stairs, which I just don't understand.

The end result is that I have a table, but I am still frustrated by my Ikea experience.

-- Andy

Horridscope

My horridscope (or whatever you call it) from the other day said I will be more self-conscious about my appearance. Who comes up with this junk? I hold no value to my appearance. It might as well have told me that I was going to wash my car. Oh well, I guess they have to do something to fill up space in the newspaper.

By the way, my organization had a holiday party on Friday after work. I was quite pessimistic going into it, but it really worked out well. The food was good, the music was good (and I was allowed to DJ for a few minutes), and it was with my co-workers, most of whom I really respect and admire. In the gift exchange I received a copy of Fidelity by Wendell Berry (he is not a computer person, so I can't link to his website). It will go on my growing list of books to read, but maybe I can do a review of it on my blog when I get to it.

-- Andy

Wasteland

I went to Ikea today. Some day I will get around to posting my complaint about their website, but that is for another day. If their website was really functional I would not have this experience to share with you.

The Ikea store is nowhere near a Metro. Although I did learn that there is a bus that will get you closer. The good folks at Ikea do not seem to make any effort at telling you how to get there beyond your own car. For a company that claims environmental responsibility, they without a doubt loose points there.

So, I decided to walk from the Metro (College Park) to the Ikea store. What a depressing event! It is nothing but sprawl, and not at all designed for the pedestrian. I really found it uncomfortable and disturbing. It seems that everybody goes just about anywhere via car in this area, and the thought of a pedestrian is so far out of their frame of reference that a pedestrian would not even be seen if one was really there. Sure I could go on about the times that drivers don't seem to see me while in DC, but that doesn't come close to the cases I ran into today.

And there are no sidewalks! Well some of the time there are sidewalks, but a fair portion of the time they are absent. Can anyone imagine living in a place that is so mismanaged that they can not even do sidewalks? People love to make fun of DC because of our crack-smoking former mayor, but at least we have sidewalks. What in the world is the leadership of College Park smoking?

So I walk the 5.5 kilometers to the store, cursing every step of the way, and get to the store. Now I have to say that it really is a nice store. I had a nice lunch (and sitting down for a while helped ease my nerves after the walk), and then made my way through the store. One could get lost in a store this size, but if you did, you would be bound to be comfortable. They really do have nice products, at great prices. They do seem to care about the environment in many ways, which is really nice to know.

I found what I was looking for , and made my way to checkout. Then I went over to their table promoting delivery. All throughout the day they had been promoting affordable delivery. Based on their general costs, their delivery is not what I would ever call affordable. Here again, if one has a car, it would work out just fine. And I know that if I could have found a taxi driver willing to haul me and my purchase, I would have saved money, and paid someone more deserving than this company. But my credit card is charged, and there is nothing left to say about that.

I left the store and walked back the 5.5 kilometers to the Metro, and went into the city -- back to a real civilization (civilization has to be civilized as a requisite, and College Park does not meet that standard), back to humanity.

I cursed the whole way back. People really live like this. It is so hard to believe that there are people who live in this environment. College students only have to live there for four years. Maybe that is their encouragement. Stay in the classrooms or the library, or you will be stuck in this horrid place that will suck the life out of you. On the other hand, I would imagine that there are a number of students that it affects negatively, resulting in poor performance or worse. But worst of all, there are some that are bound to become assimilated. They actually come to accept this wretched place as acceptable. They go on to live College Park, or in a place like it. They probably end up thinking that an urban utopia like DC is actually a bad thing (remember sub means less or below, so suburbs are inherently less than an urban area, below an urban area in stature -- that is one naming convention that was correctly chosen). It is all a big mess, with little practical solution.

My solution? Forget Yucca Mountain, College Park is a wasteland that can't be saved, and therefore suitable for any waste.

An Introduction

I thought it would be kind (and proper), to use the first entry of this blog as an introduction. It is yet to be determined if anyone will ever view my blog, but if they do, it is good to know that there will be something at the beginning to explain it (at least to some degree -- after all, this is me we are talking about).

The title is a derivative of the word Adiaphora. The best definition I can find (or which I feel best defines it for my need) is: A wholly unnecessary endeavor, not worthy of your time or interest. The word is often used as a religious term, but is such a great word that it would be a shame to not become such a larger part of our vocabulary. I feel confident that along the way I will reference enough data that is worthless. Not to me of course, its is my life, and why would I take time to post something that was worthless? But that is not to say that I never have been involved in adiaphora. There are consistently worthless endeavors to get around.

So what will show up in these pages? It is hard to say. Probably cool stuff I find on the web and feel is worth passing on. Probably stories from my life (I spend plenty of time at work, so you are bound to learn more about my day job than you ever wanted to know). And without a doubt you will find my thoughts and quandaries and rants and rages. I have a number of valuable viewpoints to pass on, and this seems like the best way to pass them on. Oh sure I tell my friends and co-workers (a number of people fit both those categories) why this or that is important, or why something should be done a different way, but who knows what they do with the information I impart on them. They probably just label it adiaphora and get on with their lives. I can't blame them, they have their own lives to live, and who I am to be taking up some of their brain cells with such information. For example, if you hear that the metric system (SI) is better than english measurement, then that might claim the part of your brain that knew how many teaspoons were in a cup. It might prove my point, but when you are in the grocery store trying to get the correct amount of an ingredient for your recipe, you will be worse off. (Oh see, I have already let on to one of my sticking points, the cat is out of the bag, time to wrap things up, and go home).

One thing I would love to do is post some of my dreams. The problem is that I tend to forget them as soon as I wake up. Every once in a while I do manage to remember more than one little bit (such as last night when there were two sports combined into one, which sports? I no longer really know. I think soccer might have been one, but as for the other it is really a mystery).

And yes, I will talk more about myself somewhere along the way. You can learn about my hometown, my college year, my life here in DC (note to self: someday include the diatribe on why we shouldn't really call it DC), and wherever my life happens to take me.

Thanks for reading all of this, you can go back to whatever you were doing before now.

-- Andy