Books, BUSINESS, CREATIVE, JUST SAYING, RANDOMIZER9.COM, The Rules of Tech Support, WHATS GOING ON, Writing

Off To Binary Heaven

square cover

I have been on a bit of a ‘simplify things’ kick lately, as evidenced by the fact that I am no longer a video game website editor, a drummer in a band, or involved in any conventions outside of being an attendee or panelist. I cut back on my side projects and decided to devote the majority of my time to writing and getting the word out about my e-books.

Case in point: therulesoftechsupport.com (don’t bother, the site is kaputski and I still own the domain). It was intended to be a ‘companion’ to my second e-book, Things being what they are, I didn’t get around to updating it as much as I could have, partially due to the aforementioned side projects, and also because of all the other writing I do.

So its no wonder that there weren’t very many visitors to the site. The year of hosting I had prepaid for was coming due, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to pay for a site that I didn’t have the time to keep up with and that wasn’t being visited. So I shut down the site.

While I took the liberty of grabbing all of the articles and pictures from the site prior to shutting it down, I feel a little sad over pulling the plug. Granted, I’ve had other websites that have gone off to binary heaven for one reason or another, but for what its worth, this one was mine.

Android, Apple, BUSINESS, Computers, JUST SAYING, Microsoft, Tablets, TECH, WHATS GOING ON

Apple Does Not Like Files

As my iPad mini is my first iOS device, I have had to learn it and adjust to its idiosyncrasies. Some of the new things I’m discovering are good, like the ability to swipe up with four fingers and bring up a list of currently open apps and volume/brightness controls. Of course, there are bad things to discover as well, such as the ‘locked down’ nature of the device. In particular, I was initially miffed that I could not work with files like I could on desktops or Android devices.

I like files. I know how to work with files. I like to make folders for my files and organize them and e-mail them and sort them and rename them and open them and edit them and do all kinds of fun stuff with them.

Apple does not like files.

Apple likes objects. On an abstract level, apps are objects in iOS,not files. Instead of having files scattered all about, like in Windows or Android, your stuff lives in the app that uses it. If you’re going to work with a picture, you open up Photos, select the picture you want to work with, and get to work. Music lives in iTunes, documents live in Pages, and so on and so forth. The app comes first.

iOS gets irritiating for people like me because unlike Android, where I can get an app like Astro and poke around at the underlying file system, iOS does not let you get ‘under the hood’ at all. I can’t put stuff where I want it because Apple won’t let me, and coming from a world where files rule and I can do whatever I want to with them, that is frustrating.

Case in point: I use Dropbox to store stories that I am working on. Indeed, one of the first apps I downloaded onto my iPad mini was the Dropbox app. I also got the Pages word processor because it had totally knocked my socks off on the iPad demo units. Awesome. I quickly learned that Pages does not talk to Dropbox. My file-centric brain then said: “No biggie, I’ll download a copy of my latest story via Dropbox, open it in Pages, do some editing, save my changes, then upload the newest draft back to the cloud. After all, that’s how it had worked on my Acer Iconia Tab A100.”

In response, Pages threw the finger at me and said, “NO SAVING FOR YOU. You’re going to open the file in Pages and I’ll make a copy there. Its staying there after that, too, because I don’t like Dropbox and I ain’t giving it back.” So I end up with two copies of the story floating around, one in Dropbox and one in Pages. So much for keeping things in sync.

Ultimately, I found a Microsoft Office-compatible app talkd to Dropbox direclty, so that fixed that, but its just one an example of how I have had to work around iOS because it ‘thinks different.’ Its methodology is awesome for end-users because files are icky things and people don’t like dealing with them. I think its because most folks can’t make the mental leap from objects (like documents, pictures, and music) to files. They can’t wrap their heads around the abstract concept like ‘computer people’ do.

If everything lives in the app, then they don’t have to deal with files at all. If they want to do something, they open the appropriate app, and everything is there. Instead of a list of files, they see pictures, songs, and documents, and that’s what they know.

Those of us that are more ‘computery,’ on the other hand, have a few options: muddle around iOS as best we can, jailbreak our devices, or just not bother with it altogether. Unfortunately, I think I’ve taken one step too far into the rabbit-hole, because for all that fuss, I’m still loving my iPad mini…even if it doesn’t want me to have my precious files.

BUSINESS, JUST SAYING, RANDOMIZER9.COM, TECH SUPPORT, WHATS GOING ON

Don’t Make It Worse

What about hot water heaters, Fate?

Its not quite a Rule of Tech Support (I’ll have to check the list to make sure) but a good rule to follow whenever you’re fixing something is “don’t make it worse.” If you can’t fix something at least try to get back to where you were when you started, it just makes life easier down the road, even if it is for the next guy that’s going to be looking at whatever it is you’re trying to fix. If its someone else’s thing you’re fixing, be up front and honest about what is happening.

The poor handling of an unfortunate situation is one common thread that I see over and over again whenever someone takes to the Internet to air a legitimate grievance, like the musician who recently had a guitar damaged by incompetent baggage handlers after he was denied the right to carry it onto the plane with him. Something unfortunate happens, the person seeks remedy from the company that wronged them, and the company completely blows the opportunity to prove they’re really all about the customer. Instead they blow them off, or insult them with a feeble attempt at compensation and look like a bunch of non-caring jerks.

I wouldn’t have been so riled up about the recent hot water outage in my apartment but for the way the staff handled the situation. The first time it happened, I was upset, but the email I received after the fact offered an apology and explained the situation. I read it and was satisfied to know that the problem was being taken care of. If they had sent a properly worded email the second time it happened, I probably wouldn’t have gone onto this blog to open up a can of Internet Wrath™.

Stuff happens, and I believe that most people are willing to accept that stuff happens as long as you don’t insult their intelligence by ignoring them, insulting their intellgence or being condescending. Own the problem, let your customers know that things are being attended to, and most folks will accept that. Don’t make it worse.

In any event, the hot water is back, so its time for a bath. I ain’t dipping my big toe in that tub until its good and ready, though!

CREATIVE, JUST SAYING, RANDOMIZER9.COM, WHATS GOING ON, WORDS, Writing

A “Special Delivery”

I constantly see artist friends posting their art up on various places out on the tubes, and every so often I’ll just browse a friend’s DeviantArt or Furaffinity account to pass the time and to be amazed by their abilities. As can be evidenced by my book covers, I have ZERO design sense when it comes to anything visual.

I happened to be looking at Amanda Coronado’s artwork on DeviantArt and came across a picture titled “Birds of Hermes.” To me, the picture showed two brothers having a cute moment; the younger not wanting to go somewhere or do something his elder was making him do. The smaller one just has that ‘do we HAVE to’ look about him. As the youngest of three brothers, I could easily see myself in that spot.

Of course, a ‘moment’ does not make a story, so the tale begins just before the picture. The two brothers have their moment, but also have a task to accomplish, and from then on it becomes ‘my’ story, which means that hilarity ensues. I titled the story “Special Delivery” and you can read it here.

It just goes to show that you never know where inspiration where come from. I guess I need to go fishing for inspiration in my friends’ artwork a little more often.

Apple, RANDOM REVIEW, Tablets, TECH, WHATS GOING ON, WORDS, Writing

RANDOM REACTION: iPad mini

The hands in these ads always look fake to me

As I mentioned previously, I was intrigued by the iPad mini because of its lower price and its size. The popularity of Apple’s newest wunderkind meant that I was going to have to hunt for one, but after a few weeks of looking, I finally got my grimy paws on a 16GB white iPad mini last week.

If there is one thing I have learned from owning my Acer Iconia Tab A100, it is that tablets are fairly close to useless without data, so I purchased a model with a cellular modem. I have used my iPad mini for just over a week and I am very impressed with it so far.

I have a friend that used to work at an Apple store. In talking with him about the mini, I found it hard to describe just how different it felt to use the iPad compared to other devices. He wasn’t surprised at that and mentioned that it was fairly common for folks to have difficulty in describing the experience of using one. I took that as a challenge, thought it over and I think I may have found a phrase:

The iPad doesn’t get in the way.

I know that sounds odd, so allow me to elaborate: In using my Android tablet, and indeed, this is the case with many portable devices, the device itself will not work as well as it should. I then have to stop what I am doing to deal with its idiosyncrasies, interrupting my work. For example, while typing, every now and then the keyboard on my Iconia would barf up a bunch of letters instead of what I wanted to type. I would then have to stop and correct the mistake before continuing. In contrast, I can type away on my iPad mini with abandon, fairly confident that the software will catch the overwhelming majority of my mistakes.

Android just feels clunky and half-done to me; a hodgepodge of different bits and pieces glued together to make a Frankenstein of an OS that works…but doesn’t work well.. iOS and its apps, on the other hand, feel more like a unified system. I don’t have to go through a relearning process with each new iOS app I install, and it is very responsive.

While I have no doubt that metaphorical wrinkles and dings will soon appear on my iPad as I get to know it better, I am a very happy owner so far.

CREATIVE, FOOD, JUST SAYING, ORIGINAL-GAMER.COM, PODCASTS, RANDOMIZER9.COM, WHATS GOING ON, WHISKEY-TANGO-FOXTROT, WORDS, Writing

Headlines and Butterflies

Must be a country music fan…

I don’t have a family of my own as of yet, so I spend Thanksgiving with my parents. I drive down to my hometown, catch up with friends, bake a pie or two, eat lots of Mom’s good food, watch football and maybe do a little shopping. I also make it a point to read the town newspaper. I saw the article pictured at right and chuckled to myself, thinking: ‘yeah, its amateur night.’ It also made me think about the time I had applied for a job at that same newspaper years ago.

I didn’t get the gig because I didn’t have any writing samples on me at the time. I remember being irritated about that after the fact because I have two college degrees and this wasn’t exactly The Washington Post I was applying to. “How hard is it to write about honor rolls, City Council meetings and the occasional tractor accident?” I probably thought to myself at the time.

I got over it, life went on and I would eventually go on to write other things: short stories, video game reviews, podcasts and this blog. I never again thought about the snub until I saw that poorly written headline. As people are oft to do, I started to think about ‘what might have been.’ I quickly dismissed those thoughts to the back recesses of my mind, because I had better things for it to do, like get to work on the two short stories I need to have done by the end of next week.

Among other things, I subscribe to what is called the “Butterfly Effect.” Simply put, it states that a small change can ultimately have a much larger impact at a later point in time. “Does the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas,” and all that. You see the theory mentioned a lot in science fiction, especially where time travel is concerned, and it is also the title of a movie that I’ve never bothered to see.

Thus, I believe that if you are truly happy in your current situation, you cannot have any regrets at all. Even the smallest decision or event from years ago may have significantly altered your destiny. So don’t waste your time wistfully thinking about ‘what might have been.’ If you are not happy with your situation, do something about it, even if it is a small step. Small steps can eventually lead to something bigger and doing something is always better than doing nothing. On the other hand:

If you are content with your life…

Be happy,

Be thankful,

but most of all, be you.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

TECH, Videogames, WHATS GOING ON

Wii Snooze

zzzzz…

It wasn’t until a few days ago that I realized that the Wii U is being released in the USA this Sunday. It sneaked up on me the same way like Thanksgiving did. But whereas I am excited about spending time with family and watching football and eating good food and shopping and a long weekend away from the office, I have virtually zero interest in the Wii U.

I was interested in the system after the Wii U’s debut at Nintendo’s E3 2011 press conference. Like the Wii, it promises to provide new ways to play games. I even wrote an article discussing the similarities between it and the 3DS for original-gamer.com. This year’s Nintendo press conference, however, completely let the air out of that balloon. All I saw was Mario, a bunch of recent releases, and one or two mildly interesting games. One of which was Lego City Undercover, which should say something.

While I didn’t get a Wii at launch, I did find the idea interesting and ultimately purchased one once some interesting games came out for it. This time around, though, Nintendo is going to have to do better than dragging out yet another Mario or Zelda game.

My apathy towards the Wii U leaves me feeling a little sad: Part of me is wondering if Nintendo has jumped the shark, but that’s a discussion for a future time.

ANIMATION, TECH, Videogames, WHATS GOING ON, Wreck-It Ralph

I’M GONNA WATCH IT!

You Can Fix It!

I’ve been hyped up for Wreck-It Ralph ever since I saw the first trailer. While Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was a fun ride, it was more geared toward the NES kids that are just a hair younger than I am. Tron and Reboot gave us a look into the ‘world inside the computer’ but Wreck-It Ralph is a love letter to the arcade games many of us dropped numerous quarters into back in the 70s and 80s.

The story centers on the titular Wreck-It Ralph, a “bad guy” from a fictional early 1980s arcade game who has grown tired of playing that role for the last 30 years. He attends group sessions with other bad guys including such heavyweights as Zangief from Street Fighter, Kano from Mortal Kombat, Neff from Altered Beast and even Clyde (the orange ghost) from Pac-Man. In an effort to become a hero he jumps into other games, eventually putting the arcade in jeopardy.

Disney has even gone through the trouble of making fictional posters, TV commercials and even real “Fix-It Felix Jr.” arcade machines. I can’t wait, because the movie just feels right based on what I’ve seen in the trailers. Those of us old enough to remember when arcade games were video games should probably watch this movie, it looks to be a fun one.

Books, BUSINESS, CREATIVE, JUST SAYING, WHATS GOING ON, WORDS, Writing

Holstee and Me

Or at least, watch less.

“If you don’t have enough time, stop watching TV,” the saying goes. The phrase comes from the Holstee Manifesto, which in itself is a pretty good read. I don’t quite agree with it completely, but that’s a discussion for another time. At first, I thought: ‘Well, that phrase could also apply to video games these days.’ I got wound up and prepared to write a blog post about how people need to turn off their consoles, unsubscribe from whatever MMORPG they had become addicted to, get off their duffs, and start doing something.

The more I thought about it, the more heavy-handed I knew it was going to be. Before I could start writing, though, I thought about the phrase just a little more, particularly in relation to my own creative life.

I had cut back on watching television several years ago; it was one of the consequences of having worked the phones at a cable company listening to TV addicts wail and gnash their teeth for 40 hours a week. My television watching had been reduced to news, weather and sports.

A few years after that, I joined a couple of other San Antonio folks in starting what came to be known as First Storm Manga. I also started writing fiction; I had long wanted to write a book about my experiences in technical support, but had never attempted to write fiction before. I liked it, and eventually decided to try my hand at self-publishing my stories in ebook format.

Unfortunately, I also ended up taking on various ‘side projects.’ I joined a band, became editor of a video game website, and First Storm began to take up more of my time. At the same time, I was trying to keep up a blog, podcast, and work on my writing. I eventually found myself spending more time on other people’s projects and less time pursuing my own.

A few months ago, I decided to cut back on those “side projects.” I had already left First Storm, so I quit the band, left a group that was putting an event together, and reduced my role at the game website. My focus would be on my own writing, and that would be it.

I will be stepping down as editor of Original-Gamer.com at the end of November, and I wish OG and the crew nothing but success as I pursue my goal of being a writer full-time.

Back to the saying. I thought it over, and felt it would be a bit hypocritical of me to say ‘stop playing videogames’ when I still play them myself. I also still watch television, just not as much. Then it came to me:

It isn’t a matter of “stop watching TV” or “stop playing video games.”

It’s a matter of “Stop letting other things get in the way of your dreams.”

Now get off your duff! 🙂

CAMPING, CONS, FURRY, JUST SAYING, Oklacon, RANDOM STOPS, RANDOMIZER9.COM, WHATS GOING ON, WORDS

40 Things I Noticed During Oklacon

Have some corn squeezens!

I’ve never been to an outdoor convention before, nor to Oklahoma, so Oklacon promised to be a different experience. Indeed it was!

Parking on top of the hill made me appreciate having a Honda CR-V instead of a Dodge Neon all the more.
Standing in the slow registration line wasn’t all that bad after 7+ hours on the road.
I was a little worried about finding a decent radio station, then realized I should have been more worried about reception.
Apparently only loud people stay up late at night…argh
Chopping wood in the middle of the night? SERIOUSLY?
I know darn well there’s no signal, but I keep checking my phone. I may have a problem.
About the only thing I could do with this phone was update this list.
As is the custom, Artist’s Alley was located in Mos Isley.
The hard ground kept me from sleeping at night, but at least I was warm. /shrug
There were no smut writers at the artist’s meetup, or at least none willing to own up to it.
The weather was pretty nice once the chill got out if the air…unfortunately it got a little too warm on Saturday.
Doesn’t seem to be much concern about ‘breaking the magic’ here…then again there isn’t a ‘headless lounge’ either.
I enjoyed the ‘Furry common sense’ panel, learned a lot of ‘good to know’ information.
Love the little ‘codes’ they put on the badges.
They had ‘predator’ and ‘prey’ designs for the baseball caps, clever.
Bears are omnnivores, so I could go either way…fark it, I bought one with a predator design.
Someone reportedly got cactus needles stuck in their hand, not sure if there was a mouse available to assist.
What would a ‘redneck’ fur like Mr. Drunky up there be called?
Bad Science was DEPRESSING, though Dr. Nuka kinda turned it around at the end
Favorite new phrase, heard during Bad Science: “Animal Malfunction”
Got my first badge commission done. I liked it, and I paid for another one.
I really need to establish a fursona, the second artist I purchased a commission from had all these questions and I was all “I DON’T KNOW!”
Some guy called me ‘Ed’ and totally confused me until I realized it was on the badge I had commissioned and was now wearing.
Nothing like thinking you lost your wallet to make for an exciting evening.
One benefit of being an early riser is there’s always hot water in the shower.
Big thanks to whomever left the giant bottle of body wash in the showers. Not that I was out, but ‘fresh mango’ wasn’t quite the vibe I was going for…need to check the label next time.
I woke up on Saturday morning to find someone asleep on top of a hill…WTF?
Finally realized what I had forgotten to bring: A roll of toilet paper. Granted, they had plenty, but still, I always feel better having a spare roll.
The bathrooms got progressively worse and worse as the weekend progressed, but I’ve used outhouses, so no biggie.
Second thing I forgot: an air mattress. I sleep on my side and my hip bone was constantly touching the ground as I slept…ow!
The Mini Moon Pies were okay until the sun came out on Saturday, oh well.
Trebuchets are cool.
Everything felt inverted: I eventually purchased a badge to identify myself as being straight.
The fursuit parade got moved FORWARD an hour? They know we’re OUTSIDE, right?
Never been to a con that had two fursuit parades, so that was cool.
Sat in on a International Anthropomorphic Research Project group chat and learned a little bit more about myself.
Someone made an interesting point: we use funny animals to entertain our children and expect them to forget about them once they grow up.
When I heard they were making stone soup, I got a mental image of people throwing Cheetos, Pocky and M&Ms into the pot.
Judging how much heat is coming out of a propane stove in the middle of the day is tricky.
When the wooden handle on your saucepan catches fire, there’s too much heat.

Eduardo Soliz

IT Guy, short story author, podcaster, and furry!

Category Archives: WHATS GOING ON