The IT Guy: I am big

Taken from http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_cafe_information_technology.htm

We have this IT guy in our company who thinks he is the best! I don't want to generalize IT people but some of them really make a big deal out of themselves. They always complain about the old systems and hardware while they can't solve lots of small problems and since everyone needs them they are always over-respected.

Some of their expressions and their hidden meanings:


" This printer is too old, no one knows how it works, the company only manufactured four of 'em and they all have this problem"= I don't know how to fix the printer's problem and I don't want to look desperate. So, please call the manufacturer's customer service to send a technician.


"How old is this system? it can't handle this many software. Do you have any backups?"= You computer is crashed and I don't know what the root cause is so I'm gonna reset everything and delete all your files like an IT intern.


"It's not a big deal, just go to the setting-control panel-...-...-...,... and click on this and that and that and uncheck this box and you'll be fine. If you couldn't fix it make sure to call me"= I am too lazy and don't want to go to your desk and fix your system.

"We don't have any thing better than what you already have"= There are so many better hardware out there that are compatible with your system but I made a big mistake and bought a bunch of cheap products and you are doomed to live with them till we run out of them and I make a new purchase for a better hardware.



Again, I'm not generalizing IT people but I have seen such IT guys before. So, if you are a Good IT guy who's always honest and really tries to solve employer's problems, I am not talking about you. So, just chill out buddy ;D

Friday love affairs

Yesterday, I saw a quote in the end of an email saying: “Thanks!, Plan for the weekend? Have a great weekend!” You know where it was? Right in the end where people usually put their contact info. The sender didn’t even bother putting her name in the end. It was kind of odd and refreshing. There is also a colleague of mine who’s always counting days to Friday starting from Monday! Everyday our first and sometimes the only conversation is like:
“Two days to Friday!”
“It’s almost Friday!” (On a Thursday)
“Friday!” (On a Friday)
“Today is my Birthday!” (On a Friday)
“Only one hour” (means there is one our left to leave the company on Friday)
And yesterday when the manufacturing chief engineer asked her what day it was, she answered Friday! (It was Tuesday actually). And while leaving work on Fridays she always advises me not to drink too much. It makes me feel like I’ve been imprisoned for five days and now it's time to drink and celebrate the two and half days of freedom. So imagine how compulsive you would be if you had such a person right beside your cubical.
Since then I’m appreciating weekends much more. I’ve realized how important- or sometimescrucial- it can be for some people, so I try to enjoy them as much as I can too.

Thanks! Plans for weekend? Have a great weekend! :D

Epiman's mornings

Nothing much is going on these days. It’s just the routine. Everyday I wake up exactly at 5:00AM. Massage my eyes and wish I could wake up just an hour later. While keeping my eyes barely opened I walk to the bathroom,…[you don't need an explanation for this part!] , touch my face and hoping I don’t need to shave (but I do it almost everyday anyways). While shaving, I try to remember if I have anything for lunch or I need to go to the Quiznoz again. Now, I am almost awake or at least force myself to be. Then I walk to the kitchen, open the fridge, take the food, put it in the lunch box and look at my new lunch box which I haven’t been ready to use yet ‘cause it's too many different compartments but all of them are too small (I got it as a gift, so I don’t mind not using it!). Then I check the freezer to see if there is still some frozen breakfast in it. I put the plate and the breakfast in the bag and read the clock. If it is 5:15 I have to leave, if it’s not I turn on the TV to check the traffic. Have you ever seen the early morning news? People look ridiculously fresh! At least they look fresh to me. I mean, at 5:10AM you don’t expect seeing people wearing suites and made their hair by a stylist. I feel pity for them. They probably have to be at work at least 2 hours a head of their show to be prepared. So they have to go to sleep around 8 or even earlier. I hate going to sleep early at night more than waking up early in the morning. See, For me to have a normal sleep, I have to go to bed around 10PM. That is exactly when I want to relax a little and watch some TV or waste my time on the internet.
Anyway, I don’t wanna distract you from my very important morning routine story! I have 30 miles to work so I need to make it quick or I'll be late if I stuck in unexpected traffic jams. It’s still completely dark and again I feel pity for myself. The only good thing about waking up this early is that you avoid the crazy traffic in 405. It gradually becomes a moving parking lot till 8AM.
I turn on the car stereo which is usually on the CD player from yesterday evening. I quickly turn it to NPR radio station. Who wants to listen to some progressive rock CD this time of the night? NPR is the only radio able to keep me up now. They talk about politics mostly, with some short news. I find NPR more interesting at this time of the night rather than any other time for some reason. In 5 minutes I enter 405-north and set the cruise controller on 75. Every morning there is someone in 405 who deserves my curses for his/her driving. When I find him/her, I generously send my worst curses and pass by. In 30 minutes I am at the parking door of the company. I open the door, park my car, pick up the food bag and enter the plant. Everyone is working here. I take a look at the closest person I see, make a smile and say good morning. I clock in and feel pity for these people who started to work at 4:00AM or even 2:00AM! The smell of fresh coffee made by my boss for the engineering people wakes me up again. So, let’s see what’s going on today :)
Good morning to you too :)

Leonard Cohen Chelsea Hotel #2 Live

Leonard Cohen and his little love story. His story may look personal to you but the feeling behind it, the humor, and noting all the small details are great

More

This is a short film by Mark Osborne in collaboration with Despair Inc. You might have seen it before since it was release in 1998 but it still worth posting. I was really amazed by the idea and the music. You can buy the the special edition DVD directly from from "HappyProduct".

Increasing success by lowering expectations (a review on Dispair Inc.)

I think you remember Adidas's' famous ad a couple of years ago titled: "Impossible is nothing". I consider it very inspirational.
Today, I was browsing http://www.woot.com/ in the morning while I was having an early email check in the office (around 6AM) as usual. BTW, I should tell you more about woot later. There was a link on today's woot for http://despair.com/index.html website which its sole purpose is demotivation. It's goal is so disturbed and cynical but sometimes so true as well. The creator tries to sell you things that, as he mentions on the website, disillusion you from motivational motos which multi-billion-dollar industry forces you to believe. Look at a quotation from the demotivators page by E.L. Kersten:

"AT DESPAIR, INC., we believe motivational products create unrealistic expectations, raising hopes only to dash them. That's why we created our soul-crushingly depressing Demotivators® designs, so you can skip the delusions that motivational products induce and head straight for the disappointments that follow!"

Actually, impossible is something I think. It depends on what we believe success is. I don't agree with either Adidas or Despair. I remember the time I used to be a big fan of Anthony Robbins. His ideas was very close to the impossible is nothing concept. Whenever I was reading his words about nothing is not unachievable and humen are capable of doing anything I use to become so inspired. He has this magical energy through repetitive examples of unusual success stories that makes you ask yourself: What do I have less than these losers? Why are they so successful and I'm not? He goes on and on in his books to force you believe in yourself and set your goals higher and higher. Of course, there are lots of criticism about his work which are true sometimes. Anyway, I personally believe in my ability to do many thing but not everything.

Process of Being Californicated

You know I live in California right now. The shallowest state in the U.S. Even the governor is an actor (not a very talented one though). Recently, I figured out that this is the atmosphere which forces people to become shallow. I mean, for example, imagine you go to a mall close by to buy an , say, Old Navy hoodie (OK, I'm a turtle!). While you're walking in the mall you see so many people are wearing nice clothes(including hoodies!).You're a human being, right?(at least I assume you are) so you become attracted to these beauties and if you have some extra money in your pocket you may change you mind from Old Navy to ,say, Banana Republic. But you're an amature, you are still sticking to your principles and opposing you being ranked by your clothes brands. But after a while you see more and more beautiful clothes around and want to have them. So you switch to more expensive brands and end up spending even five times more on your hoodies!
This is how you set the first step to your Californication (as Red hot chili peppers say) process. Luckily I am, I had been to California back and forth for the last 3 years. So, before I completely moved here I knew what I was going to encounter and tried to avoid these things as much as I could but I still can't resist buying my jeans from Diesel! ... I wish I could stick to my principles more!
Anyway, there are lots of great thing about California like being diverse, cosmopolitan, foreigner friendly, one of the greatest art centers in the world, having the best public school system and home to many important businesses, industries and universities in the world and don't forget the very beautiful beaches.

King Crimson's Concert in Chicago and a desparate fan in Irvine, CA

Rober Fripp of King Crimson, Picture courtesy of Thomas G. Smith, from www.DGMlive.com
Direct link: http://www.dgmlive.com/vision.htm?artist=5&id=2734

Tonight I had way too many coffees and I decided not to go to work tomorrow (Jee, It's already tomorrow!), So I'm gonna write something here and you need to bear with me on this one (I'll probably delete the whole post by tomorrow!)
By the way, I went out with these very very nice friends for wine tasting today. Not that we were wine experts but it was fun and I had a great time.
You have no idea how much I want to go to King Crimson's concert in Chicago this weekend but I can't. The airfare is too high and I need to take two days off for it (Thursday and Friday) because the concert starts at 7PM Friday which is too early to catch a flight on Friday and still be able to make it to the concert. So I have to take Thursday off too which I can't, thanks to the busy employer of mine. So, I just sit by my computer and check out the DMG live blog to see if they put up some parts of the Friday's concert. The more it becomes closer to the concert the more I check Robert Fripp's Weblog. It's very nice actually, from the artistic point of view (it looks like comic strips), but I check it just for the matter of missing the concert.
Hopefully they don't play Epitaph and Starless or Fallen Angel 'cause it really makes me mad. I don't know how come these people don't like to perform in the west coast. It could be a blast. Or may be they are like those up-tight east coast intellectuals who think people here are dumb and shallow by default!
Anyway, I'm going to sleep. You take care, see you later

Portishead's new album

Portishead's new album isn't good at all. What is the deal with all these diminished or inharmonic Chords. They are great musicians but it's not what I was expecting from a minimalistic band. It's so full of pads and drums. They are either running out of ideas or they want to make another progressive change in the trip-hop music.
Every famous musician has made just few influential pieces which is fairly enough so does Portishead.

The minor problem No.2 : Home sweet home

I don't want to post all the minor problems at once but this one has been flowing in my mind for a while:
Sometimes when I am at a very crowded fun party, between all the friends and beautiful strangers, even while having good conversations I want to go home right away! Even if I had been waiting for the event for a long time the home sweet home calls me. Is it because I like to be alone? I don't think so, I like partying and hanging out and I look forward to them from the beginning of each week. But when it happens and in the heat of the event I feel like leaving everything and going home. What do you think? Am I depressed? Tooka once told me she had the same feeling sometimes. I think it all goes back to the convenience of home. It's natural to miss home more often when we make it more and more comfortable everyday.