by Matt | Oct 9, 2002 | Imported Entry
I’ve been having a discussion with a few people over at Neowin on the topic of Windows users having to pay extra for security features. Someone with a similar opinion to mine summed up things in a nice way:
All Windows has done is make computer users lazy and stupid. People nowdays don’t know where the Magic Smoke inside their computers comes from, that makes their systems work. All they know is how to follow some stupid Help Wizard and go clicky-click with their mouse, and they click all their freedoms away. “Sure, you can scan my system for whatever you like…after all, I don’t OWN this OS, I just rent it from Bill. It’s HIS computer, after all”. Lets never forget. Microsoft didnt’ “sell” their OS, they sold you the right to use it. They can do whatever they want with it, and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it. You’ve become so dependant on Windows, Microsoft could damn-near do whatever they want with you. “Oh, you bought Windows ZRX Bicentenial Edition, and you want to get on the internet? Oh, well, get out your credit card, because you have to buy the ‘Internet Option Pack’. Don’t worry, it’s only a flat annual subscription fee of $99. No big deal. We’ll just add it onto your Windows lease application. Anything else you need? Oh…planning on switching hardware? You might wanna pick up the ZRX Driver Support Pack…that’ll be another annual $99…Printer support…hmm…Lemme see. Yeah, we’ve got one license still in stock for the Document Printing Option Pack. This one’s on sale for $49.99…But you’ll need to buy Office ZRX to use it…and that’s another $500 or so. Want that too?”
Just follow right along kiddies…with wallets in hand. Because it aint gonna get better before it gets a lot worse. Good thing Microsoft help drop the costs of personal computers, because they are raking it in as far as software goes. I’m not screaming that everyone should switch to linux or anything remotely like that. I’m just saying…maybe people should start standing up for what they want, instead of blindly following along with all the “Innovation” that Microsoft comes out with.
by Matt | Oct 8, 2002 | Imported Entry
Well, Lauren’s new Dell is here and I set it up in what I would consider “record time.” In the box to surfing the web in a mere 25 minutes. That includes the wonderful “welcome to windows” hullabaloo that you’re forced to endure as a new customer. So, what am I doing now? Downloading essential applications of course. Winamp, Winzip and Bejeweled to name a few.
Besides that, I had an fairly sucessful day. I got my tire fixed, had a good critique in Commercial class and got an idea for this weeks shoot. Short and to the point.
That is all.
by Matt | Oct 8, 2002 | Imported Entry
Well, today was certainly varied in its emotional elements. First off, I was able to get my loan paperwork pushed back until November so that should give my loans plenty of time to get their stupid asses into order. So, that was good. Second, I went to class at 3:00 and had a fairly useful critique. I was told that only a few of my images that I’m currently proud of are “professional” enough to make it into my final “job-seeking” portfolio. BUT, that those images are pretty good and I should definatly keep them in my portfolio. So, that was a bit of a mixed bag. Positive I suppose, but a little disheartening knowing now the work, or rather the level of work, that I must maintain in order to have a kick-ass portfolio. It’s something to aspire to I suppose. It’s also good to finally hear a solid, honest critique of my work. I needed it and it was appreciated. Lastly, on the way home after having a more or less good day, I get a flat. This sucks for two reasons: A) because I hate flat tires and hate changing them even more and B) that since we got the “sports” package for the Matrix, these are expensive “touring” tires and will cost an ass-load to replace if they’re unable to simply patch them. So, at 9am tomorrow, I’ll be at Savannah Toyota seeing about my tire. I’m 99% sure that it should be covered under my “new car” insurance plan. You know, one of those “10,000 mile power-train, maintence warenty” mumbojumbo things. I’ll have to dig the paperwork out in the morning. After that I get to go to history class where I’m sure I’ll fall asleep, shortly followed by my photo class where I’ll be laughed at for having shitty work. Well, not shitty, just not as good as I’d like. Oh well, no sense in crying over spilled milk. So, off to bed I go, to sleep off another fun filled day in the life of Matt. G’night
by Matt | Oct 6, 2002 | Imported Entry
A strange thing happened this morning, something I didn’t think the parties involved would be childish enough to bring up. Pete instant messages Jason this morning claiming that we owe him $70+ each in back utility bills (electric and phone). I found this rather interesting, especially since we moved out on June 1st and Pete was in the apartment until the 18th. As far as I remember we paid utilities and rent (pro-rated) for the 18 days we weren’t there and called it even. Pete was also going to get the microwave and Jason was going to get the security deposit back. So, the question arises, is this magical $70 from the month of June or from the month of May and we just missed it. If it is indeed from May, then I’ll certainly pay my share. If it’s from June then we have nothing to discuss. In my opinion, I’m not going to pay for something I didn’t use. If I wasn’t there, I’m not paying for it. This isn’t ment to sound mean or threatening in any sort of way, I’m just being cautious with my money. So, if Pete would kindly produce a bill or statement saying what the utility charges are and when the payment period is, I will be more than glad to write him a check. If he’s unable to do that, I suggest he call the electic company and get a reprint. If I’m indeed responsible for a portion of the bill, I will of course pay it, but I want to make sure I am infact responsible for it first. I think that’s only fair.
There’s also the matter of the security deposit. Now, originally, we paid $300 when we moved in ($100 each) and minus cleaning and repairs, we were supposed to get the difference back when we moved out. Apparently, the check Pete has for Jason is only $48. That’s a long way from $300. To the best of my knowledge, I cleaned the kitchen, the upstair hallways, my room and my bathroom. Jason cleaned his room and his bathroom. When I left on the 1st, all of the above was clean and in a presentable manner. That means that between June 1st and the 18th, Pete only had to clean his room and the living room. Unless I’m mistaken as to the condition of the apartment, we should be getting much more than $48 back. Unless of course Pete didn’t clean anything or there was a major earthquake/flood/fire that we didn’t know about.
Now, maybe it’s just the sort of person I am, but the difference between the security deposit and the utilities seems rather nominal to me, and I would be evaluating whether or not it was even worth mentioning or just simply calling the whole thing a draw and getting on with my life especially given the fact that we’re not as “upset” about the small return on our security deposit as we rightly should be. But, that’s just the sort of person I AM.
It also bothers me that this is being brought up 4 months after that fact. In all this time, if Pete really needed that money badly, don’t you think he could have called, written, emailed, something. To me it seems irresponsible to deal with something like this and then put it on the back burner for 4 months and then bring it up again without warning. If the money was really that important, would it have been best to mention it while it was happening, or perhaps hold on to the bill so that things like this could be avoided in the future.
So, at some point this month, year, decade, Pete is apparently coming over to “collect” his money. If he’s reading this, I would suggest bringing the bills with him. I’m more than willing to give Pete every penny he deserves, and wouldn’t delay in doing so, but I want to see the bill first. Not to be mean or spiteful or anything, I just want to see what I’m paying for. I’m not really willing to give anyone a check with knowing with it’s going towards. That’s not a personal thing against Pete, I would do that with any other buisness, service or person. I’d also like to get a list of items that we were charged for from Royal Oaks (the last apartment) and see what, if any, Jason and I were responsible for. Plus I’m curious to see what they got away with charging us for.
I just thought this was an interesting little episode in the soap opera known as Savannah.
by Matt | Oct 4, 2002 | Imported Entry
Well, after a little razzle dazzle on my part, I came away from my shoot today with 4 rolls of film to be developed. Hopefully at least 1 frame of the film will be good enough to use for class on Tuesday. I pick up the film tomorrow so we’ll see. I should be ready to re-shoot something else if they didn’t turn out.
I don’t really have much else going on this weekend besides reshoots if needed. Tomorrow, Nagle and I are supposed to go to the batting cages for his birthday and at some point before that I’ll pick up my film. That’s about it.
Over the past few days I’ve just been working on projects, printing for my Buisness Practices class and hanging out with Lauren. I think we’re going to get some food in a bit so I should probably get cleaned up. Later.
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