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As one who has watched Smallville on and off in its broadcast history, I have to say that this current season in my favorite so far. While most people would consider the appearance of numerous heroes and such "jumping the shark", I believe it is a natural progression of the series. Early on, Clark was mostly confined to Smallville and had few run-ins with others of his kind outside of that. Now that he is in a bigger, more visible city like Metropolis, it makes sense that other meta humans would be coming into his orbit. Of course, I am a bit biased since my favorites, the Justice Society of America, are going to be guest starring in 2010.
November 23rd, 2009
November 17th, 2009
Now that the Doctor Who special "The Waters of Mars" has aired, we head towards the annual Christmas special and the regeneration. While The Doctor regenerating is part of the lore of Doctor Who, before it was done with little notice. We found out earlier this year about Tennant leaving the series after a few specials, so this time around the process is different. We have seen pictures of the new Doctor (Matt Smith), while still watching David Tennant in the specials. Easy with the long notice, yet also difficult because of the long goodbye (no complaints about that). I will be sad to see Tennant leave. His enthusiasm and love of the series has helped it along these past three seasons. But eventually the torch has to be passed, and thankfully, I think it is being left is capable hands.
November 12th, 2009
Earlier this week marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. For someone who was born and spent the first 18 years of their life experiencing the Cold War, this was a significant moment in history. Having to change my outlook from a us versus them mentality to a more expansive and rational world view. Back then things were so simple on the surface. The United States, with an alliance of West European countries (NATO) against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and alliance of Eastern Bloc countries (Warsaw Pact), and smaller countries sometimes used as proxies in the games that would at times take us to the brink of nuclear war. While I was at the tail end of a 46 year standoff, it was still something that defined someone of my age.
Now I look at my niece, who is 18 years old and never had a chance to experience the Cold War, but now is living and experiencing the United States against global terrorism. China has become the rival superpower to the United States. Certain parts of the former Eastern Bloc are becoming movers and shakers in the internet world. The one thing I wonder is what will become of the legacy of the Cold War. I say give it another ten years and we may know.
November 8th, 2009
Remember the post I had made about posting more often? Yeah, been sticking to that one. Just have to try harder.
November 3rd, 2009
With the optical drive in one of my computers failing horribly, I have decided that once I get some spare parts from a friend, look into building a new computer. Whatever shape this new computer takes, it is going to be running some form of Linux exclusively. Since I am not much of a gamer, and don't do any serious audio/video editing, Linux is more than capable for my day to day computer requirements. This will be fun and interesting.
October 26th, 2009
This past Friday brought a new episode of the fun and interesting Batman: The Brave and the Bold. While there was a gimmicky feel to having an episode composed almost entirely of musical numbers, more importantly, I found myself saying that this would have been a story found in any Silver Age Comic. While part of me still misses the Animated DC Universe from years back (consisting of Batman, Superman, and Justice League), this new series has brought some much needed enjoyment that cannot be found in comics nowadays.
October 18th, 2009
Recently, one of my co-workers got the opportunity to be relief supervisor for the first time. While nothing major happened, I had wondered if he took the same attitude towards being in charge that I do. For me, when I am in charge, I hate it. By having that kind of attitude, not desiring the authority I have it gives me a better understanding of what I am dealing with. A lot of egos are present when working at a hospital. When I speak of egos, I do not mean it in the negative sense. I am talking about people who value their knowledge of what they do and tend to get defensive when someone tries to question it. As such, I make sure to get everyone's perspective and professional assessment of what is happening before I make a decision. But at the end of it, the decision I make is mine, and I have to stand by it. That is what being in a leadership position is mostly about.
October 13th, 2009
For some time now as the staffing in my department has settled, I have been making plans to get a degree in computer science. Recently though I have been giving thought to this and realized that at my age (38), going for a four year degree might not be the best course of action. I look at the fact that for the past five years I have been working in some capacity in private or contracted security. Couple that with my knowledge of computers and I can possibly look into taking a two-year degree in criminal justice along with A+ certification and some knowledge in programming languages (which I am currently doing) so that in 2-3 years get a job in security working with ip-based camera and access systems. It is like I told someone recently, the job market in the next few years might require some flexibility a four year college is not able to provide.
October 8th, 2009
Earlier this week, I made plans earlier today to meet someone. I made two mistakes in doing this. The first was not taking into account the traffic that would delay me to my destination. The second was not providing a phone number for the person to contact me when I did not make the time of the meeting. They waited there for twenty minutes before leaving and not letting them know why I did not show up. I ensured that apologies for my mistakes were sent via e-mail and know to plan better next time.
October 6th, 2009
Today marks the 11th straight night I have worked at my job. The schedule had me working tomorrow. Earlier this morning, I spoke up and asked for tomorrow night off. While I am a professional and will do my job to the best of my abilities, I am aware that I am beginning to hit a certain point both mentally and emotionally where I can feel the strain. In such cases, I swallow my duty and become a bit selfish. Time to rest and enjoy the pleasures of life, and to allow myself to recharge. Because as Dirty Harry once said, "Man's gotta know his limitations.".
October 4th, 2009
CSI: NY S06/EP02
Being a shade tree computer geek, I can enjoy the use of the computer and internet as a murder weapon. More importantly, its getting a chance to see a part of Mac Taylor's past that made him into the person he is today. Good episode all around, and why the New York branch is my favorite of the three.
September 29th, 2009
U.S. may need as much as $350 billion to extend broadband
While listening to Geeknights last night, Rym brought up the subject that net neutrality might be more of a concern for the population in the long term than health care reform. Looking at the above article, he just might be right. Imagine if smaller towns had broadband access to make information available only found in larger cities. It could reform not only health care, but also education, media and politics. While $350 billion is a bit painful to a fiscal conservative like me, there is a part of me that also wants to see people have equal access to information. By doing so, the opportunities are endless.
I like to blog, and as often as possible. Sometimes, while an idea forms in my head for a blog post, I just can't seem to get motivated to do so. Part of this could be attributed to working at night, especially with events that are going on at work. Certain things that are stressing me out along with a bit of apathy can lead one to just be complacent about things. Hopefully, with this blog post I can shake those things off and get back to doing more relevant and timely blog posts. If not, I have no one to blame but myself.
September 24th, 2009
If I may take a page from Penelope Trunk's blog, while we may try to do our best to be "professional" its hard to keep the social aspects out of it. When I came back from Atlanta Linux Fest I mentioned it had gotten me interested and motivated again to work towards a career in computers. Something else that has recently begun to motivate me are the social dynamics at work. Let me state right now that the people I work with are wonderful employees that are the best at what they do. Unfortunately, they tend to have interests in celebrity pop culture and such while I am a geek about computers and current events. This makes conversations outside of anything work-related very awkward and painful. At times I wonder if working in a more computer-oriented job would produce better social interaction in the workplace. It is something I have been thinking about along with my career path.
September 22nd, 2009
I made a brief mention about this in my last blog post, but I felt I should explain it a bit more. One of the things I enjoyed about going to the Atlanta Linux Fest this past weekend was it brought back a desire to do something in the computer field that had become suppressed over the past few months. It's something I think happens to the best of us. Unless work becomes a repressive and hostile place to be, we tend to let it dull us into a sense of complacency. Our desires to maybe do something different or change the circumstances take a back seat to focusing on being the best we can at work. Nothing wrong with focusing on being the best at work, but for the other 16 hours that I'm not there, I need to re-apply the effort to get some certification and knowledge under my belt. Start doing things like program languages and such. Because in this day and age, there is no such thing as job security.
September 20th, 2009
With vacation time put in, I left Friday morning (after a Thursday detour to BIrmingham) for Atlanta to attend the Friday portion of the Anime Weekend Atlanta convention before and after checking into my hotel room. I enjoyed myself, but I think a combination of travel fatigue and stress from work gave me a different perspective of the convention than I should have had. Hopefully next year will be much better. Thankfully running into a couple of Canonical guys at the Fire Iron Grill at the hotel cheered me up a bit. I spent two hours with my Acer Aspire One netbook running a test script for Ubuntu 9.10 and seeing if there were any hardware conflicts. There were a few and I did my first bug reports. It was nice to let my inner computer geek run free for a bit.
Saturday morning came and after breakfast making my way to the Atlanta Linux Fest and got to hang around people of various knowledge levels of Linux. Attended a few panels and took part in a very enjoyable wrap-up. Back to the hotel for a very fun and sociable after party where I made a lot of friends and aquaintences. Definetly planning to go back next year. The one good thing this gave me is that my passion for computers, which had been dormant for a few months, is now back and better than ever. Hopefully giving me some impetus to maneuver towards a job in computers.
September 6th, 2009
Working security at a hospital, you see your fair share of people either chemically (alcohol, drugs) or psychologically impaired. As such, these persons tend to use foul language as part of their vocabulary. For me, I see two differences in this. First, if the person is just cursing at nothing in particular, an attempt is made to have them refrain from using the vocabulary, understanding they might not be in their right mind. Second, if the person is directing their foul language at a person or persons in particular, then they are being rude and have no respect for the people that are trying to help them. As such, the second person does not get much sympathy from me.
Important to note, that when I am dealing with someone who is cursing, I remind them of their language. At the same time, I ensure that I do not raise my voice to much or impart needless aggression in my statements. There is always the wish to try and bring the level of discourse up to a higher level, even when the other party wishes not to. I always try and face aggression with a pillar of serenity, so if I have to use physical means, I am doing it with no malice in my heart.
September 5th, 2009
Went to see G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra for a second time. This marks the second movie I've seen more than once in the past few months. The other one was Star Trek, and I think I know the reason why. With some movies, you can enjoy the performance of the actors and be able to draw yourself into the move. These two movies to me though seemed like the actors were having fun and had love for the parts they were playing and the material they were representing. I plan to get the DVDs for these respective movies when they come out, because with the cast having fun, I was able to have fun also.
August 28th, 2009
Events in the past few weeks have had me looking internally a bit more than I normally do. One thing that has come up is a desire to have a hobby. While my wife has noted that computers seem my hobby, it is admittedly one that doesn't feed my artistic side. As such, I am starting to take an interest in drawing. My drawing skills are non-existent, and I look at this as a challenge. Hopefully with time and practice, my skills will improve and I can do something productive. Time will tell.
August 26th, 2009
One thing I constantly do working security is confront people. Sometimes, these people get angry or upset when I do. I always make sure that no matter how angry they get, that I have serenity in my heart. The moment I have feelings to use my position to do something to these people for what they have done to me, I am losing that which I strive for as a Zen Buddhist. So earlier this morning when the supervisor and I were discussing this, I talked about the conflict. He said that it will eventually happen, and I will learn to deal with it. I respectfully disagreed with him and told him that the day it happens is when I need to find another job. Because if I engage, be it verbally or physically with someone and do it with the intent of "getting back" at them, then I am on a ruinous road. Hopefully, that will never happen.