The test part 2

Well it's been a while since I installed Ubuntu and decided to see what it can do against Vista and to be honest I haven't really used it all that much. It was pretty easy to drop back into the old Windows habit and dismiss this Linux distro altogether. It's not that I have anything against Ubuntu or anything, I'm just more comfortable with the way things are in Vista.

For instance:

You want to download and try out a piece of software in Windows so you download it and click "install" and everything is done through the Windows installer.

Now try that in Linux. You download a "tarball" then type in several lines of code to get the program to install.

Most regular PC users, like myself, have very limited knowledge of running code to get anything done. I would imagine that if I did a bit more practicing it would seem perfectly natural to me.

I haven't really given Linux a fair shake at convincing me that it's ready for the mainstream Windows users to give it a try so I guess that means it's back to the drawing board on this one. Besides, I do like the idea of open source, free software that is capable of getting the job done.

The test

Thanks to the wonders of Microsoft, I had a catastrophic system failure this weekend that caused me to reformat my hard drive and reinstall my operating system. I've always wanted to try a Linux based system but I have too many Windows only programs and, frankly, I've been using Windows for so long that I was a little nervous trying something different. Since all my data, except the music from another hard drive, was lost I decided to partition my hard drive and install Vista Home Premium on one 90GB partition and Ubuntu 8.04 (the Hardy Heron) on the other 90GB.

It's only been 2 days since I've installed both operating systems, but so far I'm leaning toward the ease and speed of Ubuntu. I already know what Vista can do, so I'll be spending the next few weeks playing with this operating system to see if Linux can really do everything that Windows can.

Bradley

Until this morning I worked with a guy that I thought was a fairly decent person - we'll call him Bradley, it reminds me of a song.

The heating and air company I work for/am part owner of is fairly small.  We have two full time installation crews, three service techs, and a few office people in varying support roles for a total of 12 people.

Just after Christmas this year Bradley started acting a little strange. Showing up late without calling, calling in sick 2 or 3 days in a row, missing work, etc. On one particular day when the office called him to see when he was going to get to his first call he told J that he was quitting. Winter time is fairly slow in the HVAC business in GA but we really liked this guy so we brought him into the office to see what was going on.

Bradley apparently wasn't getting enough hours and could barely afford his car payments, mortgage, and child support so he was heading off to greener pastures.

While he wasn't the best technician we'd ever seen, and it was slow enough that we could do without him until summer, we wanted to keep him around if we could. The Boss, the Fox Hunter, and I sat down to try to come up with a plan to help him out.  We guaranteed him a certain number of hours a week, some of which came out of my paycheck, and loaned him enough money to get caught up. He stayed.

Two weeks ago he rear ended a woman because someone cut her off and he was following a bit too close.  No one was hurt and he told us he was going to work out of his personal truck for the rest of the day. When J called to ask him when he'd be ready to roll, he sort of freaked out and went home. He stayed home the next day claiming that he was too sore to work - after a doctor released him to come back the day before. We didn't say a word about it. Wednesday came and Bradley stayed home again. The Boss told him that if he was hurt he needed to go back to the doctor and get checked out. Turns out he had pneumonia.

He stayed out through the weekend and came back to work last Tuesday or Wednesday. Everything seemed cool until yesterday. He didn't call in first thing and he wouldn't answer his work cell or his home phone. Naturally we were a bit concerned. By the end of the day we were pretty sure he was going to quit. Again.

This morning The Boss called Bradley at home and got him on the phone. According to J this is how the conversation went:

Boss: "How are you?"

Bradley: "Good. You?"

Boss: "I guess we're done then?"

Bradley: "Yup."

Boss: "Bring me your keys to the office, keys to the van, phone, and company credit card."

Bradley: "OK."

No call. No show today either.

This whole thing bothers me on two different levels, personal and professional. Here's a guy that was down on his luck, of his own doing in my opinion, and we bent over backwards to keep him employed when we didn't have to have him. Yet we loaned him money interest free and with no paperwork attached just like you would loan money to a close friend or family member. We guaranteed him a certain amount of money a week even though the company could suffer for it. And what do we get in return? Us having to call him to see if he was still working for us. It's crap.

I believe that no matter what your reason for quitting a job - don't like it, money, want to change careers - you owe it to yourself and the people you work for to have the stones to come in and quit face to face. I would rather an employee come to me and say "I hate this place, so I'm out of here" than to just lay out until we call and try to figure out what's going on.

We still don't know what Bradley's deal is, but I do know that there's only one word I can come up with to describe the way he handled this thing - Chickensh*t.

And speaking of signs

Who was the pretentious idiot who started naming businesses with _____ a restaurant or _________ a taqueria?  If someone can't figure out what your business is by the name, maybe it's time for a new name.  ___________'s Steakhouse, Jane's Bar and Grill(no E please), etc.

Jackassery

's

If there's one thing I really can't stand to see when I'm driving through town is a sign that is either spelled wrong or has an apostrophe where it doesn't belong.  I don't know why, but a misplaced apostrophe drives me mad enough to not patronize someone's business if I see their sign soon enough.  Take "Hot Wing's Cafe" for instance.  Is it possible that the owner is a very attractive Asian person named Wing?  Maybe.  Is it also possible that, being so beautiful, he or she has been nicknamed "Hot Wing"? Not likely, but possible.  If this is, in fact, the case then I humbly apologize to Wing.  Otherwise, change the sign! Those wings don't own anything, neither do those boiled peanuts for that matter.

For most of you reading this, all 3 of you, this isn't such a big deal.  But it drives me absolutely crazy to see such a failed grasp of one of the easiest punctuation rules in the English language.  Does it own something? Yes. Apostrophe.  Is it a contraction? Yes. Apostrophe.  That pretty much boils it down right there. Or, if you will, that pretty much boil's it down right they're. 

Greetings from Maine

Well, the trip to Boston for the game was a blast. My day started at 5:00 AM. It was actually a little brutal - At the airport at 7:00, land in Boston at 11:15, wait for luggage till noon. Then to the rental car place for a bit of a cluster then straight to TDBanknorth Garden to watch the Thrashers win the game with 18.7 seconds left. Then back to the car for a drive north to Augusta to see grampy. Check into the hotel at 8:00 then off to dinner. It was definitely a whirlwind day that was worth every minute of stress and exhaustion.

A minute about the fans in Boston. Several people talked to us on our way out of the arena. All of them were absolutely awesome. Even though their team just lost to ours, they were all asking us about our trip and wishing us a good stay in Boston. Class acts.

And then there was this guy. Last year when we went to see a game at Madison Square Garden we ran into another Thrashers fan. He was from Atlanta but going to school in Boston so he decided to come up to the Garden. When we got home we went to a game at Phillips and saw him again. It was a little strange, but understandable since he was on spring break. So here we were sitting in the Boston Garden and guess who plops down next to me to say hi. 15,000 people in the arena and he's sitting two sections over from us. Freaked me out just a little bit.

So now it's Sunday morning and the day is looking beautiful out the window. Highs in the 40s and lows in the 20s. Gonna go see grampy for lunch and then take in some sights.

Spatters gets a little culture

Classical music is something I know very little about.  It was never played in our house when I was growing up and we never really had any exposure to it at all.  Then I married one of the members of the ASO chorus.

Over the last few years I've been to a handful of symphony concerts to see my wife perform.  Usually on a Thursday or Friday night because Saturdays were sold out.  Except for one show, I was by myself every time.  So there I was, tired from a long day at work, sitting alone and listening to music that I had never heard before.  It's not hard to imagine me maybe nodding off a time or two.

Then along comes John Adams and his violin concerto with the lead violin played my Midori.  Once again I was alone, since no one would go with me, and sitting in row K of the orchestra pit - horrible place to sit.  This piece of music rocked my world.  I sat there fascinated for 35 minutes.  If you want to hear a sample of it you can find it at Adams' website earbox.  Just search through his works and click on Violin Concerto(1993).

During the intermission I hooked up with a friend who was there and we snagged some seats in the loge for the second set. Once again I was floored by the music. I may not have enjoyed the second and third pieces quite as much if I had been alone.  Sitting next to a true music fan helps a little sometimes.

So finally, after 3 years of going to the symphony, I have been truly moved by a piece of music.  There were other concerts I enjoyed, but nothing that had me up at 8:30 on a Sunday morning looking for sound bytes of that first piece so I could remember being there.

A little late in life, but I may just be starting to get it.