Mixture Posture

Friday, September 18, 2015

Why Did they bother to Offer a Search button

I don't know the answer. When I searched for "Open the Printers window" in this doc, these are the results. The first result even has the word "Printer" in the text of the page! Why take up space on the page with a search field if it doesn't even work?!? Wasteful.

637th Fool

I have zero idea why this page would include a link to that page, especially when considering the story on that page was posted on January 31, 2011.

Night of Champions Prep

This quote:

"No wrestler has fought in more 3-hour PPV events without ever competing for the WWE than Sting has."

came from this page this page.

Finally

It's always interesting how much people that use the Internet think they know about things they do not. Especially when it pertains to movies that are being filmed, theories are always being floated. I have been paying attention to the upcoming Star Wars VII movie as well as the Batman v. Superman movie. This page has pulled a possible plot of the SW VII movie out its arse and published. it here.

RN = R

Release notes are equal to the rage around work. There's different ideas about what should be included within them and what should be reverse included. I shared an article with my co-workers - link below - and pointed out that we are doing at least one, if not more, things better than Microsoft: we actually distribute release notes to our customers. We may be trying to feel our way through the appropriate content to include, but we at least realize that it's good to let the customer know what is different in a newly released software version! Here's the link.

Third Place Earns Zilch Primetime Game Starts

With the release of the Iowa Hawkeye men's basketball TV schedule, it's clear to me that no matter how great the season ended last year with its NCAA tournament participation, it wasn't enough. Third place in the Big Ten earned zilch for starting games. Not only does the team not have a Saturday game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, they also do not play in the early slot. Their home games during the week start at 8 PM. There's little likelihood that I will attend any home games during the week with Alex because getting home at 10:30ish on a school night isn't the best choice I can make for him. It's true that he has become a night owl - he was awake at 11 PM last night. Read all of the details here.

Another Odd Anniversary

Yesterday was the 24th anniversary of the release of the "Use Your Illusion I &II" from Guns-n-Roses. I remember when it was released. I was a senior at Mount Mercy College. I was the Arts & Entertainment Editor for the Minstrel, the campus newspaper. I was under a lot of stress and wasn't able to devote a lot of time to fulfilling that role. With a deadline approaching, I created a very short article of about 5 lines. I know I clipped the article from the newspaper and I know it was along the lines of this:

The new releases from Guns-n-Roses are called "Use Your Illusion I & II."

You should buy them.

Is there any more to say?

No.

Told you it was short and sweet. I only recalled this line of thinking because Loudwire, once again, posted an article about the anniversary of its release here. If I would have been involved in this release cycle, I wouldn't have allowed it to go out the way it did. Instead, I would have had a single release with these tracks:

1. "You Could Be Mine" Stradlin, Rose 5:43
2. "Live and Let Die" Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney 3:04
3. "You Ain't the First" Stradlin 2:36
4. "Back Off Bitch" Rose, Paul Tobias 5:03
5. "November Rain" Rose 8:575. "Don't Damn Me" Slash, Dave Lank, Rose 5:18
6. "Civil War" Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan 7:42
7. "14 Years" Izzy Stradlin, Rose 4:23
8. "Yesterdays" Rose, West Arkeen, Del James, Billy McCloud 3:14

9. "Get in the Ring" McKagan, Slash, Rose 5:42

10. "Don't Cry" Stradlin, Rose 4:45
11. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (Bob Dylan cover) Bob Dylan 5:36

I always thought these two releases should have been stripped of the filler....

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

It's Political Seasoning at its Best and Worst

Articles about political candidates that I thought were interesting enough to create a blog post about in case I want to look back at the differences and similarities between all of the current candidates and the filtered version of "all of the current candidates" that are still trying to be elected president in the 2016 election cycle.

Bernie Sanders

Donald Trump

Syrian refugees

Uncategorized

http://www.redstate.com/2015/09/14/become-a-woman-for-free

Automatically Generated Garbage

One of the challenges in my daily work is balancing "automation" and authentically trusting that the software I use (Confluence) will do what I want it to do when I use it the way their documentation tells me to use it. For example, their documentation told me that I could generate a PDF from a Confluence site. Their documentation is correct as the functionality to generate a PDF *does* exist.

What the documentation doesn't tell you is that you can't trust the result of the functionality. I did not glance at any other pages in this PDF. I found the following examples and realized I had content for a blog post. I immediately realized that a promise wasn't broken to the user. The documentation promises that the functionality to generate a PDF from your Confluence site is present. Definitely, that promise is kept. What the documentation doesn't do, though, is tell you that you should spot check the generated output for issues.

I spent less than 5 minutes looking at the content and I found issues. Professional documentation does not have dumb issues. Freely, I admit "professional documentation" is a judgment call so maybe my opposition to how these pages look and read is off-base. That said, I'm not wrong about this. Any professional writer or person that works with content that honestly believes the following are examples of "professional documentation" are flat-out wrong. But that's just my opinion so I could be wrong. Except I'm not. Here's the examples:

Why is the heading row for this table on the previous page? At the bottom of the same page, a graphic doesn't display and, if it did, it appears as though the graphic would be cut off as it extends beyond the page margin.

http://downloads.atlassian.com/software/confluence/downloads/documentation/Confluence_5-8-2_CompleteGuide_PDF_CONF58-010615-0516-8.pdf#page=334

On the very next page, where is the graphic at the top of the page?

http://downloads.atlassian.com/software/confluence/downloads/documentation/Confluence_5-8-2_CompleteGuide_PDF_CONF58-010615-0516-8.pdf#page=335

When I read this ad on Craigslist, David Lee Roth popped into my head. I didn't think about DLR because of his technical writing skills. Instead, I thought about him because of this song:

Here's the ad:

Technical Writer (Port Hueneme, CA)
compensation: Negotiable
employment type: full-time
Requires:
• High School Diploma/GED
• 1-3 years' specialized equivalent work experience
• DOD Background Check
• Full-Time

Candidate must have a good understanding of the work done at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Port Hueneme Division. Requires an above average working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook). Must have an excellent command of the English language, both verbal and written. Must have good knowledge of grammar, composition, spelling, and punctuation. Must use strong writing skills to communicate complex technical and/or Navy/Public policy issues to a diverse audience; this includes writing news releases, articles, talking points, and social media messages. Must be able to effectively manage multiple projects simultaneously.

Functional Responsibility:
Serves as a technical writer and reporter performing facets of journalistic writing styles and supports communications initiatives. Researches, writes, and edits internal and external written products such as magazine/newspaper articles, talking points, statements, speeches, presentations, website material, operations, news releases, fact sheets and other materials for publication or posting electronically. As required, represents customer at meetings, conferences, committees, within Ventura County and with external organizations. Identifies opportunities for positive media coverage. Assists in developing, reviews, and analyzes command communications plan, identifies necessary resources and submits recommendations for customer final approval.

Please visit our career center to apply:
https://workforcenow.adp.com/jobs/apply/posting.html?client=qisolution&ccId=19000101_000001&type=MP&lang=en_US#

Disclaimer:
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned this classification and are not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of employees so classified. Other duties may be assigned. Job Descriptions are subject to change at any time. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, Veteran, or disabled.

Could you ask for any other requirements?!?

Nation of Our Youth

Given that the nation of our youth are continuing to learn how to play music, I think our future will continue to hear brilliance. Personally, in 2000, I was playing with three (at the time) co-workers and, flat-out, I couldn't play the Tool tune that is embedded below. I would get to the end solo and blam! I fell apart. Years later, I saw a transcription of what he's playing and I felt slightly better. There's all sorts of odd time signatures that I freely admit are beyond my drumming abilities.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Progressing DAMN Progressing DAMN (and Repeat)

The title of this post reflects the way I feel about the reconstruction of my music collection. As I've mentioned previously, I have backups scattered across the multiple partitions of my MyCloud drive and, as I've previously mentioned, I am consolidating a lot of folders into a single folder structure. I've not yet begun to weed out duplicate files as I'd like to have a single folder structure first. Once I have that folder structure, I plan to eliminate duplicate files. Then, when I have a single folder structure without duplicate files, I want to purchase a new external hard drive so that I can take music with me back and forth to work.

In the meantime, I tolerate the lack of access to a single folder structure with 100,000 files....

Monday, September 14, 2015

Passing

I think my sobriety (as of today, 4 years, 8 months, 2 weeks) is the only non-5 year anniversary I think about on a yearly basis. Over the weekend, surrounded by tailgating festivities at the UNI v. Eastern Washington game in Cedar Falls and seeing Megan marching on the football field during half-time of the game, I realized I just do not miss drinking booze. I don't miss being hung over or saying or doing or thinking or even writing the stupid things I did for all of those years.

It used to be that anniversaries were celebrated by 5s. Celebrations are often conducted on the 10th or the 15th or the 20th or the 25th anniversary of an event, whether it is related to death (so-and-so died 10 years ago) or life (so-and-so has been married 10 years). Compared to the 7th anniversary of an event, there was no hoopla and no celebrations. Personally, except for knowing the number of years I've been married to Karen (22),

That all said, it seems like the Loudwire website would be intentionally pulling out a random anniversary and writing about it because they need content. And, on the surface, this article about the 7th anniversary of the "Death Magnetic" release from Metallica would fit that generalization. Except this 7th anniversary is significant. Some Metallica fans are upset that the band hasn't churned out a release since "DM" as they grumble about touring overseas and playing festival shows instead of working on new material. They've released a movie, they've released 5 demos - a new tune called "The Lords of Summer" and demo versions of 4 tunes that didn't make it onto the album as "Demo Magnetic" in December 2011. To a lot of fans, they've done "nothing" in 7 years. Of course, as a fan of the band, I don't see it that way. I'd much rather have them take as long as they need than to churn out an album of songs that sound like they didn't need to be released in the first place.

I do wish that more tunes "Death Magnetic" would be played on a regular basis, specifically "All Nightmare Long" and "The Judas Kiss" getting into the setlist instead of (gasp) "Enter Sandman" and "Nothing Else Matters" and yes, I realize those two tunes are what a lot of fans come to hear. But for the fans of the band since hearing "And Justice for All" and earlier releases, I'd much rather hear "Harvester of Sorrow" than "Sad But True," which I like as a tune, but not at the expense of not adding "ANL" and "TJK" to the setlist. I do want to hear "Creeping Death" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" but I don't need to hear "Fade to Black" at the same concert as "Nothing Else Matters" or "The Unforgiven" (or any of its sequels). All that said, I certainly do not envy Lars Ulrich when he is trying to determine what tunes to play.

Familiar

I think I sat by a bunch of "Mark Bogdanski" clones at the Iowa City West football game on Friday night. It wasn't just the spotting of the football that I heard complaints about - pass interference was a common cause of anguished discontent. For the record, Iowa City West was thumped by Cedar Rapids Washington.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Andres

Miss your smile. ...http://m.cedarmemorial.com/Obituary/2015/Sep/Andrew-George/

Friday, September 11, 2015

Holy Buckets of Forgetfulness!!!

One of my recent rediscoveries in life is how damn much Bigwig, that punk band from New Jersey that taught me there are alternates to Green Day's commercialized - no, I'm specifically saying "commercialized" because I like Green Day and would never use adjectives like "bad" or "awful" to describe them - punk rock. Years ago, seeing Bigwig at Gabe's Oasis was beyond awesome. I wrote about their debut on dailyvault.com and the rest of their releases here. I happened to come across a concert on youtube that they played in 2015! I didn't know they were still a band!!!

Never Too Early

... to think about Iowa men's basketball. Since the outing of Todd Lickliter, the excitement that surrounded the hiring of his replacement has yet to dissipate. Fans, like me, go to home games. This article breaks down the keys to a successful season. On top of the reasons cited in the article, I think this season has the makings of a breakout year. The first and fourth game of the season are against MSU, first at home on 12/29, second at East Lansing. Team chemistry will be crucial during both of those games. If team chemistry is there, the outcome could be two victories over Tom Izzo and, of course, without team chemistry, the outcome could be two defeats. Worst case scenario is to split the two games with a win at home at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and a loss on the road. Personally, I'm very excited for the season to commence.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

What We've Got here is [a] Failure to Communicate

I have zero idea what Krauthammer is trying to communicate - it's really confusing.

Did you as a criterion for erasing stuff on the grounds that it is not public, was one of those criteria references to the foundation?’ And if her answer is yes – who knows what it will be? – but if the answer is yes, that’s what she is trying to hide.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

They Screwed Up... Again

http://metalhammer.teamrock.com/features/2015-09-07/how-metallica-ruined-my-life

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Seriously Awful

From http://www.kcrg.com/subject/news/man-seriously-injured-after-falling-off-golf-cart-20150905

"Jessie Philiph, 29, was riding with fell off while riding with two men in the vicinity of Creek Ridge Drive and Meadow Creek Drive in Palo."

The Other Woman

This was harder to take than it should have been.

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Hot

No. 1 Valley topples Iowa City West (Sent from The Gazette) http://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/preps/football/no-1-valley-topples-iowa-city-west-20150905

Friday, September 4, 2015

An Original Fable

Once upon a time, there was a wife whose husband passed away unexpectedly. Soon after his death, she began attending bereavement sessions to help overcome her grief. As time went on, she felt as if she would never get over her husband's death. He had not been perfect, but he was an awesome lover and she missed the way he could make her feel when they were intimate. She had been attending these bereavement sessions for over ten years and nothing was helping her overcome her grief. One afternoon, a couple of hours before a scheduled session, she said to herself, "I am gaining no benefit from going to these sessions. I go week after week and I sit and wish I were somewhere else. I will go to this session tonight but it will be my last one. Because I don't feel a benefit from going, I will stop wasting my time and stop wishing for my beloved husband to come back from heaven. I will be glad when this night is over." Later, at the session, the wife spoke up to the other attendees and stated that after over ten years of grieving for her beloved husband, she was no longer going to attend the sessions. She stated that she realized she would never stop grieving for her late husband and it had taken her over ten years to realize that. The other attendees murmured softly as she said her farewell to the group. At the end of the meeting, after everyone had appeared to leave, the wife locked up the room and turned around. Sitting outside was a woman, sobbing. This woman had sporadically attended the bereavement sessions over the last ten years. While she was not as much of a regular attendee as the wife had been, this woman had never said a word during the sessions. She would sit in the back of the room and listen. Even after a session, this woman had never spoken directly to the wife. The wife knew that this woman had lost her husband around the same time that she had lost hers and had began to attend the bereavement sessions around the same time. Now, this woman approached the wife. "I heard what you said. Did you learn nothing? You still think these sessions are for you?" And with that, the woman walked away from the wife.

The End

Thursday, September 3, 2015

In the Works

This was on Craigslist. I'm trying to set up its purchase today! It's not exactly what I want because it will go in my dock and not be an external hard drive I can take back and forth from home to work.

New Seagate 1TB Desktop HDD SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal - $40

Hi, I'm selling New Seagate 1TB Desktop HDD SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive.
I ordered from Amazone, but I didn't open. Please text me
Thanks.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005T3GRNW?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

I'm to the point where my Cloud drive (at home) has copies of copies of copies of files and I need a fresh location to sort through the chaos. Then, when the chaos has been sorted out, I'll look into a new and portable external hard drive for taking to work for listening to tunes as I work.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

GTR

Wow, does this bring back memories! GTR has been criminally overlooked. No, they were not a major player when they released their self-titled album in 1989.

http://classicrock.teamrock.com/news/2015-09-01/hackett-and-howe-in-gtr-reissue

Memories of the Twins

I was trying to remember a name that I knew Jeremy, my co-worker and guitarist / vocalist in Rattlebox, would know. After telling me the name, we had the following chat:
Me: are you in the Twin Cities?
Jeremy: Yes, that's where we are staying.
me: I have fond memories of downtown Twin Cities for a few reasons.

During my freshman year of [Mount Mercy] college (1988), Karen and I met on a bus trip from CR to Mpls to see the Twins play the Chi White Sox. The guy down the hall from me was from Waukegan, IL, and coaxed me into going. Life-changing.
My brother lives in a northern suburb - Rogers - and we had his bachelor party downtown. I don't remember much except that there's a bar called the Library
In 2012, my friend Kevin and I drove up to see Opeth / Katatonia @ First Avenue. That was a good time.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Seven Days, Seven Awesome Tunes

It's 9:15 PM and I'm organizing the files on my network Cloud drive. On one of the drives, I have 10,735 PDFs. Before feeling impressed, realize that most of these PDFs are copies of copies. I have files called:

2007_02.pdf
2007_02 (2).pdf
2007_02 (3).pdf
2007_02 (4).pdf
2007_02 (5).pdf
2007_02 (6).pdf

Each file is 6,637,345 so when I delete the files above that have a number within the paren, I will free up 39,824,070. I've not done a search on how many (6).* files exist, but I'm assuming, from looking at what I'm looking at, I have a lot.

But all of that is not what I wanted to write about. Instead, I wanted to write that one week from tonight is the Bayside concert at Wooly's in Des Moines. I am journeying to Des Moines with Chris, my friend from QDS. I look forward to both aspects of the evening: the nearly 2 hour car ride conversation and seeing one of my favorite bands live.

The following are the seven songs I really, truly, hope they play next week.

Devotion and Desire
They're Not Horses, They're Unicorns
Blame It On Bad Luck
Montauk
I and I
Masterpeace
The Wrong Way

Resurrecting the Curse and Fishing for Data

Two quick things from my email inbox this AM that warrant a few words.

Sometimes, I wish it were easier to turn off the internal editor / critical thinker / text analyzer aspect of my self that I have nurtured by working as a technical writer for 20 years. In at least one way, it would make life easier as I wouldn't feel compelled to notice websites and writing that are blatantly wrong. Maybe, and I'm just throwing pasta against the wall to see if it sticks, the recent "Back to the Future" marathon on AMC interrupted the writing of the first sentence to the extent that it felt so perfect to write and so comprehensible to the writer that there would be zero need for an editor.
Look at the bottom of this screen capture. See the hyperlink code that is behind the link? Yeah, that's not Bank of America's URL. Someone sent that email in the hope that I would click the link and submit my personal data. Not going to happen!

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