Tralfaz

Month: November 2013

  • Apple lameness – Python edition

    I am an Apple person, fully vested, using their computers, their devices, and in general I am very satisfied. But I just had a bad experience, and I need to vent.

    I upgraded a few weeks ago to OS-X 10.9 (AKA “mavericks”, and it has gone reasonably well. However, 10.9 seriously broke python. First, Apple is always 2 or 3 releases behind. Usually not a big deal, as I am not on the bleeding edge, more of a hobbyist.

    But 10.9 broke it badly. Like it was throwing segmentation faults non stop, and pretty much unusable. Hell, I couldn’t even load the built in math module without it tossing a segmentation fault.

    I had set up my python the way I like it, I added the good packages (Apple does include numpy, but they miss a lot of other very useful modules) I use. Took me some time to get it all setup the way I like it, and they frigging broke it.

    Sigh, so I spent about 6 hours yesterday. Installing and compiling 2.7.6 which fixes what Apple broke. That required reinstalling the command line tools. Then I had to update and install numpy, scipy, matplotlib, and about 2 dozen prerequisites for these modules. Grrrr. That seriously interrupted my drinking time…

    I almost decided to go back to using EPD, but I know that pretty much sucks. Sigh.

    Apple does so much well, but when they mess up, they mess up mightily. I hope they fix this soon.

    (Oh, and the newest version of matplotlib has the XKCD graph styles. Totally worth the upgrade…)

  • Back on Spotify

    A couple months ago, I took the plunge. I canceled my Spotify premium account, and was grooving on the Apple iRadio option on iTunes. While I missed the “on demand” library, I thought that the radio stations on iTunes radio were great, with a very good algorithm at grouping songs in genre’s and subgenre’s.

    But a couple weeks ago I reactivated my Spotify premium membership. It was an easy decision, as with the launch of iTunes 11.0.3, the version that brought the radio, it also brought a version that was a buggy piece of crap.

    It used to be that the Windows version if iTunes sucked, but the Mac version was pretty solid. But this changed that equation for the worse. Instead of fixing the windows version, now the Mac version is garbage. It crashes, it hangs (I have force quit that program more times than I can count), it uses huge amounts of processor time (often pegging one processor), and in general it just sucks.

    Yes, the radio stations on Spotify are less awesome, but at least their software doesn’t make my machine whimper and crash.

    I will continue to listen to iRadio, but Spotify will remain a monthly charge. And I get all their on demand music that I don’t get on iTunes.

  • Caffeine free 1 Month

    Hi, I am a coffee-aholic, and it has been 4 weeks since my last date with the evil bean. I have a love hate relationship with coffee. I didn’t start drinking the evil brew until my 3rd year of university. Since then, I have been on and off the bean, often going several months before I break down and tuck into a mug of jo’.

    Like any true addict, as the effect begins to wane, I crank up the quantity that I consume until it adversely affects my sleep patterns. Then I need to go cold turkey.

    I am now 1 month into a caffeine free period, and I just made it through an intense week of sales meetings and training, usually the highest stress, least sleep week for me. And I survived it without resorting to the bean (but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t mightily tempted).

    I know that it is a matter of time until I fall off the wagon, but until then, I will be living coffee free.

  • Drive thru culture goes too far

    This is America, the place where the drive through was invented, and perfected. We expect to get our food instantly, coffee and donuts at any time without having to leave our cars.

    However, I have noticed some people who are slavish to the drive through culture.

    When cycling, on the weekend mornings, I ride by a Starbucks with a drive through. There are often 15 or 20 cars in line at the drive through. So, assuming 90 seconds per car, you are looking at 15 – 20 minutes minimum to get your coffee. Why on earth would you not just park and walk in? I don’t think I ever waited more than 5 minutes in line at even the busiest Starbuck’s I have been in.

    I occasionally will stop and grab a donut on the way into the office (Yeah, I know, they are bad for me). They have a drive through, and it usually takes about 30 seconds from ordering to driving away with my satchel of fat pills. Last Friday, I had a hankering, and got stuck behind a behemoth SUV who was ordering 3 dozen donuts, picking them out individually, and then they finally paid with a credit card. Really? Just park your damn SUV and walk in for that. Sheesh.

    But I often see people idling in queue, waiting on their takeout order.

  • Why I rarely use car washes

    When I bought my Stewie, I made the commitment to keep it clean. I washed it every week, waxed it typically once a month (give or take) and polished/sealed the paint every year. I have all the gear, and all the chemicals to do this, and I actually enjoy it.

    However, lately I have been pretty busy, and my schedule has slipped. I have gotten lazy, and there is a pretty decent hand wash place nearby. My time is valuable enough that it is worth the $15 to get my car cleaned. They do a good job, and take pretty good care of the finish. Not as good as my three bucket wash, but it is a good compromise.

    But it reminds me of what I hate about commercial car wash places. They have a “greeter” who keeps trying to up-sell you. Are you sure you don’t want the VIP wash for $12 more? “no”. But it comes with a free exterior wash in a week. “no”. How about a hand wax/detail? “no”. You can bring it back for it later if you are in a hurry… “no”.

    Now, I get that they are comped on how much they sell, and I appreciate the effort. But, the third time I decline, GIVE UP THE GHOST and move on.

    And then there are the vultures who want to repair your windshield. For the record, I have several repaired dings in my windshield (hey, I live in Arizona, the capital of cracked windshields), and it never fails that they zero in on me to offer their services. They are almost worse than the greeters.

    At least the team of finishers do a great job, and are appreciative of the few bucks I toss at them as a tip.

    It is time to get back in the habit of washing my cars myself. I need to lay in some supplies, but that is cheap.

  • Soccer Moms imperiling their kids

    Quick post today. This morning, I almost got creamed by a soccer mom dropping her precious kid off at school. She ran a red light to “beat the rush” to enter the local Basis school.
    Fortunately, I had anticipated the idiocy, and had my foot hovering on the brake.
    Basis schools are charters, who are selective in their admissions, looking for the bright stars. And from what I know, they do well.
    But the parents of those bright stars are pretty dim indeed in their driving.

  • F*cking Marketers

    Somewhere, I coughed up my email address. It could have been to access a report, or a datasheet, or something. I used to be naive and think that they wouldn’t spam the shit out of me.

    But I was wrong.

    I get a constant stream. People looking to sell me mailing lists for “decision makers in IT software”, “SAP users”, “Oracle Users”, etc. I get 2 to 3 a day, and I always look for the “opt out” or unsubscribe option.

    About 2/3 of the time, the “opt out” or “unsubscribe” messages bounce. Those people get reported as spammers immediately. Alas, whoever harvested my email address continues to resell that.

    I hope there is a special ring of hell for people who do that.

    As a marketer myself, I know the temptation to use harvested emails for all sorts of usage. But I have a simple test. Would I personally like to get this message? If the answer is no, then I don’t use it. Seems simple.

    Alas, the world is full of scumbags.

  • Arthritis sucks

    Not sure where it came from. Perhaps it was playing too much guitar, or all the motorcycle/bicycle riding I have done over the years. Or it is just bad luck, but the arthritis in my left thumb sucks.

    I started noticing it a few months ago. When I started cycling again seriously (more than once a month 😉 ) I noticed that my left thumb was sore afterwards. It has gotten progressively worse, until in early September I went to my doctor. X-Rays showed a deterioration of the cartilage in my left thumb (boo) and a bone spur. Put me in a spica splint, told me to take 800mg of vitamin I twice a day, and if it didn’t get noticeably better in two week, to go to a specialist.

    Needless to say, it didn’t magically improve, so off to a specialist I go.

    There I get more x-rays, and a really shitty piece of news. There is virtually NO cartilage left in my left thumb, there are multiple bone spurs, and while the bone spurs will likely wear down (and thus the discomfort will reduce somewhat), my thumb will never be good again. This time I get a custom make spica splint for my thumb to wear while sleeping, and I still take shedloads of vitamin I.

    After that first appointment with the specialist, I will admit that I had to sit in my car and cry. My thumb (and by extension hand) will NEVER be good again. I go back in 6 weeks to check on it, and if it isn’t better (and the Dr. said that was a stretch), it would be time for cortisone shots. That should control the discomfort. But the cartilage is gone for good.

    Today, I tried playing guitar. Good news/bad news. I have done enough practicing in the last few months that some of my speed and chops were coming back. Bad news is that the thumb pain is pretty bad while playing. I fear it is just a matter of time until I will have to put my axes in the case and give up playing.

    I am too damn young for this shit.

  • Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks – re-learning linux

    One of the reasons that I have contemplated often the jump to a VPS for my web hosting was the freedom to do what I wanted. That was always balanced by a bit of fear that I might f*ck up my VPS linux installation.

    I had played with linux often, in the past, but never seriously. It ran a firewall on my home network back when I had an ISDN line, and I had built some inside the firewall file servers with old RedHat linux. But that was child’s play. Going VPS means I am out there on the internet, and I am responsible to not mess it up.

    Gulp.

    I have been up and running for a month now, and nothing serious has happened. Fortunately, the VM is pretty well configured out of the box. I haven’t had any real issues with the box (apart from needing to restart Apache a couple of times). And I am enjoying “remembering/relearning” how to do the basic things again. I still am fearful that I will blow it in a big way, but by and large, as long as I keep it patched, and keep all the software I am running up to date I feel confident that I will be OK.

    I still worry about a SHTF event, and I will be instituting a backup process on a weekly basis. But, so far, it has been a positive experience.

  • Apple- What Happened – iTunes

    For years people, knowing I am an Apple fan, have grumbled about iTunes and how much of a POS it is. And for years, I have responded back that “It’s way better on the Mac”, because the Windows version has been a veritable homeless abortion in all its incarnations. Yes, by the time it was in version 9, it was getting cumbersome to navigate, but at least it was solid and reliable on the Mac.

    Version 10 fixed a lot of the navigation, and capabilities, particularly for those of us with 17K songs or more in our collections.

    Version 11 was fine too. But then the iOS 7 launch happened, and iTunes was updated to support it. Now it is a crashy, bug ridden, processor hogging program, especially on my Mac’s. Sigh. Now I have to apologize to my Windows friends who I have been telling that iTunes works fine on a Mac to.

    Because it fucking sucks even on the mac now. I find myself force-quitting it 2 – 3 times a day it seems. Grrrrrrr.