I have a big dirty secret

I run a mac lab, a lab full of Apple computers, and yet I am in no way, shape or form, a mac lover.

I am pleased as punch that because my lab is full of macs, my job rarely requires me to do any OS trouble shooting. But I have a PC at home and that ain't ever gonna change.

I hate alot of Apple products. I think Itunes blows giant chunks. I don't want it coming anywhere near my giant MP3 collection and turning files that will play on almost anything into files that only work on it's stupid program. I use Winamp instead. It's easy, doesn't require me to convert everything into a library before it will play it. I just right click on my PC and enqueue into playlist.

I don't own an Ipod. I have an Archos Gmini that I love love love. I just drag and drop files into it's music folder and tada- they play. It holds a charge for damn near forever (I think I last charged it for a few hours a week or so ago, maybe) and I can make playlists super quick on the device without sacrificing precious file space for a giant stupid program (hello Itunes- I'm talking to you!)

And now, proof that Apple isn't the shiny alternative to PC's that Mac freaks like to claim it is. The Iphone- that shiny piece of overpriced plastic that geeks lined up for (dumbasses) has been hacked to work on any GSM network. So Apple issues a software update for the phone that effectively kills all the phones that have been hacked.And this is all after Apple had to give 100 bucks back in credit to the early Iphone buyers to make up for the price dropping by 200 bucks just after its release-but that $100 credit can't be used at the Itunes store- you want content for your shiny new phone- you're gonna have to pay cash just like everybody else.

Nice. Makes me want to kick the dark haired geek boy from the "Hi I'm a Mac" commercials. But mostly it makes me feel really superior to those bright eyed Mac fanatics. Suckers.

UPDATE: Could I use the word shiny any more? Seriously, may be time for me to buy a fucking thesaurus.

Damn

I don't remember ever seeing Clinton get pissed off like this when he was prez. I feel a little flushed watching that. I think I may need a cold shower or a cold drink (righteous anger directed towards hypocrites and cowards does that to me)

MMM tastes like bronchitis!

I got knocked on my ass by some evil flu bug. I am just chock full o' snot. Nice huh. I haven't had a bug like this since I was a perpetually dieting teenager. As a much younger version of myself, I lived on salads and water and 4 (yes 4) hours of exercise everyday.

And I got sick alot. I had bronchitis all the time and walking pneumonia a few times. I was always hacking up a lung. I came to know the difference between a cold and being really sick with bronchitis - it tastes different. And right now I taste like bronchitis.

So I went to hall my sorry ass down to the drugstore. It's less than half a mile. A short walk that I make everyday. But I could barely get out the door. Thank god for my neighbor, she pulled in just as I was walking out and drove me.

So I had to buy something with suddafed in it. Not just regular suddafed though cause suddafed all by itself will actually turn post nasal drip into something more bronchial. I needed a suddafed/ guifinasen (I don't know how to spell that- it's what Robitussin is made of)combo.

Pre- scary meth days, this was an easy task. Go to drugstore- peruse cold isle. Buy medicine. Now I had to spend 20 minutes getting my id checked, signing my life away on a broken computer pad and arguing with the overworked pharmacist when he tried to sell me the name brand version that was $13 more than the generic.

All while running a fever. Nice.

Do we really think that locking suddafed up behind pharmacy counters is stopping meth from being made? No. We're just making sick people grumpy.

That is all I got for now.

Trusted advocates

Deek: White people are so fucking racist!

Me: Fucking boys! Oh my god could they be any worse?

Both of us- talking over each other: Did you hear about the Jena6? What about the girl that was kept in a trailer and raped? She's going to jail for bouncing checks!

You know you are a trusted advocate when someone from an oppressed group (in case you hadn't noticed- Deek's a big black guy with fab locks and I have ovaries)feels comfortable enough with you to bitch about things your group has done to oppress them.

If they feel comfortable enough to talk in front of you then they usually aren't talking about you. If you get the squidgy feeling in the pit of your stomach that they might be talking about you- then examine yourself and your actions before you get defensive. In other words- shut up, listen, think about it- in that order.

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little

So I am taking macroeconomics for the THIRD time this quarter. No I have never failed this class. The only class I ever failed was typing/intro to computers a million years ago and now I type about 60 wpm and tutor people in ... Intro to computers. Maybe I should fail a language course so that 10 years from now I can be an interperter.

I am taking macroeconomics (again) because I keep having to drop the damn course because the ONLY professor who teaches it is such a misogynistic asswipe that I feel like I've run the gauntlet at Tailhook every time I leave his class.

Let's see, in the first 15 minutes of class today we heard a joke about a dumb blonde who couldn't do math and that women are secretly making more money than men. (Who knew? That whole 75 cents on the dollar things is a big freakin lie)

Seriously.

I know that part of my education means learning to sit through and get through classes with jerks. I'm usually pretty damn good about finding subtle ways of of changing right wing proffs opinions through my writing (Hello Dr. L! Thanks for using my papers to lecture from and for the kick ass recommendations you write). But this guy- he is not someone whose opinion can be influenced by a mere student, let alone a student with a set of ovaries (ovaries of steel mind you, but ovaries none the less).

So, what's a girl to do when I have to get through this class (required for my major) but I feel like I need a shower and a machine gun every time I leave it?

Next time

someone accuses me of being an irrational woman- I am so pulling out these quiz results.

What kind of extremist are you? Your Result: Rational Person You consider these questions obvious straw men, designed to distract people from a meaningful investigation of facts and a serious discussion of relevant political issues. How boring.
Left-Wing Extremist
Moderate Extremist
Right-Wing Extremist
What kind of extremist are you? See All Our Quizzes

(I couldn't help but choose the rocket launcher answer even if the rational part of my brain was screaming NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!)

So I go away for a summer and....

The housing bubble bursts.

Totally predictable- the puppet heads on TV don't blame reckless lending practices or the lovely shell game of packaging mortgages so they look lower risk than they actually are, they blame poor people.

Poor people who want to own their own home. Poor people who are doing what they have been told to do all their lives. Work hard, save money, invest in a house because it's the safest, most useful place you can put your money. People who are following the American Dream line that has been force fed to us all. But it's those damn poor people who can't qualify for traditional mortgages that are responsible for the current mess.

Fuck that. If Alan Fucking-I love Ayn Rand- Magic Fixer of the Economy- Greenspan could not predict this bubble bursting- then neither could all those people who don't have fancy degrees in economics or haven't spent their entire careers analyzing how money works.

Though I will say this- all those talking puppet heads on TV may finally make it really clear to the rest of us that the American Dream of the white picket fence was never intended for everybody but it was intended to make us work our asses off and not blame the power elite when all that work doesn't pay off.

Than again, maybe we'll be too busy watching the latest edition of Dancing with the Stars to care.

Meh.