Angry Learner

Build or Buy?

Having this blog makes me to write my own weblog software.

There are features I want but aren't yet in TypePad and I would like to code more (at work, I spend more time on the phone than coding), but in the scheme of things, writing weblog software for an audience of one doesn't seem like a good use of my time. But it would be fun.

Duncan predicted this inner conflict when I revived my blog. And writing his own blog software (Dan did as well) worked out well for him. If I did it, I would write it in Rails, which brings up the deployment question and which Rails host to use. As far as I can tell, there aren't any good ones (reliable and easy to use).

At least with TypePad, I don't have to worry as much about software bugs or uptime issues - they have a vested interest in making sure the service works and is available; paying customers, WordPress and Blogger make sure of that.

Oh well.

Hip Hop Hypocrisy

The Black Eyed Peas are headlining the 2006 Honda Civic Tour and part of the promotion is the Black Eyed Peas' Custom Civic Hybrid, apparently because the Peas are cool and socially relevant, etc. because of their concern for the enviroment vis a vis the Civic Hybrid.

Yet, just last February, the Peas performed in a event to build brand buzz for GM, specifically HUMMER. will.i.am is described as a "a passionate HUMMER owner who had called General Motors to discuss the possibility of partnering for a special event".

HUMMERs and hybrids don't mix. You can't have it both ways.

Rants from an Airport

Notes to airport authorities:

Buy toilets that flush correctly. Do not have it flush while I am sitting on the seat. When it does come time to flush, do not have it flush so much water that it sprays beads on the seat. We all know what I am talking about here. Clearly, toilets can be designed so that they don't do these things. If they can't, then don't make them automatic. Maybe airport management has secret non-flushing, non-spitting toilets and does not know the plight of the traveler. BTW, we aren't just talking about one airport here...almost every airport with automatic toilets suffers from this stupidity.

Enhanced security procedures (as the intercom keeps telling me) are in effect. Does not mean just glancing in my trunk? How can that help? They don't look under the car, they don't look in the spare tire, they don't examine the 40 lbs. bag of dog food in the trunk, either. What are they looking for that I have to submit to a search just to park in short term parking?

If the illusion of security is what they are going for, I see the illusion.

The pay phone behind me keeps going ding. Not ring, but just ding. I may dismantle it before I finish this post. It is maddening. I would move, but I have a power outlet here. The period in between dings appears to be random as well. I wonder how much the phone company paid for that feature.

These benches are horrible. They are concrete with a blue, rubber coated lattice with holes just about the size of those in a six pack. It is numbing on the posterior.

The water fountains do not work.

There are giant red pillars in the baggage claim area. They added them during the airport remodel. They appear to have no structural significance - if they were just structural, then they could be MUCH smaller. But they aren't. They are at least four foot in diameter and are spaced in such a way so that you have to dance back and forth from one side of the claim area to another to be able to see across the area. What a waste.

Ding.

The airport authority is running a sale on parking deck parking. Now $6.50 instead of $10 per day. How about you not run sales and just charge us a lower price everyday? How about posting the price for long term parking at the entrance to the parking deck? Since when did quasi-governmental entities start having sales?

Ding.

Kim's flight has arrived. I hope that there is no followup rant from a restaurant.

Rants from a Mall

Well, not exactly from the mall itself, but from the parking lot:

Having stop signs for traffic trying to get out of the mall, while having no stop signs for traffic getting in is dangerous and stupid.

Trying to brand a mall with the developer name, like SIMON, is idiotic. I don't care who manages the mall as long as the stores are there and the location is good. Perhaps their idea of branding a mall that you can associate it with cleanliness and safety, which fails spectacularly with McCain Mall in North Little Rock.

Perhaps they want to sell more dumb gift cards. I returned a package of really poor quality and finish socks to JC Penney. I had a gift receipt. I got $6.75 on a gift card. They supposedly could not give me cash.

Gift cards are stupid, too. They make no sense (Will pointed this out to me). You lose them and you can't get the money back. You can only use them at the one place (or mall, in the case of SIMON gift cards), and they usually expire. How is this a gift? Now I have to keep track of $6.75 that I cannot unchunk and put with my other money.

I thought I had gotten all of the giftcards out of my life with Hastings (where we sell you overpriced CDs and have a lousy book selection - did we mention that we package used DVDs so that it looks like new ones for sale at what should be new DVD prices?).

Best Buy, Office Depot and Circuit City all lost sales tonight. Best Buy because of the relentless offers for help. (Meanwhile, I heard what help meant; not having any clue about their laptop selection. I would have helped but I am not going to be party to a HP or Compaq purchase. They are stupid and heavy.) Office Depot lost a sale because some really high pitched noise kept going off in the middle of the store. Circuit City required me to physically plug my ears while in the store so that I was not pummeled by bass from their car stereo area. (Yes, the entire store).

I came down on this trek to get the hole in the Civic's exhaust replaced, only to find out I need new tires, and that the Honda dealer does not sell them. Which means I have to get new tires at a tire dealer and then take the Honda back down to Sherwood/North Little Rock to get the car aligned, because no tire dealer has the brains to align the Honda correctly. One once asked, was this car in an accident? No, you have no clue, I almost said...

Combos at Back Yard Burgers cannot include lemonade as your drink choice without an extra charge. Nowhere is this on the menu. Plus, it is inconsistent. Last time I was in there, they were friendly and accommodating. This time, they were indifferent, inattentive and not too friendly. At least the sandwich was good.

Back to JC Penney for a moment. I hate the escalator scheme. You have to walk around and around to get to the right one because they want to dump you in the back of the store as often as possible so that you have to shop your way out. I would have gone postal with that and the gift card if not for Calling Elvis playing on the ever present department store music system. Why couldn't they have at least played that at Circuit City?

Back to Compaq...Almost everything they sell is called iPaq. Lowercase "i". Please, get your own original marketing gimmick.

Netgear...What the hell were you thinking? Your new hubs and switches have the ports on the back. They used to be on the front. How are you supposed to mix old and new hubs and switches? Also, these new hubs & switches seem to have fewer informative status lights, than the old one. Look, don't change it unless it is going to actually improve things, OK?

Last one. Why can't I buy a digital video recorder (or PVR as it has been termed) without some kind of ridiculous subscription? You would think that companies would create a killer entry level device so that they could upsell into the service. I just want a digital VCR, minus the cassette. I want a big chunk of storage that I can just record, play, delete without having to mess with tapes. Build in VCRplus as well so I can program it with my TV schedule that comes in the paper. All these companies want some kind of lock in. Why would I lock into a service that I don't want with a company that isn't even profitable at a price that is almost the cost of the recorder itself? They have no idea where the value is.

Enough already. Time to go to the airport.