Rampidbyter Rampid byter: A byte of my .Net developing life.

I’ve always found myself pretty easy to deal with race issues. I’ve always tried to see people as the people they are and not the people they could represent, or particular color they represent. It is sometimes hard to overlook, especially when going anywhere urban, the places that I hear the n’ word dropped more times than a greased up pig. It’s incredibly hard to take anyone serious when before ordering any meal has to address a fellow colored person as a n’ word first, followed by what I believe was English, and then expects me as an educated person to respect them. It’s hard to respect anyone who lacks capability to conjugate proper words into a coherent sentence that does not contain racial slurs at the beginning and end of each sentence. I’m serious. I think the words ‘sir’, ‘excuse me’, ‘hello’, and ‘hi’ has been replaced with ‘n*****’ downtown.

It’s hard not to want to fear everyone downtown with all the drug deals that are easily witnessed taking place at gas stations. Anymore I’ve grown so tired of being asked for money by every person in the block that I make sure I’m well fueled before ever going downtown. I saw my first crack deal going on at the gas station up the street from the UC College of Applied Science. The same guy who did the crack deal came up to me while I was fueling, put out his hand to shake mine, and then begin telling me his story of how he needs change for the bus. The week before a toothless white guy came meandering up to my window while I was waiting at the light to head back onto Victory and asked for my change.

I think about the racial semi-rioting going on in New York because of Bell the black man gunned down in a shooting incident with police. Over 50 rounds were fired at three men and Bell, who was getting married the next day, was killed. This triggered a giant hailstorm of condemnation from the black community spearheaded by Al Sharpton and Bell’s fiancé. When the verdict was read that the officers, some of whom were black, were found not guilty a slow-down was called for by Al Sharpton. The city has now gone through protests from the black community against the release of these police officers, and I have to tell you 50 rounds in a minute of firing are not a lot. Between the 3+ officers they shot at the three running men 50 times. These men were not lined up against any walls mind you, but were running away as fast as they could. Between a friend and I we can shoot off 100 rounds, given having loaded clips ready, in probably 40 seconds. I carry a 17 round clip and I can empty it in about five second easily barring any finger cramps. The point is the police had three men running at night, after hearing what appeared to be a plan to commit a felony, and they reacted. They reacted badly as the three men were not armed, at least during that incident, but their criminal records indicate that was not the norm. It was a terrible situation, but it’s becoming the norm to see the entire black community riled up over every single death at the hands of the law.  

Anyway, I guess my point is it’s hard for people to not generalize groups of people. I generalize that most people who live within the confines of downtown are poor crack heads who want my change. I don’t think that just because I see so many black people doing drugs, or acting shifty at a gas station that they’re all like that. That would be retarded, deep-south retarded, and I don’t try to disparage anyone because of where they live.

On the same token I see everyone voting for Barack Obama because he’s black as an outrage. Obama does not represent black people. He just doesn’t. Al Sharpton may think he does, heck he does a great job of pretending to do so, but come on people. I saw an article linked to from CNN.com outlining why it perceived the Democratic race with Obama as the defining question on whether America can get over race. Seriously? I think America already is over race, and I think the racists only represent a small minority of the population. I think we’re all a little raciest. Being patriotic is like being raciest against other countries, I’m racist against anyone who drinks Pepsi over coke, unless it’s mt dew in that case I’m just a hypocrite, but I think to some extent we all are if not just a little. Let’s face it, it’s incredibly easy to be racist, but it’s hard to accept people for who they are. I’m so incredibly tired of being told I’m a racist because I’m white. I’m not sorry that I’m never going to go to the Cincinnati freedom center ever. I’m just not going. I’m not racist I’m just not interested in listening to the story of the struggle yet again for the millionth time in my life. I have a full month every year where I get to hear it again, I have the BET network I can watch it, and I’ve spent my entire childhood being indoctrinated to the idea that half of America was evil. My family owned slaves, I admit it, and I even saw the will in my grandparent’s basement where slaves were given to the next of kin. Does that make me an evil racist? No, at least I hope not, if I was offered a slave today I’d probably say no. Family guy reference there. I just accept people, regardless of color, I’ve been raised to see people as humans not colors, and that’s just how I roll.

I just can’t believe that Obama represents the struggle, or any struggle other than about power. On the same token Hillary does not represent the women’s movement, but that’s a whole other rant. After I read the article on CNN I just couldn’t help but shake my head. It’s terribly easy to see the media moving to back Obama. They’re using the race card to play for votes and support. It’d disgusting, and I would think that is the vilest part about racism. Using anti-racist call to actions to convenience people that if you’re not onboard the Obama train that you’re a racist. This article only seems to paint the picture that if we, as Americans, don’t back Obama then we’re supporting racism. The article deflects a little of this propaganda by bringing up McCain, but for just one line where it mentions McCain having problems at one point with a racial smear, but I think it was just to have his name linked to the page.

In the end of the article mentions that this apparent racial dissent is showing its ugly head in our ability not to accept Obama, and that now we need to hold national conversations on the subject. I quit, I quit the race game. If women can be men by saying they’re men even though they’re pregnant, then I believe our tolerance of being told what to think and accept has reached its limit. I cannot and will not accept this assault on my rationality of the world in which we live. I am not voting for Obama ever. I am not voting for him, not because of his skin color, but because he’s our most liberal voter on record. Obama is so far to the left side of the fence that Hillary looks like Joseph Stalin in comparison.

While waiting in the painfully slow line to check into physical therapy today I couldn’t help but overhear a conversation between a recent high school grad and an older retired P&G employee. The older gentleman was standing there waiting to start therapy and was remarking to the girl, who was wearing a Miami t-shirt that Miami was a great school to go to if you’re going to work for P&G. He mentioned something about all the money they invested in order to build up the business concentrations and how he hoped she was going there for a business major.

The girl turns towards him and was a little giggly remarking that she’s not going for business. In fact she’s going to go to Miami for journalism. Journalism? People still do that? I spent the entire last year in college researching the downfall of the media industry as we know it. I addressed the PEWs internet research, I addressed slumping print sales, and I reviewed a lot of material relating to large media failing to adapt to trends as quickly as individuals news sites. It’s kind of like the principal behind the DrudgeReport vs CNN. You can’t compete with someone with minimal to no overhead getting sources from candidates and individuals who otherwise would fear the large media’s ability to uncover identity. It’s nearly impossible to compete with the journalism that interested non-paid individuals are willing to do just to get information distributed to the masses.

So there I stand half listening to this conversation and half waiting for my turn to sign in. I started thinking about how pricey Miami is as a college, and how this girl was theoretically going to be in college four plus years at about 30k a year. What a waste. The girl didn’t seem overly bubbly with incompetence, and for some reason my better instincts were telling me to butt into the conversation to prevent her from wasting her life. I didn’t though. I figure she’s probably got the money to go or she wouldn’t be, and most people switch majors anyway. I also figure since she’s female and the average number of students who drop out in the first year, and I started to think she’s just going to be another percentage point. It’s kind of a weird reality having gone through college to listen to those students just graduating starting into the same trip.

My reality has been much different from many others. Started out in high school becoming one of the four youngest people to ever work at SDRC, along with my friend Ryan, to randomly taking technology jobs in OH or in AZ. To go from working at a Wendys one summer to working at SDRC the next was a very large jump. It’s not failed to continue its leaps and bounds. Joining Jetsoft, then moving to Lucrum, and now starting a new venture on the side. All the while getting two degrees in five years, when the last degree I obtained was a five year degree mandatory co-op. It’s given me perspective and to some extend made me a little jaded. I guess I need to take a moment reflect, and remember what I was thinking back in the day. I had no idea what I wanted to do, still don’t, so why not journalism. I wish that girl loads of luck, along with the rest of the class of 2008, and I’ll see you all out in the job force.

I started on a new task last Friday, and I thought it was pretty noteworthy. I am working with an industrial plastics injection facility that is going through a pretty arduous and painful transition to an enterprise resource management system. I think I’ve already mentioned my feelings on JD Edwards Enterprise Suck before.

Anyway, I started building a component that I found to be pretty simple to build but apparently is a pretty complex part of the business entity. I started working on a KanBan triggering system that automatically dispatches messages to buyers to either put through orders, or makes them aware that the vendor has fallen through on delivery. Every now and again parts change around, vendors drop the ball, or paperwork does not get received.

So it seems simple enough, get all on order record quantities, get all on hand balances, subtract away parts consumed within a given immanent period (2 weeks maybe), and then just put through a request for a calculated amount. This calculated amount is driven mainly off of the average number of units sold per given period of time (say a year) subtracted current amount demanded, and then offset this number by the current on-hand plus on-order. Baam you have your KanBan trigger quantity if you go under the offset quantity then you’ll want to order the number of calculated quantities calculated to the minimum purchase quantity. Minimum purchase quantity if you’re orders clamps that come in packs of 12 and you need 5 or 800.

That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. You’d be surprised what kind of statistics you can build off this information, if you can gather it together, and you’d be surprised how often or not the KanBan required quantities deviate from expectation. That’s why KanBan is around, but always remembers to assign a certain percentage of risk to each calculation because you could end up over ordering or under ordering, but if you mitigate the risk through the trigger calculated quantity you shouldn’t be too far off.

The one important thing i'll take away from managerial economics is this.

Marginal Revenue = Marginal Costs

I just saved you $2,000 and 10 weeks of your time.

I hate to say it but I announce I officially quit graduate school.

I can’t help but consider the overwhelming cost that would be out of pocket to complete the degrees. I’m looking at another 56,000 to complete another two years of the degree. My current employer doesn’t find any value in continuing education, and puts more emphasis on internal groups/communities than continuing education. For that matter my company doesn’t even count gaining certifications towards my contribution towards the company.

I’ve taken a relatively staunch stance on the subject. The company wants to use my Microsoft certifications towards the Microsoft Gold partnership, yet won’t count them towards my internal contributions for the year. For that matter the company never paid for them in the first place while working there. I don’t think I should be required to provide my ID for association to the company for something the company did not count to my benefit on the review. Perhaps I’m being too hard line on the subject. I’d be open to hear other opinions on the subject.

I have another certification coming soon that I’ve taken on my shoulders. It sometimes feels like all the years I’ve gone to school/college have conditioned me so that learning doesn’t amount to anything until I’ve taken a standardized test to validate my having learned the subject. It’s strange how we can look at our own behavior after such a long period of formal education. I sometimes compare myself with another associate who went an entirely different education route. The contrasts are sharp, but at least we’ve both the bandwidth to understand one another.

The end of school also carries with it a beginning to something new. There has been a new company formed that I’ll be putting my energy into getting off the ground. I’ve devoted all my spare time, my weekends, and anything in-between in order to help. If it takes 100 hours a week I’ll gladly give it up to support the new venture. That is the one good thing I can say I’ve gained from having been a consultant. While working as a consultant you tend to lose focus on exactly what company you’re working for, you can develop an attachment to clients, and it’s too easy to become vested. I can see a lot of older consultants in the field have managed to master the idea that a consultant is just a wrench that works on many different machines. The wrench may belong to many different toolboxes during the period they’re useful, and eventually the consultant knows they are belong to nothing. Silly pun intended.

It should be an eventful summer what with having the client, parent company, and new venture all going together. I’m going to be very tired but I can say I’m energized by the prospects. If it works it works, if it doesn’t work, I can always try again, but either way it will be more income coming in. I think we’ll be able to do a lot of neat new things, no attachments, and there is so much opportunity it’s incredible. I’m looking forward to this new step. I’m a little sad to see school leaving my life, maybe if I get enough money in the future I’ll take a PhD program for fun, but until then I’m walking away with my two degrees.

There were two things of interest this past day, the first being dining at Carlo & Johnnys last night, and the second being the business that was started yesterday. Carlo & Johnnys at first had the air of pretentiousness as we walked into the door the clientele were a little stuffy, but they seemed friendly enough. There was a mix from businessmen to a wedding party that was there to have a nice dinner. I had the most fantastic Kentucky Bison, medium rare, which was the tastiest steak I’ve had in some time. The creamed corn was terrible though, but that was ok Chuck found it delectable. I was more or less concentrating on the au-gratin potatoes that were superb. I can’t leave out the Caesar salad that unbelievably topped that of Trios. I left overly stuffed and satisfied. The Bison steak being the surprise winner of my ‘yum’ awards, and who would have thought Kentucky had Buffalo?

The second big news was the starting of a new company. After a speedy visit to the lawyer from the client site a new company was embarked upon, after a two week period for the papers to be filled and hopefully will present itself as a full time task for me. It was from there to another quick stop to visit a friend at a local banking office to setup the business accounts. All told everything was handled in about an hour, paper work is being created, NDA forms drafted, freelance/employee confidentiality agreements, and the reviewing of my non-compete agreement to ensure legality without the chance for possible lawsuits. All told it was an extremely eventful day and I’m beyond anxious to get started. I will post more details on the company once the papers are filed and any legal issues are addressed next week.

I realized again today just how lazy web surfers are these days. I was viewing a site listing out some dedicated hosting options and I go to this new site. The next thing I know this pop up window appears saying I’m connected to a live chat assistant. Congratulations www.rackspace.com you’ve mastered the convenient technology called live chat now if you’d be so kind shove off. I get about a quarter of the way through the first page when this giant live chat dialog comes flying up. I didn’t click anything, and I instantly thought ‘advertisement.’ To my surprise it seems this is actually something RackSpace does intentionally.

Don’t get me wrong Live Chat is awesome. It’s only awesome because when I WANT to use it that it is available. I didn’t want it in this case. I don’t care what they have to say. I hadn’t even read a single line of the page before they wanted to answer my questions. At that point it was enough. I reached over and started typing  a message to the point that the live chat pop-up has not only driven me off but RackSpace's tactics to get my attention were extreme. I said I’d never go to their site again, and that’s the end of it. I clicked ‘send’ and closed the browser. I mean the nerve of them. I had to use my other arm. I was perfectly content cruising around their webpage to see what services they offer with just one hand, heck two fingers, on the mouse, and here they make me use my other arm. Talk about putting me out of my way. My fingers cost money you know!? I had to ‘type’ when I could just be using my left-button and scroll wheel from the mouse. I tell yah, you never realize how picky web surfers are until you step into their shoes.

That’s still on my nerves. Going to a site that instantly pops up a live chat window is like a Jehovah witness coming to my door and taping a flyer to my nose. It’s annoying, intrusive, unwanted, and down right disrespectful. If I can’t figure out what I’m interested in from the page content I’m sure as heck not going to bother getting the details figured out from live chat. I still need dedicated hosting, but hopefully the next site doesn’t assault me. I mean we're all told don't talk to strangers right? What if a kid goes to RackSpace.com would you want little timmy talking to could be pervert from Bangladesh? I'm just kidding, he could be talking to a pervert from Texas already for all we know, but still that's just uncalled for.

Some of you may know this, and some of you may not. I guess it depends on who actually reads this blog other than me. I tell you, whoever is writing this blog has no concept of proof-reading or verifying the correct use of grammar. I will say in my defense that on my GRE I scored higher than 78% of all graduate students in the writing portion of the test. So of all doctors, lawyers, and English professors I beat the majority of you. We won’t discuss my math score because that has no relevance in my industry of computer technology. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Anyway, I just want to tell you that operation make it happen has happened. In the matter of a month it’s gone into full swing, in two weeks it will be registered in the state, and there is the beginning of a list of people to use the service. In addition there is a full list of potential people whom I’ll be hitting up shortly. It’s fantastic, it’s starting quickly, and hopefully in the next few months it’ll be self-sustaining. I’m excited, heck we’re all excited, and I’m sure this will be a very profitable venture.

So cheers pickle it’s begun. To all who thought it couldn’t/wouldn’t happen jog off mates.

BlackNinja, what can I say about BlankNinja? Well, it’s completely black, no cd-rom drives, no disk drives, and the only distinguishing trait is the AMD x2 64 Athlon tag sitting on the front of the case down right under the power button. I thought after I had the initial problems with the backup server it might be benefitial to have a backup-backup. Also after going over to Ryans house to see his home-built DVR linux box the temptation to build my own home brand DVR system was overwhelming. I’ve been meaning to go for a Red Hat linux certification eventually to cover all my bases so I figured what better time than mother’s day specials to build one!

So the new system has the same 2 gigs of 6400 DDR Ram, a 320 WD Caviar SE16 gig hard drive that I picked up for $70, an MSI motherboard that supports the new AMD quad core Phenom processors, that was a return item for 80$ (originally 119$), and the AMD Athlon 4400+ processor. All told probably cost about 320$ after the rebates. I bought some speakers, 92mm fan, and a few other odd and ends pieces for the machine. I finally now have a good reason to use the 24” CRT monitor that’s been gathering dust on my dresser. Orginally it was used on my backup server, but after it moved under the nightstand it didn’t make much sense to use it. Remote desktop has made it obsolete. So no I’ve got BlackNinja my linux (perl/c) programming box that is providing the reentry into the open-source market I’ve been so estranged from. I can’t wait to see what is made of this new  box, and what silly projects I’ll be getting into soon.