Unfinished Business

Hah, you probably didn't think I could wait this long to write about finishing stuff. For the most part, I am a finisher. I would rather not start than never finish. I am in perpetual home renovation, but there is an issue of economy there.

In high school, I would probably give up if I waited too long to work on an assignment. I hated the thought of only being partially done with something, and somehow saw more honor in not finishing. By college, and beyond, I learned that there is more honor in finishing and you should not even discuss being incomplete.

Some people confuse these characteristics with perfectionism. Indeed, there are few areas in my life that I seek perfection. Maybe it is a philosophical "condition of man" type of issue, but I find perfectionism to be unreasonable and vain. For me, it is as strange as agoraphobia. I would rather get something done in a shorter amount of time than spend too much time getting it perfect. I am not talking about "git'r done," I take pride in what I do. But I don't derive too much self worth from it.

Take my office for example. Everything is in its place and I do not have stacks of papers and books lying around. When I leave for the day, 99% of the time my desk is entirely clear. I have a phone, pencil holder, web camera, PDA cradle, and the laptop's docking station on my desk. I still feel like there is one item too many (but my daughter made that ceramic pencil holder). I pretty much know where everything is in my file cabinet, which are mostly in order. (Okay, a major project this fall is to start reorganizing my personal files). Everything is dusted.

Some people may mistakenly confuse this with perfectionism -- however most perfectionists that I know cannot keep a clean working space or office. I had a colleague once that kept newspaper articles by gluing them on a sheet of paper with a typed statement on the margin that could be read on its side in a filing cabinet. This is quite impressive. However, it takes quite a lot of time to do this, and so a pile of these newspaper clippings would stack up on the desk (or worse, whole newspapers if it contained multiple items of interest). She would rather work in a mess than do something imperfect like tearing the article out and hand-writing the date, etc., on the paper and filing it away.

I once caught another colleague (one I still work with) painstakingly stapling 200 exams by hand because he did not like the way the automatic staples were placed by the copy machine. Yes, that's right, the copy machine would have organized and stapled these automatically while he was off doing something else. (The issue was that the staples were parallel to the top of the page, rather than neatly at an angle in the left top corner.) Fortunately, our current copier staples pages "correctly" and has easily saved him 40-50 hours a year.

Okay, so far it sounds like I am bragging at my ability to complete tasks because I am not burdened by distractions of perfection. However, I have a major flaw. I have always been a linear sequential thinker, and can usually focus on one task at a time. This is great when a report needs to be written (or a dissertation). Of course this is not so good if two reports need to be written, or if I started on a music/art/writing project in front of a more "real" task. Linear thinkers are probably the majority, but I sometimes feel that I have a more severe case. (I think it is more prevalent in left hemisphere people.)

This is good if you are one of my students requesting a written letter of recommendation for a job or graduate school. Most likely I will get it done the same day because I can't put it in a cue and come to it naturally. I have to get it done in a near immediate fashion. I can also work to music, even rather loud music, because I only absorb the sounds subconsciously. If you are trying to work on something, or write a report or paper, and the song on the radio keeps grabbing your attention, then you are not as afflicted in this area.

One of my summer tasks was to write the annual report for our department. I am of the opinion that only one other person will actually read this document, (but this one other person happens to be important). This summer, we couldn't start on it right away because some of the data was not available. Having that over me almost ruined my summer. In fact, I got the draft in rather late, which I can't stand. I also found out that my format from last year was mostly incorrect -- so it was a near complete revision of the format as well as writing about the new data. With that out of the way, I will probably have a productive week or two.

Please don't get the impression that I do shoddy work, however. I am often complimented on my timeliness, thoroughness, and creativity. However, when the chips are down and the time is getting late, perhaps I have been known on occasion to just git'r done.

I do have some perfectionism in me, though. A lot of this comes out in my writing. I deliberately write contractions into this blog to make me appear looser and not so uptight. On the other hand, I rarely use abbreviations if I think someone may get confused. I also revise my writing and read each blog entry twice (at least). If I come across an error in a blog entry from a previous year, I will still correct it.

This is even more obnoxious if you see my writing in MSN Messenger. There are no emoticons, no abbreviations, and a deliberate (shall I dare say 'pedantic') style of writing. I have painstakingly taught myself to use "LOL" even though I desperately want to write: "...that comment amused me..." or something cheeky like that.

--gh

Discounts and Rebates and Coupons (oh my!)

I am ready to admit that I am not that good with discounts, rebates, and coupons. It frustrates me, though, because I can be duped into seeing the lower price only. However, I try to train myself to look for the actual costs. I was looking to buy another leaf blower. BTW, my dad is right on this, why would you buy a gas-powered blower for $120-200 when a decent electric one costs less than $40 and you can just buy one every other year at that cost and almost stay ahead. But, I was interested in a $90 gas-powered model, I didn't know they had come down that much. The price actually said $87.95 "with F/S discount" (or something). I don't want this discount, it probably means we have to get a credit card, or carry a club card. I searched and searched to find out that the actual price was $91. I would rather spend the $3 and not deal with some stupid membership card (or worse, their store credit). As it turned out, I bought a $39 electric model by the weedeater company.

Grocery stores like to have "membership" as well. We used to have a grocery store in town called Easters, and it almost got to the point where I didn't want to go because 1/3 of the items had a "membership" price as well as the regular price. So, you see 3 two-liter bottles of pop for $1.50 and get excited, only to realize that this is only for the suckers who carry a piece of laminated paper in their wallets that say they are special. Still, when I am at the register, the attendant would usually ask "do you have your Easters card?" I would reply "no" almost acting as if I had no clue what they were talking about. (I was mean to one guy, because I asked him "no, do I need one to shop here?" and almost pretended to leave. People pay to shop at Costco and Sam's Club. I do not get that.) The weird thing is that 90% of the time they reached under the register and grabbed a store copy of the discount card and let me have it anyway. I often wondered if this is because the workers were hassled about how many customers went through the line and were not enticed into carrying such a card. Ultimately, this is what drove me to shop at HyVee exclusively, a full year before Easters closed.

I am not concerned that someone is compiling a list of what I am buying, but I have heard that some people are suspicious of that. I guess you wouldn't want your future insurance company to know that you buy three bottles of Tylenol a week or something. I am not a paranoid person, though. (An aside, I bought some STP fuel system cleaner at Wal-Mart and the note on the cash register said "Is Customer Over 18?" I guess that is either a meth-lab problem, or kids are cracking the alcohol out of the cleaner.)

So, for the most part I am not interested in discounts. I am even more idiotic about coupons. Even if you tried to put one in my hand, I would probably not use a coupon. When someone tries to offer me one, my usual reply is "no, I hate saving money." I am not being totally flippant here, I despise the concept of "saving" money on retail purchases. I also buy name brand items at the grocery store. I know this has something to do with my childhood. Are store-brand canned peaches any worse than DelMonte? I have no idea because I don't buy store-brand.

Okay, now for rebates. I will admit that I don't mind rebates, I just hate the process. If you buy something from Best Buy, Dell, or on the Internet, you have to read those rebate instructions *very closely* because they will send you a post card saying "no rebate for you." Oh, and when they do that, you don't get the original receipt and proof of purchase back to try again. It seems to be a one-shot deal. Of course, the other part of rebates is actually filling out the paperwork and sending it in! I imagine that they hope a majority forget to do this, so it makes me more diligent at it. I was almost scammed by Microsoft this week with their rebate offer for Microsoft Money 2006. You buy it online and have to print out the rebate form, which is fine. Then they want you to go to Microsoft Billing MSN web page and print that confirmation, okay. Also, they want you to print your email confirmation and send that in as well... I had the form filled out, printed out the confirmation and the order page and then I noticed this "email confirmation" statement. I already knew better than to think I could go with out it. If it is listed as a term, then they will deny your rebate request. Okay, so when should I expect this email confirmation? Everything else that I buy online is able to send one within an hour (and most do this within minutes). I became frustrated with the prospect that Microsoft was deliberately delaying the email confirmation in the hope that I would lose interest in my $30 rebate. (Microsoft wouldn't do that on purpose, would they?) For $67 of software, however, I was not about to give up on such a high rebate. Well, the email came the next day. I am positive that the company had wished I lost the paperwork, etc.

My tactic for this is to put the unfinished paperwork in my laptop case. I *hate* unfinished items like that and it would bug me until I took care of it. Well, I did, and it is in the mail.

I need to blog about this unfinished items business. Knowing me, I probably can't wait too long because it will gnaw on me.

--gh

Bob Saget Fan Site!

Okay, a friend pointed me toward the tourrettesGuy web site. I learned a new curse word ("Bob Saget!!!") and have been trying it out. Yes, this is deliberate, but at least I am being honest about it.

So, I started to wonder if Bob Saget had a fan club or something. I came across the Bob Saget Fan Site, (well, this guy used an exclamation point). The poor guy wrote that you should email him if you are are a Bob Saget fan. The date on the page says 2002, and so far I see no list.

COME ON! (Yeah, that was an exclamation point.) Now that John Ritter is no longer with us, (or even Norman Fell), so let's rally behind Mr. Saget, visit this fan page, and get some names listed!

Er, you first.

--gh

I love it when you call me...

...Big Poppa! Like about a million other supervisors or bosses out there, I like to pretent that this is my theme song. On occaision, I have thrown my hands in the air, like I's a true player. So, I stayed up late last night arranging the 8-bar wonder for flute and guitar, some of which you can see here:



If you want to see a full pdf file, click here. Also, I concocted an mp3 file here. Note that this is not Amy and I playing, we rock more than that. This is just a step above a midi file, actually. Also, this digital content may not last forever, it is based on my limited webspace, etc.

--gh

Maryville West Side Story

My daughter just got back from church camp. Apparently, the most exciting thing was that their camp counselor taught them some Gang Signs during a devotional. Oh yeah, their gang^H^H^H^H, er... camp counselor happened to be Syriously... to complain call 867-5309. Oh yeah, I got her number.

I hope you clicked on the Gang Signs link because I am going to discuss that now. First, let's jsut get this out in the open: the hands are all white. I think this web page should be re-titled "How to get shot." Scroll down and find "Bounty Hunters." What's up with that?

I am a big fan of the one-handed gang signs. The two-handed variety should be decomissioned. As I mentioned before, my adopted Gang is the Hoover Crips.



--gh

My new hero

Okay, I really need to share this with you. Today I came across a website featuring a one-man band named McRorie (One Man Live). You have to check out his video featured on that web page. Get past the horrible vocals (even Weird Al has him beat), and the kilt. I am not sure if you can get past the mullet, but deal with it.

The dude straps drum pads to his chest, has sensors in his shoes, and two synthesizers for each hand. He claims that he is not using any sequencers. If you don't know what that means, then it might not impress you, but basically it means he creates the music in real time.

For a horrible show of his vocals, click on "Original Songs."
You have to be impressed that these originals are not dubbed or recorded in different takes for each layer. They are all performances.

If this guy was at my state fair, I'd go.

--gh

Cute things

Before I shared some of the freeware that I use. I forgot to mention a freeware product that I use nearly every day.

I have need to create documents as a PDF file, but I have not secured the pedigree software. For many years we had the access to free PDF writing software, but this usually involved the creation of a watermark or other indicator on the finished product. Nothing like sending someone a resume or grant application with a watermark that says "Hi, I'm a cheapskate!"

Thanks to CutePDF, you can write your PDF without anyone knowing you used freeware. CutePDF is not related to the CuteFTP program. (I don't need an FTP client, I use the command line software in DOS. Ahhh, DOS.)

...

I struggled with the sentence above, where the two words PDF and file were used together. My first draft (yeah, I edit and polish the writing in my blog) had the words "PDF format." I had to look up the abbreviation for PDF to make sure I wasn't being reduntant. My suspicions were correct, the "f" in PDF stands for "format."

So, saying Portable Document Format format would make me sound like a gumbert.

Yes, this happens to be a pet peeve of mine. Other abuses of this that aggravate me are:

• ATM machine
  
• PIN number
  
• VIN number
  
• 8:00 AM in the morning
  
• ACT test

With all these hangups, I can be hard to get along with.

Another issue that I have is the proper usage of computer abbreviations. In particular, I am concerned with the capitalization of abbreviations like PDF and GIF. These are written in uppercase, are they not? Maybe I just have high expectations for written English in blogs, email, and instant messages...

On the other hand, I feel that the file extensions should not be capitalized, even if they happen to be abbreviations. The convention that I adopted is to refer to executable files as *.exe, or images as *.jpg and *.gif files. However, if I refer to the format of the latter two, I will write them as JPG and GIF (since JPG and GIF actually stand for something). I surround myself with rules thus.

--gh

Good Freeware

Okay, I talked about GNU in a previous post. It got me thinking about the shareware that I use. I usually don't provide a real service on this blog, so I thought I would make up for that and go through the top ten freeware programs that I use.

I don't mind paying for my software. I purchase antivirus software, as well as the Office 2003 suite from Microsoft. I have purchased shareware as well (such as the Supermemo learning software for my Palm V and for Win...)

But, I am talking about real freeware (and not that nagware that pretends to be free, or adware, which is just annoying). I will try to provide the links as well.

So, here is a featured list of freeware that I use:

1. HandySnap: Everyone needs a decent screen capture utility. This is the one I use. I want to be able to capture full screen, just a window, or anywhere that I select. Then I want to save it to the clipboard, or to a JPG. HandySnap does this gracefully, and even adds the ability to add text and simple sprite graphics. (This is great for adding the URL to a photo that you just stole, so you are not a complete bum in your presentations, etc.) It is always running in my taskbar.
   
2. The GIMP: What better's better than a powerful image editing software? Well, a free one! I tried Pixia, and some others, before settling on this open source GNU-ish software. I may go Photoshop within the year (sell out!), but until then GIMP will get me through.
   
3. Audacity: Do you occaisionally need to edit MP3 files? If it is only occaisional, don't waste your money and just used Audacity. Some nice effects as well.
   
4. Spybot Search and Destroy: Okay, if you are not using spyware destroying software, then you should. This is the one I use, and it seems to find a lot of junk each week. I use the embedded Spyware Blaster as well, but will not list it as another number here.
   
5. Finale Notepad: Okay, not sure if you ever need to edit music directly? Fine. But if you do, use a great free version of one of the industry standards from Finale Music. Sure, you can't create 32-voice orchestra compositions (but it can edit them, weird!). However for just piano, or a few instruments like guitar (it does TAB!), this is great. Nothing teaches music theory like music editing software. (Well, nothing except school and stuff...)
   
6. MediaMonkey: I needed to convert 9,000 mp3 files to a smaller size, and change to WMA. (Yes, these are all LEGAL MP3s from my CD collection.) This is not something that you do often, but I was almost willing to pay for this (couldn't fit everything on my laptop's hard drive.) MediaMonkey solved my problem. I hardly use it, but who cares, it was there when I needed it.
   
7. CCleaner: This actually stands for 'Crap Cleaner,' I think. A good, all-purpose software to clean temporary cache's created by Mozilla, Netscape, IE, and of course WinXP...
   
8. SpamBayes: If you have SPAM trouble, this could be your answer. Before my university started filtering, I was dealing with 300 SPAM messages a day. SpamBayes really saved me. Now it finds about 2-3 a day, but I still run it.
   
9. AutoIt: This is a powerful Windows-based scripting tool, but I use it to automate web interfaces. I have to log in to check on my online classes, web-based email (from home), and to check my course listings for the department (I never talk about being chair here, do I?). There is nothing more annoying than five screens and passwords to get to what I need. Now, I have the scripts compiled as executable files (encrypted, for the passwords) and short-cuts to simple key strokes.
   
10. Picasa: How can I not mention a fine piece of Google software like Picasa? I use their blogging interface, their Toolbar, their Desktop Search, and even Hello for uploading images to the blog. (Yes, I know there is a new tool for that.) In case you don't know what Picasa is, it is a image media cataloging software for your computer. To prove they weren't evil, Google purchased this technology, and then made it free! (Note that I do not use the Google Web Accelerator, or any web accelorator for that matter.)

So, there's my list. Sorry about not ordering it. It's just as well since HTML does not reverse order numbered lists. Either you are interested in what I use, or you aren't. For a good source of freeware, check out No Nags. I like it.

--gh

Not capoeira or Hortus

Every once in a while I check out the Google Labs to make sure they haven't gone evil yet.

Evil? No. Perhaps a tad 'tarded? Yeah, maybe. I looked into Google Video...

...and found nothing. To use this service, you have to install the Google video viewer. My evil radar was on and I was not going to install it, until I saw that it was a GNU variant of video software. I trust GNU, open source will never be evil.

After you install the viewer, you can search for things that may have been said on television or something. It is searching through the closed caption text, I guess. So, if you type "monkey", you find out where this word has recent been said, or sung, on television.



So, when I typed this, Animal Planet had a show 30 minutes ago. Also, apparently Elvis Costello is singing about monkies on Austin City Limits on PBS. Yeah, this is really useful. Now if m had designed this software, it would have shown file footage of a chimpanzee smoking a cigarette or something.

So, can you actually watch any of these clips? Well, sure, as long as Google has permission. I thought that I could at least see C-SPAN or something, but even BookTV is off limits. No worries, though, Google has some suggested search words to find video. Some very specificl words, like: Greenpeace, AdWords, badminton, PS3, cattlemen, Hortus, sarong, breakdancing, or capoeira.

Yeah, so, if you had your pick, which one would you look at? You correctly chose "badminton," didn't you. By searching Google Video for badminton, you are graced with the Summer 2004 Olympics double bronze finals between Denmark and Indonesia. (Yes!)

I refuse to look into "capoeira." I actually remembered what this was, since it was made fun of in "Meet the Fokkers." (Save your blockbuster coupon on that one.) Otherwise, I only knew this as the crazy martial arts/slash/dancing technique in Brazil, because the slave-owners outlawed real martial arts in the eighteenth century, or something. (Thanks to a CNN video from 1994 for teaching me about that.)

I will admit that I didn't know what a "hortus" is. Don't worry, it's just some dude in a flower garden.

--gh