Before Brad@Home: Apples

It's my job to sit down with people and train them how to use the technology that our company gives them when they start. I walk though their computer with them, and then we turn to their phone device. Our default device is a Blackberry, but we recently opened up and have started to allow people to attach their personal iPhones to our system. This has been warmly received by our users, but it has increased the potential for me to have to talk about my feeling about Apple, which I am always hesitant to do.

I have very little issue with Apple products from a technology standpoint. I think that, for the most part,  iDevices have their place and serve a decent purpose. At the very least, Apple has been excellent in innovating items that people didn't even know they wanted. I respect that.

My issues come in two places. The first and easier explained is simply price. The price point of Apply products tends to be a bit higher than comparable non-Apple products, which I don't really get. I suppose there is an argument to be made that if people are willing to pay for it, then the company should charge what it can reasonably get. I see some validity to that argument, but I also wonder how far you can go with that mentality before it becomes ridiculous.

The second is a bit trickier. It's the Apple doctrine. There is a subset of Apple users that get a bit laudatory and arrogant about Apple products. They produce this feel of elitism whenever I end up talking to one of them. It is rather disconcerting. I'm glad that they like their product, but it doesn't mean that everything that isn't Apple is completely inferior. I wonder if the price feeds into this, producing a thought that, since Apple products are more expensive then their comparable competitors, they must be better.

I will freely admit that not all Apple users are like this. I know many who are quite normal and conciliatory about their use of iDevices. Unfortunately, the extremists are the loudest voices in the Apple market, so they tend to set the tone of the conversation.

Sort of how the most intense, judgmental, harsh Christians are the ones everyone hears from, making it harder for the rest of us.

Sensitive Geek Man: Poetry Day ~ Joel's TV

About 10 years ago now, I went with some friends of mind to the house of a young man by the name of Joel. We went to watch some Epic movie.  I want to say it was the first LOTR, but I'm not sure.
Anyway, we walk into his house and do the normal hello thing, shook hands, met his wife. It was a normal, recent college grad, house in the Chicago suburbs: not too big but nice. It was well put together, but nothing really stood out. It was simple, but tidy.
Then we went into the basement to watch the movie.

And there it was. The single largest TV I had ever seen. This is at the beginning of the larger, flatter TV craze, and this TV was NOT a flat screen TV.  It took up one entire wall of his basement. It was seriously immense.

So immense, that the next day I quickly jotted down a silly little poem about it's largess. It isn't a complicated or deep poem, it is just meant to be fun.  I hope you like it.
===========

Joels TV

Joels TV

Joels TV

I could hide in joels TV

with several others there with me

while I stretch out in joels TV

Joels TV

Joels TV

Clouds my soul in deep envy

From orbit I still could see

The pixel count of Joels TV

Joels TV

Joels TV

Larger than a redwood tree

Come and scale its screen with me

And see the sights from Joels TV

Joels TV

Joels TV

Wonder what sights we shall see

And what far off Kingdoms that there be

From the top of Joels TV

Joels TV

Glorious be

The vast expanse laid before me

Wider than the deepest sea

Is the scope of Joels TV

Joels TV

corrupted me

and Sent me on a shopping spree

to try and match the travesty

of the price of Joels tv

  

Joels Tv

Joels TV

Larger than mine eye can see

The picture it conjures up for me

And displays for all to see

Joels tv

joels tv

with furlongs measered it should be

and not by inches stupidly

as is done with mortal TV

Joels TV

Ruined me

For any lesser teleV

Could never offer the shockingly

Deep delight of Joels TV

Sensitive Geek MAN: It would be a shame to kill you now.

This is a suggestion to anyone who relies on others to get their own jobs done: Be Kind.

I work in an IT support department, and the number 1 issue that makes working in IT frustrating are the users who call up and demand that I hook stars and bring them down for them to use at their whim.  And do so in a condescending or cruel fashion.

Sir or Madam, you do not seem to understand something very pivotal about our relationship: The very same abilities that allow me to help you with your issue also give me the knowledge to make your computer world a world of pain.

Now I would never do that, but since I could theoretically, you would think it would give you an incentive to at least be kind and polite. I know you are having issues, and I didn't cause them, so there is really no reason to treat me like I'm something you found on the bottom of your shoe, especially since i can erase your entire hard drive in about 30 seconds.

Again, I would never do that, but I am also not the only person with whom you should be polite.
Plumbers, electricians, contractors, police, firefighters, anyone on whom you rely for your daily comfort, protection, or just general ability to function should be treated with, at the very least, politeness.

Really, there is almost never a reason to ever treat anyone poorly.  A gentle answer turns away wrath, and it is possible to be kind and strong/assertive.

Sensitive Geek MAN: Indestructible Pants

I don't understand these pants I am wearing today.

For the most part, they are normal pants, but they have 3 different buttons at the waist. They are not ButtonFly pants.  I am wearing dress pants to work.

So here are these 3 buttons. Well, they aren't all buttons.  Basically, I have the interior button, then a sort of slide-fastening mechanism, then an outer button.

Why do I need all these buttons? I am not, to the best of my knowledge, threatening to burst out of my pants.  I could understand a secondary button as a safety measure, but a tertiary fastening device seems like overkill.

I am trying not to be offended that pants manufacturers believe that I am such a risk that they need to protect the structural integrity of these pants.

I would much rather have pants where the FABRIC was somehow reinforced against my shenanigans. I'm thinking some sort of Carbon Nano Fiber that would then be both tear and stain resistant.  Really, all my clothes should be made this way.

The other benefit is that the Carbon Nano Fiber (CNF) clothes is that they will probably last longer than I will.  I can hand them down to my children. They will become a family heirloom of sorts. They would have to be in a very neutral fashion in order to be useful, but otherwise they could last for generations.

Anyone who has CNF manufacturing capabilities, let me know.  I think I have a billion dollar idea for you.