Marriage

Posted on April 23, 2009 by kellyzdude

Alot of people don’t seem to consider the following, particularly females when begging their boyfriends to propose.

Marriage doesn’t really change anything.

Marriage is a lot like turning 18 or 21, or any other age really. All that really changes are a) your religious standing as far as having sex, and b) your legal rights as a married person.

You’ll have a big lead up to the wedding, and the wedding and reception will be as big or as small as you want it to be, much like a 21st birthday party.

You’ll go to bed that night (possibly doing something you’ve never done before), and you’ll wake up the next day and feel as though nothing has changed.

I know of a few people getting married soon, and Kelly was asking for advice to give to the bride at the showers she’ll be at. This is the biggest piece of advice I could offer to anyone obsessed with getting married to their significant other (whether they’ll admit their obsession or not).

It. Doesn’t. Change. Your. Relationship.

Really.

If the relationship changes, either you or your partner changed. Which shouldn’t happen. It’s that simple.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Posted on April 4, 2009 by kellyzdude

Dear WordPress,

There were another 7 or 8 paragraphs to this post which disappeared. I’ll fix it later. I’m not happy.

Zeke.

———–

Dear Diary,

I didn’t really do a whole lot today, but this has become the norm over the last few months. Last night I set my alarm for 9:30am, and snoozed it twice, awakening at around 9:45ish to turn it off through it’s second 9-minute round.

———–

Let’s try this again..

———–

Dear Diary,

I didn’t really do a whole lot today, but this has become the norm over recent months. Last night I set my alarm for 9:30am and snoozed it twice, waking at around 9:45am to turn if off half way through its 9-minute round.

Upon awakening, I was able to log in and check my emails, and began the conversion from DV tape to PC the footage from last nights Battle of the Bands concert, where my brother-in-law did play.

I apologize, dear Diary, as the internet connection is particularly slow, owing to the upload of aforementioned video footage to YouTube. I’m sure it will be available for viewing shortly. I must say, my dearest Diary, that I was not pleased when two of the band members berated me at midnight (with a headache, no less!) with regards to my recording of their performance and its availability for their viewing! I was very pleased when my brother-in-law ushered them out of my room and out of the house shortly afterward!

I was also able to accomplish some small programming work today, and Diary, you’ll be glad to know, it was entirely successful. Primarily bug fixes on my Support Ticket system, I also fixed the remote panel for UCCN’s dynamic remote include (which wasn’t giving link blocks to the client servers!).

I found great amusement, my dear Diary, from sitting in the IRC channel for Data center and server-host Sharktech. It seems they failed to adequately configure or test their new routing equipment before placing it in a live environment, much to the dismay of their clients and customers! Many a complaint has been laid as their customers servers have consistently dropped over the last 18 hours (and counting).

I am certain that you, dearest Diary, will also be as disgusted as I when you learn that at least two data centers were raided by the FBI with no warning, little evidence and less investigation. The tale of those are here and here. While I agree that raids should be conducted in conjunction with an investigation, my dear Diary, I must believe that investigations should have valid and usable evidence and be run by people with knowledge and qualification with regard to what they are investigating!

After lunch (a Strawberry and Banana flavored Low-fat yoghurt), I went with my wife and her brother and mother to the Salvation Army store, where we looked at clothes and such, as well as to a local hardware store to collect an additional two strawberry plants for their garden. I also learned that my sister-in-law is likely getting a beagle to live with them also, and it shall certainly be an interesting time at their house. I understand I shall be able to meet the puppy tomorrow when the family gathers for a cookout. I’m uncertain of the cause or occasion, although I will also be losing the majority of my hair also. I hear my wife has several ideas for photographs to be taken of my hair as it is removed, and I shall ensure they are available for you to view at a later date, my dear Diary.

I just remembered, I applied for another Information Technology job today, a local university is looking for a User Support Specialist, for which I placed a formal application upon returning from the stores. My father-in-law found it in the newspaper while we were venturing, and presented it upon our arrival home. I also await a return phone contact from the camp to which I applied to be a counselor during the summer. Another possibility to consider later in the year, is one Ethan suggested on Thursday evening, whereby he helps another camp by providing high-ropes assistance, and asked if I would be interested in joining him in the Fall. It is certainly an adventure I would enjoy, I shall have to reconsider it closer to the time with regards to my schedule.

I believe that is all, dearest Diary, although I have probably forgotten something during the second-round posting of this entry, the first forever lost in the emptiness that is the Internet. So my dear Diary, I shall close a second time today, and leave you to your quiet mulling of my pointless words. Until I write again, be safe, my dear Diary, and await my return with further uselessness.

Yours,

Zekey.

Puppy Makes Me Sad

Posted on March 25, 2009 by kellyzdude

I posted the other day about the chickens two houses down, that we are taking care of while the owners are on holiday. They were OK yesterday, except for ONE that wouldn’t go in the chickenhouse, and we were about 30 seconds away from just leaving it outside for a few hours in the dark (or overnight) when it ran in. The white one with the brown feather is out, yet again, today, this time in a really hard-to-get-to spot, that somewhat proves she is flying out.

Anyway, the chickens are not the reason for this posting, nor are the fish we feed, or the plants. The reason for this posting is a poor Beagle that is on about a 20 foot leash tied to a tree, with a kennel and lots of grass to run on (and food, I’m assuming). The saddest part is that his lead restricts him to a specific distance from the tree, and he’s drawn part of a circle in the grass where he keeps running back and forth at the end of the leash. He also gives the saddest looks and cries when we leave, even though we barely interact with him.

Yes, I know it’s a he, as he is clearly un-neutered 😉

Now, in general I’m not a huge fan of beagles, I usually have little respect for anything smaller than a smallish lab, though the beagle is definitely too large to punt over a fence, therefore it still fits in my categorization of “dog.”

For the last couple of days I’ve been afraid to get too close in case he wasn’t as friendly as he seems, but today I got close enough to pet him and rub around his ears and he loved every second of it. It’s just a further reminder that when we do get animals, dogs especially, that I need to pay it as much positive attention as possible so that it doesn’t need some random neighborhood kids loving it for me because I couldn’t be bothered.

He’s so cute though, it makes me sad seeing him looking so sad, and hearing him cry like he does. I might take the camera over tonight when we put the chickens away and take photos of him, just to prove he exists and how sad he looks!

I Have Come to the Realization..

Posted on January 6, 2009 by kellyzdude

USCIS CSR’s are deaf.

Kelly, my wife, spent about half an hour on the phone with an idiot at USCIS the other day to firstly enquire about my status, and secondly to change the address associated with our cases. This was done for 1 reason – she has an accent. Last time I called I spoke with a woman with a Southern Accent and at times it was difficult to understand her, and I feel like a ditz asking people to repeat things 7 times. Kelly doesn’t have the same problem, because she understands the accent more readily than I.

Anyway, we received a piece of mail today, addressed to me (with a minor name mispelling). It announced that on the correct date, “Holly” had called and done all the stuff.

It also has my A number listed incorrectly (one digit off), fortunately the case number was correct.

I am beginning to seriously wonder whether we can trust anything that USCIS tells us at all.

Dear USCIS, You Suck, From Twiddle.

Posted on October 25, 2008 by kellyzdude

As mentioned previously I’m a New Zealand Citizen, have lived in NZ since birth, moving in April so as to get married, live and work in the United States. Now, I understand that in a country this big, some things just move slowly. But anyone who claims that getting married in order to gain green cards or citizenship is the easy route, I would disagree strongly (even to the point where it is annoying that people believe this is the case).

Following all the rules, I arrived in April. Kelly and I were married in late May, we visited the USCIS office in Washington DC (as advised on the website that we should) – after waiting an hour or so, were told that we needed to mail our paperwork to Chicago. Frustrated, we drove home, rechecked everything another 3 times and sent as instructed.

Our paperwork was received on July 2nd, and processing began. We were requested to provide extra information, which was sent and received on August 14th, and we were also requested to visit Alexandria, VA, to provide fingerprints.

This is all fine, this is as expected. I have been monitoring our case online, however, as well as watching the case processing times, and am growing disappointed. The case processing time for the National Benefits Center (where our case is) shows three months from point of reception. By my calculations, 3 months from July 2nd is October 2nd, allowing 2-3 days either way. Today is the 25th October, and still nothing has been heard. The other application, the information received in August, says there will be an update or decision (in writing) within 60 days. August 14th + 60 days = October 14th, give or take a few days. Again, no communication has been received.

“Call them and see what’s happening??” I hear you ask! Well, I did. After navigating through their (fairly well designed) computerized phone system I was able to hear the same case status information as is provided online. Asked the phone system to let me speak to a customer services rep, and it said they will only take complaints or update requests if the case status is either more than 30 days beyond the processing date and hasn’t been updated in the last 60 days. I guess I’ll have to wait another couple of weeks.

Lies in the Media

Posted on August 23, 2008 by kellyzdude

So this morning I came across another rant-topic and this is aimed particularly at Christian broadcasters, but also at the media in general.

Lies within the media are probably the biggest reason why few people pay attention and why those who do are so misled or uninformed about the reality of the world today.

The case in point is the story told on a Christian Radio station this morning: A child goes to school for the first time and coming home after their first day the parent asks the child what they learnt. The child replies “I learnt that there is no way to prove that Jesus ever existed!”

There are several problems with this story, allow me to outline them.

Firstly, let us look at the first day of school logically. Elementary school is primarily for learning the basic subjects – English, Math, etc. Theological debates or discussions typically wouldn’t occur until at least Middle School, or more likely High School.

Even then, and this becomes the second point, they cannot be initiated by a teacher. The teacher may prompt, but cannot explicitly begin a discussion. The teacher also cannot teach their personal beliefs as fact. If it isn’t in the curriculum, it isn’t being taught. And if it is it should be being reported to the appropriate authority, and not reported on by the media.

This has been a trend for the longest time and it’s not just within the media, it’s by word of mouth also. Here are 3 simple ways to check if what you’ve heard is true:

Look at it logically. If you add 2 and 2 and get 5 while you’re looking at the statement, there is something wrong.
Research it. Whether online, in the library, or discussing with others who know or have experience, find out more about things rather than just mindlessly repeating stories in a chinese-whispers fashion.
Ask the person who told you what proof they have. If a person is just passing on a story, there is every possibility that it is not 100% true.

In the case of the story above, it is possible that aspects of it are true, but if mis-told down the line then it becomes what it is today. Consider a High School student on the last day, happening on a theological debate where the comment arises – that it is possible Jesus was not a real person. The student comes home and tells mom and dad. The parents tell the story to a few people that the student was taught Jesus wasn’t real. Keep this going down the grapevine and it only takes a few steps with mis-tellings, incorrect recallings of the story etc and it becomes a 5 year old going to Elementary being taught as fact on the first day.

It seems silly but if you’ve ever played “Chinese Whispers,” or even just observed people in groups, you’ll realize it translates into reality dangerously closely. Next time you receive a “Hey check this out” email, go and take a look at Snopes website, an amazing resource for finding out if the rumor being spread is true, false, a combination or was unverifiable. A good 90% of emails I receive like this are either blatantly false, or are mostly false merely with enough elements of truth to be believable.

Here are some common examples, particularly related to the religious group:

As you can see from the written evidence these are all lies, and from a little research and/or thinking it can be proven in quite simple terms that the claim is false.

My plea to the Christian community, to the media, stop mindlessly passing on stories, stop making up stories that could be taken as fact, in all seriousness it just makes us look bad that so many are so gullible, and makes the truth look that much less truthful.

Unwritten Rules

Posted on August 10, 2008 by kellyzdude

This is a rant, but it will be short.

What I’m fed up with recently, is.. “Law Enforcers” who enforce rules or laws that weren’t publicised.

A police officer arresting someone for doing something within the law is likely to face disciplinary action. However, police officers, parents, other authority figures regularly make requests regarding rules that they have never told their subjects about, and expect us to follow their requests, simply because they are in authority and we are not. That, I believe, is an abuse of power.

I made mention in my Letter to the Christian Internet Community, to a particular legal rule about IRC users under the age of 13. The network that enforced this rule has made no publication (as to date) of this particular rule on its website, on either of its widely advertised webpages of rules, or in its MOTD, viewable on connect.

I contacted the network, and they replied saying “Thanks for pointing this out” – another staff member followed up by saying “It’s in the Java chat, where most new users connect” – I still haven’t seen it, though I concede I wasn’t looking hard.

Today, it happened again. Same place, probably same op, this time asked me to remove a clone. I considered my options, and decided to save everyone some hassle and go with it. I then went and looked up the rules – and once again, there was no mention of it. The closest I could find was a rule against CloneBots, which, ladies and gentlemen, are not the same as a simple clone. The purpose of a clonebot (and the reason for banning them) is to make multiple connections from the same location, and flood a network or channel or server (not just IRC, can include web and mail sometimes also) – causing as much disruption as possible, whether it be by flooding text, flooding join/part, anything that prevents the server from being utilised as it was intended. The reason for cloning is that most flood protection systems will prevent against a single user, however if all the clones are individually not flooding, only causing disruption as a whole, they manage to stay online a little longer.

This is not my reason for cloning. My reason for cloning is simple, really. I have 2 computers that I regularly move between, one is a desktop, and is stationary at my house. When I’m at home, I use this in my living room. When I’m out, or in the bedroom, or anywhere I don’t feel like sitting in the desk chair, I use the macbook, and chat there. Sometimes, and this happens more than most might believe, I move between them quite a bit in short spaces of time. To save everyone disruption, and prevent my own confusion, I tend to leave both logged in at the same time.

This is going to be raised, once again with CCNet, and I will put to them two questions – if it’s for the purpose of saving problems rather than causing them, is it such an issue, and secondly, if it’s not a stated rule – why is it being enforced?

An authority figure making a request regarding a rule that they have never mentioned before, and expecting us to follow their requests, simply because they are in authority and we are not, I believe, is an abuse of power.

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Tag Archives: Rants

Puppy Makes Me Sad

I Have Come to the Realization..

Unwritten Rules

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