Apr 15, 2010
Posted by Skid Vis on Apr 15, 2010 in Yadda Yadda | View Comments
Ever since the release of the iPad, people have been swarming around me and bothering me with all kinds of goofy questions. Can you put that thing down and look at me? Shouldn’t you have paid your rent instead of buying that? Can I get a chance to use the shitter now? … only one person asked me something worthwhile, wouldn’t that look great hanging on a wall? Here are my thoughts on the iPad as a picture frame.
First – It’s frickin awesome! I get all tingly in funny places just thinking about it. When I first thought of the iPad as a picture frame, I was a bit hesitant. I mean, Like everyone else, I feel a picture frame should just show one picture, one VERY IMPORTANT picture, not three thousand. I’m not too keen on providing power to a damn picture frame, either. All that changed just a few nights ago, however, when I was looking at porn. Nothing too freaky, just normal porn. Ok, maybe a little freaky, I like redheads.. but still. I thought to myself, how could I choose just one of these if I were to put one in a picture frame? I couldn’t! Having three thousand scantily-clad redheads randomly staring at me would be great!
Second – It’s automagic. No more digging through photo albums, or looking under the mattress for wrinkly-paged magazines. I just look up and presto, there she is.. and there she is.. and there she is. Heaven. Even more so, I can just stop the slideshow and search for my favorites, with pinch-zoom and rotation even.. oh yes, you like that. Holding the magazine in front of a mirror, to get a different perspective, is now a thing of the past.
Third – It’s not just for porn. Sure, I love my redheads, but what if I’m just not in the mood? What if the priest and my mom are stopping by for dinner? No problemo! This thing handles all kinds of pictures! Like the one of my puppy biting my toe, or the one of the time I climbed Mount Everest! All I have to do is open that photo album and click the nice slideshow button. Easy-peasy!
Forth (or is it Fourth?) – Just like an iPod or a hat, you can take your pictures everywhere! (except Isreal) This is an amazing thing for moms, and people like me who take way too many pictures of their pets and think they’re the cutest things on the planet even though everyone else wants to strangle me when I show them a picture of my dogs. No more lugging around scrapbooks, worrying that someone’s gonna steal my pictures, or that I’m gonna rip a page and have to redo the whole thing the next time I’m in the mental institution! Freaks like me have it all kinds of easy now!
If you like to look a pictures, this is foots up the best picture frame in the whole planet! Guaranteed! Sure, it surfs the web, plays games, and does all kinds of productivity crap, but looking at pictures is where this thing really shines.. especially porn. Check it out! (..and wash your hands when you’re done.)
*This post was meant as a joke, my good friend.. well, my FORMER good friend Andy Peters wrote a post about his iPad, and this was me poking fun. I swear to you I do not use mine for porn.. that’s what the iPhone is for. Bye now, hugs!
Dec 18, 2009
Posted by Skid Vis on Dec 18, 2009 in Words of Visdom | View Comments
Remember 2008? I sure as hell do. I lost a lot of things back then.. my friends, my opportunities, my hopes, my dreams, my Love, and maybe even my mind. I’m pretty sure I made more bad decisions in 2008 than I have in my whole life. It was the perfect storm of bad decisions.. each bad decision weighed my soul down and caused me to make yet another, which weighed me down even more, until eventually.. I couldn’t see light.
A year ago, I was Scrooge. When the Holidays showed up, I couldn’t have cared less about spreading cheer.. *I* needed cheer, screw anyone else! So I gathered up my pennies and bought myself suttim reeeal nice for Christmas. Good thing, too.. because that’s all there was. It all but seemed as if everyone in the world had forgotten about me. My choice to buy myself a gift ended up seeming like the right choice after all.. I mean, if I didn’t think of myself on Christmas, then I would have ended up with nothing, right?
Several months into 2009, the gift I gave myself broke. The broken gift, a reminder that you reap what you sow. My life was still a mess, but I’d started to realize that I was mostly to blame for it. Putting myself above others never yields long-lasting results. I may feel better today, but when tomorrow comes I’ll be alone and bitter yet again, surrounded by the relationships I cultivated.. or failed to.
This year, I’ve learned many lessons..
- The worst that can happen, really isn’t that bad and that the chances of it actually happening is pretty damned slim, so why waste the energy worrying about it? Why let opportunities and experiences pass you by just because fears are gripping you? When I actually stopped to think about it, most of the good in my life came from overcoming my fear, but most of my pain came from hiding.
- I did not get here alone. Yes, I’ve endured and overcome many tragic events over the years, but I’ve not been alone for it all. Over the years I’ve manage to distance myself from those that gave me strength. I instead surrounded myself with a new crowd, one I valued more, but one which it seemed did not value me. I am now on the path to rebuilding the bridges I so easily burned.
- Let it go, already! In my head, certain people have had a great role in molding the great mess which I am today. For years I’ve held the anger, blaming them for my suffering.. but that’s an act that yields no positive result. I’m well on the way to adopting a new strategy, one that involves me discussing my perceptions of actions and events that I held anger for. Sure, sometimes the other person will refute their involvement, or my perception of the events.. and nothing can really be done about that, but there is a relief of knowing that the discussions are not pointlessly going on in my head anymore.
- Respect the effort made by someone to engage you.. listen and respond. As a suffering introvert, I’m aware of how hard it is to reach out.. much worse yet when you DO reach out, only to be brushed off like a pesky gnat. You must give respect to get it back, but you must also give respect and NOT expect it back.
- Stop keeping score. One of the hardest things I’ve had to grasp, is that nobody is keeping score. There’s no list of how many times I’ve helped Jimmy or Mike, I am not owed anything by them. It’s hard for me because I feel such a debt of gratitude whenever someone displays kindness, consideration, or generosity towards me. I assume everyone feels the same, and then I’m completely shocked by the triviality of my gestures in return. The only way to avoid my sadness is to accept the truth.. I am owed nothing by anyone, but I indeed owe everything to all.
- I am blessed. I am being watched, I am being judged, and there is a bonus or a penalty for every action I take. Be it God, Karma, little elves, or my own self-worth, I need to propagate the blessings that I’m bestowed. I’m no saint, sometimes I’m more convinced I play for the other side.. but I strive to keep the good in my life outnumbering the bad.
- Life’s not fair. No matter what I do, nothing is promised other than death. I could rescue 100 children and kittens from a burning daycare/kitten factory and I could still end up shot by a mugger ten minutes later. That’s just the nature of the way things work.
2009 has been one heck of a year. I’d say it’s been fun, but then I’d be lying. The truth is I walk around with a heavy heart, constantly wishing I could turn back time. I see the many forks in the road and I can’t help but wonder what things would have been like had I turned the other way. I feel like I’ve been harshly judged for my mistakes, but I can only blame myself for making them. Luckily, I’m a dreamer, I still have hopes for a wonderful life. I endured much, and I didn’t get here by quitting, I got here by fighting.
There is no victory without the battle, so bring it on 2010!
Happy Holidays to you all.
Dec 4, 2009
Posted by Skid Vis on Dec 4, 2009 in Words of Visdom | View Comments
Hello, My name is Skid Vis, and I’m a giver. If you know of the Five Languages of Love (Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch), and you know me well enough, you’d agree that I fire off on just about all of them. I’ll admit, I’m weakest on Acts of Service, but I do make an effort. Receiving Gifts, or more appropriately, Gifting, as I’m not really a fan of RECEIVING gifts, is one of my strongest languages. Odds are, if I’ve ever cared at all for you.. you’ve received a gift from me. The cost may vary.. it may just have been the bill at a restaurant, or it may have been some costly luxury item, but it had infinite value to me.
On multiple occasions, my gifts have not been well-received. It’s not uncommon for people to dig deep and try to come up with some devious intent for the gift. In a previous post, I mentioned how sad I became when I was told that there’s no such thing as altruism. I’ve since, with the support of Jack Deus, learned to accept that truth. Yes, there is indeed a motive behind my gifts.. to bring joy. It’s true, I gain the most happiness from bringing happiness into a person’s life.. call me selfish.
We live in a world that doesn’t play fair. People we love die, People we love don’t love us back, our pets die, we lose friends, we lose jobs, we lose homes.. we lose feeling. While some of us see these events as challenges or tests that will make us stronger or assure us a better place in the end, others among us will start to see living life as a futile endeavor. We’ll feel like the chips are stacked against us, we’ll feel alone, we’ll feel forgotten. Yes, I’ll be selfish. I will give of myself, be it time or money, in order to know that I may have contributed to not letting someone suffer alone. I know there are many days where I feel that everything is pointless, but I know how easily that feeling goes away by receiving something as simple as a text message.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been giving. If I am your friend, and you have a need, I believe it is my duty to help you however I can. That’s what I learned in the Bible, so fault me as you wish but I’m going to keep giving to those I care about.. cuz I’m a selfish bastard.
Nov 15, 2009
Posted by Skid Vis on Nov 15, 2009 in Yadda Yadda | View Comments
Last week, @secos introduced me to David Ford.. not in person, he just sent out a Twitter Tweet to this video:
After I saw that, I picked my jaw off the floor and bought the guys album:
I’m glad I did.. he rocks. You should support this guy and get it too!
Nov 5, 2009
Posted by Skid Vis on Nov 5, 2009 in Code | View Comments
I like it!
Windows 7 is great! I’ve been playing around with the beta at work for a while and I’m pretty impressed. So impressed that I actually BOUGHT the FAMILY PACK! That’s right, I bought 3 copies of Windows 7! That’s gotta tell you something! It installed flawlessly on my MacBook Pro, my Mac Mini, and my trust custom PC. I didn’t have to hunt for a single driver.
Uh.. there’s a problem here..
Since I actually own several copies of Windows XP, I bought the Upgrade version of Windows 7. The box says:
“If you are upgrading from Windows XP, you will need to back up your files and settings, perform a clean install and then reinstall your existing files, settings, and programs.”
Not a problem, it’s never a good idea to upgrade over your existing stuff anyway, It’s like building a new house on a rotten foundation, so I ALWAYS do a fresh install. And that’s just what I did, I erased my hard drive (after backing everything up!) and installed a fresh coat of Windows 7. However, when it came time for me to activate, I got a nasty message saying that I didn’t have the right license to do a fresh install.. and I COULD NOT ACTIVATE!
Lucky for me, I have a good friend named Google that told me how to bypass this little GLITCH! Here are the steps you need to take if you run into the same issue.
- Once you have reached the desktop, click Start, type: CMD
- Right-click CMD, click ‘Run as administrator’
- At the command prompt, type, regedit
- Go to HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/mediabootinstall
- Changed its value from 1 to 0
- Go back to the Command Prompt, type the following: slmgr /rearm
- Restart the PC and use the activate windows to re-enter your product key
And that should do it! It’s a silly thing, but Microsoft can’t get everything right.
I’d like to thank Andre Da Costa for posting that tip on a forum somewhere.
