Author: anthony Page 23 of 72

I was home sick a few days ago and got a call from my Mom. She said that Dad had been on the phone with someone from Microsoft and was being told that if they didn’t purchase a security update to their out-of-date computer, their internet would be turned off. Dad was suspicious that the guy wouldn’t give a call back number but had been able to provide a security code. And Dad gave him access to the computer where the guy pointed out the locations of malware on the machine.

Parts of it seemed on the up and up, but the threats and the insistence on a checking account number raised a flag with my folks and that’s when they called me.

It didn’t sound right to me either so I relayed my concerns to Mom – who passed them along to Dad. I said they should get the guy to disconnect – or they should pull their own internet connection. He did and Dad ended the call with the account numbers safely unrevealed.

Getting the right cell phone number matched up with the right computer was pretty impressive and I suspect their computer may have already been compromised. Mom handed the phone to Dad and I gave him some suggestions on what to do next – unplug the internet for a bit, get some real security software, or consider a new computer. And skip the online banking for a while. Just in case.

I’m glad I was able to help, but really angry at the guy pretending to be from Microsoft. This ass-hat was trying to scam my folks.

What is wrong with us as a species that we prey on each other? I mean, like, all the time? This was a pretty elaborate setup and required a lot of work and planning – and at no point did this guy (or group, I suppose) think, “Wow, this is a really shitty thing to be doing to people. Maybe we should, I dunno, maybe go play video games instead or learn how to knit and make mittens for orphans.”

Sigh.

My Dad called the real Microsoft and verified that yeah, it was a scam. He got some real security software and they are looking for a new computer – I gave some suggestions there as well.

Things seem to be okay for the moment on the cyber-security front and I may be helping them with transferring some files the next time I visit. Good to have a geek on staff.

It doesn’t quite seem real yet and part of me is waiting for the other shoe to drop, but – pending approval by the board – I got promoted.

It started back in June with a 13-page position audit request form. It was a terrible document – perhaps the worst I’ve seen on campus in my 19 years there. At one point, while trying to complete this, it occurred to me that I could just quit my job right then and I wouldn’t have to continue it.

It was that bad.  Really bad.  Like soul-crushing. Maybe even intended to be so bad that people don’t complete it.

Instead, I got it done and we got it revised and edited – then signed by everyone in the multiverse and submitted to HR. And then we waited several weeks.

HR wanted to meet with me and go over the document that – based on the questions I was asked – they didn’t really look at carefully. That meeting seemed to go okay and then it was more waiting. Like, months.

Finally, my boss got word that the new position had been approved. Again, everyone had to sign off on it and it was a bit before he made the announcement to the rest of the team. Who were all, fortunately, pretty cool with it. Eventually, I got an email from HR with the details – which raised more questions that I’ll need to figure out on my own ’cause I’m pretty sure my reply email is being ignored.

A new nameplate has been ordered for my door and the online directory has been updated. Not sure what I’ll do about business cards – I use so few of those it hardly seems worth updating.

It took a long time and I kinda figured it wouldn’t happen, but – again, pending board approval (hopefully in February) – I’m now the Assistant Director for Web Services at the University of Akron.

Go me.

My birthday was this past weekend (44) and my parents, my sister, and her family came up for a visit. I usually try to plan something for us to do – paint your own pottery and bowling have been fun in the past – but I thought about a movie this time. The tricky part is finding something the adults will enjoy that won’t be too much for my young nieces.

So, I picked Trolls – which was still just barely in the theater. I figured the fun music and bright colors would be good for the nieces and I hoped the humor would be on a couple of levels so the adults would enjoy it too. Not sure if my Dad and brother-in-law liked it – and my youngest niece was a little worried about the Bergrens and the trolls getting eaten. But, the trolls saved the day and everyone was fine.

We went out to eat, hit a craft store, and had birthday doughnuts. And Thundercat was pretty entertaining as well – with no bloodshed!

So, a good visit and a happy birthday.

I had the week off between Christmas and New Year’s and though I had grand and lofty ideas on how I would spend my time productively, I spent much of it reading books and playing games. I guess that depends a little on your definition of productive to determine how successful I was.

I got to visit my family beforehand and enjoyed the time with my nieces. I also got to play video games with the Very Excitable Little Dude and took Louise (briefly back from New York) out for dinner. I saw Jim’s family for Christmas eve and had dinner at a classic Barberton Chicken place with friends. It’s a thing in Northeast Ohio to do.

But, mostly, it was quiet. Quiet days with a purring cat and a stack of books. Sometimes a little music – the bird and bee is a current favorite

– but sometimes just silence broken by turning pages.

It’s tough to get that real silence anymore. Something is always beeping to notify of us of something else that happened that we couldn’t live without knowing.

But of course we can.

It was a struggle to go back to work yesterday and of course there were catastrophes and cranky people. And lots of noise. And when I got home, I left the music off and lights low. And enjoyed the quiet with a book.

Funny how our society places such value on having things when sometimes the best thing is the absence of everything else.

So, time to log off and go find that book again.  And a purring cat to keep me company.

It’s cold tonight and I sit with a warm cup of tea and my computer. Feeling a little melancholy, but maybe a little hopeful.

One of Jim’s colleagues lost their partner suddenly to a heart attack. She found him on the couch one morning after he had died in the night. She was shaken and grieving – and wasn’t get support from his family or her own.

I had given one of the monster wreathes to Jim and he had it hanging in his office at work – he thought it was silly, but fun. She told him that she would come down to his office just to see it since it made her smile. And it sounded like not much was doing that.

Hearing this, I bought some paper and googly eyes and made her a monster of her own.

I had Jim take it in and sent a card along expressing my condolences.

She replied with a happy email thanking me and sharing that she had this hanging on her office wall and smiled every time she looked at it. And that her partner had done origami and tried to make 1000 cranes for his niece. The legend tells that a gift like this is a wish for a long and happy life to the recipient – but he didn’t get to finish them.

I’ve never met her and in the course of things may not ever. I didn’t know her partner or anything about him.

But, there was a connection. And a chance to lessen someone’s grief, even if only in a small way and for a little while.

—
I found out that one of my former colleagues passed away suddenly over the holidays. She was one of the nicest and sunniest people I’ve ever met and I was sorry to see her leave the university – and sorrier still to hear about her passing.

I also found out that my uncle’s passing was somehow worse that we had first thought. It was dark and…well, unthinkable.

And death has been in the news with many celebrities passing suddenly and the ever present tragedy of lives cut short through violence.

And nothing we can do about so many of these.
But, with a little bit of paper and some good intentions, I helped at least one person get through a difficult time.

It’s not much, but it’s enough.

I’ve written before about the idea that we might be living in a computer simulation, but the time off work and the weird books I’ve been reading had gotten me thinking about it again.

I’ve been wondering about dreams.

I had a dream the other night that a toilet suddenly overflowed with snakes. Most were harmless, but I managed to pin a king cobra – fangs first – into a mattress. It occurred to me that we could use some time travel to prevent this, but it went wrong and in the new reality the cobra bit me in my arm. I killed the snake with a hammer and then wrapped up the bite. Later, I was at a party in an apartment complex that reminded me of the Destiny’s Child “Say My Name” video. I found a room where the conversation had faltered and told the people there about the bite. It occurred to me that I should check the wound so I unwrapped it and checked it out.  The bite had caused a massive infection and the tissues were necrotic and sloughing off.  If there was a smell, it would have been terrible, I’m sure.  I cleared the dishes out of the sink and stuck my arm under the water to at least wash it off.

And then I woke up – and checked my arm.  (I’m fine, by that way.)

So – how would dreams fit into a simulated reality?  If there’s a player playing the decidedly boring “Game of Anthony” – would they perceive my dreams?  Is it like some strange YouTube video?  A pop-up ad?  I can’t figure…  unless the simulation is powerful enough that a simulated computer (i.e. my brain) can in turn run it’s own simulation?

It’s possible now to build a working computer inside the Minecraft game using only the built-in tools, so the idea is somewhat plausible.

So, if we don’t really exist and are just part of a massive computer simulation – which would explain 2016 pretty handedly – what does our future hold?  On the one hand, I feel like maybe I should try to be a little more interesting for my player – and if they don’t exist, then at least a little more interesting for me.  On the other, maybe I’m just in some idle game – earning coins by repeating the same tasks over and over…

Shit.  That’s exactly what I’m doing.  I’m in an idle/tap game on some trans-dimensional entity’s smart phone.

I’m going to go log off now.

I had a dream the other night that I was in a “lending bookstore” and was drawn to a specific shelf and a specific book. It was a huge paperback book set up like a concordance for a massive series. I flipped through it, was fascinated by it, and decided I was either going to buy it or check it out.

And then I woke up.

I was awake just long enough to wonder what the title was, then fell back asleep and went right back into the dream. I managed to find the book again and this time I flipped it over to see the cover: The Ipswitch Compendium. I realized I was sleep when I thought I’d like to try to find this in the real world.

When I woke up again, I got up to write down what I remembered from the dream – including the sticker on the cover that listed the replacement value at $306.00

And before I went back to bed it occurred to me that using someone else’s dream would be a great place to hide something. And I wondered who had hidden this very interesting book in my dream.

The next day I looked up Ipswitch and realized where I had seen the name before. Instead of some mythical land – perhaps something from H.P. Lovecraft – it’s actually the name of a software company that made an FTP program.

So, a little disappointing. But a great idea for a story of my own.

—————————

The cold weather has dropped the air pressure in my tires low enough to trigger the “one or more of your tires is low on pressure but I can’t be bothered to tell you which one or ones” warning on my dashboard.

So, when I got done with work and dinner, I stopped by a local gas station that has a free air-pump.

I waited in line while the woman with a van in front of me got air in her tires. She messed around it with for awhile, then got in and pulled away.

I pulled my car up as another car pulled in behind me – then set the pressure and started the pump. It reported low pressure on the first tire, tried gamely to increase it, then gave up with an error message on the display. I tried it again and got the same error – then I gave up too.
Instead of pulling away right away, I went to car behind me to let them know it wasn’t working. The guy thanked me since I’d saved him the hassle – and we both headed out in different directions.

I went to another gas station and found the air pump – except this one wasn’t free. I glared at the pump and considered going some place else – but I was tired and just wanted the day to be done. So, I checked all the tires with my gauge, confirmed that all of them were about equally low – which actually seemed like a good thing – and then paid my $1.50 for 5 minutes of compressed air.

Sigh.

I was done in a couple minutes and the pump was pretty fast. I double checked all the tires when I was done to make sure I’d at least gotten my money’s worth – then I was on my way as the timer ticked down and shut off.

It’s kinda like buying dirt, I guess. Yeah, sometimes you need to it when you don’t have enough, but it just kinda ticked me off.

On the plus side, the warning light on my dashboard shut off.

I got a call from my sister earlier this week – my dad’s brother Roger took his own life recently. Roger – or Uncle Dodge, as we called him – had been estranged from most of the family for a long time. I don’t really know what caused it, other than some bits and pieces that didn’t quite add up, but it had been many years since I’d seen him or talked to him.

I didn’t really know him that well when I was growing up. In contrast to my dad, Uncle Dodge was kinda loud and intense – maybe a little intimidating, perhaps. We didn’t visit his family often and while his family visited with the rest of the relatives for holidays we didn’t seem to mesh. Or maybe that was just me – it was a long time ago.

My best memory of Uncle Dodge was when I was in college and spending the summer with my grandparents. He took me, his second wife, and my other uncle – and my uncle’s kids – on a rock climbing trip. And for not being a fan of heights, I had a good time – even managed to excel with my long limbs reaching some difficult handholds. It was a much different interaction than when I’d been a kid and I think we both appreciated each other a bit more.

Something happened over the years – still don’t know what – but when his second wife passed away, he didn’t tell anyone until after the funeral. And when my grandmother – his mother – passed away, he wasn’t at the funeral for her with the rest of the family. The same when my aunt – his sister – also passed away.

I bring those up not to paint him in a bad light – though it bothered me at the time. It just seems like, when a family is facing a crisis or a loss like that, this could have been a time for some kind of reconciliation.

And now it’s too late for that.

Being estranged from my uncle makes dealing with his passing both easier and more difficult. Other than a few bright spots from my memories, he was largely a stranger. But I could have done more, could have made more of an effort to reach out. Maybe I could have done something to help bring him back. Maybe.

I talked to my Dad to see how he was doing. He’s tough to read, but I know he’s troubled. We don’t know if there will be a funeral and I didn’t even know what state he was living in – turns out, Florida.

I’m sorry that things turned out as they did and that my uncle found himself in that dark place. And I wonder what we could have done to have things turn out differently for him.

—-

The University of Akron experienced a loss of our own recently – a student accidentally stabbed and killed his room-mate. Reports indicate they were both intoxicated and there was an argument over fast food. Every report mentioned that part – I don’t know if it was in an effort to diminish what happened or that everyone was so incredulous that something so trivial could lead to those consequences.

I didn’t know either of these kids – though I found out one of my student assistants knew them both. She’s struggling to just keep going – finals are next week and her mother had been fighting cancer.

I tried to offer her some kind words and support, but it’s hard to know what to say. Even though I didn’t know either of the kids, they were still part of the UA family and to see such potential lost is deeply saddening. Both for the one that is no longer with us – and missing his graduation – and for the one in a jail cell with his life destroyed.

——

So, feeling a little lost this week. Both my uncle’s death and that of the UA student were at a remove, but no less troubling.

I guess this should make me appreciate what I have and the family and friends around me, but instead I just feel kind of empty and a little numb.

I’ll have some time off around the holidays and it will be good to spent time with my family. There will lights and laughter – warm homes and warm hearts.

But for now I feel for those in the cold and the dark. And wonder if the fates could have been swayed.

The other evening, I had just gotten back from not destroying anyone’s soul while christmas shopping when I noticed that my neighbor was out raking leaves. It was dark and she was working by the light of the street lamp – using a box to scoop up the leaves into a trashbag.

I parked my car, took in my purchases, then went back out with a shovel and rake and offered to help. Seems her tree drops the leaves all at once, but usually not until after the city does leaf pick up in our area.

With better tools, we made short work of the pile in front of her house – then went down the street a couple houses to get the rest of the leafs that had settled there. After a bit the owner of that house came out and with the three of us we finished up that pile too.

So, a small good deed and getting to meet the neighbors. I like to think it balances out the terrible things I was thinking about people at Target. Really, people? You gotta take up the whole aisle with your cart?

——————————

This morning, I was up bright and early to head over to the Ronald McDonald house to volunteer. This is for a committee at work and while we were supposed to have 4 volunteers, only three people signed up. And then one person canceled this morning.

So, it was me and my co-chair cleaning the entire facility. Mopping, moving furniture, wiping down tables and chairs, vacuuming – the works. We were well organized and worked very quickly and very efficiently. In two hours, we were exhausted, but done. The staff there were impressed and we headed out – and I went to eat lunch at mcdonald’s.

I’m glad we were able to help out, but I kinda wish the rest of the committee would be more involved.  I think we’re going to try and do more on-campus volunteering – hoping that gets a better participation rate.

The Wayne College branch of The University of Akron is going to have a Maker Faire in May of 2017. There will be vendors and booths for people that make all kinds of things – from 3-D printing to knitting. Which, I guess, is a kind of 3-D printing too.

I figured some Modular Origami would be a good fit and I’ve signed up – and completed the 5 page form. Yeah.

I won’t know for a bit if I’ve been accepted since they’ve got a committee that will need to make the final call. I’m guessing they don’t want to have a bunch of duplicates there, but seriously, who else is going to do Origami?

Under the assumption that I’m going to be accepted, I’ve started planning. I’m going to take plenty of cranes and boxes to give away, have plenty of paper to teach simple things, have modular creations to display – and the giant menger sponge I built.

[what is a menger sponge?]

Except the one I built isn’t very portable.

It won’t fit in my car and I won’t have a way to get it to Wayne County. So, I’m rebuilding it to be portable.

The new version is going to be 20 smaller cubes, each with 12 sheets of paper per face. So:

6 * 12 * 20 = 1,440 sheets of paper.

That’s almost three reams of paper. I’m closing in on the first ream completed, but I’ve still got a ways to go to fold all the shapes and then put them together.

Big project, but should be worth it.