Ethics in computer sales

While doing some after-christmas shopping with the gift cards that my brother and I received, he made the suggestion that until I accept a full time job, maybe I should work at Circuit City or Best Buy. I thought about this for a moment because I have been going stir crazy at home. Then I realized that I could not bring myself to work at either of those places. I simply could not imagine recommending (in good faith) that a customer buy a Windows machine. At this point, if a customer wants to connect to the Internet and use it in meaningful ways (more than just browsing CNN), they need expert help just to keep things safe and secure. In my mind, all Windows systems will fail in this way. How can PC manufacturers possibly sleep at night while they advertise "safe and secure" PCs?

I am not looking to place blame on any company, but I wonder why these stores have never made real attempts to offer better products to their customers? Apple's Mac OS X operating system has been completely virus free for almost 6 years. I have asked Apple engineers about why this is the case, and they tell me that it is no accident. Apple takes internet security very seriously, and it shows. The real question in my mind is why haven't these stores offered Apple products? Apple has resorted to opening their own retail stores and they have actually accomplished the unthinkable (as far as retail goes)....every store is profitable in 6 months. Can Best Buy or Circuit City say that? I doubt it.

Hello World? You need to wake up and take your internet back. You don't need to be at the mercy of virus writers. Get a Mac...you'll thank me later.

cool gift

Grandma strikes again with her cleverness. She gave all of us small blocks of wood. Then she told us to run around it twice. Now we can say that we ran around the block twice and got our exercise for the day.

I love christmas!

unemployed....and liking it?

I admit...being unemployed and having no obligations...it is kinda fun. I get to play with my dog more, I get to play World of Warcraft more, and I get to catch up with people I havn't seen in a while. All of a sudden, money is not really that important anymore.

Caution: Thick irony ahead

This has to be embarrassing for Symantec. The company has spent years convincing Mac users of an impending virus threat in order to scare them into buying their antivirus program. Now, a report has surfaced that reveals that Symantec's Norton Antivirus actually makes Macs LESS secure.

Read details here:
http://www.macnn.com/articles/05/12/22/symantec.nav.exploit.found/

P.S. Someone commented about me not making web addresses in my posts into hyperlinks. This is a conscious decision. By forcing people to copy and paste the links, I eliminate the possibility that a link could go to the wrong place or possibly a malicious web site.

All done! and I have proof!

I have posted some pictures from my graduation party. Thanks to iPhoto and .Mac it only took like 5 minutes!

http://homepage.mac.com/frivols1/PhotoAlbum18.html

reminder

Graduation party....1:00PM...Dec 17th....Mother Bear's Pizza.

Be there or be square!

Moving on

I never thought about the day I would stop being an Apple Campus Rep. I never thought about the day where I would say goodbye to so many dear friends. I never realized that I would be so nervous about leaving school and completely changing my lifestyle. All of this seems to be happening so fast....sometimes it makes my head spin.

No matter what happens, I believe that this is all for the best, and I will make the most of all of the opportunities that I will find in the coming days.

DONE!!!

That's it. I'm done. College is finished. I have taken all of the exams, gotten the grades, and made this my own experience.

I love IU. I love being in Bloomington. Apparently it is time to move on. Graduation is such a bittersweet time.

Amazing Saturday

On saturday, I attended a Masonic installation of officers where a friend of mine was going into the top position of the lodge. I have been to many installations before, so I knew it was going to be fun, I would feel proud of my friend, we would talk for a while and we would go home. What I wasn't expecting was to be totally blown away.

When my friend sat in the master's chair for the first time, he gave a speech about the Masonic family (Blue Lodge, Scottish Rite, York Rite and Shrine). When he started speaking, it was the most impressive, sincere and wonderful speech I have ever heard. The best title I can give him now is "Orator". His thoughts were well developed, he never said "um", it was perfectly paced and sincere. I now know that he is going to be a great leader for his lodge, and hopefully I will be able to work with him in the near future.

Poor Windows users...

Now at least you can talk to your viruses....
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/07/145243&from=rss

Seriously folks....this is insane.

What's next?

I have 13 days left until graduation. Scary....

I have been thinking about alternatives to starting a career after college. Here is what I came up with.

Icky Geek
I could move home and get a menial part time job just to have come cash flowing in. During my down time, I would play WoW and work on coding obscure software programs. I would start inventing worthless things. I could even begin writing a series of books. All the while, I would let my hair grow out and I would stop bathing for a couple of months...who needs to waste time on cleanliness when there are murlocs to be slain?

Man in the Sand
I could find my way onto a desert island and proclaim myself "man of the year" every Sassyear and have a 1-man awards ceremony to give myself the award every 2.32 days. Everyone knows that a Sassyear is 2.32 days in normal society.

Begger
I could stake out my claim where I think the next city will be built and start begging. There might not be anyone there now, but just THINK of the growth potential!!

Gold Digger
Find an old lonely rich woman...make her feel wonderful for her last years....collect the dough and enjoy the rest of my life after she is gone.

Funny Man
Become a clown. Who doesn't like a clown? And those shoes...now THAT'S fashion.

dorms...bad

Today is one of those days where I really don't want to be in the dorms. Our roof is being fixed, so the machines and the hammering woke me up at 8AM. No big deal, I needed to be up anyway. When I went into the bathroom to get ready for my day, my nose was invaded with the stench of vomit (damn freshmen). I go about my day like normal, and when I come back, I start relaxing and watching TV when I hear someone screaming in the hallway "I'm fu**in wasted!!!"

I can't wait to get my own apartment.

Graduation Party!!

Plans have been confirmed!

Where? Mother Bear's Pizza in Bloomington, IN
When? Dec 17th, 2005 @ 1:00PM

Come one come ALL! The more the merrier!

Graduation

16 days and counting....

The excitement is building...