James Ashman

Yesterday I discovered money in paypay from a few months ago I had forgotten to transfer to my bank. It was a time of rejoicing. But it foreshadowed an impending Murphy’s law.

That afternoon, I started my car (a manual Mitsu Lancer 2002), and tried putting it in reverse. The stick wouldn’t go. Tried first, still wouldn’t shift into gear. I gave it a minute and tried again, and shoved it into gear.
That night, it would go into gear, but just not as smoothly. And the clutch felt different.

This morning, it was fine. This afternoon, it stuck. And then finally, after work, it just was a pain. It would refuse to go into each gear. But I didn’t have a choice, a bit of nudging (not too much, just enough as it did get easier after a while), and I brought it to a mechanic. Explained the problem, pleaded they test it an hour prior to their closing.

And of course, everything they could test was okay. The brake and clutch fluids were fine. Transmission fluid was fine, etc., etc. Except, that means they only had two more places two check for this kind of problem. A bearing inside the clutch. Or the clutch plates. It’s likely the latter. As much as I wished the mechanic was wrong, I had always figured this car (at 100k miles, exactly, probably on the original clutch) would need clutch work done first.

This is after spending the last month moving houses, starting a new life, paying new deposits, figuring out that after a month of roughing it, I’d actually be able to survive with cash to spare after all was said and done.

This doesn’t change that much. But it puts a serious dent in it. And really, really ruins a day. A week. A month.

I never intended to have so many personal posts on this blog, as I wanted it to be more writing based. But this is one of those things that affects it all. The past month has all been the rigors of life, the stresses of life, the changes and all else.

On life, that is.

Today is moving day. Been spending the last week getting everything packed and ready to move. Rather insane around here.

But it’s great. The place me and my sister are moving into is smaller, sure, but it was smaller in our memories than in actuality. We checked it out yesterday, and were surprised at what we saw. The carpets were brand new. The property management company went above and beyond to make sure everything was as close to perfect as possible. The lease terms were… well, they are lease terms after all, but there was nothing we really had to worry about stepping over. No pets, water beds, or cooking meth in the bathroom. Check, check, and check.

In a few minutes we’ll have some help getting the big stuff that we don’t need sent to the dump, and afterwards there are just a few large items to move over, as most of our stuff fit in boxes and has already been moved.

Won’t have internet on our computers for a few days, but it’s fine since my phone is a pretty good replacement for the short while we won’t have it.

With all the things going on, it makes you appreciate the times we have that are calm and settled. And independence.

I’m looking forward to it. I wonder how it’ll help my writing.

236 words I could have used in a novel.

Been completely encompassed by the developments at home lately. My parent’s are living the dream and going to go nomadic, check them out at the site.

So I’ve been thrust into a whirlwind of new phone services to get off their plan (and went with Verizon and the Droid X, best early termination fee cost I’ve ever spent, the difference is night and day compared to AT&T’s spotty coverage), moving plans, deposits, new job duties, a move at the workplace as well, and a million more things.

I’ve pretty much put my writing on hold for the last 6 weeks due to a complete lack of inspiration and creativity, though I have no doubt it’ll eventually pick up. This book is taking longer than expected, and now that I think about it I started writing it around 13 or 14 months ago, writing 1/3 of it 2 months at a time and then taking a few off while doing other stuff. That’s how it goes in life.

Nevertheless, got to keep going, get settled, and finally, for the first time, live without parents in the house. Another step on the road.

193 words I could have used in a novel.

I’m reading an article on Ars Technica about Star Trek:TNG’s PADD is a predecessor of sorts to the Apple iPad. Rather than comment on any of the controversy that could be ignited between Apple/Mac and PC/Whatever else/etc. fans, there is a line that caught my eye that holds true for many people:

”
Early personal computers weren’t known for ease of use. “I remember growing up with IBM PCs, using them, and being comfortable with the DOS operating system,” Okuda said. “But at the same time, I was frustrated with the fact that I had to think the same way the designers and programmers did.”

The Mac changed all that, Okuda told Ars. “The very first time I saw the Apple Macintosh, it was an astonishing quantum breakthrough. Here was someone beating their brains into guacamole in order to make this machine easy for me to use,” he said.
”

The second quote by Okuda struck me, the experience that it struck him in that way. Because it never, ever stuck me like that. And I’ve wondered for the past couple years if my affinity for Windows, the PC, has been because I grew up with one. Would I have been a Mac enthusiast if I had been given a Macintosh instead of that ol’ 186 (not sure if I started with a 1 or 286, though), loaded with Xtree and MS Amy? Moving up in like to Railroad Tycoon and Civilization eventually, but only after running the gamut of basic games, was there suffering involved with the DOS interface? Not in my recollection. I moved up to Xtree gold even! That’s more or less a graphical, but text-based, file system.

I could go on for hours, as could many old enthusiasts, about the things we did before the days of Windows 95. And yes, we did end up seeing Macs in grade school. With one button. By the time they had made it into schools, though, Win 98 was around, and it’s second revision was something to be heralded in middle school. There was some command to turn off the macs, one I’ve forgotten, and haven’t even bothered to relearn on my new mac, but Alt-Ctrl-Del has been timeless. I still remember the day in seventh grade computer class the teacher showed us ACD, and me and my friends wondering how we didn’t find it before.

But the command line was something I went back to often. My favorite games played in DOS, not windows. In fact, one game that was DOS only, has been ported to both iPhone and Android, I have it again. Its a classic, of course. Through the command line, I could access the dos shell and it’s built-in editor that functioned in both ASCII and Hex. Through DOS I could reprogram autoexec.bat to start up a certain way, especially if a certain game needed it. I didn’t worry about start up times, as dos was quick. Dos went where I directed it. I had complete and utter control at the most basic level: the command line. The direct line to the computer.

Graphical interfaces are nice. They really are. But their usage has created a trend: they represent your computer. They are not providing you with that direct line as a precaution, so you don’t touch something you’re not supposed to. Of course, they could, they are only a different representation. But the iPad doesn’t come with the ability for you to see it’s files. It doesn’t let you edit it, check it’s software and startup processes. It doesn’t let you see what’s behind the mask of the icon on it’s screen. I know rooting them provides you with this ability, but it feels lackluster.

I felt like there was a gross injustice done in the Ars article. In my view, and it’s a logic-based one, the iPad is only a larger iPhone, as they are both the same OS. So I feel a bit perturbed when the PADD is compared to the iPad instead of the iPhone. I want to say, “the only difference is the size, why compare them now?” But I know the answer already. Lets go back to the DOS example. DOS was decent. You tell it how to boot up and what to boot, and it does it. You can put it on various machines, and even emulate it nowadays. But no one marveled when you installed it on a newer, bigger machine (speaking in 1990′s terms). After all, that was done thousands of times all the time. But the iPhone OS only exists on custom hardware. Thus, as much as it would have been just fine to make a physically larger iPhone with no changes whatsoever, it wasn’t done because its controlled by a single entity without licensing agreements.

But I’m just one type of person. I prefer absolute, line-based, control. No, not coding level, but just commands that let me do what I want. I think on that level. I liked DOS over the original Macs. It just worked – for me.

844 words I could have used in a novel.