Suicide is never the answer little trouper.

I’ve got questions to answer, and even a couple of statements to make, so there’s plenty to write about today. It will be chopped up into different posts, because, for one thing, I’m at work at this moment.

Before questions, I have to tell this tale. Last night Chris and I were out at a small Italian restaurant we were visiting as we were trying to get out of the rut of constantly going to Chili’s, Tin Star, BW3 and Chipotle all the time. The food was good, Chris had some vegetable pizza with spinach and artichokes and more, which I stayed safely away from with my bowl of pasta.

On one projection television they were showing the food network, but over the bar, there was a television with Fox News on it, close captioned. As many of you know, Fox News likes to cover any missing white girl story it can find, especially when there’s news that makes Tom Delay, or Dick Cheney, or George Bush look bad that’s being covered by other channels. The “human interest” of an abducted or disappeared 16-25 year old woman with decent photos from the last spring break is definitely newsworthy.

So, there it was, the needed story about some girl who was missing from her spring break trip, with the crying parents and all. It is sad, but not national news. Then they turned to another missing persons story, one about a male college student who apparently was drunk, and his dorm mates threw him down a trash chute, and now he’s missing. Apparently he got dropped into a trash truck, and now officials are looking for him in landfills in the area. It’s a terribly odd story.

Of course, not wanting to say anything bad about the likely dead, I still couldn’t help thinking about a quote from the movie, Better Off Dead, so I turned to Chris and said, “Now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that.”

Now onto the first question I want to answer. John (pteroglyph) asks me this about the post I used to solicit questions:

Why would one agree to answer all in a public venue and be open and honest and then, well, not?

Well, the first thing is, I said “ask me anything”, not that I will answer any question. Semantically, it’s different. I know that it’s a bit of a cop-out answer, but truly, it’s what I meant.

Now, to the deeper issue, why would I solicit questions and not want to answer? Really, there isn’t much of a reason to not answer, but I do have a couple of categories that I will deflect, or answer obscurely. First, I don’t want to answer a question that would end up having to try to think what someone else’s thoughts might be. I’ve run into a couple of entries I’ve written where I tried to guess what someone’s opinions of me, or a situation we were in, and I’ve gotten it wrong, and been called on the floor about it. I’d rather deal with questions about me, and not about others – unless it’s “is so-and-so hot?”, or something.

Second, I don’t want to answer a question that might put someone else in a compromised position, or reveal something that they may not want revealed. For example, Yes, I might have done something in a moving motor vehicle during TBRU, and I’ll own up to that, but the others may not want that revealed, so my truthiness factor is not telling all, or observing the lie of omission.

So, yes, you can ask me about anything. I will answer as honestly as I can, without hurting others. That’s the intention, and that’s what I’m sticking to.

If anyone wants to ask me a question, I’ll continue answering over the weekend.

Technically They Are Personal Computers, Too.

I thought about doing something silly like saying that I'd be giving up my iMac and getting some Dell or Gateway computer, and then saying April Fools, but everyone would know it's a lie and it wouldn't be much of an April Fool's joke if there wasn't someway you might believe it.

Of course, today is the 30th anniversary of apple Computers, a little company that's a really big company in some ways, run by a guy who's been called visionary, demanding, crazy, stubborn, and many other names. Still, apple wouldn't be Apple without him. Heck, look at Apple in the mid 90's, they almost ended up on the scrap heap of computing, much like Commodore and Atari. Still, there's a loyal group of fans who've stuck with them, and now are in possession of some of the best hardware and software around.

Our family didn't start with Apples, in fact my Dad came home with a Commodore PET back in 1978 after fooling around with some very basic Heathkit calculators and circuit-boards. I then moved up to the Atari computers, and finally in college, despite being able to use my Atari 800XL with it's 300 baud modem on the university VAX, and having a good knowledge of BASIC, I bought my first Mac.

The Macintosh LCII had a separate monitor, and was shaped like a pizza box, but it was still an entry level computer. I used that to help me with my desktop publishing and the yearbook assignments. It was also compatible with the fraternity's computer (and they even had a LISA, the Mac's predecessor, in the attic). I think it used System 7. This was sometime around 1991 and I had a 1400 baud modem then.

From there I bought a grey iMac, and iBook, and finally the hemisphere-shaped iMac G4 that I'm typing this on. All have been good, reliable machines, and great for what I do, type, read the internet, listen to music. I bought one of the first iPods that came out, and am now on my second. I even have a Newton, but never found a good use for it. It's not that any of these machines dies, but just ended up needing an upgrade. I think I've only had a Mac crash and require a hard drive cleaning once.

Yes, I'm a Mac evangelist, and I want everyone to at least look at the Mac as a computer for them, but I know that not everyone would do well by having one. People who do heavy processes, computer programmers, gamers, these people need a PC, but anyone who just needs a good, well designed, easy to use machine, and is willing to pay a premium for design and ease.

I use a PC at work, but I don't want to come home to one. I love my Mac, and my iPod, and hope they'll be around for several years to come.


Now, back to the questions. JOhn (jkusters) asks:

What kinds of features in a guy catch your attention? What combination of physical, mental, and social aspects do you find interest-worthy?

I'll tell you, I have a really hard time answering this question, because I always have a hard time pinning down what I like in a few phrases because every day brings new possibilities and the chance to discover something you didn't consider before.

We can start with a few physical attributes. Facially I can't tell you what the secret combo is, but I like little noses, squinty eyes, and a great beard or goatee. Facial hair can really make a difference, and I prefer it. I like guys to have mustaches with the beards and goatees. It's just one of those things. Hair color doesn't mean too much, but for an extra look, red heads will get my attention.

Body types can be anywhere from athletic, to muscular to husky. There is a level of chubbiness that gets to be too much, but it hasn't always been a killer. I'll admit that porn-wise, I like the musclebears, but they are a fantasy, and they don't normally look my way. I do find the really skinny aren't very attractive to me at all.

Mental/Social - have somewhat of a brain. that's why I like a lot of people on LJ, because they can write a decent sentence. I like someone with a quick and probably quirky wit, and someone who has a little pop culture knowledge. It helps to have something to connect with in conversation. please be able to have a conversation. This is what annoys me with Bear 411 - people can't write. Then again, I always have a tough time with messaging services because I can't talk in short spurts like that. I also can't spell.

Also, I'd rather have people in my life who are good in small social groups, since big parties tend to put me into a funk. I just don't function well in a crowd. I guess I need a little more personal interaction.

If you want me to describe someone perfect (besides Chris of course) I don't think I could. I'm very case-by-case, and hopefully I'm not one to pre judge when there's an interesting person in there, but the packaging just didn't click the first time. it's hard not to be hypocritical about that though.

Thanks for the question. More answers to come.