This blog site is no longer active. I've canceled my account with GoDaddy but I still rant and rave on my new site.

Just visit www.oneofkarma.com to find out what's on my mind.


James Triplett

You want to know what Cracks My Nuts? Let me tell you.

I woke up early this morning and decided it would be a beautiful morning to go fishing. I didn't want to go too far today so the Meramec River was the place of choice. It's really only 5 minutes away so it's awesome for short fishing trips. So, after sucking down some cold coffee from the morning before and getting my fishing gear together, I was out the door.

I arrived and hurried down to the riverside to get my line in the water. I could go on about the fishing trip but I want to get to the point. There are a bunch of inconsiderate pigs that fish along the Meramec River. When I take the kids fishing or anyplace in nature, we take a trash bag. I try to teach them leave it cleaner than what you found it. We always bring a bag of trash back with us. Not just our trash, but whatever trash the pig(s) before us left.

This morning, it totally slipped my mind to bring a bag because I packed light compared to normal trips. Luckily, someone took a huge trash bag out to keep a seat dry...and left it. Empty at that. And the whole area was scattered with trash, About 30 yards of waterfront I guess. Water and soda bottles, empty liver containers, empty worm cups,tin cans...I even found a white castle box. It bothered me so much, I actually stopped fishing for a while to grab that big bag and pick some stuff up. I just about filled it and there was still so much trash out there.

I do not understand why it is so hard to refrain from throwing your trash on the ground. I remember my early years in the Marine Corps where it was vital that you did not leave your trash for "Charlie" to find in order to track you. I don't remember ever being inconsiderate like that. It's always fallen under the "no shit" category for me I guess.

I'm just going to say this...don't be a fucking pig. I try to refrain from cursing, especially on my site but it has to be said sometime. Don't throw your trash on the ground and don't be afraid to pick up other trash if you see it.

There are many of us that like to get out into nature and we enjoy it for the serenity and beauty. Even if you don't, have the gosh darn common courtesy to pick up after yourself.

If you want to make a difference, carry a trash bag with you on your outings. Teach the children to pack there own trash out. That's what pockets are for if there are no trash receptacles. If you see trash, pick it up. It's not hard and it's something even the laziest of people can do.

Don't be a fucking pig, pick up after yourself.

It was a night like any other night. Eat dinner, run some errands with the family, come home, goof off, get ready for bed, let the dog out,etc. This night, however, ended up being a little different. We were visited by a special little friend. A special little freak of nature would describe it a little more accurately i believe.

I let Pepper out like I normally do before I head off to bed. I decided to go out with her this evening. Not for any particular reason, I just wanted to step out and enjoy some of the cool night air. Once I stepped onto the back deck, I decided I wanted to turn the back light off so I started to turn around to do so. Out of the corner of my eye, Pepper saw it too, I saw something real little jump. Aw yeah, I knew it was a frog and I knew I had to get it before Pepper got to it. When I grabbed it and started to pick it up, I kind of second guessed what I was actually picking up. It looked like a frog but there was more.

"Holy Freakin Crap!" I said. How many legs does this thing have? It took me a few seconds to do the math but after getting past the confusion of what I was holding, I came up with 6. I just found a 6 legged frog. I rushed inside anxious to introduce my new friend to my lovely wife and the children, if they were still awake. While calling for my wife, she was asking what it was. I told her I found a 6 legged frog. She didn't believe me of course. That all changed when she focused her eyes on this little guy...


4 legs on this side and 2 on the other!


WTF

I knew my son was still awake so I had to go grab him too. We decided to take some pictures and keep our new friend as a pet until we could figure out what else to do with him. Do we call the conservation department or the news or what? We are about a half mile away from the Meramec River so it's very possible it came from there. My only concern is this though. We've had toads living in our back yard in the corner of our back deck for a while now. What if this one was born and raised in our back yard? Is this just a freak mutation or a product of pollution or biological hazard? Only time will tell I reckon.

UPDATE!

I put the 6 legged frog into a shoe box that night and left it in the garage. When we all woke up the next morning to check on it, the 6 legged frog had gotten out and it is now M.I.A. I'm sure we'll see it again.

What is the difference between a power tap and a surge protector?

The electronic equipment found in most businesses is sensitive to lightning and faulty power, which can destroy expensive computer systems and network equipment. Anything with microcircuits is at risk, including security systems and printers. To protect against a power surge, it is necessary to stop the surge from getting to the equipment. This can be accomplished by installing a surge protector/suppressor at points of use that protect each device or appliance at its outlet. 

A power tap, in laymen's terms, is just a hub that shares a power source. A power tap offers no protection against surges caused by lightning or faulty power.

I will share a personal experience with you involving these fine little $8 surge protectors that I purchased at a local Home Depot.

I owned an operated a consulting business as mentioned before in another blog. My storefront was a little cyber cafe where I rented out about 9 computer systems used for gaming and internet access. One lovely day, someone crashed their vehicle into a transformer on the side of the road that knocked out power for blocks.

After about an hour or two, they were able to restore power to the neighborhood. When the power actually kicked back on, however, it sent a surge through the neighborhood "frying" anything and everything that was plugged into an outlet. Luckily, I had all of my equipment on surge protectors. 12 surge protectors to be exact. Every single surge protector was blown and burnt. However, I did not have one piece of equipment damaged. I took all of my surge protectors back to Home Depot and they happily replaced them with new ones at no charge because I only had them for about 6 months.

Over the next 2 weeks, I had many, many computers come into my shop that needed new power supplies, new motherboards, new processors, and some that needed all 3. I heard many people talk about how their televisions and video equipment was damaged as well and how they thought they had surge protectors but they ended up just being power taps.

So, take the time to look at what you are plugging your equipment into. It could save you a lot of money and just give you a piece of mind knowing that your equipment is protected.


This $8 piece of equipment could save you hundreds or more.

Want to know what cracks my nuts? Let me tell you.

Gas stations that charge for compressed air. They have the nerve to charge over $4 per gallon when the economy is at its worst and then charge 75 cents for air. What kind of shit is that? 75 cents for 15 seconds of air. If I was filling 4 new tires with air, maybe I wouldn't bitch about paying 75 cents to use it but I just need 15 psi every now and then.

We found out not too long ago that our new Kia has a slow leak in the driver side rear tire. We have an appointment this week for its first service and it will get fixed then but let me tell you, it's been a pain in the ass to keep air in it in the meantime.

I'm proposing we boycott gas stations that do not offer free air. I'd also like to give kudos out to gas stations that do offer free air.

These nickel and diming sons of bitches do not offer free air.

Arnold
Phillips 66 - Off of Route 141 and Outter Road

St Louis County
Phillips 66 - Corner of Gravois and Lindbergh
BP - Corner of Gravois and Lindbergh

As of now, this is the list of stations that DO offer free air. Just ask the friendly person behind the counter and they will hook it up for you. If you know of any other station in the St Louis or Jefferson County areas, let me know. Together we can make a difference.

Arnold
Phillips 66 - Off of Route 141 and Astra Way (You guys rock)

You want to know why gas stations charge for air? It's because they can and no one says anything about it. I will only buy gas from stations that offer free air. I could do that and never say anything about it but that will not change anything. So, I tell the clerks at these stations that insist on charging me 75 cents that I will not buy gas at that station and why. If more people do this, maybe, just maybe the owners will stop being such greedy bastards and offer free air once more.

I'm just a man trying to make a difference.

You want to know what Cracks My Nuts? Let me tell you.

I'm a network administrator. I have a specialized degree in Computer Applications and Networking, I'm A+ and MS Windows certified and I've been a network administrator for going on 15 years. I've owned and operated a successful consulting business for almost 10 years and and I've supported many, many small-medium sized businesses. I am now a happy employee of a manufacturing company and I do not miss owning and operating my own company and I especially don't miss working with the public. Anyone owning a small business that does this type of work would understand but many still want that freedom and that's understandable as well.

I was asked to help out Stratus Building Solutions, Inc out of St Louis about a year ago. The owner, Pete Frese, is a pretty nice guy but like most small business owners, he doesn't really understand the role of an IT Consultant. He also doesn't understand the importance of making a budget for IT needs and after recent events, really doesn't care who he burns so as long as he saves a dollar. This is just my observation.

Why I stuck around with Stratus Building Solutions in the first place is beyond me but I did. Payment has always been extremely late and Pete Frese would call me in and I would wait, sometimes a half an hour or more, to talk to him or find out what he wanted me to do. Many times, he didn't know himself. He claimed something didn't work right but couldn't elaborate. After drilling into the issue, on most occasions, it wasn't an issue at all. He just didn't understand what was going on and didn't really care to. Many of his workstations were running bootleg versions of Windows and a few of them shouldn't have been in a production environment at all. They were just too old.

Stratus Building Solutions is a nationwide franchise. How Pete Frese and Stratus Building Solutions in St Louis made it to my shit list is pretty clear. After avoiding my phone calls for a month and a half and no one jumping to cut me a check, I decided to go into the office. Instead of Pete having the decency to talk to me himself, he passed the buck to someone else. A Mr. Robert (Bob) Stapleton. I sat patiently in Bob's office listening to him rant and rave about how he hates Arabs and why. I could care less really. I just wanted my money. He was pissed about how "these Muslims" could come to the country and get tax breaks and how "nit-picky" they are. The real kick in the balls was this though. He was mouthing off about how "these Muslims" were adversely affecting our American businesses but he was in on withholding money owed to me, a hard working American combat veteran that took time away from my family to help them out. Come on Bob, what's up with that? After he finished his email and finally shut up, he left me sitting there while he went to find Pete. It was about a half an hour or so. Bob finally came back in and told me that Pete wasn't going to pay me for my work on their network.

Here's what happened and here's their reasoning.

Stratus Building Solutions purchased Symantec Endpoint Protection from Symantec as I recommended. They also purchased a new Dell server and Symantec backup software. Because Pete didn't want to dish out the money, he opted out of purchasing a UPS for the server. That's an Uninterrupted Power Supply which comes in pretty handy if you have faulty power and they do have faulty power.

After a series of power issues and the server shutting itself off, Symantec Endpoint Protection and Symantec Backup Exec became corrupt. I thought they were lucky that the partition didn't become corrupt because I had to deal with that in the past and it wasn't pretty.

After a little more than 14 hours of troubleshooting, repairing and reinstalling the Management Console and all client installations,everything was stable again. In that 14 hours, there were many other smaller task that were completed as well. Much of which had to be done after hours. Other work like troubleshooting .pst files that reached their 2GB max and setting up a new network printer.

When asked why Pete's refusing to pay, this is the answer I received:

"Pete doesn't want to pay you because he feels that because you installed the software, you should support it for free."

If you have any common sense at all, you will easily understand that this reasoning is a crock of shit. If you don't see the issue in this, ask a professional that deals with this matter. In case you are wondering, yes, we're going to court over this. I spent over 14 hours away from my family to work on their network and I've always taken good care of them. It's about the money, yes, but it's also about the principal. This is actually a pretty common occurrence for IT guys unfortunately and the only way to help protect your fellow IT professionals is to stand up to these companies that try this bullshittery.



I would love to hear about people contacting Stratus Building Solutions or Pete Frese to let them know that this is not right.  Also, if you've experienced any poor business practices with Stratus Building Solutions or Pete Frese yourself, leave me a comment. Let me know. This is a franchise company. I'm pretty certain franchisees and investors would be interested to know what was going on.

I have added this man and this company to the shit list. I have a serious problem, as a consumer as well as a business professional, with someone that will promise to pay you for services, have you perform those services, and then refuse to pay.

Pete Frese
p.frese@stratusclean.com

Robert Stapleton
r.stapleton@stratusclean.com

Stratus Franchising, LLC
1976 Innerbelt Business
Center Drive
St. Louis, MO 63114
Ph. (314) 731-2000
Fx. (314) 731-2308
www.stratusclean.com

Find them on MySpace too. Leave them a message and let them know what you think.
http://www.myspace.com/stratusbuildingsolutions

Defamation (Slander)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In law, defamation (also called calumny, libel (for written words),slander (for spoken words), and vilification) is the communication of astatement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to befactual, that may give an individual, business, product, group,government or nation a negative image. It is usually, but not always, arequirement that this claim be false and that the publication iscommunicated to someone other than the person defamed (the claimant).

In common law jurisdictions, slander refers to a malicious, false anddefamatory spoken statement or report, while libel refers to any otherform of communication such as written words or images. Mostjurisdictions allow legal actions, civil and/or criminal, to detervarious kinds of defamation and retaliate against groundless criticism.Related to defamation is public disclosure of private facts, whicharises where one person reveals information that is not of publicconcern, and the release of which would offend a reasonable person."Unlike [with] libel, truth is not a defence for invasion of privacy."

False light laws are "intended primarily to protect the plaintiff'smental or emotional well-being." If a publication of information isfalse, then a tort of defamation might have occurred. If thatcommunication is not technically false but is still misleading, then atort of false light might have occurred.

You want to know what Cracks My Nuts? Let me tell you.

I dropped by the local gas station this morning like I do every morning for the most part. I enjoy a good cup of coffee on my half hour trip to work in the morning. It helps wake me up, get my thoughts together, and prepare me for my normally high-speed and sometimes demanding work day in the IT department.

So, as usual, I get my cup, drop some ice down in it and stand behind this guy at the coffee machines. He's a decent size guy so there's really no way to get around him. I stepped up so he'd know I was there and I know he noticed me because he raised his eyes for a fraction of a second to acknowledge me. He got his coffee already and was working on his condiments. I was able to get a glimpse of his work as I started to walk around a little bit as a subtle hint. Wow. Eight Splenda's and eight liquid creamers in a 16 oz. cup. On top of that, he was opening everything, one package at a time. If that wasn't enough, he was taking his sweet ass time right in front of everything blocking everyone else from getting their coffee fix on. Mine to be more specific. After a few minutes, he finally finished and was on his way leaving a sugary, sticky creamer mess behind.

I'm never really in any real rush in the morning. I'm used to moving quickly but not really in a rush if that makes any sense. I get in, get my coffee together, pay, and get out. There are times when I'm behind a couple people but for the most part, everyone is on the same page. There are unsaid rules, common courtesies if you will, that most of us abide by.

1. Know what kind of coffee you want before you walk up to the coffee machines.
2. Get your coffee and move over. Even if no one is behind you.
3. If you want cream and sugar, get your cream and sugar, and move out of the way.
4. Find a place away from the coffee and condiments to put your coffee together.
5. Leave your coffee there, go to the lids and stirs, get  what you need and go back to your coffee.
6. Clean up your mess.
7. If possible, have your money ready when you walk up to the counter. I keep a jar of change just for coffee. I know exactly how much it is and have the exact amount in a pocket when I leave for work in the morning.

Statistics

According to research by the National Coffee Association, 56 percent of adults living in the United States drank coffee every day in 2006, about 112 million people. This percentage rose from 53 percent in 2005 and 49 percent in 2004. Another 25 percent have some occasionally. This amounts to nearly $18 billion spent on coffee by Americans yearly.
Regular coffee drinkers in the United States have about three cups daily, about 336 million cups of coffee. Nearly 60 percent is consumed during breakfast.
 
I believe if more people would follow these simple guidelines, not just with coffee at the gas station, but with any purchase at any public location, the world could be a better place.

It Could Be.

Take a look into the past, look at the present and try to see why some Atheist have turned away from blind faith. Besides originating in a naive world, religion has brought most of the violence our world has seen.

Shang China, ca. (1300-1050 BC)
The Crusades (1095-1291)
Witch Hunts of (1400-1800)
The Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834)
Nazi Germany (1933-1945)
Sikh uprising, India (1984-1991)
Northern Ireland (1974-1998)

Much of the violence in the world today is a result of religious differences. Very few, if any, religious organizations can accept another organization's beliefs. Muslims, Christians, Jews, Catholics.Everyone wants a piece of the promise land but no one can agree on how to get there. Think about it. That's the only real logical argument. Sure, there are differences in the stories. The characters, the who's,the when's, the where's. Differences so great that many wars and millions of deaths have occurred because of them.

Why must the promise land only be reached in death. Why can they not make "living" the goal and make "life" the promise land.  That would make more sense. Not hating others because of what they believe and waiting to die to go to some imaginary place in the sky. If you remove the heaven and hell from the equation or any life after death for that matter, religion goes away. Only the morals remain. I firmly believe you can teach good morals if you have good morals and you don't need a bullshit story to push them.

I had to come back to this blog and change it up. There's just so much to say here but really, It's quite simple. Everyone wants to be happy in one way or another and no one wants to intentionally be around bad people. I leave that pretty vague because the definition of a bad person is pretty vague. Who you surround yourself with has a large impact on your life. When I was younger, I use to think that there are no bad people in this world. I use to look around and ignore what my eyes were seeing and what my ears were hearing. I'm older now and I've learned to accept that evil is real and it's everywhere. I'm not referring to Satan or any kind of supernatural phenomenon, but evil people. I don't necessarily mean people that make bad decisions. There truly are evil people in this world that go unchallenged every day and never reap the whirlwind. Why? Because no one wants to stand up for what's right.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ~ Edmund Burke

Some call it "The Golden Rule" and many call it common sense. There are far more benefits to being kind and doing what's right than being a dick and doing wrong. It will catch up with you. That little thing many of us call Karma. If you question what kind of person you are, just follow these very simple steps found in the image and you will never have to wonder. If you are ever faced with evil, stand up to it. Have the courage to stand up for what's right. You don't need any divine power and it does no good to wait for divine intervention. Even if you do believe in God, you hold the sword that could undo the wicked. Think about it.

I remember when I first saw the blockbuster hit movie, the Matrix. As I sat in my somewhat comfortable seat eating my popcorn and sipping on my over-priced, slightly flat, iced beverage, I immediately noticed how the movie paralleled with religion.

Since then, I've read many articles written by viewers across the world and how they noticed the same parallelism. In almost all of those articles, the writers have all come to the same conclusion. They interpreted the movie through their own faith perspectives and they have interpreted the "Matrix" as being sin and the young, dazzling Neo being the savior. I encourage everyone to 1.) watch the movies. They are both entertaining and intellectual; and 2.) go out and find some of these articles. They are equally entertaining and intellectual. Once you have watched the movies and read up on some of these articles, you will understand the controversy behind the Matrix Trilogy.

I was born and raised in the "Bible Belt." The "Bible Belt" is a slang term used for a geographical region in the South and the midsection of the United States. These areas host large groups of fundamentalist Christians. I grew up in church in other words. Many Christians would say I have fallen. "Fallen from what?" has always been my question. In the past, I have said I have been liberated. Since the Matrix Trilogy, I have said I am now "Unplugged."

From the very moment I found myself falling deep into the religious aspects of that movie, I was interpreting the "Matrix" as being religion. I saw Neo being a man that lived in the matrix and knew that there was truth amidst all the lies he was born into. After an endless time of looking for answers, he found himself at a point to where he had to really make up his mind. Did he really want to know the truth? Or was he content in knowing that there were others like him that questioned the illusion of life as they knew it? This symbolized by the red and blue pills in the movie. And once you choose to see the truth, there is no going back.

Once Neo was "unplugged" from the matrix and saw what life was without the matrix, he had a difficult time believing what he sought out to find. His conscience was battling the lies and deceit he was born into. Once he was able to grasp that what he knew as life was all a lie, he was able find comfort in the real world. The matrix was formed to enslave the human race, to shroud us from the truth in order to preserve the future of the matrix, to preserve the existence of its makers, and to preserve the existence of the human race. The matrix brought order to our race and created a society more livable, but it was created on lies.

I do not see the matrix or religion as I've interpreted it, as being negative OR positive. I see it as being both. We definitely need it to preserve order and secure the future of the human race. However, there are those of us that do not need it to live healthy, productive lives. We see through the illusion and we've found comfort in knowing the truth. We do not want it to be pushed upon us; we understand the importance of it. In the end of the trilogy, Neo made peace with the machines in order for both races to survive. As Neo did in that great epic, I would like to make peace with the many religions. Let those of us that are unplugged live peacefully outside of the religious matrix. We have been down that road and it does not make sense to us. It was fabricated in a naive time and the moral teachings fall under the "no shit" category if you break them down. We don't need deities to live happy, healthy lives. Just mutual respect, understanding, and love.