Interesting conclusion, although I don't agree with him. M$-bashing is certainly en vogue these days, and my own experience in desktop support leads me to believe that the lack of productivity comes mostly from 1) inadequate training and 2) too many "goodies" on the PC to screw around with. Plus, I honestly don't think that it's accurate to state that every Windows user experiences one crash per day. Win9x, sure, but NT is far more reliable (relatively speaking). (Now don't flame me just 'cuz I said NT isn't 100% sucky.) There are a lot of factors that enter into low productivity, like job satisfaction etc. Okay, we're all tired of Windows, but I'm not going to blame the earthquake in Turkey on Bill Gates. This guy's just jumping on the back of the DOJ bandwagon.
Don't let these losers drag you down, buddy. It's not worth it. I made it out of highschool and I've got a great IT job now. I'm doing what I love, and those people who made my life hell... well, I don't know or care what they're doing. Like you said, you've got one year left. I know it seems like forever, but it will go by, and you will get out of there. And after that - life will deal with them. They'll either go to college and learn what it's like to be low man on the totem pole (trust me, it happens), or they'll realize that unless you're frickin' Superman, you can't make a career out of being an athlete. You've got a lot more to contribute to the world than these guys do. Don't let the pain they've caused you steal that.
I'm 26 years old now, happily married with a 10-month-old son. But I can remember being 15 like it was yesterday. I know it's a cliche, but highschool really was hell for me. I always had a hard time trying to fit in, partially because I couldn't stop myself from thinking how strangely surreal or even comical so many people were (kind of like Brazil, if you've seen it). So I ended up on the fringes with not too many friends. Of course, the people I did befriend were similarly "outcast" from the popular circles for this reason or that. Highschool kids can be absolutely merciless, and once they find out that you're not "one of them", you might become the target of verbal or physical abuse. Of course, none of this helps the situation - it only widens the chasm between "in" and "out". When you find yourself in a situation like this, you turn to things that make you happy. For me, it was music (after all, the coolest game our Tandy 256 could run was King's Quest III).
The thing is, whether we realize it or not, all highschool kids feel a lot of insecurity. It's one thing to not be cool - it's another to have an image of coolness to maintain at all times. But I think the difference comes in how closely you analyze your situation. It's true that those who don't have clue 1 about life seem to have the easiest time of it. But I just couldn't do that. I was born with an analytical/critical mind, as I suppose many of you were as well. And it's real hard to understand the mindset of a cheerleader or the class president when you realize how mindless and superficial so much of highschool activity is.
But I look at it this way - if my experience in highschool can help me to be more empathetic toward my son or whomever else, then that's a good thing. After all, if we are to learn anything from this, it's that people just want to be known and understood. Those who don't find that will do anything they can to get it, even if it costs them their lives. And I think that if more people were interested in actually *listening* and not rushing to panicked judgment (like so many HS counselors ironically seem to be doing), then we may see the situation improve for a lot of kids.
P.S. Quake is not evil!!! It isn't what goes into people that corrupts them, but what comes out of their hearts. I think some guy named Jesus said that once (except for the bit about Quake).
If people are disappointed with TPM, it'll be their own stinking fault, because the only people who will be disappointed are the SW ubergeeks who've spent the last months soaking up every single bit of information in existence about the prequels. Don't get me wrong - I'm salivating at the thought of a new SW movie, but I don't know any of the "spoiler" info because I would like to actually *enjoy* the movie.
BTW, The Matrix was very cool (but it wasn't the life-defining geek-fantasy that some have found it to be). There may be plans to make a trilogy out of it, from what I've heard.
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Interesting conclusion, although I don't agree with him. M$-bashing is certainly en vogue these days, and my own experience in desktop support leads me to believe that the lack of productivity comes mostly from 1) inadequate training and 2) too many "goodies" on the PC to screw around with. Plus, I honestly don't think that it's accurate to state that every Windows user experiences one crash per day. Win9x, sure, but NT is far more reliable (relatively speaking). (Now don't flame me just 'cuz I said NT isn't 100% sucky.) There are a lot of factors that enter into low productivity, like job satisfaction etc. Okay, we're all tired of Windows, but I'm not going to blame the earthquake in Turkey on Bill Gates. This guy's just jumping on the back of the DOJ bandwagon.
Don't let these losers drag you down, buddy. It's not worth it. I made it out of highschool and I've got a great IT job now. I'm doing what I love, and those people who made my life hell... well, I don't know or care what they're doing. Like you said, you've got one year left. I know it seems like forever, but it will go by, and you will get out of there. And after that - life will deal with them. They'll either go to college and learn what it's like to be low man on the totem pole (trust me, it happens), or they'll realize that unless you're frickin' Superman, you can't make a career out of being an athlete. You've got a lot more to contribute to the world than these guys do. Don't let the pain they've caused you steal that.
I know I'm not treading new ground here, but...
I'm 26 years old now, happily married with a 10-month-old son. But I can remember being 15 like it was yesterday. I know it's a cliche, but highschool really was hell for me. I always had a hard time trying to fit in, partially because I couldn't stop myself from thinking how strangely surreal or even comical so many people were (kind of like Brazil, if you've seen it). So I ended up on the fringes with not too many friends. Of course, the people I did befriend were similarly "outcast" from the popular circles for this reason or that. Highschool kids can be absolutely merciless, and once they find out that you're not "one of them", you might become the target of verbal or physical abuse. Of course, none of this helps the situation - it only widens the chasm between "in" and "out". When you find yourself in a situation like this, you turn to things that make you happy. For me, it was music (after all, the coolest game our Tandy 256 could run was King's Quest III).
The thing is, whether we realize it or not, all highschool kids feel a lot of insecurity. It's one thing to not be cool - it's another to have an image of coolness to maintain at all times. But I think the difference comes in how closely you analyze your situation. It's true that those who don't have clue 1 about life seem to have the easiest time of it. But I just couldn't do that. I was born with an analytical/critical mind, as I suppose many of you were as well. And it's real hard to understand the mindset of a cheerleader or the class president when you realize how mindless and superficial so much of highschool activity is.
But I look at it this way - if my experience in highschool can help me to be more empathetic toward my son or whomever else, then that's a good thing. After all, if we are to learn anything from this, it's that people just want to be known and understood. Those who don't find that will do anything they can to get it, even if it costs them their lives. And I think that if more people were interested in actually *listening* and not rushing to panicked judgment (like so many HS counselors ironically seem to be doing), then we may see the situation improve for a lot of kids.
P.S. Quake is not evil!!! It isn't what goes into people that corrupts them, but what comes out of their hearts. I think some guy named Jesus said that once (except for the bit about Quake).
If people are disappointed with TPM, it'll be their own stinking fault, because the only people who will be disappointed are the SW ubergeeks who've spent the last months soaking up every single bit of information in existence about the prequels. Don't get me wrong - I'm salivating at the thought of a new SW movie, but I don't know any of the "spoiler" info because I would like to actually *enjoy* the movie.
BTW, The Matrix was very cool (but it wasn't the life-defining geek-fantasy that some have found it to be). There may be plans to make a trilogy out of it, from what I've heard.