I tend to agree with this. I have a personal anecdote that is relevant. A friend of mine has a brother who has about as extensive of a vocabulary as anyone I have ever met. He knows a lot of words, a lot of fancy words, and most importantly...he knows the precise definitions and the proper context in which to use them. He is just a very well spoken individual.
He has some other issues though. Years back we were playing some type of huge World War III board game with about 15 people. One of the guys who was playing was acting like a complete jerk to a bunch of others for no apparent reason. My Friend's brother got fed up and launched into an angry tirade against him. It was tremendously eloquent, contained no curse words, and in my opinion really put the jerk in his place.
Only about 4 others thought as I did. The other 9 or so people thought that he sounded like a complete idiot, mostly because they didn't understand half the words that came out of his mouth. "Why didn't he just tell him to shut the fuck up?" was the general consensus.
Essentially, "Shut the Fuck Up" is short and cuts right to the point. It indicates the action that you want the other person to take while simultaneously expressing extreme displeasure. I'm guessing every person in America understands what using that statement is trying to accomplish. If you try to say the same thing using better language, it is likely that it will require more verbage and may not be understood by everyone.
I'm pretty big on expanding my vocabulary. I like to check "Word of the Day" type sites and do Crossword puzzles. That said, most of those words that I learn are utterly useless in most discussions where Fuck, Shit, Damn, Hell, Bitch, and other swear words are quite effective in just about any setting.
I totally agree with you. I think Jabba is a real good example. He seemed very real in Return of the Jedi and, well (C'mon, I was only 6 years old or something) kind of frightening. The Hutts in the Phantom Menace Podracing scene seem to flicker like a screen being refreshed when they are squirming up to their podium.
I think the part that pops out at me the most is the Epic Vader/Obi-Wan light saber battle in Revenge of the Sith. Everything about that lava just screams fake to me. The original Obi-Wan/Vader light saber battle looks really dated as far as the sabers themselves and the lack of mobility of the characters, but they are surrounded by an environment that feels real to me.
Commodore - I like your anecdote and am compelled to comment on it because it is very much like my experience in Math. It seems my brain made several leaps in comprehension. I had Algebra in 8th grade and really really struggled despite having been really good at math prior to that. I got to High School and was absolutely brilliant at Geometry and then Algebra II/Trig. The things I had struggled with in algebra seemed pathetic to me now. Next came Pre-Calculus and to my complete surprise I struggled again. Yikes. Should I even take Calc the next year? I did, expecting to do poorly but my mind clicked again and I crushed High School Calc and scored a 5 on the AP test. Got to college and was really good at two more semesters of Calc. I always found the "I'm great at math!" "I suck at math." "I'm great at math!" cycle to be pretty unique and strange.
If you already have another job lined up, why bother with this little game? After all, if you threaten an exec with ratting out the company you will not have that job for very long anyway so you'd better take the other one lined up. You would be better off taking the other job, telling him why you left, and....if you really feel the need to...notifying the BSA.
Definitely, and that is why I wrote the last part of my post. "If the company is too cheap to even do that, you probably aren't going to you as an employee and are probably better off starting to look around...." If it is the kind of place that doesn't care that they are doing illegal things (or doesn't listen to or believe you when you explain to them what they are doing is illegal), I think it is likely that they will also not listen to you when you don't have the time/hardware/software to complete a project, when you have a great idea to implement something that will make everyone's life easier, when you need extra time off, when you have not gotten a raise in five years, etc.
Those types of places that show little regard for the law in terms of their network probably have letter regard for the techs they have working on it.
I am a sysadm/web developer for a smallish manufacturing business. When I got here, there licensing was a complete and utter mess. They had about half the number of Office licenses as needed (And half of those were Home/Student Edition), they had a centralized AV solution that they were still getting updates for but hadn't paid for in three years, and just overall were NOT compliant.
I brought it to the company president's attention. Buying 40 Office licenses at a time (Probably around $10000 for Small Business) as well as 70-80 AV subscriptions (Maybe another $2000), and various other server and client software (Around $12,000 more) was not something they wanted to do. They did agree to take it slow and get legit over a period of time. During that period, I did install Office on more machines but they bought the licenses over a period of 18 months. In the end, I am happy to say we are nearly 100% compliant.
So I guess instead of going to him with a HUGE bill, maybe write up a plan to go legit over the next year or two. They may balk at a one time large sum of money but be willing to pay $1000 here, $2000 there or something. Worked for me. If the company is too cheap to even do that, you probably aren't going to you as an employee and are probably better off starting to look around....
Absolutely. I really dislike the amount of video content on news sites. I would much rather read a few well written paragraphs than deal with watching 1 minute and 31 second videos.
Obviously I am not talking about "Real" news here, but I love the NFL. I don't watch other sports too often but I admit I am an NFL junkie. Years back the sports news sites used to have some great articles that would discuss strategy, roster moves, and overall insight into the game. Now, places like ESPN have a few really lame bloggers and a plethora of 1-2 minute video clips with little to no content. Sure, I like watching some of the highlights but I can't stand a lot of the other garbage. "Real" news sites have not become quite as bad as sports media outlets in terms of pandering to the "Oh noes, I have to read an entire page!!!?!?!" crowd.
Video has its place but it is not a replacement for text.
Seriously....the abortion issue is not that big of a deal. A typical abortion at a reputable clinic costs around $400. And yes, I know that for sure. I know someone who has had one recently. "Morning After" type abortions are something like $50. I guess later term abortions can get expensive but if you can't figure out that you are pregnant and don't want the kid within 3 months you probably deserve to pay more.
I realize that $400 is not small change for most people but it is a quite reasonable sum of money. Public Health Care really isn't needed for this. In fact, I favor health care (Public or Private) becoming more of "Disaster Care". Pay way less for health care, pay for your own doctor's visits and minor, one time procedures out of pocket. Need some major surgery or long term care? Health care kicks in. And no, I have not thought about it enough to determine what would be major or not.
Most smart phones will have a similar capability. I have a Windows Mobile based phone and Exchange at work. My contacts are stored on the Exchange server and sync when changed. If I want a new contact, I can put it in through Outlook instead of using the phone. I'm pretty sure I could do something similar with google (My phone syncs my google calender) but I use the Exchange stuff because I need it set up anyway.
Yeah, but I burn things like Linux Distros and OEM Windows Discs (Just discs, no cracks) and give them to friends/family/people who pay me to work on their machines so they can either try Linux or reload windows without going through some nonsensical restore disc that the manufacturer provided. I have no problem giving people discs that cost me a nickel or two but I don't want to be giving away $5 flash drives.
There is a huge huge difference between "Actual speeds vary and are not guaranteed" and "Actual speeds vary, are not guaranteed, and if you are getting too much speed we are going to put a stop to that." If the conditions of your line and the traffic in your neighborhood dictate that you typically get 6 Mbps of that 12 Mbps...so be it. You could get 12 but your environment is such that it just isn't happening. If the conditions of your line and the traffic in your neighborhood dictate that you typically do get 11 Mbps but Comcast decides "What? It is working up to spec for more than 10 minutes? CRIPPLE IT!" that is pretty shady.
They showed this at my school as well. Guess what? I know 22 people I went to high school with (Class of 400) that have gotten nabbed drunk driving.....and I don't actively keep in touch with very many high school classmates! The effect may be strong but I don't believe it is lasting.
Dumb idea. "AHHHH! I think you broke my cheekbone." *SOB* "Please, I need to go to the hospital." *Cry* "Can I at least have something to keep the blood from dripping everywhere?" *Whine* "I'm calling my sister to stay with her until I can get a divorce you bastard" *Sob uncontrollably*
She whined so fucking much that I almost got into an accident.
(For the record, I am kidding, I have never and will never hit my wife.)
Do I like to drive? Depends on the circumstances. I loathe the commute to work (and back). Too many people on the road, too many people driving recklessly because they couldn't wake up five minutes earlier to be on time to work. On the way home, too many people yapping on the phone planning on what they are doing afterward. I feel if I am not like, hyper aware of what is going on around me I will almost certainly be involved in a bad accident.
Taking a leisurely drive on an afternoon or night when there are few drivers on the road and listening to some music on the other hand, can be very soothing. I'll usually go drive out somewhere to see some landmark I have not visited before (nothing too interesting, just a local clock tower or something. Sometimes it is cool, usually it isn't but at least I have a destination). I leave the phone at home and just go out and get away for awhile. I find that can be a great way to clear my head.
I'm on board with you to a certain extent here. However, it could be that "smart" people will spend more time reading, doing homework, and learning new things simply because it is easier for them to do so. They read/learn, and get the reward of comprehension. Wanting that comprehension award again, they read/learn at an increasing rate. Someone not as "intelligent" may try to read or learn something and become frustrated because they simply do not get it. They may have this experience most of the time they try to learn leading to them equating learning with frustration causing them to almost completely forego learning.
I have a pretty diverse set of interests and skills. I pick up Science/Math/History/Reading comprehension/Technology all fairly easily. I spend free time learning about all of those topics. For whatever reason, I simply cannot grasp foreign languages. If I was given the opportunity to learn only foreign languages, my passion for learning probably would have diminished to nearly zero.
I guess it depends on how you define "poor". I have found that people who don't have much money are the ones most vehemently against "socialist agendas" and "Giving their money to the (insert racial slur here)". Just my experience of course, your miles may vary.
A tad off topic but still relating to patching Microsoft stuff. We run WSUS at work to patch machines. I absolutely despise approving the Microsoft Office security updates and service packs, especially with OEM versions of Office. Every time I do so, it seems to screw up registration on Office XP and Office 2003 installations. I have a handful of users who can't get into office after the application of updates. Fantastic. In most of those cases when I try to do the internet registration it fails and I have to spend the time to call the phone registration system. This can take 10 minutes or so per machine. Absolutely irritating. And yes, all of our software is legit.
Well, they actually had 2 hours and three minutes....
But in all seriousness, while I enjoy sex with my wife I also enjoy hanging out with her. You may find this hard to believe but there are some woman out there who are interesting and fun in settings other than the bedroom.
I wouldn't say that. I'm an admin at a smaller company. I virtualized a few servers just using Microsoft Virtual Server. It didn't take too much of my time. They are using older servers that have questionable reliability. I back up the Virtual Servers to a NAS box. Just a few months ago I had one of the physical servers break down (Motherboard toast). I moved a backup of the two Virtual Machines it was running onto two other servers. Things ran slower for a few days but instead of being down for hours or day they were down for minutes. Pretty handy.
And AIG only wasted $440,000 sending their employees to that resort after they received the bailout money. Why the outrage? It is only a couple hundred thousand a year to station a soldier in Iraq. Why complain and want to bring that soldier home. The Government spends Trillions, what is another $40,000?
I understand the point you are making but that mind set is how we end up with such rampant spending. Compared to the budget as a whole, not many things are going to make a significant dent. It is a lot of different things that tax money is going to.
That isn't to say that I disapprove of this project. Perhaps this method of doing whatever study they are doing is $1 Million cheaper than the alternative. Research is not cheap so I could see this being a real bargain actually. If this is the case, it is a good thing. If the head of Darpa just wants to see a bunch of plebes chase balloons around for his amusement, then it isn't.
Shut down broadcast TV completely? If you want to watch cheesy shows use the internet? Seriously? I do stream some things off the internet but I find it to be pretty inconsistent. Stutter, lag, sometimes even stopping are pretty common when watching TV over the internet. Maybe you have a dedicated 10 Megabit line or live in a neighborhood where nobody else uses their bandwidth but a lot of us have internet access that is spotty...and I live in a major city. That isn't even considering those living in more rural areas who have the choice between Dial up, Cellular, and Satellite.
I don't watch very much TV but I do like watching say...Pro Football games (which are not legally streamed over the internet) in my own home. The cheapest cable television package is something ridiculous like $60/month. I'll keep my broadcast TV at that price.
I think you are spot on and I have long thought that myself. As I was taking the same route to work as I always did, one day I woke up out of a day dream and couldn't immediately figure out where I was. I was about 7 miles farther in the drive than I expected to be. That was a frightening thought because I realized how little attention I must have been paying to the road and the cars around me.
Since that time, I've changed how I get to work. There are four different routes I can take, all of which are within 2-3 Miles or 5 minutes worth of driving of each other. When I start to feel complacent about one route, I go with another one for awhile. I find it keeps me on my toes.
I see plenty of dudes texting while driving and what not. My last near death experience came on a slippery day when everyone in front of me was putting on their breaks. I looked in my rear view mirror and the guy behind me was looking down and had both of his hands up in the air and was clapping and bouncing up and down as if excited about music/possibly a sporting event. I had to jam onto the shoulder while he barreled into the guy that was in front of me.
I should have specified that I grab the OEM ISO's so I can use the installation key on the side of the computer. I wasn't saying it is better to install a cracked version of Windows.
Another good reason to hit the Torrent Sites. I've gone and grabbed OEM ISO's of Windows XP Home, Windows XP Pro, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Vista, and Windows 7 and keep them handy. If I wipe and reload an OS for someone, I don't bother asking for their recovery discs. I'd rather use a clean OEM disc and grab the latest drivers off the manufacturer Web Site instead of the 4 year old drivers on the restore CD.
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I tend to agree with this. I have a personal anecdote that is relevant. A friend of mine has a brother who has about as extensive of a vocabulary as anyone I have ever met. He knows a lot of words, a lot of fancy words, and most importantly...he knows the precise definitions and the proper context in which to use them. He is just a very well spoken individual.
He has some other issues though. Years back we were playing some type of huge World War III board game with about 15 people. One of the guys who was playing was acting like a complete jerk to a bunch of others for no apparent reason. My Friend's brother got fed up and launched into an angry tirade against him. It was tremendously eloquent, contained no curse words, and in my opinion really put the jerk in his place.
Only about 4 others thought as I did. The other 9 or so people thought that he sounded like a complete idiot, mostly because they didn't understand half the words that came out of his mouth. "Why didn't he just tell him to shut the fuck up?" was the general consensus.
Essentially, "Shut the Fuck Up" is short and cuts right to the point. It indicates the action that you want the other person to take while simultaneously expressing extreme displeasure. I'm guessing every person in America understands what using that statement is trying to accomplish. If you try to say the same thing using better language, it is likely that it will require more verbage and may not be understood by everyone.
I'm pretty big on expanding my vocabulary. I like to check "Word of the Day" type sites and do Crossword puzzles. That said, most of those words that I learn are utterly useless in most discussions where Fuck, Shit, Damn, Hell, Bitch, and other swear words are quite effective in just about any setting.
I totally agree with you. I think Jabba is a real good example. He seemed very real in Return of the Jedi and, well (C'mon, I was only 6 years old or something) kind of frightening. The Hutts in the Phantom Menace Podracing scene seem to flicker like a screen being refreshed when they are squirming up to their podium.
I think the part that pops out at me the most is the Epic Vader/Obi-Wan light saber battle in Revenge of the Sith. Everything about that lava just screams fake to me. The original Obi-Wan/Vader light saber battle looks really dated as far as the sabers themselves and the lack of mobility of the characters, but they are surrounded by an environment that feels real to me.
Commodore - I like your anecdote and am compelled to comment on it because it is very much like my experience in Math. It seems my brain made several leaps in comprehension. I had Algebra in 8th grade and really really struggled despite having been really good at math prior to that. I got to High School and was absolutely brilliant at Geometry and then Algebra II/Trig. The things I had struggled with in algebra seemed pathetic to me now. Next came Pre-Calculus and to my complete surprise I struggled again. Yikes. Should I even take Calc the next year? I did, expecting to do poorly but my mind clicked again and I crushed High School Calc and scored a 5 on the AP test. Got to college and was really good at two more semesters of Calc. I always found the "I'm great at math!" "I suck at math." "I'm great at math!" cycle to be pretty unique and strange.
If you already have another job lined up, why bother with this little game? After all, if you threaten an exec with ratting out the company you will not have that job for very long anyway so you'd better take the other one lined up. You would be better off taking the other job, telling him why you left, and....if you really feel the need to...notifying the BSA.
Definitely, and that is why I wrote the last part of my post. "If the company is too cheap to even do that, you probably aren't going to you as an employee and are probably better off starting to look around...." If it is the kind of place that doesn't care that they are doing illegal things (or doesn't listen to or believe you when you explain to them what they are doing is illegal), I think it is likely that they will also not listen to you when you don't have the time/hardware/software to complete a project, when you have a great idea to implement something that will make everyone's life easier, when you need extra time off, when you have not gotten a raise in five years, etc.
Those types of places that show little regard for the law in terms of their network probably have letter regard for the techs they have working on it.
I am a sysadm/web developer for a smallish manufacturing business. When I got here, there licensing was a complete and utter mess. They had about half the number of Office licenses as needed (And half of those were Home/Student Edition), they had a centralized AV solution that they were still getting updates for but hadn't paid for in three years, and just overall were NOT compliant.
I brought it to the company president's attention. Buying 40 Office licenses at a time (Probably around $10000 for Small Business) as well as 70-80 AV subscriptions (Maybe another $2000), and various other server and client software (Around $12,000 more) was not something they wanted to do. They did agree to take it slow and get legit over a period of time. During that period, I did install Office on more machines but they bought the licenses over a period of 18 months. In the end, I am happy to say we are nearly 100% compliant.
So I guess instead of going to him with a HUGE bill, maybe write up a plan to go legit over the next year or two. They may balk at a one time large sum of money but be willing to pay $1000 here, $2000 there or something. Worked for me. If the company is too cheap to even do that, you probably aren't going to you as an employee and are probably better off starting to look around....
Absolutely. I really dislike the amount of video content on news sites. I would much rather read a few well written paragraphs than deal with watching 1 minute and 31 second videos.
Obviously I am not talking about "Real" news here, but I love the NFL. I don't watch other sports too often but I admit I am an NFL junkie. Years back the sports news sites used to have some great articles that would discuss strategy, roster moves, and overall insight into the game. Now, places like ESPN have a few really lame bloggers and a plethora of 1-2 minute video clips with little to no content. Sure, I like watching some of the highlights but I can't stand a lot of the other garbage. "Real" news sites have not become quite as bad as sports media outlets in terms of pandering to the "Oh noes, I have to read an entire page!!!?!?!" crowd.
Video has its place but it is not a replacement for text.
Seriously....the abortion issue is not that big of a deal. A typical abortion at a reputable clinic costs around $400. And yes, I know that for sure. I know someone who has had one recently. "Morning After" type abortions are something like $50. I guess later term abortions can get expensive but if you can't figure out that you are pregnant and don't want the kid within 3 months you probably deserve to pay more.
I realize that $400 is not small change for most people but it is a quite reasonable sum of money. Public Health Care really isn't needed for this. In fact, I favor health care (Public or Private) becoming more of "Disaster Care". Pay way less for health care, pay for your own doctor's visits and minor, one time procedures out of pocket. Need some major surgery or long term care? Health care kicks in. And no, I have not thought about it enough to determine what would be major or not.
Most smart phones will have a similar capability. I have a Windows Mobile based phone and Exchange at work. My contacts are stored on the Exchange server and sync when changed. If I want a new contact, I can put it in through Outlook instead of using the phone. I'm pretty sure I could do something similar with google (My phone syncs my google calender) but I use the Exchange stuff because I need it set up anyway.
Yeah, but I burn things like Linux Distros and OEM Windows Discs (Just discs, no cracks) and give them to friends/family/people who pay me to work on their machines so they can either try Linux or reload windows without going through some nonsensical restore disc that the manufacturer provided. I have no problem giving people discs that cost me a nickel or two but I don't want to be giving away $5 flash drives.
There is a huge huge difference between "Actual speeds vary and are not guaranteed" and "Actual speeds vary, are not guaranteed, and if you are getting too much speed we are going to put a stop to that." If the conditions of your line and the traffic in your neighborhood dictate that you typically get 6 Mbps of that 12 Mbps...so be it. You could get 12 but your environment is such that it just isn't happening. If the conditions of your line and the traffic in your neighborhood dictate that you typically do get 11 Mbps but Comcast decides "What? It is working up to spec for more than 10 minutes? CRIPPLE IT!" that is pretty shady.
They showed this at my school as well. Guess what? I know 22 people I went to high school with (Class of 400) that have gotten nabbed drunk driving.....and I don't actively keep in touch with very many high school classmates! The effect may be strong but I don't believe it is lasting.
Dumb idea. "AHHHH! I think you broke my cheekbone." *SOB* "Please, I need to go to the hospital." *Cry* "Can I at least have something to keep the blood from dripping everywhere?" *Whine* "I'm calling my sister to stay with her until I can get a divorce you bastard" *Sob uncontrollably*
She whined so fucking much that I almost got into an accident.
(For the record, I am kidding, I have never and will never hit my wife.)
Do I like to drive? Depends on the circumstances. I loathe the commute to work (and back). Too many people on the road, too many people driving recklessly because they couldn't wake up five minutes earlier to be on time to work. On the way home, too many people yapping on the phone planning on what they are doing afterward. I feel if I am not like, hyper aware of what is going on around me I will almost certainly be involved in a bad accident.
Taking a leisurely drive on an afternoon or night when there are few drivers on the road and listening to some music on the other hand, can be very soothing. I'll usually go drive out somewhere to see some landmark I have not visited before (nothing too interesting, just a local clock tower or something. Sometimes it is cool, usually it isn't but at least I have a destination). I leave the phone at home and just go out and get away for awhile. I find that can be a great way to clear my head.
I'm on board with you to a certain extent here. However, it could be that "smart" people will spend more time reading, doing homework, and learning new things simply because it is easier for them to do so. They read/learn, and get the reward of comprehension. Wanting that comprehension award again, they read/learn at an increasing rate. Someone not as "intelligent" may try to read or learn something and become frustrated because they simply do not get it. They may have this experience most of the time they try to learn leading to them equating learning with frustration causing them to almost completely forego learning.
I have a pretty diverse set of interests and skills. I pick up Science/Math/History/Reading comprehension/Technology all fairly easily. I spend free time learning about all of those topics. For whatever reason, I simply cannot grasp foreign languages. If I was given the opportunity to learn only foreign languages, my passion for learning probably would have diminished to nearly zero.
I guess it depends on how you define "poor". I have found that people who don't have much money are the ones most vehemently against "socialist agendas" and "Giving their money to the (insert racial slur here)". Just my experience of course, your miles may vary.
A tad off topic but still relating to patching Microsoft stuff. We run WSUS at work to patch machines. I absolutely despise approving the Microsoft Office security updates and service packs, especially with OEM versions of Office. Every time I do so, it seems to screw up registration on Office XP and Office 2003 installations. I have a handful of users who can't get into office after the application of updates. Fantastic. In most of those cases when I try to do the internet registration it fails and I have to spend the time to call the phone registration system. This can take 10 minutes or so per machine. Absolutely irritating. And yes, all of our software is legit.
Well, they actually had 2 hours and three minutes....
But in all seriousness, while I enjoy sex with my wife I also enjoy hanging out with her. You may find this hard to believe but there are some woman out there who are interesting and fun in settings other than the bedroom.
I wouldn't say that. I'm an admin at a smaller company. I virtualized a few servers just using Microsoft Virtual Server. It didn't take too much of my time. They are using older servers that have questionable reliability. I back up the Virtual Servers to a NAS box. Just a few months ago I had one of the physical servers break down (Motherboard toast). I moved a backup of the two Virtual Machines it was running onto two other servers. Things ran slower for a few days but instead of being down for hours or day they were down for minutes. Pretty handy.
And AIG only wasted $440,000 sending their employees to that resort after they received the bailout money. Why the outrage? It is only a couple hundred thousand a year to station a soldier in Iraq. Why complain and want to bring that soldier home. The Government spends Trillions, what is another $40,000?
I understand the point you are making but that mind set is how we end up with such rampant spending. Compared to the budget as a whole, not many things are going to make a significant dent. It is a lot of different things that tax money is going to.
That isn't to say that I disapprove of this project. Perhaps this method of doing whatever study they are doing is $1 Million cheaper than the alternative. Research is not cheap so I could see this being a real bargain actually. If this is the case, it is a good thing. If the head of Darpa just wants to see a bunch of plebes chase balloons around for his amusement, then it isn't.
Shut down broadcast TV completely? If you want to watch cheesy shows use the internet? Seriously? I do stream some things off the internet but I find it to be pretty inconsistent. Stutter, lag, sometimes even stopping are pretty common when watching TV over the internet. Maybe you have a dedicated 10 Megabit line or live in a neighborhood where nobody else uses their bandwidth but a lot of us have internet access that is spotty...and I live in a major city. That isn't even considering those living in more rural areas who have the choice between Dial up, Cellular, and Satellite.
I don't watch very much TV but I do like watching say...Pro Football games (which are not legally streamed over the internet) in my own home. The cheapest cable television package is something ridiculous like $60/month. I'll keep my broadcast TV at that price.
I think you are spot on and I have long thought that myself. As I was taking the same route to work as I always did, one day I woke up out of a day dream and couldn't immediately figure out where I was. I was about 7 miles farther in the drive than I expected to be. That was a frightening thought because I realized how little attention I must have been paying to the road and the cars around me.
Since that time, I've changed how I get to work. There are four different routes I can take, all of which are within 2-3 Miles or 5 minutes worth of driving of each other. When I start to feel complacent about one route, I go with another one for awhile. I find it keeps me on my toes.
I see plenty of dudes texting while driving and what not. My last near death experience came on a slippery day when everyone in front of me was putting on their breaks. I looked in my rear view mirror and the guy behind me was looking down and had both of his hands up in the air and was clapping and bouncing up and down as if excited about music/possibly a sporting event. I had to jam onto the shoulder while he barreled into the guy that was in front of me.
I should have specified that I grab the OEM ISO's so I can use the installation key on the side of the computer. I wasn't saying it is better to install a cracked version of Windows.
Another good reason to hit the Torrent Sites. I've gone and grabbed OEM ISO's of Windows XP Home, Windows XP Pro, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Vista, and Windows 7 and keep them handy. If I wipe and reload an OS for someone, I don't bother asking for their recovery discs. I'd rather use a clean OEM disc and grab the latest drivers off the manufacturer Web Site instead of the 4 year old drivers on the restore CD.