Dosboy's Bits and Bytes

I really want one of these.  I had one when I was a kid (grey) and have been looking for some Chinese knock-off for years now.  Unfortunately they won't ship to Thailand... so if any of my friends want to buy me an early birthday present or just want to do a guy a favor, I'd greatly appreciate it :)

eBay Link

Ya, it's been quiet in here lately.  Been busy.  At any rate, my friend just shared with me the trailer for what looks to be an excellent upcoming flick.  Seems like great casting - at least from the trailer.

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/fox/theateam/

I love it when a plan comes together.

If there's one thing I really hate about SE Asia it's flies.  As in Musca domestica.  They're everywhere.  And they have no courtesy.  They fly right in your field of vision, into your eyes, up your nose, in your ears... they just don't care.  The mosquitos are annoying - but they're relatively slow and can be killed.  Ants can be frustrating as when there's one, there's a hundred - but they serve a purpose in cleaning up leftovers.  But flies?

Remember those Sally Struthers Ethiopia ads (well, not technically an ad for Ethiopia, but you know) where they have images of the kids with flies climbing on their eyeballs?  I get it now.  You just get so tired of waving the fuckers away repeatedly that eventually you just give up... and let them climb on your eyeballs.

I will say that Phuket isn't so bad.  But northern Thailand (and Laos apparently) are horrendous when it comes to these flying, obnoxious insects.  As with everything insect-related, the more urban a location is, the less insects there are.  And northern Thailand is about as rural as it gets, so it's understandable that the flies have taken over.

Anyway, that's my pet peeve for the day, as I sit here typing this post on a ~40kB/s internet connection in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos, on what is probably one of the faster 'net connections around.  With flies divebombing me and trying to drink my coffee.  And land on my eyeballs.

On the heels of my last post, I need to do something different to make money.  And by different I mean still computer related, but something that doesn't involve 10 hour work days (including commute) for 6 days a week.  To be honest, $24k/a will do me just fine here in the Land of Smiles, but 60 hours a week makes me want to blow my brains out.  I'm looking for about half that.

So, I'm putting the word out.  If you or anyone you know would like to employ a computer guru (I hate that word, but I am what I am :) for a piddly salary wherein I could work from the comfort of my own home, please let me know.  Trust me... you'd be getting WAY more than you're paying for.  But I'm not greedy.  After all, what's the point of living on a tropical island when you're working all day?  And on that note, I'll even work North American hours, as I'm a night owl and am quite content to work a 10pm-4am workday.

Not only am I a computer guru, but I'm also fun and witty and a joy to work with.  Most of the time.  Like when I'm not working 60 hours a week.  At any rate, for more information see my resume.

Dosboy... for all your computing/programming needs.

I do not want to work.
I do not want to work 9-6.
I do not want to work 9-6, 6 days a week.
I do not want to work 9-6, 6 days a week in Phuket town.
I do not want to work 9-6, 6 days a week in Phuket town in LONG PANTS!
I do not want to work 9-6, 6 days a week in Phuket town in LONG PANTS for $24,000 CAD/year.

I need to figure out another way to make money.  Fast.

This one has been a minor thorn in my side, but today it reared its ugly head again and for some reason really pissed me off.  Creating a new file from Finder.  In Windows I could right-click then choose New... and I had a ton of options (Text Document, Word Document, etc.).  I can't do this in Finder.  After much googling I came up with two possible solutions - some app called NuFile or Quicksilver.  Since I've been told by many fellow Mac users that Quicksilver is the end all and be all I decided to give that route a try first.  Well, after about an hour of struggling I decided to give up and go with the NuFile route.  After installing and trying to figure out why it wasn't working, and a little more googling, it turned out that it hasn't been updated in over 3 years and doesn't work on Snow Leopard.  So it's back to Quicksilver, which is causing me to prematurely go grey.  I was able to get this working, but it took me about a hundred keystrokes, and was far more frustrating than opening a text editor and clicking File -> Save As... would have been.  So I'm still not sure what all the hubbub over Quicksilver is.

Frustrated.

Please, all MacHeads reading this... HELP!  I can not believe that there is no way to merge two directories through the GUI in OS X.  Yet every forum thread I read tells me to use mv or cp or ditto or opendiff or some other cryptic Terminal command instead of just dragging and dropping the contents of one folder into another (which, as we all know, obliterates the target directory, overwriting it with the source).  This is utterly retarded, and I'm really starting to hate it.

Oh ya, and I also really hate that I can't right-click a file (or directory) and choose "Copy" "Cut".  Or Cmd-C Cmd-V.  Or via the Edit menu.  Why???  Why can't I copy cut a folder, THEN navigate to where I want to go, then PASTE?!  So fucking frustrating.

Don't get me wrong... the Mac has a lot of redeeming features... but these two simple file system UI oversights are driving me bonkers.  I just don't know what to do... for every other issue I've had a forum or blog solution has appeared within minutes of searching... but the only solution I seem to have for these is to go command-line or buy some sort of product - for functionality that SHOULD BE NATIVE!

Argh.

And please, if there's something ridiculously stupid that I'm overlooking or don't know about, feel free to make fun of me - as long as you also provide the appropriate solution.  I don't mind being mocked, as long as it's a learning process.

So it looks like I'm gonna be getting a job.  I was planning on doing contract web dev, and I still might do some on the side, but this job is gonna be 6 days a week.  Ugh.  After not working for 2 years (and having a relatively lax schedule for a year or two prior to that) this is gonna be TOUGH.  And for anyone that's ever complained about how much they're making, well, I'll be making 60,000 baht/month.  Which is roughly $2000 CAD.  Which is $24,000/year.  Which is 10 times the minimum wage here.  So I suppose it's all relative.

What is it you might ask?  Well, it's working for a media company who does both print and web media.  I'll be second in command under the owner and managing 13 Thai staff - graphic designers and web developers, as well as interfacing with clients, putting together requirements and quotations, etc.  Though I think I'll be getting my own personal assistant, which sounds appealing.  I've never had an assistant before.

The thought of working again definitely does not appeal to me (as I sit here typing in my underwear).  At any rate, I need to start making some dough, so I'll give it a whirl and see what happens.  Who knows, I might quit after a day.

I just got back from Laos (via Bangkok) a couple days ago.  Passing through Bangkok I spent a night at a friend's place and went to a Thai Karaoke, outside of which there was a Pad Thai vendor.  And let me tell you... this was the best Pad Thai I've ever had.  Before this experience, I wasn't even a fan.  And now, I'm back in Phuket and went to my favorite cheap Thai food place to see how theirs compared.  Suffice it to say, it didn't.  Not even close.  So now, I'm on a hunt.  Where in Phuket (the closer to my abode the better) can I find good ... nay, GREAT ... Pad Thai.  I'm not going to rest until this mission is complete.  On the downside, each time I get a shitty Pad Thai I end up hungry.  On the bright side, each attempt only costs me around 30 baht.  Tonight's attempt was a failure.  Maybe tomorrow I will succeed.  I just need to remember to say "mai ao koong, mai ao moo, mai ao gai" ("don't want prawn, don't want pork, don't want chicken")... I don't know why, but the veggie-only Pad Thai in Bangkok was way better than any meat-oriented dish I could imagine.  So screw the animals... I just want noodles, peanuts and veggies.

I'm off to Laos again.  Overnight bus to Bangkok tonight then overnight train to Laos tomorrow.  Will probably be gone about a week, and with the shitty internet there it's unlikely that I'll be updating... but we'll see.  After all, a post is just text... might only take an hour or so for it to upload.