To Catch a Thief

It never ceases to amaze me sometimes how dumb some people are. My god, I think I'm too smart for my own good.

Case in point:

1. Summer '07, an isomething goes missing from our house. I suspect a neighborhood *reformed* hoodlum, but not until he shows up with a new Nano in a different color and shows the playlist to me.

~Stikes me funny how he has some, no a lot of songs that were on our stolen stuff.
~Songs I got at my days interning at the local NPR affiliate.
~We're talking things a 22 year old hip-hop head thizzle dancer would know of, let alone even like!
~And as for my hip-hop and rap, he had all of the cd's I had on the pod and maybe a handfull more. It's hard for me to think with all the choices out there the he and I (38 years old) have exactly the same taste in music. So similar that he has every rap album I own, but nothing more on his pod.
~The kid doesn't even have a J.O.B.

2. I have no proof, so I let it go.

3. On 9/4/07 this kid has made friends with our family by now by default because he's dating the sister of my kid's best friend. He brings over a back-up of all his songs to load onto my iTunes to show me what he's got.

4. Again, I see the blaring proof that there are TOO many coincidences. TOO many obscure songs. And how does he have that dang Boyz II Men 3-song promo CD I got at the 1997 Kube•93FM birthday party that Missy Elliott gave me. I kinda think this is the clincher, n'est pas?

5. He moves away, get's a job, but we still see him around from time to time because his girly's little brother is my son's friend.

3. It's now freshly in the dawn of Spring '08. The guy comes over after working a night shift and asks to use the bathroom. My son's stuff is still in there plugged into the speakers from his shower.

4. We notice that evening the gadget is gone.

great.

5. I decide enough is enough! We've had 2 personal electronic devices, a GT BMX, a PSP, and god knows what else stolen so far since Summer.

6. Doesn't take long to cross-reference all the songs that were uploaded from our sticky fingered friend to the duplicates in my library. A little bit of simple sleuthery and I've got him!

~I open the source files for all the songs he uploaded and match them up with the duplicates' source files. MP3 hold data files they don't hold songs. Each file shows me the first time it was loaded into my computer and when it was last modified. iTunes tracks the day they are imported into your iTunes library.
~Everything that was loaded into iTunes on 9/4/07 shows the exact same back end information (creation date) that is already on my computer.
~To ice the cake, all the 2Pac albums I own were duplicated in his files. I have about 12 discs of Pac at least. I loaded them all into my library on 10/21/07. His 2Pac was loaded into a library the very same day!

*Well whaddaya know, they all match.

So I call him up and gracefully ask him to return the one that was just stolen. I explain that I have evidence and I'll turn it over to the police if he does not return it in 24 hours. No questions asked, no gossip around the neighborhood, just do the right thing. It's a guaranteed arrest on the first one and pretty mitigating on the second one. That's two counts of theft son, and you have the chance to return ONE! Better take the offer and keep these 2 counts of theft off your record.


So. I just got a call from the guy saying it's impossible for one to take music off an mp3 and put it onto a new one. But to be the bigger man, he's going to replace it on Friday with the exact same kind. **For the sake of peace he'll do it.

But wait...
This is the best part
He says it might not be a new one, but he'll get the exact same kind on Friday to replace the one he SWEARS he didn't steal.

What do you want to bet the replacement one has the same serial number as the one that was stolen?

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This is for you Mitch

I love Opera! The best browser ever

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Microsoft

Ok, so I'm usually not easily riled, but this is really starting to piss me off. Why does Word crash every time I try to cut, delete, or otherwise tweak the notebook project I'm working on?

Thought on upgrades...

So a couple of days ago I updated my phone. I got some great new surprises, like the ability to customize my 'desktop' with new thingys, widgets and gadgets and even the ability to have multiple desktops. I can now do as your basic no-camera 2002 Motorola can do and send texts to multiple people at once. As my excitement dies down and all the little asthetic loving endorphins exhaust themselves and go back to their barcaloungers in their corner of my brain. That whole left side kicks in and goes to work. I'm thinking, "hey, these are cool features, but didn't I have all that on my Palm? Granted it was like shopping at WalMart as opposed to Saks Fifth Avenue, and it was as clumsy as the old 'mainframe' back in the day, but the features were there. I know that I'm a slave to asthetics. I have to be... I'm an atrist. But I'm also very loyal and sentimental. It pissed me off a little bit when I had to trade in the aftermarket app (custom ringtones from your mp3's) because the software is no longer compatible.

It's the case for everything in life. We are always enticed to trade up. Dazzled by coolness and newness. Design fitting of MoMa. But how often do we acctually look back at what we left behind in this little trade up?

I did. My heart sank as my mind applied software's dragon chase to my life. I think about my first love and wonder if it was worth it for us to trade each other in for an updated version. I doubt either of us realized we were just following a pied piper and that new version was just a fresh version of what we already had. And it too would someday feel obsolete. I don't know why I could recognize the lost that app but it's taken me 15 years to open my eyes to what I traded away blindly. Things that were real. Worth something. I wish sometimes I could live in conscious quantum physics and voyeur my life in every path I didn't take. But like I've said dozens of times as of late... without Risk, there is no Reward. And to toss out those oh-so-annoying movie quotes: "The sweet would never be nearly as sweet without the bitter."

And all I can do is appreciate what is in front of me. Life in regret is no life.

*Oh see, I feel bad now for dissing my poor phone, I didn't know I got GPS.  damn conclusion jumping!

Words and Sticks and Stones... Name calling broken down like bones

what are words for?

They are very powerful. We are taught to use them to enhance, emphasize, devalue or describe. But the real power is not in 'floral' additions to rhetoric, rather in how they are applied. They can cause irreperable harm when they are used to communicate emotional blows. Those are wounds that don't easily heal and the scars impossible to hide. I'm not perfect and in my lifetime I've duked it out with 'poopyheads' on the playground into Rated R rapid verbal assault. I'm not proud, but I've done my share of hitting below the belt from time to time. But I'm so sensitive, I'm not that good at blocking blows and I usually end up on the losing side of a fight. I got hit with a few recently and I didn't have any room on my heart for another scar. I decided to block this time and take pride in words that were delivered intending to bruise my self esteem. I'm going to show you how name-calling (provided you are aware of your self worth) can be softened and worn with pride. Some words I've encounterd that I've decided to re-apply:

Name calling- pain or pride, you decide:


volatile: Tending to violence; explosive
one that is volatile can often be passionate


whore: A person considered sexually promiscuous
one who is comfortable in her sexuality, ability to express closeness through the physical


compulsive: A person with behavior patterns governed by a compulsion rather than self control
one that acts rather than regrets. Impulse is equated with ingenuity


naive: Unsuspecting or credulous
optimistic


ideological: One who thinks too much
Of or concerned with ideas. The practice of seeking the coexistence of optimism and pragmatism


saturated: Unable to hold or contain more; over-full.
better than empty


altruistic: easily and often taken advantage of
unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness


Currently listening :
Rhyme & Reason
By Missing Persons
Release date: 21 November, 2000