I Might Have Swine Flu

Cute, eh?

Seeing how some of the people from Timisoara that went to Sziget came back with swine flu, my mates from the office got over-panicked with my cold and decided I should get looked at.

So, this fine Saturday morning, I did just that. Initially, the doc giggled and sent me straight home. Then, I get a call from some lady health inspector and she sends me back to the hospital to get some proper examination. That involved a not-so-sexy nurse telling me to lay my head back, stick out my tongue and say ‘Aaaa’. Then, she shoves this over-sized cue-tip in my mouth, all the way in, right in my throat. I tell you, it was like being kissed by that Italian girl all over again.

I’ll find out whether I have it or not on Monday, since we Romanians don’t do Sundays. Nonetheless, if you came in contact with me this past week, you’d better watch your symptoms: running nose and coughs… and all the stuff I don’t have, like: fever, headache, aching joints, fatigue and nausea.

Later Edit ( 24 Aug ): I got the results and no, I don’t have swine flu.

Posted on the 22nd of August, 2009 | 17 Extraordinary Comments

Fight for the Real Drugs, Not These

It came to my attention that Spice, and other “legal” hallucinogens, will soon be made illegal in Romania.

GOOD!

That stuff is junk anyway. Most taste awful, don’t work and cost just as much as good ol’ marijuana. The reason for their high demand was the fact that, unlike weed, they weren’t illegal.

Now that that’s about to change, I hope people will flock back to weed, rising the demand again, urging people to start bringing in the good stuff again.

Seriously, this is a good thing!

Posted on the 20th of August, 2009 | 4 Remarcable Comments

Escape

One press of a key. That’s how easy a person disappears from my desktop.

It’s satisfying in a way. Knowing that I can end any conversation, no matter how prematurely, with a single stroke of the pinky. The fun part?

I do this in real life as well. There’s an obvious “esc” key to any conversation. Like when a person tries to convert me to a religion, all I have to do is wait for them to mention “god” and bluntly ask “I’m sorry. Who?” — I love the anger in their eyes when I do that. Or when a beggar ask me for money, all I have to do is look them in the eye and say “No”.

I actually like to do that. Let people know if I can’t quite tend to their needs right then and there. It saves me a lot of headaches and focus, and saves them a lot of false hope. Win-win.

It also sends out the impression that I’m a sincere being, so it’s like a triple win.

Posted on the 2nd of August, 2009 | 5 Sexy Comments

Romania Love

But what can I change?

Romania is a beautiful country, sometimes. There are many things wrong with it, but then all the nations of this world have their own issues. Some look to great leaders to solve them, others go on strike every fortnight, others cannot even admit they have a problem. We, the Romanian people, keep complaining about our problems. We know we have them, some of us even claim to know exactly what they are.

What’s more, some even give out solutions to the problems. The problem with that is, there’s no one solution to rule them all. No one solution that will fix the other issues indirectly. But that’s always the way they’re presented. Since the people that propose these issues have no real authority, just too much time to think, these ideas — which are not always bad — never get implemented. Again, because they’re not seen as the biggest problem, or greatest solution.

I don’t have any solutions, me. I do have an idea though. Rather than trying to find the one big problem and its solution that will magically make things better, we could try to solve as many of the other, seemingly unimportant, problems as we can. Also, solving the big one first will be hard, as it’s probably tied to all the lesser ones. Solving the little ones first will be easier and, since they are all tied together, solving issues will, or might, get increasingly easy after we knock down a few.

And no, I don’t know where to start, and I don’t care. And no, I’m no expert on this issue, obviously.
But I’m willing to aid you if you have a good idea.

Posted on the 25th of July, 2009 | 9 Smart Comments

Twitter Tools and Rules? Come on!

I’ve seen a lot of rules on how to use twitter recently.

I though I’d join in. The problem is, I don’t see how I’d have the authority to tell you how or whether to use twitter.
But I do have one guideline I’m quite fond of:

Follow a person because you like what they say, not because you like or know them. Use Facebook for that.

Or better yet, try using a good ol’ fashioned beer and chat-about.
Seriously, twitter is a great toy, but toys don’t come with a web of rules. Twitter is a great tool, but tools come with instructions on how to make them work for you, not the other way around.

So, if you’re already using twitter, you’re doing it right. And if you’re not, your social life is probably more animated than mine.

Posted on the 14th of July, 2009 | 4 Brilliant Comments

On Being Unique

Here’s my theory, feel free to smash it to bits.

Everyone strives, at some level, to be unique. So the more you try to set yourself apart from the rest of the bunch, the more you become one with said pack.

The thing is, we are already unique. We all have beautiful minds, each worth exploring. And we all have our own thoughts, each one of them being ours. Naturally, we all have a lot in common, and we are all alike to some extent, but that’s not the part we’re talking about.

The thing is, you will not become unique, or any more unique — if you’ll let me get away with that phrasing — if you dye your hair pink, or wear high heels in winter, or pierce your tits or the tip of your cock. Rather than trying to change stuff that does not matter anyway, try focusing on others, and how you make their lives better.

So, the less you do trying to become unique, the better your chances are at staying that way.

Of course, you’ll still be part of the group of unique people and nothing can set you aside from that one.

Bummer, eh?

Posted on the 11th of July, 2009 | 4 Coarse Comments

Tagged: Concerts in Timisoara

Apparently, Radio Campus started a movement and Tomata was so nice to bring me in.

The thing with living in a small town, well small and insignificant compared to Paris or Rio or London, is that not so many big bands come down here. So fantasizing about bands I’d like to see playing a gig in my home town is a bit off. Then, while having a fag, I realized that if you build it, they will come.

I’d wish Amplifier were playing, so I’d go completely mental;
and Snow Patrol so Andreea would not miss them, and Arctic Monkeys so Andrea wouldn’t miss them, and Flight of the Concordes because that’s what Cristina used to cheer me up, and Nick Cave because ily does have cravings, and Bjork because Andrea would love it, and Porcupine Tree so Theo and I would not have to go all the way to Budapest in November, and Depeche Mode, even though they’re still playing nearby as I type this, and Gotan Project because it’s Dora’s new precious. I wish these would come, because I’d love to see the shows in good company.

This seems to be Timisoara only, and the only ones left untagged that I know of are Iovan, ily, Smeagol Jr and Ovidiu U.

Posted on the 23rd of June, 2009 | 9 Exquisite Comments

Monetizer

To monetize.

I wish my spell checker would pick it up and blow it to bits. I hate that word.
If I finish a cool project, the first thing I hear from people is: “So how are you going to monetize this?”

Why must everything turn a profit? And then, why must some greasy people do all that’s in their power to increase that profit?

You can measure a product by the profit it brings you, and become dead in my eyes. You could also measure a product by how many users actually use and like it. Aren’t they the ones you built it for? When you sit down and start implementing and testing the UI, you put yourself in the place of the user. Do you ever think “aw, but this modal means they can’t click the banner ads” ?

When developers work on a project, they either do it with passion or they do it for the money. Did you ever notice how the big expensive projects, written in C# or Java usually have a lot of bugs, a horrible UI and take forever to launch? They were most probably built for the money.
Did you ever notice how fast open source projects’ bugs get fixed?

I guess you could say I have a problem, eh?

As long as I know I won’t go hungry, I’ll tweak you contact form, I’ll spend a day trying to repair your videos – even a Saturday – and I’ll go long into the night trying to squash a bug. All that for free.

I won’t fix your banners though. Money can wait, but UX has to be good now!
It’s never about the money or product or man-hours, it’s about the team and the people.

Remember that next time, OK?

Posted on the 21st of June, 2009 | 9 Intelligent Comments

more than just keyframes and echo`s

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