Skepticism

If you’ve hung around me too much, you’ll know that one of the hats I (try to) wear as often as possible is that of the skeptic.  Though it rings of negativity on the surface, practicing critical thinking is often a fun thought experiment and believe it or not, takes place all the time. 

apartment hunting

I love craig and his helpful little list.  As a peon in this world, I see it as representing more of a philosophy than anything else.  To this organization, I owe my job, current living situation, and the few remaining dollars in my pocket, just to name a few.  The site has within no time rendered classified ads obsolite all the while not seeking to profit from every day users (employers posting job listings pay a nominal fee in certain locales).  I think it’s pretty safe to say it’s never been easier to find a job, apartment, services or stuff locally at a fair rate.  In the same token, it’s a lot easier to be picky, choosy and set up filters to best cater to your needs.  This is understandable, but sometimes it’s taken a bit far.

Apartment hunting is never easy and I don’t expect to have a lot of time in the next few weeks to do much else until I find a place.  Ideally, I’m crossing my fingers to stay near Commercial Drive; a daunting requirement especially considering my budget constraints.  It’s not even that the places here are all that nice, but the neighborhood is worth every penny.  I could just as easily end up elsewhere but it’s something to prioritize if nothing else.

To be completely honest, I also (to a lesser degree) prioritize living with women.  As tempting as it is to write that it’s an efficient way to get some ass, I’ll spare you the sarcasm as it’s bound to get lost on someone out there.  And actually on that note, I’ll add that living with someone of the opposite gender (other than a sig other) almost automatically removes any sexual appeal they might have going for them otherwise.  For me anyway.  Since it feels entirely off-limits, the situation ends up being substantially better, as communication is more open and fluid from the get go.  Somehow I just feel like down to Earth women are generally easier to hang out and live with.  I think it’s also safe to add that as a general rule, they’re considerably cleaner.

At home I have a good amount of straight male friends and I’m slowly gaining a handful here too.  Still, I think there’s a reason why one my better guy friends here is gay and the remainder of good friends are women.  Either I’m on to something or just that big of a stud.  Could go either way really.  I kid of course.  I just feel like very few dudes have an interest in being silly, wearing a smile, being nice for no apparent reason, and generally spreading positivity.  A relatively small dose of drama aside, living with women was a great experience in college.  Perhaps I haven’t experienced it enough to really know what’s up and my bias can be attributed to my buddy Kel    It’s also possible that I’m not giving guys enough credit as I’ve really only lived with my friends throughout university.  I couldn’t have asked for better roommates than them but I’m finding it hard to believe I’ll ever find the same or even a similar circumstance.

To get to the point, with financial and other filters in place, when I come across something in an ideal setting, it’s a shame to find an excluding caviat buried deep within the ad.  There aren’t many types of females I loathe, but on the interwebs there is one sort that makes my blood boil time and time again.  Tonight I finally lashed out at one, if only via email.  I suppose this is intended for all women (and landlords) on craigslist who require their roommate/tennant to have vaginas.  I have a simple message you.  Grow the fuck up. Next time you write an ad, you should put up less of a facade and be up front about being an ignorant bitch who throws every XY in the same boat.  The year is not 1900 and I’m guessing you aren’t still in the third grade (though it’s entirely possible).  Please treat me like a human and I’ll gladly do the same in return, thank you oh so very much.  Just the fact that you list this detail is almost a good thing in the sense that I know you’re the sort of person to avoid like the plague.  Being exclusionary on such a basis is uncalled for, ignorant and tacky at best.  It ruins my hour to find a gem in a perfect location, at a reasonable price, in a communal environment only to find out at the end of the ad that the women living there want to keep it a ‘gurl zone.’  Screw your god damn girl zone.  I’ll piss on it while standing up (okay, small exaggeration).  Beat that shiz!  I’m building a template email to send each and every one of you morons.  End of rant.

Ubuntu presence in Van revisited

Free and open source software (FOSS) has developed from a curiosity into a profound passion in the past couple years for me.  Linux is not just a flexible and powerful set of software utilities culminating a complete alternative operating system, but hand in hand with FOSS, it represents a full blown philosophy and ideal model for contributing to a community of enthusiasts. Until now I haven’t been able to give back as much as I’d like as I’m still a newb at writing good, usable Python.  Even now I don’t give all that much back but my efforts have increased largely due to local groups that I collaborate with.  I’ll plug them here.