The internet is down here at work. It’s down at least on the computers behind the front desk. So my only chance to get on the net sits in the still vacant front desk managers office. Of course I’m going to pop in there every now and then to check email and see how the site make over is going. I still don’t know if I’m keeping this new look and the system that powers it. I’ll decide later on.

First thing I do is take a look at the condition of the computer. The thing runs like shit. It is obviously full of spy-ware and viruses. I try to download AVG to clean it up. Except I can’t download shit. Some security warning pop up appears every time I try to download a file. So I run the piece of shit McAffe Virus scan. Below is the results:

What good is an anti virus program if it doesn’t get rid of viruses? What good is it I ask? This is software that these idiots here at work have payed for. I expect a product to work if I’m going to buy it. And why use something I have to pay for when I can use something that works even better for free? Not that I really give a shit, it’s not my computer.

I guess it’s just the idea of how stupid people can be. 7 goddamn viruses and countless number of spy-ware was turned up by the virus scan. How ignorant can people really be when it comes to the internet? I guess I take for granted what knowledge I have about these matters and I expect everyone to know this information.

I have to let this kind of thing stop surprising me. In fact I would wager every computer in this hotel has viruses and spy-ware. Well every computer except for the one I use. I only really worry about that one I use. I’ll purge some spy-ware now and then when it gets bad. But for the most part the only pc at work I will use is the one at the desk that I have made sure that these fucking heathens here do not contaminate.

Every time I use another one I feel like washing my hands. I’m developing a phobia maybe regarding all this virus/spy-ware shit. All I know is I hate having to use another pc here at work. In fact this post here I wrote in notepad on the only clean pc in the hotel. I’ve typed it all out and saved it to a floppy disk and only briefly fouled myself to get this posted on my site. I’ll be glad when the net is back up and running here at work. Man what a long night it will be.

I’m going to start sounding like a broken record here. But it’s something that just pisses me off and I have to write about it. The computer problems continues at the hotel. All of the advice I have offered to those in charge has been ignored. Congratulations I say. Because of the incompetence of the hotel management the computers here are swarmed with all of the kinds of shit one would not want to have. And I’m only looking at the spyware end of things. God only knows what kinds of nasty viruses we have.

I’ve been told recently that the gm here considers himself a kind of guy that knows a thing or two about computers. I can’t help but laugh at this. If allowing your business computers to infested by shit equals knowing a lot about computers then I guess I don’t know shit about computers. And just for example lets take a look at one of the little bits of spyware that was found on one of the work computers.

This particular bit of software is called Virtual Bouncer. While this is not something high risk, it is a nuisance to say the least. Symantec says:

VirtualBouncer masquerades as a legitimate Spyware remover but sets itself to run when you start the computer and remain memory-resident. When it is running, the software will periodically attempt to contact its author’s servers to download updates and instructions.

Some versions we have seen will nag the user, using pop-up advertisements in Internet Explorer, to purchase an upgrade to Virtual Bouncer, by telling him/her that their system is at risk.

This adware program must be manually installed. However, there are several known programs that have Adware.VirtualBouncer within them and that install it as the program itself is installed.

Now this just proves that people here are dumb as bricks. This thing is manually installed. It means that someone got the pop up and clicked yes. Which just makes me feel like I’m really weird because I don’t fall for this kind of bullshit. This one bit of spyware is a perfect example of the state these work computers are in. And it comes back to this gm and his expert knowledge of the way computers work. In fact I would question this gm’s entire career in the hotel business based on this obvious lack of fucking common sense on the way this gm handles the computers at work.

I have seen a lot of these general managers come and go in my decade or so of working at the hotel. And on the topic of this current one let me just say one thing. The current gm is no Shawn Kennedy, I’ll tell you that. A lot of the claims put forth by this current gm can only be found in a certain kind of guy. Shawn Kennedy was one of these guys. I would see that guy all the time. Nights or mornings it didn’t matter. The current guy I have seen once or twice. And the claims of working in every department and working ones way up the ladder? Again this Shawn Kennedy is the only gm I have ever met that one can say they can do every job in the hotel.

The quality of the management can only reflect the quality of the hotel. Which just goes to show what a sorry state of affairs the place is in. And who else can you blame? I don’t think the blame can be aimed at the peons. I think at some point these fucks need to admit they have no clue at what they are doing. Or at least admit they don’t give a shit. Because that’s the way I see it. It’s sad really how far this hotel has fallen. It’s sad to see it continue to fall. And I feel sorry for those employees who never worked here back in the old days. It was a different time and place. But that time and that place is long gone.

I find these kinds of things funny. The hotel’s anti virus license has expired. The place is cutting back anything they can to save a buck. For example as of today when someone checks out only one copy of the bill will be printed. Usually you need two copies. One the guest signs that the hotel keeps and one you give to the guest. So now the front desk has to add to the time it takes to get a guest out of the hotel when they check out. Granted it’s not a huge amount of time involved in printing an extra copy of a bill. But when a line of people are in front of you every second helps. So with all of this cheap ass tactics I wonder how the hotel will fix this problem?

And yeah I won’t be surprised if they try to do something illegal. Like install a freebie program like AVG. Some of the software on the work computers are not exactly legit so I wouldn’t put it past them. The place continues it’s downward spiral at this rate I won’t be surprised if some major changes will happen.

Also the hotel management are in the process of doing reviews on their employees. I’m of course interested in this because of the very slim chance I’ll get a raise. Of course I’ve yet to receive any review of any kind in a number of years. So you understand when I say I’m not holding my breath.

Also a few days after Christmas the very generous hotel owner gave all of his employees a 10 buck gift card for Walmart. And after all it’s not the timing of the gift, it’s the amount on the card right? And I’m sure everyone remembers the colossal cluster fuck it was the last time these cheap fucks gave the hotel employees a present like this? Hopefully this Walmart gift card will be easier to use than that Visa gift card they gave us that year.

I made a purchase the other day that I still can’t believe. I bought every issue of the comic book The Amazing Spider-Man for about 50 bucks. Sure these comics are on 11 cd’s in the pdf format. But 500 comics for 50 bucks? Tell where else you can buy 500 comics for 50 bucks? The product is called 40 Years of the Amazing Spider-Man and it is a must have for anyone that likes Spider-Man. These are not reproductions. These are the actual comic books scanned. You get the art, the, adds, the covers, and the letter pages. I can’t stress enough just how geeked out I am about this.

It’s so bad I haven’t had the time to log in to World of Warcraft the last few days. WoW can wait. I have 500 fucking issues of Spider-Man to read. And this is the good stuff people. The movies got their inspiration from the stories in these 500 issues.

I’m also pretty damn impressed by the current run on the comic. I’ve never read them till now and always thought the new stuff was inferior. Boy was I wrong. The current writer (J. Michael Straczynski) may be known to some of you in the sci-fi world as the creator of Babylon 5. It’s a Peter Parker that I hadn’t seen in a while. Straczynski has made me forget all about the retarded clone saga. I’m going to add the comic to my subscriptions at the local comic book store.

Now I don’t want to ruin my sensitive guy thing that I worked so hard on establishing through a series of posts that labeled me a “pussy” by Gawain. But this picture below made me laugh my ass off:

And after I was done laughing my ass off I thought to myself stupid bitches.

So I’m happy as fuck now that original Star Trek is out on dvd in season sets. I picked up the Season One set at Walmart because those greedy fucks at Best Buy were selling it for ten bucks more. It was 96 plus tax at Walmart. Which next to buying it online this was the best price I could find. And the box it comes in is pretty damn neat.

It’s great to be able to watch Kirk, McCoy, and Spock on dvd anytime I want to. I didn’t realize how many great episodes were in the first season. My all time favorite episode This Side of Paradise was in the first season I was happy to find out. It was this episode that really made me dig Captain Kirk. Kirk was so dedicated to his ship and crew that he would fight off this effect of total peace and tranquility the spores gave him. And then go on to try to piss off Spock just to snap him out of it.

Lots of good stuff on this set. To many to go on about. So if you like the original series you have to go buy this. Seasons two and three will be coming out soon on dvd as well. And then when I have them all I will be a happy camper.

So I bought a Samurai Sword. I’ve wanted one for many years now as I am a fan of Samurai movies. I did some research into the whole Samurai Sword thing and found out I don’t know dick about this stuff. The sword I bought is what real collectors call a wall-hanger and even worse it’s a cheap Highlander knockoff. I just like the look of a carved ivory handle and knew only of the Highlander movie sword.

As I said I don’t know dick about this stuff. Check out this page that gives an illustrated example of all the terms for the parts and features of a Samurai Sword. I really didn’t realize it was that complicated. I’ve also found that this stainless steel sword I’ve bought is not something you even want to take the chance on swinging around, let alone try to use it to cut something.

Well at least I now have a little knowledge on this subject matter. One of these days I will pick up a good sword. If you happen to be interested in any kind of swords be sure to check out the Sword Forum International, it is the place I have quickly learned about my junk knockoff sword I had bought. Also interesting is the Care & Handling of Japanese Swords as it explains how to take apart a real Samurai Sword and how to clean it.