BrettVeenstra.com» Geek http://brettveenstra.com Rants, Dreams, Recollections... on the Walk Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:08:31 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc How long would you last? http://brettveenstra.com/2008/02/14/how-long-would-you-last/ http://brettveenstra.com/2008/02/14/how-long-would-you-last/#comments Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:00:12 +0000 Brett Veenstra http://brettveenstra.com/?p=79 The Today Show released a video to YouTube on how addicted we are in America. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmEErhy7AIc

MF wrote about the same thing, in a different perspective.

I think I could last a weekend, and the day after.

How about you?

]]> http://brettveenstra.com/2008/02/14/how-long-would-you-last/feed/ 1 Quick, try this… (likebetter.com) http://brettveenstra.com/2006/08/28/quick-try-this/ http://brettveenstra.com/2006/08/28/quick-try-this/#comments Mon, 28 Aug 2006 23:59:00 +0000 Brett Veenstra http://journeymantomaster.wordpress.com/2006/08/28/quick-try-this/ See if you can pass the test…

These are always fascinating, I wonder who they used to get accurate profiling, or whether they just ran survey groups. They’re looking for eyeballs, and then imagine being profiled in their system… I’m guessing the content would be pretty customized to your liking, or dislikes.

]]> http://brettveenstra.com/2006/08/28/quick-try-this/feed/ 0 No, I’m the cool computer http://brettveenstra.com/2006/05/03/no-im-the-cool-computer/ http://brettveenstra.com/2006/05/03/no-im-the-cool-computer/#comments Wed, 03 May 2006 02:26:00 +0000 Brett Veenstra http://brettveenstra.com/?p=23 In honor of Apple’s, “we’re cool like that” ad campaign, I’d better throw another log on the fire! Enjoy the the following:


With the recent court victories Microsoft is finding itself having to expose more of it’s operating system code to third parties. For instance, in Japan they have replaced the impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft error messages with Haiku poetry messages.

Haiku poetry has strict construction rules -each poem has only 17 syllables;
5 syllables in the first line,
7 in the second,
5 in the third.

They are used to communicate a timeless message, often achieving a wistful, yearning and powerful insight through extreme brevity.

Here are 16 [sic] actual error messages from Japan:

The Web site you seek
Cannot be located, but
Countless more exist.


You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
This page is not here.


Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.


Program aborting:
Close all that you have worked on.
You ask far too much.


Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.

Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that.


Your file was so big.
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.


Stay the patient course.
Of little worth is your ire.
The network is down.


A crash reduces
Your expensive computer
To a simple stone.


Three things are certain:
Death, taxes and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.


Out of memory.
We wish to hold the whole sky,
But we never will.

Having been erased,
The document you’re seeking
Must now be retyped.


Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank.



Joke over… now get back to work!

]]> http://brettveenstra.com/2006/05/03/no-im-the-cool-computer/feed/ 0 Dangerous little creatures… http://brettveenstra.com/2006/04/30/dangerous-little-creatures/ http://brettveenstra.com/2006/04/30/dangerous-little-creatures/#comments Sun, 30 Apr 2006 23:26:00 +0000 Brett Veenstra http://brettveenstra.com/?p=22 Mac’s are one the craziest things that I experience on this earth…

They’re so good, they’re evil! I mean, when you sit down to actually work on a laptop, it works and doesn’t dog on photos, video, internet… you get 3 + hours of battery even using the wireless and then the thing weighs like a small book… crazy. (and this is all on an powerbook with only 512MB of RAM for you techies out there…)

This is obviously the product of someone’s singular vision of usable, portable, computer. Yum-yum.

It is so easy to think about spending my money on this stuff, so difficult to consider it God’s money to spend!

]]> http://brettveenstra.com/2006/04/30/dangerous-little-creatures/feed/ 2 Geek sheik? http://brettveenstra.com/2006/01/18/geek-sheik/ http://brettveenstra.com/2006/01/18/geek-sheik/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2006 01:28:00 +0000 Brett Veenstra http://brettveenstra.com/?p=6 Now, I’m definitely a geek ’cause I don’t have the slightest clue what “geek sheik” means…

I mean wiki couldn’t tell me, google could, but that really wouldn’t have the same effect of being able to chuckle along at a party with the term…

Fortunately I don’t party that much. But maybe someone could offer the geek a few bits of data to absorb?

]]> http://brettveenstra.com/2006/01/18/geek-sheik/feed/ 1 An original geek… http://brettveenstra.com/2006/01/01/an-original-geek/ http://brettveenstra.com/2006/01/01/an-original-geek/#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2006 22:29:00 +0000 Brett Veenstra http://journeymantomaster.wordpress.com/2006/01/01/an-original-geek/ Us Geeks had it rough before stock options proved it was a wonderful life. Being a geek, I couldn’t really tell you what cultural event started that off… my theory is John Hughes helped in one way (sixteen candles) or another (breakfast club). A certain segment of us just seemed to fit naturally into the role… perhaps we take life too serious, perhaps we’re just no fun…

Well just call me Ward Cleaver… my geek meter is still going strong:

  • wearing glasses that are broken, only now my Mom doesn’t buy them for me so I can buy the ones that break on the earpiece where no one can see it
  • if it weren’t for the children… I’d be working for peanuts in some distant corner of the world on the coolest project I could find (K would be so happy)
  • I’d rather spend ALL NIGHT telling the computer to do something than sleeping
  • I’d rather spend ALL DAY thinking about what to tell the computer that night
  • I’d rather spend hours debating a topic with a friend than hours at a party with a bunch of people
  • Always trying to make intelligent and snide remarks at the same time
  • [more to come]

Original geek. Original style.

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