Contrary to being a "for the music" musician, I have been a fan of American Idol since it's debut on American TV. Yes, I am aware that it's all a big money-making scheme, and it's probably rigged to begin with. Yes, I'm aware that it's not "reality" as much as it is "written". This year, it has been most-evident that this is the case, that it is scripted, regurgitated tripe.

So, why do I watch it? I don't know, but I think I'm nearing the end of my rope with this show. I just got finished watching the "San Diego" auditions that I had recorded on my DVR.

Disclaimer: I have met, and worked with a ton of brilliant people of Indian descent. I am in no way bigoted, and am not lumping people into a barrel because of their nationality. This is merely a list of things that piss me off about having to bid against "outsourced", or "overseas" development teams.

And we're off...

5) People who have dealt with Indian development teams in the past now think that they can get $5,000 worth of work for $50.

So, Domino's is now charging $1.99 delivery fee, on top of the sales tax for their pies. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's been like this for like how many years? I just felt like bitching about it.

Why the hell do they do this? Is it because the drivers kept getting stiffed, so they put in a mandatory tip? Do the drivers even get any part of that $1.99? Does it go toward that driver's salary? I don't know, I've never delivered pizzas, but...

So, I'm minding my own business last night, watching Jay Leno on my local NBC station, KNSD. That's right, San Diego, California. It's late, and I'm trying to fall asleep, and I don't really pay attention to the commercials in the first place, but one perked me right up!

About a month ago, when I was struggling to keep the family fed, I got this lead on a job. I think he found me through a post to craigslist for a "simple" site. Sounded pretty promising from the start. The guy was "losing money with the site down", cuz it was "just hacked", and "needed it done in three days". Clearly this was a bigger package than the "simple site".

Last night, about 1am, my buddy came back. I hadn't turned my signal back on, so I know he wasn't fucking with my connection.

This time, I decided that I would just get out there and ask him how his internet connection was doing. He was well-dressed, and sitting in a fairly-new car. I approached him as he briskly folded up his laptop to obscure the contents of the display. Then, without hesitation, he replied, "It's good, thank you.", in a thick Russian accent. What the fuck? Did he not get the sarcasm? Anyhow, I told him to go lurk somewhere else. Of course, he just moved down the tier to the next level of apartments where he split last time.

Occasionally, I browse through craigslist's Computer Gigs section, looking for a few bucks here-and-there. Lately, I noticed a lot of fairly decent, somewhat detailed, and interesting projects. Most of them do not have an email address to reply to (obscured, or otherwise), they point to this itkong site instead. There's no full URL, so one could assume that the original poster is trying to get you to use this site to bid on their project.

So, there's two new "singing" competitions on the air. NBC's The Singing Bee (TSB), and FOX's Don't Forget The Lyrics (DFTL).

Let's do a short analysis of these two, shall we?

The Hosts

DFTL: Wayne Brady - SUPER-talented guy, funny, charismatic, he can sing, he KNOWs the lyrics, and can make you laugh and cry at the same time. Wayne is a people-person, and a born entertainer. He loves people, and interacting with them. He's a seasoned professional, and it shows.

(Note: you don't have to get the PE reference to appreciate my rant.)

Let it be known that I live in a fairly "nice" area. Rent is not cheap, and there's little-to-no crime here.

I recently got a new wireless access point, cuz I signed up with Vonage for their phone service... They send their own hardware, blah blah. I got the all-in-one with the WAP on it, cuz I had an old 802.11b D-Link that was in clear need of an upgrade.

First of all, I respect my elders as much as the next guy. The problem I have is when I see some old fart cruising down the freeway at a blistering 35mph, when the rest of the traffic is flowing at 75-80mph, he's really putting himself and others in danger. Once you hit a certain age, it should be mandatory to get vision and reflex tests in order to maintain your license. I may think differently about this in 40 years, but ya know what? If I'm not able to maintain safety on the road, I shouldn't fucking be on it, no matter what my age. And, neither should anyone else.