Lately, I think being honest with people–dealing with bad news promptly–gets me seen as “the bitch.” It’s either that or be ineffective.

This morning when I left the house there were three folks loitering in the alley. I reported them to the police, and spent the rest of the ride to the office analyzing my prejudices. Everything about them was out of place, three young black males hanging out in the edge of my neighbors garage, likely smoking pot. A woman walked by, avoiding eye contact and when I looked at them when I rode by one stared me down. Just your usual youth, smoking dope and skipping school? Or more troublemakers? Selling drugs, casing houses? I don’t really trust the legal system to make the right choices about people, but what alternatives? Can I blame another culture for not smiling enough to invite me to ask what they’re up to? Where is the line where you can no longer pass judgment from your own shoes? How much effort do you want to expend? Can you justify the expense of mind-share or time? You’ll find people arguing for and against everything, surely. Conversations about graffiti come to mind. When are we rebelling against the norm and when do we believe that our way us ultimately better suited for us? How many people have to look, act and think the same way before it isn’t counter-culture anymore?

An Ubuntu upgrade to Lucid Beta 1 today sent me in search of a spare hard drive, which turned into a few hours very similar to reading wikipedia. I ended up with four books I never intended to buy, no lunch, and no hard drive. Eventually though, it worked out. Lucid (10.04) Beta 1 is installed and I now get to weigh bug triaging into my list of priorities. Hopefully all that was last week will be a couple more weeks before I have to confront it again.