Benjamin Bakaitis Thoughts

Wed, Dec 18th

The transit system has some characters working for it for sure! The train most of all. This morning on the same train had a young looking guy wearing a conductors hat rimmed with pins ushering people onto the train and the adjacent door was a old man who stepped out and was enthusastically yellinw to the crowed, Good bye!! Have a nice day!! All aboard south bound to Southbound Provo!!! Goodbye!! Goodbye, have a nice day!!

Certain individuals seem to know they want to work on trains and that's what they do. What about the train attracts people who appear to want nothing more in life.

Mon, Dec 16th

How can a manager determine who should get fired?

More than several coworkers I have had have been fired. Many of them managers. If my manager were to get fired then it would be shocking and confusing. I have always assumed that there would have to be gross misconduct to be fired. Simple incompetance never seems so severe as to get a person fired. Perhaps it is easier to be fired than I first thought.

Unrelated, my boss had a brilliant idea. She suggested I create a new hire guide for compensation outlining the compensation structure and rules. This is a brilliant idea because it will save myself from questions, provide standardized training across teams. I have a brilliant idea on how to do this: I should use the companies workramp or other training creation software to make one very professional and required for specific job roles.

Can I make it required? What happens if an employee doesn't do the trainnig? I think I would start by reaching out to training and development to explain the project and receive some guidance.

Thurs, Dec 12th

I was studying Googles hiring process to better understand what I must do to be hired by them. The first part of the hiring guide is self reflection. It asks its perspective applicants, What is something you have learned in life which made everything thereafter easier.
I felt that was a striking question! I asked my parent the same question to which I received an answer of gratitude from my mother, and potty training and show tieing from my father. This was a joke followed up with writing things down to organize thoughts.
My thoughts on those answers are complex. I feel my mothers answer is tied to ethereal beliefs that hold her back and make her life worse for herself and those around her. My fathers answer was disapointingly practical and common sense. I accept that most likely I am the fool of us three for thinking this way. But it matters not what their answer was, only that it was their own. The point of the question pose by Google to it's candidates was to help me sort out my strengths, interests, and experience. Something to do with my parents answers are meaningful to what helps them be successful in life but not me. Ofcourse I will feel they are not useful to me.

I brainstormed the answer to the same question myself and made a short list. I have had some unique conversations with others since the time the question was posed as well. My answer at this moment in life to the question is to always seek a better way than others. Quite generally, never be content to use anothers methods, standards, template, ideas, words, etc. Not to say one should reinvent the wheel but that everything I touch should be changed and improved by me. I think this has been so successful for me because it allows me to always adapt situations to my strengths and away from my weaknesses.

Hold up, I change my mind. As I write this I begin to find issue with my use of the word better. I will change my answer to be that I adapt the world around me towards my strengths and away from my weaknesses as much as possible. I can also sum it up in a more catchy manner to say - Never Use Lifes Defaults.

What this means for me is that I must work in a position which I can innovate and change things. If I cannot make change then I cannot thrive. It also spells out a new piece of wisdom. That is if I am to help a group or organization be successful then I need to understand how to change it's internal and external environment so that it can thrive. If I am part of an organization or group that clashes with my needs then there will never be a middle ground which both me and that organization thrive together. If I find positions in life that align with myself then there will shared victory.

Mon, Dec 9th

Do we put too much trust in eachother? People will only do a process only as complete as to avoid any complaints. The completeness stops when the person is sure that nobody is likely to complain. If I extend this idea I may assume I must complain about things that I want the most.
My other train of thought - I hate it when people complain to me about insignificant things. Its annoying and feels like the other person is trying to force their will on me. Complaining is poor manners or even manipulative. It is typically not helpful and insulting to me assuming I'm not already doing everything I can.

Tues, Nov 26

I had a funny experience on the bus today. This morning, from the train I got on the provo bus waiting at the station. There was nobody on it except for someone that arrived at the station with me. After a few minutes the bus driver walked to the back and held out a ziplock bag of assorted candies. I looked up for a second at that moment and he urged the bag forward again saying “for the first passengers”. The other girl on the bus said, “what’s that?”. The bus driver announced louder with a note of respect and reverence, “for the first passengers”. I took a Dumb-dumb without looking at the color and mumbled a thanks without meeting his eye. The girl took one too. I decided to hold it in my hand a minute while the bus driver turned around. I noticed the girl drop it directly in her bag. When the driver turned around I slid the candy in my coat pocket. It’s conflicting deciding on what to do with it now. Baring the off chance that giving me candy is just part of this drivers job, the act of giving me a dumb-dumb has great significance to the driver who gave it to me. It seems to add to the significance of the candy itself and what I do with it now to me. I haven’t decided the right thing to do in response yet.

Tues, Nov 19

I received my permit for demonstration in Salt Lake City on October 24th, the thursday before my scheduled protest on October 27th. I had to make minor edits and follow up to get the permit. Imagine attempting to react to a situation such as police brutality event and not knowing if your expression of free speech would be allowed until just days before your scheduled protest that is already a month out from the event. My conclusion on the experiment is the system is wack.
Coinsidentaly, I received a email from Qualtrics the same day I received my permit exhorting me not to demonstrate and stating that "peacecul demonstarations tend to turn violent". I am convinced it is a pure coinsidence due to ongoing palesitne freedom demonstrations but it is odd having my employer participate in supression of free speech. Dangerous or not they should stay out of it. There was on interesting event with that email - within the email it had links to locations of israeli and US embassys/consolates. I was curious about the location of Israeli consolates so I clicked on the link. Chrome booted on my phone like normal then a green box popped up at the top of my screen, a green smiley face, and a green check box. Yikes, my phone had face ID'd me as I entered the website. I didn't know that was possible. That was enough for me,

Mon, Sep 30 2024

The only accessable information in Utah about protests here are government agency run. The SLC Protest page is only accessable by VPN. If I attempt to access the SLC Protest page from local source then I cannot. I love how Utah gives people the illusion of control with the "second ammendment rights" while suppressing free speach. Messed up and it pisses me off a bit.
I've been working on an art project for some time. I started by drawing the South Salt Lake water tower while looking at the image. I then drew a basic version from memory. I then drew a detailed version from memory. I then painted on denim. To finish I will paint onto denim jeans to be worn. I picked some jeans to paint it onto.
Back to the topic of demonstrations - this weird restriction on freedom of speech led me to explore the application process to hold demonstrations. I found the correct application spot. I filled one application which ended up being an applicatino to fill out other appllications. I then filled out three other applications and was told I would hear back in 5 to 7 days. Some of the applicatinos required me to do things like create a site map, create a waste management plan, assume a massive amount of liability, own a vehicle to haul away waste, promise to not make any noise distrubancess, acknowledge I won't use roads, grass, or sidewalks.. I had to reserve a spot which is only one of a few possible demonstration spots. I also learned that the permit fee is subjective and determined after my application reviewed. The fastest time i can obtain a permit in is 7 days. It's been 6 days since I applied to hold a demonstration and I have not heard back. I'm not sure what next steps are if I do not hear back about my application? I will have to cross that bridge soon. I understand the need for the city to be aware of demonstrations but the actual process is unreasonably restrictive.

Fri, Sep 27 2024

I attempted to use other ariel imagery services like Sentinel Hub. No luck for additional details on what's going on in Africa.

Thurs, Sep 26 2024

Why does much of Africa not have Google Street views? Why do can I not find local news out of so many countries? Why when I view countries ariel photos are there no vehicles? How would I go about talking to someone from these countries to learn about their experience and lifestyle? The internet is sterile of current details of these places.

Tues, Sep 24 2024

I did it. I have a working login button. As of now, nothing happens when you log in but that's besides the point. Users can log into my own website with Google and it required no ready made applications. I also have a signout button but I can probably remove that.

Mon, Sep 23 2024

I have this idea. This is an idea about how my figuring out how to work this website. So, I established that I can write content for a website using Google Docs and use script to translate the actions in Docs to HTML which can be uploaded to the website. My hypothesis is that if I create a Google Sheet with just the right template that I can manage a website with login credentials, personalized data, ability to create new pages and expand menu options, and easily embed Google Forms to allow users to enter data back to the web page.
Next steps to test this idea will be to start asking GPT-4 questions and testing it. I'm very curious how OAuth works and how to set it up. How cool would it be to log into your own personalized pages in my website using your Google Account? Too cool.
At this time, this simple website is costing me $0.90 per day. This is too expensive for me for what I'm doing with this website so I'm going to see if I can get that cost down too.
Good news, I have a secure https:// website now!

Fri, Sep 20 2024

I'm hanging out at Old Cuss Cafe. I had the Roderick Sandwich with tofu, not egg, and a soy latte. The Chef introduced his name to me along with the barista because I'm there every week. The chef's name is Chandler and the Barista Rachel. Chandler is a quieter tall guy who get's really excited if you ask him about food. He wears over ear headphones despite it being a small cafe that's already playing music. He often is at Old Cuss much later than it closes. When I walk by in the evening I smell herbs and vegtables - likely the prep work for the vegan menu. Chef has a knife he bought for Japan that was his dream knife since he was young. He often is in the back sharpening it. He seems passionate aboput what he does. Rachel seems like a bubbly girl in her twenties with lots of guy friends who stop by the cafe to see her. She talks about board game night with some of them. She's tall for a girl and slender with a bob cut.
Old Cuss itself is a small cafe that could seat about 20 people max indoors and a few outdoor benches along Main in South Salt Lake. They decorate with art made of vintage materials or vintage antiques themselves. It's western themed but not the revoltingly flashy western I usually see that raises the red flag of racism. Thsi is relaxed and creative. The cafe uses much of it's open space to sell aniques and thrifted goods in the back. The music is always calm but not repetitive. I've never heard the songs they play here before.

Thurs, Sep 19 2024

Here's what's probably going to happen - I'm going to write the weirdest stuff here for a few days and then just stop writing. That is how everything which I write goes.
At the Murry Station looking forward waiting for the train I saw tracks, rocks, and a chain link fence. The color of the chain link the the rocks were the same color so that the fence was camoflauged over the rocks and visible over the tracks. It gave me an idea for n atristic texture of chainlink overlayed an object but blended to the background.
I'm testing using Google Apps Script to write my website then updating my html file in the Google Cloud Storage. This will make it easy to update my website, open doors for creating a more intuitive website builder, and decrease my cost to update the website. Typically updating the website requires me to upload a file to Cloud Storage which costs money. If I edit my existing file within Cloud Storage then I don't have to use computing power on the upload. I also can work out of a more user friendly Apps Script editor to write this. Later on down the line I can write in google docs which will provide me with the abililty to more easily format, and check spelling and grammar.

Wed, Sep 18 2024

Over the past two days I created this site just using Google Cloud Console and following step by step instructions from GPT-4. It was tricky getting the network connections right but here it is. Enjoy it or not, it's here. Be warned, my spelling, grammar, and general sanity is not okay and I don't care. It's my website and I will write how I do.
After I finished getting a basic site on the internet I proceeded to go for a walk down the S-Line to look at the art, relax my mind, and stretch my muscles.It's 70 degrees outside and sunny. Once I decided I was done walking I took the train back down to apartment. On the train there was a guy wearing double ortho boots fililng down a piece of wood into a neat artistic spiral. Behind me sat two construction workers and one was talking on the phone to a family member in the hospitol. The worker sounded very worried.

Check out the picture of the guy filing wood in the Gallery.