Couple of conclusions J. and I came to today after reading Joel Spolsky’s “Guide to Guerilla Interviewing”. 1. We’ve got way too many of the “Get things done”/“Not smart” people. These are folks who treat code like disposable parts, hacking around without thinking. “Anything to make it work” is the mantra for these people. Compentent programmers spend most of their time fixing the sublte (and not too sublte) errors that come from these people. ...

Giving you a snapshot of how overloaded a software engineer can become when he’s working for a hardware company: My current projects/tasks/research items: On my current product: security: Support for test tools for our next printer family that’s currently in test New server function responsibilities Updatest to a spec that’s 3 months out-of-date Unit tests that I haven’t written bug Reports: 7 outstanding (probably will get more) Field issues: none (for now) ...

Preface: I’m not looking for baby names for any specific reason, but this is just COOL!

Ah, Google, king of this vast meritocracy called the Internet. Check out Google Maps everyone. I may never hit Mapquest again.

Alert Alert Alert! If you’re using FireFox to browse the web, please do the following to prevent a ‘phishing’ vulnerability that could cause identity theft: 1. type about:config into the navigation bar (the same place you’d type a URL) 2. scroll down and find the key network.enableIDN 3. If it says ’true’, double click on that line and set it to ‘false’. This tweak will protect you from getting redirected from a legitimate site to ones where your Identity could be stolen.

Pic of Wes during the race…pretty Porsche :D

Hats off to Wes Allen, of our local chapter of SCCA, competing today (and tomorrow!) in the grueling Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Wes is running in the GT class in a Porsche GT3. Here’s his team listing: Number Class Team name Drivers car type sponsors 43 GT Orison-Planet Earth Motorsports Wes Allen, Lexington, KY; Brad Blum, Winter Park, FL; Eric Lux, Buffalo, NY; Manuel Soltero, San Juan, PR; Ron Zitza, Maitland, FL ...

Amid getting my MINI its 45k mile service, I’m driving a BMW X3 as a loaner It’s AWFUL! The ride is brittle and uncertain. The thing is so stiff-legged that Ohio roads are a real pain. It’s not roomy at all, and this base, base, base model lacks even cruise control. I left my cell phone at home, so I was forced to drive all the way back to G’town so I can know when the Pup is done with its overhaul.

Sighted as my GTO goes by:

How to know you’ve been using Firefox for too long: You’re in a regular windows application (say, Lotus Notes) and you hit Ctrl-T for a new tab. * * * Another momentous day ahead for me: This is my last day when I can fix the problems for our testing before I get hauled in front of the V.P. of our division for disciplinary action. I’ve rewritten the crappy code of TWO OTHER groups to try and avoid this situation, but I’m dealing with people who don’t understand Java all that well. At least, I wouldn’t hire them, based upon the crappy code I’ve seen. ...

Ah, the memories:

I thought this was highly appropriate, given that I watched TRON the other day. Tron is kinda like the Matrix, and it has a sort of retro-chic to it, but there’s very little story there to hang all the SFX on.

A pal of mine once remarked that I was addicted to spending money, that money burns a hole in my pocket. I denied this for years, but I am here today to tell you she was right: I’ve cut out credit cards from my spending cold turkey, and I now have the shakes. That’s right, withdrawl. The first month on this restricted living on a budget is now over, and I’ve just sent off my last big CC payment. (Netflix bills via CC, so I’ll still be getting a Discover bill monthly, but that’s no big deal). I don’t even carry my CC’s with me; they’re at home in a drawer. ...

I’ve never thought of Stephen King as terse; anyone who’s read “Needful Things” can tell you that. He recommends brevity and conciseness to all writers in this piece on how to be a writer. I haven’t written any fiction myself, aside from that one history term paper that was “historical fiction” written over 36 hours of Hell, in over 10 years. I wrote a 12 page short story called “Friends of the Air” that I thought was quite goood–good enough for me to get a Distinguished on my 8th grade portfolio. The story centered around two friends who were flying home for Christmas from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati in a Piper Cherokee when they encouter a winter Thunderstorm over Altoona, PA. The story culminates with them on short final to a country airstrip, ice covering their wings, the throttle firewalled just to keep their ice-cube Piper from falling out of the sky. I liked it–classic buddy story, gripping, and action-packed. ...

Just for the record, I like it when her arse twitches * * * Today has been a rather good day at work: A very productive meeting that I lead this morning that’s provoked discussion among my co-workers, and lots of talking. Software Engineers’ days fall into two categories: Days where you talk versus those that are silent. Lots of meetings and hallway talk means a verbal day and some slack. Crunch time and a dealine yield quiet, closed doors, and clanging keys. Oddly, I can take either one. ...

Nerd factor 5, ENGAGE!

A Long Way from Town Good, soul-clearing rant from Mr. Sheffel responding to a Time article on dependent post-adolescence. I’ve ruminated on this before, but it bears repeating: There needs to be a middle tier in this country between minimum-wage-earners and the lucky 5% who make $100k or more. We need honest work in trades, factories, farms, and mines for people who aren’t cut out to go to college, but who want to contribute to society. ...

Amid a very boring status meeting, my co-worker S, from Ukraine broke out the following when someone said, “It’s just that close to being done” “Russian proverb says, ‘Your elbow is near, but you can’t bite it’.” :-) Worth going to that worthless meeting just for that.

Congratulations to Stacey and Charlie Davidson on the birth of their girl, Autumn Makenzie. She was born on January 18th, 8lbs 11oz (!) and 21.5 in long. Graduated with Stacey and Charlie from BHS.

Couple of movies this weekend: Fast Times at Ridgemont High The 70’s were over, Reagan was restoring hope, and AIDS hadn’t broken on the American consciousness. Ahhh…1982, the year Cameron Crowe’s masterpiece, Fast Times at Ridgemont High premiered. Up-and-coming cast members included Sean Penn, Judge Reinhold, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Phoebe Cates (before ‘Gremlins’), Forest Whitaker, Anthony Edwards as a Stoner (!), and a cameo by Nic Cage. A highly watchable, if inconsequential, piece of fluff, I LOVE THIS MOVIE, if only for the reminder of 1980’s style. ...