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I wrote some darn fine code today. Multithreaded programming makes your head hurt, but there’s nothing like a good, coordinated algorithm between two threads. Well, okay, sex is better. But as work goes, it’s good :D Most irksome phrase on earth: “We’re definitely having some weather tonight” Yup. I bought a yo-yo today. Muhahahaha nerd fun for everyone. Had a great SCCA meeting tonight. Male bonding :D

Just in case you’re jonesing to write some not-too-useful programs: Free Pascal

14 hours at work and the frickin’ product is STILL BROKEN. Someday, look back at this time in your life and cringe.

It’s 11:30, I got here at 7:30, and this is the first time I’ve sat down at my desk since arriving. This morning: 8am Video conference with my Kolkata team, which went well. Everyone seems to have responded well to my notes. 8:30am Video conference with my testers & management. This was the biggie, and was a good first step. Now new ship issue PTRs 9am meeting with the Lexington team, who were very “up” and willing to discuss problems. At least somebody got some rest this weekend. ...

Man, it’s the PERFECT DAY outside: Sunny, 60 degrees, and no autocross :-(

two monitors, venerable WKQQ on my single-speaker radio, stuck at the office on a rainy Saturday when I should be packing up my apartment, that’s Harvid. Management determined last week that my product was so utterly broken that we needed an “All hands on deck” effort to fix it. Since it’d actually cost money to pay contractors overtime, read this as “all REGULAR employees” on deck. So, I’m here pouring through code letting Harvid have full reign. I’m heading home by 6, though, to exercise and relax a bit, then clean-up my house. ...

Having finally acquired one of those damnable camera-cellphones-fm tuners-bluetooth gadgets (which magically still works as a plain old phone), I decided to put it to use today. Here’s my pal Jeff (nee “Marshall” to Whitney) Jeff’s standing in front of my alter-brain (my whiteboard) and beside my office door, which is defiantly collaged with Dilbert comic strips. Here’s my officemate, Patrick: Patrick’s sporting the new iPod Mini his wife got him for his birthday. ...

(This blog brought to you by coffee, the never-ending source of stimulation for the programmer mind.) Though I own two of the coolest cars in existence today (a MINI and a GTO), there are several cars out there I’d love to have, but the practicalities of life infringe upon it. My list, in no particular order: A Saab 9-3 Viggen Front Wheel Drive Hatchback 260 horsepower turbo 4 cylinder. MMMM….practical. ...

Some english phrases make no sense to me: catch-as-catch-can: Huh? I’ll be out-of-pocket this afternoon: Huh? One thing, a pair of things, several things: How is it that ‘several’ comes to mean three, all of a sudden? Working with so many foreign peeps, you start understanding just how random, chaotic, and redundant English is. Sentence construction, word choice, phraseology, neologisms, and odd tenses (“He might have been going to the park next Thursday”) combine to make English hard to master. ...

Derby 131 has come and gone, and you can almost year the sighs from here. The great stories–Fleet Alex, Steinbrenner’s colt, et al.–all fell in the stretch to the longest of long-shots, a horse that has no shot at either the Preakness or Belmont. Another year, another yawn.

This is for all you folks ready to go to college, ready to be the next Alan Turing, John Backus, or Bill Gates. Don’t become a programmer. You’ll either land in some sweatshop like ACS where people yell at you all day to fix the problems they cause by their mismanagement, or you’ll land in some massive corporation, where they’ll force you do to crappy work until you’re burnt-out. Meh. I hate my job. Must be Thursday :-)

No races for CKRSCCA at Commonwealth Stadium this year. Schedule Basically, all little lots where you can have only a 25 second course, or lots where it’s sealed asphalt (EKU) Ugh…

Read this and tell me the problem is oversaturation, not Scott Bakula’s bad acting or braindead storylines.

I miss my MINI. It’s doing yeoman work shuttling the better 2/3rds of my nascent family around Louisville. Okay…scattered FROST tonight. In May. In Kentucky. ?? I’ve discovered the toughest part of step-parenthood is not what I expected. Not liking your stepkid, I expected. Him not liking me, I expected. What I did NOT expect is me really caring about him, yet realizing he’d never care about me. This is the same feeling Norie had about Jarod (ne “Bo Bo”) Slone, and it makes me sad. I SO MUCH want to be a part of Joey’s life, but there are certain critical moments that only a parent’s love can get you through, moments when the child looks with uncertainty or fear and says to himself, “It’s okay that’s my {Mommy | Daddy}.” I will ever be an outsider. ...

Sideways: What’s the big deal? I mean, it’s a decent story and it WILL make you want to try Pinot Noir, even though it’s the most tasteless, bodiless wine out there. This is not a funny movie, as it’s made out to be. It’s a sad, cautionary tale of a divorced man beginning the long decline of middle age who must witness the joie de vive of every other person in Napa valley as he reflects on his own failures. It’s well acted, and there are moments of comic relief, but the general thread (“This guy is SUCH a loser”) runs so strong that I never could get into the other characters. ...

This is as blown as I’ve been since that time in College where I wrote my ‘History of the South’ term paper in 30 hours, from the start of the research to the completed, bibliographied, 20 page work. I’ve been overseeing the translations workshop, trying to use my damn product along with the translators, and it’s been a revelation. We’re 4 weeks from release, and the product doesn’t work. Not even close. ...

Spanglish is a revelation: Touching, genuine, intimate, and involving, it’s the “small” picture at its best. The story is one of integration and separation, as a single latino mother (the stunning Paz Vega) makes a way for herself and her daughter in the swankiest parts of Los Angeles, amid a family tearing itself apart. The mother is a control-freak basket-case (Tea Leoni, taking a page from Annette Benning’s character in American Beauty), the father (Adam Sandler) an irresolute chef afraid of his own restaurant’s success. Their two children are amazingly well adjusted, considering. ...

Conversation I had during the 2 1/2 hours I was working the course yesterday whilst the wind froze me and the sun burnt my face to a crisp: John: Man, Tony’s WRX is awesome! Me: Yeah, he’s got everything on it…his 6-speed transmission alone cost $4k John: Holy SHIT…what does he do for a living Me: He’s a programmer, I think… John: See, now that’s what I need to get into…no more of this turning wrenches for Uncle Sam ...

Why were American cars from the early 90’s so crappy? Specifically, I’m speaking of the the Chevy Lumina and Ford Taurus. Granted, these were cars of the (now non-existent) cheap, mid-size, soft suspension class, but where’s the quality? Drive a 10 year old Accord versus a 10 year old Taurus, and the Honda is a revelation. Why is it people at autocross keep trying to kill me? I was 10 feet away from 3 spins this weekend, one of which saw a guy in a Mitsubishi Evo sliding at me WITH HIS FOOT STILL ON THE GAS. Also, got to watch a 4000 lb Volvo S60R slide right into a patch of grass I’d been standing in just 10 minutes before. ...