Year: 2005

Categories
Rants Work

Tired and Out of Sorts

I’ve entered month two of very little to no sleep during the week, thanks to a grueling and completely unrealistic product shipment schedule. In a move I will forever regret, I volunteered my services to be both product manager and UI/layout developer, ensuring that I work the same crazy hours I normally assign to the engineering team.

I have to say now that I don’t know how the tech folks live like this, because on weekends all I do is get up around noon, watch a little TV, do a little more work, then head back to sleep. I really hope this project ends soon, as I can’t imagine what a third month of this zombie state would be like.

Categories
General Rants Technology

Two-fer Mess Up

I combined three things I’m really good at today to great effect:

  • Betting on the goodness of technology
  • Trying to make things go fast
  • Spending money

What I came up with was: an unflyable airplane and a dead hard drive. The airplane won’t fly because its internal wiring is so lengthy as to be its own distortion amplification device (aka an antenna). The hard drive died (less than 6 months old!) for reasons unknown to me, but it was being moved from one PC case to another.

There are a lot of other things worse in the world, but these two events have conspired against my state of zen today.

Categories
General Rants

Good Weekend / Bad Week

The labor day weekend was pretty good to me this year. I did as little as I possibly had to, flew one of my R/C planes, did some light work around the house, and generally avoided work email. I was all set to call it a good weekend all around.

Then I sat down and turned on CNN.

I had read about Katrina and the goings ons down in New Orleans, but I just hadn’t seen video of the situation. It certainly put things into perspective for me and reminded me once again just how much things (and people) are taken for granted. Thinking back to a year or two ago when I was in the French Quarter its hard to imagine that much of the area I’ve seen before is now utterly ruined, with many lives taken along with it.

I plan to donate shortly, but something nagging at me says that just won’t be enough. I really do feel for the displaced folks out there and I am reminded once again about what a complete inept government we have elected in recent years. Dumb.

Categories
Rants Site News

When upgrades don't go smoothly

I saw a post earlier this week proclaiming a new version of WordPress (my current blogging software) was out. Having missed the previous two updates, I downloaded it, checked it over, read the directions and installed it. After putting a post in, everything seemed to work. I got a little text message that looked odd, but all seemed fine. Peachy.

On Saturday I got back around to looking at what caused this text error. To my horror it had gone from mere annoyance to full blown site wide chaos. Text error messages sprung out of nearly every page. When I poked around to find out why nothing jumped out. Worse still, some of my images were now broken. What had happened?

To shorten this story to its final conclusion, there was an old plug-in I was using on a previous version of WordPress that went south, taking everything it touched (which was the whole site) with it. Now that it is disabled things seem fine again… until the next time I try to be smart with the upgrades. Doh!

Categories
General Review

Review: Porsche 911

I had the opportunity to drive a 2001 Porsche 911 today. Actually my boss all but forced me to go drive it, as she knows that I?ve been waiting to get a sports car one of these days. First off I have to comment that there were two noticeable flaws in the car for me: the steering wheel hits my knees with the seat pushed all the way back; the other is a really heavy clutch.

That said, I?m still shaking from the drive. It?s been a good long while since I?ve driven a car that can move that fast, maneuver so deliberately, and stop so assuredly. It does feel like it rides on rails, even if that ride is a bit tight and tough. And when the car is driven right, when ?you drive it like you stole it? the car rewards you by leaving everything in the rear view mirror right quick. Shifts, though heavy, come fast and deliberate. Power builds very quickly and linearly. It?s not the same kick I?ve gotten from my old twin turbo 300zx, but when you hammer the gas this car moves.

At the end of the drive which happened all too quickly I was practically giddy from the experience. A guy on the highway sped away from me and with next to no effort I stuck right to him, well past the century mark on the dial. It?s been a long time since I could do that and I still have the stupid grin on my face because of it. Man, I need a sports car again.

Categories
General Technology

Jaguar Skills

A friend of mine has taken to the airwaves for a weekly radio shown in NY. As part of his weekly (or almost so) regiment he has started producing segments called Jaguar Skills. This is seriously funny stuff, well at least to me it is. Its a UK DJ that has “superfly ninja DJ skills” and who battles evil about as well as he combats telemarketers or STDs.

You can find out more at the Jaguar Skills website, or check out the audio episodes below.

  • Episode 1
  • Episode 2
  • Episode 3

Jaguar Skills, ho!

Categories
General House

Newer Furniture

What’s better than existing furniture? Why… new furniture! As I’ve been upgrading to new furniture around the downstairs of the house I’m weeding out the older, less desirable furniture. To my surprise I found this bookcase that looks like it now belongs. Here it is:

It fits so precisely that I’ve lost access to the power plug adjacent to the space. That’s why there are so many power cables running off to the side of the photo. When I get a chance to set my camera up correctly for low light I’ll be able to show you what all of those cables are for.

Categories
General Rants

Walking is rough stuff

It’s official: I’m a complete klutz. I was walking around today, doing some errands, and while stepping off a curb my ankle twisted and became my heel. The twist was so bad that a woman standing nearby actually cried out “oh my!” when it happened. It was a serious challenge just limping back to the truck and driving home.

Looks like there will be very little exercise for me in the near future and a whole lot more limping around and cold packs. Joy for me.

Categories
House Rants

It's good to have hot water

So the “new” house I live in is starting to show signs of its not-so-newness. On Friday the water heater died and I’ve been dealing with the impact of that ever since. What impact, you say? Well for starters…

– No showers because the water here is about 45F coming out of the tap
– Dishes piling up because there is no way to wash them
– Running out of clothes because there is no way to clean them

I never realized how much I was dependent on hot water. I also didn’t understand that the life cycle for water heaters was so predictable. In my complex 4 other water heaters failed this month. The complex is only 14 years old, so it seems like that is the max lifetime for water heaters, or at least A. O. Smith 50 gallon versions like I had.

I’ve been told to expect the HVAC and garage door opener to go next. Just when I was happily expecting to save some money here comes the home issues to eat up that savings.

Categories
General House Photos

New Furniture

I recently added a new set of furniture to the homestead, this time in the form of a dining room table and chairs. They match my living room gear, more or less, and the table expands out to nearly double the size. It was good Scandinavian design and I’m glad to have it. Photos are below.