Year: 2007

The other day Craig told me he knew I’ve been really busy lately because I hadn’t been writing in this blog. It was kind of funny– he was right, because when things get hectic I find that I don’t have the time to sit and write goofy musings or read the news stories about Bush that get me all fired up. Since he’s one of maybe three people who actually read this (even Laralee doesn’t) I figured I need to keep him entertained. So I’m going to calm down, stop working so hard, and write more.

So here’s a shout out to my homey Craig…

One of the exciting things about building web sites is that in many cases, I’ll be programming functionality for a customer without the data necessary to support it. For example, today I’m working on a site where the customer would like to embed a video clip inside the content of the page. I don’t have the clip they want to use, but obviously I need to make sure all of my programming works so when they use the real clip everything is smurfy.

That means I have to find a clip somewhere and test against it. I couldn’t resist using the classic song “You Are a Pirate”, which is apparently taken from some crazy kids’ show, and features a guy with an obviously fake beard and eyepatch, a pink-haired girl who does some wacky dance moves, and a cast of ugly puppets who struggle to keep the beat.

In any case, the programming worked, and right smack in the middle of the customer’s web site is a guy singing about how great it is to be a pirate. Sweet!

Last night I mowed the lawn. I think it’s the third time I’ve mowed since 1990– I didn’t do it in college, I didn’t do it in my apartment, and after getting married Laralee insisted on doing it herself because she (go figure) says she enjoys it. I’m not one to argue about mowing, so I’ve always let her have her fun. But she’s out of town this week with the kids, and the grass is growing, so I didn’t have much choice.

While working on the back yard, I was struck by the contrast between our yard and our neighbor’s yard.

Let’s call him “Bill”, mostly because that’s his name. Bill doesn’t seem to care about his lawn, and after leaving it as bare dirt for about two years, the homeowners’ association finally levied enough threats and fines that he dropped in some sod. But I think he only waters it once a year, so the grass is pretty much a crunchy burnt color. The weeds seem to do well, however, as you can see by the three-foot monsters along the back fence. The kids actually enjoy heading over to Bill’s lawn (after donning shoes, of course) and hacking at the weeds. Some of them are almost as big as Zack.

Unfortunately it seems that nothing can really be done about Bill’s yard. The HOA doesn’t care if it’s not visible from the street, and the city doesn’t have an ordinance covering back yards. So we sigh and do our best to control the weeds that creep over from his lawn into ours, and assure ourselves that the barren wasteland makes our yard look fabulous by comparison.

So I just got back from Denver, where I’d gone for the afternoon to (whee!) rebuild a couple of servers at BitRelay, my web hosting company. When I returned from the facility to my car, I saw a nickel on the pavement beside the door. Cool– even better than finding a penny.

But then I got into the car (thinking it was strange that the door wasn’t locked) and noticed that all of the change had been stolen! I have a little cup holder in my console where I keep about $30 worth of change– mostly for parking meters in Boulder and thereabouts. All of it, except a lone dime, was gone.

Looking around a bit, I noticed that both doors were unlocked, which never happens because I always keep the passenger one locked. I suspect what happened was a punk kid (or two?) used a hangar or long stick and reached through the one-inch gap where I’d opened the windows to keep the car cooler, and managed to pop the lock mechanism.

Bummer.

On the other hand, I can look at the positive side: they didn’t steal my wallet or credit cards, they didn’t jack the stereo or speakers, and nothing else was damaged. They snagged a handful of quarters and probably ran over to Arby’s for a nice juicy roast beef or something.

It’s too bad people are like that. Karma will catch them someday. In the meantime, I guess I’ll have to dig up another handful of quarters so I don’t get caught at a parking meter.

When Rudy Guliani was mayor of New York City, he gave a speech and said this:

I’m pretty sure I don’t want a leader who espouses those values.

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

— George Orwell

We just got back from our trip to Minnesota, which was a huge twine ball of fun.

One of the funny parts of the trip– at least for me– was the plethora of tourist stores hawking their goofy overpriced junk. A perfect example:

For some reason it cracked me up to see that you could buy a bag of rocks for five bucks. It was, in fact, a better deal than some other things you could pick up at these meccas of kitschy crap.

The Decider strikes again.

Scooter Libby was tried by a jury of his peers and found guilty of obstruction of justice, then sentenced to two and a half years in the slammer. It seems justice had been done.

But then along comes Bush, waving his magic wand and commuting Libby’s sentence. No jail time for friends of the administration!

Aha! Why do we even need these pesky juries and judges when The Decider can simply determine what’s right and fair? The rule of law has no weight any more.

First there was the Roomba, which is a clever little robot that wheels around rooms in your house and vacuums the carpets. It’s one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” concepts, and I don’t know how successful or popular the devices are, but I’ve always considered them pretty cool.

Add a new chapter to “why didn’t I think of that?” as the Auto Mower is released. Here’s a quick summary:

Sweet! I’d buy one if they cost less than $2,000– that’s a hefty sticker price.

Since Zing is hiring a new programmer, I’ve been wading through resumes sent in response to my job posting on Craigslist. Sometimes there are some real gems in there… people who say they’re PHP programmers, but upon reviewing their resume, you see they’ve been in the computer industry for about a year, and prior to that they spent four years at (for example) Blockbuster.

Take this fabulous item, quoted from an actual resume, discussing experience at Blockbuster:

Holy cow! That’s an impressive list of duties for someone who basically stands behind the counter and asks “Would you like some Goobers with your rental tonight?”.

While I think it’s great that people work at Blockbuster, it’s hard for me to understand why they think I should hire them as a web developer for over $50,000 a year…