(no subject)
Jun. 3rd, 2010 | 09:17 pm
mood:
pleased
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Laid Off
Jun. 3rd, 2010 | 08:54 pm
mood:
optimistic
Before you get all sympathetic over my plight, I should tell you that in the last 13 years I have survived four acquisitions and a dozen layoffs, and this is only the second time I've been laid off. And the last time I was unemployed it was for a grand total of about six days. The economy was better then, but I'm still pretty hopeful about finding a new job in a reasonable period of time.
The kicker here is that another group in Symantec called me and asked me to interview. They put me through the wringer for two days (including a presentation with only 18 hours notice). But they didn't offer me the job and I'm still unemployed.
I'm fine with this. I could use a few weeks off to polish up some technical skills, do some things around the house, and figure out what kind of work I'd really like to do. I'm taking the opportunity to pick up a Java certification: a lot of the cool jobs require Java now, and since I've never shipped a Java-based product I need to prove that I at least know the language.
But if you know someone who is hiring, let me know.
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yet another free device
May. 20th, 2010 | 10:27 am
location: 37.78137, -122.40338
I think I'll get mine later.
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Google TV
May. 20th, 2010 | 10:07 am
demo nearly died, but they had a backup box. while we are waiting for them to sort things out, we are watching some morning news show. It is suprisingly inappriate for the venue. Did you know that Nicholas Cage wont eat animals that are undignified about sex? Fish and fowl he'll eat. he does't eat pork because of the way they pork each other. We all know this now.
imagine a google search box on your tv. find me some NCIS to watch. click on the channel you want
search for episodes on the web and on tv at the same time. go from web to tv and back again, all on your giant screen.
some very nice program browsing, with personalized suggestions, coverview-like displays, categories, etc..
PinP web/tv. Watch a talent show and read the twitterstream at the same time on your HD screen.
The google tv is a box that connects to your tv via hdmi, and plays nice with your current cable/sattilite box. (especially so with Dish network? It comes with an ir remote, but you can use your phone, too.
Coolest thing might be that it is an Android device. Web apps and Android apps will all work on Google TV. That makes me want to get one, just so I can "program my TV".
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Android news
May. 20th, 2010 | 09:14 am
I'm at Google I/O, watching the keynote. Lots of fun things about android:
- Mobile hotspot. Turn your 3g android phone into a wifi hotspot for all your other devices. Your iPad, for example.
- The JavaScript interpreter makes android the fastest mobile browser in the world.
- a new aPi that let's you send commands to your Phone from a desktop browser. Imagine a button on google maps that says "show this route on my phone"
- some amazing improvements in voice input and natural language searching.
- access to phone features from web applications. Camera, accelerometer
- support for flash, of course. This is a constant source of humor in the keynote.
- easier updating of Apps. They admit the got jumped by Apple on this, so now they've gone one step further: you can enable automatic updates for all of your apps.
- when you use your desktop to find apps/music/whatever in the android marketplace, it gets pushed to your device. No need to plug your device into a computer!
- comparability with iTunes sharing. Stream music from your home library to your device over the Internet.
There's more. With Google there's always more.
Posted via LiveJournal.app.
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Still Life Veggies
May. 13th, 2010 | 01:52 pm
Everyone does a still life. This one is mine.
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Wine Country Century
May. 13th, 2010 | 09:59 am
The food was great, and it was plentiful. Some of the riders who do this kind of thing a lot were calling the event "a picnic, with some riding in between courses". Lunch was at Warm Springs Dam, where they made sandwiches to order and had all kinds of munchies. My favorite was the whole wheat fig bars.
There were over 2000 riders. The ride is so popular, that it sells out within a few days. How do you put on a hugely successful event like that? Have over 300 volunteers, and do the event for 30 years.
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Quote
Apr. 9th, 2010 | 08:28 am
mood:
contemplative
If we always see rightly and mean rightly, we shall get on, though the hand may stagger a little; but if we mean wrongly, or mean nothing, it does not matter how firm the hand is.
-- John Ruskin, The Elements of Drawing, 1857
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Occidental and Beyond
Apr. 5th, 2010 | 09:29 am
mood:
hungry
I had serious doubts that I would be able to finish the ride, but in the end I managed to slump into my car and sink gratefully into the driver's seat. It was an ignominious end, but at least I scored a giant sticky bun (with apricots and pecans!) from WildFlour. I lugged that thing for 20 miles like some kind of trophy, and my wife and I had some for desert that night. If a man ever earned a delicious sticky bun, I earned that one.
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The Look
Mar. 20th, 2010 | 11:29 am
mood:
satisfied
When I tell my wife that I'm going to do the 100k, she gives me one of her Looks. It isn't Disapproval, exactly. More like Skepticism, or perhaps Doubt. It definitely isn't Approval or Encouragement. I've been trying to ignore that look for years, but it just keeps getting stronger.
She's much more encouraging about my taking up watercolor painting. I attribute that to the comparative rarity of heart attacks and traffic accidents in painting.