Friday, December 30, 2005


My brain feels like Jello.

I’ve spent all day emailing back and forth with Linux users groups in an effort to get more readers for our magazine. I’ve gotten quite a few positive responses from people, one or two questions, and (as usual), there’s one snarky person.

It’s all pretty much par for the course, really. At least I feel like I’ve made some headway =]

I do, however, want to send Tylenol a few hundred bucks in order to deal with the headache resulting from being in the zone for so long. *chuckles*

Current mood: tired
Current music: The Cure – Just Like Heaven

Wednesday, December 28, 2005



It was nice and warm today. In Ohio, at the end of December, this is pretty rare. It had to be at least in the 50’s, so I decided to get out of the house for a little while and go for a walk around the park before getting back to work again. (the upside/downside of working at home. You can nip off for an hour or so to take a break, but sometimes it feels like you never leave work)

Walking to the car, I noticed that it was a little dark, so I figured that there might be a shower. Not a big deal, I have the umbrella in the car.

Fast forward a bit.

Walking around the park, I feel a raindrop, so I start to pull out the umbrella.

Drip.

Drip.

DELUGE!

Queue the high winds, lightning ripping through the sky, parts of the trees around me crashing to the ground (nothing other than the rain hit me, thankfully) and the rest of the Gods Are Angry ™ stuff. I’m a good 5-10 minutes from the car thanks to the now muddy ground, the wind, and my newfound parasail (formerly known as an umbrella).

I finally get back to the car, completely soaked and a bit less than happy. Let’s put it this way – the jeans I wore were fairly baggy and I had to peel them off of me.

This has to be the first time I’ve seen a thunderstorm at the end of December for quite a while.

I got home and the cat looked at me like “what are you doing back? You just left…” But, at least I’m relatively dry now.

Oh, one more thing – Wilson’s Leather leather protector is a wonderful thing. It has saved my nice suede jacket from several storms and even a bit of blood. I highly recommend it.

Current mood: damp
Current music: Coheed and Cambrian – the suffering

Monday, December 26, 2005


Update time

Issue 2 of o3 Magazine came out one the 19th. Issue one saw over 500,000 readers in more than 140 countries. Hopefully the success continues.

If you have a company and are interested in advertising in a magazine with global distribution, please contact our sales people at sales@o3magazine.com. Advertising costs are very reasonable and advertisers in issue one saw dramatically increased traffic and sales (one company sold more product in the two weeks after the release of issue one than they did the rest of the year put together).

In other news, the holiday thing went pretty smoothly. The cat seems to like his new toys (as evidenced by his insistence that he play with them at 4am). Parental type people liked the movies and Karyl seemed to like the black pearls (I think the squeeing was a good indication).

Apparently Karyl was the center of attention at the office when she wore the necklace there for the first time. However, I have to admit to being mildly insulted when one of the people told her she might have to keep me because I have good taste. I am worth more than the presents I give, thank you very much.

I’m not sure which my mother liked more - her present or the cheesecake that I made for dessert. For some reason, everyone seems to want me to make those insanely simple no-bake cheesecakes now. Good grief, people, they take 15 minutes to whip up. Why the obsession? They’ve got to be the simplest dessert that I make, but people go nuts over them…

Now I get to concentrate on expanding our reader base and putting together a media kit in order to help sell advertising. What can I say? I like to get paid =]

Current mood: tired
Current music: Toby Keith and Willie Nelson – Whiskey for my Men, Beer for my Horses

Saturday, December 17, 2005


I got a holiday card from one of my clients, and it was signed by most of the office staff there.

It feels nice to be valued. I thought that was rather cool of them. =]

Current mood: tired
Current music: Reel Big Fish - Kiss me Deadly

Monday, December 12, 2005



No, the image above this post is not an indication of my mood. It happens to be the latest thing I’ve picked up. Yes, it’s a large Rackham flag (in silver foil no less) – and I do mean *big*. The bloody thing is 27" x 40".

Why have I picked this up?

It’s decoration for the office when I move. It will be framed and hung up on the wall.


I think I made my girlfriend's head explode last night. I mentioned recursion in passing and she asked what it was. *smirks*

Friday, December 09, 2005

Quizishness stolen from Bryian's blog








Android or Hologram
You scored 53 % Aggressivness, 53 % Technology, and 66 % Social Enlightenment!
Homeworld: n/a

Hmmm, interesting. You have a high level of technological development, you're aggressive and yet you're still extremely socially progressive. How is this possible? It's not! At least not naturally, anyway (and not in the Star Trek universe). This suggests that you are either an android or a hologram, meaning you're are capable of just about anything. You can be aggressive, but also peaceful. By your very nature, you have a high level technology yet many androids or holograms seek to enhance their humanity. You defy categorisation and have superceded mere organic life to become a totally different breed of lifeform...

OTHER CATEGORIES

Ferengi

Vulcan

Romulan

Human

Klingon

Cardassian

Borg

Android/Hologram

Like this test? Then don't forget to rate it!!

Want more? How about some shameless self-promotion? I've also written other tests - check them out! You know you want to...

The Trekkie Test

The Do *YOU* Remember The 90's Test

The Capitals of the World Test

The Australian Trivia Test







My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
















free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 54% on Aggressivness





free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 41% on Technology





free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 72% on So.Enlightenmet
Link: The Which Star Trek Species R U Test written by MadameBoffin on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Thursday, December 08, 2005



I keep finding out that I’m not a big fan of the holiday season. It always seems that I have way too much to do, no real time to do it in, and never get to see the people that I really want to see anymore.

Part of it is negative associations because of things in the past, part of it is being so busy, being expected to be all happy, etc. Toss in the assorted and miscellaneous stresses of the day and you have a recipe for an unhappy, moderately irritable swordsman.

To top it off, I’m going stir crazy. The world is working on dropping a metric buttload of snow in the area and cooped up in the house is really not somewhere I need to be at the moment.

Hopefully I’ll be able to get out for a little bit tomorrow. I need the break from the stress even if I do just go for a walk around town.

In other news, it seems that one of my favorite instructors from my alma mater has retired. I wondered how long it was going to take him after his heart attack a couple of years ago. Vic, when I move back there, you and I are going to have to go out for a drink. Here’s to hoping that you don’t go crazy now that you don’t have to worry about all of us bratty undergrads =]

Current mood: blah
Current music: Genesis – tonight tonight tonight

Sunday, December 04, 2005



Make that aprox 1/2 million. Just got the updated stats a few hours ago.

I've also been asked to speak at my first con :P

Friday, November 25, 2005



Something on the order of 1/4million downloads and over 600 media pickups...

All this over Thanksgiving.

I've even found our press relase on a chinese blog.

All I can say is "wow"

Thursday, November 24, 2005



Issue one was released on Wednesday, November 23.

Since then we’ve been slashdotted, shown up on newsforge, and our press release has appeared on newswire, yahoo news, and who knows where else. Our servers have been hammered and I’ve seen our torrent have almost 200 seeders on it.

I’m halfway afraid to know what the download stats are now. Before the Macy’s parade, we had over 15,000 downloads of the magazine due to just newswire.

I think it can be said that we’re doing pretty well at the moment.

This feels so very surreal. It’s kind of like that feeling you used to have as a kid just when you were about to open your holiday presents.

It’s even stranger because my name is the one listed for contact on the press release. I’m just waiting to see how many phone calls I get for this…

Let’s hope things keep going this well =]

Current mood: numb…
Current music: Cruxshadows – Dragonfly

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Issue 1 is out!

Issue one of O3 magazine is now out (http://www.o3magazine.com/current.html). It’s been a long, interesting trip getting this out the door, but I think it was worth it.

Here’s to hoping that it only gets better from here.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005



I now feel old...

Comment from hack-a-day: "That's kind of cool, never heard of a computer using audio tape before."

Some of the first computers I ever used had programs that loaded from audio tape. In fact, it was also really the only way to save information on them. I wasn't around for punchcards and paper tape, but someone saying that they've never *heard of* a computer using audio tape input makes me feel old.

Granted, most of the people who comment there seem to be kids, but still. I'm only 25. I shouldn't feel old yet lol

At least not from a tech standpoint. There are other reasons that I find acceptable for feeling old at this point, but that's not one of them...

Saturday, November 19, 2005



Week in review

Just sent out what should be the final edits to issue 1 of the magazine. Unless hell freezes over, it should hit the net Monday. If hell freezes over, I’ll be unhappy.

Amusingly, I called John (the Editor in Chief) yesterday to clarify a few points that I had questions about. 15 minute phone call turned into 2 hours. Granted, it ended up covering some other important (and positive) things, but I was not geared for having a 2 hour conversation at the time (it was cold and I was outside while shopping)

The really funny part of the conversation was in the background. John has a little girl and his wife is off holiday shopping in Penn so he’s stuck babysitting until she gets back.

kid: I hurt my foot
John: What did you do?
kid: Stepped on a block…
John: Maybe you should stop walking on your blocks
kid: Oh yeah….

Kids are so cute =]

Apparently, this is normal for her. She’ll do something that hurts. One of them will suggest that, if it hurts, she shouldn’t do X again. She goes “oh yeah…” and doesn’t do it again heh

My two Ruby books came in today, so I can stop killing my eyes by reading them online. I like being able to pack my books around on the laptop, but paper is easier on my eyes, and I like being able to rapidly flip pages.

Current mood: good
Current music: Peter Gabriel – Burn you down

Monday, November 14, 2005




This aim snippet offers a look into the way my sick mind works.

Me: I’m a horrible man. It’s like Karyl looking at her package of imitation crab meat.
"It contains 'lobster extract'? I’m afraid to ask how you get 'lobster extract'..."
with a jack lalane power juicer?
"It also contains rice wine??"
Okay, so they sauce the lobster before they juice it...
Tom: heh
Me: and then I went into a bit of play acting on getting a lobster drunk and talking him into walking the plank into the juicer
Tom: lol
Me: I told you I was a sick bastard


But, according to a lot of the people who know me, I'm an entertaining one.

Friday, November 11, 2005


I admit it. I am a sick, strange man.

Thankfully this amuses my friends and my girlfriend because my sense of humor tends to be a little *unique*.

Having gotten some actual spendable cash (that wasn’t earmarked for bills and necessities), I picked up a few movies (among other things).

Several of these were cheesy horror and zombie flicks. I love cheesy horror movies and zombie flicks. They make me giggle. I’m probably one of the only people who can roll on the floor laughing while watching horror movies.

This has inspired me to put something on the “when I have the time” list (read – after the magazine starts to take off)

I want to make a couple of music videos using cuts from horror/zombie movies. There are several songs that I am pondering:

Chariots of Fire (for those chase scenes)
Puffy Ami-Yumi – K2G (because it’s so bizarrely happy)
Styx – Not dead Yet (can you think of anything more appropriate?)
Backstreet Boys – Larger than Life (zombie smashing to boy-band music *wicked giggle*)
Bowling for Soup’s cover of “I Ran” (just because it could be fun)
Edwin Collins – Like you before (female zombies and vampires killing and having fun) =]
Everclear – When it all goes wrong again (appropriate zombie music)
Harvey Danger – Flagpole Sitta
Goldfinger – Jackie Chan (I do have at least one kung fu zombie movie)
Reel Big Fish – Somebody Hates Me
Janes Addiction – Just because

I told you I was a sick man…

Current mood: amused
Current music: Reel Big Fish – somebody hates me

Thursday, November 10, 2005




It's turning into an interesting day

Current Mood: =]
Current Music: none

Wednesday, November 09, 2005




Markerboard – check
Programming books that I’ve wanted/needed – on the way
Several new movies – check
New shoes – need to take care of that today
Girlfriend’s holiday present - *smirks*

Hoping that this magazine works out – priceless.

Some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s consulting =]

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Quizishness.

I can actually agree with the tie for the top three.

You scored as Neo, the "One". Neo is the computer hacker-turned-Messiah of the Matrix. He leads a small group of human rebels against the technology that controls them. Neo doubts his ability to lead but doesn't want to disappoint his friends. His goal is for a world where all men know the Truth and are free from the bonds of the Matrix.

James Bond, Agent 007

71%

Neo, the "One"

71%

Captain Jack Sparrow

71%

Lara Croft

67%

Batman, the Dark Knight

67%

El Zorro

63%

Maximus

58%

Indiana Jones

58%

William Wallace

58%

The Amazing Spider-Man

46%

The Terminator

38%

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

Monday, October 31, 2005



Small pieces of news today –

Issue one of o3 should be released later today provided nothing bad happens on John’s end. I really do have to thank him for being understanding about my dropping the ball on the FreeRADIUS article because I was sick.

I’ve been feeling quite a bit better today. Still a little cruddy sinus-wise, but I can live with that. Since I wasn’t attached to my bed (or the bathroom), I decided to go out for a while.

For those of you who don’t know me (or don’t know me well), I’m something of a clothes whore and I also like finding nice housewares type stuff. Yes, I admit it. I’m a strange man. I’ve also developed this knack for finding nice stuff on the cheap while I’m out wandering around.

Why bring this up? While I was out, I found a nice set of coasters. I know, I know, you’re thinking “coasters? Who cares?” The fact that these are a set of 6 solid marble coasters with a matching case is what makes it noteworthy. It cost me a whopping $8.

I admit it. I’m pretty easy to please and sometimes I just have to make little sanity purchases. Hopefully, in a few months I’ll be able to make insanity purchases (furniture, kitchen stuff, etc) if the magazine really takes off.

One final thing: happy anniversary.

Current mood: calm
Current music: Delirium - Silence

Sunday, October 30, 2005


The weird shit that comes out in conversation with my friends and girlfriend would amaze most people. Tonight we were talking about her graduating this year and the possibility of having to move back with her family for a while so she could look for a job. This lead to “ways to freak out your parents”.

Some of the things below came from that conversation, and some of them came to mind later.

Bondage gear? What bondage gear? This is formal wear. It’s just for *really* special occasions…

The mask? That’s a new style of fencing gear. What’s a “gimp” anyway?

Two words: neck massager

Why were you looking at my credit card statements? Lube Sheep is the name of a company that sells things like bento boxes (they are, actually. And the G rated kind… You just can’t make this shit up)

Girls Gone Wild is about aboriginal people.

And to think when I met her that she was this meek, prudish little thing. What have I done?

Current mood: feeling a bit better
Current music: Chad Kroger and Josey Scott - Hero



Of illness, deadlines, and freeradius

First off, I’ve been sick all week. I don’t mean a little sick. I mean curled up in a ball trying simply to breathe and not be completely overwhelmed by the pain in my stomach sick. That is, when I wasn’t running down the hall to the bathroom because of said pain in the stomach.

This is not a happy thing. The fact that we’re supposed to release issue 1 of the magazine in a couple of days kind of adds to this not being a happy thing.

Why, you ask?

I still have an article to write on freeradius.

Normally, I’m not one to leave things to the last minute. In fact, I tend to like to get stuff out of the way as soon as I can. However, I realize that I have trouble forming cogent sentences when I am in that much pain, let alone being able to write an informative article on something I haven’t done previously so I decided to try and wait until I felt a bit better. (The cleaning in the previous post was really just kind of “put clothes away” sort of stuff).

Okay, so I have to install, config, and write about freeradius. Shouldn’t be a big deal.

Wrong…

Murphy, his friend Macheivelli, and his favored tool, the cosmic sledgehammer pay me a visit.

Freeradius has a package in yum. Great. Yum install blahblahblah

So far so good.

Time to test it.

Oops.

Okay, time to look at the config files to make sure they’re right.

They look okay as far as I can tell.

Let’s try this from source then.

Uninstall freeradius.

Get the source package and try to install it that way.

What do you mean you don’t want to install?

*sigh* okay, back to yum.

Several hours (and many googles) later, I’m still basically where I started. Well, that’s not entirely true. I know several things that don’t seem to be the problem now. I also feel like crap again (I was starting to feel better today).

I’ve never had this much trouble setting *anything* up before (and this is coming from someone who has not only spanked linux on occasion but also been involved in the migration of several windows servers, one of which was running exchange), so it makes me think that it must be because of the fact that I’m still sick so I’m missing something.

So, I send my boss a HELLLLLP email (and probably the longest one he’s ever seen from me) because I believe he’s set up freeradius before and can tell me what the heck I’m doing wrong since my head is still a bit cloudy due to illness.

Good grief I hope this doesn’t push back our release date. It better not, or I’ll be even less happy than I currently am.

And that’s saying something since I have started to understand how the guy in the asylum who draws on the wall with his own poo must feel…

Current mood: sick and stressed out, or, to put it more colorfully, I’m so happy I could slit my wrists.
Current music: none.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005


I want to know why I have this compulsion to clean when I get sick. I should probably just stay in bed, but my mind goes “you need to do *something*… I know! We can CLEAN!”

It’s really kind of annoying…

On the upside, my bedroom does look a little neater…

Current mood: sick
Current music: Blind Melon – No Rain

Wednesday, October 19, 2005


Once again, for some strange reason, the eye-of-the-hurricane calm settles on me again. It's such an interesting feeling: surene and, at the same time knowing that something very large is on its way.

Current mood: look at the post? :P
Current music: Eddi Reader - Nobody Lives Without Love



Juggling Flaming Chainsaws

That’s what the past few weeks have been like. Magazine articles, research (for the articles and other projects), editing, and working on tossing around ideas for another project that may take off soon.

No, I’m not going to say what it is. That would spoil the surprise and we don’t need that.

There are just many things going on and I currently have *way* too many irons in the fire. Could be an interesting couple of weeks.

Now, someone toss me another chainsaw…

Current mood: decent
Current music: Executioners and Linkin Park – It’s going down

Friday, October 14, 2005

Happy birthday.

Though much of the pain has gone past over the years, I still miss you.

Current mood: bittersweet
Current music: Bella Morte - Whisper

Tuesday, October 11, 2005


I was reading an article, and at the end, where it has a small blurb about the author, some of her qualifications were Certified Interview Coach ™ (CIC) Job & Career Transition Coach (JCTC) and Nationally Certified Resume Writer (NCRW).

This, in my opinion, is total bullshit. Certified Interview Coach? Certified Resume Writer? Come on, people. Things like this are part of the problem. Companies are looking for people who will fit perfectly into what they want without having to find someone actually qualified to grow into the position and people like this help them do just exactly that.

It’s getting to the point where everything is “Certified”. Why yes, Bob, I am certified to wipe my own butt and, while I am not certified to do so, I am quiet capable of blowing my nose should I need to.

The people who came up with things like this deserve to be tortured to death with really bad pop music.

And yes, I realize that was a redundant statement.

Current mood: annoyed
Current music: Voltaire – The USS Make Shit Up

Monday, October 10, 2005



Ever have one of those times that re-affirmed that the divine has a sense of humor and you’re part of it? This past weekend was one of those.

I drive to Athens to meet with some people on Friday. Meeting goes as planned and is rather short, so I go and see a few of my former co-workers while I wait for my s/o to get out of class.

Everything is normal up to this point, so I get to her apartment and we get ready to go to dinner.

The car won’t start. It’s dark, cold, raining, and the car is kaput. I didn’t bring a jacket because I didn’t think I’d need it.

Boy was I wrong.

Half an hour or so out in the rain and cold trying to see if I could find the problem only got me cold, wet, and frustrated. We decided that I’m going to spend the night at her place, order pizza, and I’ll look at the problem when there’s real light again.

The next morning, I determine that the only problem seems to be that the battery has died (the door was probably ajar). The only catch is that everyone I knew in town and had a number for wasn’t in town.

A couple more hours of being damp, cold and frustrated and I get a jump start and make my way home wanting nothing more than to take a hot shower and crawl into a warm bed in order to stave off the flu that I’m afraid is going to hit me for being outside in the cold and wet for hours without a coat.

The fun doesn’t stop here.

At 5am, the smoke detector goes off, practically sending me on a trajectory toward the wall by way of the ceiling.

False alarm. The dust thrown by the furnace kicking on for the first time since last spring set off the alarm.

After swallowing my heart again, I try to get back to sleep.

So much for de-stressing with my girlfriend this weekend.

Oh well. At lest I’ve made some headway with the articles and this week is looking up a bit.

Current mood: tired
Current music: Weird Al – Dare to be Stupid

Tuesday, October 04, 2005


I seem to have this habit of being in the strange place at the interesting time. This has lead to a lot of really bizarre, interesting, and often fun situations (though some that were not so fun, as some people who know me can tell you). Along the way, I’ve been offered some interesting opportunities.

During high school, I helped found a drama club for the school (which became profitable it’s first year of operation) with the help of a few friends, a favorite teacher, and ample community connections between the members. It’s amazing how far a few hundred dollars and all the building supplies you need can go.

I also helped resurrect an Explorers post, attended Buckeye Boy’s State, was a student Rotary member, made National Honor’s Society, Who’s Who (twice, if I remember correctly), was largely responsible for the theme, cover design, and layout of the yearbook one year, and various other things I can’t think of right now.

(I know. By this point, you’re either thinking “overachiever” or “bullshit!” Don’t worry. I wouldn’t call myself and overachiever – I just kind of take the opportunities that come to me, it’s not bullshit, and it gets weirder.)

My senior year in high school, I was offered a paid two week stint as a research assistant for a friend going for her PhD in forensic anthropology. You read that right – at the age of eighteen, I was offered a job researching forensic anthro for a friend that was giving a presentation and defending her findings at Texas A&M. I would have also had a write-up in the science journal that the paper was going to be published in.

Unfortunately, the opportunity fell through because her lab assistant left out an important set of samples and the project was set back until I would have started my freshman year of college. I don’t know who was more disappointed: my friend or me, though I was told that the lab assistant flew (almost literally) out of the building when Terry found out.

A couple of years ago, I was asked to help in starting up a microbrewery with a bunch of fellow engineers. What could be better? =]

We gave it the attempt, but it never quite got off the ground. However, the important thing is that we tried, and learned quite a few things in the process. All-in-all, I’d call it a positive experience. Besides, how can you not like a business where part of your job is sampling really good microbrews =]

And it looks like I’ve been made another offer. One of the companies I met at the tech conference Saturday is starting a magazine and they offered me the position of editor. With all of my money coming from ad revenue, I’ll have to keep working at other projects while the magazine takes off, but this could be a really interesting trip.

If it takes off, it could be more than worth my time. If not, well, it’s more experience and exposure in my field and life is about taking a chance anyway. It might actually have a decent chance considering that one of the advertisers on board already is Nortel.

Either way, I could end up with one of the weirdest resumes on the face of the planet.

Current mood: weirded out (it's a mood because I say it is. I should know. I've been experiencing it for two days now)
Current music: Nine Inch Nails - the Hand that Feeds

Sunday, October 02, 2005


LinuxCon: Geeks, Resumes, and Models

That kind of sums up LinuxCon Saturday. There were a great many geeks (a frightening number who fit the stereotypes), some interesting talks, and several vendors.

Thankfully the trip up and back was relatively uneventful and no real trouble was had in finding parking. When I’m in Columbus, this is always a major sanity saver because I tend to suck at navigating there. To give you an idea, a friend of mine attending the same event got lost several times and he had on board GPS.

I decided to take a novel approach to the job-hunting game and wore a sign on my backpack that was basically a mini cover letter. This got me quite a deal of attention, several people wishing they did it, and led to my giving away my resume to several interested parties (some of which are going to pass it along to higher ups that they know, including one at IBM). On that front, I’d say things worked out pretty well.

The real fun, however, came in because there was also a talent search for models at the convention center and I ended up getting flirted with a bit by several of them.

All-in-all it was a good day. Fun was had, I met quite a few cool people that I want to keep in touch with, passed out some resumes to interested people, and even met the guys and girls who run NotACon (another con in Cleveland).

Unfortunately, I had to cut out early because I started getting sick again, so I missed the after-party that the NotACon guys were throwing. Starting to feel better again though, so it’s all good.

Other than getting sick again, there was only one bad moment at the con. I saw someone who looked almost *exactly* like Richard Stallman. I had to resist the urge to run over to him and knock him in the head with something heavy. I’m so glad that I have decent impulse control =]

Current mood: happy
Current music: Eiffel 65 - Hyperlink

Friday, September 30, 2005


This is just strange. I’m actually giddy about going to LinuxFest tomorrow. I believe I have everything together, though.

Columbus driving directions (I really suck at navigating that city, but then so do a lot of people who live there), ample copies of my resume, etc etc. Even a fresh tin of Altoids =]

I feel like I’m going to the world’s largest, weirdest free-form interview with speakers and a raffle.

Hopefully I'll have fun, learn some new things, meet some new people, and maybe get an offer or two of the job sort.

One thing’s fairly sure, though. It’s going to be a looooong day. Up at 5am and probably not home until midnight or so. heh

Current mood: mildly nervous and looking forward to a day of fun
Current music: Michael Hutchence & Bono – Slide Away

Thursday, September 29, 2005



I admit it. I read Slashdot. It occasionally has interesting articles. Most of the time it’s fluff and rah-rah, but spending five minutes skimming the headlines for something interesting doesn’t really put me out anything. If the article is worth reading, I might even comment.

That said, I’ve gotten used to trolls on Slashdot. I usually look at them as being mildly amusing even if they are occasionally a little frustrating. Today gave me a troll that was rather novel.

I’ve never had someone troll me because of my resume before.

You read that right. Someone went to the trouble of going to my website (which is listed in my profile on /.), looking at my resume, and trolling me on a story that I had posted on.

This amuses me.

His comment was that my resume sucked (his word) and started giving me “reasons” why, so I decided to feed the troll (not something I normally do). I refuted all but one of his claims (the one was relatively accurate, but moot) and gave him an indication of how his comment was received by my friends in the field (a couple of whom were tech managers and actually helped me with the resume).

Hey, give me a break. It amused me, and I felt that it was serious enough to defend a bit. Besides, I’ve been in bed most of the day with a rather nasty cold-like thing so I haven’t really been in code mode.

He responds to my response, saying that I don’t know what I’m talking about because he makes more than me (not a claim I am prone to believe on that forum unless I actually know the person. Always take everything there with a half-ton of salt) and that the people I referred to didn’t know what they were talking about.

The most amusing point, however, was that “when he’s flying through resumes” (again, I take a considerable amount of salt with his claims of being a hiring manager) he almost never finishes reading them. This point was brought up because I have a tagline at the bottom of my resume pointing to my site for examples of things I have done in the past.

What’s amusing about this?

Some of the things he brought up weren’t on the resume section of my site. They were in a couple of completely different sections. All this during normal business hours provided he’s not in Europe or Asia. Quite a bit of effort for someone who never finishes reading resumes is it not?

Funny that. =]

Current mood: sick, but amused
Current music: B52’s - Roam

Tuesday, September 27, 2005


Ah, the things I get to look forward to this weekend.

LinuxFest this Saturday should see me having a nice day out of the house, learning interesting new things, meeting cool people in my field, and (if all goes well) possibly getting the interest of a company or two. I’d be cool with the first two things on that list, but getting the third one would just be really great.

Hire me. You know you want to =]

The second big thing that I’m looking forward to is the opening of Serenity. I’m a fan of the show (the network officials should be shot for canceling it) and I want to see this movie. The fact that I’m madly in lust with Summer Glau (the person who plays River Tam) doesn’t help.

I admit it. When it comes to her, I’m a fanboy. There’s just something about a beautiful, bendy woman with a sword. (what do you expect? I *am* a martial artist, after all). I promise I won’t drool too much.

Current mood: happy
Current music: Alan Jackson – It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere

Tuesday, September 20, 2005


Having kicked the funk mentioned in the last post, I think I have actually started to accomplish a few things. Add to that the fact that LinuxFest is in a couple of weeks and my mood has improved a bit.

I’m rather looking forward to LinuxFest. It’s a chance to get out of the house, possibly learn a few interesting things and meet other people in my field.

Before you start thinking I’m a Linux zealot, I’m not. I’m more of a “right tools for the job” person. I’ve used DOS since version 3, pretty much every Windows variant out there, Solaris, Mac (before OSX), various flavors of Linux, and assorted and sundry other things. In fact, at the moment, I primarily use the Windows partition on my laptop because the wireless card that I have isn’t supported by Linux.

But, to get back on track, I am looking forward to the 1st of October. Hopefully it will be an enjoyable day and possibly bring the chance of finding a full time position with a company since most of the people there will be technical and not the HR people who like to block me because I don’t have the right mix of alphabet soup and don’t want to lie on my resume. =]

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Current mood.


For some reason, I've been feeling a bit sad and overwhelmed lately. Rather like the kitty looks, actually. Hopefully the funk won't affect my work and things will improve in a day or two. It just seems to be one of those days.

Friday, September 02, 2005

And another thing:

I am SICK and TIRED of hearing people compare this to 9/11.

“Oh, it’s terrible. It’s just like 9/11”

This is NOTHING like 9/11.

9/11 was a few blocks in one city. This is hundreds of square miles. This is a disaster that will breed other disasters (disease carrying insects that breed in stagnant water, disease, starvation, dysentery, and all manner of other things).

By comparison, 9/11 was a walk in the park. I fully expect the real death toll to be in the neighborhood of 50,000 or more by the time it’s all over (counting the deaths from the hurricane as well as from the disease, starvation, violence in the city, etc). We’ll never see these numbers of course, because the government has this habit of not counting the people who are “missing” (this was a big problem in Viet Nam) or the people who don’t “officially” exist – such as the homeless in the city and the residents in the bayou who don’t pay taxes.

Get over your 9/11 obsession because a lot of us are sick and tired of hearing about it. There are other things in life that are a lot more important.
I am happy to have gotten word from a friend who lives (lived?) in New Orleans. He, his wife, and the dog are all safe and staying with relatives. They said they expect to find nothing in their house when they return, but seem to have gotten all of the important stuff out in time.

Having said that, it’s time for a series of short gripes on the situation in New Orleans.

The president has refused offers of foreign aid. Ask yourself why.

The National Guard has actually been keeping people from receiving supplies of food and water. Instead of dispersing it to the people at the bridge (which is where they were told to gather in order to be bussed out of the city), they guardsmen instead throw the crates of supplies off the bridge to the ground below, destroying much of it. An effort was attempted by the people there to offer carrying the goods to the people below. They were met with leveled rifles and told to stand back.

In the city proper, water was dropped off on the streets near National Guard units for the relief of the people and again, they were met with leveled rifles when attempting to retrieve said water.

The people at the bridge are being ignored by the busses which are transporting people out of the city. With this in mind, some of the people have taken to attempting auto theft in order to get people out of the city. The theft has been met with little resistance except, apparently, it the upper class neighborhoods which are, from reports of people there, patrolled by SWAT teams.

The police have been one of the largest groups of looters in the city (and I don’t just mean taking food and supplies, but things like big screen TV’s and breaking open ATM’s and safes). It looks like the motto is now “To protect and serve…ourselves…to your stuff”.

The greatest part is how the politicians (especially our Commander-in-Chimp), are all congratulating themselves on a job well done in taking action, only to say that things “could have been better” (paraphrase) when they were nailed to the wall by absolutely pissed off press members.

Now, I realize that things can’t be done overnight. However, they knew the storm was coming. They knew there would be problems, and still it took them days to activate units.

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Before the hurricane, gasoline was about $2.50/gallon here. It is currently $3.09 and the people in charge of pricing say it is not a matter of if, but when the price will reach $4.00 and how long it will stay there.

They blame this on the hurricane.

I call BS.

Yes, it is to be expected that the shutting down of a couple of refineries will raise the prices a little, but not by almost double. Let’s face it, we get somewhere in the neighborhood of 50% of the oil we use for gasoline from Central and South America, not from the Middle East, and not from the Gulf of Mexico.

However, we have a war in the Middle East, and the gas companies use it as an excuse to raise the prices of gasoline. We have a hurricane and the gas companies use it as another excuse to not only raise the prices, but to raise the prices by an obscene percentage.

And let’s not kid ourselves – when the price hits $4.00/gallon “because of the hurricane,” it will *never* come back down to the $2.50/gallon that we saw before. We’ll be lucky to see $3.00 after that.

Face it, the gasoline and oil companies have been reporting record profits, and there’s no mystery as to why. They’ve been gouging their customers and using the excuse of war and natural disaster when the real reason is simply because they can.

Way to go guys. Make a buck out of the suffering of others. Soon enough, nobody will be able to afford to go to work because the price of gas will be too high and we all know the companies aren’t going to raise salaries to compensate. Even if they did, the merchants would raise their prices, inflation ensues, and we get tossed even farther back than we are at the moment.

Enjoy the profits while you can. Nobody will be able to afford it before long, and then we’re all screwed.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Ow

I fought the bed, and the bed won. No, it's probably not what you think. =]

Last night, I accidentally whacked my foot against the corner of my bed. After a moment of language that would make a Greek sailor proud, the pain went away and I went to sleep.

Waking up this morning, I find that I have bruised the bone that I hit (the metatarsal for my big toe). So, I get to hobble around the house and try to stay off of my foot for a few days.

If I can focus on something other than the throbbing in my foot, it gives me a reason to just concentrate on working on code.

Saturday, July 16, 2005

I have just discovered Worldstock (a division of Overstock.com with hand made stuff from all over the world). Somehow, I think my wishlist is going to be growing by about a dozen items.

Darn them for having such tempting stuff.

Now, pardon me while I wipe the drool off of my keyboard…

Monday, July 04, 2005

For some odd reason, there is a German porn site that’s linking to my website. This amuses me.

Don’t ask me, because I don’t know why they’re linking to me. I just think it’s funny.

What’s this JamesHollingshead.com? Some new hot porn star’s site?

A software developer? What the heck? Does he at least make porn sites or strip poker games?

No?

I’m confused…

Me so type-y.

Me code you long time.

Sunday, June 26, 2005

Chillicothe – the growth of a town

I’m currently in Chillicothe, a moderately sized town or small city, depending on your point of view, in the central part of the state of Ohio. It’s an interesting place in that it was the state’s first capitol and the first capitol of the Northwest Territory.

Like most larger Midwestern towns, it has a few industries in the town that help drive the economy, a hospital, a few historical locations within ten minutes' drive, several rather nice parks (including one which I enjoy taking my laptop to in order to do a little work while outside), and, to someone from a larger city, it feels more like one large suburb rather than a small city.

Relatively speaking, it’s a quiet place. This is both a positive and negative thing for the town. On the upside, it’s the kind of place a lot of people talk about settling down when they start a family. It has several schools to choose from, the people seem decent, and it tends to have a rather laid back atmosphere.

The city also proudly states that it was the first capitol and wants to be as highly regarded as the other big “C” towns (Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland). This is where the downside comes in.

You see, in order to become as large and/or important as one of the three aforementioned cities, you must attract two classes of people in addition to your average family man/woman. You *must* attract the younger people (college grads to people in their 30’s) and you *must* attract entrepreneurs.

These two groups tend to have a symbiotic relationship. In fact, the entrepreneurs tend to come from the first group because, for the biggest part those are the risk-takers. A lot of them don’t have to worry about supporting a family yet, so are more willing to put their personal financial stability on the line for the chance to make it bigger than they would otherwise be able to.

I grew up around this area and have lived in Chillicothe-proper for about a year. The one thing that’s always amazed me is that I rarely run into people in my own age range (I’m 25). I see grade school kids, high school kids, and then it magically seems to jump to people in their late 30’s and up. This is in spite of the fact that there is a branch campus for Ohio University in this town. It seems like all of the younger, independent people have left for, in their opinion, greener pastures.

There are a couple of reasons for this.

First, it’s quiet. Most of the younger people who grew up here moved to larger cities, whether in this state or in other states, in order to be somewhere that there are things they like to do – go to clubs (and I don’t mean bars. There is a difference), go shopping at someplace other than Wal-Mart, go to meet other people their age, spend the day at an amusement park, etc. This town doesn’t really have any of that. In fact, the closest place with those things is Columbus (one of the aforementioned cities).

Second, there are few, if any, jobs in their fields. The majority of Chillicothe’s economy is driven by manufacturing (Mead paper, Kenworth, YSK, etc), a few big box retailers, and fast food restaurants. Granted, there are small businesses for other things, a couple of computer stores, and the hospital, but that is, by and large, the town in a nutshell. In fact, many of the people who live here work in Columbus, which is an hour or so away and, with rising gas prices, is becoming less economical.

Having seen this town from a local’s point of view, it not only seems like the town isn’t growing all that much, it actually seems like it’s shrinking. I remember coming here when I was younger because the town had resources that my hometown didn’t have. Now that I’m here, I find myself driving to Columbus or ordering online in order to get many of the things that I need, because they aren’t here.

I realize that starting a business is a rather sizable risk and that any business takes time to grow, but this town is a great place to take that risk. Real estate prices are fairly low, it’s got the necessary infrastructure other than an airport, and the closest airport is about an hour’s drive away.

On top of the risk factor, however, there is a matter of human nature. People, for the most part, don’t tend to like large changes in their life. Many of the people who live and work here like their town the way that it is, and while they want to be more prosperous and have the conveniences of the larger cities, don’t want to deal with the downsides.

The downsides in this case are the extra noise and, in general, large changes in the way their town operates. What they don’t see, or choose not to see, however, is the fact that if more opportunities are not created for skilled jobs and for young people in general, the town is going to start a downward spiral that it may not pull out of.

The manufacturing industry is a great start for a town, but that’s all it is – a start. It, like every other industry, has limits and a town needs to have diverse opportunities and resources in order to survive; especially in today’s world where more and more people going to college in order to specialize in various fields.

I realize it’s a vicious cycle, but it can be stopped. It just takes risks, the guts to take those risks, and willingness on the part of the town to embrace change.

Despite the lack of things for someone my age to do here, I rather like this town. Personally, I’d love to see it grow.