Daynotes on a budget

Well, the end of the tunnel is in sight. Had a final meeting with the folks at the opportunity-like place today, and they've extended perhaps the most unusual job offer I've ever been on the receiving end of. I've got a job, but it's dependant on them finding me a job. Gee, he said, totally confused - I thought that was what I was doing?. Oh well. I'm going to do some questioning/negotiating later today to see what we can come up with, and see where we can go. Hopefully it will result in a long-term relationship. Given the size of the company and the direction which they're going, I think it might last. Then again, I think it's probably prudent for me to keep an eye on the market just in case. One never knows what comes next.

I tell you the first thing I'd do, though - dump this "free" site for something I can actually get into and use... Then again, it's not like I'm out a bunch of bucks being unable to access my site. But it's still very damned frustrating. I wish Tripod would at least let me in. Then again, it might NOT be their fault, as it seems that certain parts of the net are just running slower today. Must be the "Monday Morning I'm Back" business... Oh well. I'll try again later.

Much Later... Well, again, I've got to remind myself that this is very much a case of you get what you pay for. I'm guessing that at least a number of Tripod servers have had the wheels come off or something similarly disastrous. I've been unable to get in using FrontPage all day now, and I can't even view my Tripod Daynotes page with my link from my "Other Home Page". This is EXTREMELY frustrating.

I've been trying to figure out why this is frustrating. I've been keeping a set of notes on the computer since much earlier this spring - May 5th, to be exact (oddly enough, the 9 year anniversary of starting at Ban-Koe Systems, my previous employer plus one), and this has been both therapeutic and somehow, weirdly addicting.

I can remember reading (I believe in Grumbles From Beyond The Grave) that Robert Heinlein felt somehow almost addicted to writing. He mentioned that unless he'd worked to physical exhaustion, he had to sit at the typewriter and write. Now whether or not I've got any particular talent at storytelling remains to be seen - prattling on about my day and the misadventures of ketchup-making and job hunting is one thing. Actually telling a story that springs forth from my head, much like Athena did from Zeus (talk about a splitting headache), that's another matter entirely.

Well, at least this page is due to shortly undergo a major change as I change from Mr. Mom to a fully-employed humanoid again. I got a job offer today, as noted previously, which is somehow a little strange. At my previous employer, I was hiring contractors, etc., and now I are one. We'll see how this goes. I'm going to become a quality assurance tester, I hope. We'll see how long that lasts - it's something that's always intrigued me, because it's obviously so very needed. Whether or not I've got an aptitude for it remains to be seen. I did it when I was with Ban-Koe, I just wasn't aware that I was doing it. Somehow, that fits the Ban-Koe experience to a capital "T" - I did an awful lot there, and didn't realize until later how valuable that experience was. Not that my experience at Great Clips hasn't been useful. But in different ways.

Now, if I could just get tripod to work with FrontPage again, life would be both hunky and dory. However, if I could find one of those underworked-overpaid types of jobs, I would be giggling for months. Then again, if I put a mouse in my pocket, I think I could accomplish the same thing. Without the income, of course.

The bad news about the job is that, as a consultant working for Spherion, I'm not given a definite start date now. I'm hired, pending them finding work for me. The good news is that they're going to be lining up a whole heck of a lot of people because they've got a couple major contracts coming up here in the next couple weeks. So that's a good thing.

Now, I'm off to make ketchup, change cat boxes (yipee, cat poop), and general other stuff. I was up until way past midnight last night pondering and fumbling with all of this stuff. I'm sure the excitement will come later, but right now I'm just relieved.

And a little shocked. Dr. Keyboard has his daily update available before Mr. Syroid or Mr. Thompson. Of course, Mr. Syroid has, as an excuse, that he is A) a published author, B) working on another book, C) a father of two, and D) a keeper of roughly five computers... one AIX. I'm jealous. Mr. Thompson? Aside from the fact that the fellow has a book coming out next month (which, not so coincidentally, is on my birthday/Christmas list, for those relatives of mine who are so inclined (or heck, anyone else that wishes to give me gifts), plus a book-related web site to put up, a move to New Hampshire to plan, and more computers than I can count. I know, for Mr. Thompson, when a company calls and says "can we send you a..." it's a time for concern - where the heck do you put all that stuff? For lil 'ole me, it's a problem I'd love to have. Who knows. Maybe I'll write the definitive guide to QA Testing and Analysis, and become rich and famous. Yeah, and the odds of me winning the lottery are better than me getting that lucky. Oh well, better to slug it out in the trenches than to wander along wishing for stuff you wouldn't know what to do with if you got it. As both Mrs. D and myself believe, "The Good Lord helps those that helps themselves." And I have, I hope.

Later: Golly gee whillickers. Is this actually me using FrontPage to edit my page?  Wow.  Imagine that.  I think there was some congestion on the net, probably due to the weather, the season, or something.  I'm in here, editing away, and it's rather nice - nicer than before, certainly.  Well, anyway, the negotiations, etc., have been completed, and I've got a job - no start date yet, as it is dependant on them finding a contract (which means I could have another month of sitting around watching GAC or similar, or I could be busy next week.  I really wish I could relax and enjoy this time, but I really don't think you can relax, not as an adult, not until you get somewhere where you've got several months of salary in the bank, a home, and your children are happy, successful, and comfortable.  

The REALLY good news out of all of this is that my buddy and former supervisor has told me that when it comes to houses, we're certainly good candidates for buying a house.  Which means we could be in one.  Building equity instead of sitting here pissing $900 a month down the tubes.   Some friends of ours bought a house two and a half years ago.  They paid less than 120K for that house, and it's worth about 150K now.  So they've gotten the benefit from about 37K in just sitting there equity.  I want a piece of that.  Certainly, not everyone will experience that, but I'd sure like to try.

Anyway, I think that should be enough for today.  I did get the cat boxes done, but didn't get the ketchup made.  That's tomorrow morning's project, and will be followed by the signing of papers which apparently involves some form of human sacrifice.  So I'm told.  I thought that consulting had a more stringent entrance requirement.  I'm reminded of the line Groucho Marx once used; "I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member."  Amen, brother.  Now, to learn the secret handshake, and how to speak tech-ese with a consulting accent.

One last housekeeping item.  The index page on this site will be basically just an auto-refresh page which should direct you to the current week's page.  Before, I was saving my ramblings to a dated page, as well as index.html - so I'd have to copy and paste.  Since I can't rely on FP to get connected, and that's a major pain when using flat HTML editing tools, I decided to use the meta refresh tags instead.  Let me know if you have problems with it.

And finally, it's good to see that the brain drain in this country isn't a totally sexist occurrence.  Seems Ms. Carly Fiorina, current president, COO, and chair of the computer conglomerate HP, has decided that work SPACE is far too spacious, and all of you lucky bastards who've struggled, scrambled, and clawed your way to that spacious 8x10 foot cube must be punished - since a cube implies sides of equal length, apparently, she has determined to squash your ass down to an 8x8 cell.  Speaking of which, do you think the guards - er, managers - will allow you out for your mandatory exercise period?  As Bob Thompson noted, Dilbert is funny because it's drawn from real life.  And Dilbert's going to have a field day with this one.

Actually, they're almost better than that.  After yesterday's job negotiations, etc., today we've found out that certain legal matters we're part of will conclude, successfully for us, long about March, which is about 15 months earlier than we expected.  And for those of you that assume the worst about me (ma), no, there's no bracelet on my ankle.

I've never bought a house before, but I've got plenty of friends that have.  As a matter of fact, I was looking at some stuff from my daughter's school the other day.  Granted, the kid's in a private school.  Not because we think we're better than the public school system - it's that we're afraid of it.  There are too many kids with too many problems that could take their anger and aggression out on my children.  I trust St. John's, and I trust the principal there to keep things in line.  They don't take a whole lot of foolishness from the kids, and that, I think, helps.

Anyway, when I was looking at the list from Rhiannon's school, I noticed we were the only ones still in an apartment.  I'll tell you, it's been a terrible strain on us the last 15 months, mostly on the kids.  You just don't have a yard to go play in.  I'd love to be able to send my kids out into the yard to go play, and let them be outside.  They get out often at daycare or school, and we do get out on the weekends.  But it's not the same.  When I grew up, we had a big yard.  I could go out and play and not have to worry about getting kidnapped, annoying the neighbors, or anything else.  I hope my kids will have the same.  Of course, there's going to be some driving involved, but that's to be expected.  I do not want to spend $100,000 for a lousy lot in Burnsville, only to be exposed to overcrowded public schools, a community that's quite nearly out of open land to build on, and a government that's, to put it bluntly, stupid.  Why else would you tear up nice smooth roads, and replace them with paving stones that make you feel like you're in a car with one square wheel?  And only do it at intersections on key, heavily-traveled streets?  I dunno either.

I think the smell of what old Rod is cooking is starting to clarify - and it's funky.  Now the young Morgan Grams, son of our esteemed senator, has again gotten himself into trouble.  I believe last time 'round it was drug possession with intent to distribute (and most certainly not along the roadside - far more likely for profit), plus a bit of a problem with driving while capable of dealing with it.  This time, young Morg has managed to abscond the state with a fifteen year old female, the female's parental stash of silver bars, other valuables, and such, plus a vehicle which did not belong to him.

Now this find upstanding citizen, when encountered, either in New Mexico, or Mexico - reports vary at this point - leaped out the hotel-room window (from the third floor, fortunately), and hid in a nearby canal.  Where the police dogs tracked him later, and he was given treatment for a broken ankle.

And his father notes that young Morgan is now over 21, and responsible for his own actions, etc.  Sorry, Rod, but if you'd paid any attention to the kid over the last six year when he grew from 15 to 21, you might have seen this coming,  And you might have been able to help the kid.  Yes, being a member of Congress is important.  But your family is more so.  You need to realize that in the grand scheme of things, the family is all you really have.  And they reflect on you.

More later, if I manage...

Well, after all of that, and no small amount of frustration, I've got a feeling that we're very close to the end of summer. We hit 81 today, which is rather odd for this time of year. I noticed that the sumac (which we usually regard as a weed, rather than a nice landscape accent) has started to brown from a brilliant red. Sumac usually starts the color change, and it's usually the first to indicate it's over.

And it looks like my daughter likes Karate. We took her to a free class this evening to see if she'd like it - other than the fact that she wore tights (which made it difficult to maintain contact with the floor. But when the class was over, she came home and wanted to practice. We're going to another class on Saturday, and then we'll see which one works better for us. It most definitely will not be a Thursday night class - we've got enough crap going on on Thursdays with Brownies, the usual grocery run, and all that.

Finished and e-mailed the resume in the proper format - soon, I hope to be employed as a full-time employee doing things to computers (other than my own, obviously) again. I see Exchange 2000 finally hit the market - I'm betting that's getting adopted in huge numbers this weekend... NOT. Just in case you were considering it, folks, slow down. Spend plenty of time getting acquainted with the directory services model in Win2K first, THEN get comfortable with Exchange. THEN try to combine the two.

Not that I'm Dr. Exchange or anything, but I can assure you that Exchange is not for the faint of heart (such as my previous employer). Exchange is an "adult" e-mail system, but if you look at it as JUST an e-mail system, don't bother. It's got so much more in services that you can use, and much more in terms of information delivery.

Now, we're going to go back and fiddle around and see what we're going to be able to afford in houses. It would be nice to be able to fit into what we'd like - Of course, we might also win the lottery. Twice. That would be awesome. Ahem. Anyway...

Got up and going this morning, and heard the weather. They're predicting 82 degrees. Somehow I think Winter might be coming soon. But we can always hope.

Took a look around the net this morning. Mr. Thompson is on his way to New Hampshire to look for a new home, Mr. Syroid is seeking an attitude adjustment (which is practically necessary, as any computer professional knows - either an attitude adjustment or a frustration reliever, typically by bashing the living daylights out of a computer with a good solid baseball bat. Dr. Keyboard is on his game, and Dr. Pournelle is missing a convention in St. Louis due to an illness. Seems fall has.

However, I see Apple is once again bouncing... I swear, somewhere in the great book the entry for Microsoft reads "print money" and Apple reads "will swing between spectacular success and stupefying failure repeatedly." Apple will not fold up and die, it's written in the rules. Neither will Apple remain successful for the long term.

The problems with the Apple Cube are simple, straight-forward, and actually, if you think about it, expected. Thick acrylic plastic is very delicate. If Jobs had used Glass, crystal, or some other material, it might have worked, but plastic forms lines - these lines are exacerbated by repeated heating and cooling, by any sort of shock or stress. That's just going to happen. Now, to expect that the people who buy Apple computers will accept that fact, on the other hand, is something slightly short of, well, hubris, if you ask me. Apple is good at what they do. They're not great - frankly, there is no "great" computer company out there any more. There are certainly good ones, but no great all-around computer companies. Apple could be great - great software, great hardware, great service, great deals, and great performance. But you know what? That's asking a whole heck of a lot. With the prevalence of outsourcing these days, Apple's hardware is assembled in Taiwan, their software is produced in hundreds of small programming shops, their service is at the mercy of a groups of people who seem to regard the customer as a necessary evil, and a customer with a problem is a customer they really didn't want in the first place.

Apple's problems aren't just limited to the hardware, either. It's the users and their image. Now, I've learned a couple of things over the years. First of all, you really don't want to put anything in black and white unless you're willing to stand by it. Not tomorrow, but next year, and in twenty years. It's going on your permanent record. Second, I've learned the danger of making gross generalizations. As I heard the other day, statistically, I should be Asian. 60% of the earth's population is of Asian extraction; therefore I should be Asian.

Apple has a majority of users who are interested in getting the job done. No more, no less. They just want the thing to work. They do not want excuses about how the software is "in production" or the hardware "was expected to exhibit this sort of behavior." They don't give a hoot about the 'why it doesn't' part. They just want it to work.

Apple's biggest problem is the vocal minority that has chosen to defend the company beyond all reason or logic. I noted previously that Apple does have SOME good hardware, and SOME good software. Apple's problem is that, with 5% of the market, there's very little point in devoting 50% of a normal company's development budget to producing a product that is purchased by 5% of the market. It makes no sense to me, and it clearly makes no sense to many companies these days stopping their Apple product development.

Apple's new OS X might change this tide, but Apple has got to produce a good, solid OS with a great deal of stability. Then they need to get it adopted by a lot of computer users, and a lot of companies. Then, they need to produce a great deal of software for the OS, and for the other companies that produce software for that platform to get a lot of it out there, at a reasonable cost, either to upgrade or buy in. And then, on top of all of that, get some training out there. Don't rely on a patchwork alliance, don't rely on the aftermarket. Get a STANDARD out there and put it to work.

But then again, Apple doesn't listen to me. Perhaps to their benefit, perhaps not. But that's not their problem. They've got so many others to worry about.

Off to adjust the resume for my new employer, and complete the house-viewing worksheets for this weekend. Oh, what fun.

I see Mr. Syroid has returned from no-post-land, with a rather terrifying tale of why Linux belongs in the server room for now. Up front, I will admit that Tom has probably forgotten more Linux than I know at present. That is the way of it with computers. There's ALWAYS a computer guru out there that knows more. However, the glow of Linux's promise on the desktop appears to me to be something close to radioactive - at least, at present.

I rattled on earlier about how Microsoft and Linux should apportion things - let's give up this fun and pretty windows shit on the server, blow away the overhead for the pretty little pictures, and go back to the assumption that if you're going to be managing/administering a system, you know WTF you're doing. Elitist, I know, but the bottom line is that in this world, the computers DO NOT like you. They positively HATE you, at least when you abuse them in a certain fashion.

Why Microsoft assumes that any fool who can use Windows can, somehow, with some success, configure Windows NT/2000 with anything less than near certain frustration, I do not get. It's clearly, and most obviously, Microsoft's goal to present a pretty face on a powerful machine so that those who do not know the grand mysteries of computing can still feel comfortable, as it looks just like the windows they use.

Wonderful Idea, Microsoft Marketing Department. However, you've stumbled across a great sucking paradox there - if it looks easy to use, and it's as complicated as Windows NT, why in the hell are we not more successful? Simple. Sometimes the computer takes a dislike to you. Oh, sure, I could go on and on about specific combinations of lower-quality hardware doing certain inconsistent operations which cause problems with what the OS is trying to do.

The ease of use bug has gotten to be a mantra for some, and the insistence on a pretty windows interface to get anywhere is nice. Is it required? Well, depends. Do you know what you're doing? Then you should be able to get it done without those windows. Certainly, they speed things, and make it easier, but they're not really necessary. No more so than the tails we've managed to evolve out of, for the most part.

Now, this is meant in no way to denigrate Tom's capabilities or problems. It's only a coincidence that his problems seem to be coming from a windowing desktop interface he's installing on top of Linux. I think the problem is that Tom, and others, are attempting to take a server and run it on their desks. Sure, we all want the horsepower, and that's fine. But let's accept that servers are meant to deliver information, bits, whatever, and do plenty of other applications - applications which have been stripped down for speed, and tweaked and hammered and blowtorched until they're as stable as you can get (theoretically). User software, on the other hand, is designed for ease of use.

I do not subscribe to the theory that ease of use is directly and inversely proportional to power. I do subscribe to the theory that eventually, every system which is designed and manufactured, unless stripped down to essentials at every level, will eventually grow so fat and over-complicated that it will both offer something for every user, satisfying some of them, and become completely unusable. Look at most of the office applications. Most of us use less than 10% of the features. Heck, I use a lot of what Word offers, and I'm thinking I'm probably pushing the 30% range.

What's the point of all this? Well, I think that we should leave Linux in the server room. Certainly people will put it on their desktops - fine. Let's put Windows on the desktop - get it out of the server room. Let's let these two operating systems play to their strengths.

Well, that wasn't so bad. Tomorrow, I think I'll solve world hunger.

Today, should we get going soon enough, we will visit the Farmer's market, houses, a karate class, the library, and ... I dunno what. I will tell you this, though - I'm avoiding any and all Jamaica-based food products for the foreseeable future. I, who has made, and even eaten, my own pepper sauce (and like an idiot used 8 tomatoes, 12 habeneros, 12 chili peppers, and survived), have finally encountered a "hot" which I don't like. At Green Mill last night, I had the Jamaica-me-crazy Chicken Sandwich. Jerk sauce-soaked chicken breast, grilled, covered in Monterey Jack cheese, on a bun. Sweet suffering crap - that one hurt.

Let's put it this way - I don't know this is right, but it's the way it feels in my mouth - chili peppers burn the front of my tongue. Further back on the tongue I don't feel chili peppers. Cayenne, on the other hand, tends to burn the sides of my tongue, further back. Habeneros, the bastards, burn the back of the tongue and throat. This stuff left the tip of my tongue fine - I could eat chocolate and taste it afterwards. It was the back of my tongue, and the roof of my mouth, if you could believe that, that was burning.

I've eaten chili hot enough to be classified as toxic, and I even like chinese hot mustard. While I'm no gourmet when it comes to hot sauces, I'll tell you that this type of flaming hot stuff was so hot I didn't even finish the whole thing. My nose was running, my eyes stung, and it hurt WORSE after I stopped. I was sorely tempted to see if they had peanut butter around (fact I discovered - peanut butter removes some of the worst of the sting. I suspect it's the oils in the peanuts diluting the burn in the peppers).

Oh well. Off to have something simple, like toast, or scrambled eggs.

Yesterday was our day to "thin the herd" regarding houses and sites. We listed, prioritized, and massaged the data, I created an exhausting questionaire covering over 300 points of interest to us in the house/lot/neighborhood search, and then reviewed our favorites.

Mrs. D and I managed to agree on a couple things. First, the leaves definitely ARE changing (which means it's time to get the kids winter coats, gulp), and we've got more work to do. Beyond that, we're still looking for houses. Come Tuesday evening, we'll meet with a friend of mine who's also a realtor, and see what he can guide us into. Hopefully we'll all be happy with it.

And now that the Olympics is over, I really have to admit I'm very impressed by the strength of character exhibited by those grand old men and women of the International Olympic Committee. I've really got to hand it to them - I doubt very much that I'd have the intestinal fortitude to tell a young athelete that used a standard over-the-counter cold medication her doctor indicated was acceptable that her gold medal was forfeit, while at the same time, it was clear that I and my associates had accepted massive bribes, exhibited questionable ethics, and was pretty much a poster child for bad judgement all around. You've got to admit, they're showing a great deal of integrity in taking that gold medal away, and banning the other athletes. Too bad you can't have the Olympics in a vacuum. Boy, do I miss my spell-checker.

Dinner tonight is Midwestern Gyros - Ground Lamb which is used to make the standard Gyro. God help us all... I'm sure the flavor and the rest will be fine. I'm just not certain what feta cheese will do to either of my children. Too bad I'm short on ouzo. (sp?). Enough of that and I wouldn't care. Nor would I have olfactory nerves to annoy, either, come to think of it. Took me a couple months to get that capability back after the last ouzo jag. ugh.

And I've discovered what may well be a fatal flaw in my job to depose Denny Green as the coach of the Vikings and replace him with anyone at all who can tell a football from a knockwurst. I've discovered in the last three years that the Vikings do their best when I do not watch the team. I watched one game of the 1997 season. Oddly enough, they finished the regular season with one loss. Hmmm... Last year, I watched part of one game, where Randall Cunningham ended up getting pulled for Jeff George.

Now, the flaw is that I'm hoping the Vikings will do well. Yet at the same time, I want Green fired. SO - If I watch, they'll do poorly, and I'll get a new coach.

Then again, they just might win the Superbowl to spite me. Hmmm... This is definitely a problem. Not, fortunately, like the ones we had this afternoon determining halloween costumes. Jack will be an armored Crusader - breastplate, shield, sword, and helm, while Rhiannon will be a cat. Pretty easy, considering. Although if my sister has her Halloween Party again this year, I'm pretty well hosed when it comes to a costume. Last year I handed out business cards that said "Death - currently on vacation". Cheapest costume I ever made. This year I'm going to have to do something. Perhaps the real death. I need a HUGE black cape, though.

Tomorrow, we see if resume #84 is acceptable to the fine folks at Spherion, I could be working before my birthday. And I'll be able to relax all this week, as the fine folks at my former employer can't. It's bloody convention week. Good Luck, y'all. You're gonna need it.

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