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Thursday, June 29, 2000Moving In@ 10 am | PermaLinkJun 29 Thu (10 AM) We're finally into the new place, with the phone working, finally. Anyone who has tried to call in the last couple of days has heard that our number wa disconnected. Wonderful. I just hope they try to get a hold of us in other ways. For now, everythings a mess there's tons of boxes, chest of drawers all over the place, and lots of books to put into shelves. Simone took right to the place. Not really. As a matter of fact, it took her nearly 24 hours to crawl out from under the couch that she darted underneath as soon as she saw it. I was really worried about her at first, but she seems to have gotten a bit more brave. Zola on the other hand has been loving the new place, exploring every nook and cranny. I'm off to finish my presentation: <http://www.pdc.pdx.edu/mmedia/macrodaze/> I'll be posting notes and such later.
Wednesday, June 28, 2000No Phone!@ 10 am | PermaLinkJun 28 Wed (10 AM) Anyone trying to call us for the past couple days has gotten the 'This number has beed diconnected...' message from US West. I'm pushing on the Customer Service people there to get it fixed asap. Between my presentation at PSU tomorrow, Amy's two freelance projects, getting ready to leave for Montana on Friday, this week has been nothing short of difficult.
Saturday, June 24, 2000I can't stop Listing@ 01 pm | PermaLinkJun 24 Sat (01 PM) Everyone's been raving about Scott McCloud's new column about comics. I've read a couple of his books, and I really enjoy the column. For those of you who haven't here's the first three columns he's written, though most of the web has only seen the first one: <http://www.thecomicreader.com/icst/> I'm sure that directory listing will be denied some time, but it's handy.
Friday, June 23, 2000The "Elevator Test"@ 10 am | PermaLinkJun 23 Fri (10 AM) The "Elevator Test" Fill in the missing items in: "[Product] is a [2- or 3-word description] that [delivers what main function or benefit]. Unlike [competing alternatives], [Product] [differentiating benefit]." For example: "ZoomMail is a weekly, electronic newsletter that highlights significant events and overlooked products for Internet users. Unlike paper-backed publications, ZoomMail delivers thoughtful articles on a timely basis." The elevator test gets its name from the fact that it is short enough to answer someone's query about your product during an elevator ride. (From the TibBITS mailing list.)
Thursday, June 22, 2000We're Moving!@ 10 am | PermaLinkJun 22 Thu (10 AM) Amy and I are moving to a new apartment. It's only a few blocks away, but the new place will be much more quiet and larger and has... Doors! Strange as it may sound, our current 1 bedroom apartment has two doors: The front door and the bathroom door. Everything else is open, and there's no way to say, keep the cats out, or let one person sleep while the other plays the stereo. It's really a strange situation, and I'll be glad to get moved. I've decided to document this move a bit more closely, so that I've got a check off list for the next time. One thing to note is to get the postal address of the new place as soon as possible, followed by the phone number. After that, you've got all the stuff you need to contact your other utilities, and agencies. Speaking of which, it was frightening how easy it was to shut off or move some of our services. Only the bank really did a good job in this department. Talk about potential for abuse...
Wednesday, June 21, 2000BSA@ 08 pm | PermaLinkJun 21 Wed (08 AM) Last night after dinner, Amy and I stopped by a bookstore, and I saw the latest issue of Rolling Stone. The magazine had a good solid article on the Boy Scouts of America and it's problem with discriminating against homosexuals. The article was very well written and really showed the side of the issue that I understand as a card-carrying member of the organization: ...I've become convinced that the BSA is really two organizations. The first, the heart and soul, is composed of the millions of volunteers who spend their time [doing great, selfless things]. This group knows very little about the other half of the Boy Scouts: BSA Inc., the salaried bureaucracy whose well-being depends on constant fund-raising, much of it through alliances with old-line conservative religious groups... There's a vast chasm between the volunteer Scoutmasters, Troop Committee Members, Den Leaders, Cubmasters and the paid, professional Scouters that run things outside of the individual districts and councils. I've been a member of the BSA since I was in first grade. Though I haven't been active since I moved from home, I still consider myself a member of the organization which truly gave me a place to grow. During my years in middle school, I may even call it my saving grace. In school, amongst my peers, I boxed up and put in a particular social cage. I was kept there by my own inability to break out and a lack of friendships outside of that box. However, in Troop 126, I was allowed, even expected to grow. I was year after year, given more responsibility, challenged to lead in larger and stronger ways. I went through each of the Ranks, but I also went through each of the leadership roles: Asst. Patrol Leader, Patrol Leader, Asst. Senior Patrol Leader, and finally Senior Patrol Leader, whose role was to lead all meetings and represent the boys to the Troop Steering Committee and outside the Troop in District and Council-wide events. What this organization did for me is immeasurable. However, as I attained these later positions, I learned about the division between the volunteers and the paid employees. (I hate to use the term professionals). The vast majority of the individuals that I dealt with had a deep distrust for the National organization. Policies, mandates and rules that were either ill-conceived or implemented without explanation weren't common but they did come to pass, there was loud grumbling and occasional resignations. When I began hearing about the Homosexual discrimination, I thought, "No, that couldn't be the Boy Scouts that they're talking about." But it was and it was real. At first I held the view that as a private organization, the government should not be able to alter the structure or the policies of the group. But that didn't hold up because of the ties that the BSA has to the Government in the US. The National Jamboree is held on a military base every four years. BSA has a Congressional Charter. A significant portion of the troops and packs use public school facilities. If the BSA is going to use the 'Private Organization' defense, they better Be Prepared to drop this aspect of their organization as well. I hope BSA Inc. loses the the Supreme Court case. A ruling should be coming out later this month. A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. Brave indeed.
Saturday, June 17, 2000Read This, Hear That@ 05 pm | PermaLinkJun 17 Sat (08 PM) This changed my mind about Courtney Love... Not Lars, but certainly Courtney: <http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/14/love/> Also, download Track 1 from <https://www.idrive.com/nardo_polo/files/Web/> which is something that I've been looking for for years now. Ponderous man. Really ponderous
Wednesday, June 14, 2000Working Hard@ 07 pm | PermaLinkJun 14 Wed (07 AM) Man this dual role thing is a pain. At work I've taken over the responsibility for documenting and enforcing the methodologies that I've been espousing at work for the past year. If that was all I was doing, I'd be fine. But I've also had to take over Project Management for most of the projects in house. I've laid the groundwork for hoisting my own backend. You see, part of my methodology is to take the project management out of the hands of the sales people. Most of them are not equipped to do the daily PM work, so it needed to move from them to actual PMs. Myself and this other person were lined up to take over that work load. But I wasn't supposed to do the Project Management stuff full time. It's an area that I've found I have some skills in, but the Admin stuff was supposed to be the biggest portion of my role at work for the next few months. But our other PM quit, with little notice, and the owner instituted a hiring freeze. Now I'm responsibile for both, and it's running me ragged. Late August is the target date for our current goal set, and at that point we should be able to bring in another PM, and a second Developer with Solaris/Java/JSP experience. 'Til then, I'm bound to early mornings in addition to the commonly late nights.
Sunday, June 04, 2000Blazers@ 07 pm | PermaLinkDamn.
Friday, June 02, 2000Forcing Game 7@ 11 pm | PermaLinkOh yeah, baby! Game 7 on Sunday, at 4:00pm. Tonight's game *so* rocked. Everyone played hard. Bonzi had more points than Shaq. Smith was on top of every shot, Sheed was nearly perfect inside. It was an incredible game. The Blazers led by 10 points for nearly the entire game. I even took a 3 foot by 4 foot banner that had 'Drive Scottie, Drive' on one side and 'Drain the Lakers' on the other. It was a very professional poster as I had it printed out on our HP2500 at work which is a full color plotter that can print up to 3 feet wide and any length. I got some pretty high quality JPEGs off the net of Scottie taking it to the hoop and placed them in opposing corners on one side. On top of that I put the Drive Scottie Drive text, using the official Blazers typeface that we have because of some work we did for them a while back. On the back was the Drain The Lakers text plus "From your fans at Exact Imaging", which was a bit cheesy. The only problem was that the poster was WAY TOO BIG and I couldn't hold it at the seat with me, and I couldn't hold it up without risking thrown drinks from the people I was blocking the view for. So the sign was relegated to the very back row, without me for much of the game. But I learned my lesson. Next time I won't take anything larger than my chest. Unless it's really long and I can have lots of help holding it... Anyway it was a great game and I'm on the edge of my seat for Game 7. Go Blazers!
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June 2000
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