Off By One

On an unrelated note, this pleased me in and of itself, and saddened me due to the reactions.

It’s the end of 2007, and last night I was asked by our waitress if I was “ready for 2008.”

It’s an interesting question, isn’t it? In the absence of epic new plans for the coming year what does “ready” mean? I’m not panicked about the coming year, if that’s what she meant. I’m not planning to do anything for which I am not ready, too.

This bit was, of course, a bit of a non sequitur.

Basically, I want to wish everyone that reads this a happy new year. Be well, be happy. Hopefully your coming year is as good as my previous one.

Pepper oil hurts my sensitive bits.

We all know how painful warranty work can be; it’s never in the company’s immediate economic interest to give a good goddamn about sales it’s already made, and warranty work is a cost to the company.

So, it’s all the more impressive when something goes right. Really right. Like, “Sorry, Mr. Offby1, your part is going to take too long to ship. How about a brand new, massive upgrade?”.

So, shipping to me next week is a 17” Macbook Pro. No charge.

/me gets geeky shivers of glee.

The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.

A.A. Milne

Take a look at this:

Sure looks horrible, eh?

At least it’s not a total loss; I can still back up my data and take it in for service. Looks like my $300 applecare just paid for itself…

Well, there went any hope of productive evenings…

Aaron mentioned TED to me some time ago as an interesting place to go for talks about the world; technology, science, economics, politics.

I finally got around to checking it out, and I have to admit, there’s a lot there.

It’s a time-consumer, no question, with the video talks running to 20 minutes each, so you might not get to see all of it at a shot, but I’m convinced it’s worthwhile. Right now I’m watching a talk on the application of economics to explaining AIDS in Africa, and there’s more like that.

Check it out.

There was some fantastic lightning last night, for those who were either asleep or not in my area.

So, being a thunder nerd, I slept on the balcony. Very, very nice.

Not a lot, as usual, to report. I’ve been building nifty things at work, as we bring our product up to a new Alpha release. I’ve been grinding away at the details, hacking ODBC code to work with Oracle, planning new extensions to the product. It’s a satisfying process.

In other news, I have not had a chance to jump this weekend. Sadness.

But, of course, you know that.

What you don’t know is that… um…

Let’s see. In the spirit of the Facebook thingy, how about a few things you don’t know about me?

1. I have a soft spot for sappy romantic movies (not comedies).
2. For all that I’m a private person, I love it when people randomly visit.
3. I cannot make myself play evil characters in computer games, no matter how hard I try.
4. I am pessimistic about the future of our species.
5. Adventure? Excitement? Oh, yes, I crave these things!