Hola, all

Filed under: General Thoughts

Well, shit. Another week, another dry spell on the blog.

Actually, two weeks. My, how time flies…

So, I was in Omaha for a week doing some integration work for the team, taking the opportunity afforded by proximity to get some grotty little details hammered out and hopefully to sell my southern compatriots on the value of the tools we make up here. I think I was successful, but I haven’t heard a lot out of them this week (mainly because I’ve skipped the morning meetings, being disinclined to lean too heavily on the good graces of my carpooling coworker).

This past week…

Well, I’ve got a new respect for (and fear of) character set encodings. And, if you wonder what that means, there’s A) wikipedia and B) wikipedia.

Suffice to say it’s hellish, but I believe that the end is nigh. I think I’ve got the very worst of it nailed, and I hope to be on to something less nightmarish next week.

I live!

Filed under: General Thoughts

Sorta.

I spent the last week tearing into a fairly complex piece of old code, digging out some poor design decisions and cleaning up the legacy of student programmers past. It was… terrifying.

But I’ve survived, and the world is a better place for it.

If anyone noticed that I was a bit distant and distracted in the last week, though, that was why.

A Catchup, Catch-all,

Filed under: Events, Friends, General Thoughts and Meta

and I wanted to work Catch-22 into that title, but couldn’t.

So, in response to some vigourous prodding last night, I felt it was time to dust this off and get back to keeping people apprised of my life.

Here’s the skinny, since… holy shit! November 6! It’s been almost four weeks!

Since then, I have:

• Travelled to the Dominican Republic (where we were all amiss in not posting to Morruz)
• Dislocated my shoulder… again. That sucked. Worse? I was just playing volleyball in a pool, not even doing anything interesting. Funny thing is, though, when I went to a medical supply store to get some foam to pad the horrid sling I took home with me, the lady running the store told me that my injury seems to be quite common in volleyballers, at least anecdotally.
• Got my performance review at work, for which the term “glowing” might be an understatement.

And you wonder why I don’t post? My life is dull, dull, dull.

It hasn’t even been that interesting of a time, politically. I’ve kept my eyes on the news, but there’s been little out of the ordinary to spark thought or discussion, either north or south of the border.

Um… I’ve read some good books, lately. Is that interesting?

Expect more later. I’m just barely awake, and Char just fed me coffee.

Heisenbugs

Filed under: General Thoughts

Def: A bug that vanishes when you look at it.

Also: The bane of my existence, today.

Busy Times

Filed under: General Thoughts

Well, it’s been a busy few weeks here, as evinced by… well, nought, as far as you all can tell. I’ve been lazy with regards to all kinds of aspects of communication, and it shows. Sometimes, I am amazed that anyone even pays attention.

So, here’s a summary (I do this more than I should, I think).

1. I’ve finally got my own computer back again. Although it’s been a frustrating month (All of September) with no personal computer, on Oct 1 I received the aforementioned shiny new Macbook Pro 17”. This thing is a titan among computers, easily being usable as a TV too I’m much pleased with it.

2. In connection with the above-mentioned computer acquisition, I should be looking at updating some plugins I’ve got out in the wild; I’ve been meaning to for ages, but because I’ve been without a computer for what feels like forever, it hasn’t happened.

3. In what can only be called an embarrassment of riches, on the same day I received the new MBP I also received my work laptop, which is well on its way to being an adequate replacement for my work desktop. Shockingly all of it works, except for the goddamned wireless, rendering it more or less 100% tethered at home. More to come, there.

4. I finished Neal Stephenson’s “Baroque Cycle”, a 3000-page epic set in the years preceding the enlightenment and telling a very interesting (fictional) story about the lives of Newton, Leibniz, and some fictional people of the time. It took me ages to read, but it was so worth it.

5. I’m at 37 jumps now, only one injury!

6. I should get to work.

7. Bioshock kicks my ass eight ways from Sunday. I am so pleased with it, and am so going to try a replay.

Alive

Filed under: General Thoughts

Well, my computer is fixed, although I’m a bit nonplussed; the performance on it seems poorer, and the fan is running faster. I’m not quite sure what’s going on, and I’m going to call Applecare to ask about it, but in the main it’s good to have the beastie back.

It might be moot, soon, anyway, since my work laptop is due to ship one of these days from Dell. It’s been a long, long wait, but soon I’ll have a machine with some real horsepower to get work done on, and additionally it’ll make a sweet Windows box for completely sanctioned work-related activity for stress-relief purposes.

Oh, Bang

Filed under: Asides and General Thoughts

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.

(too lazy to title this post)

Filed under: General Thoughts

Well, my life is officially boring.

I’ve managed to do little or nothing interesting for the past week, basically phoning it in in class, and doing some of the work that just … needs doing, at work. All told, not a bad week, but not one loaded with amusing anecdotes or anything.

I’m supposed to go over to a friend’s place for a beer after work tonight, if that counts as exciting.

Other than that, I’ve now tried a sort of mead, although not a purist’s sort, and it was good.

See? Exciting!

Sitrep

Filed under: General Thoughts

Well, it’s been a bit; I’m not sure why, but I’ve been undermotivated to blog lately, which has resulted in an ominous quiet from the site.

Here’s a bullet-point update on my situation these days:

• I’m biking to work pretty much daily now; it’s about (I’m told) 6km each way, so it’s a bit of exercise I wouldn’t otherwise be getting, and it’s pretty decent exercise. It’s excellent that our workplace has a shower.
• I’m taking class in the morning and working late, which means that anyone that wants to make plans with me has to take into account that I won’t be home until 7:30 or so each weekday. Having said that, I’d love to do evening things with people, so please call any time.
• Work is up & down; I want to work on new things, but old things keep cropping up.
• Char is away this week, and I miss her.
• XBMC is the greatest thing since sliced bread. No AppleTV for me, my new (old) Xbox does everything I would want the aTV to do.
• I’ve read a few books recently, notably “Infidel” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, which I bought for Char. It’s excellent, and I highly recommend it.
• On Sunday, with the blessings of Lyal and the qualified non-refusal of a shoulder surgeon, I’m going to fly again.

On Wheels

Filed under: General Thoughts

For my birthday I got me one of these, and I’m using it to bike to work.

That’s quite a workout, I kid ye not.

No real reason to talk about it other than the ever-growing gap in between postings. Sorry about that…