Craziness

Memorial Day weekend has been crazy and this week promises to be even cazier. There will be updates throughout the week, but first I have to get through a seemingly endless list of airport security checkpoints, so it might take a while.

Stay tuned

Quote of the unspecified temporal interval

The shifts of Fortune test the reliability of friends.
Cicero

Is there really life after college?

It's news time folks.

The final grades from spring semester came out this week and (as expected) I passed all of my courses. Consequently I have enough credits to qualify for a diploma. With that in mind, I can now officially be called an alum.

And not a moment too soon either. Almost as soon as finals were over I had to rush North and start my first (official) full time job. Of course I'm not broadcasting the company's name as most companies get touchy about employees doing such things. It should suffice to say that it's a company with wide reaching influences and they have a significant number of engineers.

I hired in expecting a mix of design work and project management and it looks like that's what I'm getting.... and then some. I've only been around for a few days but my co-workers seem to be really great folks. I'm trying to hit the ground running here and folks are quite willing to help. I've already been scheduled to go on a trip to a remote location for a very extensive equipment trial.

That's the short version of everything that's gone on. Of course there's also been plenty of time spent getting (and attempting to furnish) my new apartment, but there's time for talking about that later. After all, I need some time to convert this into a decent bachelor pad (which may be quite a task when you take into account that neither the pad nor myself are particularly good bachelor pad material. But I'll leave that discussion for another day...

Predicting the future...

I ran across a post from the "Grouchy Old Cripple" the other day and got a little chuckle out of it. Naturally I'm stealing it.

Headlines from the year 2029

Ozone created by electric cars now killing millions in seventh largest country in the world,
Mexifornia formally known as California!

White minorities still trying to have English recognized as Mexifornia's third language. (not

Spotted Owl plague threatens northwestern United States crops and livestock.

Baby conceived naturally. Scientists stumped. (actually, people will still be having sex, but scientists will still be stumped at how people manage it)

Couple petitions court to reinstate heterosexual marriage.

France pleads for global help after being taken over by Jamaica. (hehe)

Castro finally dies at age 112; Cuban cigars can now be imported legally, but President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking.

George Z. Bush says he will run for President in 2036. Postal Service raises price of first class stamp to $17.89 and reduces mail delivery to Wednesdays only.

85-year, $75.8 billion study: Diet and Exercise is the key to weight loss. (hasn't this already happened?)

Average weight of Americans drops to 250 lbs.

Japanese scientists have created a camera with such a fast shutter speed, they now can photograph a woman with her mouth shut. (ok that one was mean, but I didn't write it! Just insert the name of someone you don't like.)

Massachusetts executes last remaining conservative. (actually I would expect something more like "rehabilitation" involving massive drugging, that or exile to Arkansas)

Supreme Court rules punishment of criminals violates their civil rights.

Average height of NBA players now nine feet, seven inches. (average IQ remains unchanged)

New federal law requires that all nail clippers, screwdrivers, fly swatters and rolled-up newspapers must be registered by January 2036. (and shaving will be banned in order to remove the risk of deadly safety-razor muggings)

Congress authorizes direct deposit of formerly illegal political contributions to campaign accounts. (I think this will happen sooner than 2029)

IRS sets lowest tax rate at 75 percent. (and highest to 125 percent)

Florida voters still having trouble with voting machines.

Software Synergy

Maybe it's just a nerd thing, but I've been in several situations where I wanted to have two or more computers on the same desk so I could handle multiple tasks, but that usually involves multiple keyboards and mice (unless you want to go through the process of setting up a switch box and deal with all the extra wires.)

Now there's a nifty little software solution called "Synergy." This open source bit of software allows you to control multiple computers from a single keyboard and mouse. Simply move the mouse to the edge of the screen and it moves to the next screen. The keyboard only controls the computer that the mouse is displayed on. What's really neat is that this system works for windows Mac and Linux systems so you can hook up almost any combination of systems and control them as though they were part of the same work station. It could be REALLY useful for people who need to run applications on multiple platforms.

Now all I need is to do is get more computers so I can use this software!

Quote of the unspecified temporal interval

Missing someone gets easier everyday because even though you are one day further from the last time you saw them, you are one day closer to the next time you will.
-unknown

Back in the saddle again...

Good news folks, I'm finally settled in at my new location and I have internet access so I can begin posting again. Of course the catch is, I'm starting my new job so I'll be confining most of my posting to the evening hours. Still, I promise I'll start putting up a post or two in the evenings, (I know you'll be happy because of all the requests I've gotten to resume posting. /sarcasm)

Please stay tuned...

Posting shall resume shortly as finals week insanity blows over. Check back soon

Quote of the unspecified temporal interval

There are three schools of magic.

One: State a tautology, then ring the changes on its corollaries; that's philosophy.

Two: Record many facts. Try to find a pattern. Then make a wrong guess at the next fact; that's science.

Three: Be aware that you live in a malevolent universe controlled by Murphy's Law, sometimes offset by Brewster's Factor; that's engineering.

I can't imagine how this could be better...

Ah Dilbert, how I envy thee.

Check it out! The nerds will get it.

Please pardon the interruption

I've got (about) one week of craziness to go before I'm off to the real world, so pardon me if I don't do much posting. I'll try to put up a few misc. quotes, but not much more than that.

Required Reading

The Quitter (published in 1912)
by Robert Service

When you're lost in the Wild, and you're scared as a child,
And Death looks you bang in the eye,
And you're sore as a boil, it's according to Hoyle
To cock your revolver and . . . die.
But the Code of a Man says: "Fight all you can,"
And self-dissolution is barred.
In hunger and woe, oh, it's easy to blow . . .
It's the hell-served-for-breakfast that's hard.

"You're sick of the game!" Well, now that's a shame.
You're young and you're brave and you're bright.
"You've had a raw deal!" I know--but don't squeal,
Buck up, do your damnedest, and fight.
It's the plugging away that will win you the day,
So don't be a piker, old pard!
Just draw on your grit, it's so easy to quit.
It's the keeping-your chin-up that's hard.

It's easy to cry that you're beaten--and die;
It's easy to crawfish and crawl;
But to fight and to fight when hope's out of sight--
Why that's the best game of them all!
And though you come out of each gruelling bout,
All broken and battered and scarred,
Just have one more try--it's dead easy to die,
It's the keeping-on-living that's hard.

Words to live by!

But to fight and to fight when hope's out of sight--
Why that's the best game of them all!