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June 2008
Is the Front Door Locked?
Every night at bedtime, my wife asks me to check and make sure the front door is locked, even though we live in the Safest Big City in America. It’s annoying — and not just because it’s always locked, but because sometimes she waits until I’m already in bed. Then: “Did you check if the front door is locked?” And I have to get out of bed to check it. She’s out of town this week. I got up this morning and noticed that I’d left the door unlocked all night . . . Read more →
Del.icio.us Wordle
A wordle made from my del.icio.us tags. Click it to enlarge . . . Read more →
More People I’m Sick Unto Death Of
People who back into parking spaces Look, toolbox — you can either back into the spot when you arrive or back out of the spot when you leave. Backing in is harder because you’ve got less room to work with and you don’t want to bang into a neighboring vehicle. If you back out, you’re backing into open space. But the worst thing is that by backing in, you put your driver’s side door right next to my driver’s side door, so we have to wait for each other to get in and out of the cars . . . Read more →
My Father-In-Law Died Today
My father-in-law died today. Or, maybe, tomorrow; I can’t be sure because of the time difference. He’d been sick . . . my wife was planning to visit him one last time this summer, but it was always one more week, too much work to finish, and finally he couldn’t wait any more. I cried a little when she told me, even though he lived in a far-off country and I never met him, because all of a sudden she seemed like a lost little girl, and I wished I could do something for her and I couldn’t, and for all the other things I’ve wished I could do for her and I couldn’t . . . Read more →
George Carlin, 1937-2008
To paraphrase George Patton: Carlin, you magnificent bastard! I read your books! I also bought his videos and saw his live shows! I don’t know who’s ever been funnier, really . . . CNN has an obit, and Fox Sports has wisely reprinted “The Difference Between Baseball and Football.” Read more →
Some Things I Did This Weekend
Experimented with the Hockneyizer. Added FancyZoom to the 99 Most Interesting Photos of Orange County. Read more →
The One-Sentence Motivator
My friend G.L. Hoffman has a great post over at U.S. News and World Report called “The One-Sentence Motivator.” His own one-sentence motivator (spoiler alert) is “Be the man you dreamed you could be when you were a little boy.” Here’s mine: To those who despair of everything reason cannot provide a faith, but only passion, and in this case it must be the same passion that lay at the root of the despair, namely humiliation and hatred. — Albert Camus It’s not as heartwarming as the little boy one but it gets me out of bed in the morning . . . Read more →
Two More Reasons I Won’t Go on a Cruise
Captured by pirates, you are given a choice between walking the plank or joining the crew. The crew are all Yankees fans. When your luxury cruise ship, featuring Las Vegas–style live entertainment, sinks in midocean, you find yourself adrift in a lifeboat with a tiger, a chimp, and an Herbalife salesman. On the second day, the tiger and the chimp commit suicide. — Susan Schorn, “Worse Things Happen at Sea” Read more →
Interview with Jim McCarthy
Q: What do you perceive as the greatest current challenge for software development managers and how do you help them overcome it? The greatest current (and past and future) challenge for software development managers, and for all humans everywhere I suspect, is accurately perceiving reality and effectively accounting for it in their behavior. . . . Q: What is your number one software project management tip, trick or technique? Discussion should be illegal. Less talk, more code. — PM Interviews: Jim McCarthy Read more →
Our Deepest Fear
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. — Marianne Williamson Read more →
House of Cards
My son suggests that we buy some red wheels for the SUV to match the color of the vehicle. “How much would that cost?” my wife asks. “I don’t know,” I say. “A lot of money.” “But it’d be the pimpingest pimp sauce thing you could ever do,” the boy replies. That’s what Ed McMahon’s financial adviser used to say when Ed said, “Are you kidding?! The only way I could afford that is to work till I’m 90!” Read more →
Picture Exchange
My wife and I went out for dinner . . . I took our picture with the cell phone and sent it to my son at home. In return, he sent a picture of the dog. Read more →
Happy Birthday, Anne Frank
On her 13th birthday — June 12, 1942 — she received a diary . . . Read more →
The Girl in the Fishbowl Sunglasses
I suppose there’s a part of me that still wants the girl in the fishbowl sunglasses and Ramones T-shirt she got from an eBay vendor to invite me to a roof-deck party where a DJ is remixing music that I never heard originally, if for no other reason than it would somehow signify that the faint bags I’m beginning to notice under my eyes even after a good night’s sleep are imaginary. But they aren’t. — Jason Roeder Read more →
Who Says Creativity is Dead in Tinseltown?
It was a sickness: this great interest in a medium that relentlessly and consistently failed to produce anything at all. People became so used to seeing shit on film that they no longer realized it was shit. — Charles Bukowski, Hollywood I keep seeing commercials during the NBA Finals for The Incredible Hulk. Wasn’t there an Incredible Hulk movie out just a few years ago? Why do we have to keep making Incredible Hulk movies? Way to reach for the stars, thespians. Shit . . . Read more →
The Price of Gas
I can remember the first time I paid $20 for a tank of gas. I can remember the first time I paid $30. And $40. But I’ve recently blown through the $50, $60 and $70 barriers so fast that they don’t even seem like milestones anymore . . . Read more →
The Boneheads Who Camp Out for Apple WWDC
Our motto is “Think Different.” Not “Stand in line like a bunch of friggin sheep.” — Fake Steve Jobs Read more →
Overheard
Related Links Whistle disparity in Game 2 leaves Lakers feeling foul — ESPN.com Read more →
A 9th Grader Reviews the World Literature Canon
For his English class this year, my son read Antigone, A Doll’s House, Romeo and Juliet, Things Fall Apart, and just finished All Quiet on the Western Front. “Everybody died,” he said. “I knew that was going to happen. All the books we read this year, everybody died. Except A Doll’s House, and that sucked more than kids in a lollipop factory.” Read more →