Professional Bum

The Mcbeen - the almighty server god - has fixed my laptop so that I can run wordpress on it. Why? Well, so that I can spend some time and play around with themes for the site! After spending just too much time on the Lions site, I have decided that I need to spend some time on my own.

The problem is that I am a whole lot more picky about my own site versus the Lions site. I will be playing on the laptop trying to get something that I like. With any luck the boots will be back, the name (neverwhere) will be back and the trip reports will be back. Probably other stuff too. We’ll see. It took *months* of work to get the Lions site to where it is today. This will take months for my site to switch over.

BadK - the media god - is helping me with some photoshop stuff, as I am sadly lacking in knowing how to do anything non-trivial in that program. I am hopeless. I admit it.

Otherwise, anyone interested in going to the Corn, Chicken and Sausage Feed August 12th needs to drop me a line. Its $25 per person, all you can eat at Blackberry Farms. Starts at 5pm. I’m bringing sangrias for anyone who joins me!

I picked up a Chinese Algae Eater last weekend for the new tank at the recommendation of a local pet store. I then got home and found out that this is a semi-agressive fish that doesn’t really eat a whole lot of algae. Lovely.

But I have decided to put together a semi-agressive tank. Here’s what I am looking at:

• 2 Double Full Red Cockatoo Cichlids
• 2 Orange Cockatoo Cichlids
• My Hammer’s Cobalt Blue Lobster

Depending on how this turns out, I may choose to add some Blue Ram Cichlids. But they may not be able to survive. I am still thinking about a pleco after talking with Airwreck the other day. But its going to take time to get all these together anyways. These fish are expensive!

This co-worker of mine sprung a job interview for me at a startup he knows. And I mean sprung. We were sitting at coffee when he up a schedules me to speak with this company. I was more than a little shocked, but agreed to speak with the VP of engineering to see what it was about. I trust this co-worker, so I was willing to give this a chance. Funny, since I hired at GD for the 9/80 work week in a effort to get a life back.

When the morning of the interview arrived, I had no contact information or addresses to follow-up with. The VP of HR ended up calling me to chew me out about missing an intervoew. I was shocked! I didn’t do anything to earn that!

After a while, she finally calmed down to attempt to “re-schedule” the interviews. I was once again shocked. I was supposed to be talking with the VP of engineering to see if I was even interested - not interview with the staff for a position. So I convinced her that I needed to speak with the Vp instead of comming in. A time was set and we moved on.

Late last week I spoke with Dean, the VP of engineering. He was a very nice guy who gave me all the history of the company, what they were trying to do and how I would fit in. I was very impressed with what they are trying to do, but not so impressed with the schedule. And I have some questions as to the affordability of the project. But it was real, had a first round of funding and was looking for versitile engineers they could bring on to build a long term engineering force. Plus early stock options.

Well, I turned them down today. I’ll be curious to see how they do. This could be the next great thing. or not. Who knows? All I know is that I wasn’t willing to give up my life for an impossible schedule on the odd chance I could make it big. But it still gives me butterflies to think about what I walked away from.

I sold my car (the Saturn) last month to Matt - a young 16-year old who was in desparate need of a car. I sold it to him for $100. With full disclosure.

So after the party on the Fourth, I had this new plan - I moved the sideboard behind my couch. I still need to chop the legs, but it is in a new location. I then took my $100 and bought a fish tank stand from PetSmart. It is assembled with a fishtank on top where the sideboard used to be.

I need to find some decorations to put around it, but it looks good. I am starting the water cycling tonight with the hopes of moving my fish/lobster over in the next week or so. And them I can by my pleco and some sharks. I really want a small school of sharks. I think they are neat.

Silli is determined to get inside. Sasha can barely restain herself. And I think I am going to buy some “sticky paws” until they elarn to stay away from the tank.

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On another note, I have been moved to work’s new facility in Santa Clara. Joy?

I meant to do this yesterday, but was too tired to think straight. But I felt I must share!

I had a five-day weekend last weekend. Friday through Tuesday of no-work bliss. I - of course - planned a house project [BadK says I have become a helpless homebody]. I was going to paint my office. Five days - plenty of time.

Blondie’s car died. Four people were in from out of town. A party Saturday night. And a culmination of a 4th party at my house. I died. I could barely move yesterday and most people gave me a wide berth at work. The Tech demo I was responsible for went fine.

Rags helped my with the office and Christine came by to help with colors. I now have a lovely Sage library. I state library since I am ditching the desk. Why keep it when it doesn’t provide enough surface area for me to work on, yet collects clutter like its going out of style? Its beautiful!

Having said that - my neigborhood is one of the few that appears to allow fireworks. This is great, since we can all hang out on my front lawn to watch them going off everywhere. But this was Sasha and Silli’s first 4th. Poor darlings.

They hid under the kitchen sink. The kitchen sink! Poor dears. They were fine by 4am and let their pressence be known.

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I think I have convinced my boss to give me the week of Labour Day off. Now I am checking flights for Cambodia. I may not be able to make Vietnam, but Cambodia and a couple days at the beach in Thailand could make up for it.

Last night Sasha saw a bug outside the screen door in my family room. In her efforts to get the bug, I ended up with a 10-lb cat climbing my screen. I yelled, yanked her down, scolded her and watched her do it again. So I shut the door to a crack.

ONE HOUR LATER there was bug outside my bedroom screen door. Sasha sat there watching it. It was SILLI who proceeded to climb the screen to get the bug. I yelled and threw things (I was in bed) but she sat there suspended. I had to yank her off the screen and scold her. She just looked at me.

I shut the door to a crack. Silli then looked at me and softly mewed in utter dissapointment.

Damn cats.

In something that went right news: Carolina won the Stanley Cup. Woot! Up next - the NHL draft this Saturday. The next biggie is July 1st, which is when we loose rights to Alyn McCauley and Scott Thornton. Moves must be made! And the Sharks are in talks with Korky about coming back to take Eks spot on the Thornton-Cheechoo line. That would be cool!

Now its all about Thrusday and the US staying in the World Cup. Go Italy! Go USA!

On the house front, I am working on finishing the garage. Dad is teaching me how to put up wallboard, mud, texture, etc. It is coming along slowly, but smoothly.

Looking at my calendar, I have a 5-day weekend for the 4th of July. I think I am going to use this time to re-organise my office and paint it. Should be fun! Tnen I can look at window coverings to one of the windows to my street. I wouldn’t mind being able to close that.

Work is boring, but is about to get busy. This may have consequences on my travel plans this year. I won’t know until closer to the date. That sucks, but may be inevitable. I pushed the dates off at the request of some other travelers who want to go. I knew this was a risk, but it made sense at the time. Still does. Sometimes life does that - but I don’t have to be happy about it.

My sideboard does not support the weight of my new fish tank. Serious suckage here. So I am looking at modifying it to take the weight. I’m not sure that it is possible. My back up plan is me getting a quote from a local unfinished furnature shop to modify one of their entertaiment center designs to meet my requirements in a sideboard. The problem here is the potential cost. We’ll see. I really want to get this up and running.

I am also finally starting to look at pictures to hang on my walls. I like some, don’t like most. But I will get something together. Its just not as high on my priorities list as …. say … playing with the girls!

The girls are doing great. I have introduced them into the wonderful world of the garage. It is now their favorite place. I come home from work and let them go play. Their favorite spot is at the vents were they can look out at the birds from a different view. I have also trained them to go back into the house when I say inside and clap my hands. Works great!

I have been spending way too much time working on my Lions club website. It actually makes me feel a little bad that I haven’t spend that much effort on my own site in quite a while. But I suppose I can consider it practice for when I get back to mine.

In particular, I have been working on getting WordPress and Coppermine themes to align. I am slowly getting there. Check it out at our site. It is still a work in progress, but y’all know what you are looking at more that the guys at the club. Perhaps you can provide some good feedback for improvement/fixes/etc.

I need to solidify these WP and CPG themes before I can convert the rest of the site over to a similar template. Hopefully, that will be the easy step.

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OT:
Go Carolina! You can win it tonight!!!!
And may the US Football team actually play well Saturday against Italy. We need a win to stay in it!

God! I love Hockey!

I am a die hard Sharks fan[atic]. And its playoffs! There is so much good hockey going on right now it nigh makes me weep. And we are winning our series!

We have pretty much crushed the Preds. This is not to knock Nashville, whom I respect for their style of play and resolve to never give up. The Predators have shown through the entire season that they can keep their heads up and try to find that way to win right up to the last buzzer. And they haven’t failed in our series.

The Predators are fast with some incredibly skilled players - just look at the dynamic duo of Kariya with Sillinger. Where the Preds are lacking is in discipline and depth. And, well - size. They are a dirty little team that will attack with swipes to player knees and constant pounding on players ribs and wrists. Many have considered them weak because of the loss of their No. 1 netminder - but Mason has stepped up and is doing admirably. The goals against the Preds are coming from a breakdown of the defensive line. Which brings us back to size.

The First Line:
Sharks Predators (Defense)
Ekman: 6′0″, 185lbs Markov: 6′1″, 190lbs
Big Joe: 6′2″, 225lbs Witt: 6′2″, 205lbs
Cheech: 6′1″, 195lbs

The Second Line:
Sharks: Predators (Defense)
Michalek: 6′2″, 220lbs Timmonen: 5′10″, 196lbs
Marleau: 6′2″, 225lbs Hamhuis: 6′0″, 204lbs
Bernier: 6′2″, 233lbs

You start to get the idea.

And the Sharks. Wow. They are coming together. The depth on the team is truly incredible. And the slowest member on the team is probably Big Joe [or Jorges]. But good luck trying to take a puck from him! Big Joe’s puck control is absolutely incredible! And as Nashville is [correctly] putting their focus on shutting Joe and Cheech down, that is leaving tons of opportunities open for the other lines of the Sharks. The Sharks are playing smart and are showing off their abilities to cycle the puck down deep. We just need to squeeze a full 60 minutes worth of play out of them

In Game 1, the Sharks didn’t really start to skate until the second period. Silly. That cost us the game.
In Game 2, the Sharks skated a full 60 minutes. We shut the Preds out.
In Game 3, we dominated. Nashville picked up a goal when out blueliners pinched up too deep. But otherwise we controlled the puck 90% of the game. It was an awesome game, and showed the NHL just how good the Sharks can be.
In Game 4, we had a hap-hazard first period. A very good second and sat on our asses for the third. That Third period made the game much closer than it needed to be. But we won.

So now we need one more win to advance to the second rounds. Game 5 is on Sunday in Nashville. Nashville will be brutal this game. Its their home ice, and they have the best home record in the league. If they loose, they are out. So the Sharks had best show up for a full 60 minutes.

And pull Ekman. He’s injured and it shows. Move Smith up to Joe’s line and put Parker in with Rassmiller.

God! I Love Hockey!

I got this nifty little program on Sunday that will allow me to model the interior of my house. BadK will laugh at this program - but I think it will do me a lot of good. Especially in the visualization department. I look forward to the virtual house mods!

I should have the plane tickets for this summer’s trip ironed out this weekend. Dates have changed since Jule’s may be walking this June. She desrves all the support she can get after the years of Ph.D. hell.

New dates:
Departure: August 24
Return: September 10

Let me know if this doesn’t work. I haven’t heard from most of you, so I am assuming this will be a very small group this year.

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On another note, my brother is getting married in two weeks. Trippy. Still haven’t received my dress yet. When do you think I should start to worry?