« February 2006 | Main | April 2006 »
March 30, 2006
Anonymous Comments
When I enabled the OpenID login (for LiveJournal users), I had to disable "require email address" to comment. This isn't usually a problem, but someone posted a comment today without providing any identifying information. (It won't show up on the page, 'cause I have comment review enabled, and I haven't published it).
If it was you, please re-post the comment and provide a name + email address.
That is all.
Posted by dberger at 5:07 PM | Comments (0)
Good Night, and Good Luck
I'm feeling a bit under the weather - nothing horrible, just a bit achy, beginnings of a cough that makes my head throb. In any event, last night seemed like a good night to just veg after dinner, so we watched Good Night, and Good Luck.
I've always liked David Strathairn and Frank Langella, and and they were both excellent.
Definitely worth watching.
Posted by dberger at 7:54 AM | Comments (0)
March 29, 2006
When your time is "too valuable" to do what you enjoy
I had a brief, but thought-provoking conversation with a friend of mine the other night. He's on the Windows team at Microsoft, and I was venting a bit to him about my frustration in my role at Real (bureaucrat) and how I want to get back to doing "real work."
He echoed several of the statements that have been made to me around here: that I'm "too valuable" to the organization to sequester me on a single project, and relating how he's had similar experiences, that as one of the senior technical folks in an organization, the pressure to move up into broader - and at the same time more shallow - roles is sometimes overwhelming.
Continue reading "When your time is "too valuable" to do what you enjoy"
Posted by dberger at 9:18 AM | Comments (1)
March 28, 2006
The Planets
Whew. I'm on a roll. Just finished The Planets by Dava Sobel - author of the absolute must-read Longitude.
Much like Spook vs. Stiff, The Planets isn't a bad book, but it didn't grab me by the throat and demand that I complete it in one sitting, as Longitude did. It's a light romp through the discovery of the major bodies in our solar system, and as a tool to get someone interested in reading more, it's probably pretty good.
For someone who's already read more, however, I found little new between it's covers. I did very much like the chapter written from the perspective of "Big Al" the Martian meteorite found several years ago which supports the assertion that life once existed on Mars.
It's worth a read from the library, but I'd pass on the hardcover, myself.
Posted by dberger at 7:42 PM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2006
V for Vendetta
Tomorrow is Brad's birthday, so this morning, Dawnise and I, Brad and Kat, and Todd and Bronywn met for brunch at Doc's and then caught the 1pm show of V for Vendetta.
After League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, my hopes for Alan Moore derived work were pretty low, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised.
I've never read the book on which the film was based, and I understand they took some liberties with the story (most notably transforming the "fascism vs. anarchy" theme of the book into "fascism vs. democracy"), so if you're a fan of the comic and hated the movie 'cause it wasn't "like the book" I can only say that it may not be like the book but, like Constantine, it was a reasonably good movie.
It's almost enough to reddeem the Wachowski Brothers from part of the pure suck that were the 2nd and 3rd Matrix films...
Almost...
Posted by dberger at 4:40 PM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2006
First steps into a larger world
Dawnise and I made our first visit to the B.I. Sushi House this evening for dinner. It all started yesterday, when my boss and I went to the local sushi place near work (Flying Fish) for a business lunch, sat for 20-odd minutes without even ordering, and ended up grabbing Subway on our way back to the office. Sushi-interruptus.
We sat at the bar in front of the chef, so we could watch him work. Dawnise ordered a spicy tuna roll and a cucumber roll, and I did my usual - some sashimi, some sushi, and a roll or two - all his choice - and a Kirin.
Continue reading "First steps into a larger world"
Posted by dberger at 9:23 PM | Comments (0)
Spook
Just finished Spook, by Mary Roach, author of Stiff.
A good read, very much in the style of Stiff, but less fulfilling overall. The lengths to which people have tried, since the evolution of modern science to prove or disprove the paranormal are fascinating. Of course, the skeptics tend to use science, whereas the believers use assertion, hunch, and anecdote.
If you liked Stiff, read Spook. If you haven't read Stiff, I'd start there.
Posted by dberger at 4:21 PM | Comments (0)
March 23, 2006
Disappointed
Well, so much for the Tina Dico show. Dawnise came into the city, we had a very nice dinner with Scott and Megan at Ipanema, and caught a cab for Chop Suey.
It wasn't 'till the doors had opened, and we were going inside that would could get a glimpse of the set list. Tina wasn't on 'till 11.
And I have early meetings tomorrow.
So we claimed our tickets, looked around inside (what a dive), and decided to head back to the ferry. We had a leisurely walk 'till Dawnise tripped on some uneven pavement and tumbled down the hill a bit. She's ok - a skinned knee and bruised elbow.
We walked on to the 9pm ferry a few moments before it pulled out of the dock, and we'll be home in bed pretty much as normal. As she was performing triage on her knee, a bicyclist offered her a band-aid, which - she admonished me just now - is very important, and worthy of mention.
Color me bummed.
Posted by dberger at 8:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2006
A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
I've been waiting for someone to build this for years (thanks Jakob), ever since I first ran into the Media Lab work on eInk.
One day, in the not-to-distant future, we'll think of books the same way many of us think about CDs - as rights to access the contained material, and something that we need to find a place to store, but never actually use.
(Actually, the version I want is a book, with real pages that can be turned, but this looks like a good start.)
Posted by dberger at 7:53 AM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2006
Time to start thinking about a car
We've had Dawnises (now "our") Saturn since late '95 - it's got about 94k miles on it, and it's generally been a very reliable car. Other than routine maintenance, the only trouble we've had with it was a transmission problem a couple years back.
When I noticed the oil leak a week or so back, we started talking about when we should think about buying a new car - and we decided that this may be the year. As much as I'd like a roadster of some kind or another, it's really hard to justify a two-seater as the only car.
Conveniently enough, the annual Consumer Reports car edition just arrived, so I flipped through it looking for potential compromises.
At the moment, a BMW 3-series convertible is in the lead. Given their price (starting around $40k), we're probably talking about a used one, possibly a lease return. They get good marks for reliability, safety, and depreciation, so I can pretend to be making a sensible decision.
No hard dates yet - but late Q2/early Q3 of this year.
Posted by dberger at 3:53 PM | Comments (0)
Deer
Today was absolutely beautiful - a spring day, weather in the low 50's, bright blue sky, white fluffy clouds. we took some chairs and the cats onto the back deck and read in the sun 'till the sun dipped behind the trees and clouds and the temperature dropped.
We came inside, and a few minutes later Dawnise called me into the bathroom in time to see three deer staring at her through the window. We spent the next half hour watching them graze on the blackberry brambles. Took some pictures, but I'm too lazy to post them.
Posted by dberger at 3:02 PM | Comments (0)
Wicked
Last night I finally finished Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. I had high hopes for the book, even as I continued to plow through a mostly mediocre delivery, I kept waiting for the hook - the next page that really got the roller-coaster rolling.
I was waiting 'till the very end.
It wasn't that it was a bad book - far from it, it's just that it took a great concept (tell the story of the Wizard of Oz from the perspective of the "bad" guy) and fell a little short in it's delivery. While I liked where Maguire tried to take the character, I have to admit I could never completely reconcile the misunderstood accidental villain with the out-and-out evil from Baum's story (ok, I admit it - when I say story I mean movie).
I've got a couple of his others sitting on a shelf (bought them at Costco a while back), including Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and Mirror, Mirror, but for the moment, I'm taking a break and starting Spook, by Mary Roach, who wrote the completely engrossing Stiff.
Posted by dberger at 2:52 PM | Comments (0)
March 15, 2006
Cleaning up after "professionals"
Long story short, I got myself into a car-repair bind the other day and had to pay someone to bail me out.
The longer story is that I noticed a small oil leak on our remaining Saturn SL2. After a bit of poking around under the hood, I decided it was the valve cover gasket - which seems to be a common failure in this vintage Saturn.
So Sunday I made a few phone calls, and no one local had the gasket, but one shop (and some online postings) recommended using RTV Silicon gasket maker, so I took the bike to the local auto parts store and picked some up.
Fast forward a couple hours - I took the car apart, applied the gasket maker per instructions, put it all together, and let it setup for the required hour, plus another thirty minutes for good measure. Dawnise and I left to do some running around, and about half way through it, we smelled burning oil and saw wisps of smoke from under the hood.
Continue reading "Cleaning up after "professionals""
Posted by dberger at 9:12 PM | Comments (0)
March 14, 2006
Tina Dico in Seattle
Just bought tickets for Tina Dico's [rhapsody] show at Chop Suey on the 23rd of this month.
Any other Tina fans in Seattle?
Posted by dberger at 5:24 PM | Comments (0)
Sting-ing lyrics
I had forgotten how much I liked Shape of My Heart. When I saw Granian play in Seattle, he played it near the end of his set (with an impromptu guest appearance by Scott) - and it's even better acoustic.
Posted by dberger at 5:15 PM | Comments (0)
March 11, 2006
Signs of Ageing (Old Cars, and Old People)
I've had grey hair for years - not sure when it first appeared, but there's grey mixed in with the brown on both sides of my head. The other night I looked close enough in the mirror to realize there's now grey in my beard as well.
Sheesh.
In other news, I discovered our Saturn is leaking oil. I noticed a couple drops of something petroleum based on the garage floor the other day, but since I had just worked on the bikes in that spot, including draining clutch fluid, I didn't immediately conclude that the car was leaking. Today I noticed it again and stuck my head under the car - sure enough, there's an oil leak somewhere. Looking at it from both sides, it looks like the valve cover gasket - which seems a common problem on mid 90's Saturns. Fortunately, it's also a fairly easy repair - just need some gasket maker and an hour or two. I'm not interested in getting oily today, so I'll probably punt it for tomorrow.
After our HOA meeting this morning (at our place) we met with a landscaper - the landscaping arm of the company that did our deck. We talked him through what we were thinking, and on Tuesday morning we'll sit down and formalize the proposal. Should only take a couple weeks (and money, of course) to turn the mud into a yard. Looking forward to that.
Dawnise and Kat just went garage sailing (sic) - it's Kat's birthday today, so we're planning to head over there this evening with Jello-shots in tow. Should be entertaining.
Posted by dberger at 2:00 PM | Comments (1)
March 8, 2006
Cut to the quick
I had lunch with a couple of folks on the east side yesterday. Unbeknownst to me (though I should have suspected, in hindsight) what I thought was "just lunch" was, in fact, an interview.
During the 15 minute synopsis of my experience, while describing my role at Real, my intervewer observed "sounds like you're a bureaucrat, not an engineer." I responded that his remark was stinging, but essentially true.
24 hours later, it still stings.
I gotta fix this.
Posted by dberger at 11:59 AM | Comments (2)
March 5, 2006
Firefly for the chronically stingy
The Firefly DVD set is on sale for $25 at Amazon
Come on, just buy it already.
Posted by dberger at 6:13 PM | Comments (1)
Canine Interruptus
Dawnise and I made a decision this morning that our dog search has to go on hold 'till we've actually gotten the place ready to accept a dog.
Continue reading "Canine Interruptus"
Posted by dberger at 1:49 PM | Comments (0)
March 4, 2006
The Jury's Still Out
We trucked up to Port Angeles early this afternoon to pay a call on Luke and Kayla. On our way we had our first meal at India Oven - one of only three Indian restaurants we know of on our side of the peninsula.
The north-west has a serious lack of good Indian food - there's a place on the island, and it's terrible. There's a place in Silverdale - same owners as on the island, and while we haven't eaten there, we walked in once, and walked out before ordering. India Oven wasn't bad. It wasn't going to win any awards when stacked up against places like Diamond Palace or Taj Palace (both highly recommended if you're in their respective areas), but compared to most of the Indian we've had since moving up here, it was very serviceable.
Continue reading "The Jury's Still Out"
Posted by dberger at 6:02 PM | Comments (0)
Cold Feet
I've been keeping my eye on petfinder.org for dogs that look like suitable candidates for adoption. The main criteria is young with no history of violence toward cats, or older with a documented history of living with cats. I've been trying to avoid breeds that the insurance folks are convinced are pure evil, and targeting mid to large dogs (no toy poodles or Mexican sewer rats, thank-you-very-much).
Despite living with dogs all her life (well, until we moved out, at any rate), Dawnise has never actually looked for one; like our three cats, they've all found her - so she finds the whole process sorta strange.
Continue reading "Cold Feet"
Posted by dberger at 8:11 AM | Comments (1)
March 2, 2006
Step 0: Insure The Unit is Plugged-in
A colleague, who I consider generally bright, spent "all day" debugging a problem with a PHP script that was behaving strangely making LDAP calls.
"Did you make sure PHP was compiled with the LDAP module?" I asked.
"I'm way past that" was his response.
He described his troubleshooting steps, which seemed reasonable, so I returned to my office with a promise that I'd drop him an IM if I found anything interesting.
When I got there, I IM'd the guy who admins the server that the code was running on, asking him for an account with shell access. Sure enough, the php-ldap module wasn't installed.
There's a lesson here. Always check the simple things before you start digging. Once you've checked the simplest thing, check the next, and the next, and methodically proceed until you've found the problem. It may take a while - the problem may, in fact, be deep, but many problems aren't - and you've got a much better chance of finding what you're looking for with a plan.
Finding a needle in a haystack is simple - it just takes a long time. (Assuming you can't just torch the haystack and sift the ashes...)
Oh, the colleague? He gave up for the day moments before I made my discovery, so I'll have to wait 'till tomorrow to find out if I was right.
Posted by dberger at 8:22 PM | Comments (0)
March 1, 2006
Another one bites the dust...
Fuck.
Another clueful colleague and friend just pulled the rip cord.
There goes my day...
Posted by dberger at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)