RottenHeaded WrongBoy (Hippoglossus mordax)

Canning

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:10:10 GMT

Due to improper use of my CSA, I now have about a gallon of frozen strawberries and I want to make jam.

I am happy to invest in jars, lids, rings, pectin, sugar, etc. But I really don't want to blow $50 on a giant canning pan, jar tongs, etc.

So I send this request out into the aether -- can someone lend me these useful things? I promise to return them promptly, clean, and if I damage them, replace 'em.

I can pay for their use with... you guessed it... strawberry jam!

Otherwise it's a lifetime of smoothies for my kids.

Rising from the ashes

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:22:20 GMT

Damn, what a busy month.

1) Snowy Xmas mess in Seattle
2) Quitting old job
3) 5-year-old birthday
4) My graduation
5) New job and related craziness

But the interesting reason I am posting is because I just found another guy from my deep past. Leo Y., a developer from Borland on Quattro Pro, now works with me at NetApp. Odd.

Highway 17 page of shame

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:42:14 GMT

For those of you lovely readers who don't get to Jalopnik regularly and who miss the lovely HW 17 page of shame... I submit to you this lovely vision of California excess:

http://jalopnik.com/5100049/when-black-friday-comes

Enjoy!

New fruits

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:28:24 GMT

This week I cooked with quince for the first time... I made an quince+applesauce that turned out GREAT! I love the extra texture the quice added and I appreciate my ability to control what cooks down when so the chunkiness is the way I like.

Also, it's better than the stuff in jars. It's thicker, sweeter, and richer. I did let it cook for quite a while so it's a bit like apple butter at times. I also like the quince fragrance. V suggested I put in some cinnamon so I threw in 4 sticks. Awesome.

I found some grass-fed organic beef on sale, too, and made a roast. Even my picky girls liked it. And pumpkin bread got baked tonight. I am a domestic goddess.

Meme: No on 8

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:56:45 GMT

Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a heterosexual marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

Here's one for JD -- anatomy of a monster

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 05:44:49 GMT

Classic anatomical drawings of Japanese movie monsters.

http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/10/kaiju-anatomical-drawings/

Awesome.

Oh my!

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:16:55 GMT

Even in my jet-lagged stress-addled world I know this video is a classic.

Or maybe it's just that I'm jet lagged and stress addled.

http://www.tatami.in/

Click on the big yellowish button for some Japanese fun!

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:02:49 GMT

Crazy week in Brazil now ends. It has been interesting, fun, disturbing, and educational.

I mostly can't wait to get back to my girls.

Ivy League Connections

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:16:43 GMT

Here's an interesting video if you're into economic policy, what's up with the current crisis, and the big O.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubBFIw6HedQ

Most interesting to me, of course, is my friend Laura Tyson just to Obama's right. She was my international finance prof and we've been corresponding via email since. WICKED smart, one of the billion women more qualified to be prez than stinky ole "Caribou Barbie".

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:09:30 GMT

W. H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Why Frontier Airlines Sucks

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:51:46 GMT

Hooray for yet another airline going down the toilet.

Frontier just officially got rid of one of the last services that benefitted both the airlines and passengers -- the ability to fly standby. This fine feature that allowed airlines to fill unused seats and passengers to get to their destinations early... well they now charge full "fare-change" fees for moving to earlier flights. I guess they thought they could monetize the process of flying standby or something.

How stupid. Now I am stuck on my original flight with no possibility of parole. And they're stuck with their lame overbooking policies. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes for them to notice they're losing both money (on rebookings due to overbookings) and passengers (I'm pissed, I assume others are, too).

Lame.

Anyway, here I sit in DIA until 12:30 pm Mountain.

Employed again

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:00:25 GMT

Well, after way way WAY too much drama, I'm finally re-employed at the Crisco Disco in what is basically my same group. I start in a new job role on Monday the 1st. I'll be doing some architect-level virtualization work on my way to a CTO position.

They've promised me a raise/promotion in the near term as bait to keep me with the Borg. I'll see if my external job nibbles pan out and if they're any better. I'm reluctant to take a job based on a 'possible' promotion but it's better than what I had...

I'll miss my old boss, but not my old job.

Cross your fingers for me that the external places offer me big bucks. I could use a cash infusion these days.

Jonesian Media Roundup

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:56:52 GMT

C has been engrossed in the Olympics (O-lympics = 0-troubles, No-lympics = No troubles) so I've been watching NetFlix streamed video to my laptop. Good stuff Maynard.

Countryman - 6 out of 10
This film has the feel of a Blacksploitation flick from 10 years before it was filmed. Film quality is poor and the acting is spotty. Still, it's a great film. 1/2 stoner flick and 1/2 Dolomite with some James Bond thrown in. Filmed in Jamaica with many of the actors just being locals that showed up at the shoots. Murder! Intrigue! Lots of dope smoking and Rastafarian religious stuff.

King of Kong - 9 out of 10
Damn, what a great film. All about beating the standing records for vintage video games. Anybody who has kids will appreciate Steve's first record-breaking Donkey Kong score footage. Lots of mind games and oddity but with a real personal feel. This documentary is my #1 in the last year or so.

Quelques jours en Septembre - 8 out of 10
You might think this French-ish film set in France and Italy is too self absorbed but I think it's an excellent interpretation of older French films reset in the modern era. Sort of dark, but bubbly. Lots of late night talks between the characters on the meaning of life which can get tedious but seem to fit the overall feel of the film pretty well. Watch out of Nick Nolte at the end! Who the hell put him in this flick? Juliette Binoche is awesome in everything but is the kernel that keeps this film from sucking and brings it to coolness. Oh, and I love a film that has subtitles for EVERYONE because it's in so many languages (in this case, Arabic, English, French, and Italian).

There, Doug, I posted some movie stuff. Happy now?

A pretty good day at the Brazilian consulate

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 02:41:54 GMT

It was a pretty good day... started with a suprise from V that she'd slept all night in big-girl underpants without wetting the bed. Woah.

Then, on the way up to the Brazilian consulate in SF, I got a call from a hiring manager which is currently my #1 desired new job. We talked for about 1.5 hours about all sorts of things -- he's a good guy, I think. More formal suit-and-tie interviews will start next week so I'm pretty stoked. I've got a bunch of internal interviews at Frisco Friskems on Monday, too. Either job would be a much needed raise and promotion.

Then the line at the consulate wasn't too long or unpleasant so I got my visa application in record time. I should have everything back early next week.

It's too bad both C and I have colds (with the little ones showing signs of early illness). It must be the jobless stress and the travel to NYC that did it.

Still, a pretty good day.

Things I've noticed

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:05:58 GMT

One becomes unemployed right when the economy tanks. High unemployment is one of the definitions of having a tanked economy. I'll need to keep that in mind once we're back on our feet. Save $$ for tanking economy. Check.

It's now officially one month since I was canned. I have a couple of interesting prospects but no calls back from any agency outside of my current employer. How long does this take?

By the way, when I am next in a position to influence the HR aspects of a corporation I will be very very careful to whom I outsource my hiring. Some fun parts thus far:

1) Taleo (a company which handles hiring for several large tech firms) has a buggy backend/database/server. Be very careful how you move through their javascript frontend. Be sure to exit the app completely about every 10 minutes. Otherwise it'll crash on you part way through the resume process and leave you hanging. apply2jobs.com is another buggy system. Seriously, every system I have applied through (30 in total?) has had some sort of problem. Maybe I spent too long in QA but that's a bad average.

2) Resumix and related services just suck. I got a verbal offer for a job with my current employer and submitted my resume. A day later I got a "you don't meet the qualifications" email. I called the hiring manager. She said the recruiter is an idiot and that the offer still stands. But seriously. This company is having issues attracting talent? I bet I know why!

3) If you are a recruiter or work in HR or do hiring -- apply for your own job reqs! If you get frustrated and annoyed at how pointlessly complicated and convoluted the system is... if you get angry at the way the forms try to shoehorn everyone into one (broken) mold... if you find yourself too pissed off to finish the application yourself... perhaps you should fire your HR team?

Telesurgery

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:31:38 GMT

I love this idea of remote surgery using remotely controlled arms and actuators. It was based on equipment used to dampen human motion during microsurgery (tiny robot arms that don't wobble on the micro level). So I give you this fine URL of some remotely controlled surgical equipment being used to fold origami. Watch for the suprise ending!

http://news.3yen.com/2008-06-15/telesurgerical-robo-origami/

Flash gaming galore

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:23:57 GMT

I recently found this amusing little flash game

http://www.skt-products.com/contents/hikkoshi.html

Called "Hikkoshi moving team" or the Japanese equivalent. Amusing to think that the Japanese have the same negative opinion of house movers that the rest of us do. Plus, a seige engine! Yeah! Bet you can't beat my 12667 score!

Also, years ago, Jasona showed me a set of games by David Scott called Tower Defence or TD. The original was great

http://novelconcepts.co.uk/FlashElementTD/

And I find it more interesting now that I've had a formal education both in microeconomics and game theory. This guy is genius. A follow-on version is

http://www.candystand.com/play.do?id=18047

And if you can stand the Wrigley commercial beforehand, the game is another strategy/microeconomics winner. You must save your cash, baby, or you WILL DIE. Hint: only every upgrade your % return, never your weapons. The bankers will rule the world

Through the valley of darkness

Mon, 26 May 2008 15:35:16 GMT

And out the other side!

Due to the good graces of tea, pedialyte, saltines, and rice we have survived.

Last night around 5:00 I was officially not nauseous anymore. I was totally exhausted and stiff, though. It was like I spent the last two days without sleep being beaten by sock full of quarters. Ugh.

Now, after decent night of sleep (baby was only up 3 times in the night) we're new-borns. Weak, sure, but hopeful.

My secret to weight loss success!

Sun, 25 May 2008 13:27:22 GMT

I've lost 5-10 pounds this month.

...

Actually, I lost 5-10 pounds this week.

...

In truth, I lost 5-10 pounds last night.

It's been a lovely 12 hours of barfing, shaking, shivering, moaning, and watching my lovely bride do the same. Top it off with the almost-2-year-old being restless every 2 hours and the 4-year-old getting up at 6:00.

I would say that I feel like crap in a microwave but I suspect the crap enjoys the microwave more than I'm enjoying this morning.

Let's hope the baby at least sleeps late and takes a long nap. Otherwise the idiot box will do some baby sitting today while their mom and I huddle wearily in a corner trying not to hurl.

Bugs bugs everywhere

Sat, 24 May 2008 18:59:13 GMT

A few weeks ago I had a friend-of-a-friend mail me some pink-winged stick insects (Sipyloidea sipylus). I received two adults and some 50+ eggs via priority mail. I wasn't sure they'd survive the trip but the adults at least did. Interesting fact: these are parthenogenic species so my adults (all female) lay fertile eggs without any male present.

Well, eventually the eggs started hatching and now I've got a nice colony of spindly little guys in a terrarium. Maybe 20 babies and the two adults. At this point I've observed:

1) hatching
2) molting
3) feeding
4) drinking
5) egg laying

So I figure they're doing pretty well!

If you're interested in having some of your very own (JD?) then let me know. I'll be in Oakland/Berkeley area on Thursday/Friday/Sat of next week and can even deliver.

Here's a link to a care sheet that's pretty okay.
http://www.insectstore.com/pink_winged_stick_insect_sipyloidea_sipylus_caresheet.php

I would have posted this earlier... but, well, you know...

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:16:10 GMT

From my friend Ray Fisman

http://www.slate.com/id/2191140/pagenum/all/#page_start

Geekin' it up

Tue, 06 May 2008 16:43:35 GMT

Reading a kids book last week I noticed the bus had the designation "NCC 1701" on the side.

I'm a total nerd, dude.

OMFG!

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:27:39 GMT

JD! Get online quickly! They're defrosting the colossal squid and will begin dissection at 2:00 PM PT.

*swoon*

http://machinist.salon.com/

Another odd antique Japanese artform

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:55:49 GMT

Yet another great set of images from Pink Tentacle.

http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/04/kage-e-shadow-pictures/

The first one is the oddest by far... what, in the name of all that is holy, is a "flying tanuki?" and where did it get those... eeek.

I pity da fool

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:32:04 GMT

I'm currently listening to the LoTR on Audio Book while commuting or (ha ha!) running.

I really pity the poor guy who has to read this stuff. He does a great job, mind you, and gets all the goofy elf names and dwarf history and related crap out of his mouth and at least reasonably pronounced. But you know those long epic poems ole J.R.R. stuck in every few pages? The ones you just skip because they drag on and on and on and talk about Garfidel the wise and Elapidae the unkempt? This poor narrator has to read them. And for the songs he has to make up tunes. It's painful.

They need to make skipping over stuff easier on the iPoo'ed UI for my car.