Friday Five

You have just won one million dollars:
1. Who do you call first?
My son.
2. What is the first thing you buy for yourself?
Plastic surgery at a posh, exclusive clinic.
3. What is the first thing you buy for someone else?
Trust fund for grandkids’ private school education.
4. Do you give any away? If yes, to whom?
I’d offer gifts to a couple of my single friends and make a political contribution to ABB.
5. Do you invest any? If so, how?
I’d invest in my business and buy an annuity for retirement.

They should look on Cape

It’s working: the lobbying efforts of IT pros, coupled with in-company resistance by middle managers, is putting a damper on offshoring tech jobs.
Instead, some companies are now moving projects to U.S. cities where wages are 20-30% lower than in high tech centers like San Francisco.
In a recent survey commissioned by the Cape Cod Human Resources Association, it was found that salaries for managers on Cape are 25% lower than in other parts of Massachusetts.
Perhaps there’s hope for the resurrection of the Sili Sandbar.

Continue reading They should look on Cape

Friday Five

At this moment, what is your favorite
1. …song?
Take 6/Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band cover of the standard “It’s All Right With Me” on the CD “XXL”. This Christian music sextet can SWING.
2. …food?
Salmon, cooked just about any way – smoked, poached, grilled, mashed into cream cheese.
3. …tv show?
Miss Match, if it ever comes back, and The Apprentice on NBC.
4. …scent?
Beach roses and in the winter, Claire Burke Original.
5. …quote?
Tough one, there are so many. From the bulletin board next to my desk, Tiger Woods: “You must be tough enough mentally to handle all potential distractions”.

Mother and Father of the Year – Part II

Okay, I give up – what’s the excuse now for two able-bodied adults in their twenties, living off the charity of several Atlanta-area churches, for the brutal, ritual murder of a little 6 year old girl?
“She had been strangled and stabbed, and her back was broken, police said.
“She had numerous broken bones and compound fractures,” said Atlanta police public information officer John Quigley.”

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Polymorphism and Yu-Gi-Oh

I spent a great day yesterday with my eldest grandchild, Bob, aka Robert/Robby but never Bobby.
Bob is 8 and in third grade and bored with school, especially math, which he says is a rehash of things he studied two years ago when his Mom home schooled him.
He and his sister Emmeline may be “chips off the old/very old” when it comes to Mathematics. They both enjoy it and get good grades. Emme by the way is the same child who was praised recently in her father’s blog for her mastery of fractions: “If you eat six eighths of a pizza, you’re a pig.”

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Offshoring, Redux

A new evil associated with offshoring: data entry of financial AND medical records is being offshored not only to “legitimate” IT firms, but even to prisons!
Doesn’t that cause your heart to palpitate, knowing that your financial records might be available to folks who are in prison, both in this country and abroad.
Furthermore, even in “legitimate” IT environments, there is no enforcement of US privacy laws that would otherwise apply to the most sensitive information.

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But Why?

So, Bush did an end run around the Democratic caucus and appointed Charles Pickering, Sr., to federal appeals court.
Unless Pickering is confirmed by the full Senate – deemed “unlikely” by the New York Times, his appointment will expire in October, at which point, he will be forced to retire from the bench.

Continue reading But Why?