People have given me sanctimonious advice my whole life about how looks don’t matter, it’s what’s inside that counts, etc.
As anyone who had the misfortune to grow up homely knows, that’s a pantload.
And telling people who weren’t born lucky in looks that if they would only change their at-ti-tude, they would be happy/rich/successful – well, it just adds insult to injury.
Clear Today, Snow Tomorrow
Misery, thy name is Mashpee.
Only kidding.
Yesterday, my neighbors and I dug out of the 36 inch+ Blizzard of 2005, the worst in 100 years of recorded history on Cape Cod.
I guess there’s comfort in assuming that we won’t get another one like this for another 100 years.
The Meaning of Team
I cringe when I read job descriptions for technology positions that mention the word “team”.
I’ve worked in a couple of environments in which this word was bandied about by clones of Jack from “Lord of the Flies”. These people had no idea, no clue in heaven or hell, of what it means to lead a team.
And I think I know why.
The Blizzard of 2005
They showed hurricane warning flags in Chatham last night, and from the sound of the wind here, they were right to do so.
Day 4
It’s the start of Day 4 with no furnace. Right now, it’s about 3 degrees outside and 51 in the house.
Fortunately, the water pipes still seem to be okay.
The computers are happy: my PC, which had been making a regular groaning noise for months, is humming pleasantly, whether due to the temperature in the office or the fixes I made earlier this week.
Bubble Wrap
Sealed Air, the company that invented bubble wrap, invites us to join them in celebrating the 5th annual National Bubble Wrap
No Furnace, Day 3
I live in a house with a forced hot air heating system by natural gas, and at 4 AM three days ago, the circuit board that controls the fan died.
It’s a semi-old system, we think it was installed around 1990, so getting parts is a challenge because the circuit board manufacturer has changed the design.
Thus, it’s a guessing game which new version is compatible with my system.
George Bush Has Made the World More Dangerous
So what makes those Europeans so much smarter than half the voting public in the US?
Problems Solved
I’ve been having a weird problem for weeks, if not months, with Visual Studio .NET, my main development environment.
VS.NET crashed every time I tried to open a file from the IDE.
This is more than a minor nuisance, since there are times you HAVE to open a dialog window; for example, if you want to add an unregistered reference to a project. It had become such a vexation that I was ready – more than ready – to replace my PC.
To the Trash
I’ve been increasingly irritated by the spam mails from John Kerry, which seem to be more frequent now that the Electoral College vote has been made official.
Conspicuously absent from any meaningful participation in the election protests, Kerry now seems to feel he has a right to lead the loyal opposition through four more years of George Bush.