Current Brainstorms
Wednesday, May 29, 2002
I'm ticked off at Microsoft over their Dungeon Siege Demo. I played the stupid thing for many hours... but the main reason was that it kept locking up and crashing on me. After I finally get it running stable, I finish the "10%" demo which was supposed to involve approximately 8 hours of game play in 2.5 hours. Now I know I wasn't just lolling around, but I certainly wasn't just cruising through the game. After fighting with my computer, I get close to victory and it just quits on me. GRRRR!!!!!
Ah well. This evening we had the end of school celebration with our bible study. We decided to go to Main Event to bowl and play some Laser Tag. I enjoyed the laser tag much more than I did the bowling. I did come close to breaking a hundred in one game. That's an accomplishment for me. Trust me. My second game was much more typical. 67
11:49 PM Posted by Big Dave
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I have a new cousin.
Announcing Rachel Rollins Warren was born to Mike and Sheila Warren May 29, 2002, at 4:00 P.M. Making her debut at 6 pounds 6 ounces and 18 inches long.
More pictures
11:42 PM Posted by Big Dave
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I'm not entirely sure what benefit it is, but I just ran across a list of just about every catalog you can imagine. All scanned and put on-line.
Anyone need a catalog?
12:35 PM Posted by Big Dave
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Monday, May 27, 2002
Today is Memorial Day. I think this has a completely different context for many people of the younger generations.
This weekend I had a blast. We ended up making a day trip out of our tubing trip. After we finished on the river we took a trip into Austin in pursuit of an elusive
Disc Golf course. After a frustrating and confusing following venture, we finally found the course a park off of Lamar. I had never tried Disc Golf before. I always get frustrated b/c I can't get a disc to go straight. It always curves. At least it's consistant and I can usually predict it. Anyway, the golfing didn't last long b/c the light was failing. We headed back and stopped to eat at
Threadgill's. The last time I had been there, I went with my dad and I remember The Greatful Dead were playing in the big bar behind the restraunt.
This coming weekend is a wedding in Baytown. I have just been informed that I have been promoted from usher to grooms man. I still need to get a present.
3:55 PM Posted by Big Dave
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Saturday, May 25, 2002
I had turned down a couple of invitations for my evening's entertainment and was quite willing to enjoy a game of Dungeon Siege and be anti-social however, I got a call from my friend
Christi. (How's that for a run on sentence?) Christi turned 24 today, technically yesterday, (Happy Birthday Christ!) and they were going out to a
comedy club. I figured it was some sort of sign since everyone was trying to get me out of the house...
After getting our wires crossed and meeting at the club instead of Matt's place, we bought tickets and got in line. I really had a good time.
Jeff Dunham was the headliner, but I really enjoyed the other guy as well. It was Gary something or other. They made me laugh so hard I almost forgot about the costly admission and the 2 drink minimum. The 2 drink min. wouldn't be so bad if they didn't cost 4.50 a pop. It was fun and I'm glad I went. Possibly a very good date place.
Tomorrow I'm going with them tubing down the Comal River. We'll head to
New Braunfels and get some tubes. In other words, I need to get packed and get in bed. (on a stick)
1:03 AM Posted by Big Dave
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Thursday, May 23, 2002
Washington Post - 5/23 --
OPEN SOURCE FIGHT FLARES AT PENTAGON (Excerpt Below)
Microsoft Corp. is aggressively lobbying the Pentagon to squelch its growing use of freely distributed computer software and switch to proprietary systems such as those sold by the software giant, according to officials familiar with the campaign. In what one military source called a "barrage" of contacts with officials at the Defense Information Systems Agency and the office of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld over the past few months, the company said "open source" software threatens security and its intellectual property. But the effort may have backfired. A May 10 report prepared for the Defense Department concluded that open source often results in more secure, less expensive applications and that, if anything, its use should be expanded. "Banning open source would have immediate, broad, and strongly negative impacts on the ability of many sensitive and security-focused DoD groups to protect themselves against cyberattacks," said the report, by Mitre Corp. A Microsoft Corp. spokesman acknowledged discussions between the company and the Pentagon but denied urging a ban on open-source software. He also said Microsoft did not focus on potential security flaws. John Stenbit, an assistant secretary of defense and the Defense Department's chief information officer, said that Microsoft has said using free software with commercial software might violate companies' intellectual-property rights. Stenbit said the issue is legally "murky." The company also complained that the Pentagon is funding research on making free software more secure, which in effect subsidizes Microsoft's open-source competitors, Stenbit said. Software is designated open source when its underlying computer code is available for anyone to license, enhance or customize, often at no cost. The theory is that by putting source code in the public domain, programmers worldwide can improve software by sharing one another's work. Vendors of the proprietary systems, such as Microsoft and Oracle Corp., keep their source codes secret, control changes to programs and collect all licensing fees for their use. Government agencies use a patchwork of systems and software, and proprietary software is still the most widely used. But open source has become more popular with businesses and government. The Mitre report said open-source software "plays a more critical role in the DoD than has been generally recognized." The report said banning open-source software would drive up costs, though it offered no specifics. Stenbit said that the debate is academic and that what matters is how secure a given piece of software is. To that end, the Defense Department is now prohibited from purchasing any software that has not undergone security testing by the NSA. Stenbit said he is unaware of any open-source software that has been tested.
4:35 PM Posted by Big Dave
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Here's an interesting tidbit that I didn't know until a few moments ago.
H-E-B foodstores owns the new
Central Market foodstores. And H-E-B's corporate headquarters are in
San Antonio, Texas.
I couldn't find an address on the page so I did a
reverse lookup on the
jobline phone number.
11:54 AM Posted by Big Dave
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Tuesday, May 21, 2002
Star Wars: AOTC was even better the second time. I got to go check it out on the digital projection system at
Cinemark Legacy in Plano. Instead of sitting there and wishing they would hurry up and get to the good stuff, I took it all in. And the sound... For an audiophile it was movie heaven. Too bad that theatre is such a long way away.
The
FilmHobbit.com has been recommended as an excellent independent reviewing web-site
I have a new project to work on. I'm going to build a little resume/job postings web site for my church's career transitions group. It should be fun. I've been having trouble lately even desiring to sit in front of the computer. Hopefully this will get me interested again. Now... if only I can keep the cats from trying to help me type.
11:17 PM Posted by Big Dave
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Occasionally you have to laugh at the requirements they put on some of these
jobs.
Zen-level knowledge of ASP, COM, SQL, VB/VBScript, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, XML/XSLT, HTTP.
If you don't understand what they are asking for don't worry about it... Just wonder what being a budhist has anything to do with this position.
9:10 AM Posted by Big Dave
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Monday, May 20, 2002
I've been thinking recently about other careers that I might pursue.
My current top choice would be to go to Japan and become a sumo wrestler. I'd be Tamagochi Dave. My youth think I should be a figure skater, but I quickly dash their dreams by pointing out that I can't skate. They would also like me to go work at Sonic and get them free drinks and ice cream and stuff.
I also think I could be a stunt man. I could go to work in Hollywood specializing in driving busses or taking a punch. I'd also be a great demolitions person for movies. Just let me blow things up. Hmm... on second thought, maybe that isn't my best idea.
1:59 PM Posted by Big Dave
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This morning I woke up with a giant knot in my back. I was thinking about going to a masseuse, but rethought that after I remembered that they can charge 60-80 dollars an hour. Instead I settled on getting one of those massage things I'd seen on TV and walked by several time in the stores. I ended up with a
$40 investment that I think is well worth it.
Also, I came across
this page while investigating local massage centers. It's talking about the inportance of drinking water and some of the nasty things involved with drinking cokes/pop/soda (whatever you want to call it). All I can say is eh. But I still don't think they can completly deter me from my Diet Cokes.
1:10 PM Posted by Big Dave
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Thursday, May 16, 2002
Well I'm back after spending almost 7 hours on the road today. Enough time in the car for one day.
7:32 PM Posted by Big Dave
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Star Wars 2 = Action + Boring love story = Sweet
I think the funniest part was the hour and a half before the show actually started. They had a beach ball and lightsabers. One guy even got up in front and gave us his C3PO dance. What an odd crowd. Now to bed young Padewan.
3:19 AM Posted by Big Dave
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Tuesday, May 14, 2002
One interview down, one to go. The 7-Eleven position wasn't what I was expecting. Instead of being a development position, it was a System Analyst position. That means gathering requirements and writing up the techinical documents, but no actual programming. It's something I could do, but I don't think I would be very happy for long. Well, at least I had practice for my interview on Thursday.
8:41 PM Posted by Big Dave
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Monday, May 13, 2002
Congratulations Matt
I grew up across the street from the Casey's. I never understood what was wrong with Matt, but I knew he could hold up his end of a conversation. I'm glad he's going to have the opportunity to do what he wants.
12:10 PM Posted by Big Dave
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Sunday, May 12, 2002
First things first.
Happy Mother's Day
This weekend we took some of the youth out to Ray Roberts State Park. We were really worried about the weather Thursday and Friday, but it ended up being beautiful. There were 21 youth. That's actually a small group for the size of youth group that we have, but they were still a handful. I enjoyed every second of it. One thing though, next time I will make sure I let other people help with the planning. My control freak nature took control and I wouldn't ask for help.
Next week I have a couple of interviews and the Star Wars opening to look forward to. The first interview will be with 7-Eleven and the next with First National Bank of Texas in Killeen, TX. These are my first on-site interviews, so I'm anxious and nervous. I usually do pretty well in the interview, but I like to be prepared before hand.
In the service the morning, our pastor John Rosenberg told a story of a young man who had been born out of wedlock in a small town. He was a social outcast and hated going to anything social including church. But his mother was a staunch Catholic and demanded that he go to church every Sunday. He would sit at the very back and usually slip out as soon as the benediction was said. One week they had a new priest who surprised them by walking to the back to say the benediction. As the boy tried to slip past him he grabbed him by the shoulder and asked, "Who are you?" As the boy sat their stammering and stuttering the priest exclaimed, "Oh! I can see the family resemblance. You're a child of God! Go out those doors and receive your inheritance." The young boy recounted later how much those words changed his life and his walk with God. He finally felt accepted no matter what the rest of the community thought about him.
4:32 PM Posted by Big Dave
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Thursday, May 09, 2002
Last night I went to the
Java Metroplex Users' Group meeting to hear
Martin Fowler speak about enterprise applications and design patterns. I was particulartly looking forward to it. Fowler has written
several books and is the Chief Scientist of
ThoughtWorks. It was an enjoyable presentation, but I had to pinch myself a couple of times to bring myself back around to what he was saying.
8:40 AM Posted by Big Dave
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Wednesday, May 08, 2002
This taken from the SoftwareJobs.com Newsletter dated May 7th by Allen Davis
Among other findings of this study, in which 563 hiring managers randomly selected from IT and non-IT companies were interviewed, was the following:
"Programmers rule. Companies employ more programmers than any other type of IT worker." It appears that the hottest skills are C++, SQL, Java, and Windows NT. While this is no surprise, how quickly we've moved "back to basics" from the go-go days of ERP, CRM - all of the "hot" enterprise" packages!
It's definately encouraging to hear that I have three of the most sought after programming skills; SQL, Java, and WinNT. The article goes on to expound upon the importance of experience and certifications in the job search.
To me certifications do not prove you know everything. Maybe you know just enought to pass the test. I remember an interview with a gentleman who wanted to become a programmer and had gone out and earned the dubious title of Sun Certified Java Programmer. When we started questioning him and telling him the kind of work we where doing, he just kind of glazed over. Now don't get me wrong. Being able to put certifications on your resume is nice, but it's nothing without the passion to continue to learn and grow.
10:21 AM Posted by Big Dave
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Monday, May 06, 2002
A term I was not familiar with multi-homing.
Multi-homing is the process of selecting, provisioning, and installing a redundant connection to the Internet.
Here's a nice
Powerpoint show to explain it.
11:15 PM Posted by Big Dave
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Tommorrow I have a couple of business items scheduled, but after that I can totally geek out. I plan to go camp for Star Wars tickets. I'm going with a buddy so we won't get too lonely.
By the way... ImSuchADork.com is still available.
7:21 PM Posted by Big Dave
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An interesting search site for Contrating positions:
SoloGig.com
The funniest thing just started happening. My computer started sneezing. Now I don't know what caused it, but when I closed all my browser windows it went away. I wish I knew which one was doing that. Quite clever. I must have been ignoring it for a while.
12:38 PM Posted by Big Dave
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Sunday, May 05, 2002
hmmm... Well it says it posted my blog, but I don't see it on the page. How frustrating.
[Update] There it goes.
1:33 PM Posted by Big Dave
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It's been a little bit since I poked my head up here. I figured I would remedy that now.
I went to the
Scarborough Fair Renaissance Festival. I had never been to one of those before. It was interesting. Many of the costumes were terrific. I got to see a juggling act where they threw knives at
Christi. Later that afternoon we saw a jousting tournament. I really enjoyed it, but don't quite understand the desire to go down there almost every weekend like some people do.
1:31 PM Posted by Big Dave
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