The Mandelbear's Musings
May. 25th, 2012
10:17 am - Done yesterday (20120524 Th)
I seem to have spent basically the entire day working on coding problems
from Tableau (C) and Zillow (Java). Fun. But I didn't get out
much at all.
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07:36 am - Hippo, birdie, two ewes...
...to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
paltergo!!!! Have a great one!
And a happy belated birthday to anyone I missed over the last week.
May. 24th, 2012
10:00 pm - Done yesterday (20120523 We)
Good day. We have an apartment! It's not quite what we wanted; neither of the available 3-bedroom apartments is scooter accessible. But it's a big 2-bedroom, at Watercrest. And we'll have it before Westercon, so we'll have someplace to stay for a couple of days before the con, without needing to spring for more hotel room nights.
Many thanks to ![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pocketnaomi for doing the necessary legwork in
the morning. It wouldn't have been possible without her checking out the
alternatives.
A 2.5 mile walk, following my (last) LHH coaching appointment. I have the same problem with coaching -- of any form -- that I do with therapy: I don't know what questions to ask. I'm pretty sure I have problems, but don't have enough of a handle on them to drag them out to be worked on.
Of course, when I am able to identify my problems, they often turn out to be fairly straightforward to solve. So, again, it's the ones I can't identify for myself that I need help with, but can't get it.
A phone interview with Tableau. This went much better than the one with Intentional on Tuesday.
ESR wonders whether the failure of Oracle's patent suit against Google marks the Beginning of the end for the patent wars.
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okayMay. 23rd, 2012
10:17 pm - Done last week (20120516 We - 22 Tu)
Way too much to do more than summarize briefly -- I spent most of the last week in the Seattle area, mostly hanging out with Naomi (and, briefly, Chaos), apartment-hunting, and interviewing. (The latter was mostly by phone, but there was one fairly grueling coding test at PopCap. I may or may not have squeaked through that, but it made for a fascinating learning experience.)
The phone interviews mostly went well, I think. A few stupidities on algorithm questions; I got extra points for having at least heard of topological sorting, even if I didn't get the algorithm right.
The apartment search fairly quickly narrowed down to three complexes, fairly close to Naomi's house, that had 3-bedroom apartments available. As it turned out, we ended up in a large 2-BR; the 3's were either too small for us, or not accessible by scooter. But we have a place.
Friday I had lunch with Chaos at AFK Tavern, a gamer joint. Fun.
Saturday, N. went to an all-day workshop at a massage therapy school she's checking out, and took me along. Great fun -- not enough for me to consider a career change, but enough that I'll strongly consider taking a couple of classes for the fun of it. In my copious spare time.
The only major screw-up, and it was major, was forgetting my meds. Fortunately, the only one I expected to have real trouble with was the SSRI; I picked up some 5000 IU vitamin D (my usual dose is 2000) and St. John's Wort. Worked, apparently.
The big disappointment was that it was overcast on Sunday, so we missed the eclipse. We did see the light change -- it was pretty noticable.
Plenty of links in the notes.
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goodMay. 16th, 2012
09:29 am - Done so far this week (20120514 Mo - 15 Tu)
Both the job search and the house triage continue, if not apace, at least somewhat. I finally feel as though the search is gaining a little traction: I've gotten replies on several of the job applications I've put in, and have three phone interviews set up between now and Monday. And I've taken about nine feet of books out of the office and piled them in the living room to see whether anyone in the Wednesday crowd wants them.
I'll be up in Shoreline from tomorrow afternoon through Tuesday afternoon. Mostly looking at apartments.
My first shipment of tapeless moving boxes arrived. Those were the small book boxes; the medium and large ones haven't even shipped yet.
And I actually took walks both days. I cut yesterday's a little short because my left ankle was bothering me. Growf.
Quite a few good links. A rose made of galaxies is absolutely gorgeous. The best news is "The Bomb Buried In Obamacare Explodes Today-Hallelujah!" -- this is the rule that health insurance companies have to spend 80% of their budget on actual health care. What a concept! Health care after the move still scares the heck out of me.
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goodMay. 14th, 2012
08:25 am - Done yesterday (20120513 Su)
OK, not all that productive. I spent much of my computer time converting more of my websites to the new Makefile scheme. Which, though somewhat tedious, was About Time. The largest and oldest are still to be worked on, of course.
About 2pm the family went out to the Great Mall for a st/roll. Kinda fun having the YD along. Made for a nice, relaxed, and inexpensive (since we didn't buy anything) Mother's Day, especially when combined with bagels and lox for brunch and a roasted leg of lamb for dinner.
Not all that many links, but a couple of pretty awesome ones. George Lucas takes revenge on rich neighbors - they won't let him put in a movie studio, so he's going to build low-income housing instead! And Marak/The-Git-Rap is just what it says on the label: a rap about my favorite version-control system. On GitHub, of course.
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okayMay. 13th, 2012
10:01 am - Done yesterday (20120512 Sa)
A pretty good day; mostly sort of relaxing. I got in a two mile walk to Zanotto's, the local high-end grocery store, to pick up a few missing ingredients for dinner. And ordered moving boxes. Tapeless moving boxes -- the best kind.
Ogg and Liz came by early to take four van-loads of junk off of our driveway and into the Cleanup Day dumpsters. A lot of the mess is gone now. We still have a lot in the garage and the office, though.
I finally got around to editing Naomi's narration into the Lookingglass Folk at Conflikt 2012 page. Only four months late.
The Mutopia Project looks cool. Crowdsourced PD music scores. Go for it!
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goodMay. 12th, 2012
09:51 am - Done day before yesterday (20120510 Th)
Oops! Here, out of sequence, is the to.done for Thursday. Most of it was an LHH webinar on interviewing essentials -- hopefully I'll have a chance to apply that when I'm up in Seattle next week.
I had a burst of pain in my left arm, probably from twisting it and pinching a nerve -- I'd had my elbow resting on the buffet next to my chair in the living room; it's a little too high for real comfort.
Some links, mostly political. One to Wikipedia on Martin Luther King, Jr -- I found it startling and scary that younger people don't remember the time when many -- perhaps most -- churches were liberal. It seems to be pretty rare now. Of course, I also remember when "liberal" wasn't considered particularly far left.
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09:09 am - Done yesterday (20120511 Fr)
Well, all I can say is that it felt more productive at the time. Morning and most of the afternoon were taken up by an LHH webinar and filling out the job application for Planetary Resources – The Asteroid Mining Company. As it turned out, yesterday was the last day they were taking them, so I was cutting it pretty close. Grump.
And after dinner Colleen and I went out to the local mall for a st/roll. Which was probably healthier than it would have been going out in the heat during the afternoon.
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calmMay. 11th, 2012
May. 10th, 2012
09:43 am - Done yesterday (20120509 We)
Finally posted my itinerary/tentative schedule for the next couple of months. And, as usual, didn't do all that much else. Well, there were some things accomplished. Including the phone interview with EDD, which I'd been worried about. It looks as though my pension won't affect my unimployment insurance, because Ricoh stopped paying into it in 2010.
I'm continuing to putter, and got a fair amount of book triage done in the office. Most were immediately snapped up by folks in the Wednesday crowd, which of course was the whole idea. The old turntable, too -- now that we've gotten rid of all our vinyl, we really don't need it. End of an era.
I called PODS and got a quote: about $3200 for a 16' pod. The move will be complicated by the fact that we want some of the stuff to go into N's garage; I'm thinking of PODS or some other container company for that. We'll see. Unfortunately moving.com doesn't seem to have any way to compare prices; I'll have to call them all separately. The salesdroid at PODS was rather pushy.
Link of the day, after a nod toward Richard Lugar's statement, is Rachel Held Evans | How to win a culture war and lose a generation. The money quote:
When asked by The Barna Group what words or phrases best describe Christianity, the top response among Americans ages 16-29 was “antihomosexual.” For a staggering 91 percent of non-Christians, this was the first word that came to their mind when asked about the Christian faith. The same was true for 80 percent of young churchgoers. (The next most common negative images? : “judgmental,” “hypocritical,” and “too involved in politics.”)
Now, I'm part of that 91%; as an atheist and a Democrat I don't see a major shift away from religion as a bad thing. But if you do -- if you're one of the many progressive Christians I know are reading this -- you might want to do something about it.
When I was in college, the churches were hotbeds of radicalism, solidly on the left. They fed the poor, opposed the war in Vietnam, ... Where in Hell are they now?
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goodMay. 9th, 2012
02:59 pm - Plans: travel and otherwise
So here's the itinerary for the next couple of months:
- May 17-22 -- Shoreline, WA
- I'll be up there looking at apartments, and hope to have a couple of interviews scheduled.
- May 25-28 -- Bay Area conventions
- We'll be day-trippingBayCon and Clockwork Alchemy
- June 9 -- Grand Central Starport
- House-Cooling Party -- the usual potluck bash.
- June 26 -- Logan, UT
- I'll be driving out for my brother's wedding, then up to Shoreline.
- Late June - early July -- Shoreline, WA
- I will again be available for interviews. Colleen will be flying up to join me. Not clear whether the YD will be going by air or by car.
- July 5-8 -- ConClusion: Westercon 65
- Lookingglass Folk have a half-hour concert gig.
- Late July - early August -- moving!
- We expect to be moving to the Seattle area -- specifically somewhere around the North end of Lake Washington -- hopefully around the first of August.
Watch out for low-flying bears!
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11:20 am - Done this week (20120507 Mo - 08 Tu)
Hmm. I hadn't thought it was a particularly productive couple of days, but looking back on them I've done a fair amount. Even a walk.
I've finally started to get some traction on the job search, including talking to a couple of recruiters and my coach at LHH, and filling in some of the background. Actually, the most encouraging thing was looking at salary ranges and cost of living for Seattle. The latter is about 24% lower than San Jose, and my pension (which starts in June) accounts for another 12% or so. Social security, next March, will be another 12%. So not even counting downsizing and tighter budgeting, I'll be able to maintain my current profligate lifestyle on a comparatively modest income.
The really scary thing is still health care. Especially if we can't get Colleen on Medicare early. My cousin Caroline, who has a degree in social work, has offered to help with that, but it's still scary.
Spent quite a while fielding calls from moving companies, after requesting quotes via moving.com. Told them all to call back in June after we've done more triage.
I keep waffling about whether this is a good move, but right now I'm feeling pretty optimistic. Monday was a bit down. Uncomfortable things. Make you late for dinner.
Lots of links in the notes.
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okayMay. 8th, 2012
May. 7th, 2012
08:27 am - Done this weekend (20120505 Sa - 06 Su)
Some work on self-assessment, more tweaking of the resume and various profiles, conversations about hard topics, and some tasty cooking. Wonderful hang-out time with Naomi and Colleen. One walk, and a lot of puttering. Lots of links. Which means I spent too much time on the web.
Saturday night I went out on the porch with Naomi to look at the "super moon". It was gorgeous and serene.
In other words, not a very productive weekend. Goal for today is to finish the self-assessment around career change.
Dice.com insists on a full street address. This means that they're always going to be showing me jobs in the San Jose area. Foo.
We sat down and realized that we really can't afford to maintain the YD down here for a year while we're up in Seattle. So we're back to looking at 3-bedroom apartments. If we'd had a chance to think it through, we might not have decided to move -- but that would have required finding a job quickly. The money will stretch farther in Seattle.
I still don't know my bottom line.
Amazingly enough, I keep running into people on my flist who haven't read The Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino. Go read. It's about hidden disabilities, and I guarantee you know somebody who's dealing with that stuff; for whom counting spoons is a daily challenge. And along those lines, here's How To Illustrate Wheelchairs In Comic Books
WANT: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. First Android tablet I've seen that really does what I want at a price I can afford.
Anybody using Huntsy: A Dashboard for Your Job Search? Looks interesting, though I haven't decided yet whether it's worth the trouble.
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okayMay. 5th, 2012
11:06 am - Done recently (20120503 Th - 0504 Fr)
Progress? A lot of puttering, and two job applications. N. persuaded me to set a minimum goal of 2/week. And I re-pinged Google. Apparently I've let a couple of emails get stale on my stack, so I've gone back and replied to some of them.
Thursday's webinar on career objectives was useful -- that's one of my highest priorities, since just about anything in the IT field is going to be a career change from "software research". The other high priority is figuring out what my budget is going to be, since I'm highly unlikely to be making anywhere near the same amount after the move. I need to know what my bottom line is.
The house is looking much "better", thanks to the efforts of
minions good friends Devon, Liz, and Ogg. Huge
amounts of stuff have been recycled, friendcycled, donated, sold to used
bookstores, or put on the discard pile. What's left is probably still too
much for an apartment, but it'll go into storage until we get into a house
a year or so down the road.
Some of that stuff hasn't been touched in over two decades. Three, in a few cases. Gleep!
We're running across some fascinating old stuff, though. One of the most interesting was an old self-assessment I did toward the end of my previous job. Not all of it is relevant anymore, but it's interesting.
AT&T pushed an update to my phone, but it still wasn't Ice Cream Sandwich. :( I installed Eclipse, thinking that I probably ought to get familiar with it, and do some Android development. We'll see how far I get with that, but my Java is pretty rusty and could use some work.
Naomi and I had time yesterday to work a little bit on our upcoming Westercon concert set. We discovered that I can, in fact, come up with harmonies. Not in real-time, but once I have the chords down I can pretty easily improvise a harmony line that fits them, and Naomi has a good enough memory for melodies that together we can make it work. Cool!
I'm still not walking nearly enough, though I did do a 1.4mi loop around the neighborhood yesterday morning.
Several links. Is Sitting a Lethal Activity? Probably. And I and many of my friends in filking show up in Eye On The Bay: Those Other Conventions Pt. 2
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goodMay. 3rd, 2012
10:21 pm - Thankful Thursday
Yay! It's actually Thursday! And I'm thankful for...
- My dear sister-of-choice pocketnaomi, visiting from Up North.
- Tasty, inexpensive Indian buffet food.
- The internet, which makes it possible to research jobs in Seattle from my living room in San Jose, and keeps me in touch with far more people than I could possibly call or write letters to.
- That CRAY-1 in my pocket.
-
MinionsFriends. - Fish.
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grateful09:52 am - Done this month (20110501 Tu)
Yay! pocketnaomi is here visiting!
I have a new tag: "quest". It's intended to cover the job search, housing search, and moving. It's also intended to recognize that this is more than any of those separately, reframing it as a major life change. "Adventure" might have done, too, but I don't like adventures. Nasty, uncomfortable things. Make you late for dinner. Oh, wait.
Took a webinar about changing careers on on LHH's website, added "mentoring" and "technology transfer" to my lists of skills, and started to research green and ethical companies by chasing links from ricoh.com, which has received awards in both areas.
I've been waking up horribly early, mostly worrying about finances, and especially about the effect of the move on the YD. Monday I managed to get back to sleep, and slept through my alarm as a result. Yesterday I woke up somewhere around 4:30, and gave up and got out of bed around 5:15. Slept well last night, so maybe I'm more-or-less reset now. Hope so. Though I could do with a couple of hours less sleep.
Some good conversations last night about the move. Sort of encouraging.
A couple of links in the notes; nothing extremely noteworthy.
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goodMay. 1st, 2012
06:04 pm - Done yesterday (20120430 Mo)
I started the day with a walk after breakfast -- the weather was glorious. Have to do more of that. I took it a little easy after somewhat overdoing it on Sunday.
Main job-search-related stuff for the day involved more work on my resume and LinkedIn profiles, and replying to three headhunters. One's a total wash-out -- the job's in Los Gatos. The other two are pending. Plus a plain text version of the resume, for including in email.
We have a concert at Westercon! It'll be half an hour; don't know which day yet.
I picked up Colleen's new scooter at Bischoff's. It's a Go-Go Elite Traveller Plus HD -- basically the heavy-duty version of the old one, which is in pretty sorry shape after three years of hard use. It's noticably more powerful, and the rear motor/transaxle assembly is correspondingly heavier and a little wider. The platform is wider, too, with a couple more inches on each side in front for her feet. Maybe an inch or two longer. Made of win.
As for links, What If A Collapse Happened And Nobody Noticed? is pretty chilling. But Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, WA, tries new approach to school discipline — suspensions drop 85% is hopeful, if you ignore how wrong everyplace else is doing it.
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okayApr. 30th, 2012
11:08 pm - Done yesterday (20120429 Su)
I went out for a walk -- the Los Gatos Creek Trail out-and-back -- in the afternoon. For a while I was worried: it was starting to get mildly painful around 1.5mi; the endorphins kicked in at around 2.75 and I ended the walk with a distinct high. Perfect weather, too.
I made sangria (from scratch, using one of our lemons and 5 of Ken's oranges), and "chili dogs" for dinner. Actually, hot-dog sized Polish sausages split in half, with leftover chili, onion, and cheese on top. Yummy.
A great deal of progress is being made in the garage attic.
On another day, my highted link might have been More on DRM and ebooks in Charlie's Diary, but today Permission to Live: Unwrapping the Onion trumps it easily. You'd think an extreme fundamentalist couple's marriage would be blown sky-high by the revelation that the husband would rather be a woman. This is a heart-warming exception. 9 parts and well worth the read.
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11:50 am - Lazyweb Query: What to do with the antiques?
As part of the effort to clean out the garage attic, we've uncovered several file boxes of ancient software. We're talking mostly Windows 3.1, but also some Mac II (Myst, anyone?) and Windows XP games. We haven't had a machine in years that can run some of them.
Give it away, or send it to the dump?
Meanwhile, if you're in the area, feel free to come by, gawk at it, and take whatever you want.
We also have a huge pile of old PCs. Some were working when they were retired. Most have halfway decent cases, SCSI cards, and so on that might prove useful to someone.
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curiousApr. 29th, 2012
10:17 am - Done recently (20120425 We - 28 Sa)
The house looks very strange: all full of boxes, and big gaps on the shelves. The garage attic has space in it! Colleen and her minions have made huge progress, and I've started triaging the books in the office as well. Half-Price Books in Fremont loves us.
It feels strange, too. Definitely a roller-coaster ride. I was shocked to realize how many lives we're affecting with this; how much we'll be missed; how much a part of the community (for certain values of "the") we and our house have become. It's time, but Oh! it's difficult.
I have not been walking much. Not nearly enough. Nor have I been doing
enough music. Though I've at least started there, doing a little work
under the Albums
directory. This is in part because I really want to get
restarted on my second album, and in part because chaoswolf
has asked for a recording of The Queen of Night so
she can learn it.
I also went to my first (of two) coaching session at LHH, plus another on-site course. That was on Wednesday; I've spent much of the time since then working on my resume and LinkedIn profile. One of the cool things my coach showed me was wordle.net, which makes word-clouds. Very cool, and a great tool for seeing what words are most (over)used in one's profile or resume.
Here's one for Quiet Victories. I'm strongly considering doing this for all my songs.
I received the invitation to my brother's wedding: it's a little over a week before Westercon, in Logan, Utah. So we decided to make it a family road trip. It'll be somewhat crazy, but probably cheaper than flying even when you factor in the hotel rooms and gas. And an Adventure!
Oh. Wait. Adventure?
Lots of links, many of them rather disturbing. But... a sub-$500 3D printer would be way cool. So would a Pebble E-Paper watch.
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Apr. 28th, 2012
08:20 pm - Livejournal, come on. [Scrapbook Going Away]
Originally posted by thnidu at Livejournal, come on. [Scrapbook Going Away]
browngirl at Livejournal, come on. [Scrapbook Going Away]Livejournal Scrapbook is going away and will be replaced by the mysterious "Photo Album". Your 10GB of Paid Member space is now 2GB. If you care, there is an explanation in Russian on the Russian news page. There's also a user-submitted translation.
+ You will no longer have access to your Scrapbook once this goes live.
+ Your images will redirect, but the URL will be different.
+ Unable to tell what will happen to any photos you have that put you over the 2GB limit.
+ Back up your Scrapbook just in case.
+ If you want your photos transferred over now instead of waiting, let them know here.
ETA:
Thanks to
storyfan for telling me about this (relevant comments on page 13): For now at least, you can still upload/manage your scrapbook via http://pics.livejournal.com/manage/.Apr. 27th, 2012
Apr. 26th, 2012
08:42 pm - Thankful Thursday
Hmm. Been a couple of weeks, I think. Anyway. I'm thankful for:
- Friends. Friends help you move...
- Good friends. Good friends
help you move bodieshelp you triage and pack things before you move. - My coach at Lee Hecht Harrison.
- Boxes.
- Getting started on the office.
- Inkjet printers and card stock.
- Nibbles.
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gratefulApr. 25th, 2012
08:25 am - Done recently (20120423 Mo - 24 Tu)
Monday I read LHH's book, Managing Your Search Project, did a little walking (in a mall, but it was so deserted that I could mostly walk in my usual pace), and spoke to my insurance agent. Determined that we're actually covered at about the right level, but that after we move we'll be paying quite a bit less because we won't be needing nearly as much coverage for liability or the contents of the house. So that'll be a net win. He's also getting us a referral to an agent in Shorline.
Yesterday, I went in to LHH for a class, and worked on my resume (which is now down to two pages, plus a 2-page list of projects. I also worked on my LinkedIn profile, though that still has a ways to go.
I spent a little time noodling on my guitar Monday but, as with walking, I've been neglecting it. Need to work on that, don't I? Music and walking are really about the only kind of regular self-care I'm at all interested in -- I should be doing them daily. :P
As for links, well... Daily Kos: 30 Years Ago Today: The Day the Middle Class Died kind of nails it.
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Apr. 23rd, 2012
08:50 am - Done yesterday (20120422 Earth Day)
Much of the afternoon was eaten up by Colleen's phone. Yesterday evening it fell into her recliner and got pinched in the mechanism. It mostly worked, but a sensor was broken that caused it to turn the screen off when you made a call, and not turn it back on. We ordered a new one via insurance (which required a phone call -- the web interface didn't work), then proceeded to the AT&T store to get a GoPhone to tide us over in the interim. And back to the store, when we found out that her contacts hadn't gotten transfered. So I spent most of Earth Day making two trips in my car. Right.
The fact that smartphones and dumb phones use different size SIM cards is stupid and sucky. Also the fact that smartphones aren't available cheaply. *sigh*
When I first realized that the contacts hadn't transfered and that I was going to have to make a second trip, I had a brief screaming meltdown. Apparently I'm closer to the edge than I thought. I guess it's not surprising -- I am under a lot of perfectly understandable stress right now. I just hadn't realized it.
I need to pay more attention to self care, don't I? I always have a lot of trouble with that -- walks and music are about the only things I know of that I can do to relieve stress, and I never make the time for them when I have "important" things to do. :P
Silly old bear!
'One Day on Earth': The Most International Movie Premiere Ever looks pretty amazing; I hope it comes out on DVD sometime soon. FORTUNE Magazine's Top 100 Employers to Work For was interesting, but not as useful as one might hope -- there are only two or three with IT-type jobs in the Seattle area (though, oddly, Google's Seattle-area offices aren't mentioned).
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Apr. 22nd, 2012
10:39 pm - Done recently (20120419 Th - 21 Sa)
Feels like it's been a long week. Um... ok, it's been a long, tiring week. Not enough self-care -- I need to walk more, and practice. Like most things that I know I'll enjoy and I know will be good for me, I don't do enough of them.
Spent quite a lot of time expanding my connections on LinkedIn and Facebook. I can see how that kind of thing can easily become an addiction. Neither, unfortunately, will import connections from LJ; I find myself duplicating a lot of effort. On the other hand, I'm finding people from my past. Can't complain, except about the number of hours in a day. At least this isn't Jupiter.
Also in the job search direction, took a lot of online courses on the LHH web, and one onsite.
Friday and Saturday we talked with people at our bank about our rollover IRAs. We can certainly get better yield on one of them; they're looking into the other. The side conversation proved that it's not just me -- salaries in general have not kept up with inflation since around 1970, and of course taxes have gone up at least twice as fast as inflation. So my buying power is probably only 75-80% of what it was when I entered the job market. :P
See all the pretty links.
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tiredApr. 21st, 2012
Apr. 19th, 2012
07:49 pm - Stop Cyber Spying Week (CISPA)
Originally posted by dejla at Stop Cyber Spying Week (CISPA)
rodlox at Stop Cyber Spying Week (CISPA)sabaceanbabe at Stop Cyber Spying Week (CISPA)morgandawn at Stop Cyber Spying Week (CISPA)"Under CISPA, can a private company read my emails?
Yes. Under CISPA, any company can “use cybersecurity systems to identify and obtain cyber threat information to protect the rights and property” of the company. This phrase is being interpreted to mean monitoring your communications—including the contents of email or private messages on Facebook.
Right now, well-established laws, like the Wiretap Act and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, prevent companies from routinely monitoring your private communications. Communications service providers may only engage in reasonable monitoring that balances the providers' needs to protect their rights and property with their subscribers' right to privacy in their communications. And these laws expressly allow lawsuits against companies that go too far. CISPA destroys these protections by declaring that any provision in CISPA is effective “notwithstanding any other law” and by creating a broad immunity for companies against both civil and criminal liability. This means companies can bypass all existing laws, as long as they claim a vague “cybersecurity” purpose."
More details and what to do here.
[A Dreamwidth post with
09:42 am - Done yesterday (20120418 We)
I spent most of yesterday on job-search-related stuff, and although that includes a lot of time looking for people on linkedin and creating an account on facebook, it also included a webinar on effective networking. No, those are not unrelated. Several job sites tap your facebook network to find contacts.
Yes, I'm way out of my comfort zone. I'm still waiting for my Wile E. Coyote moment.
Also went to a presentation on 401K plans; only mildly useful, but I can still probably make some helpful changes. And set up three medical appointments for early June.
Hmm. I see no links in the notes today. Must have been busy.
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optimisticApr. 18th, 2012
08:22 am - Done recently (20120415 Su - 17 Tu)
A very busy three days. Sunday I finished up the taxes, and e-filed. Should probably have filed the state taxes on paper; the e-filing cost extra. Monday I started with Lee Hecht Harrison, the "career transition" firm that Ricoh is paying for. The initial session on Monday was very useful, since it included a "resume and linkedin jumpstart" segment. The experience section of my resume will need to be completely redone, of course.
I almost all of yesterday online, mostly on LHH and linkedin. Yesterday I took an LHH "webinar" -- in spite of the setup website telling me my browser was fully functional, the actual applet or whatever it was needed to be set up with a JVM and libraries, and couldn't find them on my Debian system. I switched to the Mac, but lost the visuals for about the first 15 minutes. Probably lost more to divided attention. Still useful.
A nice st/roll on Sunday, and a walk yesterday. A little walking Monday, but just a couple of blocks. Still, walkies good.
Some links down in the notes.
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goodApr. 15th, 2012
05:34 pm - Done yesterday (20120414 Sa)
Spent almost the entire day on taxes. Got almost all the preliminary data-entry done (this morning I found a whole other set of receipts I hadn't entered). But no walkies.
I'm missing the LAC 2012: Linux Audio Conference. Growf. But I really needed to get the taxes done.
I made chili for dinner, and even the YD proclaimed it tasty. Go me!
Several links down in the notes: take your pick.
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goodApr. 14th, 2012
09:01 am - Done the last 2 days (20120412 Th - 13 Fr)
So... pretty good, though no walks. (I did some walking in Fry's and parking lots yesterday, but that hardly counts.) Got started on the taxes, which is good. Quiet days, mostly at home. I could get used to that altogether too quickly.
The kitchen was a disaster area when I got home late Wednesday; between the YD running a load of dishes (it's not one of her usual chores) and me washing pots, it is now more-or-less usable again.
I think what I need to do is to reconfigure the kitchen and office into something like their final (post-move) form. Anything that doesn't fit goes into storage.
A lot of stuff is going to have to wait until the taxes are done. I let that slip, as usual. Growf.
Quite a few links. The Google Art Project is way cool! Pictures from dozens of art museums online and browsable, though it has a few navigational glitches. This is a common problem with stuff based on Javascript -- it doesn't have to work the way the user expects.
I want a Pebble E-Paper Watch. Want, want, want. So, apparently, do thousands of other people. And Code Not Physical Property, Court Rules in Goldman Sachs Espionage Case. That can cut both ways -- clearly companies need to be able to protect their trade secrets, but equating wrongful copying of information with theft of a physical object isn't the way to do it. Somebody tell the media industries.
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goodApr. 12th, 2012
03:56 pm - Done last week (20120404 We - 11 We)
It's been a week. More specifically, a week in Seatac (Norwescon) and Shoreline (apartment hunting and hanging out with Chaos and Naomi). I really have to set things up so that I can easily post from my netbook, don't I?
I had a good con. Nothing on my schedule except a handful of concerts and hanging out. Met Naomi's friend C, who is a delightful person. Bought little posable polymer dragons for me, Colleen, the YD, and Naomi. Our rooms were across the street in the Coast Gateway; I think there are parts of the Doubletree that are actually farther from the convention's function space.
We kept N's room until Monday so she could get some rest, but actually
checked out Sunday night. Worth it. Monday we looked at apartments, and
talked about job-hunting over dinner with egoldberg. Tuesday I looked at more apartments, and had lunch
with Chaos at a Chinese restaurant that's walking distance from her new
apartment in Lynnwood. A couple of good prospects on that front.
All in all a good visit. I'm still getting used to the idea of moving up there. To the idea of moving at all, after 36 years in the same house, and 43 years in the Bay Area. It's a lot of change to be taking on all at once, but... It was going to happen in the next five or six years anyway, and I was both dreading it and planning for it.
I've spent all morning going through a week's worth of mail and two days' worth of email; I'll spend the rest of today on my resume and my taxes.
There are plenty of links in the notes; go for it. Have a great Yuri's Night!
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good12:22 pm - Here we go again....CISPA is the new SOPA
Originally posted by siliconshaman at Here we go again....CISPA is the new SOPA
griffen at Here we go again....CISPA is the new SOPAatalantapendrag at Here we go again....CISPA is the new SOPAericadawn16 at Here we go again....CISPA is the new SOPAsxymami0909 at Here we go again....CISPA is the new SOPAxtremeroswellia at here we go again....CISPA is the new SOPAsio at here we go again....CISPA is the new SOPAOriginally posted by
And CISPA would provide a victory for content owners who were shell-shocked by the unprecedented outpouring of activism in opposition to SOPA and Internet censorship.
The House of Representatives is planning to take up CISPA later this month. Click here to ask your lawmakers to oppose it.
SOPA was pushed as a remedy to the supposed economic threat of online piracy -- but economic fear-mongering didn't quite do the trick.
So those concerned about copyright are engaging in sleight of hand, appending their legislation to a bill that most Americans will assume is about keeping them safe from bad guys.
This so-called cyber security bill aims to prevent theft of "government information" and "intellectual property" and could let ISPs block your access to websites -- or the whole Internet.
Don't let them push this back-door SOPA. Click here to demand that your lawmakers oppose CISPA.
CISPA also encourages companies to share information about you with the government and other corporations.
That data could then be used for just about anything -- from prosecuting crimes to ad placements.
And perhaps worst of all, CISPA supercedes all other online privacy protections.
Please click here to urge your lawmakers to oppose CISPA when it comes up for a vote this month.
Thanks for fighting for the Internet.
-Demand Progress
Apr. 4th, 2012
07:56 am - Done yesterday (20120403 Tu)
A pretty good day. Liz came over to help Colleen with the sewing room, and Belen came over and took away several boxes of culled fabric. I polished up my resume/profile text, redid my personal business card, and got a callback from the outplacement firm my former employer set me up with. I'll start the Monday after next.
I also took a walk, though much shorter than I'd planned. I stopped to help a young woman (teens or 20s; hard to tell) who'd gotten the belt of her sweater wrapped around the rear sprockets of her bike. It was complicated by the fact that the bike had coaster brakes, so we couldn't just back it out. It required bending over, so I was sore enough by the time I finished that I didn't want to risk a full 2-3 miles. Good anyway.
Cool stuff via N: The 'I Don't Pay' Movement - a successor to Occupy? Started in Greece, but seems to be spreading to other places in Europe. We may be seeing the start of a revolution.
Oh, and Finally, Android breaks 50%. Pretty good day.
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goodApr. 3rd, 2012
12:34 pm - Done yesterday (20120402 Mo)
A reasonably productive day -- I spent most of it working on the job search and related matters. Major work on the resume and portfolio, and put together a new business card suitable for handing to prospective employers. Which the personal "hacker/songwriter" card isn't particularly.
I also got the wheels in motion to receive my Ricoh pension (it'll start June 1st) -- that will go toward paying down the debt -- and got in touch with the outplacement program that Ricoh is paying for.
Good day. No walk, though. Need to take more walks.
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productiveApr. 2nd, 2012
01:43 pm - Public Service Announcement: itinerary
I am going to be in Seattle from Thursday, 4/5 through Wednesday, 4/11. I'll be arriving at my hotel, the Coast Gateway sometime after 9pm Thursday, and leaving on the 7:30pm flight Wednesday.
Friday through Sunday I'll be at Norwescon, but since I'm not scheduled for anything I'll be available for conversations or phone interviews on a few minutes' notice.
Monday noonish through Wednesday afternoon I'll be looking at apartments and, and hopefully, going to job interviews. You can get to all my relevant information, including my resume, at stephen.savitzky.net.
I'll be going up again in early July for Westercon; I'll take a trip up before that if there are interviews to be had.
We expect to be moving up permanently sometime between July and September, most likely sometime in August.
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optimistic09:19 am - Done yesterday (20120401 Su)
Pretty good day -- I think I got through my first weekend of temporary retirement ok, considering. I got a lot done on my portfolio site, including uploading source code samples and white papers, and copied the expanded summary page to my StackOverflow and LinkedIn profiles.
I also did some searching on glassdoor.com and indeed.com, thanks to a
little much-needed prodding from pocketnaomi. That was
interesting -- I found a company that had different listings, through a
search firm, on glassdoor and indeed. They had yet another, under their
own name, on StackOverflow. Sounds interesting, though it may be more
intense than I'm looking for at this point.
I also got in a walk (twice around the Rose Garden) in the afternoon, and made dinner (salad, rice, bacon-wrapped scallops, and dover sole). And white wine, in part because we have to either use it or move it.
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okayApr. 1st, 2012
08:57 am - Done yesterday (20120331 Sa)
So... a quiet day at home. First day of my (hopefully temporary) retirement? That. Odd mood; sort of washed-out. Not really surprising.
I made pasta and red sauce for dinner, with a salad. A little work on my Stephen R. Savitzky, Software Wizard, Guru & Toolmaker page, including the new tag line. Tell me what you think!
And if you haven't seen it already, go watch A Message to All Police Officers From Occupy Wall Street.
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okayMar. 31st, 2012
04:52 pm - Warrior to warrior
This isn't a Songs for Saturday. It's important, it's political, it's inspiring, and you ought to go watch A Message to All Police Officers From Occupy Wall Street, delivered in an extremely powerful speech by an LAPD officer.
Hat tip to pocketnaomi
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impressed09:40 am - Done yesterday (20120330 Fr)
A strange day. Expected, of course. I spent the morning, and a couple of hours in the afternoon, wrapping things up: final backups, setting up email and voice mail forwarding, writing my farewell letter, taking the boxes and my desktop computer out to the car... Then the two rounds of goodbyes, in Cupertino and Menlo Park. I got a nice card, and an expense check for some USB microphones I bought last year. (16-bit. Don't want them. I kept the cables and stands.) Abandoned a fair amount of nice hardware that I don't have room or an immediate use for.
Goodbyes bittersweet, of course. Got hugs from several long-time coworkers; one (our IP person) seemed on the verge of tears, though I could have been reading that wrong. Alexithymia and citalopram have their uses; I stayed upbeat if not always cheerful.
I realized, somewhere in the course of the day, that although I've never had to move a whole house before, I've moved my office four times over the last two years, and our two remodels counted for almost a move each. Still, it'll be rough -- there's a lot of attachment here.
I found out, going over one of the brochures I picked up at the Social Security office, that if I start collecting before my full retirement age (66, next year) my payments will get reduced to almost nothing because of the money I've already made this year. So I'll go back to plan A and fire up the Ricoh pension, which doesn't have that problem.
Added "master toolmaker" to my LinkedIn profile; I'm going to spend some time today tweaking my resume to reflect the fact that I consider myself a writer, craftsman and toolmaker rather than an engineer or scientist.
Of the items added to my to.do file over the last three weeks, I appear to have flagged 55 as completed, and 40 unfinished. It's actually a little better than that, since some of those 40 are categories, and about a dozen are WIBNIfs. I'm reasonably satisfied with my progress.
A couple of links in the notes. I was looking for images of me on Google, and ran across this cartoon that mentions "Vampire Megabyte".
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weirdMar. 30th, 2012
09:14 pm - (not) Forgetful Friday
I didn't exactly forget Thankful Thursday this week; I figured it might be sensible to wait and see what else I had to be thankful for. So, here we go:
- A good, long run at a good company.
- A final paycheck with over two weeks of vacation pay in it.
- Six months of severance pay, with full benefits.
- Moving to where there's no state income tax.
- Lots of fond goodbyes, and a card covered with good wishes.
- Early retirement, even if it's
onlyhopefully for a few months. - Renters for the house, at a rate that will cover the mortgage.
- Cope, including cope in a bottle.
- Little boxes.
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