So I started following anybody with “bacon” in their name.
@iheartbaconsalt
@baconjesus (and @bacondevil)
@baconinja
@acresofbacon
And I thought to myself, I thought… “Self? Has this been taken to it’s logical conclusion?”
So I looked up and found, yes…
Through which I found: http://www.meatcards.com/
The world is full of win.
*sniff* It’s just so beautiful.
*crunch*
“Imprudent marriages!” roared Michael. “And pray where in earth or heaven are there any prudent marriages? Might as well talk about prudent suicides. You and I have dawdled round each other long enough, and are we any safer than Smith and Mary Gray who met last night? You never know a husband till you marry him. Unhappy! of course you’ll be unhappy! Who the devil are you that you shouldn’t be unhappy, like the mother that bore you? Disappointed! Of course we’ll be disappointed! I, for one, don’t expect till I die to be so good a man as I am at this minute, for just now I’m fifty thousand feet high, a tower with all the trumpets shouting.”
It’s addictive beyond all reason.
Sometimes I’ll just sit there and keep pressing the button.
It’s so bad you’d think it dispensed bacon.
So here it is. Brought to you straight from the wilds of Look! A Baby Wolf!
The Goat Button.
We’ll see. I’m goin’ in.
Every few months I get a bizarre linux impulse. This time I decided to exhibit an uncharacteristic amount of sense and use Virtual PC.
What Virtual PC does is create a “simulated” computer on your windows computer. On THAT “virtual” computer, you can install a new operating system or whatever. It’s a good technology (though I’ve not used VPC itself before.)
If I take to it well, I’ll probably promote it to the primary os on the box. But we’ll see.
UPDATE: Works like a charm. The only problem I’m having is that because the devices are virtualized, ubuntu can’t auto-detect them and respond accordingly. Therefore, the display settings are stuck at 800×600, there’s no mouse wheel support by default. I’ve no doubt these are easily surmountable, but it’s sorta annoying in the meantime.
(I know I know “blah blah blah windows blah computer blah blah fucking dweeb yadda yadda”)
UPDATE: REMEMBER THIS? “I’ve no doubt these are easily surmountable.” It’s not true. Manually editing xorg.conf and boot loaders to override and fudge in sync refresh rates and resolutions is NOT ok. This is the EXACT SAME SHIT that was a problem with linux 15 years ago. Fuck you Linux, after all this time, you still suck.
*deleting*
So, in the true spirit of giving (or perhaps the spirit of “eww… here, you smell it”) give this a watch:
IT’S NOT MY FAULT! Fellow Tweep @PutrPrsn infected my head with this yesterday and it’s stuck in there worse than that space trilobyte thing in Checkov’s ear in Wrath of Khan.
No not THAT itch (truth be told I’ve never had THAT itch, phew.)
Anyone but me pathologically hate the font on this site? It’s just too…wiry for me. Plus there’s nothing in the template but standard “this is my first blog” goofiness. You’d never know I’d been doing this for *gasp* 7? Can it be 7 years?
*blink* *blink*
Mentioned this a week and a half ago: The Autofocus System and here’s why it’s instawin over things like GTD, etc.
I’ve been using it heavily for two weeks… and haven’t noticed.
By “haven’t noticed” I mean that it so quickly and seamlessly became a part of my day that it had almost zero learning curve.
Brings me to an interesting note that I’ll put here as a sidebar in the hopes that it helps remind me to think if not write about it later: The length/height of the learning/adoption curve did NOT outstrip the fascination of it’s novelty. As such I was able to put it in to practice and get used to it while it was still neat. That’s interesting.
I’ve gotten more of those mid to long term items crossed off in the past couple weeks than I had in the previous year. You know that list. The things roughly describable as “chores.” (Clean out that pile of god knows what at the bottom of the bedroom closet, at the top of the bedroom closet, next to the bed, under the bed, behind the bed, at the foot of the bed, at the head of the bed…) It turns out a lot of my “chores” seem to be wading through the standard accretion of sedimentary rock around the paths between the computer, couch, fridge, bed, and bathroom that make up bachelor life.
The big reason is that the Autofocus thing gives you permission to work on something “a bit.” Then, you get to cross it off the list. Of course, if it’s not done you just add it again to the bottom. But it’s ok because you get to do stuff and cross it off a list, which I’d say is ‘the ultimate reinforcement’ but I used to know this girl who had much more convincing ways of… well, nevermind. You get the picture.
Yep. So go check it out if you hadn’t before.
Once He Walks Through JoAnn's Door, a Man Starts to Die
Girlfriend, holding up scrapbook thing: Do you like this?
Boyfriend: Yeah, it's nice.
Girlfriend: “It's nice,” because it's nice, or “it's nice,” so we can get the fuck out of here?
JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts
Tacoma, Washington
Overheard by: baker98391
via Overheard Everywhere, Apr 26, 2009
I’ve started this post 4 times but am just too incensed to make it cohesive.
I had a conversation that I enjoyed with a recruiter a couple days ago. It doesn’t happen often. We went back and forth about my resume (including a couple conversations and a round of constructive edits.) We spoke about a couple of different opportunities, what I’m looking for, etc. Nice, 20,000 foot, thorough.
So today I was supposed to go in to Manhattan and talk with him for a bit. This is one of those steps that lots of headhunters are too busy to pay attention to, but it really distinguishes individuals from the throngs of people whose only qualification to be a recruiter is their failure of the American Used Car Sales Association’s ethics exam. So far I like this guy. He wasn’t blowing sunshine up my ass and he had a reasonable work ethic.
I shined my shoes (not a metaphor, they needed it.) Dug out a decent pair of not jeans. I’d prepped myself on my resume (tough to remember details of the cool project you worked on 16 years ago without a little refresher.) And I took the 4 train in.
For an 11:00 meeting, I arrived at the front desk at 10:59. It’s later than I like, but whatever.
After the receptionist calls a couple times, I hear the guy paged twice in the little over 10 minutes I’m sitting there.
Now, if I have a meeting with you and I have enough time, please trust that I’ve put some tools to work figuring out who you are. I’ve seen you picture, your amazon wish list, your blog(s, yes, even the OTHER blog.) I’ve probably read your masters thesis (or the abstract from your PhD.) I know where you live, where you work, what you used to do for a living and a lot of other things you don’t realize are all just low hanging fruit for anyone who cares to look.
That’s why I knew that the short 38 year old grayer than me but in better shape not that it’d matter if it came down to it since I was twice his body mass dude who approached me and stuck his hand out was NOT the guy I was here to see.
“Hi, Mike ProtectingTheGuilty.”
I looked at him quizzically and thought “no, Mike Wilson. You’re shaking the wrong guy’s hand.”
“You’re Mike Wilson?” Ah, getting somewhere.
“Yep. Hi, how are ya?”
“Ok, come with me.” My first flash was ‘assistant’.
The receptionists giggled as “congratulations, who the fuck are you and why should I care” was written all over my face throughout the whole exchange, leaving my host in a disarmed stuttering mass of presidential teleprompter failure.
As we walked in to “The Back” I heard one of them say “that was TOO funny.” Must’ve missed it.
Rounding the corner we hit this huge room of desks with motivational banners hanging from the ceiling every few feet over the crowd of computers. They were half a step away from the “Is this good… for the Company” banner from Office Space. There were all kinds of “Always Expand The Relationship!” type quotes. Really. They were about 3 or 4 feet tall and 15 feet across. Going back over it in my head there were at least 7/8 of them spaced every couple rows. It was fucking hideous.
We passed a row of empty conference rooms with colorful mountain range names. The kind of cutesy bullshit you get from management consultants. Employees must drink very heavily when they get out of there at night. It’s not a tough conclusion. In fact the condition of (a small minority of) the employees suggested they might not wait ’til they leave for the evening.
The little voice in my head that is always right (but speaks up once every couple years, and only about trivial nonsense) whispered “stalling. They have no idea where this guy is” and I nodded in assent.
He asked what job I was coming in to talk about and I said “oh, there were a few. We were just getting together to see who each other are and all.” Which is true. We talked about a bunch of stuff.
I was ushered into a room where Mike Guilty pointed to a seat at the conference table that had it’s back to the glass wall… sorry sparky. I sat at one end of the table so I could watch the scene. (Plus, I have a thing about The Gunfighter’s Seat.)
“So did you bring a resume?”
“Well no. He and I had been back and forth a couple times over it, working on some edits so I know he has the most current one possible.”
He dropped his business card in the middle of the desk and said “let me go give him a call” as he walked out.
My choice in seating was rewarded with a direct view of Mikey Guilty’s workstation from the back. So I could see him and The Kid (forthcoming) at their computers and could hear them. “I dunno, just find it… Yeah I’ll try his cell again…”
I smiled through the pressure of my increasing frustration at a few minutes of the clown show of frantic searching for my resume in their database, then printing it off, the other guy making a couple more calls while rubbing back his hair, exasperated.
“You go” he said to The Kid, “I’ll find out where he is.”
In walks The Kid. His name escaped my mind before it entered my ear. He was wearing a button down (not to be confused with “dress”) shirt, unbuttoned and untucked with a white tee underneath. He was unkempt and nervous as hell.
“So, he’s MIA?” I asked, having pretty much had enough. I was already getting directions from my internal gps for the way out.
“No, no no. We know he’s… on the way back from … a client.”
*sigh*
“So how are things at Credit Suisse?” He asked looking at a resume from 2004.
“Huh?”
“Wait… you are Mike Wilson right?”
“Yep. But I haven’t worked at Credit Suisse in almost four years. Are you sure you’re not missing the front page? Or is the resume you have really that old?”
“What would you say your great streng…”
“Ok, listen. You know what? Why don’t you have him call me.” I stood up and grabbed my jacket and started walking out the door. As I left I turned to The Kid “Look, I appreciate that you guys don’t have any idea where he is and are trying to cover for him. But this is not ok. You don’t just not show up. Pleasure meeting you.”
I stomped mightily down the hall, language befitting my mood turning heads the whole way. Not sure what I said exactly, but I seem to remember the words “Fucking unprofessional hacks wasting my goddamn time” and “can’t be bothered to show up for his own meeting” curling hair in a 10 foot blast radius.
The receptionist who had been nice was a little alarmed but quickly put on a passive face as I stopped in front of her and said “Hey, I know this has nothing to do with you but when someone makes an appointment they really ought to keep it. The only thing there are more of in this city than financial programmers looking for work is recruiters looking to place them.”
I was incoherent.
The poor woman nodded blankly, not knowing quite what to say as I stormed off to the elevator.
Now, I know I won’t be hearing from this guy. I also know that these people were all trying to do the right thing and hastily cover for a situation they had no control over. So nobody’s name is in here but mine.
The guy I was supposed to meet could have done ANYthing but what he did.
- Leave a message with me, letting me know he was going to be late or requesting a reschedule. Anything. An email or voicemail 3 minutes before (or even after) the appointment time saying you’re held up and won’t be able to make it. It’s frustrating, but shit happens.
- Leave a message with the front desk or his co-workers, telling them where to find my resume and giving them a brief overview so they could carry the torch forward.
But I can’t rake the coworkers over the coals too bad (aside from entertaining tale fodder.) They adapted pretty poorly to the situation at hand, but it’s a sin of training, not intent. So if I saw them at a bar I’d try and have a good laugh about it and probably buy a round and apologize for totally losing my shit AT THEM instead of on something inanimate that was awaiting demolition anyway.
ANY OTHER THING would have been ok. I’m infinitely flexible and understanding when someone is forthcoming and honest. In fact, I demand I am dealt with thusly. My bullshit tolerance coefficient is, as I’ve said before, statistically equivalent to zero. No more.
But this kind of bullshit is rude, INTOLERABLE and unacceptable on every level.
Suck it hippies.
I made a major accomplishment today. It won’t seem so to anyone else, but that’s ok.
I finished a mix CD that I’d set out trying to make about six weeks ago, maybe a bit more. There’s a post or two about it, but it really covers such a small fraction of the many dozens of hours of work I put in to it.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve rolled up my sleeves and undertaken something as a beginner with a serious eye towards doing a good job. Sounds odd perhaps, but I was motivated beyond fear of failure to faith in my success.
I’m doing the final listen-through now, then I’m going to go deliver it.
Then tomorrow I’m deleting all the working files.
After all, a hand made gift ought to be unique, no?
UPDATE: And they’re gone. That felt weird. But it was without a doubt the right thing to do and felt good once it was done. I did give it a couple full listen throughs today.
Time to figure out what the next one is going to be and to start working on that.
This is the ‘organizational system’ I mentioned yesterday.
Like so much over the last month, this falls squarely in the “I came across it via twitter somehow” category. You think blogs are ephemeral? Phew.
The full document describing all of this is available at Mark Forster’s site, here: AutoFocus System
But I quite recommend watching this video interview. There are a couple details in Mark’s (merely 6 page) write up, but you get the gist of it here:
(And I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t comment on how irrepressibly adorable the girl interviewing him is.)
For a couple years I’ve managed about half a dozen false starts with David Allen’s “Getting Things Done.” But I really just get lost in the administrivia of it. There are too many steps for me to get rolling without it being in my way in the meantime. I expect that once the habits were formed that I’d be able to go with it. But right now the barrier to entry is too annoying, so Autofocus suits me wonderfully for now.
The most important thing about this, the reason that it lit my head up is that it ALMOST looks too trivial to be useful. Which, almost immediately after I thought it I realized is one of those great signs of accessibility.
(It echoes exactly what Robert Martin said about Test Driven Development in a moment that was one of the great A HA!s of my life.)
So far I’m a couple days in to using it and I’m still at the stage where the speed at which I’m adding things to the list far outstrips my completion rate. But that’s primary just backlog. I’m now at a few solid pages of items and, until it winnows down a bit, I’m going to be going over the whole thing at once, rather than one page at a time. Otherwise I’d be striking out and re-entering 90+% of the items on every pass, which is just a waste of paper.
I do want to add some meta data to it. I haven’t figured out yet the best way to do that. Should I have a completion date? Would it really serve any purpose? How about “tasks to be done at the computer” as opposed to other contexts?
My mind also wants to isolate, batch, abstract and chain tasks (can’t do “Take laundry to Laundromat” until “bag laundry” is done.) Does it matter? I suspect it might not. Just put both down. One you can’t do right now and one you can.
So far so good.
I realized something today. Actually I’d mostly realized it yesterday but today I brushed the rest of the dirt off the idea.
The single best thing I can do for my life is to spend most of it away from a computer.
I’ve been experimenting with a cute little organizational system (I’ll post the link later, it’s really quite clever.) and it’s paper based. But I realized that I wasn’t even going near it while sitting…uhm… here.
So I took that notebook, cleaned off my coffee table and sat there on my couch while noodling around with it. One of the tasks was to send a particular email.
The second I sat down at the computer my mind went in to this bizarre “data absorption” mode, as though it was a challenge to see how many threads of distraction I could follow at once. It ended up being almost an hour and a half before the (6 line) email was sent.
When I shut off the monitor and walked back over and sat down the world was an entirely different shape (remarkably more world-shaped by any reasonable estimation.)
Sitting here, as I have for the last 32 years, I realize that a keyboard and monitor aren’t really external devices to me. It’s completely inside my head. Most of every thing that happens here is just marginally actuated daydreaming. None of it is really DOING anything.
So now that I’ve written this out, I’m going to go back and cross this “post something about the value of this new system” item off my (4 pages and growing) list, check my server logs, then turn off the monitor and go back over to the couch and on to some other thing.
o/
That’s the number of people at the NYC TeaParty yesterday by NYPD estimates.
2049 locations across the USA. People throughout this country protesting the fact that elected officials have forgotten there’s no such thing as Government Money. It’s YOUR money.
It was an incredible event. Despite the protestations of the media it was starkly nonpartisan (frankly my expectation is that most of my readers won’t believe that.)
The spending and the bailouts weren’t ok when Bush did it and it’s not ok now. The fact that That One is taking federal spending and turning it into an extreme sport almost aside.
Two things would go miles:
Ya know… I expected to have a lot to say about it in a blog post, but I don’t. I made a lot of really good connections with people.
Anyway I’m busy following up with them. Coverage is better elsewhere, go read there.
UPDATE:Oh yeah… an interesting metric. I took an informal poll of 43 people. 35 of them had never been to a protest or rally of any kind before. THAT’S important.
This is a really lucid 9 minutes of video.
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
I was talking with Jenn on Tuesday night last week, enjoying myself out, sitting at a bar, knocking back a few, eating some spectacular finger food and just generally having a good time when I said “Ya know, I wish there was some way I could just do this without all the drinking. I’d be out every night.”
“But… you can’t.”
“Well, I know that.” It’s not a big source of conflict for me, but it certainly is a little one. That kind of social environment, when you can be there without any context or pretense other than wanting to be there and interacting with whomever happens to show up, is really just wonderful. It’s one of the few situations involving other people where I’ve begun to grow quite comfortable. There’s just this pesky alcohol issue attached to it.
The alcohol issue isn’t the standard alcohol issue (drink too much, escapism, depression inducing, yadda yadda) it’s just that it’s expensive and doesn’t feel good enough to want to do it to excess. (This is one of the few reasons I’m down to one modest “night out” every two weeks.)
I tried for a while to capture that sort of environment downstairs in Grand Central Terminal. It’s a great melting pot of people coming and going, grabbing something to eat for a few minutes along the way. I would sit there with a laptop and write for an hour or two (usually I was transcribing eavesdropped conversations, much like I do in a bar.) But people are generally not terribly sociable in that kind of environment. Sure, you can drum up a conversation with one out of every few, but it’s always a minute stolen from the middle of a commute. Not quite the same thing.
Perhaps that’s what people use Starbucks for nowadays. I don’t know, it’s tough to tell. Especially since it’s just as expensive as going to a bar. Eh. Probably worth a shot.
There’s something here though, just beyond my grasp. I just don’t quite know what it is. I feel like I’m chasing someone and all I ever see of them is their heels disappearing around the next corner.
(h/t: SondraK)
