Headhunter
Yesterday, I got a call from a head hunter out of Connecticut, and he was looking for a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) expert with some exposure to Ajax. Well, I had just started teaching myself Ajax (but I’m not very far along in my books just yet,) so I told the guy that I had the experience that he was looking for. He ran through my skills and asked me how long I had been doing him. Here’s the basics of what he was looking for, and how long I’ve been doing it:
- Linux: 10 years
- Web development: 11 years
- Apache: 9 years
- PHP: 8 years
- MySQL: 8 years
I have other skills not on that list, but he wasn’t interested in them. He said that he would be in touch with his client to see if they wanted to arrange an interview. He called me back about an hour later, and said that my resume didn’t mention PHP 5. He asked if I had PHP 5 experience. I told him that I’ve been using PHP 5 from the day it came out in a non-beta version. He was happy with that. An hour later he called back and said that I needed to put PHP 5 (not just PHP) on my resume. I told him that I would do it after work. He called back 30 minutes later, and asked for my resume. I told him that I’m not going to update my resume while at work. That would just be wrong.
Thirty minutes pass, and he’s back on the phone. I ignore his call this time. Ten minutes later, he calls again. Again, I ignore him. Fifteen minutes pass, and he’s back on the phone again! This time I answer him because it’s getting annoying. He says that he needs my resume right away because the client is very excited to interview me. If they want to interview me, then I don’t need to update my resume. I point this out to him, but he stands firm on the fact that I need to update my resume before the close of business today.
I told him that I wasn’t interested in the job. If they are going to treat a prospective employee that way, I shudder to think about how they’ll treat me once I’m part of their company. Who knows? Maybe I just blew off a great job opportunity.
If I was actively looking for a job, I would have gone along with the guy. However, I’m very happy with my currently employment. I’m making good money. I’m doing tasks that I love to do. I have a boss that I get along with wonderfully (which is more important than the other two.) I work with competent people that are friendly, and a joy to be around. I get to work from home at least one day a week, and sometimes more if I need to (that’s part of having a great boss.) There’s no way I’m leaving my current job until they boot me out the door. If I die before I leave this job, they may end up with a zombie at my desk programming away because I’m not ready to stop banging out code anytime soon.
Tracking Numbers
When I order things online, I love getting tracking numbers. I play a little game with the tracking numbers… I check the status every hour or three, and I get bummed when there is no update. However, when I see that my package has made it from one city to the next stop on its way to me, I get very excited. Yeah. It doesn’t take much to make me happy.
The only problem with this is if I’ve been checking for a few days, and there haven’t been any updates. That makes me think that the package has been lost somewhere along the way, and that makes me nervous. It’s kind of like waking up on Christmas Eve and checking the packages under the tree to count them all only to find that there are none there for you. Sure. It’s not Christmas yet, but the anticipation of getting something new and neat is almost as good as actually opening the packages.
Maybe I’m entertained too easily, but it’s time to check the tracking on my Zaurus again…
It’s On Its Way!
As I reported last week, my old Handspring Visor gave up the ghost. I finally found what I was looking for on eBay last week. I bid on it, and carefully watched the auction during its final minutes. I’ve had some bad luck with eBay snipers in the past, and I swore that it wouldn’t happen to me this time. My constant reloading of the page turned out to be a waste of bandwidth since no one wanted to compete with my high bid.
My budget for the new handheld was $400, but I managed to eke it out for $227 (with shipping and insurance.) That left me with $180 left in my PayPal account to cover the colocation fees for my server for the next 7 months. Very nice.
I just got an email this morning telling me that my new (well, actually, used) Sharp Zaurus had shipped, and was on its way to me. I can’t wait to get it! I’ve wanted one of these since they first came out about 6 years ago. I can’t wait to dive into it and start tinkering with the system. There are tons of pieces of software for the gadget, and I’m eager to start installing things on it.
My old Handspring Visor was very easy to learn to use, but the Zaurus is a more complex machine. I hope the learning curve isn’t too great. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll give you an update once I have the Zaurus, and I’ve had a chance to dive into it.
Sick
I started to feel a little off last Thursday night. By the end of the night, I was starting to roll into the miserable phase. I got up Friday morning, and things were worse. I decided to work from home that day rather than spread my germs all over the office. I got quite a bit done that day, but I knocked off early before going back to bed.
I woke up Saturday feeling a little better, but I decided to take some more NyQuil. After the dose of NyQuil, I rolled back into bed until the afternoon. I got up and took a nice hot shower. That always makes me feel better when I’m sick. Something about the steam of the shower soothes my aching sinuses and lungs. After the shower, I felt more human. I called Craing to arrange dinner and a movie that we normally do Friday nights. I felt good enough to eat some Old Chicago food, and watch Jet Li’s Fearless.
Sunday was a big day for us since it was the housewarming party. I felt so-so when I got up, so I headed back to bed for a few more hours. I figured I would need my energy for eating all of the great food that was going to show up, and hanging out with my friends at the party. I’m glad I got the extra rest. It let me stay alert and with it until the night rolled to an end.
I must have pushed it too hard on Sunday because I felt horrible again on Monday. I ached, had a runny nose, couldn’t stop sneezing, and between the sneezes, I would cough up a lung. Not a good combination. The cold is hanging on for dear life, so I took today off work in an attempt to get some good R&R in. I slept way too late, but it felt so damn good that I just couldn’t drag myself out of bed. I finally got out of bed, ate a little something, and went to the bank real quick to deposit a check for Kiara.
It felt good to get out of the house, and I think I’ll be nice and ready for work tomorrow morning.
Housewarming
We had a housewarming party yesterday, and we invited all of our friends to the house. It was a potluck setup, and plenty of great food was brought. I never did manage to get my hands on Kolvedic’s meatballs (heh. Yeah. I know how that sounds you sick bastards.), but I did manage to work my around the rest of the food before getting completely stuffed. The food was great, but I really enjoyed hanging out with my friends more than anything.
We got started around 3:30 when Kolvedic, Jhianna, and Jhianna’s parents arrived, and we didn’t knock off until around 10ish that night. We all had a good time watching the Broncos whip up on the Patriots, and it looks like the Bronco offense has finally woken up a bit.
I think my favorite part of the day was when we were all sitting around the tables chowing down on food. There were some great conversations, good comeraderie, and a general warmth that we all shared as we downed food and drink. The amount of friendship that was in the room was great, and I’m really blessed to have so many good friends.
Another highlight of the day was when our friends told Kiara and me to get together and come outside. We walked around the corner of our house where the garage doors are at, and there was a shiny new, stainless steel grill. It was a housewarming gift that many of our friends pitched in together and got for us. I’m sure they had been planning it for weeks, and I didn’t have a clue about what they were doing. I’m still in a bit of shock about the gift because it’s so fabulous. The grill has enough room to cook probably a dozen burgers, or half that number of large steaks. There’s also a griddle on the side that can be used for eggs, pancakes, or anything along those lines. I can’t wait to break it in and see what we can do with it.
I’m just happy that I’m blessed with such great friends in my life. It’s truly a wonderous thing!
History International
We got Dish Network back in July when we bought our new house. The only options we had were Dish Network and DirecTV. We went with Dish Network because of the price, and DirecTV really didn’t offer anything above and beyond Dish Network to justify the additional cost. We now get more channels on the TV than I will ever want to watch.
One of the channels that we now get (that we didn’t with Adelphia) is History International. It’s a great channel. It contains historical documentaries about events from around the world. Sure, North America has a nice history to it, but we have nothing compared to Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Watching shows about events that happened more than 1,000 years before Columbus was an itch in his father’s pants totally fascinates me. Learning about Attila the Hun, ancient Egypt, the Crusades, and other bits of history are wonderful.
The one odd thing is that I must be an oddball. Most of the advertisements on History International are geared towards senior citizens. There are advertisements for AARP, oxygen, diabetes medication, balding treatments, and most other things that I won’t have to worry about for a while.
Reading For Enjoyment
I used to read for many hours a week for the sheer pleasure of doing so. I’ve found that lately all I read are school books, and technical manuals. I really miss the hours of immersing myself in someone else’s story for a hours on end. Because of this, I’ve decided to dedicate a few hours every week to reading something that serves no purpose other than enjoying the story. I don’t intend to learn from the book, apply any practical knowledge from the book to my studies, profession, or hobbies. I simply want to read for the fun of reading.
I just picked up a few more books from a used book store where I have some credit. I found that the credit will only be good through May 1st when the store is due to close (or move, I wasn’t quite clear on the story.) I need to go in and pick up some more books. Most of the books that I’m looking at are $4 per book, so that gives me 8 more books that I have to find. It shouldn’t be hard to find 8 more books to read, but spending the time reading them is going to be hard.
I just counted the books that I have on my “to read” shelf, and there are 34 books up there. Some are short (the Narnia books), but some are pushing 400 pages. Some of them I have read before (The Long Run, the original Shannara series, and Lord of the Rings,) but many of them are going to be fresh and new for me. Some come recommended from friends while others come from authors that I really enjoy.
I won’t do any book reviews because I don’t want to give away any secrets, and I’m a horrible reviewer. I would have to type up my thoughts and ideas on each chapter as I read the book in order to do it justice. That sounds too much like homework for me, and I’m going to read just for the enjoyment of reading.
Food Drive
In my Saturday night game, Craing’s character (Baerzon) is the brother of my character (Daerzon). During a fight, Baerzon got dominated into attacking our fighter, Meera. Meera faught back with her sword of sharpness, and managed to lop off Baerzon’s leg. Fortunately, I had an artifact with me that could regenerate his leg, so I used it. I was told not to use it, but this was a special circumstance.
The key healed Baerzon’s leg, but Daerzon is now cursed(??) with an insatiable appetite. He must eat 6 times more than a normal person or suffer from horrible hunger pains. Prior to this happening, he purchased a Murlynd’s spoon, and a decanter of endless water. Those are two stock magic items that I always get my hands on when I can in any game. I rarely use them in most games, but in this case, I’m digging into the bowls of gruel that the spoon produces, and drinking almost non-stop from the decanter. I’m very glad that I have those magic items.
However, most days, I don’t have to eat the cardboard-like gruel that the spoon produces. Daerzon is a cleric, and is of sufficiently high level to cast create food and water. He’s able to feed up to 21 people a day with this spell. That means that I can feed myself (18 meals a day!!!) and the rest of the party with a single casting. Good thing I have that spell.
Also, we’re traveling along a river, and I actually spent a non-weapon proficiency on fishing. If I lose the spoon, forget my spells, and run out of rations, I still have the ability to feed myself from the fish from the river. What a setup! Sounds like Daerzon was already very food-oriented before the curse of the artifact, but it’s even worse now.
I guess it’s a good thing that I’m not a halfling with that curse!
Good Timing
My ancient PDA (a Handspring Visor from circa 1999) finally gave up the ghost. It was actually my fourth one. You could say that I was a loyal customer. About a year ago I told myself that when the Visor died, I would upgrade to a newer piece of technology to replace it. That time finally came yesterday morning. Fortunately, I have everything synched to my laptop, so I won’t lose any data.
The two bummers about this is all of the data entry that I’m going to have to do when I get a new PDA, and saving up the money to afford a replacement. One of those problems was solved yesterday when I got home from work. There was a check there waiting for me from Regis University. It was my student loan dispersement check for a little over $1000. Yay! That means that I can afford a new hand held as soon as the check clears. I went to the bank this morning and deposited the check, so I should have the funds tomorrow.
I looked at the HP iPaq PDAs, but they are very expensive, and run Windows Mobile. I think part of their higher cost is the licensing of Windows. The Palm PDAs looked niced, but the Z22 was too small. It was much smaller than my old Visor. I felt like I would be taking a technological step backwards if I bought the Z22. The TX was really nice. I liked the interface, the lack of a dedicated grafitti pad (which made the available screen space bigger,) and the color screen. After living in greyscale for so many years, seeing a PDA with color was amazing.
I also did some research online and talked to Fred about his Sharp Zaurus. I got to play with his Zaurus right after he got it a few years back, and I was very impressed. It also runs Linux as the operating system, which tickles me to no end. He has a 5500, but I’m going to shoot for getting a 5600. It has a slicker interface, and a larger battery. The bigger battery provides almost double the life of the 5500. I’ve found a few 5600′s on eBay, and I’ll probably purchase one of them sometime this week.
I’m really looking forward to the new toy!
Wedding
On Sunday, I went to a friend’s wedding. It was held at Farish Park, and it was an outdoor wedding. Fortunately, Mother Nature cooperated, and the weather was wonderful. The sun was warm, but there was a cool breeze offsetting the sun. It was a nice time all told. The preacher had us pray, the listen, then pray, then listen, then pray…. well… you get the idea. At least it wasn’t a Catholic wedding with lots of standing and sitting. We were able to keep our seats during the entire process.
The only odd thing about the wedding was the choice of Bible verse that the preacher used. It was something about a guy that came across three flocks of sheep around a covered well. He uncovered the well, and watered the sheep. While doing this, he found a woman that was his mother’s brother’s daughter, and they kissed, thus sealing their marriage. I thought cousins kissing only happened in the South. It was an odd choice of scripture for a wedding. Either that, or I completely missed the point. During the reception, we talked about the choice of scripture, and I wasn’t the only one confused by the choice. Maybe we all missed the point, but I doubt it.
The reception was quite a bit of fun. There were no assigned seats, which was good. This meant that we got a table with all of our close friends. We got to hang out, talk, and drink some decent wine while talking. It was a good time. During the conversation, someone broke out some honey mead that the groom had made two years prior to the wedding. I had some of it right after he made it two years ago, and it was so-so. However, after two years of aging, the mead was tasty, smooth, and pretty damn good. I enjoyed it a little too much. I did manage to sneak away with a bottle of it for later tasting. I’m looking forward to it.
The wedding was nice, and I hope that my friend and his new wed wife have many happy days together. I’m really surprised that he got married, so he must have found the woman that is just right for him. It should be a good relationship since my friend seems happier now with her in his life than he has ever been before.
