.: Archives :.

Friday, April 18, 2003

Magic Mountain + Harry Potter = BIG FUN! - [5:29 PM]

My oldest daughter spent Tuesday at Magic Mountain here in California. If you never been there you're really missing out. It MUST be the king of thrill rides. Anywho, I was wondering why the WB and J.K. Rowling haven't signed a deal to open a Potter themed area in the park? If you've ever been to the park you may remember it sits in between some rolling foothills. I can see it now! Board the Hogwarts Express that takes you from the main park to the Potter park, complete with Diagon Alley, Hogwarts Castle and Hogsmead. You could see magic themed shows and eat at the Leaky Cauldron, or even The Tree Broomsticks! Rides could include The Gringots Troller-coaster, the flying car, the shrieking-shack, and Quidditch! What's taking you guys so long? I could see it giving Disneyland a real run for it's money if it wasn't pure coasters. Why not pure coasters? I love Magic Mountain but I still prefer to visit Disneyland because of the attention to detail. Every ride and attraction is designed to be aesthetically pleasing. For instance, have you ever had dinner at the Blue Bayou in Pirates of the Caribbean? If you have you know what I'm talking about, Magic Mountain could achieve the same sort of thing with a new area in the park and still have the killer rides!

Why would someone do this? - [4:47 PM]

MSNBC: "Prosecutors have said they strongly suspect the bodies were those of Laci Peterson, 27, and her unborn child." - This is a local case so it gets your attention. It looks like police may have the break they've been looking for. If the person discovered in San Francisco earlier in the week is Laci Peterson my only question is "Why the heck would anyone do something like this to an eight months pregnant woman?"

I just don't understand and probably never will.

Reminder to self - [4:42 PM]

Figure out a way to retire, now, so you can coach and play softball all day.

Uhhhhhh - [2:29 PM]

Scobleizer: "I saw three Segways in Seattle. I still haven't seen any here in the Valley." - You mean there are people lazy enough to buy a Segway? Ok, ok, so maybe that's not fair. Maybe they're not lazy, maybe they just have cash to throw down the toilet for a useless toy. That sounds about right. And my wife gets upset when I blow $250.00 on a softball bat, wonder what she'd do if I bought a Segway?

As for the Silicon Valley it's probably past it's prime, just like software. The heydays are pretty much over. Computing isn't the unique and mysterious profession it used to be and people are figuring that out. The Silicon Valley is way over hyped as a great place. I have no doubt it's a wonderful place to live but if I were going to spend an outrageous amount of money on a house I'd do it in New York city before I would San Jose or San Francisco. Someone will send me hate mail over that statement and that's ok. I've spent a bit of time in that area and I don't see how the price of housing is justified. People are probably leaving because they've discovered they can take their $500,000.00 they made on their 1000 square foot home and buy something really special somewhere else. I'm still amazed that we tout technology like we do yet big companies still insist on locating in a few 'hot' areas. A Silicon Valley based company could buy so much more here in the San Joaquin Valley but they won't even consider it. Hint, hint...

Movie line of the week answer - [11:49 AM]

One guess yesterday, just one, but it was correct!

Our winner is Steven Vore. The correct answer is...

Field of Dreams

You knew it didn't you?

Oh, BTW Steven, I know I still have a link to the Moose. I'm hoping he'll surprise us all and make a return!

Thursday, April 17, 2003

Good question - [11:25 AM]

Rodent Regatta: "What percentage of Microsoft's employees write code?" - Steve asks a very good question. To be honest I don't have the slightest clue. Can anyone from Microsoft answer this? Any HR folk read this site? Generally I'd say most development related jobs require at least some coding knowledge. Development, Test, and PM are a MUST. Beyond that it's probably helpful to know something about code if you're working in a more technical area; E.G. documenting an API(Application Programming Interface), but I'd imagine most Sales and Marketing type jobs wouldn't require you to be overly technical. On second thought that too may depend on the product you're working with. If it's Windows or a system type thing then knowing how to code might be handy. If you're selling/marketing Visio or a game I don't think it would be overly critical to know how to write code. On the flip side if you're willing to take on the challenge of learning something about the process of developing a product that would go a long way in the organization. Microsoft has a history of honing the skills of smart people to fit an area. So it may not matter. It all comes down to the interview process.

P.S. - I couldn't agree more about Via Dolorosa, it's very moving.

Movie line of the week - [11:04 AM]

Ok movie liners! It's that time again.

Take a gander at this one, two actors...

Actor #1: Hey, what if the Voice calls while you're gone?
Actor #2: Take a message.

Ok, quick, what movie! Send your guesses here. My wife encouraged me to make it tough today, but I don't think this line will achieve that objective. You be the judge.

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

Help needed? - [2:01 PM]

So anyone looking for a bright kid to come to work for them?

Happy Hump Day - [9:39 AM]

I can't believe it's the middle of the week already, time fly's when you're debugging code!

I have to share this right away before I forget it. I saw this on a bumper sticker this morning.

Don't muddle in the affairs of Dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

It was good for a laugh.

Lately I've been using Luke Hutteman's SharpReader as my RSS feed reader. There are so many to choose from these days and Sharp is a good choice. I do have some requests however, but I'll save that for another time.

Overall I'd say it's a really fine piece of software and worth considering for your daily RSS needs.

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

It's almost here. - [10:25 AM]

Blockbuster time! The traditional Movie Blockbuster season starts in May. Being a movie freak it's something I look forward to, just as I do baseball season. It signals a change of season. Weird? Maybe.

I only mention it because I saw the latest trailer for The Matrix Reloaded last night. WOW! This film looks like a real winner. Hopefully all the cool stuff wasn't show in the earlier teaser and recent trailer. I've always loved movie trailers but I'm starting to change my tune about them. For a follow-up film like Reloaded the movie studio should take a minimalist approach to trailers. Keep the good stuff for the actual release. Would a less revealing trailer cause people to NOT see a film? Personally it wouldn't stop me from going to the next film in a franchise.

If you're a fan of movies may I recommend visiting Bill Says This? In particular check out Bill's excellent collection of 2003 and 2004 movies! It's a great list!

Monday, April 14, 2003

PowerBlog News - [10:59 AM]

PowerBlog: "PowerBlog version 2, a complete and total rewrite in C#, has been in the works for a couple months now." - Jon is really working hard to make PowerBlog a standard client for blogging. If you have suggestions please forward them to him so he can consider them for the next time, or the time after that. PB makes a wonderful blogging front-end and Jon has been so cooperative. I'd asked him for MetaWeblog support at one time and he was able to do it with a recent update. Hey all you backend folks here's a request: Please support the MetaWeblog API. There are a number of clients, and servers, that support it already but as new folks enter the market it would be nice to have that backwards compatibility story, don't you think? I wish Blogger could/would support it. That way I could use my PowerBlog client to post to my Blogger Pro account. As it is today I can't take advantage of Blogger Pro from PowerBlog because the Blogger API hasn't been extended to make use of titles (as far as I know?) and titles are necessary to get RSS feeds.

Movie line of the week answer - [10:11 AM]

Ok so I didn't announce the winner EARLY like I thought I would. Too much to do Thursday evening to prepare for my trip on Friday. Our winner was Mr. Tommy Williams, a fellow 'Softie. Congratulations Tommy!

A few folks guessed 'A Fish Called Wanda', not bad, but the correct answer is...

Splash

Thanks for playing!

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