Sleep Spent

This is a little bit late, but I thought I’d let those of you who read this know that I’ve decided to go with the System Configuration job. I’m not sure exactly when I’ll be starting, but it will likely be in early June. Details to follow.

I found this article about a year ago and was entralled for an evening. Slashdot just picked it up, reminding me how much I enjoy metric. This is a particularly amazing detail:

Technical drawing pens follow the same size-ratio principle. The standard sizes differ by a factor sqrt(2): 2.00 mm, 1.40 mm, 1.00 mm, 0.70 mm, 0.50 mm, 0.35 mm, 0.25 mm, 0.18 mm, 0.13 mm. So after drawing with a 0.35 mm pen on A3 paper and reducing it to A4, you can continue with the 0.25 mm pen. (ISO 9175-1)

The obsessive-compulsive in me swoons at that level of order!

Standards, be they web or metric get me all tingly.

I have been asked to decide between two sure things, iChat QA and Safari QA, with the System Configuration group wanting a few more interviews before they commit one way or the other.

I believe this deserves a hearty “FUCK YEAH!!”

I’m in San Diego for the weekend, chillin’ with Melissa and Jordan. I just spent two hours reading the first half of The Giver. I would have kept reading, but it’s getting late. The book is unbelievably good. It’s a pleasant detour from the very interesting but dense-in-parts The Wealth and Poverty of Nations.

The effectively Communist state presented in The Giver is exactly the opposite of what Landes argues allowed the Industrial Revolution to occur. Diversity of opinion and a framework for exchanging knowledge (mathematics and the scientific method) allowed the sciences to blossom and feed off one another. “Capitalism” at a state level among the many countries in medieval Europe provided competition which fueled innovation and exploration, to the unfortunate detriment of the Aztecs, the Incas, the Guanches, and just about everyone else the “pious” Europeans came in contact with.

Reading Landes really makes me want to play Civilization!

Lastly, I proofed over 20 pages today. I was also successful in getting my compadre Brett at work to “race” me. It was to be a “who can proof the most?” contest, but we never ended up comparing numbers. What matters, though, is that he loved it. He proofed 20 or so pages today himself, I believe. He called the process “addictive,” noting that “there’s always another page to finish.” That’s why we love it. :-)

Today I was proofing a second round project called Handbook of Home Rule about the political situation which preceeded Ireland being granted Home Rule (which was a precursor to Ireland seceding from the United Kingdom). I found the book well-proofed up to then, so I was able to concentrate more on content than normal. Besides, I was darn interested in the topic. The writer was a British Labour MP in the 1880s who was sympathetic to the Irish cause. I delighted in being able to read his no-nonsense, if sometimes a bit broad, explanation of what happened when and how decisions were made. (The names of the Bills were great too: there was actually a Coercion Bill! Can you imagine something named so honestly in this age of cutesy acronym bills like USA PATRIOT and the like? The forthrightness was refreshing.) In a first for me, I’ve set up an e-mail notification once the book has been released on PG.

Sleep beckons me.

The iChat team asked me this one:

You have 10 balls, 5 black and 5 green. There are two sacks into which all the balls must be placed. You place the balls in the sacks (snigger), and then a ball is chosen from a sack at random.

How can you arrange the balls in the sacks to provide the best probability that a black ball will be chosen?

Well, the interviews are done. I’m returning to SLO tonight. Apparently, I’ll find out over the next week if I got the job(s).

Thanks to everyone for wishing me well!

(As a sidenote, I’ve been a bit lax in updating the Song of the Week lately. I’ve got the next two picked out, I just need to add them to the page. I’ll do that sometime in the next day. Stay tuned!)

I’ve applied for three positions at everyone’s favorite fruit company, and I’m several weeks along in the process. Next step: a bevy of in-person interviews. I’m leaving here Thursday night and starting the process on Friday morning at 9am.

I knew I’d be interviewing, but I didn’t really have any idea of the scale of interviews until this morning. I’m going to be talking with 28 different people over two days (Friday and Monday)! Most of them are in groups of two, but still. That’s a lot of time with a lot of important people.

Here’s hoping something comes of this!

/me crosses his fingers

A few weeks ago, I was at a friend’s house. His Chemistry lab notebook was sitting there on his bed, and he was in another room... I saw an opportunity and seized it. I quickly scribbled “Zeel is a pussy willow” in the book at the top of one of the pages.

After I had done it, I discovered from his roommate Dennis (a good friend of mine) that his Chem professor is anal in the extreme about the lab book, and requires no crossing out of work or tearing out of pages.

So much the better. :-)

Weeks passed, and I mostly forgot about it. Until I left my phone at his house when I was over again on Friday night.

I just got it back, and I keep discovering new things that Zeel has added to it -- things I didn’t even know you could do. First of all, a bunch of people have been added to my address book. Useful people to know, like Harry Beaver and Dixon Cox. And I got a plethora of messages on my cell’s voicemail inciting me to come pick up my phone. (Something about them playing baseball with it....)

And then there’s the appointments which popped up several times, letting me know things like “Bad Nick” and such.

But I think my favorite is the comment I get at start up, while the phone is booting. It says, simply, “Lab book no no”. I like that one so much, I think I’m going to keep it.

Zeel, you’re a genius. Thank you! I just keep laughing! I’m still not sure I have found everything. :-)

Brandon: “C’mon, you did wrestling in high school.”

Dan: “Yeah, and it made me feel a little gay.”

Brandon: “That’s just because you’re insecure with your sexuality.”

Dan: “No, dude, when my face in in some other dude’s ass, I feel a little gay.”

Word. :-)