if you could see out my office window at this moment, you'd probably notice a young girl, looking not out of place in a black and white movie, gathering her dog in the basket of her bicycle, pedaling furiously down the road.
that is to say, it's looking like tornado weather. and i think the national weather service building, which is right in my backyard, has induced the local weathermen to stay on the air constantly. i'm not one to be mr. cynical, especially when the sky, from left to right, ranges from murky blue-gray to weird gray-orange, in about a 130 degree spread.
if this post stops suddenly in mid-sentence, you'll know why.
***
haven't had much to say lately, mainly because i've been too busy to be in the mood to gather my thoughts once the day's end rolls around. usually that's around 10 p.m., after having started at 6 a.m., and while i'm not at all implying that i work hard for a living -- i sit on my ass in front of a computer screen, or sometimes two screens at the same time -- i do work enough between SuitWorld™ and my palacial estate that sleep is only thing on my mind come sundown.
but SuitWorld™ ... our little team, which was started with so much fanfare about a year ago, has lost three more members in the past two weeks. two of them have not been discussed in this space, so i don't have nicknames for them. the third, semi-affectionately known as "the hammer" and described herein, has decided to move on. my first thought was to throw her a goodbye party. my second thought was not to invite her. my third thought was that my real feelings lay somewhere in between those two.
either way, if the hammer wants to move on -- hell, if anybody wants to move on -- it's probably A Good Thing.
except for one of the two non-nicknamed ones. she doesn't have a nickname -- she did, actually, a long time ago; we called her "shark" and for the life of me i can't remember why we chose that, because in retrospect it was about as far from her true personality as we could have gotten.
but, once a shark, always a shark ... so "sharky" she shall be.
sharky is the kind of teammate that you'd kill to have around. funny, intelligent, well spoken, thoughtful ... sharky is all that, and kind of a babe to boot, though i'll probably get in trouble for saying so. her role on the team changed a lot between her entry and her exit; i think that's the reason she's moving on.
another part of the reason, i daresay, involves the ridiculous procedure and paperwork described in the post above.
when people who are creative and talented and self-motivated are put in an environment where their skills are valued, they will thrive. when those same people are forced to become just another cog in the machine, they will wither and die. i think sharky saw that coming for her, and decided that it was better to move on and save what was left of her personality and passion for her job.
if SuitWorld™ cannot find a way to keep people like sharky, then its days surely are numbered.
i will miss her greatly, though i don't think she knows exactly how, or even why.
6.27.2005
6.26.2005
6.20.2005
another one from the vaults
i bookmarked post secret a few weeks ago and was mesmerized.
people are asked to make their own homemade postcards detailing one secret that nobody knows about them, and then mail the postcard to the site's owner. the cards are posted with no identification, so that it's totally anonymous.
it's hard to stop reading.
people are asked to make their own homemade postcards detailing one secret that nobody knows about them, and then mail the postcard to the site's owner. the cards are posted with no identification, so that it's totally anonymous.
it's hard to stop reading.
6.16.2005
the beach in san fran
i took this one facing west ... were you to expand the shot out a bit, you'd see the golden gate in the backgrouund.
i'm pretty proud of this one, so i thought i'd share.
6.14.2005
every once in a while
yo!
yes?
why aren't you posting anything lately?
well, i've been busy, for one (see "with apologies to george m. cohan" below). and two, i ain't got much to say lately.
every once in a while, i send myself an email -- it's almost always when i'm at my desk at the MotherShip™ -- about something i want to put on this blog.
mothership?™
yeah. it's the code name for where i work.
is the "™" silent or something?
good question.
anyway. i've been collecting this stuff in a mailbox and from time to time, i'm going to pull something out for you all to enjoy.
funny.
i can't help myself.
with apologies to george m. cohan ...
you're a grand old flag
you're a high-flying flag
even if your hardware's overpriced
you're the emblem of
the OS i love
the land of dashboard and spotlight
ev'ry nerd will snort
'to jobs they'll retort --
should power pc be forgot,
keep your eye on the grand old flag!
6.06.2005
meanwhile, at apple's world wide developers conference ...
the higlight of day one?
apple is switching to intel chips, with availability of intel-based G5s next year
***
being in san francisco for the WWDC is a lot like being one of the swallows as they return to capistrano ...
head swallow: thank you all for coming all this way!
swallow # 1: thanks. we didn't have a choice.
head swallow: i know! isn't it wonderful? and we've been coming here all these years, doing the same thing over and over.
swallow #2: thanks. once again, the, uh, choice thing.
head swallow: right right right ... well, i was thinking about that ... instead of flying here, the way we've always done it, next year, let's all hop on a bus.
swallow # 3: wha?
head swallow: and let's not go to capistrano, either. let's go to ... topeka.
swallow # 1: my head assplode.
apple running intel is like ford running GM big blocks in the new mustang. it's like burger king deciding that, all of a sudden, they're going to be selling big macs. it's like ... it's like ...
i don't give a shit what it's "like," truth be told. it's like what it's like. it's a processor shift -- and, if what steve jobs showed off during his keynote is any indication, it's amazingly similar to what i'm experiencing on my G4 laptop right now.
there is no reason not to do this, insofar as (1) it's already been ported -- jobs said every version of OS X has been written for PowerPC and Intel; (2) the "Rosetta" interface layer means current PPC apps won't have to be rewritten; and (3) IBM can't deliver on either a 3 ghz chip, or one that won't cause thermonuclear meltdown running at advertised speeds.
nobody can doubt that intel has done amazing things with its chips, and apple -- if everything we've heard today is true -- will be doing a lot to make the transition as painless as possible.
this switch, in accordance with the the law of conservation of apple fanboys, means that apple will lose some, and gain others, keeping the total number constant.
***
AIM
dave
8:41
What's hopping?
Is Jobs switching to Dell now?
paul
8:41
yes
and he just bit into a gigantic porterhouse while announcing it
***
q: how many developers here do you think were wearing anime-related t-shirts yesterday?
a: all of them.
it's all about your nerd bonafides around here.
you can rank someone's coolness by the t-shirt or backpack -- though it's almost always t-shirt -- the person is wearing. i've seen some cool ones, including: rhapsody, OS 8 and a WWDC from 1994. it's all about how long you've been with apple, how long you've been cooler than everyone else.
almost to a person all the persons wearing these cooler-than-thou t-shirts are men. in fact, there are many, many men here. if i were a single woman on the prowl, my odds of getting the pick of the litter here would be pretty good. but that "pick" would probably have no idea how to satisfy me, so, again, the law of apple fanboy conservation holds true.
the female developers look like buicks with birkenstocks. in fact, at one point, i'd counted only four women that i thought would be "doable" outside of this user base.
AIM
paul
8:48
ooh! just saw #5
navyspouse3
8:49
Apple hired her to walk around.
it's not fair to say these things, as i'm no brad pitt myself. nevertheless, i think it's fair to say: the last time some of these developers broke out into a sweat was at the appearance of the "star wars" logo on a big screen.
***
being in san francisco for the WWDC is a lot like being one of the swallows as they return to capistrano ...
head swallow: thank you all for coming all this way!
swallow # 1: thanks. we didn't have a choice.
head swallow: i know! isn't it wonderful? and we've been coming here all these years, doing the same thing over and over.
swallow #2: thanks. once again, the, uh, choice thing.
head swallow: right right right ... well, i was thinking about that ... instead of flying here, the way we've always done it, next year, let's all hop on a bus.
swallow # 3: wha?
head swallow: and let's not go to capistrano, either. let's go to ... topeka.
swallow # 1: my head assplode.
apple running intel is like ford running GM big blocks in the new mustang. it's like burger king deciding that, all of a sudden, they're going to be selling big macs. it's like ... it's like ...
i don't give a shit what it's "like," truth be told. it's like what it's like. it's a processor shift -- and, if what steve jobs showed off during his keynote is any indication, it's amazingly similar to what i'm experiencing on my G4 laptop right now.
there is no reason not to do this, insofar as (1) it's already been ported -- jobs said every version of OS X has been written for PowerPC and Intel; (2) the "Rosetta" interface layer means current PPC apps won't have to be rewritten; and (3) IBM can't deliver on either a 3 ghz chip, or one that won't cause thermonuclear meltdown running at advertised speeds.
nobody can doubt that intel has done amazing things with its chips, and apple -- if everything we've heard today is true -- will be doing a lot to make the transition as painless as possible.
this switch, in accordance with the the law of conservation of apple fanboys, means that apple will lose some, and gain others, keeping the total number constant.
***
AIM
dave
8:41
What's hopping?
Is Jobs switching to Dell now?
paul
8:41
yes
and he just bit into a gigantic porterhouse while announcing it
***
q: how many developers here do you think were wearing anime-related t-shirts yesterday?
a: all of them.
it's all about your nerd bonafides around here.
you can rank someone's coolness by the t-shirt or backpack -- though it's almost always t-shirt -- the person is wearing. i've seen some cool ones, including: rhapsody, OS 8 and a WWDC from 1994. it's all about how long you've been with apple, how long you've been cooler than everyone else.
almost to a person all the persons wearing these cooler-than-thou t-shirts are men. in fact, there are many, many men here. if i were a single woman on the prowl, my odds of getting the pick of the litter here would be pretty good. but that "pick" would probably have no idea how to satisfy me, so, again, the law of apple fanboy conservation holds true.
the female developers look like buicks with birkenstocks. in fact, at one point, i'd counted only four women that i thought would be "doable" outside of this user base.
AIM
paul
8:48
ooh! just saw #5
navyspouse3
8:49
Apple hired her to walk around.
it's not fair to say these things, as i'm no brad pitt myself. nevertheless, i think it's fair to say: the last time some of these developers broke out into a sweat was at the appearance of the "star wars" logo on a big screen.
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