The Pickens Plan - [7:23 AM]

PickensPlan.com: "World oil production peaked in 2005. Despite growing demand and an unprecedented increase in prices, oil production has fallen over the last three years. Oil is getting more expensive to produce, harder to find and there just isn't enough of it to keep up with demand." - This is a bold plan and I'm hopeful that both of our Presidential candidates will take it seriously. Sure, we can drill for oil in the short term, 10-years or so, but we need to have something that takes us beyond that. At least someone familiar with the oil industry is thinking about it. It's a good thing.

Labels: Green, Life

Exeter Starbucks closing - [11:31 AM]

Well I can't say it's a surprise. Exeter is a funny little town. There are Starbucks in a couple of towns close by, their locations are on the highway, which I'm sure helps quite a bit. The Exeter Starbucks is on a heavily traveled road for Exeterites but that's about it. It didn't turn into the hangout for the kids like I see at a lot of local Starbucks. Exeter has a few mom-and-pop type coffee shops and we tend to support our own as a town, which is a good thing.

There's also a closure happening in Visalia, which sports eight locations. The Caldwell and Mooney Starbucks is closing, which is kind of strange because that's a super busy intersection.

Here's the complete list (pdf), see if your favorite site fell victim.

Labels: Coffee, Life

Arsy in Rio - [9:21 AM]

Richard Caetano: "The first day I arrived, in true Portugese style, we had a feast. About 20 people showed up. After the meal the living room turned into a music studio with instruments galore. We played all kinds of crazy stuff, bossa novas, sambas, american rock? Later in the night my cousin Terza took me out for drinks." - In general the rest of the world really knows how to live. Here in America we're consumed with our jobs and don't really take time to enjoy life.

Labels: Family, Friends, Fun, Life

Job of the week - [9:34 PM]

jobs.joelonsoftware.com: "How would you like to work from home, writing code for the hottest new mobile platform, the iPhone OS?" - How's that for an opening sentence?

Labels: iPhone, Life

Ouch, that'll leave a mark - [8:39 PM]

The Wall Street Journal: "IndyMac is the biggest mortgage lender to go under since a fall in housing prices and surge in defaults began rippling through the economy last year -- and it likely won't be the last. Banking regulators are bracing for a slew of failures over the next year as analysts say housing prices have yet to bottom out."

Labels: Life

PayRod, you bad boy - [8:17 PM]

Sport Illustrated: "Cynthia Rodriguez, who married the New York Yankees star in 2002, said the marriage is over because of the All-Star third baseman's extramarital affairs, according to reports that appeared Sunday on the Web sites of Houston television station KTRK and The Miami Herald." - Is it just me or does Mr. Rodriguez look a lot bigger than he did when he arrived in New York? Could he be juicing along with stepping out on his wife?

Hey, I'm just sayin...

Labels: Baseball, Life

Thinking of San Luis - [8:02 PM]

I've been sitting here watching Bug play Strangers Wrath and all I can think about is OddWorld Inhabitants and how much I wanted to work for them. I applied for a position with them back in 2004 but nothing came of it. They were located in downtown San Luis Obispo above Ross between Monterey Street and Higuera Street. It's a dream location for Kim and I and a job right in the heart of the city was something I wanted. Then, in April 2005, OddWorld was no more. The doors closed and that dream was shot down. It's strange they'd disappear like they did. Their games were creative and very unusual and had a very loyal fan base. It's a bummer, not only for the selfish side of me, but for the part of me that was a fan of their work.

I doubt they're ever return in their old form, but here's hoping.

In the meantime I guess I'm going to have to try to convince Pelco to open a development shop in San Luis Obispo.

Labels: Dreaming, Games, Life, XBox

Happy 4th of July! - [10:06 AM]

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

Labels: Life

Starbucks closing 600 stores - [3:24 PM]

Fortune: "Starbucks (SBUX) can’t catch a break. The coffee retailer says it will close 600 stores, about 8.5% of its 7,100 total stores, an expansion of the 100-store closing target it had previously announced." - Ouch! I wonder if my daughter's Starbucks is in danger of closing?

Labels: Coffee, Life

New York, tech job leader? - [9:14 AM]

New York Times: "If you’re looking for a tech job in the United States, the best place to go is not Silicon Valley. It’s New York." - We just lost a very valuable member of one of our teams to a company in New York, so there seems to be some validity to that statement.

Labels: Life, Technology

Just a little angry - [10:18 AM]

James Robertson: "Hello, earth to morons at the MPAA: I have 500+ channels here. If I find that I can't buffer your movie, I'll move along to something else - I won't adjust my schedule to match your idiotic fantasies." - James obviously loves the MPAA and its' brethren.

Labels: Life

Slowing Down - [4:40 PM]

CNN.com: "Slow movement members don't fit one profile. They're journalists, lawyers, chefs, farmers. Yet they cite the same factors for our inability to slow down: longer work hours, longer commutes and technological advances like BlackBerrys that keep many employees chained to work." - After this post I'm shutting off my BlackBerry and stuffing it in the suitcase, I'll dig it out when we get home Saturday night. I brought it so our daughters could call us if they needed us, but I can't help checking e-mail, work and personal, and I've been posting to Twitter since we arrived.

So, hopefully this will be my final weblog post, and Twitter post, until at least Saturday night. See you then.

Labels: Life

Wishful Thinking - [3:14 PM]

I've said it before, I miss my downtown Seattle experience while at Visio. Pelco, like Microsoft, and many other companies chose to build a campus. I'd love to move the Pelco Engineering team to a different location if I could. Here are a couple of options.

Near Woodward Park - The Google Map doesn't do it justice. There are actually office buildings at that location now. Woodward Park is within waking distance as well as great places to eat in River Park. It would be quite nice.

Downtown Fresno - It's quite obvious downtown Fresno doesn't compare to downtown Seattle, but it does have it's plusses. Change is afoot downtown. It would be nice to see it pickup but Fresno is going to have to do something to attract businesses back downtown. There's the ballpark, which is nice, and a few great places to eat.

Folks will ask "What's wrong with a campus?" I dunno, I don't like feeling stuck, with few options for lunch, shopping, etc. There are times when you'd like to step outside to clear your mind and having a nice place to get away is desirable. I also miss the wide selection of places to eat, the variety. At Pelco we have a diner, which is nice, but it does get old. I'd love to have dining options within walking distance. If we want to get something to eat off campus it means jumping in a car and driving.

What we have now isn't the end of the world, I just prefer the downtown high-rise over the campus, that's all.

Labels: Life

Obama clinches nomination - [1:53 PM]

AP: "WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, based on an Associated Press tally of convention delegates, becoming the first black candidate ever to lead his party into a fall campaign for the White House."

Labels: Life

Star Trek TNG - [8:34 PM]

SciFi will be playing Star Trek TNG fan favorites all next week, beginning Monday. Yippee!

Labels: Life

Strange Weather - [9:29 AM]

Visalia Times Delta: "Jim Dudley of the National Weather Service in Hanford said Visalia's high temperature of 55 degrees was the lowest high temperature for May 25 on record, beating the previous record, 68 degrees, in 1980.

Typically, Sunday's average temperature would be about 85 degrees, Dudley said." - Last Saturday, May 17, we were over 100 degrees, a week and a day later, we hit an all time low for the day. Weird.

Labels: Life

Outta Luck - [9:24 AM]

Visalia Times Delta: "Even before dropping bombs on his target, Rose said mechanical problems caused one of his B-24 Liberator's engines to stall, so his plane lagged behind the other American bombers that had taken part in the mission until a group of German Messerschmitt 109 fighter planes caught up with them."

Labels: Life

Memorial Day 2008 - [9:02 AM]

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations.
Cultivate peace and harmony with all.

George Washington

Labels: Life

Ahhh, the good old days - [4:45 PM]

CNBC: "The prices that we're paying at the pump today are, I think, going to be 'the good old days,' because others who watch this very closely forecast that we're going to be hitting $12 and $15 a gallon, and then, after that, when world oil production goes into decline, we're going to talk about rationing," - That'll leave a mark.

Labels: Life

Redneck heaven - [1:45 PM]

The Fan Manual: "Instead, try driving a Ford, drinking Bud-heavy, playing the entire 2007 Coca-Cola 600 via cassette on the radio, eating an entire rack of ribs, sporting a UNC or USC college sticker, throwing the football, and listening to Hank Williams Jr. Also, any provocative signs that you can include at your campsite will only heighten your chances of success in fitting into the redneck realm (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out the banner in the picture below . . . CLASSY). If you can sit in your site by your cooler with the utmost confidence in your proper clothing, then you’re half way there!" - Important tips for surviving a NASCAR event while mullet hunting. Go read the article, it's a classic.

Labels: Fun, Life

Don't bother - [1:41 PM]

McClatchy: "WASHINGTON — If Congress were to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, crude oil prices would probably drop by an average of only 75 cents a barrel, according to Department of Energy projections issued Thursday." - Now is the time. We need to open the innovation bag and find a new trick.

Labels: Life

Well duh! - [11:46 PM]

CNNMoney: "DETROIT (AP) -- Honda Motor Co. is coming out with hybrid cars, starting early next year, that will cost about $1,900 more than comparable gas-only models. The cost for the Detroit Three, according to industry analysts, could be lower market share as U.S. consumers continue their rapid shift to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles." - Yeah, I'll probably buy a hybrid next time around. I'm currently running about $320 per month in gas. I know that's not a lot compared to many but it's enough to make me want to reduce it, especially with $4 per gallon has become the norm in our part of California. When it comes time to purchase a new vehicle I'll be looking at hybrids for sure.

Labels: Life

Welcome to The Valley - [5:41 PM]

Yeah, it's kinda hot today, and it's only mid-May.

Labels: Life

Have you heard of this? - [6:59 AM]

It's called Twitter, and I hear it's going to be a big deal?

Yeah, I'm just kidding. I finally bit the bullet and created an account.

Enjoy.

Labels: Life

True - [10:58 PM]

People are hampered by money.
It does not free them.
It does not encourage them to go on and try new things.
It makes them more conservative.

— Francis Coppola

Labels: Life

X-Files like mystery, or hoax? - [8:11 AM]

wjz-tv [via NerdyNews]: "Cameras have videotaped the event on two other occasions. Police have used the shadows cast by the light flash to determine an approximate area where they think the light source may be coming from--30 to 40 feet in the air in the parking lot between the Beth Tfiloh Community School and the Stevenson Commons condominiums building." - Weird.

Labels: Life

Gas prices to peak in June? - [7:49 AM]

NY Times: "Oil prices have nearly doubled in a year. Gasoline is selling for a national average of about $3.61 a gallon, according to AAA, the automobile club, a penny less than the record set on May 1 but 58 cents higher than a year ago." - It's hit that point here at the Fahrni residence. Kim and I have finally started planning our trips. Black gold indeed.

The price of gas in our little corner of the world ranges from $3.85 to $4.05, depending on station. Chevron and Shell are the worst, with prices consistently above $4.

Labels: Life

Worst workspaces in tech - [9:46 PM]

Slashdot: "What makes them so bad? Some offend with exposed fluorescent lights, gray cubicles and a dystopian corporate sheen."

Labels: Life

Living without Google? - [6:45 AM]

Chris Pirillo: "Do you use Google? Could you get along without it for a week? I tried it, and dubbed it Google Fasting. There’s no way I could do that again. It was really tough, believe it or not. I got an email from Mike recently, that raised a thought-provoking question about Google’s power." - I'll do you one better Chris, I could live without the internet. How's that for fasting! Believe it or not there was a time without it, a time when we had a network, or we'd sneaker-net stuff around, a simpler time. Everything worked out because we didn't know any better.

That was probably before you were born.

Labels: Life

That's depressing - [2:10 PM]

Philly Enquirer [via John Robb]: "The 30-year-old bookkeeper stood pregnant, broke and sad under rows of pawned guitars hanging like curing hams from the ceiling of the ragged South Street shop. She got a $20 loan for her $200 Bulova, a gift from the Harley-Davidson Co., where she used to work."

Labels: Life

It's arrived in Visalia - [7:40 AM]

Visalia Times Delta: "Gas prices have hit $4.05 for regular at Union 76 station at the corner of Akers Street and Goshen Avenue, Thursday in Visalia." - Visalia is the city next door to little Exeter, where we live.

Labels: Life

Gas to Hit $7 a Gallon | Autopia from Wired.com - [9:21 PM]

Wired.com: "Both Qatar's oil minister and the head of OPEC can see oil hitting $200 a barrel before the end of the year and one analyst says gas could reach $7 a gallon within four years. That could mean cataclysm for the global economy." - Gulp...

Labels: Life

Reiser found guilty of murder - [7:21 AM]

CNN.com [via NerdyNews]: "Reiser, known in programming circles as creator of the ReiserFS computer file system, testified for several days in the six-month trial, often giving rambling answers and getting scolded by the judge for arguing with the prosecutor." - I remember reading about this in Wired during a trip to Seattle last June. It's very sad and tragic.

Labels: Life, Linux

Rockin and Rollin in Reno - [8:51 PM]

This weekend our youngest had a volleyball tournament in Reno. On Friday night we got a rather unpleasant surprise in the form of a 4.7 magnitude quake. We've been through worse, but not 10 floor up. I was asleep and I came out of the bed like a shot! I was confused, and didn't quite know what to do. It was over in 30, or so, seconds, but we felt aftershocks into last night. Kim looked at me and said "We have to come to Nevada to experience an earthquake?"

Yeah, I guess we did.

Labels: Life

Friday afternoon coffee, on Thursday - [2:23 PM]

Hey, the weekend starts for me today. We're off to Reno this afternoon for a volleyball tournament. See you all on Monday. So, in honor of the weekend here's a Quad-Grande-Vanilla-Mocha, featuring Monorail Espresso from the fine folks at Mukilteo Coffee Company, with whip of course. Enjoy!

Labels: Coffee, Life

Not alone - [10:26 PM]

CNN: "Organized 'coworking' -- the concept of working solo alongside like-minded independents -- has spread to dozens of cities."

Labels: Life

Geeze, let's sue 'em! - [5:53 PM]

Fresno Bee: "'I believe she’s been wrongfully terminated and we’re going to explore all options to protect her interests and the interests of the girls basketball program at Exeter High School,' Paboojian said." - If she's really interested in doing what's right for the girls basketball program she'll just walk away. It's amazing what folks will do when they're let go unceremoniously. Hopefully she'll reconsider her position and take the higher road.

Labels: Life

$5 Gas? - [9:59 AM]

Associated Press: "AAA figures show California has higher prices than anywhere in the country, with regular now selling for an average of $3.86 a gallon." - It just gets better and better.

Labels: Life

Last of the Nine - [10:01 PM]

The Disney Blog: "Jenny Lerew and a host of other animation sites are paying tribute to Ollie Johnson, who died today at the age of 95 in Sequim, Washington. Our deepest condolences to his family and friends."

Labels: Life

Philosophy 101 - [6:26 PM]

I don't remember where I read Philosophy 101. But it made and impact so I created a page here on my site so I could revisit it on occasion.

It really does reset my brain.

Enjoy.

Labels: Life

Too late - [12:35 PM]

Think Progress: "A new report by the Energy Information Administration — 'the statistical and analytical arm of the Energy Department' — predicts that 'average gasoline prices will shoot up to $3.60 a gallon in June'" - I wonder what that means for the average Californian that's paying $3.60 per gallon of regular gasoline in early April? Yikes.

I've already seen Chevron regular priced at $3.85, with super priced at $4.00, in Fresno.

Labels: Insanity, Life

Route 66 - [2:08 PM]

Kim and I have been talking about taking a trip on Route 66, so I thought I'd link to a site dedicated to it.

Historic 66.

Maybe someday we'll be able to give it a go.

Labels: Family, Fun, Life, Vacation

The Voice of Reason - [9:14 AM]

Jay Kimble [via Jason Bock]: "I want to ask you to stop trying to tempt me to come join your company unless you want to make some changes to your corporate policy. I love a number of your company's products and really would want to work for you except for 1 thing: Redmond, Washington (or anywhere that isn't my chosen location)." - The best company I've ever worked for, Visio Corporation, allowed me to work remotely from 1997 to 2003. As part of the deal I had to fly to Seattle once a month for a week. It was a great arrangement. There were four of us with the same deal. It was the best time of my professional career and ended two and a half years after Microsoft acquired Visio because "We needed to be on the campus so we could have hallway discussions." Something most people in the world don't understand is this, Redmond is the center of the known Universe, so as an employee you need to be on site. It's true! Microsoft believes that so much they couldn't deal with the Visio team being in downtown Seattle so they moved the group to Redmond so the management didn't have to cross the lake for meetings. Visio was more progressive in 1997 than Microsoft is in 2008.

One of these days a technology will be created that will allow people to communicate from anywhere in the world, their computers will be connected, they'll have fancy cameras built into their computers, and we'll have software that will actually allow you to see the person on the other end. Voice, video, and data will travel over some magic pipeline. I know, I know, it's a big dream, but maybe some day we'll be able to pull it off.

Jay, don't hold your breath, you'll just pass out, get a massive headache, and nothing will change.

Labels: Life, Microsoft

Hello from California - [4:58 PM]

Yes, that's right, we're back in California. We've been on a cruise to Mexico for the past seven days, and you didn't even know we were gone did you?

We visited the lovely cities of Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. We toured around Puerto Vallarta by van ending with a tour of Don Crispin Tequila. We learned that all these high priced tequila's are posing as traditional tequila. The bottom line look for 100% PURE AGAVE on the label, if it says 100% AGAVE that means it's at least 51% AGAVE and can have filler grain alcohol. We were all able to sample, and purchase, tequila made the traditional way. 100% pure agave tequila doesn't burn on the way down, it's smokey, and has nice flavor. The burn comes from the filler alcohol. Anywho, now you know what to look for.

My favorite place, by far, was Cabo San Lucas. It's absolutely beautiful. The beaches were incredible and we had plenty of places to see. Cabo was also the biggest letdown. We only had six hours to explore because we had to be back on board by 1PM to set sail by 2PM. We've already decided we're going to go back to Cabo when we can spend a week there.

All in all it was a great experience, but it's good to be home.

Labels: Life

Gary Gygax - [9:09 PM]

MAKE Magazine: "Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and TSR Hobbies, passed away this morning at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Gary's work needs no introduction to the maker community. His imagination and creative ideas are known by anyone who ever found another world by way of pen, paper and a roll of dice. These same ideas seed so much of the interactivity and virtual worlds we still see developing today - and on top of all those contributions, this man was cool" - I can't even begin to tell you how many hours we spent huddled over pencil, paper, die, and our D&D books. My brothers and I, along with our close friends, would spend days on end playing; yes, days on end. My mom would find a group of boys sacked out in the living room Pepsi's and candy wrappers laying all over the place, all of us sound asleep between adventures. Heck, she'd even beg us to get outside for a while, enjoy the sunshine, go swimming, do SOMETHING! Those were the days. My brothers and I still talk about that period in our lives, it was great fun, and I wouldn't have traded it for the world.

Thanks Gary.

Labels: Games, Life

Four bucks, here we come! - [8:43 AM]

Visalia Times Delta: "The national average for gasoline is $3.17. The state average is $3.47." - The "state average" mentioned here is California. I hope we can get back down to the three dollar range but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Labels: Life

I hope you know something we don't - [1:08 PM]

CNN Money: "When taking the question about the $4 milestone, Bush told the reporter, 'That's interesting. I hadn't heard that.'" - I watched bits of the press conference this morning. This happened to be one of the things I caught. It surprised me. I hope this means President Bush knows something we don't and gas prices will make their way down.

Fresno gas prices:
Lowest - $3.13
Highest - $3.59

Down the street at a local Chevron, $3.55. Ouch.

In the end hopefully we'll get another drop in prices.

Labels: Life

NY Starbucks Robbery - [2:18 PM]

Gothamist: "After the startling Midtown robbery yesterday afternoon in which a man was beaten and robbed of $149,000 in cash on the street, the police are still looking for the suspect." - This sounds like something out of a movie, not real life.

Labels: Insanity, Life

Weekend in San Jose - [1:50 PM]

Over the holiday weekend our youngest had a volleyball tournament in San Jose. We happily ventured north on Friday evening for the long three days of volleyball and I, for one, didn't expect San Jose to be such a wonderful city. I figured it to be more like Fresno and less like San Francisco or Seattle than it was. The bottom line, it's a GREAT city! The downtown is very, very, clean and full of things to do. There are a lot of great restaurants and Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park, right in the middle of the city, is beautiful. The tournament was held in the Convention Center and it's the best volleyball venue I've personally experienced.

The Adobe building was a couple of blocks from the tournament site. I kept telling my wife I need to apply for a job at Adobe just so I can enjoy San Jose every day.

Labels: Life

Day late and a dollar short - [9:11 AM]

Yesterday's movie line didn't publish, and I didn't have the time to figure out why.

Please, have a go today, and I'll announce the winner next Tuesday. We'll be out of town all weekend and I don't expect to have access to a computer during that time.

Labels: Life

Strange Coincidence - [1:25 PM]

In my stats for my weblog earlier in the week I noticed a hit from fresnobee.com, and out of curiosity I checked who the referrer was. It just so happens someone at the Fresno Bee was trolling for information on an announcement(warning, PDF) that came out of Pelco Thrusday afternoon, prior to the announcement. They were referred by a Google search for Pelco Layoff's, and lo and behold, my site is at the top of the list. That's really strange, until you look around my weblog for a while. I claim that I work for Pelco, over there on the right, and I've recently written about the Microsoft offer to acquire Yahoo!, where I speculate there will be layoffs. That's how that search lands on my page.

Labels: Life

Happy Seventh Birthday! - [10:24 PM]

Wow, I almost forgot, today is this weblog's seventh birthday!

Labels: Life

Jeff Dunham - [12:13 PM]

Last night Kim and I had the pleasure of seeing Jeff Dunham live.

I say if you get a chance, and like great comedy, catch Jeff and his merry band of puppets live. He also had a couple of great warm up comedians, Brian "Guitar Guy" Haner was great, unfortunately I can't remember the name of the very first comedian. He as very funny as well, had Kim in stitches.

Labels: Life

My favorite Christmas gift - [3:33 PM]

My wife always manages to find something interesting to give me for Christmas. She knows I'm a big kid so I get big kid gifts, typically from ThinkGeek. This year was no exception. I got a Dain Bramage button, a stress ball with Ctrl-Z on it, and a hand warmer full of gel in the shape of a heart. Love 'em all.

They're not my favorite gift however. I'd been hinting to my lovely wife that I wanted her to make me a blanket. She's made blankets for the girls. They're very personal and warm to boot. The last gift I opened was a medium size box and I had no idea what was in it. Once opened it became quite obvious I was going to get my blanket. The box was full of brown, orange, and multi-colored yarn; yes, I like fall colors. Kim didn't have time to start, much less complete, the blanket, but I'm going to have a nice big and warm blanket to use next winter! Thanks hon!

Labels: Life

SD or HD? - [10:00 AM]

Steve Mitchell: "I'm the only person I know under seventy with a 20 year old TV." - Steve, you're not alone. We're still in SD land. The transition is on the horizon because the Federal Government is forcing us to switch to HD on February 17, 2009. (The dtv.gov site is horrible BTW.)

Labels: Life

Merry Christmas! - [11:08 AM]

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." - Luke 2:9-12

Labels: Life

Owning your content - [10:23 AM]

Scoble [via James Robertson]: "The first two years of my blog have disappeared. They might be on a hard drive somewhere, I’m still trying to track them down." - I have all my content, several times over, and you can still access my first post. This is one of the reasons I love generating static pages. They're very easy to backup. I've been kicking around the idea of switching to WordPress for quite a while now and haven't taken the leap because I'd like to have a static page created. I see my weblog as an ever changing thing so I like to preserve it warts and all, that includes the previous incarnations with their varied styles.

Labels: Life, Weblogging

Don't change - [9:35 AM]

I admit it, I'm a routine kinda guy. The past two weeks I've changed my routine on Thursday and Friday and the result is no Movie Line Of The Week.

Sorry 'bout that.

Labels: Life

Top Five - [12:08 PM]

On occasion someone will ask where I work and when they find out I work for Pelco one of two things happens, they don't know who Pelco is, or they say "I've heard that's a great place to work!" True, it is a great place to work. The people are great, we have great benefits, and I get to work on cool stuff. Having said all that it's not the best place I've ever worked.

Here are the top five places I've worked...

1. Visio - You knew this would be first, didn't you? I was a young energetic kid that didn't know squat when I started there. Visio, the product, wasn't a reality when I joined what was then called Axon Corporation. I was the 19th employee, a newbie amongst industry giants. It was the best experience of my career. I don't think anything will ever top it.


2. Frame Technology - There was a brief period in the mid-90's when I left Visio. I joined, what was then, a small group at Frame Technology focused on document management systems. It was my first cross-platform experience. Our code ran on Sun OS, HPUX, Windows, and the Mac. Frame was best know for FrameMaker and they were definitely a technology company. Very smart folks.


3. Microsoft - My list wouldn't be complete without Microsoft. I've been employed there three times, the last being as part of the Visio acquisition. What can you say, Microsoft is great in many respects, but as an employee you're pretty spoiled.


4. AgData - You may be wondering what the heck AgData is? It's where I got my first programming job, so it holds a special place in my heart. I'll always think fondly of my days at AgData. The company was very small, and I had a great manager; Jim Hainline. Jim taught me a whole lot about the art of software development, and I owe him a lot. There's a part of me that would love to go back with the knowledge I've accumulated over the years and really modernize the product line.


5. Pelco - I work with a great group of people, very intelligent, very driven, and fun to be around. We're challenged every day to make great product. It is, without a doubt, the best company in the San Joaquin Valley.

Labels: Life

Thanks for the support - [9:35 AM]

Last Friday was obviously a very bad day, it happens on occasion, and I wasn't the only person living in "grumpyland". I'm much better now. I got some answers yesterday so at least I have an idea of where we're heading, that's a good thing.

Thanks to everyone that dropped me a note, or dropped by the office, to see how I'm doing. I appreciate the support.

Labels: Life, Pelco

Trying times - [12:07 PM]

I have a huge character flaw that grips me at times, today is one of those times. I don't like knowing a little bit about things that affect me, or I perceive as affecting me, because my brain attempts to fill in the gaps. Often times the information it chooses to use is worst case, which in turn leads to tremendous amounts of stress, which leads to anger, which leads to me saying things I shouldn't say. I turn into Rob the complete jerk. Today I've done just that at work. How my wife has put up with me for 20 years I'll never know, I think she must be some kind of saint.

Who knows what Monday will be like, but today is a living hell inside my head. If I could I'd crawl inside a cage with someone and fight until I was too beaten to stand, I might feel better.

I need to get this out of my system today so I don't take it home to my lovely wife and family but I haven't figured out how. Maybe I will have to talk about it before Monday. Maybe I need to go home and put my resume together and get prepared for bad news Monday, couldn't hurt.

Sometimes life really stinks, especially when you've made the choices that put you in the position you're facing.

Labels: Life, Pelco