Tech Life

No Bjork

When you ask a lot of people for musical suggestions, you’re going to get a huge steaming pile of music. This was the point of my original request and I’d like to than everyone who took the time to respond to my request. I lost count at ~200 bands. It was at that time I… more

August 3, 2005 16 Comments

Terminal Zen

Management by Hallway is the style of management when you get out of your office and walk around the office to see who you trip over. It’s by no means a reliable or scalable management style, but it does offer you the chance to strike up a random conversation about a random topic and you… more

July 31, 2005 6 Comments

Messy Thinking, Pt. 3

Co-workers keep asking me why I bought the 30″ flat panel and slapped it down next to the 23″. I’m not a coder anymore… in fact, with each passing year, I become less of a coder even with my painfully infrequent excursions into lands of Python and PHP. What I am, as a manager, is… more

July 27, 2005 11 Comments

The Boiling Point

I was yelling at the stereo in the car this morning. It’s Peet’s Coffee, you see. My commute is just long enough for that large cup of black coffee to kick in which means as I near Cupertino, my mind is racing with a million caffeinated thoughts. This morning’s thought, “I hate all the music… more

July 14, 2005 90 Comments

Pitch

You’ve just finished your big release and the team has mostly returned from that four day weekend where they’re supposed to recharge from four straight months of work. Everyone is still pretty screwed up. Folks still instinctively check the bug database every 4 minutes to see if anything critical showed up even though there’s no… more

July 10, 2005 3 Comments

A Chance of Tag Clouds

Pet peeve on the 4th of July weekend. What exactly is this? For those of you who think it’s performance art, I think you might be right, but let’s get you some facts first. Tags are all the rage right now and it’s a good thing. Google is a fine way to data mine, but… more

July 3, 2005 6 Comments

The Bear Story

I’ve been spending a good part of the past six months considering a move back to the mountains. Right now, I’m heading into my sixth year in Suburbia and, well, I can’t complain. The Burbs are like fast food… everything you want… conveniently located… and at a sensible price. Why screw with a good thing,… more

June 20, 2005 4 Comments

The Second Leap

Disclaimer #1. I know nothing about security and its relation to this entry’s topic. I’m saying this because in my career I’ve had more professional beat downs when I’ve sat in a meeting with security types and hinted that I know a thing about Security. Seriously. The last time I met with the security folks… more

June 12, 2005 9 Comments

The Web Application Leap

The size of the fervent rush towards the Ajax reminds me that folks are dying to discover the Next Big Thing. It’s been awhile since we’ve had a Netscape-magnitude holy shit and while there are have been many false positives… has any Internet technology in the past two years seriously knocked your socks off? Well,… more

May 24, 2005 17 Comments

There Was No Trilogy

Back when I first got wind that George Lucas was going to do the prequel trilogy, I had a holy shit moment. I realized what the last scene of the third movie was going to be. Here’s that shot: FADE TO BLACK. SFX: A strange mechanical breathing begins and repeats three times. FADE TO HEAD… more

May 10, 2005 13 Comments