There’s no time for a big post tonight because my evenings have been quite busy lately. Perhaps I’ll have more to say later about that. I also nearly rendered my blog unreadable earlier tonight when I started screwing around with some settings. A few e-mails later to tech support and I was able to right the ship.
The weekend will hold more time for me to get some things fixed. In the meantime, please take this quiz.
It may seem the same on the outside but old et.com is definitely new underneath the hood. If you’re reading this, that’s a good sign that the transitition has gone somewhat smoothly.
I’m on a new web host now and for the first time ever in the history of this site, I’m paying for hosting space and traffic, plus e-mail. I now have space and bandwidth limitation to think about. I think my previous e-mail server allowed me to have an account that grew to easily over 100 Mb worth of messages. I now have 25 Mb to work with.
I no longer can use Pine to check my e-mail. I use this Web-based application which is taking some time to get used to. The cool thing is that I am no longer deluged with spam. The filters at my new host take away every penis enlargement message that I used to get.
A lot of stuff is still missing from the site and it will take some time for me to get everything the way it was. I also still have no access to my e-mails from the previous four years.
Well, in a few days, things will look a lot better. I even have some surprises in store!
A lot of shit is broken right now. I’m surprised I’m even this far along. Be patient.
I finally got a phone for my desk at work. Ya see, I’ve been at my new spot at the office since the end of May when I was moved over to be closer with my new team members. The day before I moved, they gave me a phone at my old sweet cubicle. I didn’t even have a chance to use it once.
I was miffed at first but then reality set in. No one knows my work number. No one calls me at work anyways. I still have my cell phone with me during the day. When I thought about those things, I wasn’t really missing my phone any more.
Yesterday, I got a new phone for my desk. Since our company is expanding faster than my waistline, they’ve had to get new spaces wired up for phones, data, and power. I was the beneficiary of such work since they made a new phone jack by my desk where none existed before.
I set up my voicemail but no one has called me yet. I don’t forsee my co-workers calling me either. It takes less than a minute to walk to anywhere in our building, so the phoning is just lazy. Plus, I don’t think anyone even knows where the phone directory is stored on the network. Also, with MSN, it’s probably easier and better to use IM to communicate.
Ok, on that note, here’s a list of superheroes and their (assumed) religious affiliations.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9QXyuUqKCs]
Yes, I said I’d try to post less videos but the Harvard Class Day speeches have become something of a yearly tradition here at et.com. It all started with the man himself, Will Ferrell, who introduced me to Harvard’s Class Day. His speech was fantastic.
Then, I featured the sensation from Staines, Ali G. He wowed the ivy-league audience with his street lingo where he mentioned movies like “Backdoor Burglar” and “Shaven Buffet”. Videos do exist of this speech but they are heavily edited. A full, unedited transcript of the speech exists for the history books and I recommend a read.
This year, Family Guy creator, Seth MacFarlane was asked to address the Harvard grads on Class Day. The video above is part two of four and features MacFarlane doing Peter Griffin. The rest of the parts can be found here. While entertaining, I will admit the speeches by Will Ferrell and Ali G were funnier. Still, Harvard seems to pull out all the stops for their grads. If only I were as well endowed as they are. Bada bing! I love university jokes.
Today marked the end of my first year as a software engineer. By all accounts, I should feel lucky to be employed in the video game industry in the role that I have. It’s been an interesting year. I still remember my first day at work. I was really nervous and didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before. Wow, I still had my apartment back then and was eating my dinners at SJC.
I know that I cursed the game I was on several times during the year but in hindsight, it was a good project because of the people I got to work with. I haven’t had a lot of luck with workplace mentors in the past but the lead programmer on my team was just the guy I needed to start off my career. Nigel was patient, good natured, and always understanding. He gave me just enough support until I felt I was a good programmer.
I know I worked a lot of long hours that first summer at the old office on Broadway and Arbutus but it was a lot of fun. Man, I miss that bus stop across the street. Our producer said that we were the most “giggly” bunch of programmers he’d ever worked with. We did indeed enjoy hanging out together and being immature.
There were seven core programmers that I worked with on my first game and only two of them remain with the company now. The rest have moved on which makes my current days a little less enjoyable. Oh what would I have done without Ron and “The Bet“? Nigel, I still have your gum collection in that beer bottle on my desk. And Tim, thanks for putting the collection of farm porn in my network folder.
I’ve learned a lot over the course of a year but I remain very much a padawan. There’s still lots to know. So, with a nod to the good times of year one, I look forward to year two at Hogwart’s.
It’s funny how when my web site was down over the weekend, I was cursing the downtime because I had all these posts that I wanted to make. Now that the server is up again, I can’t remember a damn thing that I wanted to write about. The impetus to post is such a fleeting moment. Sometimes, you cannot bottle it and let it out later.
I will tell you about my Sunday though. Checking the forecast before heading out, I decided to hike around Buntzen Lake. Seeing that thundershowers were scheduled for the late afternoon, I arrived at the lake about an hour earlier than usual to ensure I would finish before the rains came. I also stuffed a fleece jacket into my pack just in case. Why I didn’t go with the Goretex jacket still eludes me.
Anyways, the weather was awesome at the beginning of the hike. It was sunny and there was plenty of blue sky. Approximately a third of the way into the hike, the clouds came rolling in fast. When the trail stopped at a clearing where I could see more sky, I noticed what had been clear, blue sky had been replaced with all-encompassing grey clouds in literally less than ten minutes. The clouds were moving so fast, you had to turn your head to keep them in view.
As there was no rain yet, I kept on going. I’ve done the hike before in light rain and the forest cover is usually so dense, you hardly got wet. Then, it got more grey and I started to hear the thunder. Soon after, the skies opened up in force. The rain came down heavy and no tree cover was going to stop this. Heavy drops were breaking through and I had to put on my jacket.
In less than five minutes, my hair was drenched, my fleece was soaking, my shorts were dripping, and my hiking shoes were squishy. Passing other hikers on the trail, I considered myself lucky as people were out there in nothing more than a t-shirt and shorts. I briefly thought about turning back since I was less than half way around the lake. I didn’t want to cut short my exercise though and while I was wet, I wasn’t that uncomfortable.
I decided to press on, even while some of the smarter folks were stopping under more dense tree cover to wait for a break in the rain. When I rounded the north end of the lake about 20 minutes later, the rain did seem to abate somewhat. For the next hour or so, I walked in wet shoes and socks until I finished the hike about two hours after I started.
Upon arriving home, I can’t remember the last time I felt so good about taking off my shoes and socks. After having a small snack and showering, I looked outside and saw a most amazing sight. The thunderclouds that plagued me during the hike had disappeared and the sky was blue and the hot sun was again out. What the hell was up with that?
If you enjoyed this tale of survival and hardship, you’ll enjoy Garrett’s similar post. He too got caught in wild thunderstorm except was several kilometers east of me at the time.
Sorry for the downtime. No one was able to reboot my server over the weekend. It was very frustrating for me. I am thinking about getting “real” hosting now.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evccTPkgsHE]
I’m trying not to make too many video posts but this one was too funny to pass up. In this segment, Borat goes house hunting a with a realtor. Some of the things he says to the realtor are completely outrageous, including an inquiry about a windowless room for his retarded brother who has a small head but strong arms.
I have decided I’m going to try to eliminate, as much as possible, french fries and soft drinks (soda or pop if you will) from my diet. This doesn’t mean I won’t swear off them completely but as much as I can, I will try not to consume those items.
I had one french fry last Wednesday when I took it off someone’s plate during dinner. Previous to that time, I can’t recall when I had fries. The pop thing will be harder. I usually have one can of Coke a day at work for the caffeine. I didn’t have a can yesterday but I did drink half a can today because I needed a boost before a meeting. I’m trying to get all my caffeine, if possible, from green tea instead.
A co-worker of mine avoided pizza and french fries for an entire year because someone bet him he couldn’t. That co-worker is in China now… not because of the bet but because I just wanted to tell you that. Anyways, he did avoid pizza and french fries for an entire year. Good for you Nigel.
Here’s to healthier eating, which is a good step towards healthy eating.