November 30, 2004
the dangers of trailer living
AP: Lava lamp left on hot stovetop explodes, killing man
Posted by ljh at 9:50 AM
November 29, 2004
dude, that target dog has the munchies...
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/602-6930315-0809429?asin=0823916839
Posted by ljh at 6:47 PM
first day
6 hours 45 minutes into first day at Google. I've just been trying to absorb information, and my brain is about to explode, so time for a blog break.
This place is extremely cool. Can't wait to actually get going on something.
Posted by ljh at 3:44 PM
November 27, 2004
a strange but happy Thanksgiving
Finished up work on Wednesday, picked up Allison at the airport, and have enjoyed the somewhat hectic days since. Thursday had a non-traditional but super-yummy New Mexico feast at Allison's mom's: red chile stacked enchiladas, green chili rellenos, beans, squash, etc. Hurt myself. Rather seriously. But did I mention yum?
Friday we braved the crowds at the San Marcos outlet malls. We got many great deals and I bought excellent new clothes for myself. Definitely worth the 7 hours we spent there. Got in a yummy dinner at Z Tejas afterwards.
This morning took Allison to her haircut at 8AM, then we headed up to Brownwood (almost a 3 hour drive) to have a belated T-day with my family. My dad is doing great with his new pacemaker. Such a relief! Again with non-traditional foods, this time brisket, beans, and cornbread. It was great. Got to hang out with the whole family. Practiced my Texas Hold-Em skills on the nephews.
Just drove back -- whew, lots of driving in one day. And tomorrow -- flying back to NYC! Whew!
Posted by ljh at 9:22 PM
November 24, 2004
week from hell
This is turning into the week from hell. Yesterday my dad collapsed at work (a clinic is a good place to collapse if you have to) and was rushed from Cross Plains to Abilene Regional Hospital. It turns out that he had a dangerously slow heartbeat. It seems that it was not a heart attack, though. He's on a temporary pacemaker and will get a permanent one this afternoon. It seems like a pretty good outcome, all things considered.
But my poor mom is a wreck. Luckily, my sister was able to go join her last night. Thanksgiving plans are now out the window and it looks like we'll have to drive up to Brownwood (and back) on Saturday to see everyone and celebrate a low-key Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, I'm wracked with guilt that I'm not there.
Handyman calls and wants to come on Friday. Moving company calls and wants to pick up the sofa on Monday. Trying to get the final copies of the Shirish book from AlphaGraphics today. Trying to clean off my laptop and turn it in. Just had my exit interview. Have to do a P3P one more work-related meeting now. Yikes! When it rains, it pours.
Posted by ljh at 1:05 PM
November 22, 2004
blue monday
Drove back from Brownwood today. Was feeling a little blue today, maybe because we haven't seen the sun in days, but probably because I'm missing Allison and feeling lots of angst about my transition out of Coremetrics and into Google. It's really starting to dawn on me that I'm starting at GOOG on Monday. Wow. Can't wait to see which names I got for my computers. I get to name my laptop/desktop and I requested one of these three combos: firefly/serenity, magicbox/bronze, wolfram/hart. :)
Anyway, dinner with Ben and Kelly at Z Tejas, with a nice Pinot Noir and mushroom enchiladas, cheered me right up.
Got the linux box that I left here in Austin up and running again, so that I don't have to be without a computer for three days (heaven forbid!) between turning in my Coremetrics laptop on Wednesday and flying back to NYC on Sunday. Writing this entry in a really old version of Mozilla, running on Fedora Core 1, with the crappy 15-inch monitor I swapped for my 20" with my dad. Why should you care? You shouldn't!
I'm really going to get some more pictures up soon. Really. I swear.
Posted by ljh at 11:24 PM
November 21, 2004
last day at Coremetrics
Friday was my last working day at Coremetrics. Officially my last day is Wednesday 11/24, but I decided to take my last 3 days as vacation. Of course, I'm getting roped into doing some more work, and I have a few more things to document... :)
It was a good day. I decided to have three going-away events for myself. The first, BBQ lunch as Rudy's, was very well attended and yummy as usual. The second, happy hour at Trudy's, was not so well attended at first. It started at six and I sat there by myself until 7. But that was okay, because then a good crew showed up and we had a fun dinner (the third event). Beth brought me a boutonniere (thank you Google for that spelling) that she made me wear so I'd feel special. She's so wacky.
I expected to be more emotional about leaving on Friday. Guess I'm doing my usual delayed reaction thing. After almost 3.5 years, it was extremely hard to decide to leave. Don't think I would have done it for anybody else but Google.
Sitting in my parent's house on their farm outside Brownwood now. It's quiet, as usual, and I can see the windmill out the window. It lost two blades in a recent windstorm, which gives it a sort of a sad quality. Can also see the travel trailer, which is parked in front of the house right now. It's blocking my view of my mom's roses (she has a few yellow roses blooming now) and the pomegranite tree, which also has blooms. Ah, Texas -- blooms in November.
Last night, we had dinner at the always delicious Rancho Loma -- the gourmet restaurant that's literally in the middle of nowhere. This morning, a guy my dad alternately described as a "trucker" and a "cowboy" came and loaded up the last of my dad's herd of Gyr cattle to deliver to the guy (named Guy) in Von Army, Texas, who bought the whole herd. My mom and I took pictures. I suspect my dad was a little sad to let them go, but he didn't let on. Mostly he seemed relieved.
My mom had the Christmas tree put up for my visit, because she worried I wouldn't be able to come home for Christmas. She even wrapped my presents already! Of course, I am coming home for Christmas. She thinks she's lost me to New York now. Poor Mom.
I'll try to put up some more pictures on the fotolog soon.
Posted by ljh at 11:44 AM
Sobriety Test
Someone forwarded this video to me. Not sure exactly where it came from, but it's hilarious.
Posted by ljh at 11:33 AM
November 11, 2004
Whiny f***ing actors
Yahoo! News - "Bridget Jones" Stars Knackered
Cry me a river, millionaire movie actors...
Posted by ljh at 11:47 PM
Sexy female Ronald McDonald
Those crazy Japanese. You have to love them.
Posted by ljh at 12:35 PM
November 9, 2004
GOOG!
In case you didn't know, I'm leaving Coremetrics to go to work for Google at the end of November. I'm really looking forward to joining up and hopeful that I'll get to work on some cool stuff.
I will, of course, be draped in the Google veil of secrecy as soon as I start. All Google employees I know are very tight-lipped about their projects, so my blogging will be... generic. Hopefully I'll be able to share some worthful insights into company culture, at least. And if I let something slip about their plans for world domination... I've already said too much.
Posted by ljh at 5:06 PM
thoughts on the election
My candidate lost. I wrote the following on a mailing list I'm on, responding to some "colorful" statements made about folks in red states.
We are a divided country, but what we need to appreciate is the founders created a system that keeps the country from falling apart when these kinds of divisions arise. We may not like the direction the country is going, but every four years there's a chance for a course correction. One of these days the Democrats are going to field a candidate who can speak to the people out there in those red states who are voting against their self-interest because of fear, or patriotism, or distrust, or whatever sways their opinion. Even if Kerry manages to challenge in Ohio and pull it out somehow, it looks to me like Bush won this election. But every red state has somewhere between 30 and 45 percent of the vote going to Kerry. Let's not use our disappointment as an excuse to reinforce harmful stereotypes and divisions that only make things worse.
"We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like
federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America." -- Barack ObamaThis is a beautiful vision. It's not always easy, but I prefer it to the alternative.
Posted by ljh at 5:01 PM
Alias (the show)
I can now say that I am a fan of all things Alias.
It all started with shell scripting.
Then there was my discovery last year of Brian Michael Bendis' awesome Daredevil spinoff. more info
Now, now, after resisting for years, I have joined the cult of Jennifer Garner. I've been watching Alias from the beginning, I'm 15 episodes in, and I'm totally addicted. Will I get through 3 seasons before the 4th starts up in a couple of months?
Posted by ljh at 4:56 PM
Get to know me
A new blog. Ah. I love the smell of new blog in the morning.
A place for me to ramble, and for you to waste your time attempting to decipher those ramblings.
Posted by ljh at 4:42 PM