Year: 2007

One of the things I want to start doing next year is using this space a bit more frequently. I have probably three or four ideas a day for a halfway decent update, but never really force the time to write them down, since my job is such a madhouse, and by the time I get done with 10-12 hours at a computer, the last thing I want to do is spend more time at a computer. Sometimes, I admit, I do get on again, but usually to play games or pursue other projects – I try to avoid LJ because it sucks away so much time.

Many people have been posting year-end reviews of this and that. This year has been pretty tumultuous for me, and I don’t really think a bullet point list does it justice. I caught up with a friend of mine earlier last week, for the first time since July (!) and I realized just how much had gone on in a relatively short period of time.


A year ago, I was still living in Washington Heights. I was getting ready for a thin Christmas, and preparing all kinds of food in anticipation of the get-together at my folks’ place. Year end is always rough for non-profits, but I had the upcoming prospect of a week in Puerto Vallarta to help me get through it. The first month of 2007 will always click mentally as the most amazing wedding I’ve ever been a part of. I had a blast, and lost a camera. After my travels, I started interviewing in earnest for a new job, and did some major work on my personal data miner/bot Abulafia. Many of those changes have kept me ahead of the curve throughout the business that has been the rest of this year, and I am very glad I went back to revisit an otherwise fully functional battlestation. The month ended with Boston going ape shit over light-brites, and me definitely not getting a kick ass job.

February, I went back to interview for a lower position at the company I interviewed with previously. Simultaneously, I looked into working for a longtime consulting client full time, and taking what would eventually become my new job. I got a replacement camera – quite a steal for what I paid for it. I saw My Chemical Romance, who rocked, but learned (sadly) that Rise Against had sold the fuck out and gone suck. I landed my job, I gave notice, and started on one of the paths that got me to where I am right now. It snowed orange in Siberia, the Colts beat the Bears, Obama declared his candidacy, and the month ended with the biggest dow slip since 9/11.

March, I saw Will Smith when they were filming “I Am Legend” at the Museum. I saw 300, and was happy walking out of a movie for the second time in my adult life. I finished watching my 365th movie since getting my netflix account in 2000. I started my new job, which meant that, for at least the next three months, I was in probation-land. I managed to not only survive that, but flourish. Switzerland accidentally invaded Lichtenstein, Jaques Chirac said he was hanging up his hat, science figures out the link between brain and emotion, and the month ended with Iran holding british Naval personnel.

April was taxes, reflection, and my first paycheck at the new gig. I converted my laptop to linux, and started developing more back-end portable options for my RSS creatures. Zum Schneider was saved from lease loss, and a good time was had at their celebration, despite racist comments. The V150 broke land speed records, Virginia Tech learned what a crazy with a gun could do, and the month ended with Boris Yeltsin’s funeral.

In May, the AACS code/scandal got me hot and bothered. I went to a neat fund raiser dinner for the Brooklyn Bar Association, and started the process (which still is not finished) of a giant software migration at work. I launched the beta of the free wifi thing at work, and Starcraft II was formally announced, both of which caused me to poop my pants a little. I got into twitter, and booked a flight to Maine, so I could go fishing. Rupert Murdoch started the process of buying the Wall Street Journal, the Alaska bribery scandal started up, Gordon Brown accepted Tony Blair’s endorsement as a successor, Andrei Lugovoi was named as the chief suspect in the Litvinenko case.I had a conversation with my ex-roomates which led to much of the upheaval which spread across the summer. They say they are in for one more year, but, in reality, will move to San Fransisco within a month and change.

June opened with a huge “terror plot“, which, unfortunately, did not lead to a TSA ban on airplane fuel. There were some crazy b-day parties, bbqs, and shenanigans. I flew to Maine for my daily’s annual fishing trip, and got stopped by a drug dog on the way back because my rental car’s ashtray was full of resin. While I was in Maine, my roommates decided they were leaving. This led to the fourth housing crisis I have dealt with while in Maine. L. and I decided that we were not going to continue to live together, which led to much tumult and angst, as well as more than a few hurt feelings. Wifi went live, more crazy meetings with consultants, and house-hunting aplenty. Scooter Libby got convicted, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals weighs in on “enemy combatants“, Mike Nifong gets disbarred over the way he mishandled the Duke lacrosse scandal, and the month ends with Gordy Brown taking over, while, much to the chagrin of mother church, science manages to replicate the book of Genesis.

I took out a loan in July, and put a down payment on a place next door to some good friends, and move three weeks after I found out I had to, so I would be in my new place before I had to go to Buffalo (if only I had known). I won a happy hour at Off the Wagon, pulled off some crazy victories at work, and my eldest uncle died – which put the kibosh on my trip to Buffalo. This led to a week of driving, emotional family discovery, personal introspection, and led me to make some pretty serious life commitments. I reconnected with some people from my past, one of whom is pretty significant these days. Canada turned 140, I learned a lot about PGP encryption keys, the octosquid is discovered, the Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet was translated, and the month ends with Chief Justice John Roberts having a seizure.

August was all about rebuilding, just not in my kitchen. I lost two fridges in a month, which was damn expensive, and really frustrating, particularly in the wake of moving financial costs. July culminated with the formal dissolution of my relationship with L – though it was my hope that we would remain friends, that has definitely not happened – a big regret of 2007. I went back to Ikea during a water emergency, ate at the most jersey place I’ve ever been to, and _still_ don’t have the godsdammned hardware for my coffee table. I went to a corporate box seat Mets game (an experience far inferior to the corporate box Yankees game I went to), and met Mr. Met. I went to the beach. I got an xbox 360, and Bioshock. I lost another friend to the left coast, and two other friends to Europa. the I-35w bridge collapsed, scientists documented an impressive galactic crashes, and that we don’t know as much about the history of our species as we like to think, Hurricane Dean fucked up the Gulf Coast, and the month ended as the Larry Craig mess started to heat up.

In September Steve Fosset disappeared,Madeleine L’Engle died, Robert Jordan died, Russ tests The Father of All Bombs, and the month ends with a massive beef recall, which ends the fortunes of the Topps meat company. I managed to lose, then recover my phone with the help of some friends. One of my good friends gets married, and the world is never the same, as a result.

October brought sudden brokeness when my debit card was erroneously charged about what I pay in rent (it took quite some time to get sorted out), the Yankees got their shit kicked in, I saw Oliver Sacks live for my third time, and got his new book for free. I saw a Charles Mee production (Iphigenia 2.0) and was really impressed by it, the DOW went wonky on the 20th anniversary of black Monday, and I survived a crazy hallucanogenic fever. I started doing advance reader reviews for Librarything, decided to do NaNoWriMo, and work got tougher, as my superuser moved on to greener pastures. I missed the damn Halloween parade for the first time in my life that I planned on going, but made up for it with an awesome party and some hysterical pictures. It was the fiftieth anniversary of Sputnik, the Dali Lama gor the Congressional Gold Medal, California almost burns down (nobody I know died, but a couple people lost houses, and one of my best friends flew into it!), the Mexican embassy in NYC was bombed, and the month ended with the ISS solar wing getting torn and the fed cutting interest rates again.

November was hectic. I went to a conference in South Carolina, I got served with jury duty, and I landed _another_ big profile job at work. O&A got my hopes up about Tom Brady using dope and getting suspended, and I had a major presentation (which I would not end up giving in 2007, despite preparing it by the end of October) rescheduled on me innumerable times. I began working 50 hours standard to get shit done, and did a major conversion from Exchange to Google apps for one of my cients. I went to three Thanksgivings, and learned that three Thanksgivings in one day is one too many Thanksgiving. I tried but failed at Nano (first time that ever happened – too much going on). Musharraf siezed power, the Hang Seng “corrected” about 5%, IBM bought out Cognos, Barry Bonds was indicted, the trains stopped running in France, and the month ended with everyone wondering why nobody in the Sudan has any sense of humor/perspectve about teddy bears.

December has been quite a slog, and is wrapping up faster than I want it to. Most of my posts here have been birthday wishes. Went to a couple great parties, went to too many forced holiday parties, and found out who is going to finish where Robert Jordan left off. Christmas was nice, and I cooked with a microwave for the first time since I moved into my place in August. The second confirmed case of human bird flu was released in China, Bush outlines a plan to freeze mortgage rates, remains suspected to be the Quedah Merchant are unearthed just off the coast of Catalina Island, the New Orleans city council continues to gentrify the ruins of New Orleans with bulldozers, and some folks in San Fransisco got exactly what they didn’t want for Christmas – a tiger attack.

The year was best summed up last Friday, at one of two holiday parties this season that I actually did want to attend (but was horribly late to). The host was going around the room asking everyone to toast memorable events and accomplishments of partigoers (as individuals and couples). I was kind of anxious as things were getting to me, and I was going to lean all the way back to my job, but the host was kind enough to not put me on the spot, and jam in a laugh. “He’s been through a lot of shit – glad he’s still here.” I think that is a fitting ephitet. Certainly not the worst year I’ve ever had, but definteily a lot of bouncing around.

I hope to get back into the swing of things here a little more in 20 aught 8. This seems a daunting proposal, given I rarely have the time to reply to personal e-mail the way I want to these days. Despite that, I’m going to try.

I think this is one of the best pictures I took in 2007:

via lfg

“The big news in the world of Fantasy literature is that Mr. Brandon Sanderson, author of The Mistborn Series and Elantris, has been chosen to finish the late Robert Jordan’s masterwork, Wheel of Time Book 12: A Memory of Light.

In the interest of full disclosure, and because I like using important terms such as full disclosure, I will tell you that Brandon and I have struck up a casual e-mail friendship over the last few months. While I had no idea this was in the works, this didn’t stop me from offering my services to him yesterday, just in case he needed a few jokes written for Rand, Mat, and Perrin.

As The Wheel of Time is not that known for it’s off the wall comedy, I don’t have much hope that he’ll take me up on the offer.

I must also tell you, that I have not yet read any of Brandon’s novels.As of today however, they are going to the top of my reading list, and I’ll get to them immediately after I finish up Goodkind’s Phantom (Yes,I finally broke down and forced myself through it).

While I am insanely, ridiculously pleased to know that WoT will be finished and not left in eternal limbo, there is a large feeling of trepidation that another other than Jordan will be wielding that mighty pen.

I remain confident however, because of a few points:

  • Harriet,Jordan’s wife, will be editing Sanderson’s work, as she did the last 11books in the series. If there’s one thing I know about writing, is that behind every writer, there is the person who pushes, who rereads, who critiques; for Jordan, that person was Harriet.
  • Harriet herself is the one who chose Sanderson, and I have a hard time believing that before Jordan’s death, he did not make a shortlist of who he wanted to finish his series.
  • Sanderson will be working off of Jordan’s notes, which according to Harriet, are rather extensive.

With that, I will retain hope that in the fall of 2009, with the hard work of Sanderson, Harriet and Jordan, we will get the epic conclusion to the Wheel of Time we can’t wait to read.”

I hope so. Man, I hope so.

this week has been very busy.
from monday-today, i’ve rebuilt two computers, learned more than i ever wanted to about configuring the latest version of PHP with IIS6, wrote a lot of code, read five books, wrote a couple essays (two more on the back burner), managed to _not_ get selected for jury duty after two days of sitting/getting called, did two days of work _after_ jury duty, essentially amounting to multiple14-16 hour days, and, overall, am clinging to sanity by a very skinny, very frayed thread.

somewhere in there i also managed to interview some consultants for custom flash development, and keep plugging away at both of the big projects i have out on the horizon.

i need to unplug this weekend, bigtime.

From the descriptive text surrounding this novel, I was expecting an east-meets-west sixteenth century novel. What I got was that, and far more.

I cannot recommend this book enough to people who are fans of tackling the connection between the sticky parts of “cultural norms” and religion. Beyond the epic backdrop of an expanding Venetian trade empire, and the otherworldly descriptions of daily life in Pegu, Morrow manages to find some truly bigger issues to examine with a new lens. Through the journals of a Abraham, Jewish, Venican jewel trader, you are left wondering at the significance of traditions – both religious and cultural, as well as what the true ramifications of change in society mean to those who keep traditions.

Counterbalancing a very masculine, western narrator is the other protagonist of the story,Mya a native woman of Pegu, who fate land in the life of the protagonist. Her tale of tragedy, love and joy is very much tied to Abraham’s trials and choices – something which creates a delightful mix of linguistics, ancient tradition, and spirituality. A truly inspired and open dialog occurs which examines the connections and differences between Buddhism and Judiasm, as well as the core truths each of those faiths correspond to in the hearts off their believers.

Tying these ethereal components of the story together is some very acute social commentary on the nature of government and corruption, and the significance of family in the face of drastic change. Hantover does a fantastic job of drawing the reader in – I was barely able to put the book down, once I got past the first chapter.

It is released in January. Too late for Christmas, but definitely something to spend your gift cards on.

I got hold of this book through the Advance Reader program at Librarything. I am not getting any monies or incentives from either Mr. Hantover, William Morrow, or Harper Collins for writing this review – I just wanted to share the experience I had reading it with y’all.

this dude is a serious motherfucking tough guy. a pen knife? shit – maybe with a machete…

last night, after hours, i got pulled into a meeting with our programming division. Live from Lincoln Center is going to be half web cast this year. last month’s barn on fire was setting up a streaming server so we could serve flash video for our podcasts. now, i need to figure out live media stream from satellite/fiber feed, potentially how to get a feed back from captioning (if that is happening) and do a scalar load test of our deployment page (which isn’t written yet).

best info suggests 4-5 million watch this over a week. operating on a 2-3% conversion ratio, we should only be about 300% over potential capacity when this thing launches.

i spent all morning in contract negs with PBS. the funny thing is, i’ve got to get this thing off the ground, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if i get 0 cred on the front end. it is a huge project visibility wise though, one which could definitely catapult me in the direction(s) i want, if i can make it happen.

in preparation for what will likely be another hellish month, i’m going to have a liquid lunch.

thanksgiving was nice, but lots and lots of running around.
i’ve pretty much spent the rest of the time between here and there writing, and fighting being sick. apparently, i got sick, which makes me feel awful.

i woke up this morning wondering what insignia a fascist america would use… an eagle, maybe?

how was your weekend?

i know it is supposed to be november, but i put this on par with the gunpowder plot.
i have one “floating holiday” i have to take at work before new years. with everything going on in my life, i really can’t justify this in any simple way; i need an excuse.

hence the fifth of december.

i am voting for a bar outing to celebrate the 74th anniversary of the twenty first amendment.

who is in? if we get enough heads counted, i’ll pull some strings to get a bar deal. yeah, i know it is a thursday wednesday night (thanks ). my floating holiday will be the sixth – what better way to celebrate the right to drink than to take the day after the celebration off?

They changed the tiny bottle law in SC back in January.
That did not improve my performance at today’s 7am tee time.

That being said, I learned that being good at golf is not that important. All you have to do is be less hung over than the people you are golfing with; a feat I managed to pull off with astounding results. I wasn’t under par once, but most of the other guys, who regularly pull in games under par (and golf this goddamned course all the time) were totally pulling boners.

At first, I thought they might be throwing to try to make me look good, until one of the sales guys puked in a sand trap after his fifth stroke.

I have discovered the return to working for a nonprofit – apparently if youa re an unmarried man at a fundraising convention, you are like a purple zebra – everyone has to stop and look, and noobody quite believes you exist. The upside is that the guy to girl ratio is like 5/1. The downside is that of the 600 odd women, most are scary run away types. I have never been hit on by so many women over 50 in my life, nor have I ever seen so many women wearing sweats which look like spandex.

how many times can a meeting be rescheduled in a week? try (on an average) 1.6 times per day. i have had this presentation i need to give ready to roll since 8am monday (when i was supposed to give it the first time, after complete rewrite number three). then it got pushed pm, then tuesday, and so on, and so on. today was my last shot. my 11 got canceled as i was setting it up, at 10:50.

i’m leaving sunday. i’m getting sucked in to sales-land with no internal review by the president, and no clear understanding of where things will be fiscally. i have to play golf, go to a dinner, and deal with sr. mgmt of this company, and pretty much the whole time, i need to keep a smile and a good attitude, even when these fuckers are going to try and crack me like a coconut, despite the fact that there is no way that i am authorized to make the commitments they want me to make (even verbally).

i have to play golf with these people. i fucking hate golf. consider “i have to play golf with these people” said in the same tone of voice as “i told those fuckers i liked michael bolton’s music”.

sunday, during the pats game, , , and myself were talking about the use of a time out post snap to stop a kick. it is dirty pool, but it works – you get pumped up, you find your inner space, you zero in your sights, and you get ready for a fluid motion, only to have to come to a shuddering, lurching halt. i’ve done that so many times this week, i can’t begin to describe the fatigue i am feeling after facing it again.

i may try to drown myself in tiny bottles of booze while i am in south carolina.

The online company Helium is trying to create a sort of peer-review writing/editorial virtual space for freelancers. I have 0 time to explore this at the moment past browsing the model, but it is _really_ cool. It operates on input metrics – you have to write in order to be able to rate. Ultimately, the best writers are supposed to be the ones who get the cash.

I am curious to see how this pans out.

so, my upcoming month:

  • doin nanowrimo
  • have to make a hugemongus presentation at work
  • have to make a business proposal/scope of work for a side project
  • i have to go to south carolina in the middle of the month for a few days of conference. the results of aforementioned presentation will determine if this is a good or bad thing.
  • have three home install calls scheduled in the next two weeks, assuming the internet gets its act together on shipping
  • i joined an advance reader book review scheme. basically, i have to read and review a book, which means i get to read the book weeks before it comes out. i gotta nail “The Jewel Trader of Pegu” by the 15th
  • in hindsight, that was a fucktarded thing to sign up for in august, cuz i am doin nano
  • Hellgate London arrived today. halfway through GH3. meedly meedly meedly. can’t sleep, games will eat me.
  • i need to get a new phone. i had been planning on getting a centro, but i scoped one out sunday. i loved the size/speed, didn’t like the action on the keys. where is ray charles to show me that there is action on the keys when i need him?
  • mostly over being ill – hooray for drugs. doctors said i don’t have anything incurable, and i don’t have strep (which was my main concern, since three co-workers, including boss, have been diagnosed).

i’ve been sick all week – low grade fever, sore throat, congestion.
wednesday night, i crashed pretty early.
last night, i barely made it home, i was falling over so bad. i did two side jobs after work, and was barely able to crawl into bed. i woke up at 10 and 11 when my phone rang. i drank two liters of oj, and had some soup, which is pretty much all i’ve eaten in three days (soup that is, not the soup i ate last night).

around 11:30 i woke up again – my fever was in the process of spiking – full auditory hallucinations, all sorts of weird sounds – loss of motor control, incredible fatigue. i went to grab my phone and my arm simply _would_ not move, it felt like it was made out of concrete. i was half-conscious at one point, and started yelling, just to try and drown out the noise that, on some level, i knew was happening in my head. that ended around three, at which point i fell back to sleep.

i figured i’d be better today. so wrong, so so wrong.

my sinuses are crazy, and i’m light headed/dizzy. i’m at work on willpower and dayquil at the moment, but when those wear out i’m going home. i had comp tickets to a show tonight, and i am definitely not going to be going to that. i was supposed to go to a surprise birthday party too…

surprise.

i feel like i am remote-controlling my body. i have vendor meetings at 11 and at 3 – i don’t know if i am going to be able to pull all the way to three.

fuck.

Talk about an action packed weekend.

Firstly, lets get the Yankees out of the way. Yup, they lost. Big. No, I don’t want your condolences, nor is it funny. I didn’t make fun of Mets fans to their face, I really don’t appreciate those same people not returning the favor.

Thursday night I made chicken wings. Lots of chicken wings. They were O.K., but I forgot my super-hot sauce for the spicy wings, so, while they were flavorful, they were not as hot as I wanted them to be. Drank gin & tonics, watched Yankees lose.

Friday, I took a mental health day. I was going to prep for a geekfest on Saturday, but that ended up getting canceled, so I beat Halo, and rearranged my whole bedroom instead. Funny thing about beating Halo – I started midnightish, and would have sworn I played for about two hours, but it ended up being like 4:45 by the time I went to bed. Good planning on my part. Funny thing about re-arranging your room. When your room is 104 inches wide, and your bed is 96 inches long, and about four feet wide? The diagonal of the bed is wider than your room. Go-go gadget fifth grade math!

Saturday’s geekfest being canceled, I read a lot, puttered around, cleaned, reorganized. Saturday night I went to the Knitting Factory to see Strung Out and a couple other bands with . The show was decent, but about 10 minutes into Strung Out’s set, I got kicked in the back of the head, right at the base of my spine by a crowd surfer. If I wasn’t wearing my hat, I woulda been in the hospital. As it was, I ended up seeing spots and dizzy for almost a half hour. I went outside and waited for and his buddy from Canada, who were coming downtown after attempting to escape the Arcade Fire show on Randall’s. I was pretty pissed about being hurt, and even more pissed about losing my hat. Amazingly, after the show, I found it in a grimy beer puddle. I washed the hell out of it and dried it. Good as new. Wish I could say the same for my neck/head.

Due to head-wound, I didn’t sleep Saturday night. This made Sunday very interesting.

Sunday was a culture day. I had planned on meeting up with to see Bladerunner late in the day, but that got kiboshed by cultural overload. I went to see Oliver Sacks at the New Yorker festival with Alicia, and was throughly enthralled, as I have been other times seeing him. The combination of his frightening intelligence, venerable experience, sharp wit and compelling subject matter kept us rooted for two hours. As a bonus, I got a pre-release copy of his new book, Musicophilia, which I read yesterday. It is, like all of his books, something which spawned a reading list for me. So many things to learn, so little time.

After Sacks I we went to the final showing of Iphigenia 2.0. To say the show was powerful is to sell it short. The Classical manipulation of the fourth wall was re-imagined in a way that actually made you squirm as an audience member, particularly since the twist of the tale was brought ’round again on our current military engagements. The acting was very tight, the use of staging/space very effective, and the use of dance and music were absolutely brilliant. Aside from some _very_ sparse stage elements, there was nothing in the scenery/costuming to suggest Greece, except for the dancing and music, which was tremendous.

Yesterday, I read Musicophilia, Tried LOTR Online (hated it), and got onto the closed beta for Sega’s “Universe at War“. This is particularly interesting since it is a LIVE game, so it is built for the PC and the Xbox 360 at the same time. I haven”t played enough to have a good feel yet, but I liked what I saw.

I spent most of yesterday afternoon/evening with Alicia. Since Lisa and I ended, she and I have been seeing each other with changing levels of regularity and significance. I spent a decent part of the weekend with her, and all of the cultural stuff. I continue to be enthralled and amused by the ways she knows me, and can challenge me on multiple levels.

This week I have a pretty hefty workload, but it is a short week, and my boss is out. Next weekend we are going upstate for Oktoberfestin, and Sunday, hopefully, will be a rain-date for geekfest.

If the fucking weather doesn’t turn soon, I’m moving to Canada. This whole August in October thing is major bullshit.

my debit card was erroneously charged this weekend to the tune of 1600$ (instead of 160$). i just got off the phone with the goddamn charge back people, who assured me my money would be refunded in 3-5 business days.

guess i’m eatin ramen until then.


I’ve been on that peak – it is amazing. Unfortunately, the Ballmer peak efficiencies do not extend to code comments, and tend to create some pretty crazy variable naming conventions.

I wrote an app that used all the major characters in Hamlet as string/variable containers. Without comments, it was a bitch to update later.

, back me up on this.

this weekend was pretty hectic, but also fun. rehearsal dinner friday, ‘s wedding on saturday. wedding was a blast. we had a crazy photographer, and a videographer to boot. my pics will be posted soon – the video i threw together with ‘s efforts/inspiration is online here. yesterday was a chance for me to cool my heels. i had a nice relaxing morning, a good brunch, and then played halo and watched football. i need to get better at halo dammit.

the only thing i didn’t do is my laundry, which might eat me tonight if i don’t do it. i have a hamper that looks a lot like madam trash heap.

today, though, has been a meat grinder – apparently everyone i work with is a mets fan or a eagles fan, based on the prevailing attitudes around the office today. best headline i’ve seen on last night’s action? Umenyiora 6, Philadelphia 3

i lost my phone – it was left in a cab dropping off @ 105th street ~ 6pm today.

i am fucking bullshit right now.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

As a result of your valliant efforts, I was able to retrieve my phone. Special thanks to and everyone else who gave a holler.

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