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November 21st, 2006
12:25 pm - Do-Gooding
I noticed a blurb in the news today about a gingerbread house exhibit, which benefits research for juvenile diabetes. Doesn't that seem a little cruel? Sort of how we do marathons to support MS research. Do do-gooders not notice the irony of this? "I'm going to help raise money for your terrible affliction by doing something you're incapable of participating in! Aren't you grateful?!"
That's all for now. Back to work.
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October 18th, 2006
09:30 am - Folk-hop
I saw an interesting show at Nectar last night. A couple guys from my company were performing. I'm on a list of people at work that they invite to every show, but this is the first time I've gone. A few of their songs were a style they called "folk-hop" - a cross between folk and hip hop. It was both cool, and funny. One song used the line "Barry on the six string, and me on the mic." That's quality.
One of the guys was talking to us afterward, and was telling us about the evolution of their band (which is just two guys with guitars). He feels like they've hit the point where they are technically pretty good, and they sound how they're supposed to sound. Which is good, because now when someone don't like them, they know it's because of that person's taste, and not because they're bad musicians.
I feel like this is a useful metaphor.
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September 26th, 2006
04:47 pm - Typos
I know it's kind of juvenile, but I'm often terribly entertained by typos. Especially typos in contracts, where you'd expect a higher level of proof-reading.
For example, I'm working on a contract that says they can ship our product using ant carrier. And that they can offer reposessed property at a public safe. They use each of these several times.
My recent favorite was a comment in a contract that talked about each party's bobligations.
Objectively I know that's not that funny, but it still makes me laugh every time.
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September 20th, 2006
12:12 pm - Britain
You know what's cool about my company having an office in London? I get to work with people who use words like "fortnightly."
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September 14th, 2006
10:41 am - It's Hip to be Fit
From the AP this morning: "One-fifth of children are likely to be obese by 2010, yet the government killed a promising program that portrayed exercise as cool."
Does anyone remember "It's Hip to be Fit"? With George Bush number 1 and Arnold Schwartzenegger surrounded by a small army of happy kids, shown on a video tape on the ancient VCR in your elementary school?
As I recall this program, it involved occassionally leaving school to go walk somewhere and do silly exercises. Like golf. I mean, golf is fine, but taking 60 urban elementary school students to a driving range for an afternoon probably isn't going to materially effect their health. I think a move-a-thon was involved (though that might have been an unrelated fund raiser). I'm pretty sure there was some prize I could win by doing enough silly exercises, or eating enough apple slices, or whatever the program was. Clearly the message was mostly lost on me, but I have a very vivid memory of seeing George 1 and Arnold in promotional Hip/Fit t-shirts and shorts - as I recall, Arnold's wrists were bigger than George's legs.
That's what I thought of when I read the sentence above. A government program, designed by middle aged beaurocrats, to convince children that something is cool. I wonder if they've gotten any better at this kind of propaganda since I was a kid. Or will it just be the modern equivalent?
Maybe they'll use a more modern, but still slighly out of date slang term in their program name. Like "It's Phat to be Thin" or "Get Crunked on Fitness." And they'll put Jackie Chan and Condi Rice in colerful t-shirts and send out dvds to all the elementary schools, that show them sharing a plate of carrot sticks before going for a jog with a happy multicultural assortment of children.
I should write this up and see if I can get some sort of grant.
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September 13th, 2006
03:37 pm - Managing
So, I'm a manager now. I have two directs, who both started within the past week. I wasn't expecting to feel so lame. I just had to inform them about proper email signature files. Leading up to that I had to discuss the appropriate logo for their signatures with another co-worker. I probably shouldn't care whether my employees think I'm cool, but I can't help it. I guess I'll just keep trying to be funny and ironic when telling them about all the rules they have to follow.
In general it's good, though. We had temps in the positions before, so it's nice to have the expectation that these people will be around for a while. And they can form the beginning of my corporate empire. I probably shouldn't tell them that part yet, though.
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September 7th, 2006
02:08 pm - funny stuff
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm
So, I'm flying down to San Jose tomorrow to go camping. The camp is on the beach, about 10 miles from Santa Cruz. I'm trying to think of all the things I should bring. Since we're going straight from the airport to the campground, I don't think we'll have time to stop and buy groceries, so I'm planning to bring some food. It occurred to me that you're not allowed to bring fruit over the border to California when you're driving (at least you weren't allowed to the last time I remember driving into California, in about 1988 - times may have changed). Probably a silly thing to worry about, but it would suck to have my snap peas confiscated, so I thought I'd do some research. Google searches on "fruit on airplane" and "fruit traveling to California" weren't helpful, but eventually I found my way to the TSA website, and then to the permitted/prohibited list. This is funny stuff. I mean, no throwing stars? Come on! And no spear guns? I guess that explains why he found a spear gun in the cargo hold in SoaP, though - I mean, you have to bring your spear gun to Hawaii, right? And TSA won't let you take it as a carry on, so....
I wonder how this list was created. Was there a committee somewhere? Probably. A room full of government employees in button down shirts saying "should we just say 'weapons' are prohibited?" "no, we'd better be more specific - people might not realize a billy club is considered a weapon" "yeah, and 'gun' is too vague - be sure to call out starter pistols."
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August 15th, 2006
01:36 pm - Pop Quiz
1. Can you name at least two of the seven dwarves?
2. Can you name at least two of the nine supreme court justices?
In a recent poll, about 75% of Americans could do the first, but only 25% could do the second.
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August 2nd, 2006
03:17 pm - music
Oh my. I'm listening to top 40 radio. It's been a while since I did. It's a little jarring. I made the following observations:
1. "Money Maker" by Ludacris (featuring Pharrell) sounds startlingly like "I Do" by Toya, from 2001. Actually, all popular R&B seems to sound like it was recorded at least 5 years ago.
2. Justin Timberlake's song seems to have been performed entirely by back-up singers. I wonder if he even goes to the studio.
3. "Chamillionnaire" is one of the funniest rap names I've ever heard.
4. I still don't like country/pop crossovers. I like them even less when they are a duet. The worst is when they have a chorus of children singing.
5. There are a LOT of pop artists that I've never heard of. I'm not sure if this means I'm out of touch, or that they're all one hit wonders.
6. I have no idea who the market is for top 40. I mean, what audience wants to hear the Ret Hot Chili Peppers, Ludacris, Justin Timberlake, and the Dixie Chicks, all in a space of an hour?
7. As far as I can tell, Chris Cornell's lyrics are still mostly nonsensical.
I'm not sure how much more of this I can take.
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