kids
resume
links
jbum
jblog
about
hacker emblem

Bob's musings... (cc:world) OLDER PAGES        bob@jadn.com JBlog.rss

No news is good news.

Sunday, 21 July 2002

Jen, Crystal, Dave and I traveled to Martha's Vineyard last weekend. This set of photos has more shots than the set from our engagement. Here are the shots.

Friday, 19 July 2002

Crystal and I got engaged last Saturday (July 13.) Here are a few select shots from our Martha's Vineyard trip.

Tuesday, 02 July 2002

Crystal's cousin's Tammy and Eric had a little boy (little Eric) in March. This weekend they had him Christened. Crystal is the godmother.

Wednesday, 03 April 2002

Four months back in early December, Brian and I climbed the Monadnock mountain in southern NH. It takes like 2 hours to drive to the mountain, 3 hours up, 2 hours down, and 2 hours driving back... 9 hours in total... so it is an all day thing.

Wednesday, 03 April 2002

On Saturday, December 9, I did one of my traditional weekends of helping my father with the Christmas tree farm. He gets busy with customers and so I help out by greeting customers, answering questions, taking money and generally being there. Well, I took some shots with my camera... so here they are

Wednesday, 03 April 2002

I snapped some photos while My father and I visited the Belmonts (my sister's family.)

It's hard to take pictures of the twins because they are constantly moving, and don't pose for pictures.

Monday, 01 April 2002
I almost always carry my camera. Although lately I haven't been taking many shots.... Here are a few that have piled up. Mostly because Crystal asked me to grab a shot here or there.
Monday, 18 Mar 2002
Slashdot had an interesting post, It's Not About Lines of Code, that outlines an important point about software productivity. Sometimes the most productive developers dont appear all that productive. I'll have an another mochaccino.
Thursday, 7 Mar 2002
more pictures, These are some random shots from evenings out in Boston
Thursday, 7 Mar 2002
Ok, some more pictures from around Christmas (ok, not so timely - I agree.)
Tuesday, 12 Feb 2002
Some pictures of the New PC Assembly!
Thursday, 7 Feb 2002
Today's Quote from Mono and GNOME an interesting post,
"There is a point in your life when you realize that you have written enough destructors, and have spent enough time tracking down a memory leak, and you have spend enough time tracking down memory corruption, and you have spent enough time using low-level insecure functions, and you have implemented way too many linked lists."
Hey, that is why I started using Java!!!!
Wednesday, 6 Feb 2002
[Image]

Evil evil evil... "Playing with the .NET SDK, the cross-language support looks impressive, but the illusion holds true only until realizing that all languages in the mix are virtually identical. Microsoft has actually invented the concept of skinnable language: changing a language's most superficial aspects, and claiming the result to be a new language. "
     From this article which examines the .NET SDK.

Monday, 4 Feb 2002
The new computer.

I recently felt the need to get a new computer. After talking with Frank, this is what we came up with. Its a nice scrappy little AMD machine. The motherboard has built-in sound and networking. I was thinking about a duel AMD box, but the extra costs of mother board and an additional CPU persuaded me back to the single AMD solution. Most of the computer was purchased at www.googlegear.com, but the case/powersupply/RAM were from www.newegg.com.

CPU AMD Athlon XP 1700+ 1.47GHz Processor Retail $130
MotherBoard ECS K7S5A SiS735 Athlon/Duron Skt A SDR/DDR ATX MB Retail $68.5
Hard Drive IBM Deskstar 60GXP: 60GB 7200RPM ATA/100 Hard Drive $113.5
Video Card Asus V7100 Pro Pure 64MB GeForce2 MX-400 Video Card Retail $82.5
CDROM Sony 16X DVD w/Software $60.99
Floppy SONY FD MPF920 1.44 (3945) White $10.99
CASE EVERCASE|P4ATXMD NPS E4252W00A $22.00
POWER SUPPLY SPARK FSP300-60BTVS $34.00
Memory DDRAM 512MB|64X64 PC-2100 MUSHKIN $140.00
Shipping FedEx and UPS combined $65.19
Total $727.00

All the parts should be arriving today. NEW TOY, OH JOY! I plan to dual boot RedHat 7.2 and Win-XP.

Thursday, 31 Jan 2002
Quote from a neat article about Microsoft Settlement written by the author of the Reiser Filesystem,
"The only thing worse than a government controlled economy is a monopoly controlled economy."

 

Saturday, 26 Jan 2002
Somebody is actually researching whether or not Money and Happiness are related.
Turns out that Money can't buy Happiness
Friday, 25 Jan 2002

 

Last weekend, Crystal and I enjoyed a nice Sunday. Here are the shots to prove it.

Friday, 25 Jan 2002

[Image]This article from the Register is very nerdy, but I couldnt help but find it amusing.

           How Microsoft drove me to Linux
Thursday, 17 Jan 2002
Dave Barry talks about Windows!!  

[Image]"But my point is that because of computer weirdness, I regularly see an entire morning's work -- sometimes as many as 18 words -- get blipped away forever to the Planet of Lost Data. Needless to say, I use Microsoft Windows. I've been a loyal Windows man since the first version, which required you to write on the screen with crayons. Every year or so, Microsoft comes out with a new version, which Microsoft always swears is better and more reliable, and I always buy it. I bought Windows 2.0, Windows 3.0, Windows 3.1415926, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows RSVP, The Best of Windows, Windows Strikes Back, Windows Does Dallas, and Windows Let's All Buy Bill Gates a House the Size of Vermont.

My computers keep having seizures, but I keep buying Windows versions, hoping I'll get lucky. I'm like the loser in the nightclub who keeps hitting on the hot babe. His shoes are squishing from the pina colada she poured on him, but he's thinking: "She's warming up to me!"

--Dave Barry
Read the rest in Miami Herald

Wednesday, 09 Jan 2002
"The way I look at it -- and I borrow this idea from Richard Dawkins -- the universe has been around for 15 billion years, during which time I haven't existed. According to astrophysicists we have another 15 billion years to go, during almost all of which time, I won't exist. Then there's this tiny flicker in the middle when I find myself here. I want to know what that means. Where did I come from? Where am I going? What am I doing here? And quickly, I haven't got long."  From an article that Pete recommends , The emotional machine. The article is a bit long but I like the ending quote.
Tuesday, 08 Jan 2002
[Image]I really don't like Microsoft.  Sometimes I think they are going to succeed in taking over 100% of the software development market.  I wonder, should I just give up and start learning VB.net?  Today, however, I found this article which helps sooth my concerns as a semi-devoted Linux/Java/OpenSource hacker.  The short article talks about how IBM failed to lock the market with it's big hammer of the day, the MicroChannelArchitecture.  A good read.   The image to the left is an oldie, but a goodie.
Monday, 07 Jan 2002
[Image]I have always found the work habits of programmers to be very strange.  I have often felt like I do not "get into flow" as often as I would like.  I was delighted to read this article by Joel and see that I am not the only one who struggles with this problem.
Friday, 04 Jan 2002
[Image]
Crystal, my father and I went out and toured the Trinkaus Manor Chrismas display in downtown Rome, New York. I snapped some shots. For fun, I took some with flash, some without flash.  Interesting to compare the shots with a flash and the ones without.  Hard to tell if the flash is a good thing or a bad thing.  Kind of strange stuff for a Christmas display,  most of the displays are mother goose stories...  
Thursday, 03 Jan 2002
[Image]  Crystal and I visited Rome for Christmas to see the Monkeys enjoy their first 'real' Christmas. Last year they were a bit small to understand it all, now they are almost 2.5 years old. So they speak, walk, and make their demands known.  Here are some shots from Christmas morning.
Wednesday, 02 Jan 2002
[Image]  Since Crystal and I were going to be in Rome, NY for Christmas, we celebrated Christmas with her parents and her brother Corey on Sunday, December 16th.  Here are some photos from the Cameron Christmas.
Friday, 28 Dec 2001

How about some Jokes?

"What we know about Osama bin Laden is this -- he's worth $300 million, he has five wives and 26 kids ... and he hates Americans for their 'excessive' lifestyle."
-- David Letterman

"The leaders of the Taliban said today that killing bin Laden won't solve the problem. But, you know, it couldn't hurt."
-- Jay Leno

"You read about all these terrorists, most of them came here legally, but they hung around on these expired visas, some for as long as 10-15 years. Now, compare that to Blockbuster; you are two days late with a video and these people are all over you. Let's put Blockbuster in charge of immigration."
-- Jay Leno

"More and more facts coming out about Osama bin Laden. You know, he never sleeps in the same place two nights in a row, just like Clinton."
-- Jay Leno

"This Osama bin Laden guy, spoiled rich kid worth $300M. I have three words for this guy: Anna Nicole Smith. We send her over there, she'll get his money, he'll be dead in a week."
-- Jay Leno

"CBS News finally received anthrax in the mail. As usual, we're number three."
-- David Letterman

"Things have really changed here in Hollywood. Used to be people in this town couldn't wait to get an envelope full of white powder."
-- Jay Leno

"Postal inspectors have been given advanced warning that Publishers Clearinghouse is sending packets of laundry detergent that could be mistaken for anthrax. Oh, good timing! What genius came up with this promotion? What's next? A ticking alarm clock? Let's put that in a box."
-- Jay Leno

"The FBI is! urging all Americans to beware of any letters or packages that have badly misspelled words. Man, this is going to be terrible news for the rap industry."
-- Jay Leno

"Tomorrow night on NBC a very special episode of West Wing, it makes a direct reference to what happened in New York City. The exact plot is being kept top secret. We are the only country in the world where we put our battle plans on CNN, but the plots to our TV shows are top secret."
-- Jay Leno

"Pakistan's ruler Pervez Musharraf predicted the Taliban will fall for hiding Osama bin Laden. Ex-king Zahir Shah is standing by to replace Mullah Mohammed Omar. And the most ominous sign of all, President Bush has learned all their names."
-- Comedian Argus Hamilton

"There was a rumor that Jesse Jackson was going to go over there to talk with the Taliban; apparently they were having trouble rhyming the word Jihad."
-- Jay Leno

"U.S. Government has said they are now going to go after the terrorist's electronic banking system. You know what they should do? They should transfer bin Laden's funds to my bank. They'd mess up his deposits, screw up his statement and nickel and dime him to death with service charges."
-- Jay Leno

"People want to say there isn't racial profiling at the airport, but let's be honest. If you first name is Mohammed, and your last name isn't Ali, arrive at the airport extra early."
-- Jay Leno

 

Thursday, 27 Dec 2001
[Image] Again with Joel... This time an   entertaining story  about the difference in work environments of two companies (Microsoft vs Juno)
Thursday, 27 Dec 2001
[Image]Do you develop software?  How does your company do on the " The Joel Test" ?  I think it is an awesome metric for measuring a software group's basic effectiveness.
Thursday, 20 Dec 2001
[Image]Gotta love Microsoft... Their latest OS, XP, is totally insecure.  Just connect to the Internet and you are vulnerable. Scott Culp, manager of Microsoft's security response center says,  "Every Windows XP user needs to immediately take action." Gartner is calling this problem "plug-and-prey."
Thursday, 20 Dec 2001
[Image]  If you care about XML, this is an interesting summary of Jim Clarks talk at the  IDEAlliance XML 2001.  Jim Clark is one of those "Super Genius" kind of people who works super hard on developing standards and donates free software that people use as a reference for working with standards.  He talks the talk and walks the walk.
Wednesday, 19 Dec 2001
[Image]   This guy, Joel, is worth reading (especially if you are involved in creating software.)  He posts stuff to his web site every so often.  Here is a little piece on Hiring the right people. Even though I don't agree with everything he says, I can understand his position.  I enjoy the clarity of his witting. 
Wednesday, 19 Dec 2001
[Image]There is a company here in Boston (actually Cambridge) that makes software for Linux called Ximian.    I use their 'red-carpet' update utility to keep my machine up to date.  I just bought a 1 year subscription to have priority access to updates.  If you run Linux, check them out.
Tuesday, 18 Dec 2001

[Image]If you haven't yet seen oddtodd, then by all means go see it now.  It describes the life of the dot.com unemployed and is hilarious!
Tuesday, 18 Dec 2001

[Image]

I recently heard about this software called CityDesk.  It is a windows software package for creating and updating personal web sites.  If you run a website, you might want to check it out.

31 Oct 2001, Wednesday

Click here to see Crystal and I camping in NH. We went for 5 days in late July after getting laid-off. We camped along Tripoi Road in the bottom of the White Mountains.

7 Oct 2001, Sunday

Click here to see some pictures I took with my new camera.

4 Sep 2001, Tuesday

 

The outhouse project is now COMPLETE!! We just had to do some finishing touches.

 

4 Sep 2001, Tuesday

 

The project continues with painting the outhouse.

 

3 Sep 2001, Monday

 

This week I am helping Pop ease into retirement. I started helping with building an outhouse for our farm/camp site. Check out our pics

 

3 Sep 2001, Monday

 

Crystal and I are going on a cruise leaving on Aug 8th. Woo Hoo. Not working is a difficult way of life. The cruise ship info is here

 

Aug 10, Friday 2001

 

Crystal and I took some shots of our trip to Atlanta to visit Rebecca, Keith and Alex.

 

Jun 20, Wed 2001
Last weekend my sister rented a vacation home for the family's Cape Cod Vacation. It was a lot of fun!! My father put together these shots

 

Jun 05, Tue 2001

 

Took a trip to Rome, New York on Memorial Day weekend. Snapped some shots of my dad playing with his tractor and a tractor trailer that had overturned!

Jun 04, Mon 2001

 

On Friday I took a canoe trip on the Charles River and snapped some pictures.

May 15, Wed 2001
Dad continues to improve the twins site. He now uses little thumbnail shots in the picture index. Very nice collection of twin pictures.
May 2, Wed 2001

 

My sister's twins turned two years old and had a party. My father took the shots and built the page. Go Dad! They apparently rented a inflatable house for the kids to jump around in. Nifty!

Apr 29, Sun 2001
My father is still playing with his new scanner. Here is all 42 slides from the 1970 desert campout. My father isn't in any of the shots, just my late uncle Richard and me. Some of the shots are double exposed. At the time, I think his camera required you to remember which shots you have taken and manually advance.
Apr 23, Mon 2001
 

As a big fan of AOL's instant messaging system, I found the article "My Two Cents on AOL's Blockings" very interesting. It explains when they have blocked clients and why.

Apr 17, Tue 2001
 

Here is a picture of me during a camping trip with my father and his brother in May of 1970. I was four years old.

 

Mar 08, Thu 2001
Good news for me. A recent survey by Gartner,Inc says "Java Careers Still Hot". Whew!
Mar 05, Tue 2001
Today's quote
"[...] open source has the potential to bring the software industry back to the marketplace; following a decade in which one company determined what innovations would take place, when and at what price." ZDNET: Microsoft's spin on linux
Mar 04, Sun 2001
Some interesting quotes....

First annoying Microsoft says something stupid

"Open source is an intellectual-property destroyer," Microsoft's operating systems chief Jim Allchin said, "I can't imagine something that could be worse than this for the software business and the intellectual-property business."
http://www.salon.com/tech/log/2001/02/15/unamerican/index.html

RedHat, a Linux vendor, Responds,

"I'd argue that a worldwide monopoly, enforced by business practices that a federal judge has found to be predatory and anti-competitive probably has more to do with killing innovation than anything the open source movement could ever do." Red Hat's CEO
from http://www.zdnet.com/sp/stories/news/0,4538,2689856,00.html

Richard Stallman rules! He says,

"The Free Software Movement was founded in 1984, but its inspiration comes from the ideals of 1776: freedom, community, and voluntary cooperation. This is what leads to free enterprise, to free speech, and to free software. "
Richard's article is interesting. Reat it here in this article
Mar 02, Fri 2001
 

Try out Voice of the Web. I have been helping to hack it for months now and it is ready!!

 

 

Feb 25, Sun 2001
 

This Boston globe article ECONOMIC PRINCIPALS Gates vs. the poets kicks ass! Amazed that a print paper understands these issues.

 

Jan 03, Wen 2001
Some pictures of snow from Rome, NY
Dec 14, Thu 2000
I think this article is a good read, for us geeks anyway. It is an interview with super geek Eric Raymond. Here is a quote,
IBM, it is now the policy of that company, announced by its president, [...] every new piece of software written at IBM must be issued under an open source license, unless the development managers can make a specific business case why that should not be.
Nov 28, Tue 2000
An interesing article about aggregation sites.
About 400,000 people now use aggregation services that gather financial information, up eightfold this year, Marenzi says. With major banks and Web portals joining the fray, he predicts the total will double by year's end and reach 8 million by 2004.
Oct 9, Mon 2000
Microsoft pisses me off.
[..] Microsoft defended its statements in court by saying its reference to defining the standard "is mere puffery upon which consumers cannot reasonably rely and, therefore, does not constitute false advertising." Whyte [the judge] then examined the legal basis of puffery, or "puffing," as it has been defined in earlier false-advertising cases. Whyte noted that "puffing" is an exaggerated, generalized or ambiguous claim and not "a statement of specific fact upon which a consumer would reasonably rely."

From this story

July 19, Wed 2000
An excellent geeky article about the new Honda Insight. It a new electric/gasoline powered car from honda. Very nifty!
July 12, Wed 2000
WOO HOO!! I read a book! That hasn't happened in a while. I give this book, "The Perfect Storm" by Sebastican Junger, an A-. Very entertaining. Filled with interesting details and facts about fishing, weather, boating, emergency rescue, etc... I can see why the book spent 10 months on the New York Times Besterseller list! I thought the story wandered a bit, but the book was pretty hard to put down. I liked the colorful and descriptive language used. The character descriptions were quite good.
July 5, Wed 2000
Now an article in the Boston Globe, Lumapath lights the way for Web surfers
June 27, Tue 2000
My company's first press release, LUMAPATH Inc. Launches Online Branding Solution, WOO HOO. And they changed their name to Lumapath from Netcontext.
June 4, Sun 2000
Good article Java and Linux. My favorite two technologies!!! The coming Java-Linux duopoly A must read for you geeks!!!
May 24, Wed 2000
Short but good article on Open Source The Cold War Bits.
May 23, Wed 2000
Updated my Resume to include my current work at NetContext. Since I suck at the written word, PLEASE LET ME KNOW if you find any boo boos. Thanks!
May 17, Wed 2000
Clearly my father is trying to out do me in the web photo album catagory of life.

See his latest entry A few shots on the twins new birthday swings to see what I mean!

May 15, Mon 2000
My fathers got some shots of some easter twins in fancy duds
May 10, Wed 2000
My sister twins had their first birthday party, and I grabbed some shots. I started writting little notes next to each picture. Then I got tired of that. Also I forget peoples names and such. Bad me.
March 31, Fri 2000
some pictures from the office featuring myself and Ed.
March 29, Wed 2000
Ok. Day 2 with camera. I bought the recharging station and a 48 Meg Compact flash for the camera. They should arrive in a few days. Just for fun, I took some shots at dinner. Here they are. I tweaked the software to generate 3 levels of detail: Thumbnail, 800x600, and the orginal image. I changed to three levels because of complaints from Ed about how long the images take to view. I hope you are happy Ed!!
March 28, Tue 2000
Bought myself a new toy. A Canon Powershot S10 digital camera. Its neat-o. It is very compact (fits in shirt pocket.) Here are some shots I took today (just to test it out.) Frank and I getting pizza at Bertucci's
March 05, Sun 2000
Jerry, Gail, Frank, Pete and I ventured out into the real world briefly then quickly ducked into a theater. We saw the movie The Sixth Sense. It was a very good film. It was a little bit scary, a little bit of a mystery, and a little bit of a love story. Everyone pretty much enjoyed it. I would encourage people to see it. I would grade it an B+/A-. It was very thought provoking too. One of those films that you think/re-think and talk about for quite a while. It doesn't leave your mind very quickly.
March 04, Sat 2000
My father recently got this nifty camping chair. He says it is good for sitting in parks or up at the farm. It weighs 9 pounds and takes about 2 seconds to remove from the bag. The bag is hanging on the door knob. It cost $13 at Kmart. Life's simple pleasures.
Feb 21, Mon 2000
I am no sports nut. But I can understand the circumstances that led to this creative solution.
Feb 18, Wed 2000
Here is a story about the mill complex that our company is in. Kind of sets a boom or bust kind of tone that I am not too wild about. Hopefully the dot.com economy has some energy still in it.
Feb 9, Wed 2000
The startup that I work at is called www.netcontext.com. We are still building our product in secret, so the web page is pretty vague. Ah well... That will probably change in a month or two...
Jan 23, Sun 2000
I work inside the mill in Maynard. Check out http://www.clocktowerplace.com/ for the scoop on the mill. Its a corporate site so you might want to get some coffee first.
Jan 02, Sun 2000
ESR's message on DVDs and piracy was a good read.
Dec 28, Tue 1999
Here are some Christmas day snaps of my sisters babies!
Dec 27, Mon 1999 1999
An excellent article, Pied Piper of Technology, is all about Bill Joy. One of the many crazy brains at Sun.

"Voracious Reader at Tender Age of 3 A tousle-haired Shakespeare fanatic who consumes as many as a dozen books on an extreme range of topics daily, Joy still browses in the local bookstore, even after becoming Amazon.com's second-largest individual customer."

I am overjoyed when I read a book a month. Sheesh...

Nov 28, Sun 1999
Articles by Bill Gurley are always a fascinating read. He seems to make the complex obvious... like this article on stock valuations. killer.
Nov 25, Thu - Thanksgiving 1999
We had a splendid Thanksgiving here in beautiful Rome, NY.

My sister's twins are Christmas ready.

Nov 14, Fri 1999
Check this link, www.microsith.com specially if you hate Microsoft.

3 more baby pics right here

Oct 15, Fri 1999
This kitty should cut back on the crazy lifestyle.
Oct 9, Sat 1999

Ok, where do I find parties like that? I hope my next job is in a bigger box.

Oct 8, Fri 1999
Continuing with my immature theme, here is a spoof on a popular commercial. DOH!
Oct 5, Tue 1999
Ok, a friend of mine sent me this picture of a city cross street. Can you figure out why he mailed it to me? (clue: He isn't my most mature friend) This is in pretty bad taste, but humorous.
Oct 4, Mon 1999
Here is an intesting place to pickup unusual ideas, www.memepool.com. They even have a link to that Jive Delta Clip (that I posted below)
Oct 3, Sun 1999
Rented the off beat but funny movie Office Space and ended up seeing it twice. If you have ever worked in cubicle, I strongly recommend checking out this film. It has a lot of dilbert style office humor.
Sep 26, Sun 1999
Updated my Resume to include my current work at Radnet. Also updated some of the company links. Sweet. Let me know if you find any boo boos. Thanks!
Sep 21, Tue 1999
Updated the joke about the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. It appears to be an urband legend. See below.
Sep 21, Tue 1999
This audio clip is a 'Jive Delta Airlines Commercial' farce. It uses strong language, but it is very funny.
Sep 13, Mon 1999
Here is the latest from my sister... arent they just the cutest!

My Father posted more pictures here

July 28, Wednesday 1999

FYI!!! This is (NOT) an actual radio conversation between a United States Navy aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and Canadian authorities off the coast off Newfoundland in October, 1995. (The radio conversation was released by the Chief of Naval Operations on 10/10/95 as authorized by the Freedom of Information Act.)

Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.

Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.

Canadians: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS, AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH...I SAY AGAIN.....THAT'S ONE-FIVE DEGREES NORTH.... OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP!!

Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

Ok, that story is pure urband legend... Not too suprising, but someone did actually check;

"That story about the USS Lincoln is pure BS. At the time it was supposed to take place the ship was on the West coast in dock. I can find no record of the USS Lincoln having ever been near Nova Scotia. My information came from official naval records."

- Mike.macmonagle@hill.af.mil

July 18, Sunday 1999
Well, FYI, I quit laying about and got back to work. I am working at www.radnet.com on a Portal type project. It is interesting work with smart people. How can you beat that?

I updated my Links to be the sites that I currently check daily... the old list was pretty beat.

May 21, Friday 1999
                                                [ FYI, someone emailed me this, I didnt create it. -- lllike PLEASE ]

                                                Start with a cage containing five monkeys. In the cage, hang a banana
                                                on a string and put a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey
                                                will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the Banana.  As soon
                                                as he touches the stairs, spray all of the monkeys with cold
                                                water. After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same
                                                result --aaall the monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon,
                                                when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will
                                                try to prevent it.

                                                Now, Turn off the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and
                                                replace it with a new one.  The new monkey sees the banana and wants
                                                to climb the stairs.  To his horror, all of the other monkeys attack
                                                him.  After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to
                                                climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

                                                Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with
                                                a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The
                                                previous Newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm. Again,
                                                replace a third original monkey with a new one. The new one makes it
                                                to the stairs and is attacked as well.  Two of the four monkeys that
                                                beat him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs,
                                                or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

                                                After replacing the fourth and fifth original monkeys, all the monkeys
                                                which have been sprayed with cold water have been
                                                replaced. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs.
                                                 
                                                Why not?
                                                 
                                                Because that's the way it's always been around here. And that's how
                                                company policy begins....
                                                
May 8, Sunday 1999
Last weekend, Pete and I visited Rome and my sisters twins. Got some some photos right here.
April 28, Wednesday 1999
My sister had identical twin girls today!!! Woo Hoo!!! Pictures here!! Lets hope the circus is still hiring!
April 20, Tuesday 1999
An interesting article about the future of trading.

MICROSOFT LINUX, say it isnt SO!

April 6, Tuesday 1999
My brother and I recently saw The Matrix. We both thought it was a good movie. At first I was worried because the last movie that I saw Keanu Reeves in, Johnny Mnemonic, really sucked. I read the book (Burning Chrome) that Johnney Mnemonic was based on so perhaps that set my expectations too high. Mnemonic just seemed to get so cheesy so fast. But "The Matrix" was much better.

Another reason I was surprised to like this film is, I knew most of what was going to happen (ie. I saw the trailer). So I was surprised how much time I spent after the film mulling over all the things that were in play. The movie certainly provided some mental entertainment beyond just the smooth visu