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Friday, October 19, 2001

[3:44 PM]
So maybe I'm not alone?

On Tuesday morning around 5:45 as I was preparing to run I looked up and noticed what appeared to be a large bright light. As it moved across the sky I tried to figure out just what kind of air plane I was looking at. It was strange because it didn't have any running lights; you know the ones on the tips of the wings and tail. As I watched it head due North the light began to grow smaller, but not because it was moving away from me. It looked like someone had closed a door and the light was suddenly gone. The only type of plane I could think of that could do this is one of those troop transport planes. You know the kind with the really big door that drops down in the back of the plane. Since I was there alone at the time I had nobody to discuss it with. Bummer. I still wonder what type of plane it was. :-)

Here are some folks that saw something a bit different.

Enjoy!
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[10:38 AM]
Good Mornin'

Manhattan vs. Silicon Valley: Who the heck would choose to live in the Silicon Valley, much less choose it over Manhattan? I certainly wouldn't. Have you ever visited the Silicon Valley? What a pit, and people refer to Bakersfield as the armpit of California. Hmmmmm... I think they'd probably have a run for their money. The article actually talks about how average salaries in the S.V. have surpassed those in Manhattan. It's no wonder dot com's failed to work there. You have to pay your employees too stinking much money just so they can survive. I've heard of people making $50,000.00 per year living on the streets. I can believe it. Why don't companies move to Fresno or Visalia? What does it come down to? To create software do you really need to be in the Silicon Valley? I don't think so. Is it because they think the San Joaquin is all farms? Well you're right about that! :-) Our area would be a wonderful place to start a small high-tech company. The cost of living is extremely low and, believe it or not, there's a ton of computing talent in the area. You'd be surprised.

I must admit that I'd hate to see the area explode and turn into the Silicon Valley, but it would be nice to expand a little. :-)

Here are some others that feel the way I do. The venerable JWZ and The Atlantic Online.

Nuff said, fire up the flame throwers. :-)
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Thursday, October 18, 2001

[2:24 PM]
US to Taliban: "We're going to kick your butt" (My words!) :-) Read the article. It's interesting how we're just laying it on the line. Surrender or you're going to die.
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[9:57 AM]
Napster, Napster, Napster.

I never did understand all the fuss over Napster. It's a way for people to illegally exchange music over the internet. Plain and simple. It's kinda cool because you can search a database for music and then download it; well that's my understanding of it anyway. I've never used it and never really saw the draw of it. I guess a lot of folks really love it. When I had a technician here from Pac Bell/SBC installing my DSL line he talked about how he had been downloading music over the weekend because Napster was in trouble with the music industry. In my head I was thinking "I wonder why!" Why is it people feel they have the RIGHT to exchange music like that? They're copyrighted materials, protected by law. When I was a kid I remember copying my friend's tapes. When I learned it was illegal I stopped doing it. Now if people want to put their music in the public domain then great! Napster, and others, could easily serve those up for free. Stop trying to get something for nothing people. Go out and buy the CD at a discount music store, get it used off of eBay, but quit breaking the law.

Future Technologies?

In the late 80's and early 90's (you know... pre-Internet craze) it was easy to find a niche in the software industry. Visio managed to create its own specialized drawing niche by making a drawing package for real people. You know those of us without artistic talent. We just want to draw a picture to describe a process, not create a work of art. Anyway, today it's much harder to find that little niche. How many new, general use, off the shelf, products do you find today? Not many, if any. I think we've managed to reach the end of the line with these products. That's not to say they're not still important to everyday computer users, they are, but who's going to run out and create a new drawing package to compete with Visio? While I think there's still room for a competitor to Visio I don't think someone would take the time or spend the money to create it. Why doesn't someone create a Visio clone for the Mac? If I had the time and money I just might try! :-)

Today I think people are more interested in making legacy systems work with new systems. Now I know what you're thinking. "What an idiot, that's not a new idea"! You're right it's not a new idea, but today I think more and more people are really trying to go this route and not the re-write it to be a client-server system. You know there's a ton of COBOL(ICK!) out there in the world that works just fine on the mainframe systems it was built for. Why not make use of it? This is where XML-RPC, SOAP, Java, and hopefully (shameless company promotion here) .NET come into play. Systems like this sound challenging to me. Maybe this is something to think about as a future business. Marrying the old to the new. As my grandpa always said "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"! There's a lot of wisdom in those words. It's something to think about.

Congratulations to Dave Winer for his Wired Rave Award win last night! Woo-hoo! Congratulations Dave, you deserve it!


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Wednesday, October 17, 2001

[12:55 PM]
Video on Demand, yeah baby!

CNet News is reporting we're(Microsoft) going to work on a Video on Demand system. Cool! That's something I've been wanting for quite a while. It's something I think a lot about, while mowing the lawns or taking a shower. I've even wondered what it would take to roll my own system and share it with my neighbors. Wouldn't that be cool! Get together a bunch of old hardware, jam a tower case full of DVD's, create small receivers in the homes, and have the capability to stream the requested DVD to the receiver! Think about it for a while, it could work on a small scale system. Just burn the movie to hard drive and play it. When the person wants another movie just overwrite what's there. Simple! Now if I just had the time... hmmmmm...

MobileStar Wireless...

CNet is also reporting that Microsoft is a perspective buyer for MobileStar Wireless. NO WAY! Don't do it! That would be my advice. Unless you're going to build up a wonderful infrastructure, one that serves up wireless EVERYWHERE, then just forget about it. If I could have wireless in my home and it WAS my ISP then ok. Otherwise it's just a waste of time. I can have a wireless network in my house for a few hundred dollars and if coffee houses were smart they'd just eat the cost of a wireless network for coffee consumers. I've talked about it here before so I'm not going to harp on it. It's just something I'd like to see. Microsoft should keep their, our, nose out of that business I.M.H.O. But, hey what do I know; I'm just a worker-bee. :-) I'll bet Mr. Scoble just loves the idea of Microsoft saving MobileStar!

The War on Terrorism...

CNN has put together a list of questions for Osama bin Laden. I think this is what we really need to do. Attack his beliefs. Where did he REALLY get them? Obviously not from the Quoran.

Go Mariners!

When we lived in Seattle the Mariners had some pretty good seasons. They had a real group of stars, that's for sure! It's very exciting to finally see them put it together! Here's to a World Series championship for the Mariners and the City of Seattle! Yeah!
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Tuesday, October 16, 2001

[3:32 PM]
Question of the day: So you receive a package from a "known" source. You open said package and white powder puffs into the air. What do you do?

I'd like to know. Kim just opened something she bought off eBay and white powder flew into the air. Now this is a "known" source in that they have an e-mail account and are registered with eBay. We don't know them personally. When she told me what happened my head started racing, I didn't think it was funny. I thought she was joking. She wasn't! So what would you do if it happened to you? I'd say it's harmless, but what if it's not? I guess this is why they call them terrorists. This is something that would have never bothered me before. "Oh it's just some dust or powder or something, just whipe it off". But now... now your head fills with horrible thoughts. Crap!
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[2:05 PM]
Howdy Y'All!

Must be thinking I didn't get enough coffee this morning. Blogging at after 2:00 PM, the nerve! :-) I've had a wild morning; well not really wild, just busy. Since my wife started working part time I've been trying to help do the things she used to take care of. Really, I'm trying. This morning our youngest had to go see her Orthodontist (say that five times real fast!) at 11:00. Kim starts work at 10:30 so I volunteered to make the trip. Since the Orthodontist is in Visalia and we live in Exeter I decided to just work from home in the morning and jet back to the office after the trip to the Dentist. Once we finished with him I decided to return my tux from the wedding Saturday night. So we drove up to Selma where the tux was rented and returned it, only to find that I'd forgotten the &*^%#$@& tie! Man I hate when I do that! Drat!

It's been a fun day hanging out with my daughter. She's here in my office now playing on the Mac Classic II in the floor. She's drawing a dog for me. :-) Dad's you should hang out with your kids at work every once in a while, if you can. All-in-all it's been a wonderful day.

Y'all come back now, ya hear...
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Monday, October 15, 2001

[1:30 PM]
Alias...

I don't know about you but I've really been enjoying this new show. The only bummer about it is the way they end the story each night. It always ends with a surprised look on the stars face and we never know why she looks like that until next week. GRRRRRR. Man I've always hated those "To be continued" shows! :-)

Satellite...

Over the summer we disconnected our satellite service because our kids were veggin' all day. Yesterday our youngest decided to try turning the equipment back on and whammo! It worked! Interesting. The people that bought our house must have had it turned back on. Funny thing is the only things I really missed about it were Crocodile Hunter and ESPN SportsCenter. Other than that I could live without it. Funny how that is.

Blah, blah, blah...

That's what al Queda representatives sound like. They honestly believe they've destabilized the world economy. Have they? I don't think so, not yet anyway. They've certainly screwed things up but I don't think they've destabilized anything. Maybe bin Laden is just mad because he invested in the dot com boom only to fall flat on his face? I dunno. This much I know; he and his band of whacko's are definitely off their collective rockers. They want us to pull out of Saudi Arabia. Why exactly? Is it because it's holy land or because he wants to take over the country? He sees himself as a messenger, or profit, of God. We've had others over time that have thought the same thing. Bin Laden is no better than Hitler, Mussolini, or that screwball from Waco Texas. In the end we'll find out he's driven by a need to rule the world. Nothing more, nothing less.

In the CNN piece he says he confident they'll win. What does that mean? Are they victorious if we pull out of Saudi Arabia? If that's all it takes then let's get out. If winning means he's killed I'm sure there's a few million Americans that would pay good money to help him in that endeavor! I for one just want to see this over. Leave the U.S. alone and crawl back down into the pit you came from. If he'll just turn himself in we can stop bombing the poor people of Afghanistan and get on with his trial.

Blah, blah, blah... that's what I sound like. Just ask my wife! :-)
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Sunday, October 14, 2001

[12:37 PM]
Hello.

Saturday was a very busy day. So busy in fact that I didn't even get a chance to sit down, much less turn on my computer. Exeter had its annual Fall Festival parade yesterday. This is a time of the year I look forward to. It's so much fun to go down town and watch the parade then move to our city park for music and other activities. The park is full of fun. Our new home is next to the park. From now on our lives are going to be more centered around downtown, which is something I look forward to more and more with each passing day. My day at the park with Kim and the girls was cut short, but for good reason! :-)

My best friend from good ole' E.U.H.S, Pedro Estalilla and his lovely Diana, renewed their vows after thirteen years of marriage. I had the honor of being the best man. It was a beautiful ceremony. There were plenty of friends and family to share in the moment. Afterwards we had a lovely reception with great homemade Mexican food. Chicken Mole and Mexican rice! Yum! The only nerve racking thing about it was having to toast the couple toward the end of the night. I absolutely HATE public speaking. I usually make a complete fool of myself, and I can't stand the sound of my own voice amplified. I managed to get through it. The best part of the reception, I.M.H.O, was when Pedro sang to his wife. I haven't heard him sing in years. He did a wonderful job, what a romantic! :-)

I managed to crawl into bed at 12:00 Sunday morning. I was exhausted and my feet were killing me from standing and running around all day. But it was all worth it to see two people recommit themselves to each other.

Gotta go, time to take care of some stuff around the house. You know, the "Honey-Do" stuff. :-)
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