January 2003

Bill Maudlin Dies
Rudy passes along that Bill Maudlin passed away. Expect the excellent The Comics Journal blog, Journalista to have something pertinent on them soon. Thanks Rudy!

Al Hirschfeld, Dead at 99
Al Hirschfeld was a great cartoonist, and he will be missed. What a draughtsman!

Well Stated on the Music Biz
Very cool quote from Dana Blankenhorn of a-clue.com:

I don’t know if Rosen knows this. I don’t know that Rosen cares. But it’s clear that RIAA is becoming increasingly frustrated with what appears to be an unannounced, unsponsored, unorganized, unsupervised, grassroots yet surprisingly effective economic boycott of a huge industry, namely musical recording.

Pooh and Copyright
I don’t care for Winnie The Pooh, but the story The Curse of Pooh is quite interesting.

Baby Spinach and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
So today started with racquetball with my Aunt. As per usual, we had wonderful games. After that I did some “financial” errands which needed doing, and went well. That was vague, but had to be. The truth is that finances are a bit sketchy for me at the moment, but I have a line on several full time jobs. The further truth, that I’ve been hesitant to reveal here, is that I’m on unemployment. This is rather humiliating, but necessary. I’ve decided that freelance is something I’ve not done as well as I would like. I’m eager to be “the web expert” somewhere – either the sole web person, or as part of a team. Luckily, I do have a line on several gigs.

I like that word, “gig”—it makes me feel like a musician.

I think I was trying to change the subject there. I feel a bit down about the job thing. My Mother points out to me that the best will happen, and she is praying for me. My family here in town also have been amazingly supportive. They ask how I am, if I need help. I appreciate their concern, and know they are a safety net if things get too troublesome. As it is I’m trying to go it alone—to feel what it feels like to be broke—I think I view it as a disincentive to ever be broke again. And oh, the State of California is certainly helping as well.

Tonight I had dinner with Leah. I made these little steaks Erin had, and L. made baked potatoes, and we had some green beans and a little salad. After I made some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. They turned out well. It’s great to “break bread” with someone you care about.

About Leah: I mentioned that I’ve met some of Leah’s brothers and sisters. Apparently one of her brothers described meeting me to the rest of the family—and said I was a “real person.” I was not sure how to take that, but Leah explained that it means I’m not “fake” and don’t put on airs. So I’m accepting it as a compliment.

Sunday will be a lazy day—a take-it-easy day with Leah—and possibly doing some laundry.

Monday I have to schedule an interview for later in the week. I’m excited, it seems like a good fit for me. That said, if you want to hire me please take a look at Mr. Resume. And I have other important errands as well on Monday. I’m going to help another Aunt and my cousin get their home network working. I’ll be doing this with my Uncle. That should be fun.

I’m going to leave this with a bit of nuttiness—the lyrics to a They Might Be Giants—“song”... called “Kitten Intro”

There’s something coming.
There’s a new car on the horizon.
It’s coming very slowly.
It makes a noise.
It has kittens painted all over it.
With a new kind of fur.
Cleaner, but with a unique smell.
Yet, one of these kittens is not prepared to have a good time.
It stands alone.
Away from the crowd.
It’s your kind of kitten.
Now the time has come to climb into that car and to shake the paw of destiny.

Gibson Review
My friend Steve E passed me this link to the NYTimes review of the new William Gibson novel.
(Thanks Steve!)

Yo.
Woke up this mornin’ tired. Stuff to do. Gotta do it.

Hope you all have a great day!

MSIE Rollover Caching Bug
This is a peculiar bug: JavaScript Tip: Avoid An IE Rollover Bug

Browsers are still not that great, are they?

Lessig Loses Copyright Case
This is the most poignant post on the Lessig affair. Go read more about it on eldred.cc

Standardized Testing for Web Geeks, Good News, Bad News
So I just had an interview with a recruiter. It went well, very professional.

I did take some standardized tests though. I did very well on two of them, one was on ColdFusion and one was on ColdFusion Scripting (yes, a subtle difference) and I got better than 85% on each (a B in my book). I’m rather happy with that result, as I’ve not written any ColdFusion professionally in half a year. The gig for which I am applying (well, two, possibly) are both jobs requiring ColdFusion, so that result is good.

And now, the bad news: I also took a SQL Server 2000 Developer test. This one, I stunk at. I got 16% correct on that one. It covered more ins and outs of SQL Server database creation. Triggers, stored procedures, integrity constraints, and the like. These are thing I have a vague awareness of, but have never touched myself.

The Lesson
To be a web developer, one needs only the most basic of knowledge of how a database works in the backend. Most of the production of database backed websites is simply SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE statements in SQL. More than that, at least for me, who has been been developing database-backed websites for several years now (see Resume), I have simply had no need to delve any deeper. It makes me want to know a bit more, though given my skills, I’m not sure how much more competent it will make me. But as always, I love learning new stuff.

I’m away from home, so this is being posted from the friendly neighborhood Kinko’s.

Oh, and in addition to the 16%, the recruiting firm didn’t validate parking. Feh. The upside is obvious though, I may be getting one or both of these ColdFusion gigs! Huzzah!

Next up tonight, Racquetball.

ONWARD!