On shaving...

Most of my adult life I have grudgingly shaved.

The combination of thick beard hairs and sensitive skin left me in discomfort after most shaves.  Over the years I have tried several electric razors, multi-head disposables, and every shaving product readily available at ye local shop.  To no avail.  I had reached the point where every week or so I'd run a hair clipper over my face and call it good.

A month ago my life changed.

My girl had heard me express interest in classic wet shaving, and for my birthday I received a a shiny safety razor, a badger hair brush and an exotically scented soap.

For the first time in my life, my cheeks were smooth, my skin un-irritated, and I found myself looking forward to the new daily ritual of hot towel, lather and whisker removal.

It doesn't hurt that in a sea of Brut, Aqua-velva, and off-the-shelf brand scents smelling like a traveller of distant exotic locales does not hurt.  In fact nearly every lady in the office has whipped their head around in surprise to the scents, and in two cases are planning on ordering some for their husbands.

I should note that I am no way compensated for the above links, nor do any of them go to a referral account.  I'm just *really* pleased at their products.

Fall view.

Since I provided Winter and Summer view from my desk, I thought it only appropriate to share the fall view.

I does not feel like 10 months since I started this job.

Knife posts

So the current blogger meme to which I am little late in responding is "What knife is on your person right now?"

I suppose technically the titanium spork isn't a knife.  But it has a wicked sharp edge on one side... and I assure  I know how to spork in an emergency situation.  *Narrow eyes*  Try me... I dare you.

The others are a Letherman Skeletool (in Carbon fiber) and Kershaw OD-1 model 1775.    Since  I'm not doing a lot a site visits anymore I don't usually carry the Leatherman, but it and the spork live in my coat... and I wore the coat today...

The Kershaw... I picked it up on a lark at the Cabela's in Billings my last trip through.  It was on sale for $30 (regularly $90) and a quick google shows that it isn't available on the interwebs for less the about $40.  That said, it is probably the best feeling knife I've owned in decade.  It is the perfect size for my hand, the blade is the right size for everyday tasks, the opening action is stupidly simple and smooth.  Best $30 I've spent... possibly ever.

Technological defeat.

I have a desktop on my bench.

It has been a bad computer, intermittent flakiness, weird networking problems, slowness and other strangeness.  I finally took it away from the suffering user, gave them a working machine and put on my bench to be tested.

I was pleasantly surprised when the first test revealed that it had a stick of memory, which not only explained all it's weird symptoms but was an easy fix.

Check to see if it is still under warranty, and it is!   But a quick call to the vendor and they want me to run their diagnostic to verify.

No problem, I reboot into windows and... I can't log in.

Keyboard and mouse not responsive in Windows.

*Fast Forward 2 hours*  Every keyboard or mouse combination I have has stopped working on this damn machine.  They work *before* Windows boots, work in the BIOS and if I boot of CD they work fine.

I don't want to have to try and reinstall the OS with bad memory... just so I can install the diagnostic to get the memory replaced.

Sorta related... no matter how you set the BIOS it is trying to boot off the network card first.. Which is starting to make me thing bad motherboard, not bad memory.

Still stuck.  *sigh*

*unrelated... When I am stopping to think about something I frequently stare out my window at the lovely little park across the street.  Sometimes I see dogs frolicking, sometimes I see people busking, occasional couples smooching and picnickers ummm picnicking?

Today there is a woman sitting in her car, obviously crying, wiping her eyes and gesticulating wildly.   Her wild arm motions are what caught my eye but what was really strange is how red she was.  I mean... cherry tomato  red.  It's a little alarming, I can only hope it is brought on by the heightened emotional and subsequent rising blood pressure and not say... some as of yet undiagnosed pigment changing plague.

Bright. Cherry.  Red.

Weird, but now she's driven off.

Sci-fi reading list post.

As seen on Bayou Renaissance Man, a list of the top 100 NPR top Sci-fi as voted by listeners.

Ones that I've read in bold. *Edit*  and light blue...  bolding is barely readable in this layout.  Though it would have been faster to mark the ones I haven't read in fuchsia or similar.

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien 
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin (
6. 1984, by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
22. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
28. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, by Stephen R. Donaldson  *First time I hated the main character in a book.
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
74. Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi
75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey    *Tried to read it...
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson   *I am usually a big fan of Neal... three attempts to read this book
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe   *Not a fan of torture-porn, gave up on the first book.
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis


Personally I would have added the Honor Harrington books to the list, if I had my druthers.

We live in the future...

I could spend some time talking about the miracle anti-viral cure they are buzzing about, instant communication that allows people to track social changes real-time, or even the fact the flying cars are very nearly here.

No, instead I will point out the fact that the definitive reference of the English language, which is normally a 20 volume set that costs $1000 is available as a $13 phone app.

Yes, you can have the OED on your phone.

That's pretty amazing.

Now if you will excuse me, I have a dictionary to install...

*Edit*  Blech.  Someone pointed out that it may be dandy app but it is not in fact the OED.  If you read the reviews below you will see although it is a big dictionary it is not the complete OED and has no link to the web back-end that house the 20 volumes online.

Link removed.

Office Summer view.

I was about to e-mail a friend a link to the view out my office and realized the only picture I had was from when I started 6 months ago when everything was still covered in snow.

So here's a snow-free version for your enjoyment.

Jobs, Architecture, and ambivelence

This blog has been quiescent for some time, mostly because I've have been focused on staying afloat financially instead of school.

The persistent problems with MSU financial aid department hit the point where it was financially impossible for me to attend school...(like having better then 1/2 of my student loans go missing for half the semester... not once but two semesters in a row!)

The resulted in me dropping to half-time and then as my student loan payments became active seeking full time work.  Which after a couple of false starts I have found.

For the last six months I have been a contractor at a terrific establishment, and on Monday I become an official employee.  It's a great job that challenges me daily, but draws on my 15+ years in the it industry.  A job where I am valued, trusted, and treated with respect.  It's also a job where I get to map out the road map for their technological future.  The bonus is that my coworkers and boss are a pleasure to work with as well.

Where does that leave Architecture school?   Good question.

In this economy it's a pretty poor time to be junior Architect with no work experience in the field.

Also, my new job offers to pay for (not reimburse... pay for) the maximum IRS amount for schooling as long as it's job related.   Which in my case means some IT type degree.  A quick google shows that the amount the offer is easily over half of what full time tuition and books cost for full time attendance.

So I can go back to school on works dime.. but only if I change my major.

Worth it? I don't know.  Frankly I'm going to have to ruminate it's implications towards my future.

Trip Day 5 - Trip complete

Miles Driven: 291
Mean Temperature: 89 f

The day started earlier then expected with a group of protesting kids loudly leaving the hotel room next to me.  Since I was already awake and had packed the night before, I hit the road 30 minutes early, headed for home, with a brief planned stop at the Billings office.

I had high hopes as I arrived nearly an hour earlier then expected, having cleverly detoured around road construction that a co-worker had forewarned me about.

With great hubris I whistled a jaunty tune and walked in the door at 10 AM; anticipating I would be in and back out on the road in thirty minutes, and be home by noonish.

Then I was handed a stack of "Urgent Call, ASAP!"  notes.  My heart sank.

I sorted and plowed through them, most of which were solved with a single phone call., but one was a doozy.  One of the nearby (relatively speaking) field offices had gone down that morning and would not come up.

Calls to Qwest determined their maintenance had broken the DSL connection, but they had repaired and it was authenticating properly so far as they could tell, yet our equipment was refusing to talk to the outside world.

*1000 words of tedious technical gobblygook redacted so you don't get bored.*

Finally, I was faced with a choice, drive to the field office knowing that the entire 50 miles there was under construction and I had already been told that it was running 1.5-2 hours each way or try and walk a technically unsophisticated end user through manually resetting the equipment.   The end user voted for option B, since if it didn't work I was going to have to drive there any way so we might as well try.

Low and behold, 45 minutes of excruciatingly precise instructions... everything came up.

So, instead of spending 30 minutes in Billings I had spent 4 hours.  The problem was I had to be back in Bozeman before 5 pm or my reimbursement check for this trip was going to have to wait until after our accounting person got back from vacation, which was going to be a week and a half away.  1000 miles of gas money, hotel expenses, and food bills that came out of my pocket.

I had 146 miles to go, and 2 hours and 15 minutes to make it.

I leapt to my car, prayed to the gods of road construction that they had knocked it off for the weekend and rocketed towards the highway.

Wind blowing in my hair, hands gripping the steering wheel I drove like a madman at 75 mph towards my destiny! *

And made with 10 minutes to spare.

Trip finished, the prize?  A well earned night in my own bed.


*I should point out that the speed limit was 75, there were lots of highway patrolmen out for the holiday weekend... and well... I don't speed.

Trip Day 4

Miles Driven: 10
Mean Temperature: 77f  (Oh thank god.)

Are you 420 friendly?  Good for you, I'm not.  Not only am I not, but I am actually allergic to members of the Hops family... which include Cannabis.

Why does this matter?  Well because the office I am working at today shares a wall with a Medical Marijuana dispensary.  It didn't start off to bad, but as the day has gone on, the bathroom smells like it escaped from the 60's and the air vent blowing cold air brings the distinct smell of misery along with it.

So I'm sitting here with a pounding headache, scratchy eyes, and throat that itches like mad.  Just trying to get through this so I can be done with this and go back to the hotel room and shower.

Fortunately, workwise things are doing fine so I am likely to get out of here early.  I typing this whilst staring at a progress bar which should be the last thing I have to do here.