Job hunting and Cincinnatti

yeah, well, i guess i can now share this with all of you. Two weeks ago, a bank flew me out to Cincinnati for a day long job interview (five interviews with five people). Just got the rejection letter after getting home from my U/Saint Thomas errand. It was the same type of software development I did while at USPS and at my final position at Unisys. They chose the other candidate. It would have … [Read more...]

Reading Stephen King’s “11/22/1963”

As most (if not all) of you know, I'm a huge book reader, have been since at least sixth grade. In high school, I started reading Stephen King and really enjoyed his stuff, and read several of his thousand page novels during that time. Eventually my tastes changed (having stopped reading Mr. King), and started reading mysteries, and other stuff, but also started reading Tom Clancy's 1,000 page … [Read more...]

Memory about the Avalanche “accident”

t's been a year since my (parked) truck was plowed in by that young girl... Never took the (positive) action I was thinking about taking with regard to the girl that hit the truck. Sincerely hope her life is going better for her than it was a year ago. I've re-read all the comments this post (from a year ago) generated. A lot of you gave me such great feedback, with much to think about. I'm … [Read more...]

Listening to music

For the most part, I don't listen (much) to Piano music. Sometimes, it's a bit "too slow" for me. However, today, we're listening to music from a disk called "100 Best Film Classics" - this is disc four of a six CD set I received last year via a donation to MPR (MN Public Radio). After listening to this CD, it seems to be mostly piano music - some piano solo's and some with orchestra … [Read more...]

Recruiters and their emails…

Last week, I received THE shortest job recruiting email I've ever received in my recent experience: "Is this you? • Unisys Clearpath MCP • Database Programming experience • WFL experience • Algol programming experience" ...ending with his name, his title: "IT Recruiter, Division Director, AVP Permanent Placement Services", his recruiting company name ("Robert Half Technology"), and his … [Read more...]

Chocolate…

Really productive morning/afternoon, but really need some CHOCOLATE now! Don't have any in the house. Must. Go. Out. And. Get. Some. … [Read more...]

Star Trek, Red Shirts, and Lailah

Almost every episode, a Federation "red shirt" from the Enterprise would somehow be killed, and Bones (Dr. McCoy) would be kneeling by the guy, checking his pulse, then while looking up at Kirk, say the words: "He's dead, Jim". (It really was like clock work) [I taught this phrase to Lailah more than a year ago, and she still says it to me, knowing i will laugh and laugh when she says it.] … [Read more...]

Snow…

I really, really don't pay much attention to the weather. But, yesterday, I'm told the Twin Cities hit an all time record "high" for the day at being 56 degrees, which is a bit amazing since it's usually in the twenties/thirties. So, I woke up to 99% no snow on the ground, with only a couple of mounds near the street sidewalk. I look outside a few hours later (it sounded like it had been … [Read more...]

IBM Robots, Carrie Fisher, and Watson

This, made my day (ok, not really, but it's pretty funny!) … [Read more...]

Academy Awards: Joe Biden, and his Special Announcement.

"Take the pledge and make a personal commitment to help keep women and men safe from sexual assault." THE PLEDGE This pledge is a personal commitment to help keep women and men safe from sexual assault. It is a promise not to be a bystander to the problem, but to be a part of the solution. I PLEDGE To recognize that non-consensual sex is sexual assault. To identify situations in … [Read more...]