| Books read in 2008 |
[Jan. 1st, 2009|10:00 am] |
Finished Reading
"The Golden Compass" Philip Pullman
"The Sparrow" Mary Doria Russell
"The House on the Embankment" Yuri Trifonov
"Someone to run with" David Grossman
"Exit Ghost" Philip Roth
"Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" Susanna Clarke
Currently Reading
"Quicksilver" Neal Stephenson
"The Chomsky-Foucault Debate: On Human Nature" Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault
"Competitive Advantage" Michael Porter |
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| New visual paradigm |
[Jun. 25th, 2008|03:29 pm] |
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Who said that links cannot be immediately visible? Check this out: http://beta.searchme.com |
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| Organization |
[Jun. 25th, 2008|08:20 am] |
I am curious how, in days of yore, people with the level of complexity that I have to deal with on a day-to-day basis, managed that complexity of tasks and schedules without an electronic organizer. Either the complexity was avoided because of the inability to manage, or people were more organized... |
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| It's a good thing! |
[Jun. 20th, 2008|08:46 am] |
It's a good thing to be yourself. Openly and blatantly. My personal inclinations would add "inoffensively," but between being offensive and confusing, I think I'd take offensive. Wen you are yourself you don't confuse other people who might expect something from you that you are not, and you will find/attract the sort of people you are actually interested in. This is, incidentally, apropos absolutely nothing in particular. |
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| That accent thing... |
[Jun. 8th, 2008|10:27 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | accent | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Living room at home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  curious | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Bublik's "Lingua Kaka" from Opus Scatologicum | ] |
In the past couple of months, the topic of my accent came up a number of times, and it wasn't in the context of "oh, it's so interesting/sexy/makes you unique, etc." I began to ponder whether, at my age, I still have the ability to modify my speech to a degree that I could pass as an American (not a normal America, that will never happen). I became intrigued with the idea of choosing the type of American accent I would want to have and going for it (the result would be arguably more eccentric than what I have right now, of course).
Any professional/informed opinions? Any recommendations of speech coaches in the area? |
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| Anyone in Indianapolis? |
[Jun. 1st, 2008|01:05 am] |
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I will be in Indianapolis Wednesday night on a business trip. Anyone local for hanging out? |
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| Have I... |
[May. 13th, 2008|02:05 pm] |
... succumbed (the word conjures up some combination of fellatio and climaxing)??? I am having this low level headache that is refusing to go away. I am curious if my body is asking for coffee (I've been drinking it on a sort of semi regular basis over the past few months). Thing is, I had strong tea this morning, so I don't think it should be caffeine per se... |
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| Strange sensations... |
[May. 13th, 2008|01:29 pm] |
It is the middle of the week, and I am in my office in Framingham rather than in some random state (or Canada). How delightfully bizarre... AND my noon call was canceled, AND I just went to shop for lunch food at Whole Foods... |
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| Ah, the bitterness! |
[Apr. 15th, 2008|11:30 am] |
In the spirit of America's litigious culture, I am pondering suing the Clinton and McCain campaigns, as well as the major media outlets for insulting my intelligence. Those "bitter" remarks by Obama that have been debated ad sputum, what were they?
"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them.And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not."
"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
H'so - the man said that some people are bitter because a confluence of circumstances, presumably out of their control (but under the control of the people Obama positions himself against), have dealt the bitter people a scurvy trick, the raw end of the stick, or whatever idiom that stands for "they got screwed." Re-reading Obama's comments, I can see someone deciding to give him grief for maybe presenting religion and guns in a negative light, but instead both Clinton and McCain are telling us that he is denigrating the American people, that salt of the earth, that moral compass that is supposed to inspire us all and that is the source of all our most cherished values (no I'm not a populist - deal).
I might be living in a bubble of my own making, but as much as I try to understand the logic of the attacks of Obama I fail - miserably at that. All it does (from my perspective), is make Clinton and McCain look ridiculous, as they insult the intelligence of the people they claim Obama has insulted.
My jury is still out, as for whom I will be voting in November, but this "bitter gate" (I swear the term as been overly abused - I only use it because The Washington Post does - I am waiting for a candidate to break wind at some televised/recorded event, to be followed by the "fart-gate" headlines) is certainly hurting both Clinton's and McCain's cause as far as I am concerned. |
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| I'm alive, really! |
[Apr. 6th, 2008|02:13 am] |
I realize that my posts in this space have been less than sporadic. There is very little mystery here - it's work and the XXX rated hours I've been working lately.
I am writing this from Germany. I will be in Munich starting Sunday night, training and working. I decided that a little bit of vacation is in order, so I flew in on Thursday, arriving Friday morning, and spent most of the time sleeping - really, I haven't slept so much in months, if not years (I am still not managing more than 7 hours at a stretch, but I ended up pulling a few sets of 7s and 5s that had me averaging 10 hours a day).
Good GODS I feel something like approaching normal - that sense of being fully awake realizing I was not aware as to how sleepy I was. In the unlikely event that anyone I know happens to be in Munich and is interested in hanging out some evening or other, do let me know. Otherwise, I will be back on the 16th, will be in NYC the weekend of the 19th, and in Bethesda, MD, most of the week of the 21st. After spending, oh, a week at home, I will most probably be in Vancouver most of the week of May 5th. Anyone for hangoutage, do let me know.
The funny thing is, with all this travel madness (and the work madness into which I won't go in right now), I have this strange feeling that things are settling a bit in a good way. I see both the establishment of good routines (and recognize the ones that are still lacking, e.g., gym time), as well as emergence of friendships and romantic relationships.
Well, I need to forage for some food now. Looking forward to seeing many of you when I am back States side. |
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| Week breakdown guides |
[Feb. 26th, 2008|01:43 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | My desk at work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  anxious | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Bublik's "worker's complaint" | ] |
Oh ye corporate rats out there, I have a question. Is anyone aware of any studies/publications/guidelines regarding how much "unstructured" time a corporate worker should have in his/her week. I would like to come up withe a fast and hard rule of "No more than X hours of meetings a week," or some such thing. |
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| California, here I come! |
[Feb. 22nd, 2008|10:12 pm] |
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I will in Sacramento in a week - flying in on March 2nd Sunday night, and leaving at some point on Wednesday. Prime nights for hangoutage are Sunday and Tuesday nights. Oh ye locals, let me know if you'd like to get together. |
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| Relaxing |
[Feb. 16th, 2008|07:26 pm] |
This has been a good day so far - taking my time and not rushing anywhere, while actually getting some work done. Ran errands, looked at a potential car to get, and am about to go to a party where I will see many people I like a great deal.
Tomorrow I'm off to Las Vegas to man my company's booth at a trade show. If there is anyone I should see in Vegas, let me know. Otherwise, I will be back on Thursday. |
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| Solara |
[Feb. 16th, 2008|10:11 am] |
Does any one have experience/opinions/thoughts on the Toyota Solara (1999 model, to be specific)? |
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| Who wants to participate in a usability study? |
[Feb. 16th, 2008|09:49 am] |
I am involved in an effort of revamping my company's software's user interface. As part of the redesign effort, I will be looking to conduct short usability studies - determining whether the new design ideas make sense, are user friendly and make life easy for users.
I will be looking for people with experience using service desk software. So if you are/have done/have been in any way of fashion involved in IT support (taking calls, providing phone or field support, supervision of such groups, experience with ITIL/ITSM) I would like your help.
The initial study will take place in the course of the next, and there will be others over the course of the next few months (and probably beyond). The study itself will probably take place in the evening, or more likely, on a weekend afternoon in our universal headquarters in sunny Framingham. Pizza and potables will be provided.
Let me know if you have any interest in hanging out with cool people, playing with software mockups/actual software and telling people how they should re-design their product. |
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| Recent observations |
[Feb. 15th, 2008|06:18 am] |
2. The one good thing about 18 hour work days is that there is no traffic getting in and out of work.
3. Make sure to turn ALL IM software OFFFFFF before giving important presentations... |
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| Dinner anyone? |
[Feb. 13th, 2008|06:54 pm] |
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So here is the scoop - it's 6:54 PM. I am in the office in Framingham. I will be still for many more hours (downloading a huge image from Germany, among other things). I am hungry. Anyone in this area would like to grab dinner (I am right across from Shopper's World, off of exit 13 on the Pike)? Let me know soon! |
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| Scary... |
[Feb. 11th, 2008|09:23 am] |
Reading this I get this really funny sense that the war effort, as well as the country as a whole, is run with PR being the major consideration in decision making... |
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| Questions Meme |
[Feb. 6th, 2008|07:23 pm] |
YOU'RE READING MY JOURNAL, I want to know 36 things about you. I don't care if we never talk, or if we already know everything about each other. Short and sweet is fine ... You're here, so I want to know you better!
BE HONEST! COPY FROM HERE THEN SEND DIRECTLY TO ME IN A COMMENT THEN, REPOST THE EMPTY QUESTIONS.
1) Are you currently in a serious relationship?
A.
2) What was your dream growing up?
A.
3) What talent do you wish you had?
A.
4) If I bought you a drink what would it be?
A.
5) Favorite vegetable?
A.
6) What was the last book you read?
A.
7) What zodiac sign are you?
A.
8) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where.
A.
9) Worst Habit?
A.
10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride?
A.
11) What is your favorite sport?
A.
12) Do you have a Negative or Optimistic attitude?
A.
13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
A.
14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?
A.
15) Tell me one weird fact about you.
A.
16) Do you have any pets?
A.
17) What if i showed up at your house unexpectedly?
A.
18) What was your first impression of me? (hmmm...careful!)
A.
19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
A.
20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
A.
21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
A.
22) What color eyes do you have?
A.
23) Ever been arrested?
A.
24) Bottle or can soda?
A.
25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?
A.
27) What's your favorite place to hang at?
A.
28) Do you believe in ghosts?
A.
29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
A.
30) Do you swear a lot?
A.
31) Biggest pet peeve?
A.
32) In one word, how would you describe yourself?
A.
33) Do you believe/appreciate romance?
A.
35) Do you believe in God?
A.
36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?
A. |
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imlad's journal
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