 |
Foster Bass's journal | |||
Friday Five (random)
1. Under what conditions are you most likely to cause injury to yourself?
Probably either on my bicycle (broke my arm once, but am generally careful) or while hiking/geocaching in the winter.
2. What named mountain is nearest where you are right now?
Not sure what qualifies as a named mountain. I'm about a mile from Hook Mountain but that could be just a local name.
3. When did you last eat something with coconut in it?
I had a mini Almond Joy on Thursday when I had to stop by the Customer Service department at work. They usually have good candy there.
4. Who's getting on your nerves?
Anyone who knows me at all or reads this journal already knows that my wife and I are having a lot of problems. I've been asked not to detail them here. I haven't decided for sure that I'm willing to agree to that because I depend on my friends here and their advice, but in answering this particular question, I'd have to say it's her.
5. Somewhere, somebody is asking him- or herself whatever happened to you. Who is it?
I am fairly certain that nobody, nowhere, is asking whatever happened to me. The reason is that I have a fairly unique name and am signed up on every website I find with any kind of social networking features, using my real name as my username. I live in the town I grew up in so googling my name and home town makes it very easy to find me.
Answering this last question kind of made me sad, because I hardly ever hear from people that I've lost touch with. I'm usually the one who seeks them out. Since I'm so easy to find, this means that nobody's looking.
Read 3 Comments - Comment on this
30th September, 2008. 8:39 pm.
Hiring the right guy for the wrong job
In March I wrote about an interview I conducted where I really liked the guy but he didn't have all the skills we were looking for. Most of my friends commented that I should hire him anyway. We shifted a few things around and found a consulting position for him and it worked out well. This week we made him an offer and he accepted it.
The next month will be the true test. We have a major redesign of one of our websites to get done and we just parted ways with the Harvard grad who was supposed to architect it. Since my new guy saw the writing on the wall, he started preparing his own (slightly less ambitious) version of the architecture and now he has three weeks to pull it together and get the site delivered. I'm confident he'll pull it off (with Sam and I doing some of the heavy lifting).
We do need to find a photoshop guy to do some boring, repetitive production work. Maybe some Flash work too. Full-time for a month or two. Probably pays $25 an hour or so.
Read 1 Comment - Comment on this
20th September, 2008. 1:09 pm.
Reunion, Part 1
Last night was the kickoff for my 20-year high school reunion weekend. We started the party at a Nyack High School football game (where they won 45-0). It was really funny as the crowd started gathering and strangers were all staring at each other to try to figure out if we were there for the same reason. Reminder for next time when planning a large meeting event for people who haven't seen each other in 20 years: have a specific pre-determined meeting place.
At the game, a girl named Laurie noted that if people were all this friendly to each other in high school, it would have made life so much better. How true. Now, twenty years later I am hanging out with, drinking with, flirting with people I didn't dare speak to in high school.
After the game I dropped Teddy off at his grandparents house, then walked in to town to start drinking. We ended up at Black Bear (a new, trendy bar) because it was big enough for the 30 or so of us who showed up. It was really great to see people and catch up after so long. I didn't drink much because the real party (with an open bar) is tonight. Over 80 people are expected.
Read 3 Comments - Comment on this
13th September, 2008. 10:10 pm.
Rejected on Facebook
There's a girl I kind of knew in high school. She was a few years younger than me, but she was in the band, so I knew her. Plus, she was beautiful, so I spent a lot of time looking at her. I developed a bit of a crush on her but I was very shy, plus the age difference seemed significant in high school. The first person I admitted the crush to was actually her mom. That was odd, but our Jazz Band was invited to Russia this girl's dad came as the photographer and brought her mom too as another chaperone. I was feeling down one day and her mom showed me some photos of her daughter and it she was so smiley and happy that it really brightened my mood.
Anyway, I noticed recently that she had become friends with a few of my friends on facebook so I sent her a friend request. She rejected it and replied with the following in a private message:
Hi Foster,
I have chosen to just have people I know well or grew up with or work networking as friends. Just want to have a little more control over my facebook page.
Hope you're well.
That hurt a little bit, but then when I noticed she has 222 Facebook friends, it really made me sad. It shouldn't, I know. I have a great list of friends here, there, and everywhere. But it still left me feeling really hurt and rejected. Kind of like Jennifer not returning my phone calls. That's probably a topic for a different entry.
Read 11 Comments - Comment on this
21st August, 2008. 10:35 pm.
Howe Caverns and The Dutchess County Fair
I took two days off this week for vacation. A real vacation would be nice, but since I am broke and also buried in projects at work, two days is all I could manage.
The first day was a trip up north to visit Howe Caverns. Chrissy went there when she was little and she has told me about it several times. It was even cooler than how she described it. The regular tour takes about 80 minutes, starting with an elevator ride down 150 feet into the cave. In the evening, Teddy and I went to play mini golf because our hotel package included free passes. Chrissy didn't come.
Day two was spent at the Dutchess County Fair. Wow. They take their agriculture very seriously in Dutchess County.
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
atroposnomore invited us to go and got us cheap tickets too. She was one of my first friends on LiveJournal and she lives about 90 minutes away but this was the first time we got to meet in real life. It was very exciting. The fair was a little overwhelming, so we didn't actually get to spend the day together, but we agreed to try again in a calmer setting. There were so many beautiful cows and other animals on display. I really enjoyed looking at all the prize-winning crafts and produce. Teddy and I spent some time in the birthing barn watching a new mom care for her day-old calf. There were five other cows expected to give birth at the fair too. We also went to the milking barn and watched three cows getting milked (by machines) at the same time. After seeing my wife attached to a similar contraption years ago, I was very surprised by the amount of milk flowing into the tanks. Chrissy spent the day shopping around the fair for things to make jewelry out of. I mostly spent the day watching Teddy enjoy all the rides.( more on vacations )
Read 1 Comment - Comment on this
18th July, 2008. 6:28 pm.
Must be the Alternator
I was supposed to pick up my mother-in-law at the airport tonight but she ended up getting an earlier flight, due to arrive before I got out of work so I sent Chrissy to pick her up instead.
I, instead, went to pick Teddy up at camp. On the way there, I noticed my air conditioner was not blowing cold air. Good thing it was only 95 degrees out. Got to camp, picked up Teddy, and got back on the road to head home. Then I noticed the air bag light was on. Hmm. The heat must be messing with the system. It was, after all, 95 degrees out. Then the car slowed down to about forty miles per hour. On the NY Thruway.
Afraid that I wouldn't make it all the way to Nyack, I opted to take the Palisades Mall exit. While at the red light on the exit ramp, the car died. Lucky, a guy named James in the car next to me offered to help me push it up the rest of the ramp and into the parking lot. Once there, he told me he works part time as a mechanic and offered to take a look. Based on the symptoms and the condition, he diagnosed it as the alternator. He called his boss at the movie theatre to say he'd be a little late for work, then made a few calls and found that the AutoZone in Spring Valley had the part in stock for $200. He offered to drive Teddy and I there to pick it up, first stopping at a friend's house to pick up tools.
When we got back to the mall, he suggested that Teddy and I go into the mall and get comfortable for a half hour. We did, then returned to a shiny new alternator and a running car. I gave him $200 for his time and labor.
Today's Higglytown Hero: James Magliore from Spring Valley.
Read 12 Comments - Comment on this
2nd July, 2008. 11:19 pm.
Please help with some important research.
This is important. Please take it seriously. You are helping me and Chrissy.
Poll #1216879 Like-minded people
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All
Do you know my wife Chrissy?
View Answers
Yes I know her well, in person.
7 (28.0%)
I have met her or know her online. 8 (32.0%)
I do not know her. 10 (40.0%)
In what range does your age fall?
What is your sex?
Do you remember when Regan fired the Air Traffic Controllers and what were/are your thoughts?
What were/are your opinions on "Meat-head" on All In The Family?
What were/are your opnions on "Hawkeye" on M*A*S*H?
How did you feel when Disco and/or Rollerskating went out of style?
Does it surprise you that clothing costs less today than it did when you were a kid, whether you adjust for inflation or not? What are your thoughts on the subject?
If you live in, or are familiar with Nyack, do you wish there was still a bowling alley in Nyack?
Read 2 Comments - Comment on this
25th June, 2008. 9:24 pm.
I removed most of my LJ friends from my friends list today. I just don't have the emotional energy to keep with with people anymore. Like last time, I kept people I know or plan to know some day. I will probably still check up on other people when I have the time. Because of trouble at home, I need to reduce the time I spend on things like LiveJournal.
Read 5 Comments - Comment on this
18th June, 2008. 9:29 pm.
40,008,964
40,008,964. That is how many times I've told my son Teddy that I love him. Apparently, he's been keeping count since birth. That works out to about 12 times a minute (assuming I say it in my sleep too). I think it's probably a fair estimate. He's a really great kid.
I took the day off from work so I met Teddy at the bus stop after school and took him out for some shopping and dinner. We bought some Webkinz and a Wolf Cub Scout Handbook. Then we went to the Nanuet Restaurant for pizza. When we got there we bought $10 worth of QuickDraw tickets with our last $10 in cash.
While there I referred to the guy on TV as "The Weatherman" and Teddy corrected me telling me that he is a Meteorologist. Then he giggled as if to say either "how could my father not know that" or perhaps "I bet my father is impressed that I know what a Meteorologist is."
We ate our dinner and won $59. Good thing too because when it was time to pay we learned that they don't take checks or credit cards. That would have sucked not having any way to pay for dinner.
Read 5 Comments - Comment on this
12th May, 2008. 9:19 pm.
Ear pain (the bad kind) and leg pain (the good kind).
Today started out really badly. I got to work an hour early to get a jump on what is usually the worst day of the week. On my way in, someone yelled to me that he needed some help getting a report together for the boss. While extracting and formatting the data, I realized we had screwed up last week and lost out on probably $3,000 in revenue. Small change to a billion-dollar company, but with the economy being what it is, every penny is counted.
Around 11:00, Teddy's school nurse called and asked me to come pick him up because he had an earache (an affliction I am all too familiar with). I called the doctor from the car to make an appointment. When I picked Teddy up, we had about over two hours to kill before the appointment so we stopped at Hook Mountain to find the geocache we couldn't find Sunday. With the updated coordinates, it took under 30 seconds. As soon as we got to the spot (which was about 200 feet from where we parked, on a paved driveway), I spotted a good hiding place, and uncovered the cache. Then we went to lunch and still had time to stop and buy him socks on the way to the doctor.
The doctor said he has an ear infection and a perforated eardrum. He gave us some medication and a referral to a specialist. He also said that Teddy's tonsils are so swollen that they are touching each other.
When we got back,
chrissyg was home so I went over to Rockland Lake for a short bike ride with the club. It was chilly and damp, so the path was nearly empty. On the last lap I noticed how early it was and that if I raced back to the car I could make it home for a quick shower and go to Kung Fu. I had never gone to Kung Fu after a bike ride before. It's a good thing it was beginner bike ride and a beginner Kung Fu workout because my legs hurt.
Read 2 Comments - Comment on this
10th May, 2008. 3:15 pm.
Failed attempt at geocaching
A new geocache popped up about two miles from my house this morning so I hopped in the the car, called
matthewciuccio & Suncandle, and headed to Hook Mountain. Walkin' Ed was at the site when we arrived, but left a short while later. We looked for almost two hours and could not find the cache. I am guessing either the coordinates were wrong (which is excusable but annoying), or the hider didn't actually place the cache yet (which is inexcusable and will be punished). I would have been open to the possibility that I just missed it, but Walkin' Ed has found 2,600 geocaches. He knows what he's doing and couldn't find it either.
Read 12 Comments - Comment on this
5th May, 2008. 10:15 pm.
Dr. David Brian Swedlow (1946-2008)
Dr. David Brian Swedlow (1946-2008)
Originally uploaded by fosterbass.
David was a kindergarten friend of my mom. Then, fifty years later, her husband. His mom and my grandma were best friends, so we were like family. We were also related though a strange series of marriages. He lived in Ohio while I was growing up so we didn't see him often, but his visits were always fun. He lived his life like a constant adventure. There was always time for one more stop. One more tourist attraction. One more smile.
David could listen to someone boast or complain for hours. It seemed no matter what the situation was, he had lived though some form of it and could share a valuable lesson. If you didn't want to talk, he would happily do the talking and still end up understanding the situation.
My mother married David in September 2000 but unfortunately, they separated a few years later. He and Chrissy remained close, chatting online frequently. In some ways David was her closest friend.
David passed away on Sunday afternoon after suffering a heart attack at a baseball game. He was 61 years old.
Current mood:
sad.
Read 4 Comments - Comment on this
26th April, 2008. 2:10 pm.
Hudson River Greenway
I rode with the Rockland Bicycling Club today. We started in Englewood, NJ and rode across the George Washington Bridge into New York City (my first time riding on that bridge). Then we rode down the Hudson River Greenway all the way to Battery Park. The line for the Ferry to Ellis Island and Liberty Island was 90 minutes long, and all tickets for entry to the Statue of Liberty had already been given out. That must be very disappointing to tourists. There were seven of us on the ride, plus a few hundred more that we passed along the path. The joggers, strollers, and stop signs slowed us down to a moving average of about 11mph, but it such a nice ride that it didn't seem crowded. Despite the lingering pain in my shoulder, I am really enjoying cycling again.
Read 2 Comments - Comment on this
26th April, 2008. 2:09 pm.
Going in Circles
DSC_5389.JPG
Originally uploaded by fosterbass.
Teddy is on Spring Break this week so I took Friday off and we went on the Circle Line. It is a 3-hour boat tour around the island of Manhattan, with a tour guide who points out interesting buildings and places on both sides of the boat. I hadn't gone on that tour in a really long time, but it remains my favorite NYC tourist attraction. The cost is $31 per adult and $18 per child, but the Entertainment coupon book has a BOGO coupon, so one adult ticket was free.
The boat was only 25% full, so we were able to move around to different seats and change our view a few time. Teddy and I spent about half the trip standing outside on the bow enjoying the wind and the amazing sights.
I still have a long list of touristy NYC things to do with Teddy, but this was high the my list because I love it so much. Next will either be the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty. These types of of things can easily get neglected when you live a half hour away. It has always struck me as odd that people fly around the world to visit the attractions of NYC, yet people who live here just don't seem to care about all the cool things to do.
Read 6 Comments - Comment on this
10th April, 2008. 6:11 pm.
Watching Little Things Grow, Part VII
Teddy continues to get smarter every day. He doesn’t like to take chances, so he won’t challenge himself, but with a little encouragement he can read almost anything. His math skills are also improving quickly. He is starting to estimate and is starting to understand higher concepts.
His temper has become a little bit of an issue. He can’t stand losing games and since the person he plays with most is a terrible winner, it makes for a volatile combination. Teddy actually became violent last Sunday and had to go home (where he retreated to his bedroom and cried for an hour). The next day he went to the doctor and was diagnosed with Strep Throat, so I guess he wasn’t feeling well on Sunday, which may have contributed to his outburst.
The one area where I worry about him is that he hasn’t made any friends. I know it isn’t critical at this age because I only had one friend before age seven who remained my friend. The rest I met later. But, I still wish he had someone to play with. When people ask him who his best friend is, he says Alyssa, but he’s not in her class this year and only gets to see her on the bus ride home a few days a week. I wish they could play together more, but she’s very busy. He doesn’t like the kids in his class so we joined cub scouts so he could get to know some more kids his age. I guess it’s sort of working, but he hasn’t really clicked with any of them either. The kids at kung-fu are older than him. He gets along with them, but most of them don’t live in Nyack. I think this month will be the end of kung-fu for financial reasons, so it’s probably best that he hasn’t made friends there anyway.
Read 2 Comments - Comment on this
10th April, 2008. 6:05 pm.
Happy Birthday Teddy!
Today is Teddy’s birthday. Seven years old. I got him a few little things that he wanted, but he has to wait another 17 days for the present he really wants (Mario Kart for Wii) because it isn’t available yet.
Today he got a metal Darkrai box with pokemon cards in it and the Pancake Puffs Pan (as seen on TV) that he REALLY wanted. Chrissy also got him a shirt with the Chinese character for “dragon” on the front and his initials on the back. He isn’t too excited about his birthday this year -- probably because we are having a hard time scheduling his party, but that’s a topic for a different entry.
Read 9 Comments - Comment on this
25th March, 2008. 2:21 pm.
I Got The Guy
Follow-up on the last entry... We managed to shuffle some things around so we could hire the guy I interviewed last week. He will work mostly for the Marketing department at first, as a consultant. If I am right about his ability to learn quickly, we will be able to convert him to a full-time employee in six months. At that time he will work for the IT department.
I am really glad my boss and my colleagues here agreed with me on giving this guy a job, even though it isn't exactly the job we interviewed him for. I will have to keep doing some of the work I was trying to get rid of, but in the long run it should be worth it.
That is if I don't quit first.
Read 1 Comment - Comment on this
20th March, 2008. 9:32 pm.
The right guy, but the wrong job
I have been interviewing candidates for a Java/J2EE job for the past week. Most of them are qualified, but not perfect. The candidates so far have all been pre-screened by an agency, so we are getting good candidate, but my colleague Sam and I are being very picky because we have to be able to depend on the person we hire to really get the job done.
I have interviewed a lot of people in my career. I have also read several books on interviewing programmers. I know what kind of person we need for this position and have been comfortable in my ability to choose the right candidate.
Then I got thrown a curveball.
( Read more... )
Current mood:
aggravated.
Read 5 Comments - Comment on this
29th February, 2008. 6:10 pm.
$729 at the Apple Store? No, thank you.
My mom's Powerbook has been acting up. The trackpad seems to be taking orders from an unseen force instead of from actual user input. I reset it per Apple's instructions, but the problem keeps returning so I told my mom to bring it to the Genius Bar to have them assess it. The AppleCare contract has expired, but they are usually reasonable with obvious hardware issues.
They told my mom that because of the age of the laptop, she needs a new battery for $129 even if it seems fine. That is ridiculous. The batteries on that laptop were recalled, so I mailed in her battery and got a brand new one about five months ago. She uses the laptop about an hour a week, so the battery is practically new.
Next they told her that her only choice was to replace the trackpad at a cost of $300. That's the only choice? Really? How about using a $20 USB mouse instead?
Finally, before doing any repair, they told her she needed a $300 Firewire backup drive to backup her 1gb of photos and documents. A backup drive? Really? How about a 49-cent blank DVD?
I told her to cancel the repair request and demand the money back for the firewire drive and the battery.
This kind of thing makes me want to beat the shit out of somebody.
Current mood:
angry.
Read 6 Comments - Comment on this
28th February, 2008. 8:42 pm.
Everybody was Kung Fu Teaching
This is "buddy week" at our kung fu school so Teddy went to the beginner class and brought one of his friends from Cub Scouts. I went right after work -- as I always do -- to watch the class.
About halfway though, the instructor needed to talk to a parent about something, so she looked towards the parent seating area and said "Mr. Bass, please take over."
Huh? Me? Teach? In my work clothes? I don't know how to teach! I despise being the center of attention. I tried to get over this fear in high school by offering to do the pre-show announcements for the drama club. My brother and friends still make fun of me for how badly I did it. But now I was being called on to lead a class of nine kids aged 5-11, with their parents watching. Yikes.
The kids beginner class is basically the same as the adult beginner class, so I was familiar with the material, but doing it and teaching it are VERY different. A voice from inside kept saying to me: "When put in a leadership position, take charge!" But another voice from inside kept telling me: "You really suck at this and everyone in the room is watching you screw up!"
The instructor returned after about four hours (or four minutes, it's hard to be sure when under that much stress) and I was free to return to my seat. I was shaking and sweating for the next 20 minutes or so.
Read 1 Comment - Comment on this