Wednesday, December 20, 2000 Well, here I am at day three on the new job. New jobs kind of suck. I'm used to being very fast and effective, because I knew how everything worked, and how to get in touch with people that could help me get stuff done. Now, I've got a deadline to get a build of the software done today (somehow I got stuck with configuration management), but I'm dependent upon people I don't know (and some that I haven't even seen) to help with a process that's brand new to them. Add to that the fact that they've not been cooperating with each other beforehand, and you have me in the middle, unable to do much. I finally got a laptop from my client (a consulting firm), which I'm to use on this engagement. As luck would have it (I guess I shouldn't be surprised), it's a low-powered, older machine. What's more, I'd left the office a little early to pick it up, figuring I'd configure it at home. When I got it home, the login/password that the tech gave me didn't work. I mailed him from my RIM and asked him to help me by mail or phone. No response. So, I couldn't really bill for the whole day. That's a real waste. Then, I come in early this morning in order to do the build (we're using Ant, rather than make scripts to do this), but the build.xml file hasn't been added source control, and the build machine doesn't have a copy of it. Therefore, I can't (easily) run the build. Sigh. Yesterday evening, I had a "fitness assessment" done at my recreation center. It was pretty interesting, though I'm not sure it was worth the $60 I paid to get it. More on the results of the assessment later. muttered around 10:08 PM

Saturday, December 16, 2000 I received my RIM 850 yesterday. While it is cool, it's just not as cool as I expected (I'm a tough customer, I guess). The following isn't exactly a review -- it's a copy of a message I wrote to Yahoo's support folks letting them know how disappointed I am that they missed the boat on this deal. Well, I just got my RIM 850 "fortified" with Yahoo!", but I'm not sure the "fortification" is complete. I'm very glad you guys have offered a 30-day trial, because, while I love the Instant Messenger functionality (good job, guys), I'm not sure I'll be able to justify the cost of the Yahoo/RIM/Motient solution given its deficiencies. I think you guys (or your partners) are missing a *huge* opportunity to do the "Right Thing". By not providing true wireless synchronization between the local features of the RIM and my centralized Yahoo stuff, you've failed to make a truly revolutionary offering. For example, what good is it to me to be able to look at my Yahoo Address book if I can't send a mail directly from it, or if it isn't synchronized to my local, RIM 850, address book? What good is accessing my Yahoo Calendar if it doesn't synch to my local, RIM 850 calendar for those times when I'm not connected? Why would I ever enter a calendar entry locally, knowing that I'd just have to duplicate it later into Yahoo Calendar? Why would I want to wait forever to view a wireless Web page (calendar, addresses), when I could see them locally in an instant? Yes, I know that I can install the "synch" software on my PC (which one, though? I have many!), synch that to Yahoo! and then synch the RIM to the PC. But geez, doesn't that seem like a lot of trouble? How about some disintermediation? I had promised myself I'd stop using local PC-based PIM software since Yahoo is doing such a good job of replacing it. Now it looks as though I can't. Bummer. Isn't the future here yet? One more complaint - you guys should have a *lot* more content out there to support this device. There's very little interesting stuff I can do from the RIM (at least that I've discovered yet) at the Yahoo wireless site. I figured all your major services would have a WAP interface by now. For example, I love your movie site for getting movie times. Seems like I should be able to get the same movie times from my RIM. I mean, one simple form: enter ZIP code. Then a list of theatres from which I'd choose. Then the list of movies. Man, would that be a killer app! In an effort to find more interesting wireless content, I visited your wireless bookmarks site. But when I tried to use the "Bookmark this site" feature to add a bookmark, it took me to a form where I had to enter the URL by hand, which seemed weird. Another time I tried to bookmark a site, it just routed me back to the main page (I think it was Sony Pictures). One more thing that's missing - numeric paging. Seems as though the service would be much more attractive if it didn't require someone who wanted to reach me to be at a PC (or another wireless device). Someone should be able to call a number and enter a phone #, which would be converted into an email that's sent to my RIM. Will this be coming? Anyway, to sum up, I was all ready to be blown away by this offering, and am still ready to be. I think Yahoo has done a great job of providing killer functionality and content on the Web, but has really missed the boat on this wireless offering. There was so much you could have done that really would have set a new standard. I need to know whether and how this service will be improving, because, as I said, I'm not sure I can justify $35 a month given the current limitations. Thanks for listening, and keep up the great work! Note: just as I had to in previous posts, I had to post this entry to my blog by mailing it to myself from my SPARC/Solaris box and retrieving the mail from a Windows box and then posting to blogger using IE 5.0. Netscape Navigator 4.75 on SPARC really sucks! muttered around 4:46 PM

Friday, December 15, 2000 Beautiful. muttered around 8:08 AM

Bummer. I'm up to 236.8 lbs today, up 6.8 lbs from my summer average of 230. I know I've been drinking too much Coke and eating too much rich food over the last week or so. I'll have to crank back on the Coke, and eat less sweets. I do think that some of the gain is muscle weight, given that I've been back to weight training for a couple of months. However, I know that I haven't gained 6.8 lbs of muscle! The bummer is that the holiday season is upon us, and schedule disruptions will be a problem. MB and I have vacation planned in San Diego and I'm hoping the hotel has a great fitness center, because I intend to hit it hard if they do. On the upside, now that I'm changing jobs and will be closer to home, I'll be able to make an additional spinning class every week, making a total of three. Once I'm settled in at the new gig, and the weather gets reasonable again (we've had a tremendous cold snap - temps in the teens), I'll also start bike commuting (both ways) a few times a week. I'm also considering going back to the Atkins diet for a month or two, say mid-January to mid-March. That will allow me do drop some weight while my outdoor riding is limited by weather (it's very hard to train long distance when you're running on no carbs!). We'll see about that. muttered around 7:35 AM

Wednesday, December 13, 2000 I'm spending the morning and early afternoon at home today, since I have to go in to work tonight to deploy new code into production. I did a great spinning class this morning, came home and showered, and then pigged out at Subway. At Subway I got to observe some interesting teen culture/fashion. I know that high school is all about conformity, but this takes the cake. Really. I felt like I was sitting in an Abercrombie & Fitch ad. Every boy had on work boots. Not just a large percentage, but every one of them. Every boy was wearing carpenter/cargo pants, 90% denim, and 10% khaki. 90% of these pants had slits cut at the seam of the hemline. 50% were wearing a baseball cap, tight to the skull, and with the bill bent in a semicircular arc. If I had to bet, I'd say 80% were wearing A&F tops. All were carrying backpacks, and all were wearing very expensive fleece jackets (North Face, etc.). I've never seen anything more like a uniform than this. Of course things were much different when I was a kid -- not! Regrettably, I think my generation was the first one to become really brand conscious. My peers and I wore "preppy" clothes for a lot of high school and college. I can remember when Izod Lacoste was what you had to wear, if you had any "taste" at all. So, I did it. There was definitely a uniform: Izod, button-downs, madras, Sperry Top-siders, sweaters, pastel colors, etc. Seems like there was more variance elsewhere, though, like in jeans, shoes, jackets, etc. OK, maybe there wasn't, in the end. Even before the Izod thing, though, was the movement toward high-end leather athletic shoes around 1976, when I was in junior high. "Everyone who was anyone" started wearing the roughly $27 Adidas track shoes about then. Before that, it was Converse All-stars on the high end, and Keds or no-names on the low end. Once Adidas became entrenched, an interesting thing happened. It wasn't enough to just have Adidas, there were actually right and wrong Adidas to have. The red-striped ones ("Rom", I think) were the least acceptable, and the green ("Cross-country") the highest, with the blue representing the middle of the pack (it's sad that I even remember the names of the models). This, in my experience, was the real beginning of brand-consciousness for my generation, in my part of the country. On an altogether different topic, there was no way I could submit this log entry on my SPARC box running Netscape. It just wouldn't post. So, i sent it to my Yahoo mail, accessed it on a PC and pasted into blogger from there. Sigh. muttered around 4:35 PM

Tuesday, December 12, 2000 Hmmm, quite some time since the last update. Here are a few things worth noting: I'm Leaving Qwest I've started a new independent consulting gig under my company, Digital Answers LLC (no link - the web site is no more). I'll be "subbing" to a consulting company that's working for a major mutual funds management company. I'll be doing more WebLogic/J2EE work, and am darn excited about it. Workout News I haven't ridden since my last update on 12/05. I have, however, been keeping up with the spinning classes and weight training. I've finally figured out how to pace myself in spinning. My first few workouts, I was always off the heart-rate chart (well over 85% max). I'm now controlling that better. Of course, I'd be better off getting a fitness appraisal and using a heart monitor, which I intend to do any day now. New Toy I just purchased, online, a RIM 850 wireless device "fortified with Yahoo!" integration. I can't wait to get it. I'll post a full review here when I do. You can read all about the device and services there. I have a plan to make it even cooler though. While the device has web browsing features, I'm sure it isn't capable of accessing blogger because of the advanced nature of blogger's interface. What I plan to do ("plan" being perhaps described as a pipe dream) is to develop a servlet that allows me to update my blog from the device. This will require that my other plan (still awaiting execution) to move this site to a servlet/JSP hosting ASP. Perhaps this will give me the incentive to finally go for it. muttered around 9:35 AM

Tuesday, December 05, 2000 Went for a very nice ride on Sunday. It was beautiful weather for a ride. The temperature was around 55 degrees when I started, but was probably down to 45 at the end. I did the normal C470-Platte loop that I do on week-ends. I averaged 17.9 mph to the Prince Street turnoff, and then took it easy all the way home for an overall 16.4 mph. Not bad, not good. The ride was tainted somewhat by another of those weird "kid" experiences. At one point I rode close by some kids (probably around 10 years old) as I was turning through an intersection. One of them, a punky looking little guy, looked me right in the eye and said "bikers aren't cool!". A number of responses went through my head (and anyone who religiously reads this log knows what choice responses they were), but in the end I really didn't know what to say so I said nothing. I assume that my face took on a puzzled look as I rode by considering his comment. I guess I was a little taken aback. It's not that I care whether a 10 year old kid thinks cycling is cool, but more that I wonder why in the world he felt the need to tell me that right to my face. Oh well, "kids these days..." muttered around 7:42 AM