Yeah I was thinking that as I posted it. I think it's because forums are directional communication. You reply to something that is said to you, or you comment on a story. It's available to anyone who wants to read it, but it's not broadcast out.

Sort of like the difference between having a conversation in a public place, and two people shouting at each other as loud as they can to make sure all their friends hear their conversation.

I tried blogging, that fizzled out the night I started. I tried microblogging using facebook and twitter, that petered out after a month or so. I can only assume that once we have nanoblogging, I won't be into that either. Some people need a forum to sound off to the world. Others, like me, are indifferent.

"Masters is the highest route for payment in a professional environment. Just think of this as a 1-2 year pay increase for the investment."

Or you could spend the 1-2 years working and get the 1-2 year pay increase anyhow. I've worked with a lot of people with masters degrees. It has never made a lick of difference once you get out into the real world.

Sorry, I gotta disagree. For our family's Corolla, we pay a little under $100/month for insurance. It's closer to $50 for a full tank here in Southern Ontario. How often you fill it up depends on your lifestyle, but we fill ours up probably once every 3 weeks or so (we live close to work and just about everything else we do on a day to day basis). I could understand some of your numbers being a bit different depending on where you live and what you buy, but $450/month??? Is this car made of rare crystal? Were I you I'd start shopping around for new insurance immediately, it sounds like someone is ripping the pants right off of you.

Not that I disagree about your comment on the benefits of biking. If you can find a nice park pathway to commute into work, it's the nicest thing you can do for yourself. I used to have a commute through a tree-lined forest path, and the morning and evening commutes were by far my favorite part of my day.

Bill Murray, is that you?

Back when I was in my undergrad I bought into the whole idea that "I need conditions to be pristine in order to create". Now, a few years spent working in industry, looking back on this view makes me feel like I was a bit of a diva. My brother is a musician and he claims something similar - when he was first starting off, he subscribed to the view that he needed his environment to get into a "creative zone". But the more he wrote music, the easier it got, to the point where he can do it just about anywhere without being affected too much.

I mean really, if you're focusing that much on loop constructs and variable names that you can't do it anywhere except places where conditions are ideal, then I guess that's you. But for me, the really important parts like architecture strike me when they strike me. Usually when I'm going about my business doing the groceries, or in the shower, or on a bus, or something like that - whatever's been tumbling around in the back of my mind takes on some semblance of form, and pops to the forefront when it's damn well ready, not when the ambient light is at a certain strength and the atmospheric pressure is just so. I don't subscribe to the view that I need a "creative zone" in order to produce properly. Once I get hit with an idea, getting it out into code is just drudgery. That can be done anywhere.

This never would have happened if the operators were using a shell.

Just saying.

You know that RealMedia is deeply hated when people are thankful for the posting of a flash version.

Works great for me in FF3. I played with browser ball, monster, and twitch and all of them work like a champ. Check your installation. Make sure you have javascript on.

+1, Pedantic

Stop using only "w" exclusively - there are dozens of nav key combinations you can use with vim to move around. By using only the "skip to next word" function you're using it like one might use MS Word. There are tonnes of others - http://www.vim.org/htmldoc/usr_03.html

Seriously...I just have to believe salary is for suckers. They expect you to work over if 'needed'...but, do they happily let you leave early when your work is done?

In a word, yes. I understand where you're coming from - managing your own time is a sweet gig. But don't be so quick to dismiss a salary scheme. When run properly, it can be pretty decent. At my office when there's not much going on, not a lot of people work 40 hr weeks. When it's crunch time, you're going to see a lot of people putting in 60 on a regular basis. Pretty similar to what you described, actually. Work gets done on time, and nobody bats an eye if you work an entire week of half days. It's all in how you execute the salary scheme. I could see it being abused, for sure, but when it's not abused, it's a nice ride.

I'm sorry to have to be the one to break the bad news to you, but your grades in school don't matter anymore. What recruiters look at is your experience. Which, by definition, you don't have. So your resume ends up at the bottom of the pile.

Agreed 100%. That's why wherever you go, make sure it has a good co-op/internship program. My degree was half co-op terms - 4 months of school, 4 months of work - right up until graduation. By the time I graduated I had already signed a contract to start working full time. It basically gives you 2 years or so of industry experience before you hit graduation. If you're looking at going into a technical field and want an easy time getting a job when you're finished, a good co-op program is by far the most important factor.

Oh please it's not so bad. The monthly payments are well within the realm of affordability, and most people are going to be making more than enough to cover the payments and then some. I graduated with $30k or so of student loans, basically the price of a decent car. Admittedly I was able to bankroll my degree somewhat with co-op jobs, but that figure is more or less average around these parts. Minimum payments on a sum like that is peanuts. Two years out of school I got sick of making payments every month and just paid the damn things off and never looked back.

"Beating the college bubble"...whine whine whine. If you're working a job that pays somewhat more than flipping burgers, you shouldn't even be noticing your monthly payments.