Journal Journal: Vacation over...
...and much sadness ensued.
My home is "The Evil Anti-Vegas."
Details can be found here, with more to be revealed over the next few days.
That is all.
...and much sadness ensued.
My home is "The Evil Anti-Vegas."
Details can be found here, with more to be revealed over the next few days.
That is all.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. - Arthur C. Clarke
So I'm reading this article on IP Address management, and I run into some wannabe networking expert that is advising the origin of the Ask Slashdot topic to "Learn Subnetting," when said wannabe goes on to incorrectly give an IP subnetting example.
Of course I reply to bust his balls because, well, I can.
I get to wondering what other network related advice he's been doling out on poor unsuspecting Slashdot readers, so I start looking at some of his posting history, where I run into this thread on network design, and running a collapsed backbone.
Understand, IP Networking is my wheelhouse. I've made my living for the past 16 years as a network consultant.
So I start reading through the comments on that article, and I swear to god, had the article not already been archived, I could have spent all day and all night going through the whole discussion correcting almost every single post on the page...
This is Slashdot, right? This used to be a technically savvy community, where people that knew were supposed to offer their insights, and the people that didn't know were burned at the stake.
Never have I seen such a collection of ill-informed half-truths, partial quasi-knowledge, and downright error in a single story thread. Maybe it's rampant, and I just don't notice it because networking is my one true discipline.
I guess it's nice to know that I'll always be able to make plenty of coin doing what I do today because to most people, it is obviously a feat of wizardry.
Tonight, for the first time ever, I got quad Aces, and wouldn't you know it, I failed to get paid.
Here's the story...
I'm playing over at ESPN, trying to qualify for their big tournament, the winner of which gets a seat in the main event of the World Series this June.
I bust out three players in the first hand of this single table tourney, so I'm sitting at around $4000 in chips, and the remaining 6 players are around $1000 each.
I'm dealt "Big Chick," As Qs, in late position. It's raised twice before my turn to act, and I limp in, just calling.
Flop comes Ac 4c Ad, so I've got a set, and I'm sitting pretty. Everybody checks it around, and I check too, slow playing it, making sure not to scare anybody off.
The Turn comes: 8s. First guy bets at it, two guys fold, another guy raises it, and I call. Initial raiser calls as well.
The River: Ah.
I've got AAAAQ!
First guy makes a bet twice the size of the pot. The guy to my right raises him. I'm thinking they've each made boats. I raise it again.
First guy goes all in. Guy to my right goes all in.
I'm waiting for my action dialog to pop up on the screen so I can crush these guys with my Quads... And waiting... Waiting... The dialog never comes.
About 30 seconds later, my client reconnects with the server, and I see my hand auto-folded by the computer due to my delay, and the winner has AAA88, beating AAA44.
I totally owned those guys.
It would have been a great story.
I guess I'll forever be telling the even better poker story about the time I held 4 Aces and a Queen, and folded the hand.
Now, I realize that most of the people on Slashdot are either Kerry or Nader supporters, and have liberal leanings. I attribute this primarily to the average age of the Slashdot demographic, which in my estimation, runs from teens to young adults (15 - 26).
I have long been aware of the quote "A young person that isn't a democrat has no heart; an old person that isn't a republican has no brain." Overly generalized perhaps, but I think true for the most part.
For the record, I'm neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I'm a Libertarian, both philisophically, and politically. I voted for Harry Brown in the last election, and I may end up voting for Badnarik in this one (unless it looks like Virginia is in play).
There are a number of reasons not to like President Bush. I am not a supporter, or a fan, by any stretch of the imagination.
If your reasons come down to your personal preferences between the liberal and conservative approach and general philosophy, that's fine, and I hope you go out and vote on Tuesday the same way you always do.
If, however, you've decided to vote against Bush for any of the following reasons:
If any or all of those are your reasons not to support this President, there are a couple of news stories that aren't getting a lot of press this week, which should be, and they might have an impact on your decision next Tuesday.
First, the Washington Times is reporting that the 380 tons of high explosives that are missing from an Iraqi ammo depot appear to have been removed from Iraq prior to the US forces invasion. These munitions were moved with the assistance of Russian special forces to Syria, Lebanon, and possibly Iran. In addition the the explosives, components used in the manufacture of chemical weapons may have also been convoyed out with them. In addition to relocating these munitions, Russian forces were also charged with assisting in the destruction of all documentation tying Russia to having provided these munitions to Saddam Hussein and Iraq.
The story can be read here. If it's true, was war in Iraq still the "Wrong War in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time?" Consider that carefully.
Second, ABCNews has received a video tape from an alleged al Qaeda operative. They turned it over to the CIA and the FBI a couple of days ago so that it could be authenticated, and late last night, it was authenticated. It warns that the next round of attacks will dwarf 9/11, that "the streets will run red with the blood of Americans," and that "America will mourn in silence" because they will be unable to count the many dead.
ABCNews has not reported the story, even though in the past, they've reported about these kind of tapes prior to any kind of government authentication. They claim they don't want to panic people prior to the election. It is equally possible, however, that they don't want people walking into a voting booth with "Terrorism" as the foremost issue in their minds, because if you look at any polling data, you'll see that Bush leads Kerry by a huge margin on the issue of Terrorism.
Information about this story can be found at Drudge, and specifically at this link.
I will conceed readily that the Washington Times is a conservative newspaper, but while you may take issue with their editorial bent, they have never been accused of sloppy reporting, or lying.
Drudge on the other hand is commonly viewed as a Republican shill, but terrorism is not a political issue.
I find ABCNews' actions to be highly irregular. Generally, the battle cry of the press is "the people have a right to know." ABC seems to be saying "the people have no need to know."
I hope these stories find their way into the public consciousness prior to the election, and I hope people can start to realize that the opinions they believe they have formed on their own based on "all" the information, are really the result of having been provded only with the information that can lead to a single conclusion, rather than the whole.
America has been duped.
Everything went great, and she was awake, alert, and talking just 40 minutes after they closed up her little chest.
You can't imagine the horror of learning that your little girl is going to have to undergo something like this. For the past 6 months, it's hung in the air of my house like a foul stench that nobody wanted to acknowledge. We snuck around the subject because facing it, and the potential outcome, was simply too awful.
We also tried to protect our son, age 10, from worrying too much, but ultimately, we had to tell him that there was a very real possibility that his sister might now be coming home from the hospital.
Thankfully, the worst is now behind us. My daughter is recovering well (the next 24 - 48 hours is still key), but if she continues to hit her recovery milestones at the current pace, we should be able to bring her home this weekend.
I'd like to commend an exceptional team of doctors working at VCU MCV (Virginia Commonwealth University, Medical College of Virginia) in Richmond, and especially Dr. Allen (her Pediatric Cardiologist), and Dr. Mehta (her Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon). In addition to being exceptional physicians, these men were supportive, approachable, and emotionally invested in seeing this through. Maybe it's because they do pediatric work, but I've never met two doctors that were less "distant" in my life.
I owe each of them a debt of gratitude that simply can't ever be repaid.
Just got the green light from my new employer, and I'll be resigning my current position on Friday. I'd been waiting for the new place to complete my background investigation, and I got the word this morning that it's been completed.
I gaze around at the suck ass company that I've been working at for almost 3 years, and I can now tell them to pound sand.
I still can't believe I've been here that long. It's by far the worst place I've ever worked, and yet, this is the longest period of time that I've ever been in ine place. I've resigned from much better places that this, usually around the two year mark.
I knew when I got here that I wanted to leave, but the economy was so crappy for so long, I was stuck.
All of that will soon be behind me.
Careful... Smiling too much... I don't want to tip them off about what's coming... Tee Hee!
As should have been expected, we all laughed, particularly at the photographs.
That was about two weeks ago...
Last week, the Don and Mike radio show called him up and did a half hour interview with him... I laughed again, and was shamed for having known about this guy beforehand.
Monday night, Jimmy Kimmel had him on his late night show, and I was simply dumbfounded.
Maynard is a good sport for letting all of these people make fun of him, but I can't believe how much attention he's gotten.
He's become the William Hung of the geek world!
Anyone else noticing these kind of issues?
I can't help but wonder if maybe
So many scams... So many write-offs.
Why didn't I do this years ago?
Seriously, I'm looking for feedback. I'm about to incorporate, and I see a lot of upside potential. What might I be overlooking, both advantages and disadvantages?
It read just as I'd expected it would, some $30k short of what I'd earned the previous year. That's a first for me... I've never had a year where I went down in annual income.
I'm back to my 2002 level now, but it still leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth.
The owner of my company, in an effort to "inspire" me, had reduced my salary dramatically back in January last year. It returned to the previous level in September, but by that point, I was already out the $30k.
My loyalty to this company was precarious prior to that reduction, but along the way, there has been a steady diet of catalyzing events that manage to erode it further.
The most recent is the institution of a new dress code for "Professional Services" staff. I'm a network consulting engineer. There are primarily two facets to my job:
During Pre-sales, obviously, there's not much chance of getting dirty. It consists of meetings with the customer to get a handle on their requirements, and to study their existing network environment.
Post-sales is another beast entirely. It consists of unpacking a lot of equipment, staging it, configuring it, and repacking it. Then it has to get from our facility to the customer's facility. Then it has to be unpacked again, mounted, and integrated. There's usually a lot of squeezing into tight, dirty spaces with sharp edges, and crawling through ceilings and raised floors.
I don't have a problem with business casual for the pre-sales role.
I definately have a problem with business casual in the post-sales role. I can't count the number of khakis I've ruined doing installation work.
The new policy does not respect the difference between the two roles, and requires business casual regardless of the type of work I happen to be engaged in on a given day.
I am almost looking forward to submitting that first expense report for my next pair of torn khakis. I'm sure it'll occur very shortly. I'm not even expecting them to pay, but I will relish the look on their faces when I hand it in, and listen to them explain how it's my fault.
Pricks.
If anyone in the Northern Virginia / Washington DC area is looking for a CCIE with over 10 years of network consulting experience (At the likes of AT&T, Sprint, and IBM), please let me know.
Christmas was delightfully peaceful and tranquil at my house this year... It was just my immediate family (My Wife, two Kids, and Myself). A Christmas without the strain of visiting parents (or worse, in-laws) shouldn't be stressful, and mine fully lived up to it's low-key billing.
My wife actually utterred the words: "This is the most relaxing Christmas I can ever remember."
There was plenty of stuff to open... I got pretty much everything I put on the list I had prepared (I balked on the XM Radio for now, telling my wife to hold off on that... As much as I'm sure I'll enjoy it, for the most part, I just listen to Howard Stern and Don & Mike anyway... What am I going to do with 100 channels?).
I'd done most of my shopping for my wife while we were in Vegas earlier in the month. I got her a Dooney & Bourke purse that caught her eye, and a lovely Movado bracelet that she totally wasn't expecting. I should get a lot of milage out of that one.
The kids, typically, made out like bandits. In addition to all of the stuff we got for them (Which was, in my opinion, too much stuff to begin with), they got a bunch of additional loot from family and friends scattered around the country.
We're going to leave all of our decorations up for a while, probably through mid-January. One of the advantages of an artificial tree, I suppose, is that there's no rush to dispose of the tree before one of two things occurs:
The wife was horrified last year when I told her that I wanted to get an artificial tree, but she's a true believer now.
We got a 7-foot pre-lighted tree. It comes out of the box, and you assemble the three sections, and viola, the hard work is behind you! You just have to hang the ornaments, and start drinking heavily skiped egg-nog, or Peppermint Shnaps Milkshakes. What could be better? You can put it up in early December, and take it down 6 weeks later, no watering. Try that with a real tree.
I was also fairly pleased with the lights I'd put outside this year... I covered all of our shrubs with white net lighting, and I lined our sidewalk and driveway with small staked lights with gold ornamented toppers. It was really easy to do, and it looked really nice (And classy... In my neighborhood, we vocally mock multi-colored lights, and goofy free standing caricatures.). The lighted walkway effect was enchanting, so much so that I'm going to install some permanent lighting this spring. I think I'll go with the solar light stakes, so that I don't have to mess with any electrical stuff.
At any rate, I hope you all had as nice a holiday as I did, and that your next credit card statement won't cause a cardiac arrest.
Last night, at about 1:00am, my wife rolls toward me in bed and whispers, "Hey, if we were still in Vegas, we could do downstairs right now and play some craps..." Normally, at 1:00am, she's been asleep for 2 or 3 hours, but we've got two things working against us:
The trip was fantastic. It was my second visit, but it was her first time out there, and even though I'd done everything I could to prepare her for how much fun it was going to be, it continued to exceed her expectations at every turn. (There's not many things in this world that live up to the hype, and even fewer that surpass it.)
As I mentioned in my last journal, we stayed at the Mandalay Bay. Our room was on the 32nd floor, which makes for an ear-popping elevator ride, and a spectacular view. December is the slow season in Las Vegas, so the table limits in the Casino were pretty low... That was an unexpected surprise. I didn't expect to find $10 minimums on table games on a Friday and Saturday night at one of the nicer resorts, but there were a lot of them, so your gambling dollars stretched pretty far. Bonus.
My wife was initially intimidated by the table games. She wanted to play slots and video poker, and that's what she did the first couple of days. Two things changed that:
After that, she was finally ready to try Blackjack. She sat between my buddy Ryan and I, so we could give her advice, and she did pretty good. She also played "Let it Ride," and even won there.
On the last full day we were there, Sunday, she probably only put about $40 into machines, and spent the rest of the time playing the table games.
She has already decided that the next time we go out there (Next time! Score!), she's going to play table games almost exclusively, because they are so much more fun.
So that's the gambling report. We also availed ourselves of many of Vegas' other diversions:
On Firday night, shortly after our travel companions arrrived, we went over the New York, New York, for the Rita Rudner show. Her act was pretty good, and we had 2nd row seating. My only complaint was that the seats were hard as rocks, and our butts were uncomfortable in the time between when we were seated, and when the show started. Even though I liked the act, I couldn't wait for it to end so I could get out of those god awful chairs. (Rita, when you read this ('Cause I know you read my Slashdot journal all the time.), please make them get you some proper seating in your Theater...)
The following night, we went to the Venetian for Lord of the Dance. (I can almost hear the laughter now.) When at home, sometimes you have to make a concession to your wife, and go to a chick-flick at the movies. Nobody goes to the movies in Vegas. Instead, sometimes the concession has to be a chick-show. Lord of the Dance was just such a concession. I appreciated the technical merit of the dancers... They were quite good. My wife, on the other hand, loved the show, and she'd been wanting to see it live for several years, ever since she saw it on PBS way back when. We also scored 2nd row seats for that one, so as you can imagine, my stock closed at an all-time high on the WGHM (Wife General Happiness Market).
So those were the shows. On to food...
Morning fare was Buffets. We mostly ate breakfasts there at the Mandalay, which was pretty good. We did however make it a point to hit the breakfast buffet at the Rio on Saturday, because their buffet is simply the best in town. I was dismayed to learn, after our arrival, that they had half of the buffet closed for renovations. That said, the Rio at half strength is still a match for any other buffet in town, so it was still good, even though it fell short of it's usual standard. Only Ryan and I noticed the shortcoming, because he and I stayed at the Rio over the summer. The girls were quite pleased with it.
For dinners, we hit some great places, which number in the hundreds. Topping the list, in my opinion, is the Luxor Steakhouse. It was my second visit to this place, and damn, it doesn't disappoint. Over the summer, Ryan and I wandered in there just to grab a bite before seeing the Blue Man Group (which plays at the Luxor). It totally blew us away. This time, we went there on purpose. My wife's review: "That was the finest meal I have ever eaten." My review: "That was just as good as the last time, which was the 'other' best meal I've ever had."
We dined in a number of other places, and for the most part, you can get a really good meal anywhere in that town.
Lastly, as though Las Vegas hadn't devised enough clever methods of parting people from their money in the Casinos, Shows, or Eating establishments, they've also become a force in upscale shopping. Manadlay Place, The Furom Shops at Caesar's, the new Complex at the Alladin, and don't count out the store at Bellagio. Park Avenue and Rodeo Drive have nothing on Las Vegas. If you're ever looking to blow some money, you can easily do it shopping in Vegas. I must have dropped two grand on Purses, Shoes, and Jewelry.
I was glad to do it, because this was the Honeymoon that my wife and I never took, and I expect to ride the wave of good karma from this trip for quite a while. I surprised her with a bracelet from Movado that she absolutely loves.
All told, it was a pretty expensive trip, but it was worth every penny. My wife and I had the best time we've ever had together, and we can't wait until we have the chance to do it again.
Score!
We're staying at the new tower at Mandalay for 4 nights.
Last time I was in Vegas, I vowed that I'd never stay at another Hotel/Casino that didn't have it's own Poker Room. You just never know when you're going to need to find a Hold 'Em game at 3:24am, and by taxi, you're always $12 from everywhere else in Vegas.
Mandalay has it's own Poker room, so I'm hooked up.
This is my wife's first trip to Vegas. Last weekend, while in Ashville, NC, for Thanksgiving with my family, I took her to the Harrah's at the Cherokee Indian Reservation. It was the first Casino she had ever set foot in, other than what you find on a Cruise Ship. I didn't want her to be totally caught off guard when we went out West this weekend, although Harrah's at Cherokee is diminutive casino compared to anything on the Strip.
I had her playing Video Poker, and she even won a little. I convinced her that it was time to play Blackjack, so she followed me over to the table, where I proceeded to lose 4 consecutive hands at the $25 table (Not due to bad play, simply due to bad cards). I explained to her that sometimes that's just the way it goes, and that if she let it affect her too much, that we wouldn't have a very good time when we were out doing the real thing.
She tried to come to terms with that, and we ended up playing more Video Poker for another 90 minutes.
When she was ready to leave, I said "I know you're kind of shell shocked about the last trip to the Blackjack tables, but I have to go play it again before we head out." She was cool with that.
This time, there was an open seat at one of the $15 tables. I took $30 in chips, and ripped off 6 consecutive wins, including 2 Blackjacks. I got up and handed her my stack of chips, and said:
"Here's your $100 back."
She's replied "That was much more fun than the first time you played."
The difference between gambling and most other forms of entertainment is that while you put your money down on the gaming table, there's a chance you'll have it or maybe even more, when you get up. With everything else, once you lay it down, it's gone for good.
I played poker at Binion's last summer for 9 straight hours, and it only cost me $10. That's pretty cheap entertainment, a about $1/hr. I played for another 3 hours at the Luxor, and left up over $200. I should have sat longer. I was making $66/hr.
Go out there with some strict daily loss limits, and you can lose every day, and still have it cost no more than any other good vacation destination.
At any rate, I can't wait.
So far, I've got:
That's it... Looking over it, it looks mighty damn boring to me.
What should I be adding? What are the single biggest items that everyone else is looking for?
In the last 6 weeks, I've had about 12-15 different headhunters call me out of the blue, looking to get certain networking positions staffed.
My phone hasn't been ringing like this since over 2 years ago.
Is anyone else tracking increased headhunter activity?
(Greenspan be damned; I've got my own "Leading Economic Indicators.")
Memory fault - where am I?