... thinks this is just about the dumbest thing I've read in a while... The snow is awesome, it was great seeing people working together over the weekend to help each other shovel out, and now it's just beautiful to look at... The worst part of the whole weekend was trying to avoid the little econo-boxes whose owners didn't have a lick of common sense...

My phone, wife's phone, son's phone, in the same room in our house, literally within 10 feet of each others. My phone shows four bars, the other two nothing. Happens all the time, just in a different combination. First contract expires in April, at which point we're "phasing out" AT&T.

I think it's a normal function of "growing up" - certain hobbies or activities are more fulfilling than others, and as we age, priorities change, demands on our time change, and as a result, the less fulfilling activities lose their appeal. Ten years ago, I was into multiple hobbies - video gaming, astronomy, model rocketry, model railroading, to name a few. I tried to keep active in all of them, but with kids, a job, and just generally less "energy", it was too much. I no longer own any rockets, or participate in the hobby in any way. My telescopes sit forgotten in boxes in the basement closet. Piles of video games sit unplayed, except an occasional round of Civilization (rare). The railroading is where I spend my free time now, at home, at club events, shows, etc.. It provides everything I need, relaxation, a creative outlet, interaction with others, and it's fun.

Ahhh, so you're from my wife's side of the family....

Back then, you filled in the missing content with your imagination. These days, nobody has one anymore. Games (and movies) have to spell out every little detail, leaving nothing to the imagination. Remember seeing the Balrog on film? Was that what you imagined it to look like when you read the book? Wasn't what I had pictured, but I can't read the book now without seeing it the way it was depicted in the movie. Kinda sad, in a way.

I take offense at this "bad citizen" crack. I've been "working with computers" for 21 years. I completed one year of a Bachelor's in CS, which I was, for a variety of reasons, unable to continue. I have worked the spectrum of IT/development jobs - application developer, web developer, network admin, DBA. I've led development teams, I've been on both sides of security audits, I have led initiatives to meet PCI compliance. I am currently the senior production DBA for an international corporation with 30,000 employees, where I direct multiple SQL Server and Oracle DBAs. I am considered one of the "go-to" guys within the production support staff. My salary is in the 6-figure range.

Does any of this make me a "good" citizen? Not necessarily. However, I also volunteer within my community. I am active in multiple hobbies, including membership in clubs devoted to those hobbies. I am liked and respected by my neighbors, friends, and co-workers. I don't know if any of this qualifies me as a "good" citizen, but it certainly doesn't fit my definition of a "bad" one.

> A few places I've worked IT fell under Operations, the same people that keep the lightbulbs changed, the warehouse shipping and the driveway plowed.

Years ago, I was the sole "computer guy" for a small 20-person company. Since I was usually the first person to arrive in the morning, I also shoveled the sidewalks and cleared the small parking lot.

..., because nothing beats sitting in a restaurant with a table full of teenagers behind you trying to show how grownup they are because they know all the big swear words.

"Dude, I was like, that's so fucking awesome, I mean SHIT!!!"
"I know, right! Fuck yeah!"

... "I can easily drive while texting, shaving, and putting on my pants, simultaneously. Why punish me when my uber-skills are vastly superior to everyone else on the road?" replies...

Hopefully it includes SYNC or some other means of hands-free cell phone use. You know, for that ever-important phone call. Can't really consider it a car until the driver can yak away while driving...

The code is yours to control, but the queries are not. Rest assured that I will not hesitate to kill your crap query if it is affecting the performance of my database. I only wish that were as rare as you seem to think.

Putting the logic in stored procedures allows ME, the DBA, the guy with the SQL know-how, to tune the gawd-awful query that you, the pointy-clicky .NET monkey, is using to bring my server to its knees. NINE left joins again subqueries, each with a GROUP BY, then another GROUP BY applied over the query as a whole? WTF are you thinking? Fixing your code requires a new build & deployment cycle. Fixing a stored proc, I can do that with a simple DROP/CREATE script.

Yes, I'm bitter. I'm surrounded by pointy-clicky types who insist on procedural thinking when writing queries. Set theory? What's that?

Glad to see someone mention PSEO. My son's a HS junior, enrolled at Normandale through PSEO. Seems to be working very well for him.

I was JUST thinking a few days ago how cool it would be to get a new version of Civ, and like magic, here it comes. WOOOOOHOOOO!!!!!

Ditto what he said. Moon is a great film...