Holy, Crap! June 22 since my last post. Terrible. That's what happens when you don't have internet access at home (and you can't steal enough work time to post from the office). I never posted the pictures of my new place. Here are a few pictures.

I can't believe that 5 months have passed since I moved into my new place. It's haunted (a little), so it's got a great feel, even when you're home alone. A lot has happened since my last post. I have become "the man" at work (meaning that I have people who work for me and have to do what I say). I've been to quite a few great concerts (including the last-ever Phish shows in Vermont). A grandfather died (and it was much harder on me than I expected it to be). A friend got married (and I missed it because I spent my money to go to the last-ever Phish shows in Vermont and didn't make enough money to cover airfare to Seattle). One of my employees was fired for being useless (to put it nicely).

Anyway, what I haven't done is attack all of the creative projects that I intended to embark upon. Photo projects, broken computer art, writing, all of it waiting for me to get around to it. What have I accomplished? Some great surfing, a lot of work-related non-sense, a lot of reading, and several attempts to get back on the train (as it were).

So I'll just end this silly post. Next time, I promise, there will be much more interesting stuff. Really. You won't have to wait six months this time. I swear. My roommate broke down and got a broadband connection, so I don't have to steal wireless signals from my unsuspecting neighbors anymore.




- posted by Craig @ 5:24 PM

 
My new place is insane. It was built in the 1920's. We have photos from the archives of our house with nothing else around. Being a geek, I took my laptop up to my new rooftop deck last night. I launched NetStumbler and held my USB Wireless adapter up in the air. Seven wireless networks were picked up without trying. Seven. I guess I won't have to pay for a highspeed internet connection anymore! Life just got easier.
- posted by Craig @ 3:26 PM

 
Well, I realize that I've been slacking in a BIG way. I apologize. I've been crazy with the working like a jerk. But enough of my excuses. It's time to post something more interesting that reasons for not posting.

I had to attend a family funeral over this past weekend. My paternal Grand-Mother was quite old. She had heart problems, cancer, bowel problems, and had been a drinker/smoker for many years. The funeral was back in Ohio, and I made the trip to see the family and pay respects. I've only been back to the midwest twice since making the move to the left coast. Both trips were for funerals. That's kind of sad, but I'm glad that I made this trip. My GrandFather was glad to see me. Actually both of them were (they live in the same town), and I was glad to see them. They are pretty old guys, and have seen a lot in their time. I haven't see much of them over the last 13 years, but I'm glad I saw them this weekend.

I loved getting to see my nieces and nephew (even though it was under such crappy circumstances). My nieces are now little people. They are a blast to be around. I have missed many years of their young lives, but now I feel like I really know who they are. My nephew, who was an infact the last time I saw him, is now a cool little dude. He plays soccer better than I do! He's 4! Crazy stuff has been happening while I wasn't looking. My nieces are now little ladies. They sing and dance and smile and love to tell jokes and stories. What fun.

I also got a chance to speak with my Aunt and Uncle as an adult. I haven't really seen them much since I was a little guy myself. It was fun to sit around and have talks about technology and movies and politics and stuff. They don't have any kids of their own (they probably remember me and my brothers as little kids and decided against it).

My Dad and Stepmother were there as well. They have gone crazy. Completely. They are foster parents in Florida. They adopted three kids (ages 3, 4, & 5) who are now legally my little brothers and sister. Oddly, they are Uncles and an Aunt to kids who are much older than they are. Strange. When they are graduating from High School, my Dad & StepMother will be old-folks. Really. I don't know what is going to happen. Weird. The kids are a bit crazy. I can't wait to see what kind of trouble they get into when they become teenagers.

I hope to use this opportunity to create new bonds with my family. Rather than worry about old bonds (that may or not have existed or be strained or whatever), I've decided to think more about the present and future. That's a problem I've always had. How things were. How did I get here. Instead, I'm going to be thinking more about How things are and how things will be. So that's my plan. To plan. Something I've never really bothered with in the past.

I may do some writing of the past, to help put it into perspective for myself more than anything else. I have all of the crazy story lines in my head. Most of them are real (or perceived) events from my formative years at college. I don't want to dwell on that stuff, but I would hate to part with those memories. Too much fun and pain and wonder and worry to let it go completely. I think if I put it down in electronic ink, I can make more sense of what really went down. Maybe that will help me put things in perspective so I can work on my future plans.

Anyway. I have so much friggin' work and so many plans to surf and photograph the world around me and build crazy broken computer sculpture and drink beer, that I don't know how much time I will have to dedicate to writing, but I will make a serious effort to get some of it done. I mean really, I just took fifteen minutes of workplace time and put my vague ideas into electronic reality. I'm sure I can dedicate a few minutes each day to putting something together. If not now? When? We'll see.

Too many people who I've been reading lately are communicating such great (and silly) thoughts in such fantastic ways. I'm hooked on lives that I don't really see or meet. I just finished a book by William Gibson called Pattern Recognition that touches on this kind of reality. Where you know more about total strangers than your own family or even your self. Made me think. People's lives are changing, but I've been resisting it for so long, that I don't even realize how much change I've gone through myself.

Anyway, more to come. I finally re-registered my domain. I will start posting some pictures soon to tie into my posts. Hang loose.




- posted by Craig @ 4:01 PM

 
Yes, gv, you are correct. Now that I'm working again, I don't post very often. Add the fact that I don't have internet access at home (except when I can steal a wireless signal from an unsuspecting neighbor), and you end up with not much to read about.

Here's a quick update. I'm currently homeless, squating in an apartment while Scuba Steve is off flying helicopters for the US Marince Corp in Iraq. His roommate (who let's me squat) is about to leave. In a week and a half, I will be homeless again. My new place won't be ready to move into until the middle or end of June. Then I will be living in a nice house with a little private garden-yard and a rooftop deck overlooking beautiful Mission Bay and the Pacific Ocean. I will have some pictures to post once I get a chance to walk through the house. Silly current tennants don't want strangers walking around taking pictures, don't ask me.

I've decided that I need to start posting more interesting stories, so I'm deciding how personal I want to be. I think I have a lot of tales from my days as a pizza man that will make for interesting reading. Trust me, the pizza man has a lot more going on than just delivering pizzas.

Anyway, the water in San Diego is slowly warming into the 60's, so I will be surfing a lot more from now on. More surf reports are coming. I'm working on getting some webspace from my employer, so I will also be adding some photo's to the blog. I take enough damn pictures, I might as well share them. Anyway, I gotta get outta here and go watch Stanley Cup Playoff Action.

More to follow, I promise. No, I don't.
- posted by Craig @ 4:01 PM

 
Wow. It's been a long time since I've posted anything at all! What a lazy bum. It's amazing how staring at a computer all day at work will take the desire to stare at a computer at home right out of you. Oh, well!

Work is getting interesting. I'm currently in a push to have some new software developed to manage our support operations and automate some of the mundane but expensive manual labor. Like typing on a computer is manual labor. Ha! No rough, caloused hands for me!

If you are not aware of Stockstock, you should be. Go there, now! They've even been written up on wired.com. That is like, crazy, dude. A real news agency interviewing my high-school friend and Stockstock producer. Crazy. I've been to both Stockstocks, and I can tell you, they are hilarious. I've had friends submit films, and it's a blast to see them on a big theater-sized screen. If you want to edit movies on your home computer, but just need a project to get you started, then go sign up today!

Well, I better get started filing my taxes. Talk about lazy!
- posted by Craig @ 3:09 PM

 
A friend I hadn't seen in years showed up in San Diego this week. She is working at a conference for Math Nerds, as she likes to say. I hadn't seen her in 3 and a half years when I was wondering the west coast lookinfg for a place to call home. She was in San Francisco then. We had a great time at concerts and parties and then parted ways. So she called me Tuesday and I met her for a drink and some food.

I thought I've been wandering around aimlessly? I was wrong. This girl is completely spun out. She thinks that it's better to just let life take you where it will. She was completely rambling nonsense most of the night. Holy crap. I think she's lost her mind. She is definitely much stranger than she was when we first met. At least I think she is. Maybe I was weird then, and she seemed normal, or maybe I'm weird now, and she seems to be moving in hyper-speed.

People sure are funny.
- posted by Craig @ 4:05 PM

 
Wow. I haven't posted in over two weeks. I've been busy as hell, folks. I moved. I started a new job. I read Utopia (tech-thriller fiction by some guy who's name escapes me). I started surfing on a regular basis again (good for afterwork de-stressing). I still don't have internet access at home yet, but I'm going to build a building wide wired and wireless network for me and my neighbors. When that happens, I'll start posting regularly again. Of course, I'll have to come up something interesting to write about, but I'll worry about that when the time comes...

My new job is fairly interesting (in a geeky data-transfer kind of way). I've learned from scratch in two weeks more about supply chain activity than I thought I would ever care to know. My brain is swelling due to the amount of information that I'm jamming into it. Really. I think I need a bigger hat.

The weather in San Diego has been gorgeous lately. Better than summer ('cause there no tourists). It's gonna be a great weekend. Grillin' out tonight with a few friends. Pacific Beach Crawl Invitational tomorrow (18 watering holes) complete with PGA-style logo of a person downing a beer. Sunday is live music-night, thanks to a visit by Keller Williams, the one-man-jam-band. It's gonna be exhausting, but I'm ready for some fun after being back at work.


- posted by Craig @ 6:11 PM

 
It's official. I have a job. I will start Monday. For those of you keeping score, I was officially without full-time, gainful employment for 49 consecutive weeks. Now, to be honest there was some cheating on my part. A part time gig building bikes last spring that lasted a few weeks (I think). Some tech-support for tech-have-nots over the summer and winter. But if you took the average hours worked over the 49 week period, it would probably begin with a decimal.

In the interest of keeping myself from being found-out online by anyone related to my new employer, I will not be referring to them by name. I've read of too many people who were fired because of things they've put in their blogs about work, bosses, etc. I'm pretty sure that I've never put my full name in my blog, so I should be safe enough. I think I shall refer to my Place of Employment as just that (and "PoE" for each reference thereafter) in blog entries. I will be sure to come up with nicknames for the team I work with soon enough. I'm leaning toward Older Brother and Younger Brother for two of them, the other two I don't know yet. I think their programming team is contraced out to a place in India or Bulgaria or something, so I won't have to name them individually.

My job is to come up with a system (procedures, processes, documentation, databases, etc.) for supporting all business processes and client business processes as they relate to our company's service. What service does PoE provide? We provide EDI for companies that want to sell their products on shelves at large retailers. If you don't know what EDI is, then you should go to webopedia.com and look it up. [You can also look up every strange acronym related to the internet there.] I did that before my interview with PoE and was able to speak intelligently {*COUGH*bullshit*COUGH*} about EDI and the protocols used to conduct such data exchange. They were "very impressed" with my knowledge of the subject. They even told me so in the interview. How did I know so much, they wondered aloud. I told them that I researched their company and the industry so as to be able to discern whether or not it would be something I wanted to be involved in. They asked who the Big Dogs in their industry were. Seibel is clearly the Big Dog. Jaws lowered ever so slightly before composure was regained. Now I have to figure out what the hell they do, and how to help their customers in the most efficient way possible. The best part? I get to work early in the day. There's a good chance of getting out of work by 2 or 3 every afternoon. Perfect for evening surf sessions till sunset.

Now I can get on with the business of living my life. It's been a great earlier-than-mid-life crisis, but I'm glad to be putting it behind me. If you're expecting to have one any time soon, you're in for a real treat. I heartily recommend taking a year off. If that doesn't appeal to you, buy a fine German auto. For those of you who already own fine German automobiles, buy a boat. Then invite me out for some boating acitivies. I love the water.

It looks like I only have a couple of care-free days left of the Beach Bum life. I'm gonna have to pick a new title for my blog. I will consider all suggestions left in my comments, especially if they're good.
- posted by Craig @ 7:11 PM

 
I've been very busy lately. Too busy to post silly stories or tech news or info about what band I'm seeing next. Why? I'm involved in major life-management business.

I'm packing up my stuff to move out of my apartment. As you may remember, our landlord has decided to renovate the place and has terminated our lease. I have until Sunday to get my stuff out and clean up the place (at least the stuff they're not renovating). My neighbor is being very cool about me staying with him until I find a more permanent arrangement. It would suck to be homeless (even though I live in the most homeless-friendly place in the country). Really, it would. I lived out of my car for a couple of months when I first came to California and wandered the coast, travelling from city to city, camping and taking in the sights, and evaluating the golden state, but I wouldn't want to do that permanently. It's nice to have a home, you know? Some place to set up the home theater and sit on the couch and take showers and check email and stuff.

Also, I'm busy with the job search thing. I've never heard a peep from the guy who had me sign a contract to take photos for his landscape company. He seemed very eager to send me out just a few weeks ago, but since then, nothing. My freelance tech-support biz is suffering from an utter lack of marketing efforts. So the job search continues....

I had an interview with a small company on Friday that went very well. Yesterday and today I spoke with another company who has invited me to interview with them tomorrow. After making arrangements and getting directions to their large company, I heard from the small company. They contacted me to tell me that they want to offer me the job. They even asked if I would prefer to be an employee (number 5 in this small but growing company) or a consultant (so I could handle my own taxes, grow my biz, list them as a client, etc). I told them that I was very interested, but that I had to speak with my lawyer (true) and that I had another interview to attend (true). Since they said that they had to interview other candidates on Friday before they could offer the position, my answer seems fair. They asked when I could give them an answer, as they will have to start the interview process all over if I refuse. They want me to start soon. Great news. I told them I'd call tomorrow and let them know. I should be starting soon. More details to follow.

Now I can go to an interview for a job that I don't really want (not as interesting or challenging, longer commute, way outside of the technology stuff I normally do) and be completely relaxed. It'll be interesting to interview for a job that I don't absolutely need. In the past, I've always interviewed because I REALLY NEED A JOB, MAN! and this will be a complete departure from that.

Did I learn anything from my recent experience? Yes. It's tough to find a job when you've been officially unemployed for eleven months. That's right, y'all! Eleven Months!! Beach Bum? Oh, yeah. I'm a lovely shade of tan, even in February. If only the water would warm up...

Anyway. Anyone who hires people will tell you, it's much easier to get a job when you have a job. It's inevitable that they are going to ask you in the interview "What have you been doing for last eleven months?" "Oh, you know, surfing, and drinking beer, and going to concerts, and camping, and drinking beer, and going on 3400 mile road trips through 6 states, and maybe doing a little freelance tech support here and there when the mood strikes." They don't like that. They love it when I tell them that I just haven't found a challenge, that I'm looking for something more interesting than just another tech-support gig. Fools.




- posted by Craig @ 7:13 PM

 
Well, Microsoft fans, it didn't take very long. You might have heard that some source code for Windows (NT and 2000 and XP) was leaked last week. That means that a lot of people were able to look behind the curtain at the inner workings for the first time. The folks at the BBC reported that the code was laced with obsenities (in the comments, of course). I can't speak to that, because I haven't downloaded it. Personally, I don't want to look at it. Reading code is boring.

But some people like to read code.

Other people like to exploit poorly written code. Over the weekend, someone came up with a new exploit based on things they saw.

It's been what? Four days? It's gonna get ugly...
- posted by Craig @ 1:30 PM

 
Here's a follow up story on Williw Williams, boy-genius. He has turned himself in to the proper authorities. New charges have been filed. A misdemeanor and a felony. During his recruiting visit to the University of Florida, he allegedly fired off three fire extinguishers, hugged a girl against her will, and hit a man in a bar. All within five hours. The hugging and hitting are a misdemeanor "criminal mischief" charge, while the "obstructing extinguishment" charge is a felony.

Thanks, Willie. You are very entertaining, and I will continue to follow your story. I have a feeling that you are destined for great things.

The University of Miami, who has offered Willie a football scholarship, is waiting until these legal matters are cleared up. They have not withdrawn thier offer. It seems to me that this sort of behavior is common among their student athletes (and those of Florida state schools in general). Quite a fine institution of learning, don't you think?
- posted by Craig @ 9:29 AM

 
I wish I had never found this.
- posted by Craig @ 10:58 AM

 
Finally, some good news from this years SuperBowl. It seems that the Lingerie Bowl was such a-rousing success (get it?), that they have decided to form a league. No, really. I wish I could make up something that funny.

In other SuperBowl ridiculousness, it seems that Janet Jackson's new album (anyone here buy vinyl?) features a topless shot of the over-hyped flasher. No, really. I can't believe the amount of crap that is still going on about this incident on the evening news. I think this is a good example of the vocal minority acting up. Most people don't really give a crap about the brief flash, but if you were to accidentally watch FoxNEWS network (because you certainly wouldn't be watching it for actual news coverage, would you?), you would think that it was a much bigger incident than what my friends and I laughed off in about five minutes.

Here's a much bigger story about deaths at West Point during some late night shenanigans. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I love The Onion. Bringing us stories other news outlets are afraid to touch.


- posted by Craig @ 6:49 PM

 
I seem to have broken my blog-posting app with my last "apt-get dist upgrade." Bummer, it makes life so much more difficult to use the browser-posting feature of blogger.com, but I'll get over it. I'm about ready for a new OS anyway.

I hope you've been following the story of Willie Williams, the highly recruited football player in Florida. Here wrote an amusing series of reviews of his college visits, which can be found here, here, here, and here. He's not very bright, which is why his stories are so funny. Now the news has surfaced that he has been arrested 10 times since age 14 and is currently on probation. He has violated his probation and may be arrested. That hasn't stopped the University of Miami from offering this fine young man a scholarship. Hilarious. I love college athletics.
- posted by Craig @ 11:43 AM