So there's this guy Jonathan, and he made this pretty cool online image thingy called 10x10. Well, he also has a web site called number27.org, and he uses this domain for his email. And that domain slightly resembles my other domain 27.org. So much, in fact, that lots of people who try to decipher Jonathan's simple spam-proofing of his email address as 'jjh at number27 dot org' actually send their email to 'jjh@27.org'. You'd be surprised how many people can't figure out how to email him and wind up emailing me instead. And some of them are people that you'd think would know how to read, like reporters from USA Today and CNN. Boggles the mind when you think about it.
I used to just reply to the illiterate person who mistakenly emailed me and CC: Jonathan on that reply so that he'd get the email, but I got tired of doing that about a month ago. I shouldn't be in the business of hooking up Jonathan with the more unlettered members of his fan base. I mean, I like the guy, and his web project is cool and all, but I have better things to do with my time than be his email forwarding service. And honestly, if he can't be bothered to ditch that hoky spam-proofing job, then I can't be bothered to forward mail frompeople who can't figure out how to email him, right? Frankly, I'm a little tired of getting spammed by people wanting to email him.
This morning I decided to automate the process of letting people know they can't read. Now they can send all the email they want to and my bounceback message will help sort them out.
OK, so it's not news since basically everyone knows, but I quit my job at UCSD last Friday. It was time to go , and a new opportunity presented itself.
They cancelled all of my current and future software projects when the guy who hired me left last May, got rid of flex-time and work-from-home for the whole department, started moving me into system administration, and generally became unbearable. Since we've had our new supervisor, I'm the second one of seven people in my group to leave. And I've had two other people ask me if they can give me their resume. It's not a very happy place right now. Besides, I haven't had a raise in over 4 years (indeed, I took a small cut to come to UCSD). It also doesn't help that the new boss sounds exactly like Lumbergh from Office Space -- and is generally uninformed about a great many things. Although he's a really nice guy and has his heart in the right place, it would have been difficult to work with him in the long term. He has the depth but not the breadth, and it's started to show lately.
But really, there's no hard feelings or animosity or anything. It's just time to move on. And I let them know that in my resignation email. Although I haven't had the courtesy of a reply from the head of the department, my understanding is that they recognize that this new job is a better fit for me.
The new position is more development type stuff. More thinking about ways to get things done, doing special projects, working with fairly high-profile companies in the process. It will make good use of my past experience, and will also be a huge challenge as well. I'll really have to stretch on this one -- and I'm very much looking forward to it. It's been a long tme since I actually had to think while at work. Then there's the nice new chunk of change I'll be earning. And the benefits are free, so I will no longer have to pay nearly $200 a month in various fees. It doesn't quite make up for the last 4-5 years, but it's a good start. In the end, however, all I really care about is doing cool work.
I feel like I'm back in the game. Like with the contracting work I did last winter -- there's a need, an urgency, you don't get at a government institution. That I've been sorely missing.
So I got off my ass and finally got the pictures of our Halloween 2004 party online. Toddler took some of them early on so we got some atmosphere shots of the decorated house (so Tess could see Wy's superb decorating job). Sadly, the camera was set wrong for most of the pictures, so there were a lot of blurry ones.
I should annotate the ones which were taken after I broke my finger. I do know that this picture was taken partially as evidence of what I had to wobble with.
Have you ever wondered why some English speakers do mysterious things with the letter 'R'? Some people add extra R's, some people hardly use them at all. Turns out that this is a main division between English dialects, and it's called Rhotic Speech. It was something I was always curious about, and I knew it was a regional (as opposed to national) thing, but it so happens that it's part of a quantified and well understood pattern.
Now, suitably forearmed with knowledge of non-rhotic speech, I'm able to instantly understand my mum in-law! Ah, but will my newfound insight allow me to pass the test of the non-rhotic/wine amalgamation? That remains to be seen...
The third (and likely last) annual Halloween party went off ok, in spite of the conspicuous absence of Tess (and the her sibling, in-law and nephew). The World Famous dogs were a hit, as were the margaritas, of which nearly 5 gallons were consumed. That's amazing when you consider the generally low turn-out this year. I had only one small sip when tasting the initial mix; tequila's not really my thing. Without Todd and Wy I'd have never been able to make it. Wy's mad decorating skillz made for a really spooky atmosphere. I'll post pics later.
And in the spirit of "it's not a party unless something gets broken", I wound up fracturing the middle finger on my left hand, right by the middle joint. It hurt Saturday night and felt weird Sunday, but then again every time I've broken something I could never tell until the next day whether it was cracked or merely abused.
Add to the ER visit the memories of the random (non-married) couple who (probably) hooked up in our 2nd guest bedroom, and I'd say the party was a rousing success! Two scoops!