Roblog

I actually wanted to go to the Galleria this past weekend. I have always opposed trips to the Galleria in the past because the traffic in the area and parking have always been very unpleasant. I even hate to go on that part of I-610 because of all the slow traffic.

But now it has a redeeming quality: an Apple store. So we went there to get a copy of iLife, and we stayed to get me some new dress shoes at Foley's and to eat lunch. We got there early (10:00) so the traffic and parking challenges were actually very mild.

I was so adamant about avoiding the Galleria in the past that Donna thought my remarkable change in attitude is worthy of a blog entry. So this one's for her.

My Dad just sent me an extra printer he had lying around. It's not all that old, but he had a newer one so he didn't need his old HP Photosmart 1215. I eagerly offered to take it off of his hands, since we'll need a printer to go along with our new iMac (that we won't buy for another few months).

He said he dropped the printer (with cables, manuals, and extra ink cartridges) off at a packing store and let them take care of it. The result was quite an impressive display of packing prowess. Opened the box to find a large amount of foam peanuts surrounding a smaller box. I opened the smaller box to find an equal amount of foam peanuts, under which was the printer fully enclosed in bubble wrap. The folder with all the extraneous supplies was in the smaller box, too.

I haven't unwrapped the printer yet. It is so nicely cocooned in bubble wrap that I may not disturb it until we get our new computer, although I really should check it to make sure it survived the journey.

Even if I don't use the printer soon, the package was a hit. The dog got to bark at the UPS delivery man, and the girls loved playing in the foam peanuts.

I saw an unusual search term that someone used to find my website: "victorious peanuts". In fact, if you type these words into Google, my site is the first one returned!

Don't ask me why someone was searching for "victorious peanuts".

I intended to take my umbrella into work yesterday (rain was in the forecast), but I arrived without it. Did I leave it on the bus, or did I never take it out of my car? It didn't take me long to convince myself that it was still in my car, and indeed it was there when I got to my car that evening.

But it made me realize how much I treasure my DuPont Merck golf umbrella. It's big so that I can walk comfortably in the rain with it, but more importantly it's a link to my time in Delaware when I worked for a company that no longer exists. I enjoyed my work there and it was my first real job after college. It was then that I established my career as a software support developer. I discovered HTML programming and developed an HTML-based software manual on my group's network long before I had ever heard the word "intranet". I worked with statisticians, who helped me see why data presentation was so important and the joy of hitting upon the perfect way to accurately reflect the results. I even got to attend an FDA pre-review jury for a new indication of one of our drugs. I have good memories of those 5 years.

And since the company was later bought out by Bristol-Myers Squibb, there is no way to replace my unique, one-of-a-kind DuPont Merck souvenir. I'm glad I didn't lose it.

I love taking the twins to the Children's Zoo section of the Houston Zoo. There are no boards at stroller-eye level so they can see all the animals, and they love petting the goats and sheep in the petting zoo.

But this past weekend I took the twins to the zoo by myself to give Donna some quiet time at home. I discovered that the bathroom facilities had several minor problems, in contrast to the well-designed and friendly Children's zoo area.

I ride the bus into work, and the bus will not stop at every dropoff point unless someone wants to get off. You can pull a cord that makes a sound and (usually) lights up a sign before the next stop if you want to get off.

I prefer not to pull the cord. I just let someone else who is getting off at my stop do it for me. But there are rare times when no one, or very few people, are getting off at my stop. So how long do I wait until I can't stand it anymore and I have to pull the cord? I usually can last longer than most people, so it is rare I have to pull it. Of course, I don't want to wait so long that it makes it hard on the bus driver (like if he is in the wrong lane).

I think it would be an interesting psychological measure to see when a person tends to pull the cord. Someone should do a study. Not me. I'm too busy resisting the urge to pull the cord.

OK. Elena is sick for real this time. The last time I mentioned Elena was sick, it turned out that she wasn't. Her nose was running a little. But now, with a 104° fever, we can say she is officially sick. Thankfully, it appears to be affecting the sinuses only, so she's coughing with a runny nose. We'll take care of Elena while we wait for her sister to get sick.

I'm starting to use Instant Messaging for work, since it's the cheapest way to communicate real-time with the folks in India. One of the capabilities of most instant messengers is associating a "buddy icon" with your account. This is just a small image that represents you when you are chatting with someone.

Of course, I had to make my own:

Now it may appear to be egotistical to have your own floating head as a buddy icon, but it seemed to me to be the only sensible option. Since I'll be using this for work to chat with people I rarely get to meet, it seems like it would be easiest on them to see who they are chatting with.

And yet, nowhere on the internet have I seen a buddy icon that is an image of the chatter. Perhaps that is because all the buddy icon sites provide icons that would be of use to more than one person. Perhaps it is because people don't bother (or don't have the means) to make one themselves. Or perhaps people feel uncomfortable providing a picture of themselves to everyone they chat with. The buddy icons of my boss, and two other managers I'm working with on my project are an angel, the Texas A&M logo, and an American flag.

Am I the only one who has an image of their head as their buddy icon?

I must be busy at work, as evidenced by my lack of entries in my blog last week. I got to talk with some people at our new client for the first time, and it's been tough trying to schedule all those meetings and then collect all the documentation.

So just a teaser update for today.

• I'm going to India for a week sometime in late March or early April. The timing will depend on the specific agenda we develop for the trip.
• I've developed an Applescript to manage the uploading of photos from iPhoto to my website. I didn't think I'd really get this done when I daydreamed about it, but with the right UNIX tools, it wasn't hard - it just took some time. I'll provide details later.

In other news, my great uncle "Put-Put" died last night after being in the hospital for several weeks. In some respects, I considered him a relative I had the most in common with. He was introverted, thoughtful, and had a witty sense of humor if you could get him to show it. I can't leave for Pennsylvania right away because of work stuff, but I'll go up there this coming weekend to help my family cope.

So after hinting around I can finally say what my new project at work is, because it has been announced to the affected users at the client. I am part of a team that will be supporting some of our client's applications from Bangalore, India.

Note: due to the politically sensitive nature of outsourcing jobs to offshore locations, especially India, I will never mention the name of my client in this forum. I think it's a real possibility that if any of the people at my client read this blog in which I announce that they are in the process of sending US jobs to India, I could be removed from this project. I'd rather be able to talk openly about my experiences in this blog, so I will not name my client. Sorry.