The Mandelbear's Musings

Done yesterday (20120511 Fr)

2012-05-12T16:09:22Z

Well, all I can say is that it felt more productive at the time. Morning and most of the afternoon were taken up by an LHH webinar and filling out the job application for Planetary Resources – The Asteroid Mining Company. As it turned out, yesterday was the last day they were taking them, so I was cutting it pretty close. Grump.

And after dinner Colleen and I went out to the local mall for a st/roll. Which was probably healthier than it would have been going out in the heat during the afternoon.

( raw notes )

comments

Done recently (20120415 Su - 17 Tu)

2012-04-18T15:22:10Z

A very busy three days. Sunday I finished up the taxes, and e-filed. Should probably have filed the state taxes on paper; the e-filing cost extra. Monday I started with Lee Hecht Harrison, the "career transition" firm that Ricoh is paying for. The initial session on Monday was very useful, since it included a "resume and linkedin jumpstart" segment. The experience section of my resume will need to be completely redone, of course.

I almost all of yesterday online, mostly on LHH and linkedin. Yesterday I took an LHH "webinar" -- in spite of the setup website telling me my browser was fully functional, the actual applet or whatever it was needed to be set up with a JVM and libraries, and couldn't find them on my Debian system. I switched to the Mac, but lost the visuals for about the first 15 minutes. Probably lost more to divided attention. Still useful.

A nice st/roll on Sunday, and a walk yesterday. A little walking Monday, but just a couple of blocks. Still, walkies good.

Some links down in the notes.

( raw notes )

comments

Done yesterday (20120325 Su)

2012-03-26T15:45:16Z

I spent the morning working on my resume, adding to the projects and publications lists, and expanding some of the more interesting projects. And I finally made an HTML version of the resume, though the formatting leaves something to be desired.

I'd originally been planning to spend the afternoon at Stanford, at the memorial for my old professor John McCarthy. But when I signed up for that I'd neglected the fact that it was the YD's 20^th birthday. So instead, we went shopping at Target (we'd given her a gift card) and out to dinner at Kobe.

In between, Colleen and I went out for a two-mile st/roll. The scooter started running dangerously low on power about 3/4 of the way through, so I went home by myself and fetched the car to retrieve her. The scooter isn't in terribly good shape; I'm glad we're getting a new one.

In the evening, I started moving stacks of cookbooks to the card table. Colleen promptly rebuilt the stack with a second round of culling. And that's just cookbooks!

Linky: Record Heat Wave Grips US. But Is It Climate Change? Cute little video about trend vs. variation.

( raw notes )

comments

Done recently (20120323 Fr - 24 Sa)

2012-03-26T05:14:10Z

Just Friday I wrote "ideal would be to rent the house to fans/hackers. It's perfect - server closet, 2 physical phone lines, shelf space... By Saturday evening we had a household lined up. They're fans, and want to carry on the Grand Central Starport traditions. The rent will cover the mortgage and insurance, and if we're lucky the market will bounce back a little over the next few years.

I spent a goodly amount of time Saturday working on my LinkedIn profile, and a little on my resume and portfolio site (at Stephen.Savitzky.net), and updated some of my other sites.

I took a walk on Friday -- a full three miles. Felt pretty good. And Saturday, after looking at quite a few alternatives, we ordered Colleen a new scooter, the Pride Go-Go Elite Traveller Plus HD. It's about an inch longer than her current scooter, and the deck is about four inches wider in front, which means she can get into it more easily and have a place to rest her feet. The wheels are bigger, too, so it will have less trouble with the kind of obstacles one encounters indoors and on the sidewalk.

Did I mention that I finally dealt with the $1K denied claim in my FSA account last week? It'll help.

We have started to friendcycle cookbooks. Fiction, and the nonfiction books in the office, will have to be tackled soon.

For today's link, see ysabetwordsmith's poem: "Ari and the Atheist" What does it mean to be an atheist in a world where everyone can see that the gods exist?

( raw notes )

comments

Done yesterday (20120320 Tu)

2012-03-21T16:30:37Z

It didn't feel like a terribly productive day, but between a 1-mile walk, a dentist appointment, looking at scooters, and helping Colleen triage cookbooks, I must have gotten something done.

Work was basically more of the same: file triage and backups.

There's nothing like an empty shelf and piles of books looking for a new home to make the move start to feel real.

As for scooters, we're looking at the Pride Celebrity X - it's bigger and more stable than Colleen's current one, which we'd keep for travel because it's a *lot* lighter and can be stuffed into the Honda's trunk.

( raw notes )

comments

Travel: request for assistance

2012-01-25T03:44:27Z

I'm heading up for Seattle in about an hour; Colleen is heading up Friday and will be arriving arund 10:40 am. The way the logistics work out, I probably won't make it to the airport in time to meet her.

Could somebody who knows her be there to help her fetch her luggage and get to the hotel? A vehicle isn't necessary -- the hotel has a shuttle that can handle her scooter. But she will need help bag-wrangling.

Thanks in advance,
==steve

Oh, yeah; I'm using a wheelchair today in the airports, for the first time. Just totally wiped out with arthritis, and/or maybe a mild flu (though no detectable fever).

comments

Done yesterday (20111224 Sa)

2011-12-26T07:09:25Z

Hmm. The day had its ups and downs, I guess. I feel particularly good about my st/roll with Colleen around the Rose Garden, and I got some practicing in, and major bug-fixing done the new makefile for recording directories. And quite a lot of decluttering, and a verse and chorus of a parody (still in progress).

On the other hand, I got very stressed in the early afternoon -- not sure whether it was sensory overload, family friction, or what -- the walk helped a lot.

On the gripping hand, I actually noticed at the time that mailing my filk to Naomi and getting thwapped for it made me happy. I may be getting better at that.

On the fourth hand, I wound up feeling very discouraged, especially when Colleen pointed out that I hadn't gotten any of my usual oddball stocking stuffers. She sent me out into the cold; Fry's was closed, but CVS was open and had gift cards and some suitable small tools.

So the day ended pretty well, at least.

No links. Must have been busy.

( raw notes )

comments

Done yesterday (20111204 Su)

2011-12-05T16:26:09Z

Yesterday we had a nice afternoon/evening out, including an extended st/roll around the Stanford Shopping Center. It wasn't particularly crowded, so we could mostly go at a decent walking pace. I looked at luggage but didn't buy any.

I may, however, have to buy another suitcase -- I'm taking a couple of comforters up to Seattle for pocketnaomi, and my choices are to either use Colleen's huge suitcase (a 29" paisley monstrosity which was bought for looks rather than durability or usability), or to empty the 25" Samsonite. *sigh* I could actually get them into my Travelpro, but that filled it to the brim. Hmm; could maybe use the expansion and maybe repack my meds to fit. Maybe.

After shopping, we went to Sneha for yummy Indian buffet. We've been missing our nights out since the YD moved her game night to Wednesday.

Other than that, a quiet and mostly unproductive day, though I did squeeze in a little practice.

A few links. Or was that lynx? Apple has run out of bigger cats.

( raw notes )

comments

Done yesterday (20111125 Fr)

2011-11-26T17:05:13Z

So... yesterday was Black Friday, which we observed by staying home, eating leftovers, and going out for a nice st/roll.

The battery pack in Colleen's scooter seems to be dying. We bought it less than a year ago, but OTOH we got it from a local store, so there's really no telling what its history is.

Cygnus, the new netbook, continues to be a pleasure to use, though it also shows signs of instability, and the WiFi connection seemed to be distinctly weird. Rebooting the WAP may have fixed it. Or I could try turning off 802.11n, which I know we were having trouble with back at EWS.

I still need to string new ethernet cable to the living room; right now it's CAT-5, and with Cygnus running Gigabit, that just won't cut it.

I've noticed that I seem to have trouble telling when the person I'm conversing with is done talking. It may even have gotten worse recently; I'm going to have to work on that.

Still very worried about my friends up north. Very worried.

Some links. This is disturbing: Senators Demand the Military Lock Up American Citizens in a “Battlefield” They Define as Being Right Outside Your Window » ACLU blog.

( raw notes )

comments