Driving away from the wreck of the day

A couple of random thoughts, as if I ever put anything else up here

1) I'm very tired, losing people on your team sucks. Especially when you've got to pick up the slack. I can do the work of two people (seriously), but 3 or 4 starts to get on me. While my multitasking skills have increased (I honestly have a project up on each monitor and I work on the one which is not building or running tests, and sometimes another project in the background). It gets a little harried. Also, today I was interrupted so much it took me 4 hours to do a 15 minute piece of code. To be honest, I don't mind the interruptions that much because its part of my job, and I like helping my developers. And frankly, I'm supposed to be doing less project coding and do more long term stuff. But STILL, I think about taking a day off just to get work done. If I could find ANYONE decent I'd bring them in, but after 2 months, still no one.

2) Gavin just rocks. For some reason he has not inherited the tantrum side of my family (yet). His temper tantrums last about a minute and a half. The kids in my family would be good for 3 hours. Because if we wanted something, damnit, we were going to fight for it. Not sure if this is a good thing for Gavin long term, but I appreciate it for now. That and now that he has "Thank You" firmly under his belt he's charming people left and right. And let's be honest, parents love it when their kid can charm people. We pretend it has something to do with us.

3) The Pittsburgh Penguins are the best puck movers in the NHL. Watching those games is like watching art being created. If they fix those defensive breakdowns, they're going far in the playoffs. Watch a game on Versus if you get a chance.

4) I seriously am going to shoot the next person/columnist/pundit that complains about CEO salaries and golden parachutes. I'll use dull bullets for people who say they should give the money back to the company. If you got offered that much money, and money for being fired, would you take it? Of course you would. You wouldn't say that's immoral or anything, you'd take the money and skip all the way to the bank. Do they deserve it? It doesn't matter! Someone offered it, someone took it. Its not like these CEOs held guns to these guys' heads. Do I think they're ridiculous sums of mone?. Hell yes, but that's the fault of the board, not the CEO. Business isn't charity, its business. We're all here to make as much money as we can and then retire and drink lots of cherry cokes (or your beverage of choice). If you are a stockholder in one of these companies, complain to the board, don't take it out on the CEO. Lucky bastards that they are.

5) I can't do short posts, I've tried, but I can't. Perhaps if I posted more regularly, but see item #1.

6) Go see Casino Royale. Now.

7) Some music awards (some of these are 2005 albums I found in 2006, deal).
Best Music: Charlotte Martin - Stromata.
Best Lyrics: Anna Nalick - Wreck of the Day
Best New Discovery (for me): David Gray
Biggest Surprise (Good) : Elton John - The Captain And The Kid
Biggest Surprise (Bad): Barnaked Ladies - Barenaked Ladies Are Me
Best Complete Album: Depeche Mode - Playing The Angel.
Worst Complete Album: The Killers - Sam's Town
Best Guilty Pleasure: Erasure - Nightbird

And seriously, why don't you own the good albums on that list yet?

8) When Genesis tickets go on sale in the U.S., I'd appreciate if you'd wait until I make my purchase before you buy. I'll post and let you know when I'm good.

9) Save for retirement/kid's college early. I'd like to personally thank the 23 year old version of myself who started that investment. I was pretty nervous about doing it back then, and I'd like to let him know that everything is OK. When you can actually start seeing pieces of your retirement falling into place, its a good thing. Even if you're 31 and not planning to stop working anytime soon.

10) Why in the age of multiple LCD monitors, does Dell not have a docking station for their laptops with 2 DVI outputs? VGA output to a LCD monitor just doesn't look good.

11) My first viewing of American Idol yesterday (seriously, I don't watch it) while Gavin was having playtime at a neighbors makes me wonder what is so good about waiting in line forever to get embarrassed on national TV? Is being on TV THAT good? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY? If you're famous you can't get away with anything, I like to have the option to get away with things. Therefore I have no desire to be famous. I think this is a rational opinion. However in the democracy of ideas, apparently I am wrong. What shocks me is that people don't KNOW how bad they are, and that Simon doesn't rip into these guys more after all the bad auditions amazes me. Listen, there is this thing called a tape recorder. Sing into it, now play it back. If you need to, play any published artist. Compare the two. It should be pretty damn apparent. Now, way back when, I had a good voice. In my little pond, I was pretty good. However, not even then, immature as I was, would I think for a SECOND that I could succeed on this show. This is why Amazing Race is the closest I get to reality TV.

12) (wow, 12? WTF?) My wife's computer is loud, I am very tired (see #1), I'm going to bed.