Catching Up
If I talk, everyone thinks I'm showing off; when I'm silent they think I'm ridiculous; rude if I answer, sly if I get a good idea, lazy if I'm tired, selfish if I eat a mouthful more than I should, stupid, cowardly, crafty, etc. etc.
-- Anne Frank
Thursday, November 18, 1999
One year ago: Fatigue
Two years ago: Publicity
As soon as I walked into the office Monday morning, Chip started telling me about all the changes and tweaks he'd done to the website. He'd accomplished a lot over the past few days! His other news: M---, the guy we'd been to lunch with last week, had been convinced to join us as our Java developer. His first day would be that very day.
Kellie, our business manager, and I got to have the fun of eating lunch with M--- at Spazzo, the Mediterranean restaurant where we've had dessert platters before, to celebrate his joining us. Chip was busy during the middle of the day (sharing in childcare), but we'll be sure and hit the dessert platter one more time before we move into our new offices (not so convenient after that).
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In the middle of the week, Chip suggested that I should create a weblog for intranet use. Blogger was just the tool I needed! It can ftp changes to a private server automatically, and if I see a page that I want to point to, all I need to do is right click, or choose a bookmark that points to a script. A form pops up, the text I had highlighted is already there, and voila! nice and easy. So now all the links that I think appropriate for an internet startup are available, with my commentary.
This reduces the mail for the others, and it's a cool tool to play with. I can make it possible for teammates to add links, also.
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Wednesday night I decided to avoid traffic by going to a movie at Crossroads. I hadn't been in that direction since I left Microsoft. I didn't know what was playing, but figured I'd see the first thing showing that appealed to me. "Anywhere But Here" was starting at seven, but what was it? I couldn't remember! The ticket seller said, "that's the one with Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman," but it still wasn't clear in my mind. I bought a ticket anyway, then ran over to the grocery store and bought a tuna sandwich and some Callard and Bowser licorice toffee, for my dinner.
A few details about the movie came back to me when I saw the poster outside the theater. The mother in red, dancing on the park bench, with a sulky teen daughter sitting beside her. At this point I don't remember what previews were shown. I'm sure they were targeted at the supposed audience for a touching family drama, though! I was pleased to see Wayne Wang's name as the director; I've really liked his past work! The rest of the cast looked ok.
The movie was ok, but didn't bowl me over. Some of the comments on IMDB made me think I'd like to read the novel! The acting was very good, including the smaller supporting parts. But the conflict between the mother and daughter wasn't developed or resolved very well, I thought. A lot of the novel had to be left out, naturally.
And of course, even though I'd gone to the movie to avoid sitting in traffic, when it came time to drive home, there was a lane closed on the highway due to construction and it was bumper to bumper!
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The most frustrating thing at work today! The network that we connect to went down, and stayed down all day! We couldn't update the site (very bad for a stock market site where people want that day's market data and commentary). I couldn't get email or look at the external web, either.
I'll be going up to Bellingham tomorrow night, after doing the build solo. Chip's going out of town at midday tomorrow, whether the net is back or not.
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