The Daily Rant

How to Not Get a Job

2012-02-07T23:18:00.002-07:00

There is a certain piece of advice for people interviewing for jobs. It basically goes like this: Don't complain about your previous jobs, colleagues, or supervisors/managers.

I have recently been conducting interviews for a new developer at my company. My manager seems to like the way I interview people, plus I apparently am one of the ones who keeps agreeing to do the interviews, so there's that...

So, betweem my manager and I, we've interviewed probably a dozen, maybe more, candidates in the last six weeks or so.

The format goes a little like this: my manager asks some behavioral questions, made manadatory by HR, and are not job-specific. She then asks some semi-job specific questions. After that, I ask more technical questions. I tend to stay away from the "do you know how to do..." questions that are language-specific and try to get an idea of the person's enthusiasm for the job and more general intelligence and design questions. However, I do slip in a few language-specific questions just to make sure they're on top of their game. I usually end the questioning with a written design task that is fairly straightforward, and most competent developers should be able to hammer it out in 10-15 minutes. It is language-independent, and really all I'm looking for is to see how the candidate thinks, so it is crucial that they talk me through their design.

One candidate in particular really nailed the design task, and although there were some concerns over his personality, in the end my manager decided that was worth the risk because he really knows what he is doing. He is now working under contract for our company.

Most candidates do an average-to-ok job with the task, and as long as their design made sense and they could walk us through it, my manager gave them a passing score.

Well, my manager did a phone screen on a candidate a couple days ago and seemed very enthusiastic about a particular candidate. Today was the sit-down interview.

So my manager starts out, as usual, with the behavioral mandatory questions. I guess the candidate decided this was a good chance to air all her grievances about her former projects, former colleagues, etc. About half the time she didn't even answer the question that was asked.

When she was given the opportunity to tell us a positive answer, she instead chose to tell us something negative about her former positions.

Needless to say, I could see it on my manager's face that the candidate was a big letdown after about ten minutes of this line of questioning.

Once we moved onto my line of questioning, the candidate did decidedly better, and manager to give reasonable answers to most of my questions.

So we moved on to the tasks, and I decided to try a new task. Nothing big, just write some pseudocode to traverse a directory structure and write all the files. She hesitated, she tried to write actual code, she decided that pseudocode meant to write out what would happen in steps. Overall, she totally flopped on the task.

So I moved onto the database task, an area in which she said she excelled. I guess she was just nervous at this point, because she completely tanked that task, and had a hard time even writing out what the table names would be.

After the candidate had left, I spoke briefly with my manager. About all she could say was "No." Once the candidate had gotten into complaining about her previous positions, it was over for my manager.

So, there's a lesson for everyone trying to get a job: if you get an interview, don't complain about your old jobs. The best advice I have is that if they ask you about something you don't like about your previous position, state something, but then state that, like most jobs, there are going to be aspects you don't like but you accept them as part of the job and do the best you can.

Athletic Propulsion Labs, Part II

2012-02-07T22:49:00.000-07:00

So, I finally got to lace up my Athletic Propulsion Labs Concept I shoes up right. I guess when they ship them, they come with the laces on the last eyehole going in from the outside, and that's the way I wore them the first time.

If you recall, the first time I wore the shoes to play basketball, I couldn't really say if they helped at all. Part of that was the six weeks downtime between the last time I played.

So, the second time I wore the shoes, since they were laced correctly, I found that either I had the wrong size, or something else was going on. The tongue on the right shoe bit into my ankle. I tried adjusting the tongue and scoot it over to the right more, but it didn't help. After an hour of play, I had a small bruise on the left side of my ankle where the tongue had been biting into it.

It was at that point that I had to stop playing, but not because of the shoes; I had severely rolled my ankle and as of now am resting it for another week.

So, with about three hours of playing time with the shoes, and no scientific tests, what's my verdict? Cautiously, I am going to go ahead and say they aren't worth your $150. Save your money. Buy a nice, comfortable pair of shoes. For the average baller, these shoes aren't going to do much.

If these shoes make the difference between you dunking and not dunking, then, yeah, they might be worth it. But overall, if you're an average player before, you're still an average player after.

A few things I noted with these shoes.

1. They don't seem to have as much compression in the sole as other shoes. I surmise that this is to transfer more of the energy to the front of the shoe where the springs can compress. But it does mean landings will be a bit harder than most are used to.

2. They are extremely tight at first, but seem to loosen up rather quickly.

3. I'm not a great leaper (anymore) and these shoes didn't do anything to change that. At best, I can get a few inches above the bottom of the backboard, or about halfway up a regulation net. Clearly, these shoes are not a game-changer for me.

Unfortunately for me, since I both wore the shoes to play in and waited a long time to initially wear them, I am unable to return the shoes for any credit.

Anyone want to buy a size 9, cheap?

Athletic Propulsion Labs - Concept 1 Review

2012-01-23T22:38:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, this isn't quite a rant. But, bear with me here.

Recent, I purchased a fairly expensive set of basketball shoes. Even more expensive than the much-hyped Jordan retro shoes. Now, I'm not exactly an expert on footwear, but wearing shoes similar to shoes Michael Jordan once wore is probably not going to magically turn you into Michael Jordan.

Ok, so what were these magical, expensive shoes? The Atheltic Propulsion Labs Concept 1, of course. So, now you're saying to yourself, $150? I'm not going to try and justify the price; it is what it is. They feature a "springboard" like technology in the toe that is supposed to "load" when you land, then return that energy when you jump, "springing" you up. The claim is up to 3 inches of improved vertical.

Yeah, I guess I was a little bit like "You know what, if they can improve my jump just a little, they might be worth it." I've never been the kind of person, even when I was younger, who was an aerialist. I had my moments, to be sure, and several times came close to at least touching a regulation rim. But I never skied over the competition, or get very high on jump shots, or...well, you get the picture. My game is all below the rim. It turns out that It's not only White me who can't jump, it's Asian men, too. Yao Ming doesn't count, because he mostly just stood on his tiptoes.

Well, I was back to basketball class today. It's only been one class so far, and it's after a six-week layoff, so results will likely vary. However, as of now, I don't feel like they've done anything special. I don't feel they made my game any better or, for that matter, worse. By the end of the previous semester, with regular shoes, I was able to touch the bottom of the backboard, and even go a few inches above that. Today, I could not even reach the bottom of the backboard. Maybe I'm jumping wrong, maybe I'm expecting too much. It will take a few classes for me to get back into basketball shape, that's for sure.

So, as of now, the jury's still out. I don't feel like they've done anything for me after one game. Perhaps it will take a few games for me to get used to them. Maybe they won't do anything. But, hey, you can't blame a short guy for trying to get whatever advantage he can can.

The Big Lie

2011-11-25T23:01:00.001-07:00

Banks still don't get it. They would like to point the finger at anyone but themselves. Sure, you can point to Congressional laws intended to increase home ownership, borrowers who borrowed too much, people who took out home equity loans when they shouldn't have, or what have you.

The truth, plain and simple, though, is that the banks had both the insight and the power to prevent the economic crash. They could have adhered to financially sound underwriting policies, they could have correctly sold and packaged mortgage-backed securities. Oh, screw it...if they had stuck to traditionally sound underwriting practices, let's face it, almost none of this would have been an issue. They wouldn't have issued $300,000 mortgages to people working at McDonald's, the mortgages rated AAA would have been, you know, actual AAA mortgages, derivative instruments such as CDO's and CDS's wouldn't have collapsed the market...

In short, if the banks had acted like banks instead of Las Vegas casino's, it's very possible this mess could have been avoided.

The Big Lie

Ten Stupidest Objections to Occupy Wall Street

2011-11-21T00:00:00.001-07:00

Occupy Wall Street, despite being evicted from parks, pepper-sprayed, arrested, smoke-grenaded and generally being treated nearly the same as recent Egyptian Protestors, continues on.

New York City might be tired of them, but they have new life, and the influence grows. To wit, one cartoonist has gone so far as to document - in cartoon form, of course - the top ten stupidest objections to Occupy Wall Street. Feel free to comment.

I'm pretty sure I've heard almost all of these before. The number one stupidest objection, in my opinion, even though it's not listed here, is that they "Don't have a list of demands." Well, people who hold hostages have lists of demands. These people - the 99%, including you and me, want a fair playing field. A country where we can expect that if we work hard, we can be successful, have good jobs and retire in comfort. Instead we get random layoffs, a stripped-down education system, and social safety nets being attacked.

I don't advocate "Eat the Rich." I believe in the idea that if you work hard and invent something useful or have a business that provides valuable services that you can be rich and socially responsible. I don't believe in moving paper around, creating money out of thin air, holding our Government hostage, betting against your own investments, getting tax breaks for moving jobs offshore, decimation of our environment in the name of money, etc, etc. There will always be a delicate balance between business and social responsibility. The pendulum has swung too far in the direction of business, at the expense of everything else.

Ticketmaster Strikes Again

2011-11-17T15:17:00.001-07:00

Every year at Thanksgiving, instead of Black Friday, my family and I go to the Arizona Auto Show. Generally there are coupons available for $1 or $2 off tickets.

So...I checked the website for this years show expecting to find a discount voucher or something. I see a link for E-Tickets, and I'm like, hey, I bet there's a discount there.

So I click over and, without realizing it, entered TicketMaster hell. Once I had selected the tickets I wanted, I had to put in the CAPTCHA, which was something like 15 letters. Then I found out there is a $1.50 TicketMaster Service Fee on top of the $10 ticket.

Of course, I cancelled right out of that. Last time I went it only took a minute or two to buy the tickets at the box office, for the advertised price, sans service fees.

Sorry TicketMaster. Actually, I'm not sorry. Screw you Ticketmaster.

So Then THIS Happened...

2011-11-15T23:43:00.001-07:00

I read early today - I am in the Mountain time zone - that the Occupy Wall Street crowd camped out in Zucotti Park were evicted. At least temporarily. By force, with their possessions seized and either discarded or held.

New York Mayor Bloomberg, himself a billionaire, resorted to an early-morning police raid on the park that would catch protesters sleeping and the media napping. And it worked, somewhat.

I'm sure Mayor Bloomberg, having made his own fortune on Wall Street, was licking his lips as he watched the people protesting his way of life get evicted from the park.

And then I read something like this, detailing how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who have taken over 160 Billion in bailout money, is still handing out lavish bonuses like candy on Halloween. This is what OWS is about. This is what is unfair.

When I do poorly at my job, I get fired, and with any luck, a small severance.

Apparently, if you work on Wall Street or a company connected to Wall Street, when you run the company into the ground so that it needs billions in bailout money to stay in business, you get rewarded. It's a win-win situation: do well, get rewarded; do poorly, uhm...get rewarded?

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Chase...they all should have been let slide into the giant mess of failure that was their own making. I would hazard that even letting at least one of these mega-institutions slide into bankruptcy would have been a wake-up call to the others that, hey, we're not afraid to let big companies die when they should.

That didn't happen, and here we are now. If I could go back in time and somehow stop the bailouts, I would, but time travel isn't possible and we're already way past bailing out the banks.

Waiting on the World to Change

2011-11-13T20:37:00.001-07:00

The other day, I was driving to work, when John Mayer's song, Waiting on the World, came on.

Now, my wife is not a particular fan of John Mayer. That's not really relevant to this post, true. However, she does ask me to turn the station or change the song as soon as one of his tunes comes on. This, despite his assistance in helping David Chappelle figure out why White People Can't Dance.

Back on topic, if you break down the song, you can hear the mantra of Occupy Wall Street in it. I'm not advocating John Mayer become the official musician of Occupy Wall Street (Do they have an official anything?) I am saying, though, that if you listen to the lyrics, what Mayer sings about fits Occupy Wall Street like a glove.

The people of Occupy Wall Street, they're tired of waiting on the world. No longer are they content to go about their lives and trust that the politicians and businesses will do what's in the best interest of the greater good. They're out there, for you, for me, for everyone who is tired of waiting for the world to change.

We can change it now. We can change this country within our generation. We just have to make it happen. Big steps, little steps. You don't have to camp in sub-freezing temperatures to make a difference. You just have to be willing to do things you may not be comfortable with. Things like moving your bank accounts away from the big banks. Or refusing to work for Wall Street companies, or shop at places of business that are known to buy up politicians, like WalMart.

Or, without resorting to violence, the most meaningful thing any one person can do is to go vote, and vote out every single person in Congress and keep doing that until they start working for us, not against us.

Oh, They'd Never Do That

2011-11-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

Oh, they wouldn't do that. I remember those words coming from my manager. The setting: I was discussing with him my feelings about our company's latest Wellness initiative in order to control healthcare costs.

The first year, the initiative consisted of taking a survey. If you took the survey, you got a discount on your premiums.

The second year, you had to take the survey, plus get your blood drawn. The results of your blood draw were not used to determine if you got the discount or not, you just had to take the blood draw.

This year, there was no survey. But you did have to do the blood draw, plus your spouse had to take the blood draw if they are covered. Then, and only if you and your spouse had a favorable BMI and cholesterol levels, were you eligible for the discount.

I was busy explaining why I didn't feel this was appropriate in any way, shape or form, and that I wouldn't be participating this year. I then joked that "Next year, you'll need to get a colonscopy" to get the discount. Which is when he uttered oh they wouldn't do that.

It seems to me, though, that something invavisve like that IS exactly where we're headed. I then said to him, listen, on September 10, 2001, if I told you that in the future, in order to fly, you would be subjected to an X-Ray, an invasive patdown wherein they put their hands in your pants, or both, you would have very glibly replied Oh, they wouldn't do that. Yet, in 2011, that is exactly what this mysterious they are doing.

And I use that analogy, and this ancedote of my conversation with my boss, to warn about Government and the stranglehold that big business has over it.

Let's try some on for size:

They wouldn't eliminate Social Security.
They wouldn't cut educational funding.
They wouldn't cut taxes for businesses and the wealthy in this political climate.
They wouldn't attack peaceful protestors in America.
They wouldn't give subsidies to oil companies that are raking in the profits
They wouldn't say no to creating jobs, even if only temporarily
They wouldn't allow other countries unlimited exports to the United States which would destroy whole industries in our country.
They wouldn't declare corporations to have equal rights as citizens
And so on and so on...

The problem with saying oh, they wouldn't do that is it assumes that they are rational people who generally work towards a greater good and not their own selfish goals or the wants of a small, select group. If that were true, the Occupy Wall Street protests wouldn't be occuping New York City, the police wouldn't be lobbing tear-gas canisters at protestors in Oakland, Congress wouldn't be contemplating further tax cuts for the wealthy while at the same time instituting de-facto tax hikes on the middle class and others who can least afford it, health insurance and pharmaceutical companies wouldn't be rolling in record profits while regular people have fewer and fewer options for good health care, and of course, you wouldn't have TSA agents sticking their hands down your pants and feeling your private parts.

Everyone protesting the system, in every city in every country around the world, has come to realize that they WOULD do that.

Congressional Reform Act

2011-10-31T00:51:00.001-07:00

Saw this on a comment, thought it might make a good read. How to reform Congress:*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*

No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives nopay when they are out of office.
Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%
Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS

Why I'm not at Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-24T23:33:00.001-07:00

I'm sitting here, at home. I wish I could be at the Occupy Wall Street movement. I think I want what everyone at Occupy Wall Street wants: a fair chance at the American dream, without starting with a stacked deck. Congress is more interested in finding out if an athlete injected some steroids in his ass (spoiler: he did, and so did a bunch of others) than if Wall Street banks misrepresented massive mortgage-backed securities, pushed consumers into higher-interest and higher-risk products because the profit is higher, and failing to perform basic fiduciary duties in selling and packaging mortgages, among other things.

While I have a nice job, with a nice salary, the pressures on my fully middle-class lifestyle are in full effect. This year, the company I work for sent out a letter right before the annual merit raise period, basically stating that "We don't think you can get a better job right now, so we're limiting pay raises to about 2%" (compared with up to 5%). Combine that with an increasingly invasive "Wellness" program that requires sharing your cholesterol numbers and BMI index with the company in order to qualify for a discount on health insurance. They haven't released the 2012 health care options yet, but I'm betting that, surprise, surprise, the employee share will go up and the coverage will go down...again.

I have massive student loans that, although I don't regret taking them out because school got me to where I am today, it will be decades before they're paid off.

I bought a house in 2005 that subsequently went underwater by 66% (if you're not keeping score, the mortgage principal was 300% more than the value of the home.) The bank wouldn't do anything for me. Because I had been paying on time and had never missed a payment, and I bring home a good paycheck, there was literally no program available to me. When I spoke with the bank, even insinuating that I would stop payments, they simply said "Being underwater is not a hardship." So I took the credit hit and let the bank foreclose on the house. In the only act that indicated I could beat the system, I bought a newer, larger house before letting the bank foreclose on the first house. I used the system to get a mortgage from anyone who would offer me one.

I read so many people say that it was only the "poor" banks who got robbed by people who bought more house than they could afford. While I don't say that's not true, it is also true that the banks had a fiduciary duty to make sure people were buying homes they could afford. They couldn't see past the closing, though, because a day or two after the mortgage closed - heck, even before it closed in many instances - the bank had bundled it up and sold it off to the GSE's (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac).

So, I'm here, at home, working my decent job, drawing good pay, but wishing I could do something more. But I'm barely keeping my head above water. I'm managing a family that makes it ok, but I can't take the time off to go to New York and yell at the crooks on Wall Street.

I'm glad that, even if I'm not there, and even if some of them are a little crazy, that there are people who are there, who are representing the 99%. They've had enough. Perhaps they've been laid off from good jobs in the pursuit of the next quarterly profit, or had their job shipped to China for pennies on the dollar. Or they earned good degrees at good schools and can't find jobs because corporations are hoarding ($2 Trillion) cash and NOT hiring (weren't they supposed to be job creators?). They could be people whose retirement plans were scuttled because their portfolios evaporated into nothing. Whatever it is, they're there, and I'm gad they are, because while I stay afloat here, I could be anyone of them if the CEO of the company I work for decides that he needs a pay raise.

What Does Occupy Wall Street Want?

2011-10-19T00:50:00.000-07:00

The mantra of the public media over Occupy Wall Street has started to center around a question of "What do they want?" As if they are terrorists or some other group with unified demands. I don't think it's so easy to just ask "What do they want?" I think they have to first look at, where are they coming from? The people on Occupy Wall Street are from everywhere; after all, 99% of the American populace covers just about everyone unless you're a mega-millionaire.

In my readings on this movement, everybody wants a little something different. But I think the underlying issue, the heart of the matter, the one thing that, if done, would go a very, very long way to fixing many of society's ills, is to get the money out of politics. If a magic genie popped up and said "I can grant you one wish," it would be to get the money out of politics.

Now, any good teacher can tell you that a student who is hungry doesn't learn as well. That is why many schools now offer free breakfasts. Sure, they aren't bacon and eggs, but it's something, which is better than nothing. If you've ever skipped breakfast before work, you know how this feels. You have a hard time concentrating on your task at hand, and then after lunch you're in a lunch coma for an hour or so.

Politicians, especially Congress, are always hungry. Hungry to keep their jobs, which means fund-raising, which is where the money comes into politics. As long as corporations are considered people (Thanks, Supreme Court! Not!), they can influence the government to bend to their will because no ordinary citizen is going to be able to make contributions as large as, say, Bank of America or Wells Fargo. If, instead, politicians are fed a free breakfast, so to speak, they can concentrate on the task at hand, which is representing the best interests of the citizens to Congress.

While I won't be the first to propose such a thing, here is my modest proposal:

Get a Constitutional Amendment taking the money out of politics. Any person or corporation donating money to a campaign fund should be subject to fines and or prison time. If it's a corporation, make it mandatory prison time for the top executive; after all, he is responsible for the actions of all his employees. Any candidate for a political office shall also be subject to a fine or prison time, in addition to being disqualified from being able to run for a public office, if they accept outside campaign funds.

In lieu of public financing of campaigns, the government shall provide, equally to all qualified candidates regardless of party affiliation, funds with which to run their political campaigns. Would such a system be imperfect and open to abuse? More than likely. But the system we have now isn't working. In addition to taking the money out of politics, this would probably encourage many more qualified persons to run for public offices, not just those who can put on a good campaign fund raiser.

I know, you're probably asking by now, would this cost the government money? Oh, you betcha! Did the Trillion-dollar bailout of the banks cost the government money? Even if financing all political campaigns cost $100 Billion yearly, it would be worth it. Heck, I'd even pay extra income taxes each year to make this happen. And I'm sure that it would finance itself since politics could focus more on getting stuff done and helping people than what comes down to basically petty office politics which happens now.

So by now, I've probably convinced you that this is a pretty good idea. But how does this get done? Well, Congress can vote it in with a two-thirds majority vote. But since the incumbents are part of the problem, that's a long shot at best. However, a Constitutional Convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures can also add a Constitutional Amendment if three-fourths of the state ratify it (33 and 38). Given the way our Federal Government has been bought up by big business, leaving states to fend for themselves, this isn't as much of a long shot as it first sounds. Source

So this is probably not going to happen next year, or the year after that. But I think there is enough momentum in the public mind to convince state legislatures to take up this cause and force this amendment on the Federal Government. It can be done. Contact YOUR state legislature and let them know this is something you would support.

Some other random thoughts on what else could be done:

Bring back the Glass-Steagall act. What was that? Well, among other things it established the FDIC, but more importantly, disallowed deposit banks from acting as investment banks. In other words, if you deposited your money at your local bank, they couldn't use that money to buy stocks and trade them. This act was repealed in 1999, paving the way for Bank of America, Wells Fargo, etc, to play roulette with your money on the tertiary stock and bond markets.

Repeal the Interstate Banking act. What did this do? It's primary goal was to allow banks to operate between states. If you'll recall, prior to this act, there was a Bank of America - California, Bank of America - Nebraska, etc. Each state had their own Bank of America holding company, and the funds between them could not be intermingled. This helped prevent the collapse of any one banking entity to have devastating effects on the nation as a whole. The proof is in the pudding as to how well that law went: In 2008, the Too-Big-To-Fail banks were given Trillions of dollars to keep their doors open, then allowed to swallow up smaller, failing banks, making them even Too-Bigger-To-Fail. They need to broken down into smaller companies. After all, if the public can bail them out, we can demand that the government break them up to prevent this from happening again.

Help rebuild the American worker. Stop giving companies perverse incentives to send skilled jobs offshore. Instead, they should be taxed for every job they send overseas. Not on the profit they make overseas, but for each job they setup or contract labor for overseas. As it stands, companies can now send certain types of jobs overseas and receive a Tax Credit! WTH?

Rebuild America's educational system. We used to have one of the best education systems in the world. Now, among the first-world countries, we're among the worst. When government coffers run dry, education is one of the first items to get cut. Let's make it the last. Let's give education guaranteed funds. We should consider education one of those "Must-have" expenses, like an electric or water bill. We simply can't live without it. The current state of education is that only the wealthy, who can afford private schools, can ensure their children receive a good education. Of course, this means that children of wealthy people are more likely to have an above-average income as adults than less-wealthy children. You can argue that other factors outside of education influence that, but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't be giving each and every child who goes to a public school a chance to succeed as adults. At the very least it means that it's one less obstacle to a better life.

Make voting day a federal holiday. More people will be able to vote that way. As it stands, many people are too afraid of losing their job or losing the couple hours of pay to go vote.

The track that our country is currently going down will end very badly. If nothing changes, if corporations keep buying up politicians, we are very close to a total breakdown of the system resulting in something resembling a third-world country; few if any social services, uneducated masses, unchecked violence, no safety nets, and a few "Safe" zones where the 1%-ers will live.

Is this the new Blogger?

2011-10-12T02:51:00.002-07:00

It's been awhile since I posted before today. I haven't seen all the changes that Blogger has done, and I must say, they look pretty good. I'm not sure if Blogger is the right platform, but it's what I have now.

NBA Should Be Done

2011-10-12T02:45:00.003-07:00

The NBA announced that the first two weeks of the regular season are cancelled. Games through November 14th are cancelled.

I'm hoping they lose an entire season here. Millionaires and billionaires squabbling over money just bothers me. I don't necessarily care who's right or who's wrong. Because even though I've been a Suns fan for longer than I can remember, I don't believe I'd watch any NBA games this year. You guys managed to ruin what many consider to be the greatest sport on the planet.

Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-12T02:08:00.002-07:00

I once opined that I could never make a living at trading stocks. Not that I wasn't necessarily qualified for it. I believe that I have a good analytical mind. The reason is that, as a stock trader, you don't really make anything of value. You do not provide a service that helps someone, like say a dry cleaner does. You don't produce any tangible good, like an auto manufacturer. You just...exist, making money off of other's miscues.

This whole Occupy Wall Street has caught my attention. In case you've not heard of it, it is composed of a large number of people in New York City who are protesting against the rampant greed, buying of politicians, and general disregard for people that large banks and, to a lesser extent, large corporations have become. Many news articles are out there asking, "What do they want" as if they have a specific list of demands. I don't believe the movement has a specific list of demands. I believe the movement, more than anything, has brought a razor-sharp eye to the buying and selling of politics in America today.

Don't believe me? Bank of America, AIG, Wells Fargo, and countless other banks should have gone bankrupt and their assets sold off. Just like what happens at so many smaller banks. But thanks to their fear-mongering - basically painting a picture of financial meltdown - and bought-off Congress, they were bailed out. With taxpayer money. Which many of them then took that interest-free money and...loaned it out to small businesses and individuals, right? Oh, wrong. Very wrong. They hoarded it. And they bought...US Savings Bonds! That's right, we essentially paid the banks to take the money. And by we I mean every tax-paying citizen of this country. And, to top it off, the financial meltdown happened anyways, and the large banks that had been bailed out were allowed to get even larger, buying up financial institutions like Countrywide, Wachovia, Merril Lynch, JP Morgan. The list goes on. So, to recap:

Taxpayers bailed out the too-big-to-fail banks
The banks then took that money and earned interest on it, again from taxpayers
The too-big-to-fail banks got even too-bigger-to-fail by buying up smaller banks
The common man is mad

Seriously, no one in the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court..no one saw a problem with all this? No, of course, not, because they're all looking at it through corporate-sponsored glasses. The greed is so thick in Congress and the White House that politicians can't even see their own constistuents that they're supposed to represent. They think if they throw a few public-works projects back to their homestate, they're doing something good. A bridge to nowhere, a national park here, a military base there, and it's all good, right?

As supposed representatives of the people, they're supposed to have the voice for the common man. And I'm sure the common man couldn't care less about whether Bank of America, etc, continue on as going concerns. They're more concerned about finding a good job, paying the mortgage, health care, education, food. And these are all things that our government has slowly chipped away at. By opening trade agreements that ship good-paying jobs out of the country. By allowing banks to slice-and-dice mortgages into securities and using them like craps dice at a Las Vegas casino. By not regulating health care, so health insurance companies have more than doubled premiums in the last 10 years while at the same time raising deductibles and lowering the standards for care. By raiding education funds so that the "Greatest Nation on Earth" has the education system of a second-world country. By cutting social safety nets like food stamps, social security, medicare.

These moves, and many more, trust me, have served to do nothing but move wealth from the middle-class to the elite class. The middle class is forced to pay more for the essentials, like food, gas, electricity, because some politicians saw fit to "De-regulate" the market with the claim that it would allow commodities to reach their natural value. But then companies like Enron came along and played roulette with energy. BP came along and spoiled the Gulf of Mexico because of lax regulation. Speculation on oil futures caused gas prices to spiral out of control. All at the profit of a few but the expense of many. Which is how we came to the absurd figure of 1% of the US Population controlling 85% of the US wealth. I'll say it again, because it bears repeating: 1% of the people of the United States control 85% of the money. That leaves only 15% of the money for the remaining 99%.

Yes, some of those people worked hard to start a business and create a product and did it very well, and they deserve what they earned, and it sure would be nice if they gave some back to society. And some do. Bill Gates, the richest of them all, has given half his fortune, about 40 billion, to charity. Warren Buffet, the Oracle of Omaha, has done likewise. Bill started a business from scratch and made it into what it is.

But let's circle around again. The bankers, the CEO's of company's that produce nothing but paperwork. The ones that gamble away pensions, 401K's, personal retirement funds, people's homes. They haven't produced anything of value for quite some time now. Yet their head honchos reap millions in salary, then jump from their penthouse suite and pop the golden parachute without having done a damn thing to help people. Is that fair? Did they deserve the millions paid to them? How is what they do any more valuable than, say, a sanitation worker hauling the trash away? I'd argue it's even less valuable. Which is why I could never work for a bank now.

America, if you're not upset by now, you should be. You have every reason to be. Our government is bought and paid for twice over by corporations. It's no longer a government of the people, for the people. It's a government of the corporations, for the corporations. It's the US Government, Inc. All bids must be in before election day to be considered.

Car asploded!

2011-07-25T21:51:00.002-07:00

One of my work friends has a Nissan Sentra with 150,000 miles on it. It has been having engine problems and last week it finally died and he took it to a mechanic. Apparently one of the cylinders is not firing like it should be.

So he has been driving his parent's car while they are away. That car is even older, although it has fewer miles.

Well, today we started to go to lunch in it and the transmission would take a loooong time to switch gears. It felt like it was slipping and then would engage with a *thud*. I told him to turn the car around and we'd take my car.

So with two cars out of commission, I told advised him it's time to get a big-boy car since he has a big-boy job. I can understand the allure of not having a car payment, but having reliable transportation trumps that, at least in Phoenix.

I've offered to help him negotiate a new car deal if and when he's ready. It may be soon.

Why did I start?

2011-07-19T23:39:00.001-07:00

I have done a couple days of P90X with my wife, and now my body hurts! Why oh why!

Hoarders

2009-08-17T20:53:00.002-07:00

Saw a show on A&E called Hoarders. The premise is pretty simple: find people who hoard things in their house and clean it out. The episode I saw showed a woman from Milwaukee who had four refigerators full of old and rotting food, and she wanted to keep some of it! There was also a couple with young kids who couldn't have a play date at their house because of the mess. So they finally just cleared it all out. The woman didn't stop to look at everything, she just threw it out. Enough is enough!

This makes me think, maybe my in-laws need this show. They have a similar problem, although my father-in-law has stopped keeping every newspaper. Still, there is a room in their home that you can't even enter because of all the stuff, and there is very little floor space due to the piles of, really, what is just junk. I would like to be able to contact the show and see if they would do an episode with my in-laws.

Suns Send Shaq Away, Big Cactus Experiment Officially Over

2009-06-25T18:34:00.004-07:00

The Suns have officially given up on the "Big Cactus" experiment and shipped him to Cleveland in exchange for....most likely salary relief. Oh, sure, there were some players involved, but Sasha Pavlovic is going to be bought out for 1/3 of his salary due, and Ben Wallace is likely to be bought out as well. If not, his salary is 7 million less than Shaq's. In addition, the Suns received a 2010 second-round draft pick and $500,000 in cash.

Let's face it, Sarver is reverting to his old ways and trying to save some coin. He paid big time, both in talent and money, to get Shaq, and he wanted an immediate return. Unfortunately Shaq was the square peg in the Suns round offense, and it never worked out well. Still, getting 17 and 8 last year he was at least a top-five center. He should fit in better with Cleveland's more half court oriented offense, although it's yet to be seen how he meshes with a young man who wants the ball all the time. It worked for a few years in Los Angeles.

It's tough to see the once-competitive Suns being reduced, piece-by-piece, to the Los Angeles Clippers of Phoenix. The Suns may be profitable under Sarver, but they will never be a champion.

Word has also leaked that the Suns are trading Stoudemire to Golden State for...I dunno, the number 7 pick in this year's draft, Andre Biedrens, and maybe a bag of M and M's. Don't expect to see Steve Nash sign an extension.

You Don't Know What You Don't Know

2009-06-08T19:17:00.003-07:00

A week or two back, I went out to lunch with some of my new colleagues. On the way out we passed a late-model Mercedes Benz E-Class in the parking lot. I don't know who owns it, but apparently one of the guys in the car knows who owns it. He then made the comment "I don't know how he can afford to drive that."

Now, I know a E-Class is not among the cheapest cars one can get, but it certainly is not out of reach of somebody making 70 to 80K per year. It's all about what your situation is. So I made the comment "Maybe he bought it used. Maybe he came into a great deal of money. Maybe he has no other debt. Maybe he makes alot more money than you think."

It just kind of bothers me when others make comments like that without knowing the full details. You just don't know what you don't know. In my situation, had I no student loan debt, I could probably afford a new one myself.

So the moral of this post is that you shouldn't judge other people without all the facts. Or at least enough facts to make an educated guess.

Suns are done

2009-04-18T02:23:00.002-07:00

The final game came for the Suns, and they closed it out with a win. It has been quite a few years since the Suns closed the season on a win. When interviewed, Steve Nash quipped that it was a different feeling to win and then go home, as opposed to losing in the playoffs and going home. However, I suppose that's the fate of 15 teams, to lose their last game of the season.

So, where do they go from here? Well, I have bene advocating to "Blow it up" all season. However, I think with the exception of a few players here and there, there's a good core. For one thing, after Terry Porter left the rookies and scrubs got to show what they can do - and it turned out some of them can actually play! Just goes to show what a little confidence from the coach and some consistent playing time will bring. If they can continue to bring that, I think Nash and Shaq can stick around while the young 'uns keep increasing their playing time. So, what to do with the players?

Steve Nash - definitely keep. He is the heart and soul of this team, even if he can't defend on the ball. The offense will struggle mightily without him, and he can impart alot to Dragic.

Shaquille O'Neal - Keep him, but only if he's interested in staying. Otherwise ship him off if there is a promising young big man we can get in return. A Chris Bosh or Dwight Howard type. Unfortunately there are none of those types available, so forget it. He'll be here through the end of next season.

Jason Richardson - A high-flying act, he is not consistent enough nor good enough on defense to warrant a return. Exciting? In stints, but a good on the ball defender will be a better help.

Grant Hill - I would have to say his injuries are behind him. Thanks to him not really playing for six seasons or so, he plays more like a 29 year-old than a 36 year-old. That's only one year younger than Shaq. Suns should hang on to him. He's a great player most nights and good for the locker room, too.

Matt Barnes - Ship him. I am not even sure why we signed him. He certainly did not excel in any one category and whenever he got the ball outside the 3 point line I was sure it was going up.

Amare Stoudemire - Keep him, if he's healthy. Otherwise try and make a trade for another big man. He is a defensive liability and, despite the big talk, never truly wants to be "The Man." He is also turning into a Marbury-like cancer in the locker room and on the court. What was once a promising young man has turned into someone who thinks he is better than he is. Coming off the bench would be a good way to show humble him into being a better player.

Robin Lopez - Showed some flashes of promise later in the season, and will benefit from Shaq and playing time.

Leandro Barbosa - A good punch off the bench, he could be traded for a better defensive guard along with another player.

Louis Amundson - Cheap to keep and high-energy off the bench.

Jared Dudley - Turned out to be the real gem in the trade with Charlotte. Not as gifted athletically as some of the other players, he makes up for it with smarts and efforts. For example, he actually boxes out on rebounds (Amare, are you listening?) He is also one of the better defenders, and he averaged 11 ppg during the last 10 or so games. If he can keep scoring at that pace, with his defense and effort he could become a starter.

Goran Dragic - Definitely a keeper. Sure, under Porter he was a mess. But Alvin freed the beast and he showed why the Suns were so high on retaining him. He looks like he could be the real deal to replace Steve Nash in 2-3 years.

Alando Tucker - He didn't really show any promise when he was given a chance to play under coach Gentry. I believe he will be gone by the start of next year, unless the Suns need that 13th player.

Stromile Swift - Didn't show us much, I think he was a contract filler. He will be gone.

Well, there you have my assessment. Keep Coach Gentry. Maybe in five to six years Steve Kerr will have this whole GM thing down. But he's still on the learning curve.

What has become of doing a job well?

2009-03-08T19:26:00.005-07:00

My car was no longer red. It had been about four months since I had it washed, so I decided to go in today and get it cleaned.

Now, I have been to Danny's Family Car Wash on many occassions, and have had mostly positive experiences. Today was a little different, though. To start, I did get an oil change with my carwash, since I have decided to stop going to Jiffy Lube. I have not used this service of theirs before, so this was a change.

The guy doing the oil change, a kind of creepy guy with a voice that did most of the creeping-out, tried to upsell me on an automatic transmission flush, power steering change, and an fuel flush. While the prior two probably should be done in the near future, the fuel system flush is nothing more than a bottle of fuel system cleaner that goes for $5.00 in the store and most auto shops will charge $25 for the priveledge of dumping it into your tank. He didn't really do a good job of selling the services, and I got the distinct impression that he just could not care less. Thanks, but no thanks. I declined all the extra services, paid for the oil change, then went to wait for the carwash to finish.

On this particular day, the wait for a carwash was not too bad, and the finishing area was only about 2-3 cars deep. My car came up quickly and within about 15 minutes, the attendant announced that my car was ready to go.

Now of course, since the car was pretty bad looking before, when I got in it looked good. I tipped the guy and drove home.

Later in the day, after attending a birthday party then bringing the car home, I noticed that some road tar and a few other sticky things were still on the hood. I knew they were the same as before I went to the carwash because it was in the same place. I went to get a towel, put a moderate amount of water on it, and went to wipe it down. With only moderate effort, the tar and other sticky substance came right off.

So this leads me to wonder, what has happened to the quality of service? Were the carwash attendants just too busy to notice this dirt on the hood? No, that can't have been it, because when the car comes out of the automated wash, they are supposed to wipe the water away. And it's not like they couldn't have seen it, because after all it is a car and not a SUV. My only conclusion can be that they didn't see it because they were taking shortcuts, or they did see it and just didn't care. Either way, I don't feel like I got full value for my money. Sure, the car came out cleaner than it started. The guys who vacuumed were even nice enough to vacuum the trunk and also under the floor mats, something they don't always do.

But overall, seeing as how easily a little dirt came off, it makes me wonder what happened to pride in doing a job well? In too many instances I have seen a dramatic decline in the pride people take in a job well done. Instead it's too much doing a job just well enough and moving onto the next thing.

While I'm currently not a business owner, I would like to think that if I was, I would take the time to make sure a job is done well, and everything else will follow.

This is why Chrysler is in the crapper

2009-03-02T22:25:00.002-07:00

Ok, maybe this specific example is a little egregious, but I have to think that in a world where sales are down by half, anybody coming into a car dealer packing money would be treated like a king and could, if so asked, get one's rump licked clean.

Cliff's notes of the story: enthusiastic young man tries to buy a Jeep for $24,000 cash, but the dealer first talks him into financing the car to get an additional rebate, but in the process - oops - jacked the price to $28,000. Luckily for him, his mother came and and asked the one thing we should ask of every car salesman before any paperwork is signed: How much are we paying for this car? To double the pleasure, he went to two - yes two -Jeep dealers and both tried to wring him for extra money.

I know times are tough in the auto biz. And making a little extra money where possible, yeah, that probably is a good idea. Doing it at the expense of, well, actually making money, doesn't seem like a good idea.

I personally have nothing good to say about car dealers. Maybe Saturn was onto something with the whole dealer experience. Too bad their cars were uncompetitive piles of poo. Maybe Chrysler could hire those Saturn guys to teach their dealers a lesson or two.

Suns Unleashed!

2009-02-17T20:41:00.002-07:00

As I sit here, the Phoenix Suns are putting the hurt on the LA Clippers. This a day after coach Terry Porter was dismissed and replaced by Alvin Gentry. The score is 101 to 57, Suns. It literally looks like the beast was unleashed. Like D'Antoni, it looks like Gentry is allowing the players to play to their strengths. In addition, he has let some players who don't usually get time to go out there and prove their stuff. I think this shows that when you let players play to their strengths, instead of trying to shoehorn them into a system, you can get rewarded. Will this continue? Will the Suns make a serious run in the playoffs? That is all in the future, and I can't predict the future. But for now, for this game, it looks like the Suns are playing and having fun, something that can't be said for most of the first half of the season.

Suns Fire Porter!

2009-02-15T18:22:00.003-07:00

I think this is what everyone who is a Suns fan wanted. The only thing that has to change for this to be official is for Robert Sarver to roll out the press conference and confirm it.

It's not like anyone who watches basketball couldn't see this coming a mile away. The Suns have been just horrible the last month, and it wasn't looking like it was going to get any better. Besides Nash and Shaq, everyone else looked dazed and confused on the court. Jason Richardson is a better player than he's playing. So is Stoudemire, Barbosa, Matt Barnes, etc.

I think this change will be good for the Suns to at least shake it up and see if they can get back to their winning ways and maybe make a run past the first-round of the playoffs.

Suns Coach Porter is probably fired

2009-02-14T21:52:00.006-07:00

It's about damn time Robert Sarver had the cojones to admit he made a mistake and correct it mid-season. This report out of the Arizona Republic indicates that Suns coach Porter is most likely out of a job on Monday. Oh, don't cry for him, he'll still make about 2 million dollars off of the deal. Maybe, just maybe, the Suns can salvage what is left of the season and make a showing in the 4-6 spot of the playoffs instead of being out of the playoffs. I mean, why waste what a great year Shaq is having by missing the playoffs? I believe that Porter, who said he was going to emphasize defense more, was having trouble coaching defense, and on the flipside couldn't coach the offense to fit the talent of the team, and in the end wasn't able to coach them at all. Is he a bad coach? Maybe, maybe not, but this stint with the Suns is surely not enough to judge him by. But let's face facts: with this team, he couldn't coach his way out of a wet paper bag.

If this comes to fruition - and it probably will - I expect that no players will get traded as a result. I believe that Stoudemire will return to form and maybe the other players will have a little more confidence and desire to win. I loves the Suns, but in the five years Robert Sarver has been the managing partner, he has shown no ability to build a winning team, only to destroy what the Colangelos built. If he fires Porter like he should, then maybe he is taking a step in the right direction and realizing that a winning team is a profitable team.

Nadya Suleman - villian?

2009-02-11T18:18:00.002-07:00

Clearly, this woman has issues. People are blogging all over the morality of an unwed, unemployed woman giving birth to octuplets.

I would say "Live and let live" except she never planned to be financially responsible for her children. She is unemployed, with no insurance. And this article sums up some of the financial impact the state of California, already having money problems, will incur with these births.

So, someone, please, go out there and make these people stop having babies! I'm tired of these TV shows featuring families like the Duggars, and Jon and Kate Plus 8. I get it. They have lots of kids. While the Duggars are financially self-sufficient, it is questionable how self-sufficient Jon and Kate would be without the TLC TV money. And of course, this Suleman woman is completely off her rocker. What do you guys think?

BLOW IT UP!

2009-02-10T20:59:00.005-07:00

I don't know how much more I can say about the Phoenix Suns this season. Clearly, I am not the only one noticing that, hey, they suck. Pretty badly, too. Even the local sportswriter is ready for them to blow it up and see what they can do for the future. I have to agree with most of what he says. He watches the Suns way more than I do. I missed the last two games because they were early games, to be honest, I don't feel like I missed much. It's always the same two games: Either get ahead early and try to hang on for the win, or get blown out by a younger, faster team.

I love Steve Nash and what he brings, but lately it seems like he and Shaq are the only ones trying, and Shaq only tries about 75% of the time. Hey, I call it like I see it. So if I'm going to call it like I see it, let's evaluate what GM Steve Kerr has done in the last year or so:

Traded Shawn Marion for Shaquille O'Neal. Done in good faith to improve defense and create an inside presence, he has not helped much this year.

Scared off Mike D'Antoni. He asked D'Antoni to play some D. Mike blinked and went to the Knicks instead. Now we have Terry Porter, who has proven only that he is not yet an effective head coach. Someday? Maybe. Today, no.

Signed Matt Barnes in the offseason. Maybe he helps, maybe not, but I don't think he's received a decent chance this season.

Drafter Robin Lopez and Goran Dragic. I thought Dragic was supposed to spell relief for Steve Nash. Sadly, he barely gets off the bench anymore. Robin Lopez was supposed to be the inside-backup when Shaq is having an off-night. Instead he hasn't gotten a fair chance under coach Porter.

Traded Boris Diaw and Raja Bell for Jason Richardson. At first, this seems ok. Except you realize Jason Richardson has done little else besides a few highlight dunks. Is it the system or the player? Diaw is thriving under Coach Larry Brown, while Bell has seen a resurgence. Clearly something is wrong.

Let's hope Kerr doesn't give Stoudemire away for some magic beans. They may have worked in the fable, but on Planet Orange, they don't grow into 7-foot centers.

So, I say, blow it up! And send Kerr packing. I might just be a better GM than Kerr. Of course, I have nothing to base that on, but at least I like to think I could evaluate players better.

Is the depression self-feeding?

2009-02-08T21:06:00.003-07:00

This economic crisis we have been in since late 2007, feels like fear is feeding in on itself. Let me explain: The more people hear about the job layoffs and the bad markets, the more they hold their money, which means, they buy less stuff, which means more businesses start seeing reduced earnings, which means more layoffs, etc. It's a vicious cycle, and once in it, unless there is something to right the ship, it will feed itself down to a bottom level, from which it can only go up. It hasn't gotten to that bottom level yet, and here's hoping it doesn't.

On another recession-based note, I notice that, even though the banks have taken billions of dollars in taxpayer money - which was meant to unfreeze credit markets - the credit markets seem just about as frozen as they were before. This really pisses me off. The whole reason for giving them billions upon billions was so that they could feel safe lending money again. Instead they're hogging it and all of a sudden telling longtime customers they're no good anymore. For example, American Express has cut my credit limit twice. Citibank told me they were going to raise my interest rate by 5% - for no reason whatsoever than that they think they need to make more money off of me.

I bet that in this climate, even Bill Gates would be asked for proof of income should he be trying to get a loan.

I saved $30,000 this week!

2009-02-07T16:42:00.002-07:00

Sadly, no deal could be reached on the Hyundai Genesis I have been desiring. I was close, the saleswoman asked if I would be interested at 30k. I said yes, but later she said the manager wouldn't go down that low.

With only Hyundai posting increased sales numbers in January '09 vs. January '08 (Yes, Mini did too, but they are a niche brand.) the dealer might just have the clout to reject the offer.

I can't say I blame them if they can sell the car for more than that. If they do, more power to them. I have a car that works just fine and a low payment to go with it. While I would appreciate a new car that let's me "live it up" a bit, I'm not losing sleep over it.

Sun's Woes Continue

2009-02-07T16:28:00.003-07:00

When I tell people at work that the Phoenix Suns will be lucky to make the playoffs this year, they seem surprised. I guess success breeds expectations. It's almost automatic that the Suns make the playoffs, right? Well, this season, no.

Although they won last night, the previous 12 games they lost 8. Their problems are many, and I don't believe any of them will get solved this season. Let's go over a few of their problems, as I see them:

1. Amare Stoudemire. He has always been full of potential. After seven seasons, he is still full of potential that he never delivered on. Someone needs to light a fire under this guy's ass and make him play defense and rebound.

2. Steve Nash. Nash himself is not the problem - it's when he leaves. The offense stagnates and whenever Nash rests the oppositions makes a run.

3. Coaching. Terry Porter just isn't getting across to the players or he just isn't a smart enough coach. Say what you want about D'Antoni's defense, but the man could coach offense. So far, it appears that the only thing Porter is good at is looking surprised at the referees.

4. Age. Although the Suns field four All-Star starters, three of them are on the decline, with two of them near retirement. Although I am personally nearly as old as those three, in the NBA they are in the golden years of their career. The Suns will need to make moves to develop younger players to replace them.

5. Salary. Three of those All-Star starters account for over 60% of the Suns salary. Until they get traded or retire, their salaries will hamper the efforts of the Suns to recruit promising young free-agents.

6. Steve Kerr. The man is floundering in his job as GM. His moves in all parts of the basketball business have been pretty piss-poor, and he doesn't seem to be learning from experience.

7. Robert Sarver. The man is cheap. He rode the team that Jerry Colangelo built, but he's also slowly picked it apart and shown no sports-business savvy in keeping it competitive. At least on the floor.

Watching the Suns this year is an exercise in futility. Now I know how long-suffering Clippers fans must feel.

Suns in the playoff this year? They might squeak in, but after that it'll be four and done.

Tropicana Orange Juice = Generic?

2009-02-05T23:11:00.007-07:00

I don't know if anyone has seen the new Tropicana Orange Juice boxes. I don't know what was particularly wrong with the old one, but it seems that a change was in order.

The first time my wife brought home the new Tropicana box, I thought she had gotten generic instead. Thinking about this more thoroughly, I think I may be on to something.

Thew new box is plainly a lot plainer than the old box. There is a glass of juice wrapped around the corner so that it covers part of two sides, and Tropicana is printed somewhat inconspicuously sideways on the box.

If one were to be shopping with two kids distracting them, they might mistake Tropicana for the generic.
And then once they got to the register, they might say "Oh, it's only fifty cents more than generic, I'll get this so I don't have to haul the two kids back to the Juice aisle."

Pretty sneaky if you ask me. Is this part of the new economy?
Are companies going to start ditching their designer labels and try to look more generic in the hopes that cash-strapped customers will mistake their product for the cheaper alternative? Keep your eyes open, as I think that just might be the case. For comparison, here is the old box.

Hyundai Assurance = new car?

2009-02-04T09:30:00.003-07:00

It would appear that Hyundai is on to something with their "Hyundai Assurance" deal they have been offerring.

If you check out the January Sales Numbers, every automaker was down year-over-year EXCEPT for Hyundai and Mini. Hyundai actually INCREASED sales over last January by a whopping 14%. I don't think it's a mystery that they've been offerring their Assurance plan since January 3rd.

While economic conditions for my job seem somewhat in peril, as the company CEO reported that we lost several clients yesterday, at least I could drive around in style without worrying about how to pay for my wheels if I get canned. This offer is good on any new Hyundai, including the Genesis, and you do not have to finance through Hyundai. You can finance with anyone. Seems like a good deal to me. And apparently to several thousands of others. In fact, in the last two months two of my wife's relatives bought new Hyundai's. And it's HUN-Day, like Sunday.

Super Bowl XLIII

2009-02-02T00:00:00.002-07:00

SuperBowl XLIII (43 for you non-Roman types) has come and gone. As someone who has lived through all 20 mostly-miserable Cardinals seasons, I sure wish Big Red had pulled this one off. It would have been the ultimate turn-around for a perennial loser.

Now, don't get me wrong, I personally didn't suffer through all 20 seasons. The reason is because I pretty much learned from the git-go that they were destined to continue losing pretty much until, well, forever. But, hey, as an overachieving bunch this year, it's a feel-good story if they win. On the other hand, it's a feel-good story if the Steelers win, so I guess there's no lose-lose situation there.

I do have to say it was a pretty good game, though. At least Big Red showed they wouldn't show up to the party and hang out by the punch. They came to win the game, and they played pretty well. The Steelers defense had the long ball pretty much wrapped up, but after the first quarter, once Kurt Warner got going, it was a better game. That interception touchdown right before the first half-ended looked like it was going to kill the Cardinals. To their credit, they came back and kept going for it.

In the fourth quarter, I thought the flags were never going to end. There were some very questionable calls, and although they might not have changed the game, it seemed like everything was going against the Cardinals. But they withstood six attempts to score on the defense, and Larry Fitzgerald and Warner hooked up for the last Cardinals touchdown. My mother-in-law nearly had a heart attack when he ran the ball in. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, there was too much time left, and the Steelers really earned this victory.

So, kudos to the Steelers for their hard-earned win. And thanks to both teams for making it an exciting game pretty much down to the last four seconds.

Amar'e Stoudemire must go

2009-02-01T11:31:00.003-07:00

Is it time for Amar'e Stoudemire to go? Some people think so. Judging by his play this season, I would agree that a change-up of location might do him well.

So, if he was deemed to be the franchise player a few years ago, what's changed.

Well, other than a more consistent jump-shot, not much. He can certainly score. When he decides to and when he's spoon-fed the ball. But he has trouble scoring without Steve Nash on the floor. To be fair, MOST players have trouble scoring without Steve Nash. But when he is isolated in the post, he looks lost and unsure of himself.

Amare talks about wanting to be "The Man." Well, there's talk, and there's actually being "The Man." He has shown a penchant for talking about it and not being it. For a guy of his size, he should be averaging 10 rebounds a game, easy. He's averaging 8.1, but when you look at individual game numbers, it's up and down. He has about ten games with double-digit rebounds, which pads his average, but for the most part he's about 4-8 rebounds per night.

Secondly, the defensive lapses are just so infuriating. He can't close out on his man, he doesn't box out on rebounds, he gets lost if he is screened off by his man. I could go on and on here, but then I would never get off his defensive woes.

Thirdly, when the offense isn't going through him, he tends to become uninvolved in the game at both ends. Good players find a way to become involved even when they don't have the ball. Great players can change the game without the ball.

Can we lay all the blame at his feet? I think there is plenty of blame to go around here. He's got so many people telling him how good he is. He's got owners that don't care as long as he's scoring 20 a night. He's got a coach that couldn't coach his way out of a paper bag. A GM that treats the job as part-time and is inexperienced as well.

Amar'e has made his millions. Millions upon millions. He's had seven seasons to show that he's "The Man." When he's ready to take his game to the next level, the Kobe Bryant and Lebron James level, it's up to him to put in the work and desire.

Right now, as the season moves into its second half, I think it's time to trade him. I think it's time for Steve Kerr and Robert Sarver to realize this team is past its sell-by date. It's time to explode it and start rebuilding. Steve Nash and Shaqille O'Neal come off the books in 2010. So does Stoudemire if he chooses not to opt-out this summer. It's time to start thinking young and start thinking about building through the draft.

Amar'e, we loved you when you showed so much potential. But you've never fulfilled on that potential, and now it's time to go.

Should I get a new Hyundai?

2009-01-29T21:49:00.004-07:00

I was thinking earlier of where Hyundai has been and where they are now. I have personally owned three Hyundai vehicles. My first was a 1986 Excel, and that thing had been beat to hell and back. It had a hole in the radiator, the doors didn't open from the inside, no A/C, etc. It did have a four-speed manual, and I drove that for six months before trading it in.

My second Hyundai was a '97 Elantra. This was a decent car, the engine was especially peppy and it had, for it's time, sporty tires and wheels. Unfortunately, people kept hitting me in it. So after three accidents and 2.5 years, I traded it in.

My third Hyundai is my current, a '04 Elantra. I purchased this car because at the time I needed something as cheaply as possible, but still wanted something new. This car has served me well, despite a tendency to knock on regular gas. No major repairs, and it has not stranded me except once when the battery was dead. Because the car spends a great deal of its time at home, it spends a great deal of time covered in the garage. As a result, despite some dings and scratches, the materials appear almost as new inside, with no fading or cracking. Despite being a basic vehicle, it has some nice touches, like grab handles at all three outboard passenger positions, map lights, and a nicely damped ashtray release.

Since then I have graduated from college with an engineering degree, and as a result have much more income. As regular readers (all one of you) would know, I have been contemplating purchasing a new Hyundai Genesis. This is just about the complete opposite of my first Hyundai. It has almost 300 horsepower in V-6 form (vs. 60 for my '86), it has power just-about-everything, a smooth ride, laminated windows, 17 speaker sound system (vs., uh, nothing on my first Hyundai), etc, etc. I have worked out a deal to get one for $4000 off MSRP, but still I wait.

Cardinals going to the Super Bowl??

2009-01-18T18:12:00.004-07:00

The improbable. The impossible. I looked out the window to check if pigs were flying around the house. I put in a collect call to the devil to check if it was freezing.

The Arizona Cardinals, the brunt of so many jokes and the the worse professional sports team in Phoenix, have won the NFC Championship game to go to the Superbowl.

I won't blog about the game - hell, I missed about 10 minutes of it anyway. Just the fact that since the Suns bandwagon has been waylaid of late, I will jump on the Cardinals bandwagon. have I been a fan since they moved to Phoenix? Never. But it's nice to see them put together some success. Who would have thought that they would win more playoff games this season (3) than they have ever played since coming to Phoenix (1). I certainly didn't.

I'll be happy for them if they win the Superbowl. Maybe this will inspire Shaq to hoist the Suns onto his considerable back and take them to the NBA Finals.

NBA Live '09

2008-12-22T01:38:00.003-07:00

Well, since I had recently purchased a Sony Playstation 3, I decided that now was the time to get a new basketball game. Except there are three NBA games out for 2009. Fortunately, I was able to download demo versions of them all and try them out.

I found that graphically, NBA 09: The Life had the best graphics. NBA Live '09 was second best, and NBA 2K9 had the lowest quality graphics.

Gameplay wise, NBA Live '09 topped the two others by a rather wide margin. If you play NBA 09: The Life, prepare to get your shot blocked. Often. On top of that, it's almost impossible to make a shot, or a layup. Or anything. In the one minute quarters allowed during the demo, nearly every shot I took within 10 feet was blocked, and almost nothing shot from the outside would go in. Perhaps with further practice it would be better, but I think it's completely unrealistic and if I played a whole game I would end up throwing the controller at the TV, because the final score would be the computer 200, me 10.

On the opposite end, NBA Live '09 makes it much easier to shoot and score, and the defense is a little more realistic: almost no shot was blocked. It seems the designers concentrated more on the entertainment value rather than making it a technical nightmare to master. Plus, my daughter, who is almost four, is able to play the shoot-around the precedes the main menu. Hey, if a four year old can at least partially master the controls, then maybe I have a shot. Thus, despite Tony Parker's mug uglifying the screen, this game wins for usability and I will probably end up purchasing it.

Cheap people annoy me

2008-12-22T01:19:00.002-07:00

This article that I read was really annoying. First of all, the premise is that they don't have any debt and they don't make alot of money. Well, I can almost accept that. Except they say their income averaged $44,000 over the last 26 years. Well, I don't know what the exact numbers are, but I am betting with their book deal and other side ventures, their income today may be well over $100K, which is not exactly the poor house. As someone else also mentioned, raising multiple children increases expenses logarithmically, not linearally. In other words, cheaper by the dozen is true with children like it is with donuts. By the time you get to that 4th or 5th child, you pretty much have everything you need materially to raise the kid for the next 10 or so years, with minor increases in spending for energy and food.

I admire that they have made a commitment to being debt-free and paying off their mortgage, etc, but the article basically reads like an infomercial for their website. I guess the quality of reporting is going down at MSNBC. I wonder if the family basically sent them a press release and then MSNBC reprinted it in whole and called it a day?

Welcome to the newest edition!

2008-12-13T20:57:00.002-07:00

On December 11, the newest member of our family arrived: Xavier. The process was much easier this time around, and we didn't have to stay at the hospital for four days, only one day. He came out with minimal problems, although he had decided to poo while still inside, so he came out covered in poop. I called him Mr. Poopy head. I don't think he liked it too much.

I guess I'll just call him X-man for now. We're very thankful everything went ok and to welcome this new little one to our family.

The Auto Industry takes a giant dump

2008-11-05T21:46:00.002-07:00

With the current economic climate and fear run amok, Auto Sales have hit the crapper. October 2008 sales vs October 2007 sales are down a stunning 32% across the board! Whaa!

Notably, General Motors was down a stunning 45%, and Hyundai down 31%. So, I would say that if you're in the market for a car and have good credit or cash, you can pretty much go to any dealer and name your price. Some analysts say we're approaching the point where vehicles are being purchased out of necessity, not out of desire. That is, the bulk of purchases represent cars that are no longer financially viable to maintain, or have been in auto wrecks and totaled, or stolen, etc. I suspect most are hanging on to their vehicles longer and making do.

I wonder what would happen if I were to offer, say, $4,000 under sticker for a new Hyundai Genesis? Would anyone bite? I might get a few offers at that price. We'll see how this whole not-a-recession Recession turns out.

2008-11-05T21:29:00.003-07:00

Another day, another Suns victory. Except for the Home-opening loss to New Orleans, the Suns are now 4 and 1. Not too shabby.

And I think I'm liking what new coach Porter is doing. He went 9 deep on the bench - and that's with Matt Barnes out due to a family emergency. You know D'Antoni would have gone 7, maybe 8 players deep. Steve Nash played 33 minutes, which is about as close to a rest as he gets on a close night.

Checking the box score, I like what I see. More players in the game, and the bench players don't just play the garbage minutes that D'Antoni used to dish out. The previous night in New Jersey, the Suns blew the Nets out, and Nash didn't play the last 10 minutes of the game or so. You know with D'Antoni he would have come in to play the last few minutes. There's no need for that, and Porter appears to have some confidence in his bench players, a huge boost to their playing abilities for sure.

I won't make any predictions about the season until it's at least February, but I like what I'm seeing so far.

Speedy Lunch

2008-10-22T21:16:00.003-07:00

Today for lunch, I and three of my colleagues went to Pizza Picazzo for lunch. We were seated around 12:30, had our orders in around 12:45, but did not get served until almost 1:15. Meanwhile, two old biddies that were seated after us were served about ten minutes before us. I would have to say, this was probably the slowest lunch we had in awhile. To top it off, it's pretty expensive for one slice, a salad and a drink.

I think if someone suggests this place again I will pass. Some of these upscale eateries definitely define the law of diminishing returns. You pay more, but the food is hardly better.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

The housing slump claims another

2008-10-22T21:08:00.004-07:00

No, I'm not behind on my mortgage. In fact, I have more than enough money to cover the monthly expense. And no, the bank behind it didn't go under. No, what it did is make it difficult to move to Washington, DC, to take the lucrative Bureau of the Census job. Unfortunately it is not lucrative enough to pay for 2 homes, even if one is relatively cheap.

Now, I did inquire about two things that, if they were offered, would probably have swung me over to taking the job: student loan payoff and assistance in selling my current home. Neither is offered, and they would have been quite helpful in making my decision.

That, combined with my family living here and the uncertainty of my wife's job compelled me to turn down the job offer from the Bureau of the Census. In short, I don't believe it will be possible to sell my home at a price that will cover the outstanding principle on the mortgage, and if it does sell it would probably take at least 6-12 months. Sure, I could try and lease it, but that's another complication I'd rather not take on. And I'd probably be leasing at a loss anyways.

One other thing that also factored into the decision to decline the job: the job is primarily programming in SAS. I have no idea how good that is, or how difficult it is. However, I looked it up and it's not an exactly in-demand skill. So by working there I would not be working with technologies that necessarily increase my value to the general software development community. While it's nice to believe that you'll spend a long time at one job, the reality is that I would probably not spend more than 5 or 6 years in one position.

So, hasta la vista, Census Bureau. I did leave the door open a crack and mention that I may be interested in six month's time, as the timing is certainly unfavorable for me right now.

Tough Choices

2008-10-01T20:08:00.002-07:00

So, I recently did a phone interview for the Bureau of the Census for a position in Maryland. Ok, I thought, I'll do the interview, see what happens. Well, as it turns out the position would probably be not too shabby. They can even match my current salary.

So, here's where it gets really interesting. Of course the government has great benefits, much, much better than a private company will likely offer. You get a pension PLUS a 401K. And they'll start me off at GS7, or Government Salary, Grade 7. You can check out the pay here. But I'll come in even higher than a GS7 Step 10. There is a 15% signing bonus, as well, which would amount to around $8500, which could hold us over for any extra living increases until I get my first raise. Now it gets really interesting: Every year, assuming you don't get fired, you go up two grade levels, plus two steppings. This means that in about 5 years, maybe less I would be making approximately 100K. 100K! Plus it would be a great resume builder if or when I decide to do other things. There are few organizations who deal with as much data as the Bureau of the Census. Plus I would get to work on things that, well, seem a bit more important than building a website intended for smokers.

It really is a tough call, and the primary component preventing me from making a decision is that my family, and my entire family, is here in the Phoenix area, plus Jennifer's family is here, too.

I did some research into housing in the area and prices are comparable, at least in the area of the Census. I saw a 10 year old house for around 295,000, which is perfectly within what I could afford in a year or two. Now, if you go to DC, it goes up into the ridiculous range.

Plus, the office is only 8 miles from the White House!

Well, the HR department there has to revise their offer in order to match my salary, so that gives me an extra week to think about it. Plus I think they may offer to fly me out for a day or so to tour the area. We'll see how it goes.

A really, really rude driver

2008-09-05T21:28:00.002-07:00

So, I was coming back from my trip to LA. Anybody who's driver I-10 from LA to Phoenix knows it's pretty straight and boring. In order to speed up the trip a bit, yes, I was going a little over the speed limit.

Anyway, I had been making pretty good time, and whenever I encountered someone in the left lane going slower, they generally moved over. I had to pass on the right only once or twice.

Well, we had stopped to get gas just inside the AZ border, and then hit the road again. Again, I was trying to make good time. I pulled up behind a Buick driving a little slower than me in the left lane. Now, usually it takes a few moments, maybe even a minute or so, before someone who is cruising along will realize someone is behind them wanting to pass. I waited this minute or so for this guy to get over. No dice. So I passed him on the right and continued on.

Apparently, this pissed him off. I guess he thought I was going too fast. He sped up and passed me - I graciously moved to the right lane when he came along, showing him how to courteously move out of the way - then got back in front of me. Then he proceeded to SLOW DOWN again. Now, I had been on cruise control for most of the time, so it's not like I had changed my speed. So he was intentionally getting in front of me. He then proceeded to tap his brakes so that his brake lights would come on. I wasn't falling for it, though, and when he had slowed down significantly I passed him on the right again.

Apparently, this double-pissed him off. He came up behind me, then proceeded to pass me and make all kinds of hand gestures. At this point we came up on some traffic. So he proceeded to wash his windshield for about 2 minutes knowing I couldn't pass him. As anyone knows, following someone who is washing their windshield while at speed is unpleasant.

At this point I really wanted to tap his bumper or get in front of him and do an emergency stop, but since my family and in-laws were on-board, I decided to use some prudence, back off, and cruise behind him.

Fortunately, traffic started getting heavier, and I was able to pass him and put some traffic between us, so that was the last I saw of him being rude. Still, it pissed me off that he was such a rude driver. I wonder if he thought I was going fast enough and that no one should pass him? I don't know. I do know that people like that make driving unpleasant.

What happened to the Genesis?

2008-08-28T23:06:00.002-07:00

Officially over. The dealer I had thought would be willing to deal a little ultimately decided it was not in their best interest to deal with my offer. I emailed them an offer and said they have til the end of the month. Now it's the end of the month and they have not indicated any kind of acceptance. Their loss, I say, as it was a fair offer.

I noticed that the new Mazda6 is getting pretty good reviews, so maybe I will look at that. Or maybe in a year I will be looking to pick up a 2009 Genesis on clearance.

No Genesis

2008-08-17T09:54:00.002-07:00

So I went to a fourth dealer in search of my Genesis. They had an acceptable color combination (blue/black) and we went for a test drive. Jennifer also drove a short distance and remarked that it was nice and quiet, and that getting up to speed on the freeway didn't seem like a problem. These are the things you can't find out at a car show!

Well, they wanted 2199 down and 494/month plus tax. I could have probably gotten them to 470 or so per month seeing as a) I am a returning Hyundai customer, and b) I bought my current Hyundai at that dealership.

Once we started talking about trade-in, things kind of went south. First, they only wanted to offer 3000 for my trade-in. This on a car with a 5200 balance and a blue-book value of 4800. It does have some minor body damage, but they are really ripping on the trade-in value. The salesperson even admitted they would probably sell it for 6999 or something, even with the bodywork and everything they're looking at an easy 500-1000 in profit, way more than they're making on the Genesis lease.

They didn't want to budge on the trade-in, though, and I wasn't willing to go sky-high for the car payment. So we were at an impasse. I thanked him for his time and courtesy - he was by far the most pleasant and laid-back car salesperson I had spoken with to date - and drove off in the old Elantra.

The main reason for me to try getting a new car this month, or last month, was to take advantage of special lease offers. After talking with four dealers, I don't think it's going to happen for at least 6-9 months. Besides that, in 6-9 months I'll have a better idea of what my money situation will be, the Elantra will have more money paid off, and my credit score should be even better.

Another Day, another Dealer...

2008-08-08T17:06:00.003-07:00

Today I visited another Hyundai dealer since I had some free time thanks to a 1/2 day at work (company party.)

Well, to start I test drove a red Genesis with a cream-color interior. I think they call it cashmere. Whatever, the car only had 175 miles on it yet the interior was already showing scuff marks on the doors and even the center console. But this was the only red one they had, so off we went. I started by driving down to the nearest freeway and getting on. Again, the sensation of getting up to speed was not like anything I had driven before. No jarring shifts or screaming engine, just calm, relaxed speed. Drove about five miles on the freeway, then got off to take the surface streets.

Again, much quieter than any car I have driven. This car had the 18" wheels, and it did seem to be more sensitive to manhole covers and the like. I gunned it away from a couple of stoplights and the engine put out a nice growl but did not seem overworked. Unlike the previous test drive, the A/C managed to get cold this time, so it must have been the previous car that I drove.

All in all about a 12 mile loop, and again it felt like a nice ride.

Many reviewers have been commenting about the dealer experience as being key to moving upmarket. This dealer must not have gotten the memo. In stark contrast to my previous experience, where I was treated in a mainly low-pressure way and given a pretty decent lease deal without much harassment, this time the salesperson started with "What can I do to earn your business today?"

Well, first of all, they didn't have the color combination I would have liked. So that was big negative. Then their first offer on price was almost $3000 above sticker. Second negative. I like the car, but I'm not paying more than sticker for it. If they want to play that game I can wait or buy another car.

When I mentioned the trade-in, the guy tried to get my car keys to evaluate the trade-in. I smartly held on to them and said we'll talk about the trade in after we talk about the Genesis. He tried one more time, but I was adamant in not giving up the keys.

Well, he came back with a lease deal he claimed was "good" for $575/month. No way. For that much I can lease an actual Mercedes E-class if I wanted to. So we went back and forth a few times, with them "Finding" the color combination somewhere around the valley, and then making a lease offer at $481+tax per month.

I thanked him for his time and left - having spent about 75 minutes total with the dealer. Another person - presumably the sales manager, came out to ask me about what I was cross-shopping, etc, before I left. He didn't try to to pressure me, probably just doing some market research on potential buyers.

So, yeah, I think the dealer experience is going to have to improve. Maybe have a few salespeople who specialize in the Genesis, maybe build a special office/lounge area off to the side for potential Genesis customers. I don't know, but they will probably have to address this aspect sometime in the near future if they have aspirations of succeeding in the Luxury car market.

The Genesis Saga continues

2008-08-06T23:08:00.003-07:00

The Genesis saga continues. I was reading some automotive forums on the Genesis today, and it appears the lease offer that was supposed to end on the last day of July has been extended. Possibly this is because the V-8 model has been delayed somewhat. Maybe they just want to get them off the lot. One thing's for sure - it makes it more attractive to me. There is even rumor of a lease offer with $1800 down and $400 monthly.

On a related note, our Hyundai Elantra has now blown its third headlight in less than a year. I don't know about you, but it's pretty annoying. Getting the new headlight in is a pain in the rear, which is probably why they are not lasting very long, because they are getting some grease on the glass. If I were to go ahead and trade in the Elantra, I would probably need to get the windshield replaced due to some small cracks, and possibly have the bumper repaired for some minor scuffing which happened when we lived at the apartments near ASU.

Back to the Genesis. I have been reading many reviews, especially those from others who either bought one or test drove them. Mostly positive, with the worst criticism seeming to be that it is too much like other luxury cars - which is sort of the point, really.

Some guy mentioned that an Audi A6 only costs a few grand more. I looked it up and to get it similarly equipped as the top line V-6 Genesis it's 12K more. That's quite a bit more than "a few more." And it's front-wheel drive at that price range. And smaller. Granted, a lease deal may only be a hundred or so more per month, but from what I have seen of the lease deals on BMW, Mercedes-Benz, etc, it probably follows that it is for fewer miles than the Genesis lease deal.

I may try and get the wife and kid down to the dealer this weekend to test drive one and see how she likes it. Plus, bringing the kid along will make negotiation easier - nothing like a screaming kid to bring out the dealer's best.

Stay tuned to me Genesis saga...

No Genesis for me...

2008-07-30T20:04:00.002-07:00

For now, anyways. I though it over, and I would like to pay down some more debt before I get a new car. Yes, it would have been nice, but I did some math, and while the payment itself wouldn't be too bad, and the insurance also would only run about $77/month, factoring in the $200+ I would pump in gas every month kind of put it over the top in terms of holding back. The dealer did come up with some extra leeway as the end of the month nears, but they would probably have to drop the lease down to $350 for me to consider it this month. I will look again in another month or two and see how the $$ situation is. I also want to see how inventory levels go and if they put any kind of discounts on the car. I heard rumors that some dealers in the LA area are offering up to $4k off the sticker. I checked the websites of some of them and they have 20-30 in stock, which is usually how many Accents the local Hyundai guys have in stock. Maybe if one of them LA dealers was willing to work something out, it would be worth a quick trip to LA.

If I do land that 75K job, the money matters would matter less. However, I have not heard anything from that company at this time, so I must make do with the job I have.

I did see an ad for lease on a Mazda 3 for $139/month, but I think the up-front money was more than what Hyundai wanted for the Genesis. Once we have two children, I think the justification for a second car will be stronger.

But for now, we soldier on with the 2004 Hyundai Elantra.

Hyundai Genesis notes

2008-07-27T14:53:00.003-07:00

So I went and test drove a Hyundai Genesis today. It is a fairly nice car, and when I took it up on the freeway I was at almost 80 without realizing it. It is quiet and seems to have decent power, and thanks to its six-speed transmission it never seemed to be in the wrong gear. The leather-covered dashboard was pleasing, and there is plenty of room in the back seat, especially when I moved my seat to my preferred setting. I thought the standard 17" wheels looked ok, but a little skimpy in the wheel wells. The 18" wheels really fill it out, though.

As stated before, it is a large car for a Hyundai. I didn't seem to notice the bulk when I was driving it, though, and nothing about the driving dynamics suggested that it would be terrible. The A/C failed to get adequately cool in the 10 mile loop I drove. I don't know if that's just because it has been sitting in the sun or if the A/C is not powerful enough. Quite honestly, I have found that American and Korean cars have the best A/C, while Japanese cars are barely adequate in our desert heat. So this surprised me a bit that it never really cooled down. Like I said, it could just be a fluke of the particular model I was driving.

Now, down to the money details. A 24 month lease will run 427 per month, all taxes included. That is a pretty hot deal on a $36,000 car, and I understand Hyundai is doing this, in part, to get them out on the street and into the public's perception. The last time I was paying $400 a month for a car all I got was a Nissan Sentra. So this would be a pretty good deal - for that car. Whilst I can certainly fit it into the budget, the big question is should I? The easy answer is no - save that money. However, as I have graduated from college and earning good money, I am tempted to get a car that says, in part, that I have arrived. Somehow, a 2004 Hyundai Elantra doesn't really say that.

I will mull this over somewhat and come to a decision within a few days. The dealer did mention that I could take the car for an extended, overnight test drive if I wanted to.

I'll update you next time on what vehicle I am driving.

Death is just a part of life

2008-07-26T12:10:00.004-07:00

Forrest Gump's mother, played by Sally Field, was pretty wise. And so it came to pass today that the final part of our cat's life happened. He had not been looking well the past couple of days. I thought he was getting better yesterday, but today I came down and found him in the kitchen, laying in the sunlight. Usually I can see his sides move as he breathes, but I noticed that his sides were not moving. So I bent down to poke him. He did not respond to the poke, either. He was also cold and stiff. So I got a box out, put down a bed of newspaper, and lay him in there. I then woke up my wife to ask her if she wanted to say her final goodbye to Kitty. An hour later he was at the vet's office awaiting cremation.

Kitty came to us six years ago as a stray cat we coaxed into our apartment. He's been with us ever since. We got him neutered, and he had a bout of a urinary tract infection. In retrospect we probably should have brought him to the vet when we noticed his condition the other day, but I wanted to wait and see if he would get better. He never got better, and we will miss him.

Our other cat, Kiki, looked a bit sad about what had passed. She stooped down to look at him for a minute. I also had to explain to my daughter, Kaitlyn, that daddy cat went to sleep and he won't wake up. I'm not sure if she'll understand right now, but she understood the sadness of my wife and I.

Goodbye Kitty, we will miss you.

Hyundai Genesis

2008-07-23T19:50:00.002-07:00

I saw one of these on the road today. I have to say that, the pictures do not do it justice. It definitely has a presence that most other cars don't have. I would consider getting one, if only I wasn't so much in debt. They are having an attractive lease offer, though. Maybe I'll inquire about it.

Update on job application

2008-07-23T19:05:00.003-07:00

A couple of entries ago I blogged about a higher - much higher - paying job I ran across. Will, I did submit my information plus a cover letter basically begging for the job (maybe not begging, but making it clear I am here), but I have heard nothing back from them. So, I will wait and see what happens. Hopefully I can at least get an interview.

The perfect hybrid car?

2008-07-20T16:54:00.003-07:00

The higher gas prices rise, the more people talk about hybrid vehicles. General Motors is developing something which I believe will be the perfect (for the forseeable future) hybrid.

One of the reasons why current cars are so fuel-inefficient is that at most speeds they are making more power than they need. This is basically because moving the car forward is a pretty straightforward mechanical equation, i.e. the engine must turn a certain number of RPM's when the transmission is in a certain gear to move the car forward at a certain speed. At most speeds, the car is creating excess power. CVT transmissions can alleviate this to some extent, but they have their own drawbacks as well.

The solution so far has been parallel hybrids and, to a much lesser extent, battery-powered cars. Parallel hybrids have the ability to move the car forward from battery energy, directly from the gasoline engine, or some combination of the two. A battery car only has an electric motor and batteries. The drawback from the parallel hybrids is that it is a very complex system, with complex transmissions and computer electronics, making them somewhat expensive, and the experience is not entirely transparent. The problem with battery-powered cars is they typically have a very limited range. The EV1 that GM made in the 90's got up to 100 miles on one charge at best.

So, here's GM coming out with something new that they promise for the 2010 model year, which is only like a year away. It's a series hybrid. What does this mean and how is it different? Well, those familiar with locomotives will recognize what a series hybrid is, as they have been used in the railroad industry for quite sometime, albeit without batteries. Trains need good low-speed power, but internal-combustion engines tend to be most efficient at higher speeds. The solution is for the train's engine to provide electrical power for electric engines which drive the train. This also has fuel-saving benefits.

The GM Volt, as it has been dubbed, is a series hybrid with batteries to provide a short batteries-only range. They claim it will travel up to 40 miles on batteries alone, and then a small gasoline engine kicks in to provide electricity for the engine and to recharge the batteries. The batteries may also be charged through a household outlet. This is at once less complex than a parallel hybrid and more efficient. It is less complex because the only thing the gasoline engine has to do is turn a generator. It does not need to move the engine through the transmission, and thus the transmission can be of a greatly simplified design. It is also more efficient because the gasoline engine can make exactly as much power as the car needs at the time. It will almost never be generating more power than the car needs. It can also run within a fairly narrow and efficient engine speed most of the time, creating greater fuel-saving benefits.

Until we can get electric cars that travel 300+ miles on a single charge, I think the Volt is geared up to be one of the better interim vehicles. Let's hope GM doesn't mess this one up.

Considering changing jobs

2008-07-17T20:27:00.002-07:00

So, not to say that I'm unhappy about my job. I'm not. I think it's pretty laid back and relaxed. In fact, today I was the first developer in and the rest didn't roll in til around an hour or so later.

Anyhoo, I was looking around the Internet at the job postings, and wouldn't you know it, there is a job out there that I feel I am qualified for, but with up to 31% better pay. At these levels of pay, that's not chump change. In fact, the difference in pay amounts to what I earned in 1997.

I feel torn. On the one hand, the company I am working at now was grateful enough to offer me a job right out of school with pretty good pay. On the other hand, 31% better salary. And when you have debt like I do, 31% means getting it paid off that much faster. The sanitation factors are negligible: health care would probably be about the same, the commute is +/- 4 miles of each other. The biggest advantage would be working in a larger, better-established company that is likely to have a much more structured development environment which would be more conducive to learning for someone like me. Don't get me wrong, I like winging it as much as the next guy - but when you spend half your allotted time on a project figuring out what the code does because the previous developer didn't put so much as one line of comments in there...well, it's a pretty tough way to learn.

I don't want to be seen as a job-hopper, but if I can earn 31% more for doing essentially the same work, why shouldn't I try? Tough call.

I might just hang out for a year and then see what is available in the job market. Although if I were to try for this job I could always omit the fact that I'm currently working since it's only been a couple of months since graduation.

Baby Fish

2008-06-26T16:05:00.002-07:00

This is a couple weeks old, but one of our guppies had some baby fish! I had actually gone to the fish store earlier that day to get some live birth stuff, mainly a birthing trap and a baby net. Well, I was going to go down to sleep and came down to get a drink. I passed by the aquarium and lo and behold there is a tiny little fish swimming in there. I immediately put the fish in the birthing trap and started scooping up what babies I could find. All in all, we were able to keep about 23 or so of the babies. One died in the fish net because it was stuck in the net before I took it out of the tank, and a few that were not in the baby net may have been eaten by the other fish. I guess it's true, big fish eat little fish.

So, they will live in the baby net for a month or two, basically until they are big enough to not get eaten by the other fish. I will separate the males from the females because we don't need to have a constant parade of guppies giving birth! They are known as the "Million fish" for those who don't know, because they can give birth ever four weeks or so, and the females can give birth about six months after being born.

I will have pictures up later, but it will be interesting to see them.

The first week of the rest of your life

2008-06-15T03:46:00.002-07:00

The first week of the rest of my life has come and gone. By which of course I mean having an actual job doing work that I actually want to do. It is quite refreshing from doing tech support, I tell you what.

A few things felt weird to me:

Knowing I was coming in and am NOT the lowest-paid developer. In fact I'm sure there are several people there who were recently hired with lower salaries simply because they don't have the degree. I feel that I could have taken this type of job a year or so ago, but would have been offered about 20% less salary due to lack of degree. So I know that others working there who do not have the same degree or do not have one at all may be working for less money.

Coming to work and not being in the lowest department that involves working with the tech, i.e. tech support. Basically, it's almost the opposite, since developers are near the top in terms of tech support. Really there's only a couple classes of jobs that are considered higher in the tech world: Network admins (REAL network admins, the kinds that configure huge routers along Internet backbones and stuff and have twelve different kinds of certifications, not the kind who set up the office LAN and configure an Exchange server), and database administrators, the ones who are always on call if the database server goes down. They deal with the physical and logical setup of the databases, whereas database developers only worry about getting data into and out of the database.

So this first week I didn't do much, obviously. I had let them know during the interview that I am ready to learn the tools and technology they use, but don't expect me to come in and step into the starting line-up right away. On Monday I didn't do much at all, just filled out some forms and looked at some general stuff about the technology they're developing. By Tuesday I had some basic tasks assigned to me, and by Friday I had pretty much finished all the basic tasks that had been assigned to me that week, which amounted to four jobs. I did spend an inordinate amount of time laying out a single web page because I was trying to get comfortable with web page layouts, but the coding for the page functionality only took like 30 minutes. Oh well, I guess that's the process of learning.

On Friday I received my first paycheck, which was only for this week. Lo and behold, the amount is basically the same - within a hundred dollars or so - of what I used to make in two weeks. When I saw that check, I knew I had done the right thing in persisting to get my degree, even though some people didn't think I would make it. To which I say "Booyah!"

Job Update

2008-05-28T21:20:00.003-07:00

Well, I have finally settled on a job. Barring any unforeseen events, I will begin on June 9th. This job is a better one, in my opinion, than the offer I had accepted before. First of all, the pay is 14% better. More time off. More database development, which is where I wanted to specialize anyways. Also, I feel more comfortable with the people. The two project managers I will work for graduated from ASU and the same school, so they know where I'm coming from. Nothing like working with fellow alumni. I figure I'll be there for one or two years, get my feet wet, then search out a job that pays even better, assuming I'm tired of working for the current company.

The thing about all this is that what makes me feel better is that I got not one, but two job offers on the same day. The company I had ranted about previously for using the "Laundry List" actually offered me a position with the highest pay, but I feel that the job I accepted, although down a bit on pay, will be the better choice long-term. I did enjoy feeling like I was wanted, though, and it makes me feel better about the interviews I have been to.

One thing that has surprised me about this whole process is the speed with which I was made offers. The shortest one was within a few hours, the longest one was two business days. In my previous life, I was used to waiting at least 2-3 days for an offer, if not longer. Apparently the type of work I'm going into has a real scarcity of both talented people AND people educated specifically to work in this field. The numbers back this up: At this year's graduation, there were about 30 computer science graduates, and over 100 MBA's handed out. Me thinks that computer science graduates are more in-demand than MBA's, although I am still contemplating going for an MBA in a few years. This last Tuesday, I received two job offers, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. If the company that called in the afternoon had called in the morning, I would probably have committed to them instead of the company I have now committed to working for.

As far as the pay is concerned, I believe I would have been offered roughly the same pay no matter where I went, be it LA, New York, etc. In fact, I have read of people backing out of government jobs in the IT field because they just don't pay well enough. I read a story of one fellow who had to contemplate an offer from an agency in DC which is below what I have negotiated salary-wise, and he just couldn't make the numbers work because of the high cost of loving in DC. I think some companies have to wake up and start being more competitive for talent, because if they aren't, people like me are going to walk away from the job for a 20% hike in pay.

Update on the Job Search

2008-05-23T13:14:00.004-07:00

Here is an update on the job search. The company that I ranted about using the "Laundry List" actually surprised me and invited me in for an interview. So I went, and answered the questions as best I could and also put in my two cents about how I may not have alot of experience but I am out here to do this kind of work because that's what I want to do. I think there is a strong possibility that they will make me an offer. The office is just down the road from ASU, so I could conceivably have lunch with Brent from time to time while he's still in school.

I also went to another job interview which is the only one I have had from a staffing agency. Let me back up and tell you about the staffing agencies. I have been contacted by at least four staffing agencies, and met with a couple of them. But of all of them, only one has secured an in-person interview with the actual company. Today was that interview. I was quite surprised to find out that the two people I interviewed with were ASU Computer Science graduates! I am sure that certainly helped me a bit. Probably quite a bit, actually. They also asked me some questions near the end that make me feel that they will make an offer. Hopefully it is a good offer.

Assuming no other offers come along, though, I will start work on June 2nd at the company I interviewed with last week.

For not being in school and all, I sure have been busy with all these interviews and whatnot. It's a little tiring, and maybe next week I will decline any interviews and just relax the whole week and see what happens from these two positions I interviewed for today.

My wife has left me

2008-05-16T11:44:00.001-07:00

More specifically, she left me home alone when we were going to see the doctor together. Backing up, we are pregnant and due in December. Today was supposed to be our second doctor's visit, but she got mad that instead of taking a shower right away I checked my email. So she went to the doctor's without me.

Kind of disappointed on this.

Yet another clueless interviewer

2008-05-16T02:51:00.002-07:00

Today I received a phone call from a company interested in my resume. When they called they woke me up, so I agreed to a phone interview a couple of hours later.

Fast forward two hours and the guy calls back. I am talking to him and his "interview" pretty much consists of "Have you worked with such-and-such software/language?" And he goes through a whole list of them and it's obvious he isn't really interviewing, just doing a screen on qualifications. I got off the phone with him and I don't really expect anything else from them, since because of my not having worked with 99% of the development software available, I had to tell him that I did not have experience in most of what he listed off.

What really ticks me off, though, is that they're going to dismiss me simply because they don't feel that I have the "qualifications" to do the job, when all they're really looking for is someone who has used the exact tools they are already using. It occurred to me that through this "Interview" they didn't find out one single thing about me that was useful in determining if I had the aptitude or desire to do the job, only that I hadn't worked with the exact mix of software tools they are using.

This reliance on a "laundry list" of qualifications is really starting to tick me off, actually. So many companies won't even consider you if you don't have experience with at least 1/2 of the dozen or so technologies they'll list off. They don't even consider for a moment that the right person might not have used the exact list of technologies, but if take the time to train them on these new technologies, they might just surprise you. It really is frustrating when HR person after HR person says to you "You seem like a smart person, but you don't have the skills we need. Check back with us when you get some experience." But what they actually mean when they say skills is "experience with the tools we use." Which is completely different than skills as they put it. In this case, they are seeking experience with certain software tools. The skills they need are software development skills, which are entirely different. I can teach a monkey how to use the tools, but that doesn't make it a software developer. I wish more companies would stop to realize that taking the time to teach a few tools can net them better results than just putting out a laundry list of tools and hoping to find someone who has worked with that exact toolset. Personally, I'd rather take a chance on a someone who is intelligent but maybe not as experienced than someone who has alot of experience with the different tools but doesn't seem so sharp.

I know that one day I will be asked to evaluate potential job candidates and I will probably have the laundry list in front of me, and when that happens, I hope I can ignore the list and find out if the person is smart and interested in the type of work I am offering rather than if they just have experience with the set of tools we work with.

Officially Done!

2008-05-14T23:38:00.003-07:00

I know, the previous entry said I'm done. Now it's official. My final grades got posted, and I passed every course. GPA: 3.03. Not bad, and still (slightly) above a B average. Most companies that interview graduates are looking for a 3.0 or above, so for me it was critical to maintain that above a 3.0. Of course, I was also going on the theory of "What do you call the medical student who graduates last in their class? Answer: Doctor."

I have already secured a job offer, the pay is at the lower-end of what I would expect for a new Computer Science graduate, but it is still almost twice as much as what I was making on the help desk. I will start in 2.5 weeks, unless I get a better job offer. Unfortunately, the benefits are not that great, even extending to no actual vacation time until a year of service, and medical/dental/401K not kicking in until at least 6 months. If this is the case, and I should land a contract job for 10K more, I would have to take that contract job because, all things being equal I would be making more money with approximately the same benefits.

I honestly would not mind being out of work for another few months, but I know I need to start paying down all that borrowed money. And that whole lottery thing hasn't worked out yet.

I am looking into some independent development opportunities. First of all, there are opportunities for mobile programming like you wouldn't believe. Google has their Android platform, Apple has the iPhone platform. Both are inviting businesses and individuals to create content for their platforms, with the difference being that Apple already has a plan in place for developers to re-sell their applications. The only drawback is that the developer needs a Mac to do the development, and I don't have a Mac. To that end, I am thinking about selling the laptop which I am writing on now and purchasing a Mac in its place.

So many possibilities right now, I feel like the world is mine to take. I'm glad that the corporate world will be there to crush my spirits. Eventually I'll view the world as cruel and evil.

Finally Done!

2008-05-08T21:57:00.003-07:00

Finally Done! Tomorrow I will walk across the stage and receive my fake diploma and I will be done with my undergrad degree!

First, here's a fun video, even though it's from '99, it's still good.

Anyway, four years of hard work and perseverance have paid off, and I am now fielding potential job offers nearly 2X the salary I was making before, and most importantly, I don't have to talk to the customer (on a regular basis....man I hate tech support.)

Although I like to think I did alot of this by myself - and believe me, I didn't see any of you doing my homework or taking my tests - I think I have to name a few people without their help or example it would have been a much tougher road.

My mother, for showing me that no matter what obstacles get thrown in the way, if you want something you CAN go do it. Eight kids? No problem. I only have one, so it should have been a piece of cake.

My friend Brent, who helped me through quite a few assignments, and showed me that no matter how old you are going back to school, someone older is there with you.

Casey Smitheran, the Computer Science undergrad adviser. I always knew I could count on him to provide the right answers and make sure I'm taking the right classes to get through on time. Quite honestly, the other undergrad advisors sucked. Maybe I should write a letter to the CS advising office on this matter.

My friend Dave who understood when I quit my job with him in order to go back to school and finish what I started. Maybe he has another job for me now?

My sister-in-law and my dentist, who gave me a nice new smile just in time for graduation. Thanks Marissa!

And last, but certainly not least, my lovely wife Jennifer, without her support I could not have done this. She is the inspiration that made me realize I wanted a better life with her, and the road to a better life starts with getting a degree or winning the lottery. And that second road is closed most of the time. Even when she thought I wouldn't finish, she supported me, both financially and emotionally, and I want to let her know how much I love her and how much she has meant to me going through this process.

When I turned in my parking permit, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, only to be replaced with a new weight of getting a job. But I like the new weight, it pays better :) Plus, it lets me watch TV and play with Kaitlyn without feeling like I have to do some homework.

On the Hunt

2008-05-02T00:14:00.003-07:00

For those who know me, I am graduating from college - COLLEGE - in a week. While I am very proud of this achievement, it has also started stressing me because I should get a job now. I am getting a pretty good degree - Computer Science - but having some trouble finding a job. There are a couple of factors at play here:

- The old "No Experience" catch-22. About 80% of the job-postings want at least 2 year's experience in software engineering, and about 1/2 of those want at least 5 year's experience. But how am I to get experience without getting a job?

- The "Laundry List." I refer to it this way because most software engineering jobs come with a list of attached "Skills" that they want the candidate to have. Some of them are ridiculous, pretty much rattling off every major technology invented in the last 10 years, and they want at least 5 year's experience in all of it. Uhm...yeah, good luck with that.

The other problem I have with this is it completely ignores whether a person has good logical/analysis skills or can design a well-thought out program. It's like if they find a person with all those skills they'll snap them right up, disregarding the possibility that the person has all those skills because they failed to use them effectively and so had to go from job to job. It also completely disregards the value of a college degree, even though they may list it in the job description as a requirement. The reason it does this is because college does not give you good experience with these tools. They are used in only a limited fashion and are not formally taught. Computer Science courses are designed to give the student a good foundation in theoretical software design. It seems many businesses are not interested in bringing in an intelligent graduate and teaching them the tools to succeed. That's too bad, because these businesses are missing out on alot of potential this way.

Among other things I've found during my job search:
There are many companies interested in paying below-average wages, and there are other companies that recognize the value of their people and pay accordingly. There seems to be a bit of a gap between 40K and 50K where most companies want to pay less than that or will pay more than that. However, I was making around 40K doing tech support. While I'm not trying to break the bank, I do think that if I wanted to keep making 40K a year, I wouldn't have gone through all the trouble of getting a degree.

Fortunately, I have found that if I say I am asking 50K, there isn't alot of resistance on that number, and one head-hunting agency even said they would offer my services at $35/hour, which translates to 70K yearly. Sweeeet!

Well, I guess that's all I have to say about this now. More to come.

It's Over

2008-05-01T23:57:00.003-07:00

I've been mourning for two days, although it wasn't totally unexpected. The only solace I can take right now is that the Mavericks dumped a shiny turd in the first round, too. The big Jason Kidd deal didn't help. I didn't watch too many Mav's games with Kidd, but I guess Avery Johnson just had him bringing the ball up, throwing to Dirk in the post and then running to the three-point line. No wonder the Little General got the boot. Jason Kidd has been one of the best creators in the game for years and treating him like that is an insult.

I digress, though. Let's get back to the Suns. D'Antoni is meeting with Kerr tomorrow and I'm sure we'll know by the end of the day whether or not the Suns are interviewing for a new coach. I think D'Antoni's offense can succeed in the playoffs. If the Suns could bring in a defensive-minded assistant, that would help. As several writers on ESPN.com noted, the Suns are locked into their current roster for the next two years, so might as well give D'Antoni a full season with Shaq and see what he can do with this squad. Maybe there will be a blockbuster off-season trade sending Amare to the Clips for Elton Brand. Or something. Whatever. I think Grant Hill should retire even though he probably won't. Maybe the Suns will sign Allan Houston! Or Reggie Miller. And what was that deal with the Celtics players not getting suspended for doing essentially the same thing as Stoudemire and Diaw did in Game 4 of the Suns-Spurs series last year?

Talk about double-standard, it's pretty clear that Stern wants the Celtics in the finals, and I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to arrange for the Lakers in the finals. I think it breaks Stern's heart every year he has to present a trophy in San Antonio, because he is trying really, really hard to get the Lakers or another big-market team the trophy.

So, for now, all I have to say is, Go Hornets!

How the Suns can get better

2008-04-25T22:55:00.003-07:00

Game three. The Suns played as if the series was already over. After tonight, it pretty much is.

The Spurs dominated from beginning to end, and Suns fans started streaming for the exits with six minutes left in the game.

If it isn't obvious by now, San Antonio knows how to win in the playoffs and the Suns don't. This isn't what Shaq came to town for. Of course, he didn't win the championship in Miami until his second season there, so there's that.

However, after this coming Sunday's loss (and make no doubt about it, the Spurs are one of the best finishers in the playoffs in a closeout game), I think Kerr is going to implode this team and start rebuilding around Stoudemire, Nash, and Shaq. All three have at least two years left on their contracts, so it gives the Suns and their new coach two years to win a championship. Here's how I see it going down:

1. D'Antoni and his brother are given the pink slip before the draft
2. The Suns are guaranteed no less than the 15th pick in the draft. I see them trading Diaw and/or Barbosa to move up in the draft and get a backup for Nash.
3. Piatkowski and/or Marks are gone. This is about a 50/50 chance, because they can actually contribute if given an opportunity.

The biggest change will be D'Antoni getting the pink slip. Kerr is going to put a more defensive-minded coach in, and practices will be longer than 45 minutes. Larry Brown is available, and he is a strong possibility for the spot. I think that this team can go far with most of the personnel they have now, if the new coach instills a defensive discipline and the ability to go 10 deep on the bench. If we get a new coach, the mandate will be to develop the bench, keep the starters rested, and go into the playoffs strong instead of beat-up and tired.

The Suns are going to get swept out of the playoffs on Sunday. Time to rebuild will begin on Monday.

Yet Another Suns Blog

2008-04-25T01:54:00.003-07:00

Well, I haven't written about the Suns Game 2 loss to the Spurs. Really, I haven't found a reason to do so, because straight up there's no conspiracy or anything, the Suns simply got outplayed AND outcoached. When you give up a 16-point lead...well, I'm not one to say it's over, but unless Coach D makes some big changes, it's over.

I will give props to Shaq for being exactly the inside presence he was brought in to be. He clearly frustrated Duncan and kept Duncan out of his comfort zone. I've never seen Duncan look so tentative 3 feet from the basket.

Unfortunately for the Suns, Shaq was about the only one playing defense, and then they stopped being able to score, which did the Suns in.

Anyway, I did want to touch on the "out-coached" aspect of the game. Here is a blog entry from another Suns fan that certainly shows I am not the only one who shares this view.

Coach D has won championships in Europe with his run 'n gun style. That is a fact. Unfortunately, the NBA playoffs are not the European playoffs. Europeans tend to favor keeping the game in a flow and playing little defense. In the NBA, the other team tries to disrupt you as much as they can. Coach D's system has worked sort of ok for the last few years, but a couple of old adages hold true:

- Championships aren't won during the regular season

The Suns have been a good regular season team, and in the past few years a decent playoff team. But the fact is D'Antoni hasn't been able to translate regular-season success into playoff success. Instead of concentrating on winning during the regular season so much, he should view the regular season as a tune-up for the playoffs. This entails hitting on one of the biggest criticisms of Coach D: he doesn't play his bench. The team has 12 players, but D'Antoni only plays 7 on a regular basis and everybody else gets scraps IF the team is ahead by 20 with 2 minutes left. Paratroopers practice jumping out of planes for a reason: so that when the time to jump out of the plane for real happens, they know what to do. D'Antoni simply doesn't put the bench players in a position to be successful, and then he doesn't trust them to execute in the game PRECISELY because they haven't practiced jumping out of the plane, so to speak. Only by putting trust in the bench and allowing them to succeed or fail will they learn how to play in big game situations. Yeah, you might lose 10 or 15 games at the start of the season because of this. And Coach D would say something like "I told you so" and start playing his 7 guys. But this brings up my next point...

- It's not how you start, it's how you finish

There were alot of great early-season success stories for many teams. Many of those same teams are not even in the playoffs. The Suns won the first half of both Game 1 and Game 2, but came out to lose the second half. It really is true, finishing strong is better than starting strong. Sure, there will be times when finishing strong isn't enough to overcome a weak start, but just ask the Spurs, who have won 4 championships in 10 years. All the sports writers seem to write them off at the beginning of the year because they don't really get going until the last couple months of the season and into the playoffs. Once they win that championship, though, nobody remembers the slow starts.

Well, I guess I've said my piece. I think D'Antoni is on the hook for these losses, because he got out-coached plain and simple. I think that if D'Antoni wants to keep coaching the Suns, he will have to win a championship this year, plain and simple. Otherwise, I think Kerr will give him the pink slip before the draft.

My 2 cents.

Duncan Face

2008-04-22T17:03:00.004-07:00

This one is soooo good. Although to be fair, there are about a dozen players in the NBA who exhibit the same kinds of faces. I can think of Allen Iverson and Ray Allen off the top of my head. Hey, I guess when you're making 10 mil a year to play basketball, you can pretty much make whatever kinds of faces you want, especially when it comes with 4 championships in ten years.

Go Suns!

Suns-Spurs, Game 1

2008-04-20T01:36:00.003-07:00

Well, game 1 of the Suns-Spurs series is in the books. Unfortunately for us tortured Suns fans, it was a Spurs win.

I would like to blame the refs, but the fact is the Suns had a 16 point lead and blew a few late possessions that could have sealed the deal for a win. Let's go over a few of these.

- Near the end of regulation, Amare Stoudemire missed a pair of free throws. Even sinking just one would have clinched the game.

- Near the end of regulation, when the Spurs needed three points to tie the game, Amare Stoudemire sank back on defense, allowing Michael Finley a split-second of open look to get off - and make - a three-pointer which tied the game. Barbosa got rubbed off on a screen and Stoudemire should have stepped up to cover the three pointer. The fact is that if the Spurs make a two-pointer in that situation instead of a three then they're still down one point. Give up the two and close out on the three.

- Near the end of the first overtime, Stoudemire bowled over Kurt Thomas instead of taking a jumper or passing to a wide-open and closing Shaq. Instead of scoring two or getting fouled, Stoudemire got whistled for the charge and fouled out. On the subsequent Spurs possession, Tim Duncan! hit a three-pointer to tie the game.

There were about three more plays where the Suns could have executed better or made smarter moves with shuffling players in and out, but the fact is that Popovich out-coached D'Antoni simply by making D'Antoni pull Shaq out of the game when he was covering Duncan fairly well.

So, we move on to game 2 on Tuesday night, and hope that Shaq can play more than four minutes in the first half and that Tim Duncan won't hit another three pointer.

Shaq-Duncan

2008-04-18T21:43:00.002-07:00

I did a little research, and it turns out that in the four times that Shaq and Tim Duncan have met in the playoffs, one Mr. O'Neal has won the series 3 out of 4 times. I'm really starting to like the Suns odds this year to beat at least San Antonio.

And I will throw this out: I admire Bruce Bowen's defense, but it's his cheap shots he gets remembered for.

Bring on the Spurs!

2008-04-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

It is playoff time in the NBA! And for once, I am eager to see the Suns play the Spurs. Why? One word: SHAQ! He completely changes the play against the Spurs. The Suns have had their way with the Spurs this year, and I predict the Spurs will be the second championship team in two years to get eliminated in the first round (Miami eliminated in the first round in 2007.)

Why Buy New (Cars?)

2008-04-15T22:55:00.002-07:00

Invariably, on any automotive forum, when someone mentions the price of a new car, some other poster will say something to the effect of "I don't understand why people buy new cars. Everyone should buy used..."

According to their theory, everyone should buy used and no one should buy new.

In practice, that works ok for them, because they'll never convince everyone to buy used and so new cars will continue to be purchased.

In theory, let's say they were able to convince everyone to buy only used cars. Well, once that point comes, the number of cars available would be finite. And that number of cars would go down as cars become uneconomical to maintain or are lost in accidents, etc. Eventually we would be Cuba, driving around in 50 year-old cars held together with baling wire and duct tape.

I'm not against people buying used cars. I have bought many used cars and so has the rest of my family. What I'm against is random people suggesting that EVERYONE buy used. How does a new car become a used car? Someone has to buy it and drive it. Therefore, people who buy new cars are doing a favor to the people who only buy used: they ensure a steady supply of gently used, late-model vehicles for sale.

So before you start spouting off that no-one should buy used, stop and think about it, and be thankful there are people who buy new.

Tax Day Approacheth

2008-04-09T00:24:00.003-07:00

April 15 is almost upon us again, and you know what that means: it will be followed by April 16th. But seriously, let's talk taxes. This year I prepared my taxes us TurboTax. First of all, what is up with TurboTax double-dipping? First you pay for the software, then they charge you to file online with them. I think that if you buy the software you should at least get some kind of discount for filing online with them.

However, the real topic I wanted to discuss is the rip-off that is tax preparation services. Do not mistake a tax-preparation service for an accountant. For the most part, all they do is use a software similar to TurboTax, but they type the numbers in for you and the real money they make is charging extra for a "Refund-anticipation" loan. A few years back I used a tax-preparation service and they would not even add up my charity contributions for me, they said I had to add them up and them bring them over. What? They are not willing to break out the calculator and add up some numbers.

So, the year following, instead of paying a glorified data-entry clerk, I did my taxes using TurboTax. It was slightly more taxing (HA!) but much less costly, and I added up the charity receipts myself!

I mention these places because when I drive around I see a certain tax-preparation place advertising on the street by having someone dressed up as the statue of liberty waving at passerbys. I believe that any half-intelligent person who can use a computer can use TurboTax. While I am not endorsing this software specifically, I did not have to look at any forms or view add up any lines, I simply entered my information into clear, well-explained areas. My refund was fairly prompt (less than two weeks) and I was happy to wait this time out in exchange for getting my full refund instead of having 10% taken out by the greedy tax-preparation services.

I believe that if your taxes are so complex that you cannot accomplish them with a software package, then you should have a true tax accountant or tax lawyer prepare them for you. Not only are they way more valuable than glorified data entry clerks, if your taxes are that difficult, they can help eke out all the deductions they can.

More proof that people can be pretty stupid...

2008-03-27T01:06:00.004-07:00

Read this article: Link.

If you ever, for the love of all that is holy, ever wanted to slap some people around, read this article. People driving big, huge, gas-sucking vehicles for no reason than to drive big, huge, gas-sucking vehicles, then they complain about gas prices. Well, maybe if you didn't drive a huge, gas-sucking vehicle for no apparent reason, you could drive something reasonable that gets better gas mileage.

Now, I'm no scientist (well, not yet...) but I think I'm qualified to point my finger at you and say "You have no right to complain about gas prices because you purposely chose to drive a vehicle which is not economical. HA HA!"

Sensationalist articles like this one make me laugh. I can't tell if they're trying to make a statement by quoting only people driving trucks, or if they're angling for sympathy by only quoting people driving trucks. Honestly, it could go either way, and in all truth this is a pretty fluff piece of reporting.

If these people really wanted to do something about high gas prices, they'd trade in their fuel-guzzlers for something more sensible. The fact is that most people who purchase trucks or SUV's only use them beyond the capacity of a regular car about 1% of the time. I should think that, in the long run, renting an SUV for that one weekend a year when you need to haul a lot of crap would be cheaper than filling up that 10mpg behemoth all year-round. Just saying. Of course, that would be logical, but when faced with too-good logic like that, the American public usually turns their heads or punches you in the face.

Phoenix Suns - is it Hammerin Time yet?

2008-03-19T15:07:00.003-07:00

This week, the Phoenix Suns look to put together their longest win streak of the year. Last night they played Portland and blew them out in the third quarter. Tonight, lottery-bound Seattle looks to be an easy win (if they come to play and not let their guard down.)

I will admit that, two weeks ago, I was ready for this team to fail to reach the playoffs. They looked pretty bad. However, with a five game win streak and counting, it looks like the players are gel-ing with Shaq much better. First of all, when Nash is out but Shaq is in, they are going to Shaq in the post more often. That's good. Nash seems to have found a way to play with the big fella without turning over the ball, and, more importantly, Nash seems to actually be playing defense! Thirdly, Gordon Giricek, who was signed a couple weeks ago, appears to be working out nicely. He can hit the outside shot, drive it in the lane and is a competent ball-handler and distributor when Nash is out. Plus he gives the Suns an extra guy off the bench who is actually playing! Shockers! Stoudemire looks like he is picking up his defensive intensity, which helps. And of course, Shaq is getting in shape and had perhaps one of his finest games as a Phoenix Sun last night. He appears to have gone from "Trying to fit in" to "leading" in short order.

With the standings the way they are now, it looks like it would take a 5-6 game losing streak for any of the top 7 teams to drop out of the playoffs, and I don't really see that happening in the next few weeks.

Toyota Prius Driving Impressions

2008-03-17T21:14:00.003-07:00

For my family's recent vacation to San Diego, Disneyland, and points beyond, I decided to rent a Toyota Prius to see what it is like in real life and to see what the fuel mileage is like.

Well, first to the point. Over 1200 miles, we achieved around 45 miles per gallon. But Wait! On the last fill-up, while the display in the car indicated 45 MPG, it only took 6.2 gallons of gas for a 350 mile distance, giving it 56 MPG! Now, I am not sure if the car could have taken more gas or not. And I certainly was not easy on the vehicle during most of that driving, wanting to get home and all. Our average speed was probably in the mid-70's for that leg of mileage.

Other than the fuel economy, other things to like: The car has a CVT, or constantly variable transmission. It does not have discrete gears like a conventional automatic, it can shift the ratios to any ratio between a high and low. When going up the mountains, this was particularly nice because the transmission didn't have to "Kick-down" going up, all that happened was the engine got louder and it was a very smooth helping of power.

Secondly, the car is a hatchback, and took our luggage without complaint. True, we couldn't pack the ice cooler, but we couldn't have packed it into a regular car with our other luggage anyways. Plus the hatchback means we can fit luggage in a more upright position to gain more usefulness.

Third, the car came with a keyless smart fob. Essentially, you just need to bring the fob near the car and pull on the door handle to unlock it. What this means is you can leave the fob in your pocket or purse and open the door and start the car without removing the fob. There are some situations where you might use the fob, but I found it convenient to not have to pull it out all the time.

Fourth, the car is roomy. Most people are not aware that the car does not compete in the compact car category with the Toyota Corolla, but is actually a mid-size vehicle like the Toyota Camry. There was plentiful room in the front and back seats and no one complained.

Things not to like: Well, for starters, there are alot of them on the road these days, especially in AZ where they get single-person carpool lane privileges. So, you're likely to see yourself coming and going quite often.

Second, in some speed ranges, the boost from the electric motor is not transparent and the car does feel like it's surging a bit when the electric motor kicks in.

Overall though, a smooth, efficient ride and likely worth every penny. Is it the car of tomorrow? Clearly not, as a new Prius is due in 2009. As a way of weaning people off of big-engine gas-wasting cars, it's not a bad start, and hopefully they continue to get better and better.

Suns are TEH SUXOR

2008-03-06T00:29:00.003-07:00

If you ask my wife, you will know that I am a pretty big Suns fan. I am also an impartial observer to the NBA game, and I have to say that, after 7 games, the Suns are looking bad. Real bad. I mean, just terrible. They can't stop anyone from the outside, and on offense they can't seem to get in synch. I know, I know, it's only been two weeks with a major change. Unfortunately, the Western Conferences is tighter than it's ever been. The Suns only have 21 games left before the end of the regular season, and it will probably be the end of their season. If they lose only a few games they'll be out of the playoffs. As much as we loved seeing coach D'antoni's run and gun offense, I think this Shaq trade will prove a few things about this team:
1. D'Antoni doesn't know defense from a hole in the ground
2. The Suns are old. And only getting older. The only starter under 30 is Stoudemire
3. Stoudemire doesn't play defense, and he should get more rebounds for a guy his size
4. Shaq is never going to be effective playing a pick and roll game. He needs the ball in the post to be effective on offense.
5. D'Antoni doesn't develop young players. When Nash, Shaq, Hill, Bell, etc, leave the game, the Suns will not have any players ready to step in and fill their roles. Barbosa is not a distributor, he's a scorer, and Diaw is too timid to be effective for a whole game. Meanwhile, there's five-six guys on the bench who never play.
6. Robert Sarver is cheap. He runs the team like a banker, not a sports fan. While he might be making money, his moves have left the team in a poor position to be anything close to competitive in the next few years.

I could list off another five or ten things, but let's face it, the Suns are done for this season, and I think that if they don't make the playoffs, there will be some major retooling towards youth in the off season.

Shaq's Big Impact

2008-02-24T01:23:00.003-07:00

Well, Phoenix Suns played the Beast from the East, the Boston Celtics, last night. It was a grind-out, bruise-up affair...and the Suns won. This was the kind of game that the Suns could not win last year in the playoffs. Shaq was huge in the middle, figuratively speaking, even though he only scored two points. If you watched the game, THIS is what Steve Kerr went out and got Shaq for. He grabbed 14 rebounds and pretty much made it miserable for the Celtics' "Centers" to be effective. Amare Stoudemire was alot more at ease playing the 4 instead of the 5, and he and Kevin Garnett went at each all night.

On a side note, Stoudemire had 6 rebounds and Steve Nash had 7 rebounds. I don't want to complain, because a win is a win, but when Steve Nash, who is not exactly known for his rebounding, grabs more than you, you should probably work harder on rebounding. I saw Shaq box out for a rebound way more than I saw Stoudemire box anyone out. Hopefully Shaq can teach him a thing or two about rebounding, because even though he's 7-1, he's still out there boxing out to grab a rebound. I think if most players would learn how to box out properly, they could increase their rebounding significantly.

Today, the Suns play the OTHER Beast from the East, the Detroit Pistons. Another great test of Shaq and being able to play a grind-out game.

Shaq's Big Debut

2008-02-20T10:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight, against the Los Angeles Lakers, Shaquille O'Neal will make his big debut in a Phoenix Suns uniform. Story here: AZCentral

So, how do I feel about the big fella coming to Phoenix? Well, I'm not happy that we had to give up a versatile player like Shawn Marion. On the other hand, I don't see Shawn Marion keeping Tim Duncan, Yao Ming, and the other big players out West from blowing right past the Suns in the playoffs.

For three years I have seen Steve Nash and company play exciting basketball, only to get thwarted in the playoffs by bigger teams. San Antonio. Dallas. San Antonio again. I'd watch as other teams would get two, three, four offensive rebounds in a single trip down the floor as the smaller Suns would give up rebounds by the fistful. With Shaq on the floor, this should be less of a problem.

Let's discuss an aside for a moment. If Amare Stoudemire would figure out how to rebound without outjumping everyone else, he would average 14 rebounds a game. I don't know how many times I've seen him stand around the basket while someone else shoots and get outhustled for a rebound. It seems he couldn't block out for a rebound if his life depended on it. Even thought Shaq is big, he still knows how to block out his man to get a rebound.

So, back to Shaq. What does he bring to the team that we haven't had before? In a word, size. He fills the lane area so layups will be harder. Rebounding. He should be able to grab 10 boards a game without breaking a sweat. Besides stats, he will also intimidate other players from coming to the middle. He might be old, but he's still big, and you can't learn big.

What's the ultimate expectation from Shaq? Nothing less of a World Championship. Hopefully Shaq will give the Suns that extra edge to get over the top of Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, etc. This will turn out to be either a colossal failure or a colossal success. It is risky considering Shaq's age and recent health, but I think for the sake of the team it's a risk well worth taking.

I think I screwed up

2008-02-05T22:09:00.001-07:00

So, today I had an on-campus interview with Microsoft. No, not Mike Rowe Soft, THE Microsoft. As in Microsoft Office, Microsoft Windows, etc. Sort of a typical tech interview, so the guy, Mr. Navarro, asked me how I would design a method to determine if a substring is in a string, then he pushed a piece of paper and pen to me. I started to write stuff down, talking my thoughts out loud, but I got flustered. I knew WHAT I wanted to do, but I couldn't get it on paper for some reason. So after about ten minutes of trying to write it down, he told me to stop because I had been talking the whole time, telling him the algorithm I would use, and he got an idea of what I was thinking.

After this fiasco, I am pretty sure I will not be getting an interview at the main headquarters. I am sure there were other candidates who knocked out that problem in five minutes.

Maybe I'll get another chance to interview with them; only time will tell, but for now, I don't expect anything more than a thank-you letter for interviewing with them.

I guess I am closer to that job flipping burgers.

Why you gotta hate on Vista?

2008-01-19T00:43:00.000-07:00

So, I was reading a technology blog, as I do often. This one claims that the next version of Windows will be released in a year or two. This particular part of the article raised my ire a bit, though.

On the one hand, it's nice to know there's something new and hopefully more stable on the horizon.

Now, I am aware that I do not personally qualify as statistically significant, in my experiences with Vista, I have only encountered one unrecoverable problem, and it was related to a third-party video driver. Once I rolled-back that driver, my problem was fixed. My experiences with Windows since XP have been about mostly having computers that don't crash. I often see articles online espousing the instability of Windows XP and, more recently, Windows Vista. I have two home computers with Vista and my father just recently purchased a computer with Vista. So far, of the three, I have only had the video driver issue leading to instability.

I'm beginning to wonder if the people who write the articles are running exclusively Linux or Apple software. I can only conclude that is the case since Windows Vista keeps getting purchased in droves despite all the negative press about its supposed instability. Perhaps the Linux or Apple geeks sit in their test labs, load Windows Vista and then get all the spyware they can find onto the system. Then it crashes, and they say "See, I told you it was unstable." Well, yah, and if you strap a ton of lead to the top of a car it will be more likely to roll-over.

For all you Windows bashers, I only say this: Get off your damn high horse. Accept the fact that it's the most-used operating system on the planet. Also accept that Apple software is more stable because Apple controls the hardware. That would be the equivalent of Apple selling a car, then you could only use the car on Apple highways, use Apple gas, and have Apple-approved passengers ride with you. On the other hand, Microsoft sells Vista and says "Put it on whatever you want, drive it wherever you want, and put the dirtiest, cheapest gas you can find in it." Which is, essentially, what most PC manufacturers do, putting in the lowest-cost components they can find.

Let's get back to the point here. Windows Vista is hardly the poster boy for "instability." Get over it.

Cox Customer DIS-service

2008-01-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

So, on my way to school today, I decided to call up Cox and order their HD service with the DVR. Pretty nice upgrade from the extended channel line-up. I declined to have them come out and install the box and just do it myself. To do that, I needed to go to the Cox customer service building and pick up the box myself.

So, I get to the Cox customer service building. When I get there there were two windows open, and a lady was talking to the customer service rep at one window. Her husband and child were there, and the guy, let's call him "David" was at the other window, with another Cox person, apparently doing some inventory or something. He looked squarely at me and said that someone would be with me soon. Ok, fair enough.

Well, whatever the lady's problem is, it apparently is complicated because she was at the window the entire time I was there.

Eventually, David finished what he was doing and appeared to be ready to help people. By this time, about six customers were in the lobby waiting to be helped. Now, unbeknownst to me when I entered, there is a classic service number line. I didn't see it because it is at the opposite end of the room from the customer-service windows, so if you enter you wouldn't see it. In fact, David had to point it out to several people. After I did see it, I thought it would only take a couple of minutes to get helped and so did not take one.

So, David is ready to help customers now, right? Of course not. He walks out into the waiting room and puts brochures on all the seats. What?

Finally, he returned behind the customer service window and then calls out the next number. What? He clearly knew that I had been there first, as he had too look straight at me earlier. Instead of just calling me over, he calls for the next customer number. Realizing what a giant jerk-off he is, I go and take a number. Remember, the woman that was there is STILL there taking care of whatever her giant issue is.

Finally, my number is called and I walk up to David's window, and he asks for my number. I threw the ticket at him as I am totally pissed-off with him after having been there half an hour by now. I got my box and went home.

Fortunately, everything works and it doesn't look like I'll have to go back. Still, I wouldn't like to go back and have David "Help" me again. I don't know if he doesn't like his job or what, but if that's the case, he should just go ahead and quit. If I thought I could get him fired for being a jack-ass, I would, and would totally not feel bad about it all. I wanted to whack him upside the head with the DVR box, then complain that my DVR box doesn't work.

More fish

2008-01-12T20:20:00.000-07:00

Well, since it's been a couple of weeks and our single remaining fish not only survived but in fact seems to have grown some, we went ahead and got some more fish for our little tank. So, we packed into the car and off to PetSmart.

I let Jennifer pick the fish. I wanted to get some more neon tetras, but the selection at PetSmart seemed small and not very viable. Jennifer picked a Zebra Danio, a Turquoise Guppy and vivid orange female guppy.

We also purchased some aquarium salt, some cleaning brushes, and a new aquarium decoration which will provide more cover for the fish when they want to hide away - which we have found the Tetra likes to hide often.

So, the female guppy died after a few days. The other fish seem to be doing well, although since the female guppy died, the male guppy seems to spend more time hiding than he used to. I guess this is fish do when it's a sausage-fest :)

I've been so enamored of the fish that I am thinking about upgrading from our paltry 5 gallon tank to something like a 50 or 90 gallon. However, I think that will have to wait, since that's quite a big commitment. However, it would allow us to get more interesting fish, like a yellow tang, which is quite beautiful. Maybe some puffer fish. We'll see.

Wireless - fixed?

2008-01-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

After Christmas, I had hooked up my wife's computer to the big-screen Plasma TV. In order to keep it connected to the Internet, I installed a wireless networking card. Well, it seemed to work ok, but noticed that the wireless would sometimes stall - very badly - and things like YouTube (veeeeery important!) videos would take forever to download. You just don't know how important it is when your two-year old wants to see that video of Goofy and it keeps cutting in and out every few seconds. Let me tell you, you do not want cheese with that whine! You do not want that whine at all!

So, after a week, I have installed a different antenna on the network card. The network card itself is a reputable brand - Linksys. And the wireless speeds are good; I have a laptop that will download the 7 minute clips in less than a minute from YouTube via wireless. So the only thing I could figure is that there is something wrong with the wireless network card or I wasn't getting a good signal. Now, the way the computer is situated, the wireless antenna sticks out the back, and it basically has to catch the wireless signal after it passes through the computer. Needless to say, there could be alot of interference from the computer's case and its innards. Moreover, the antenna was pointing down, instead of up.

So, I did two things: First, I moved the wireless router over so that it's not behind the safe. Second, I purchased a separate antenna for the wireless network card.

I tried YouTube again and it appears to be working much better. I will give it a few days and see how it works out. On a side note, if that did not work out, I also purchased another wireless network card to see if a different brand, with a different driver, would work out. I haven't had to use it yet, but I will hang onto it for a bit until I am sure that the antenna is working out well.

One down...

2007-12-25T04:42:00.000-07:00

So, for our daughter Kaitlyn, for Christmas we got her, among other things, a fish tank. Oops. We got some neon tetras to start it with. Oops. Apparently they are not very good for starting out a tank. In fact, most fish guides say you need to cycle your water at least 2-3 weeks before even putting fish in. So, I suppose that soon we will have a whole bunch of floating fish. Better luck next time, as they say.

New couch

2007-12-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

So, today we got the couch that I bought for my wife for Christmas delivered. It's a sectional sofa, with the L-shape and a chaise on one end, like the picture, only in reverse, and not exactly like that one, but you get the idea.

Anyway, why is it here on the rant? Because. It's. Too. Big. I mean, it fits in my living room and all, but it's pretty big. I had to move a bunch of furniture around to make it fit ok. Not that I'm complaining too much. I'll just have to get a new house now!

Transformers: None that meet the eye

2007-12-18T01:10:00.000-07:00

One of my cousins asked for Transformers action figures this year, so I figured I'd pick him up the cool Optimus Prime or some such action figure. So a couple of weeks ago I went to the store and looked for Transformers action figures. No such luck. I was lucky to find a couple of medium-sized, lesser-character action figures still available, which I purchased right away. I have been to several other stores since then in search of better action figures, but so far have only been met with empty shelves and third-rate Transformer trinkets.

I guess I started my shopping too late. At least I'm not giving gift cards this year.

Final Exams are over!

2007-12-13T00:24:00.000-07:00

Final exams are over! They were not too bad overall, and what this means is four more classes and I am a college graduate, ready to make semi-big bucks. Well, at least bigger bucks. Sixty-four more days of school. I can almost taste it!

However, this last exam threw me a curveball which kind of made me mad. My professor put on the test a question worth 18% of the test grade, which I felt was totally unrealistic. What he did was put on the test a question asking about parts of an example program he had on some of the slides. And when I mean parts of the example program, I don't mean like conceptual questions, he asked "what was the code to do ...." I'm sorry, but I don't have a photographic memory. I studied concepts and general ideas, I didn't know we would need to know exactly what was on the slides down to the code. I don't feel that putting that question on the test proves that the student knows anything about what he is writing.

With luck, I should be able to pass that class. I'm a little miffed about that question, though.

Don't be that guy

2007-12-10T13:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my family and I went to a Chinese buffet to enjoy our dinner. Since it was a Sunday, this particular buffet had all-you-can-eat crab legs along with the usual helping of fried rice, orange chicken, etc. You pay a little more but you also get crab legs.

As I was waiting for Jennifer to get some food, I couldn't help but notice that there were a few tables of people that were consistently walking back from the buffet with a plate stacked with crab legs. I mean stacked, like four or five legs high. Well, when I went to get my plate of food, I noticed that the crab legs were empty. I also noticed about 4 people waiting around for the employees to bring more crab legs. After a minute or so, more crab legs appeared, and just as quickly disappeared. I think only two people got crab legs at that point.

I commented about this to Jennifer, and she had noticed this too. Not only were people hogging crab legs, though, they were being bitchy about it, moaning why don't they put more out, etc. This struck me personally as very rude. First of all, these people weren't being polite to the other diners; by taking all available crab legs, they were not letting anyone else have crab legs. Second, by complaining about something which was essentially of their own making, they were just being jerks.

At one point, one of these crab-hoggers was waiting for more crab legs. He had been at the trough at least two times since I had been there. Also waiting was an older gentleman. When more crab legs came out, the crab-hogger proceeded to take all but two or three of the crab legs, to which the older gentleman jokingly said "why don't you take the rest." So the crab-hogger took the rest, then tried to start a fight. He was very rude and impolite, and made me wonder why the restaurant's management didn't just use their right to refuse service and have the police put this particular family out the front door. I would have applauded such a move, as I think most of the other diners would have also.

Now, I am all for the all-you-can-eat buffet, and I generally consume 2-3 plates worth of food. What these folks were doing was just rude, impolite and obnoxius. It made me think about my own eating habits, but mostly it made me think that some people simply have no manners or humility.

Bottle conspiracy?

2007-12-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

Today I was taking a shower. Now, the soap we purchased uses a pump dispenser. It is nearly empty, with maybe an ounce or two left. However, when I tried to pump some of this soap out and clean my nasty body, I could not. Upon closer insepction of the bottle, I noticed that it is concave at the bottom, and the pump feeder tube goes straight down the middle. Since the bottom of the bottle is higher in the middle than the sides, this meant all the soap was on the sides, but I could not pump any of it because the feeder tube can't go out to the sides.

The conspiracy theorist in me says this is a conspiracy to sell more soap. When you get down to the bottom of the bottle, literally and figuratively, you can't get more soap because it's all on the sides of the bottom and the tube doesn't go that far down. Now I wonder why they couldn't have chosen a convex-bottom bottle? It would work perfectly, the soap would pool in the middle of the bottom and the feeder tube would go straight down the middle and be able to reach the bottom. I say it's a conspiracy. Of course, we'll just unscrew the top and pour the remaining soap out, and really screw it to the man.

Midget ads

2007-12-03T00:53:00.000-07:00

I, like many younger Americans, do not subscribe to a print newspaper. I used to, but now I can get all my news online, and faster, too. However, one thing I do miss is the weekly print ads that come on Sunday. Of course, I can get those online too.

So, a couple years ago, big sites like BestBuy.com and CircuitCity.com switched their online print-ad from simple HTML to flashier Flash-based. This allowed "neat" effects like the page turning, and zooming and such. However, there is no way to permanently zoom in on the ad. To their credit, both sites allow you to view the "Old fashioned" way in HTML only, and on those you can get a larger view of the ad and it stays that way until you change it back.

So I wonder, what is it about the "new" style that made it more attractive to them? I have what could only be considered an average 19" monitor to look at it, and the new style is barely legible because it's rendered so small. I normally change them to HTML and choose the option to view larger. A minor inconvenience and quickly remedied, but it still begs the question: Did they change just because they could?

What was your Black Friday experience

2007-11-25T03:08:00.000-07:00

So, like millions of Americans, I woke up early this last Friday to rush down to my local department store / electronics store and score some good deals. I wasn't crazy and/or stupid enough to stand in line for 12 hours to save a couple hundred on a laptop (although standing in line for a $900 50" Plasma wouldn't have been out of the question, if I didn't already have one) but I did go early enough to score some cheap DVDs.

Best Buy had a pretty good setup, going with four bins where the el cheapo DVDs were put together, and the employees were pretty good about re-stocking them, at least at 6am when I was there.

Walmart, on the other hand, pretty much set them up for one of those situations where it was a madhouse. They set up the cheapo DVDs in special displays, about 1.5 feet deep, and then placed them on both sides of an aisle about 6 feet wide. Needless to say, two people with carts trying to pass while another person browses the DVDs pretty much brought foot traffic to a standstill. Despite this, I did persist and landed some pretty good deals on movies.

I wish Walmart had set these displays up in an area with more room, although to be fair, even in their ginormous store, it was pretty packed, and I understand that this is a situation that is specific to this store.

LOL J/K

2007-11-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

This one comes courtesy of my lovely wife, who is not addicted to Second Life.

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A/S/L? How utterly juvenile and 1990s!

I used to chat a lot on the internet when I was younger. What better way to see who to talk to then to scream out your A/S/L (Age/Sex/Location)? A/S/L profiling. Oh, that person is too old to talk to. That person lives on the west side. Ooooh, a young female…jackpot! I quickly became tired of getting lewd or seemingly innocent messages just because I was a teenage female. We’re on the internet. Who gives a major doo-doo where you live or how old you are? If you can talk about something interesting then what does it matter? I personally never had any intention of meeting 99.99% of the people who messaged me based on my A/S/L so what did it matter whether we lived in the same state?

So, why do I bring this up? Because of my very recent experience on Second Life. I was sitting on a bench, minding my own business (and trying to get “free money”) when some other character came up and asked me to get up. That put me off right away. There’s room for two on the bench, no need to ask me to get up. Unfortunately, it started a short chat session and of course he asked me how old I was and where I lived. From behind my monitor screen I rolled my eyes and couldn’t believe people still do that to start a conversation going. After exchanging pertinent ASL information, he asked me if I had money to give him. I could only take so much offensive behavior--I quickly bid him good day and left.

A/S/L isn’t just about age, sex, and location, it’s also a mindset that leads the same mentality to wonder what ethnicity and class a person is and whether we should associate with them. To put it delicately—who gives a bucking bronco’s ass?

Anyone Out There?

2007-11-18T19:49:00.000-07:00

Is anyone out there? Does anybody read this blog besides me, myself and I? I know my wife and occasionally my friend, but I don't think anyone else is reading this. Oh well.

Schwinn S750 - Dead as a Doornail

2007-11-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

For this current semester, I had purchased a Schwinn S750 electric scooter to scoot around campus. Good specs - about an hour ride time, 15MPH top speed.

This thing has been a lemon from day one. First, the thing is designed so that its top speed is greater than the safety cut-off. So if you go fast, it turns off.

Second, the battery would only ever indicate 1/2 capacity. In fact, the other week I thought it had died completely, so I bought a new set of lower-capacity batteries since that was all I could get. Well, lo and behold, less than one week later it does the same thing. Turn on the scooter, get a red light, then it turns off.

The manufacturer of the scooter, Currie, has sent me two control boxes for this thing. The second one, though, requires basically disassembling the entire control mechanism of the scooter, including the throttle and brake, so I have yet to put that on, since I can't get the handlebar grips off since I don't run a bike shop.

It's clear this scooter was hastily designed and tested. My previous scooter was quite reliable except when the batteries finally couldn't hold a charge. And my previous scooter was made by the same company!

I'm going to try the new control box, but right now this thing is a 70 lb hunk of junk.

*************** Update *******************

After wrestling with the handlebar grip, I managed to get it off. I then installed the new control box and throttle, which appear to be of the same design as my previous scooter. This makes sense since my previous scooter had the same wattage engine (500) and was a 24 Volt design also. The difference with the new scooter is that it has a gear drive (vs. chain) and a front disc brake, which is much appreciated over my previous scooter's rather weak band brake.

Anyway, I tested the scooter immediately and it appears to work just fine now. The batter gauge stayed at green (full) during the entire test, and the scooter did not engage the safety cut-out at all, even at full throttle. Hopefully it will now be much more reliable.

*************** Update 2 ******************

I went to load the scooter today, and turned it on before packing it in the trunk. No light. I took the cover off and disconnected the battery and reconnected it, then switched the power on and the power light came on. So far, other than that, it appears to be working ok. Keep your fingers crossed.

What the....?

2007-11-13T00:29:00.000-07:00

It's November. It's 90 degrees outside. Even for Phoenix, this is unusually hot (by about 15 degrees.) All I have to say to that is, what the?

Sometimes it's nice, but I'm ready for summer to go away and to be able to actually be chilly. When I graduate in about seven months, my family and I may choose to move to the Pacific Northwest or maybe northern California. Whatever we choose, it will be nice to have four seasons instead of hot and less hot. We'll see how that works out.

Scratching the Surface

2007-11-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

Switching tracks, the writers are on strike. Some of the statistics thrown out include the average salary of a writer is $200,00. I will admit, that's a pretty good salary for an American. However, I see comments all the time to the effect of "If I was making $200,000, I wouldn't be striking." Well, if you were making $200,000 you probably wouldn't be striking. However, if you found out your boss was taking your work and making $20 million a year off of it, you would probably be a little miffed.

People who make comments like that need to do a little research into their comments before they write anything. Unless you have at least a passing understanding of the issues, it's hard for anyone to take what you say seriously. Unfortunately, the Internet has made it easy for people to put out their own short opinions. This can be a good and bad thing, to be sure. This blog is an example of an open opinion. But before you can go claiming to know how something should be done or what you woulda done, you should probably scratch the surface a little and at least read one informed article about the subject.

Your home may be your castle, but your car isn't a closet

2007-11-05T23:22:00.000-07:00

With all this concern lately over high gas prices and being environmentally conscious, I thought I'd take a minute to write about something my father and father-in-law have in common.

Now, taking the environmentally friendly tact, one of the things suggested to get better gas mileage is to remove things from your vehicle that you don't absolutely need to carry around. The second tact is to buy a car that meets your needs.

Now, I'm not going to rant much about the second spot of advice. While well-meaning, this is still a free country and if you want to drive an SUV go ahead. One of the things I hear my father and father-in-law say is that such-and-such a car isn't big enough, or doesn't have enough space, or they need to carry seven people (just my father.) I don't really care too much what they drive, again, free country and all. But if you're trying to justify your decision by the following factors:

- you carry a lot of stuff
- you carry a lot of people

then you are clearly kidding yourself. Let us approach each argument individually.

"I carry a lot of stuff, so I need a big car/truck."

For my father and father-in-law, this is a BS argument. The reason they need so much room is because they carry too much stuff all the time. Stuff they don't need. For example, my father-in-law carries a folding wheelchair for my disabled brother-in-law. All the time. To my knowledge, though, they only use it about once every other month. Put it in the garage or storage and get it out when you need it. I've peeked into the trunk before and I have never seen the carpet of his trunk. My father carries a lot of "just in case" stuff which mostly amounts to boxes of papers and other gadgets he carries around in his minivan. Again, store what you don't need and carry the basics. Myself, I carry a basic emergency kit, including jumper cables, a flashlight/compressor, and a few other things that fit neatly into a basket in the back of my car. At all other times, the trunk contains only what I need at the moment. Oh, I drive a compact car and very rarely have been left wanting for space.

"I need to carry a lot of people often."

This one applies to my father. At one time we had many people living at home, being a family with eight children. So the 15-passenger van was justified for the extra space. Now, most of the children have left, yet he still drives a 7-passenger minivan, which he uses to full capacity about twice a year, at Christmas and a family reunion. He doesn't need the space. He can rent a van if he really needs it and save the difference in insurance and fuel costs. This also applies to the mother with one child driving the Suburban. Unless you regularly haul the entire soccer team around, switch down and get a smaller vehicle. I promise that small vehicles can be nice too.

Now, lest you think this hate, it isn't. I just hate to hear the inane excuses people come up with to justify their purchases. This is a free country. I don't need the computer I have to do what I want, but I like it. My father and father-in-law don't need the vehicles they have for their purposes. But like myself, they don't need to justify their purchase, just don't try to get me to agree with them.