journal for 2002-10-27
the party
We went to my boss’ Halloween party last night. It was pretty good, although smaller than last year’s. Some of the people I’d hoped to see there didn’t show. (Actually, they probably declined the invitation. I shouldn’t imply that they just didn’t show up.) We chatted with the people we only see at his parties, we sat around the fire, and I had some drinks. The boss’ girlfriend was there, and I met her for the first time. She told Gloria and me that we were very accomplished and mature for our age. We assured her that, no, we’re really just boring. Boringness goes a long way toward feigning an image of maturity. Also, a three day beard can help.
Nothing really happened, though, so it’s hard to say much about the party. We threw an old cabinet on the fire, and halfway through its burn, I opened it. Someone described it, not inaccurately, as “like the sun.” The amount of light and heat that came out was just amazing. I could barely get the second cabinet door open, because it hurt to stand within three feet of it. It was pretty cool.
actioning my priority agenda
I’ve been reading about project management. “The project is the greatest tool mankind has at its disposal!” says the book I’m reading. At least, it says something like that, probably. It’s a little gimpy, but the material is OK. I’m reading a book for non-project-managers, so it ranges from decent to asinine, tending toward decent. It’s interesting to read about generic and somewhat sophisticated tools for project management. In conjunction with the Mythical Man-Month, this information could help me actually manage projects. Wouldn’t that be a kick?
I walk talking with the Boss, last week, about getting an intern. I really would like to get a PFY to do some of the little stuff that bogs me down. It’s hard to get to work on managing an overall architecture standard when you’re busy adjusting line item pricing reports. Here’s to hoping the market starts going up like crazy!
nanowrimo
National Novel Writing Month starts in a few days. Last year’s attempt didn’t go so well, and I’m not entirely optimistic about this year, but I’ll try! I’ve got some ideas, but I’m not sure if they’ll cohese across two hundred pages. At the worst, I suppose, they’ll stink and I’ll give up and then I’ll play more video games. That’s not the worst thing ever.
video games
I played some more Star Fox today. Several hours more, actually. What a freakin’ annoying game! There was more racing, which blows, and more stuff-collecting, and more jumping. There was actually a platform-jumping puzzle where I had to run around a circle of platforms, jumping across them and through rings. Isn’t there a point when a developer says, “This is so cliche that we won’t do it”? There should be! I think the game told me I’m 40% through. Ugh.
Meanwhile, I played Timesplitters 2 some more, today. TS2 is, indeed, The Stuff. I beat the space opera level and played a few of the arcade and challenge modes. I’m looking forward to having some people over (possibly some folks from my IRC channel) to play some multi. It is a sweet, sweet game.
I didn’t manage to play any Animal Crossing today. I’m just not motivated. I need to get back into it! Argh! I also realized that I forgot, last night, to go see Totakeke and get some music. I guess I can wait until next week.
tech tv
During this week, I was flipping channels and I decided to look at the way-up-there channels that we get because we’ve got digital cable. On 201, I found Discovery: Civilization. It is an awesome channel! They had a special on the Reagan Legacy which was pretty reasonable. I saw some other stuff, and today I watched something on the CIA and its internal weirdness especially regarding counter-espionage in the sixties and seventies.
The discovery of this cool channel up in the Big Numbers made me spend some more time, today, looking at the program listings up there. Imagine my awesome surprise when I saw, praise God, “Max Headroom” on TechTV. I have never watched TechTV before, and I don’t think I will much more, but I will totally watch it for Max Headroom. Max Headroom is one of my all-time favorite shows. I’m surprised I can’t, yet, get it on DVD. Once I can, I will absolutely pick it up. It’s one of the only really cyberpunk shows ever to be pulled off. The episode on today was the one where Big Time TV gets the tape of a show with a video narcotic in it. Sweet!