I realized that today marks exactly one year since I left the (to that point) best job I’d ever had. At the time, it was a somewhat nerve-racking decision, for both myself and for Jen. But the opportunity to join Halestar couldn’t have presented itself at a better time for me.

Today, I’m happy to report that it was 100% the right choice. I’m even happier where I am now, working with people I respect and admire. We’re busier than ever, behind partnerships and technologies I, as an engineer, can believe in.

Anyway, it’s been a good year.

Today, as I was pulling a crapped out hard drive out a Nokia IP440, I smacked my hand on a PCI card and cut myself right in the middle of my palm. It was a half hour or so before I even realized I was bleeding slightly.

Convinced I must have gotten blood on my clothing, I performed a self check. Curiously, in that half hour, the only place I’d accidently touched myself was right on my crotch.

I’m just beginning to plan our (and hopefully others in my extended family) trip next year to Puerto Rico. We plan on spending some time in both San Lorenzo, where my father was born, and the Mayaguez area, where my mother was born. A week on each side of the island should work out nicely.

I’ll likely create a separate page in order to keep track of the details. The last time I tried this it didn’t work out too well, but since my family will need to have some sort of access to these details for their own planning I hope to stay on top of everything a little better this time around.

Anyway, more to come…….

technorati tags:travel, puertorico

A weird older lady played with my ears at Dunkin Donuts last night.

And then she cut the line! I was so stunned I didn’t say a word.

I know, I know…I’m a lazy bastard. I’ve gotten comments to this effect recently and I wholeheartedly agree!

I have lots of photos I need to upload, but before I do that I want to try and get the photo gallery in order. There has been a major release of the software and I need to get off my ass and install it.

Bear with me for the next couple days as I do just that. An upgrade means lots of changes, there are new modules and themes, so I’ll likely be tweaking the software until I get it juuust right. I’d also like to install the WPG2 plugin so that I can bring back the random image block in the sidebar. Hopefully in the end I’ll be that much better off.

Once Gallery2 is installed, I’ll upload all the photos in the queue and post an announcement here.

Bri turns 11 years old today!

Fun Facts:

• Born on Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, VA.
• Total out-of-pocket cost for the birth: $38   (We still have the cancelled check!)
• At the time, I was temporarily assigned to a transportation division. On the way to the hospital to be induced, we had to stop at my unit and finalize my leave paperwork. There was a guy there who needed medical attention waiting for a ride to the hospital. Since we were on the way there, we were volunteered. On the way to have our first (and only, so far) child, we had this poor guy who had been pistol-whipped in our backseat.

I came across an interesting analysis (from a financial perspective) of the DVD rental market’s two biggest players. I’ve had several discussions during my torrid love affair with Netflix as to why I’m so committed to them even when Blockbuster had undercut their pricing. Well, basically, Blockbuster took full advantage of those of us who tend to not return movies on time, and I’m still bitter. Blockbuster sat on their laurels for years, content to suck the late fees out of their customers while doing nothing that would even approximate “innovation”. Internet…..what internet?!

Meanwhile, Netflix sprung up out of nowhere and took Goliath down. Blockbuster reacted. All of their frantic maneuvering was defensive in nature, as they tried to stem the flow of customers leaping online.

Anyway, the article sums up how I feel near the end, with:

…..but as it stands now Blockbuster hasn’t shown any signs of being innovative and Antioco is only now starting to understand how Netflix leverages the long tail to maximize profits.

I say screw ‘em…..