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December 29, 2003
2003: The Year in Review
From Dave Barry, 2003: A Dave odyssey.
Saddam himself is nowhere to be found, though he does release a videotape announcing plans to take his career ''in a new direction,'' possibly including a ''reality'' TV show called Queer Eye for a Dictator Guy, in which he will undergo a makeover by five gay men, who will then be executed.
Posted by sam at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)
December 27, 2003
They call it 'freeskiing'
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Oh no! Skiing is cool again! "There are more and more young skiers in our terrain park each year," said Oren Tanzer the terrain park manager at Mammoth. "Skiing was in decline, and now there are almost just as many of them out there as snowboarders." |
Posted by sam at 10:53 PM | Comments (0)
December 26, 2003
Merry Christmas
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Christmas was a lot of fun this year. I had a great time cooking but it was actually pretty easy with everybody's help. Unfortunately my parents have it easy and the ground is almost entirely snow-free. We had a light snowfall yesterday but today looks sunny and warm (well, the sun is out anyway). Breean took some very nice photos. |
Posted by sam at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2003
Now we're looking for a Vietnamese Buddhist monk to come to Cancun
It was pretty interesting to see a Buddhist wedding in Anaheim last weekend. Breean's best friend Thuy was getting married. The temple was great - I like the the rotating light circles on the wall. All the monks were women, or at least I'm told.
The day started with the Buddhist wedding (in Vietnamese), then progressed to a Catholic church for another ceremony (in Vietnamese), and ended with a reception (also in Vietnamese) for 500 people at the Anaheim Marriott.
Posted by sam at 02:08 PM | Comments (2)
Long travel day
Long travel day today. We flew out of Long Beach at 8:30 am PST and just arrived home at 1:30 am EST. Have fun tomorrow mom & dad! It's great to be home though.
Jet Blue is great, BTW. Free wireless at the JFK and Long Beach terminals, and a satellite tv at every seat.
Posted by sam at 01:52 AM | Comments (0)
December 18, 2003
Screwing the little guy, one day at a time
Goldman President Named New Head of Stock Exchange. Reform? What reform?
Posted by sam at 01:08 PM | Comments (0)
The True Costs of S.U.V.'s.
The True Costs of S.U.V.'s. UCSD professor looks at traffic accidents from an economic perspective and finds that SUV's are a classic arms race: "if other families buy bigger vehicles, then you will want to as well, if only in self-defense."
Posted by sam at 01:06 PM | Comments (0)
December 17, 2003
New Intel Chip for Digital
New Intel Chip for Digital TV Could Remake the Market. Some guy predicts "lightweight 50-inch screens only 7 inches thick for about $1,000, perhaps as early as the 2004 holiday season." Too cool.
Posted by sam at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)
Back to Cali
I flew into sunny San Diego last night. Watched Confidence on the flight. It's a solid crime drama in the vein of The Italian Job. Recommended.
Today I wore a t-shirt outside for the first time in months. It feels great. Looking forward to visiting friends and the fam.
Posted by sam at 12:48 PM | Comments (2)
December 15, 2003
1/4 & $16k down, 3/4, $48k to go
Finals are finished! Woo-hoo! I won't complain if I never see another statistics book in my life. Marketing and finance were a lot more interesting but I'm soooo glad they're over. It feels great to have almost a month and a half off.
Posted by sam at 07:14 PM | Comments (0)
December 14, 2003
Elf
We saw Elf last night with Breean's cousin and her husband. Fun movie and recommended for anyone who likes Will Ferrell. Zooey Deschanel was good also.
Posted by sam at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2003
Conference rooms and a coffee bar?
Colleges sweeten deal with apartments, cable: "Today's college students are demanding private bathrooms and more living space - and they're getting it." Winner-take-all markets spread to secondary education, leaving the losers with huge budget problems.
Just another aspect of the positional arms race in undergraduate education. The more students expect these kind of amenities (private baths? gimme a break) and make decisions based on them, the more schools will be forced to compete on luxeries that draw resources from education.
Posted by sam at 09:17 PM | Comments (0)
Another birthday
Happy birthday dad! Try not to be too grumpy. Just remember that you're that much closer to receiving discounts all over the place.
Posted by sam at 03:01 PM | Comments (1)
December 10, 2003
Another leading indicator
From the NY Times, The Powering Up of the Power Lunch:
"It is all about making deals," said Mr. Niccolini, who in addition to being a co-owner of the Four Seasons is the keeper of the restaurant's lunchtime seating chart. "If our business is any sort of economic indicator, things are going well."
...
The recent burst of power lunching is not restricted to a few hot spots. Le Bernardin, Trattoria Dell'Arte and Orso have been playing to busy crowds, as has Tribeca Grill, while the "21" Club, which all but invented the modern rite of dining seasoned with power, is still storming along, replete with totems of industrial might — toy trucks and airplanes, and the like — hanging from the ceiling.
Posted by sam at 09:57 AM | Comments (1)
Thinking of you
Happy birthday mom!
Posted by sam at 12:23 AM | Comments (2)
December 07, 2003
The Wal-Mart-ization of software
NY Times: Who Wins and Who Loses as Jobs Move Overseas?:
Mr. Johnson It's all about innovation and productivity. As long as we maintain those two engines, we'll continue to have a very high standard of living. Out in the Bay Area there are plenty of folks who would love to create a little bit of protectionism around their I.T. jobs, but we are far better off letting a lot of those jobs go. Low-skill jobs like coding are moving offshore and what's left in their place are more advanced project management jobs. (emphasis mine)This Mr. Johnson is "director of Tuck's Glassmeyer/McNamee Center for Digital Strategies at the Tuck School of Business." Since when is coding a 'low-skill job'? Who the fu*k is he to say that? From his bio it looks like he has zero experience with software and has no idea what he's talking about. The /. crowd is right to be angry.
There's always an opportunity when a dumb mindset like this takes hold - where is it here? High-quality, adaptive development with domain expertise and real customer service. Leave the offshore outsourcing to beancounters who think coding is 'low-level' and sell services to their nimble competitors.
Posted by sam at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)
More on Wal-Mart
Just for you, Breean: Is Wal-Mart Good for America?:
The annual celebration of the American consumer economy — the holiday shopping season — is just underway, and Wal-Mart, the juggernaut of retailing, already seems to have claimed its first victim. The corporate owner of F.A.O. Schwarz stores said last week that it would file for bankruptcy. Bemoaning the news, analysts explained that the F.A.O. Schwarz formula of selling premium-priced toys in sumptuous surroundings could not withstand the steady advance of Wal-Mart into the toy business.
Posted by sam at 10:16 AM | Comments (1)
December 06, 2003
Wait a few months and we'll be dying to get out of here
Snows slam Northeast. Here's our neck of the woods. Breean doesn't seem to mind too much.
Posted by sam at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)
December 05, 2003
You learn something new every day
Which is the most different animal? monkey zebra cow
Today I learned that people across all cultures tend to organize animals in three ways:
- Can it eat me?
- Can I eat it?
- How big is it?
Supposedly this has evolutionary causes. When cavedudes and dudettes first encountered an animal, the first concern was naturally if they were in danger. The second issue was if the animal could provide food. And the third? Really seems like a subset of the first two.
Neurologists think that Alzheimer's patients lose the ability to categorize based on the first two classifications and are only able to use the third. I must have it, because I would categorize based on intelligence, bidpedal/quadrupedal or size most of the time.
Posted by sam at 08:07 PM | Comments (4)
December 04, 2003
Not the kind of email you want to get
According to our records, we do not have a Vistakon paper from you. Please talk to your professor ASAP. Your best option is to send the file immediately upon receiving this email, and then deliver the hard copies tomorrow.Unless this whole day was a dream I'm pretty sure that I turned in two (2) copies of my paper this morning in the two boxes clearly meant for that purpose. Maybe I imagined the other hundred students doing exactly the same thing.
Posted by sam at 05:20 PM | Comments (0)
And all this time I thought it was an apple a day
Study: Oranges keep cancers away:
the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), found consuming citrus fruits could reduce the risk of mouth, larynx and stomach cancers by up to 50 percent.
One extra serve of citrus a day -- on top of the recommended five daily servings of fruit and vegetables -- could also reduce the risk of a stroke by 19 percent.
...
Baghurst said oranges have the highest level of antioxidants of all fruit, with more than 170 different phytochemicals, including more than 60 flavonoids shown to have anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and blood clot inhibiting properties.
Posted by sam at 08:34 AM | Comments (0)
December 03, 2003
The real, real Cancun
Oh yeah, we're getting married in Cancun at the Mayan Palace Riviera. For real this time. I hope everybody can make it out there cause I know we'll have a great time.
Posted by sam at 08:02 PM | Comments (0)
About last night
- 5 - 6:20 pm: Corporate briefing
- 6:20 - 7 pm: Booze n' schmooze in the Johnson 'parlor'
- 7 - 7:10 pm: Invited out to dinner, cancel on the high tech club
- 7:30 - 11:00 pm: Dinner on the corporate tab at Les Ducs
- 11:15 pm - 12:30 am: Drinks at Stella's, on the corporate tab
Seven and a half hours of networking, but it really wasn't that bad. The briefing was pretty typical but the meet n' greet was more personal than normal. All the employee reps were friendly and seemed very genuine. I wouldn't mind working there at all.
Dinner forced me to remember how nice it is to go out to eat somewhere nice once in a while, especially when The Corporation pays for it.
Posted by sam at 07:48 PM | Comments (2)
Probably spam though
Just received a job-related email from a tech recruiter I know in San Diego. It's the first contact any of them has initiated with me in a long time. Good sign.
Posted by sam at 07:29 PM | Comments (0)
December 01, 2003
And I get a discount
Just found out that I'll be on the Johnson School Outfitters management team for the next year. JSOutfitters is a small student-run business that sells Johnson School clothing and other 'stuff' to students, alumni and families. They do about $6k in sales every year so it's not much money. But it will be interesting to run a small clothing co.
Posted by sam at 11:12 PM | Comments (2)
Ithaca Winter fun
It is cold. Tonight's the first time snow has really stayed on the ground. This is probably the bottom layer of a snowpack we'll have till April.
Posted by sam at 11:01 PM | Comments (2)