Hey Dan

It is Halloween and I have noticed an odd side effect of working in a new place. I call it the ‘that is a costume, right?’ problem. As far as I can tell, few people here have actually dressed up in costume. Far more are wearing their normal Tuesday work type cloths, I think. I have run across a dozen or so people who could be dressed up, I just can’t tell. Now I not a fashion snob, however the woman this morning dressed in a green jump suit with red hair I swear I saw in a Dr. Seuss illustration. One woman walking in this morning was a ten-gallon hat and six-gun away from being the best Gene Autry I have ever seen. Wondering the halls I have seen a hobo, an LA gang member and Hunter S Thompson. Ok, the guy dress as Hunter S Thompson was in costume. For the other I was in mid ‘hey, nice costume…’ before realizing this is how they dress. This bring up an interesting question, do they dress like this everyday and I am just to apathetic/unobservant to notice?

…Objectivity is a myth… happy Halloween Mr. Thompson wherever you are.

Posted by Dan at 02:10 PM | Permalink

I started the new job this week. Things are going well and so far I really like it. I miss the folk back I worked with before tons. It is not that the new people are boring, but when you are used to working with ex-swat guys and rocket scientist it is hard to take normal people seriously.

There are some interesting things about the new place. One is that I work in this lab type area. I am the only one of my group who works in here and only one other person in my group even works in this building or state. I share the lab with people who work with customers (partners in corp speak) all over the world. On a daily basis I hear Spanish. Portuguese, Russian and at least one I have not been able to place.

So far the guy I work for is great. It will be an adjustment working in a less structured environment. However, they seem to like my ideas and there are lots of new things to learn.

Posted by Dan at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Over the last couple of weeks I have discovered why it is a bad idea to go to school full time and work full time. There is just no time for things to go wrong and they will at times go wrong. A couple of Fridays ago I with work, class and an interview I had to squeeze in between my 1 to 4 class and my 6-10:30pm class, I hit the wall kind of hard. I forgot to eat and by the time I got home I was done. There are times when my brain and body just stop working. This was unfortunate because I had a couple of assignments due that night. Things will be alright, I am just not expecting an A in math right now. I am still very worn out even after a wonderful weekend of relaxing. I guess it will take some time to recover.

Posted by Dan at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you want my respect, do what is hard. For example, it is hard to live the way you talk. As Christians we talk about ‘turn the other cheek’ when someone wrongs you. Most of us would dismiss this as dangerous and unwise to practice. I have heard of few people who really understand what this means. One group of people who do seem to understand it is the Amish and this week they reminded me what moral values really are.

Last week a man entered an Amish schoolhouse and shot five young girls to death. It was a tragedy and a horrible event in a community of peaceful people. The reports told of older girls asking to be shot first in hopes to save others. I can’t imagine the inner strength it takes to say that. That alone would have earned my respect for the whole Amish faith.

This week they showed me and many other how much we don’t understand about personal strength when they not only attended the funeral of their attacker, but asked other to forgive him. As Donald B. Kraybill of the Patriot News put it, “The blood was hardly dry on the bare board floor of the West Nickel Mines School when Amish parents sent words of forgiveness to the family of the man who had killed their children.”

I am in awe of a people who really live the words they say. This is what it takes now to earn my respect. Do what is hard, because it is right. Now if our country wants to have a moral values debate, lets start here.

Posted by Dan at 08:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

To update everyone, I have accepted a position with IBM. The position is with the IBM Academic Initiative. This is a small group that offers courseware, systems and example code to high school and collage computer science instructors.

More information on IBM Academic Initiative:
IBM Academic Initiative

For those of you who don’t know. I found out last month that I was being laid off. It had nothing to do with how well I was doing, just bad luck in government contracts. The company I work for is a very small government contractor. We are a 40 person company and we lost a large chuck of business due to an overrun on an unrelated project.
Working for the government sometimes is dumb. For the second time in my life I feel fortunate for the opportunity to come to work at a place everyday.

I am amazed I found a great position as soon as I did and excited about the new job.

Thanks to everyone for the advice, good thoughts and resume shopping. I have a couple of good leads for Java coders or people who know things about Clinical Research, if anyone is looking.

Posted by Dan at 05:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)