We are all hanging around the house, sniffling and snorting and hacking, a truly wonderful sight.
Kids and school: the true spreaders of the plague.
Category: Uncategorized
Gmail Error Message
Ya know, this is getting really tiresome…
Is it time to move back to Yahoo! Mail? Does Google care that they have performance problems?
Technorati Tags: Gmail, Google, errors, unreliable, capacity planning, web performance
Archeology on the Homefront
Samantha decided to re-design the stone path alongside our house this weekend. When she tried to position one of the stones, she encountered what she thought was a large buried rock. This would not be surprising in New England.
Being a good husband, I offered to try extracting it for her.
An hour later, we were staring at the outline of the 6′ X 3′ X 2′ deep concrete fish pond.
We knew there had been a fish pond on the property at some point, we just weren’t expecting to encounter it right there.
Needless to say, we are going to re-bury it until the boys are older; right now it is on their bike raceway, and I don’t feel like adding a water obstacle to the raceway.
Technorati Tags: fish pond, archeology, house
Looking for a new Unlocked GSM Phone
I have been shopping around for a new, unlocked GSM phone. I live in the US, so these are not as readily available as they are in the rest of the civilized world.
The criteria I have can be summed up easily:
- Candybar/brick: I have learned to hate flip phones
- Tri-Band: 900/1800/1900 (no 850 for me!) for largest range of coverage
- Keypad for easy text messaging
So far, I have narrowed the search down to three options:
- Sony Ericsson J200i
- Motorola C650
- Motorola T68i
- Motorola L6 (A boy has to dream!)
If anyone knows of any other candidates, or has domments on my shortlist, they would be appreciated.
Technorati Tags: J200i, C650, T68i, unlocked GSM, GSM, 900/1800/1900, tri-band, worldphone, world phone
Dell redeems itself…eventually
It took 3 calls, 6 people, and 90 minutes to resolve the problem with Samantha’s new Dimension 3100.
And what was the fix? A secret squirrel hotfix for Media Center.
Still wouldn’t buy another Dell.
Technorati Tags: Dell, Dimension 3100, tv tuner, Windows XP Media Center
Changes here on the homefront
I am writing this from Toronto. I am in shock that I am here, as the events over the last 24 hours seem like a bad dream. It appears that the US media has not picked it up on this crisis. In fact, I am having difficulty getting to US news sites and blog servers from Canada.
Yesterday, representatives from DHS arrived at my office and took me into a conference room along with the CEO and COO. The COO (a Canadian with a permanent resident status) and I were told that we and are families were being taken to Logan airport and placed on a flight to Canada. They then handcuffed us and took us out through the back door to an unmarked bus, with about 20 others onboard. There were guards in paramilitary uniforms I could not identify.
After three or four more stops (it was a blur, I can’t remember it all), we arrived at logan. I was re-united with Samantha and the boys in a abandoned hangar, where there were 200-300 of these unidentified paramilitary guards. There had to be 2-3,000 people in the hangar.
We were herded onto a series of C-5 cargo planes and flown for about 90 minutes. Off the plane, and left at what turns out to be an abandoned airfield just outside Toronto. AFter about 20 minutes, OPP and RCMP officers appeared, looking as stunned as we were.
Does anyone know what’s going on?
Sound scary? Well, I would say April Fool’s Day, if it weren’t for the fact that the current xenophobic ranting going on in the United States makes me feel that this scenario is not so far-fetched. I am here legally on an H-1B, but could be deported at the whim of the US Government. And these whims appear to engulfing the American psyche.
Right now, the targets are the “illegal immigrants”. This is white, middle-class code for “latin immigrants, regardless of status”. But will it stop there?
As the US fortunes are matched by other growing economies, will this xenophobic and racist tendency lead to all immigrants being targeted, regardless of status and origin? Is the tradition of US isolationism rearing its head in a world of crumbling borders and economic barriers?
Is the US really ready for the world?
GrabPERF: New York PubSub #1 Online
I want to welcome a new measurement agent to the GrabPERF family: New York PubSub #1. This location came online yesterday, and has been delivering data consistently since about 21:00 EST (02:00 GMT) last night.
The world is a very small place. Turns out that my primary technical contact on the PubSub is someone who used to work at my current employer. Always good to stay in contact with folks.
Many thanks to Bob Wyman for making this happen.
Technorati Tags: GrabPERF, Web Performance, agent, pubsub
And people seem surprised when I say I won’t move back to the Valley
Silicon valley has some very mystical appeal in our geek culture.
But it comes with a very severe cost, as Niall Kennedy points out in this post.
How bad is the Bay Area/Silicon Valley? Well, with a lousy school system and decrepit infrastructure added into the mix of a generally higher cost of living, I would require a 75% – 100% increase in base salary to even CONSIDER the Bay Area again.
It’s the INTERNET people! You can work ANYWHERE!
Technorati Tags: Silicon Valley, cost of living, salary, Bay Area
Flying into…well, anywhere in the US really…
Rick Segal has a great post this morning about the unique nature of the Canada-US border. [here]
Rick hits it on the head: US Customs and Immigration Agents are some of the most unpleasant people I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with.
When Samantha goes home with the boys next month, what does she fear the most?
Re-entering the US on a valid visa.
Why should people who have valid visas fear coming back into the US?
Oh yeah, the US hates immigrants. Or at least that’s how the rest of the world interprets their attitude, policies, and actions toward those who are not privileged enough to hold US citizenship.
UPDATE: Looks like Matt Mullenweg enjoyed the pleasure of what happens going INTO Canada without a passport! [here]
UPDATE: GOOD LORD! Is it weird immigration story day or what? David Weinberger recounts his encounter with a US Immigration Agent in Montreal last night. Gives me some inkling of hope.
Technorati Tags: DHS, US Customs, Canada Customs, Canada, US, immigration, work visa, h-1b