Random thoughts

[chipotle]

I went out today at lunch to a camera shop in Palo Alto, figuring I could probably make it there in 20 minutes. I did. I would have made great time, if I hadn't had to stop at a bank on the way back. I had to stop at the bank to let them know that, at the camera store, I discovered I'd lost my ATM card.

At the store, Keeble and Shuchat, I bought a filter, specifically a polarized filter. The salesman who asked if he could help me took me right to one specific filter, which I think is a relatively cheap one, without mentioning the expensive ones that I know that store sells and that, with a little effort, he probably could have sold me. Did I look cheap?

For reasons that aren't entirely clear to me, I downloaded XEmacs at work and have it set up to be the external editor in Dreamweaver. In the past I've found that I like Emacs more than Vim in theory, but like Vim more than Emacs in practice. Even setting aside all the foofery like Mayan calendars and a Tetris mode, Emacs simply does more than just about any other editor, and it's about the only non-commercial editor that I've seen that's genuinely aware of HTML beyond mere syntax coloring. (The only programs in my experience that match it are BBEdit and HomeSite.) Emacs also, however, remains unnecessarily arcane. I'll see if I can tolerate it long-term.

Yesterday at work I was chastized via IM by my boss, who was working from home, after someone anonymous complained to him (presumably also by IM) that I was "burping disruptively." I think this person complained about me clearing my throat a couple weeks ago, too. Making noises is "unprofessional," I'm told. Is it snarky to wonder if it's professional for this person to anonymously whine to my boss without asking me first? And I bet they're certain to pick me last for dodgeball when we're both at recess.

I can blame any disruptive burping on Amato's Cheese Steaks, which are, in my opinion, worth making officemates uncomfortable over.

I noticed just now that the tentative project schedule for the project I'm on runs only to the middle of February. That's no good. My plan for world domination better finances can't be achieved unless I'm here until June.

There are rumors floating about that Six Apart, the company behind Movable Type, is going to buy LiveJournal, although neither party has made any comment. We'll see tomorrow. While I wouldn't join in the histrionics the rumor is already causing, this would not fill my heart with gladness, either. Cosmetic changes to LJ (and I count things like moving to real XHTML-based templates as, essentially, cosmetic) would be swell, but moving the LJ back end technology to anything I've seen come out of Six Apart would be... well, let's just say "less swell."

Comments

[mordrul.livejournal.com]

Not only is it unprofessional to tattle to your boss like that, I think it's rather unprofessional for him to have done anything more than chastise them for wasting his time on it.

As for dodgeball, just point 'em out to me, and I'll make sure they get Nuke Balled. I was the team captain for the 5th-through-8th-grades team when I was in 6th grade at this one school I used to go to, which incorporated 5th through 12th grades.

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

I got the impression my boss felt it was his duty to say something, but he was kind of embarrassed being used as a go-between. I suspect were I him I would have at least asked, "Why can't you go over there and say something if it bothers you." Of course, he might have, I don't know. I didn't want to spend that much time investigating this nonsense myself.

[doodlesthegreat.livejournal.com]

Your concern about Six Apart's back end tech makes more sense than the histronics on Slashdot about invading hordes of teeny-boppers. Cripes, if crappy posters are what's going to bring down blogging, it should have died years ago.

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

LJ does attract more teenyboppers, I suspect, but some of the roll-your-own blogs attract teenage Linux geeks who aren't any more interesting. Such is life.

I see that Six Apart is confirmed to have bought LJ, so we'll see what happens. According to LJ's founder, the back end won't change, but we will get styles that won't suck.

Unprofessional

[(Anonymous)]

Is it unprofessional to lie on your resume to get a job you aren't qualified for??? Can you claim 2 1/2 years in business when your "prchick.com" web site has only been active for six months.

Do you feel guilty that your salary was created from money that was supposed to be raises that haven't been paid in 5 years???

Do you feel guilt or does arrogance cancel out??? Only Dilbert and NetWolves would know.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/umedia/cx_dilbert_umedia/latest

On the off chance the dodo who posted this comes back...

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

1. Yes, I did work for NetWolves. I haven't for over two years.
2. I did not work in their PR department.
3. I am not Britt Isaac.
4. I am not a "PR chick."
5. I am not a chick of any kind.
6. All of this would be obvious if you'd looked around my web site at all.

I'm going to guess you're a bozo from the Yahoo! NetWolves stock board who somehow found my journal through a Google search. Learn how to use Google better, bozo. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess, in fact, that you're "Justice is Remediation," and you're showing off your typical researching skills: getting just enough information to draw the wrong conclusion.

If you want any further responses, send them to my real email address, which such a great researcher should obviously be able to figure out. Hint: it's not on "prchicks.com". Further responses to this will not be unscreened in this journal.

Not a chick since you cut your hair

[(Anonymous)]

Is is unprofessional?

Sorry for the scary vibe. I am just posting on professionalism. Unfortunetly I think they killed off justice. Too loud...too often. Par for the course.

I was hoping you would pull up networksolutions for prchicks.com and see that she got the job less than six months after starting her pr business out of her appartment. No matter. 2005 is about positive spin.

There are too many day traders feeling the pinch of bad press. I would look for something positive soon.

P.S. Why would a technology compay pay $100,000 a year for a PR person and not have a technology officer.

Sorry to bother you...thanks for your time.

Re: Not a chick since you cut your hair

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

Actually, I did look up prchicks.com. You're drawing a conclusion about her business with insufficient evidence. All you can be sure of is that the domain was registered with Register.com in September 2003. That alone doesn't prove that she wasn't doing PR consulting on her own before that, nor does it prove that what she claims on her resume is incorrect. In fact, the claim that she worked at Paradyne is easily proven true: a Google search shows her name on press releases from them circa 2000.

As for other questions you had or implied--why they don't have a CTO (indeed, why their R&D budget keeps shrinking), whether Ms. Isaac is really a good PR person, and far more--they're valid. But as I pointed out, I don't work there anymore. I have an interest in how NetPoodles does, in part because there are still people I like working there, and I'd like to see those folks continue to be employed--even though there are times I wish their whole group could be hired by another company en masse.

Beyond that, I find NetPoodles a fascinating case study in how a company so profoundly free of vision and innovation can keep floating along, and how long that can really continue. I really don't have any reason to think Ms. Isaac isn't doing the best she can with what she's been given to work with; the phrase "lipstick on a pig" does come to mind.