Home, Home on the Range...

Finally heading back home from an overnight stay in Seattle. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to complete everything that I needed to. It never ceases to amaze me how the smallest part will keep things from working. In this case, a specialized cable. Oh well.

The nice thing about taking the train to and from Seattle is that you have time to enjoy some quiet time. In my field of work, quiet time is hard to come by - users bug you day and night for help. At least on the train, when I'm bugged, I can choose to ignore it long enough to give the issue at hand the necessary thought. I choose when I hit "refresh" on my email. I choose when I'm going to respond to something. I choose when I answer the phone. At the office, people come up constantly and demand my attention. I do it to others, too. Sometimes it a necessity in the grander scheme of things. I can accomplish more learning and decision making in a 2 minute conversation in person than I can in an email conversation over a few hours.

Oh, did I slide off subject again? I did, didn't I. Dagnabit. I need a hobby to give me something to do when I'm bored. Reading trade magazines, catching up on MeFi and Slashdot don't count as hobbies.

Gregsta'

Ugh

9:00 and I haven't even been able to start the meat/potatoes of an upgrade that I'm in Seattle to complete. I guess when I jokingly said "I'll be here till 4AM," I really wasn't kidding.

Ready for a nap. Waiting for Ibuprofen to kick in. Productivity kept me away from the proper doses of coffee today. Bad juju.

Techingly,
Gregsta'

Training

I'm sitting on the train to Seattle for the first time in awhile. It's like a working vacation of sorts. I get to sit around in the dining car, enjoy fabulous scenery and get work done all at the same time. Normally, the outside pressure is relatively low and I can focus nicely.

Train rides are an interesting combination of beautiful scenery and industrial wastelands. It's amazing how little industrial operations clean up.

Well, thats about the extent of my blog-worthy thoughts for now. Back to work!

Gregsta'

Killer

Let me just start out by saying I make a killer Grilled Salmon.

Tomorrow - Business Trip to Seattle. I like to keep busy, but this is getting crazy. Tomorrow I hope to have some sort of relaxing time in the morning. Actually, that will probably amount to "recovery" time for the drinking I intend to do tonight (I'm perfectly aware that it's Tuesday).

Our good friend Lori leaves for Belgium tomorrow. She's able to work from there. Talk about the ultimate in telecommuting.

I guess Sea Lions are turning up dead everywhere.

Poaching: It's not just for eggs!

Did I really go there? Sick fuck...

Postingly,
Gregsta'

10?

It's 10:00. I'm finally done working.

For today.

I suppose one of the drawbacks of being Technology director for a group of design professionals is that when things get busy, there's no mechanism to truly defray the added workload. I'm left to take up my own, project-imposed slack. The owner group doesn't really get the whole idea of not working to death. Most of us aren't interested in burning every waking hour for the sake of the profession. We have lives and things that we do outside the office. The owners pin the problem of how to deal with the deluge on us and offer no financial or staffing support. That's the short version.

Enough whining I guess.

Considering an early night to bed. We were out way too late last night.

Gregsta': Out like a light.

Sit

I was going to clean my garage about now, but it started raining. I love Oregon.

Instead, I'm in my home office, getting things done.

Good night last night @ Vertigo.

Happy Birthday, Nate (who turned 30 recently).

Back to werk...

Gregsta'

More Quotes

When did it become so important that I have to drop everything to save you from looking like a douche?
- Daily thought process, Me

Life. It's quite amazing. The people that is. It's amazing that more of 'em don't get hit by cars.
- G.D.

When Technology and Architecture collide, expect to see something akin to a 3-year-old vs. a pitbull stand-off.
- Me again

There should be a planned parenthood around the corner from this library.
- Guess who!?

I'm so tired, I could vote Republican.
- Anonymous


Quotingly,
Gregsta'

It's the silly things...

I don't know why, but the silliest things make me happy.

Like my keyboard.

I give you the Microsoft Office Keyboard:


This is by far the best keyboard of all time. On the left, you have buttons Cut, Copy and Paste! How often do you find yourself doing the CTRL-C, CTRL-V routine? Never again with this keyboard.

There's also the Scroll wheel on the left. I set this to Uber-fast mode. I use it to scan quickly through long documents and then use the scroll on my mouse for the more precise scrolling action.

Geeky? Yes. That's the point. Too bad Microsoft discontinued this model after it's first year of production. Fuckers. I've bought a few on eBay over the years. Stock piling for a bleak, otherwise unproductive existence.

There's no doubt about it, geeks have ways to save time that anyone else can have. You just have to start thinking like one of us: Lazy. Anything you can do properly, a geek can do half-assed in a quarter of the time.

Then again, there is this sub-set of geeks that are perfectionists. I don't claim to be one of them. I aspire, but I don't achieve. These geeks tend to find themselves wondering why they spent their entire life perfecting something the rest of us figured out was a waste of time 20 years prior.

Okay, this blog has gone on too long.

If your curious: http://www.gigandbets.com

Gregsta': Working late

Oblivion

I like not knowing what's going on in the news. I feel like my little world is interesting enough. Why should I complicate it with a bunch of noise? Have you seen prime-time TV news in recent years? You have? What is it like?

The world could be suffering from plagues, famine, food shortages - I wouldn't know or care. Nope. That's me. Living in the here-and-here.

I suppose I'm no better than those people I complain about that know nothing about new technology, 'cause they ain't been pay'n attention for the last 20 years.

I'm sure at some point my stuck-in-1999-and-happy-about-it will backfire on me. Until then, I'm going to put on some Bryan Adams and reminisce about the good ol' days... like when Clinton was President, before NAFTA...

Waking up the Neighbours,
Gregsta'

Me too

I'm with Gooch on this issue. (Yes, the small hands comment, too) Main Page.

No drinking this week. I feel like poo this morning. I had more wine, booze and beer this weekend than should be allowed by law. I ate like French, Thai and American cuisine was going out of style. My head throbs, breakfast was difficult to get down and I've already ingested enough water to flood New Orleans again.

Working overtime this week to get some things done at the office. Updating the blog more. Eating better. Working out. Signing contracts.

Born to be miiiiilllldd...

Gregsta'

Speed of ?

I suppose I should write here more often when I'm busy. That way, when times are slow, I've already set the precedent that I write in my blog all the time.

Self-imposed guilt is a bitch.

Worked from home yesterday. I got more done in the 6 hours I put in glued to my office chair than I ever get done in 8 hours at the office. Someday, when I work from home all the time, I'll probably utter "I'd get more done if I was at the office."

Exciting times in Gregster's mild mannered existence. Wedding planning is going well. Some huge projects at the office are actually happening. Things are staying comfortably busy.

I've fallen off the exercise bandwagon this and last week. Lame excuse: Too tired and stressed out. I suppose that's exactly WHY you would go exercise in the first place. Isn't it amazing how we can make an excuse to do or not do just about anything?

Back to work.
Gregsta'

Quotes

"I have ADD when it comes to boys."
- Good friend, still single.

"When it Rains, it Pours."
-Noah

"Half off sale in the kids underwear section? I'm there..."
-Michael Jackson

"Can I get a witness?"
-Rodney King

"Bring on the shots!"
-Me, my 30th Birthday @ the Bar

"Are those boy pants? I didn't think so, either. I don't think he's going to be able to procreate after tonight."
-Annonymous

"I'm never drinking again."
-Jenn every Sunday (aka Jenn with "two n's")

"What the hell?"
-Me after finding out that I don't have any more money in the joint account.

"Buy some shoes for yourself."
-My last words before going into debt for life.

"No complaints yet!"
-My defacto standard response to the question 'How are you today?'

Quotingly,
Gregsta'

Blahgah

The thing I love about blogging is that you can be a complete moron, but depending on a number of circumstances that you or anyone else have little or no control over - you're opinion might be the deciding factor or basis for opinion of someone else, or for that matter - quite a few people.

These are in fact scary times. (ranting follows) I think the sharing of information is good, don't get me wrong. Where I think folks are starting to get it wrong is their expectation for summarization. Nothing can quite beat the powers of discussion for hashing out opinions and making good decisions. Credibility, not so surprisingly, plays a key role that is often left out or forged online.

Why do we keep going back to the web seeking out information in this manner? Google and other resources used to be good at finding the end-all answers to all your questions. Now, that's not always true. We then turn to other forms of information collection (forums, wikis, message boards, etc.) only to find the same weaknesses (and in most cases, even weaker) exist.

I suggest that a high degree of certainty and accuracy isn't really possible anymore for any information found online, particularly considering how easy it is to manipulate data when motivated.

Time to start going back to the old fashioned way of finding things out - asking the real experts and validating that you are in fact talking to an expert. Hopefully this will be the Web 3.0 premise...

Gregsta'

New Toy

Still drooling and I haven't even fired it up yet...


Cookingly,
Gregsta'