1. Is the name you have now the same name that’s on your birth certificate? If not, what’s changed? Not a thing.
2. If you could change your name (first, middle and/or last), what would it be? Not a thing.
3. Why were you named what you were? (Is there a story behind it? Who specifically was responsible for naming you?) No story I’ve ever heard.
4. Are there any names you really hate or love? What are they and why? Chase, Evan, Brandon, Vin are names that drive me up a wall. ( Update)
5. Is the analysis of your name at kabalarians.com accurate? How or how isn’t it? About as accurate as any other random fortune telling bullshit. If you stay vague enough anything can be accurate.

How many different ways can I say It’s About Time!

I put the word interview in quotes in my previous post because I knew that this phone call wasn’t actually going to be an interview. I was speaking with a recruiter, which was the first step in this process. Now I have to finish the courtship..

Things have been hectic lately… I’ve been reading:

• “The Diamond Age” by Neal Stephenson. I listened to the first half of this book during my trip to and from Rochester a few weeks ago. I then borrowed the book from the library and picked up where I left off. I really loved this book, and I am really looking forward to Quicksilver

• “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right” by Al Franken. I make no bones about it, I love Al Franken. I was going to wait to listen to this book, because it’s always funnier when it’s read by Al Franken, but I just couldn’t help myself. I cranked through the book in about 3 or 4 days, and it was hysterical.

• The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. This is one of those books that I knew I should have read a long time ago but never did. It is taking me a long time to get through it, mostly because in revising the book for the second edition, Dawkins decided to leave the main text unedited and did all his updating through end notes. The constant flipping back and forth really slows me down. I’m about halfway through this book, and while it’s so far so good, it is pretty easy for me to push it aside for reading that’s a bit more “fun”.

Mom and Dad called me Saturday to tell me that Cassie has thyroid cancer, and it has already metastasized… The doctor said she probably had one month to live, but if she is in pain we have made “the decision”. Dependent on other things going on this week, I am hoping to get home for a few days to say goodbye to her.

I have a phone “interview” with a recruiter today, for a position I am terribly (over) qualified for. Hopefully that will work out, but if it doesn’t, I think it is my “last resort”. There is a job fair at Fenway that I will attend, but I think the s/n ratio will be too high for people in my work. If I don’t hear some positives in the next few days I am going to prepare to move back to NJ.

1. What housekeeping chore(s) do you hate doing the most?

Ummm… I kinda enjoy housekeeping chores, really… Maybe not enjoy, so much, but they make me relaxed. I guess I don’t really enjoy cleaning up other peoples messes, though. Last weekend, for instance, both my roommates left for the weekend and left a dirty load of dishes in the dishwasher, 3 more dirty loads of dishes in the sink and the surrounding counter, two bags of trash lying around in the kitchen (when the garbage chute is right down the hall), recycling bin that was completely overflowing, and a generally filthy kitchen. I was pretty pissed, because that was terribly rude..

1. Are there any that you like or don’t mind doing? None come to mind.
2. Do you have a routine throughout the week or just clean as it’s needed? Clean as it is needed.
3. Do you have any odd cleaning/housekeeping quirks or rules? I love cleaning out the lint traps in clothes dryers. I have no freaking clue what that’s all about, but I have found out that has the same compulsion.
4. What was the last thing you cleaned? No idea.

A new item to add to the already too long list of euphemisms for programmers: Development Technologist.

I was reading an article over at Wired News about the recent resurgance of the CD Single format. The article speculates that the rise of music downloading is pushing the single format back into main view. The argument is that consumers who have gotten used to getting “only the songs they want” either freely or from a legit service are no longer willing to pay full price for an album with 2 songs they like and 10 they don’t. But that’s not what I found interesting in the article:

“A RIAA spokesman declined to comment on the single statistics.

“We’re happy to talk about the aggregate impact of piracy, but as to what format our member companies market their music in, that is up to them,” said Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the RIAA.

The RIAA is approached for comment, and even though the subject has little or nothing to do with music piracy, they attempt to bring it into the discussion. God I can’t wait until this relic finally wakes up or dies.

“There’s a thing called shaken-baby syndrome that people get upset about. Personally, I think you have to give ’em a good shake, or they don’t bake uniformly.” – George Carlin

The first new Skinny Puppy song in almost a decade, Optimissed, is on the soundtrack to the upcoming film Underworld. This makes me very happy.

I admit that I am easily pissed off, but here are a few words you can put down in written form that send me through the roof:

• boi
• grrrl
• blog, mo’blog, blogosphere, etc.
• huzzah
• FUD
• security clearance

There are more, but there’s a head start.