Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

Getting to Know You Quiz

Sunday, January 21st, 2007

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my email alerts or RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Passed on to me by my friend Taz

What is your occupation?
Systems Administrator/Configuration Engineer
What color are your socks right now?
Not wearing socks
What are you listening to right now?
Watching Alias
What was the last thing that you ate?
A TV dinner (the wife is out of town so I’m eating like a batchelor)
Can you drive a stick shift?
Sure- took my driving test in a stick-shift van!
If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Burnt Sienna
Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone?
My wife as she was about to board an airplane to head home.
Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Yes
How old are you today?
34
Favorite Drinks?
Coffee, beer (dark or hoppy), and Riesling wine
What is your favorite sport to watch?
Indoor lacrosse
Have you ever dyed your hair?
Sadly yes!
Do you have any Pets?
A dog named Indy
What is your favorite food?
Bacon cheeseburgers
What was the last movie you watched?
Something About Mary. It happened to be on TV in the background so I don’t know if that counts.
What was your favorite toy as a child?
A children’s carpenter set from my Aunt Gina. Ironically, I don’t have any carpentry skills around the house.
What is your favorite fall or spring?
Fall. The smell of leaves and sound of lawnmowers in the distance remind me of growing up.
Hugs or kisses?
Hugs. But I’m not really a touchy-feely kind of guy.
Cherries or Blueberries?
Cherries. Especially Black Cherry soda or yogurt.
Do you want your friends to email you back?
Nah- since I’m being lazy and posting it to my blog.
Who is most likely to respond?
No one. I haven’t publicized my blog at all.
Who is least likely to respond?
See above…
Living arrangements?
House in the burbs
When was the last time you cried?
When I got married. And no, it wasn’t tears over lost batchelorhood!
What is on the floor of your closet?
Old shoes that really should be thrown out.
Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to?
None- doing the lazy web thing.
What did you do last night?
Upgraded my home server, caught up on the Tivo backlog.
Favorite smells?
Fresh coffee, laundry coming out of the dryer, the smell right before a rainstorm.
What are you afraid of?
Drowning
Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers?
Cheese with bacon
Favorite dog breed?
Mutts
Number of keys of your key ring?
2
How many years at your current job?
1 year 3 months.
Favorite day of the week?
Friday. Especially Friday night.
How many states have you lived in?
Other than my consulting gigs, 2- Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Favorite holidays?
Labor Day. That was when my Dad, my sister, and I would vacation in the Poconos at the cabin my grandfather built.

Catchy National Anthems

Tuesday, January 16th, 2007

Wrigley’s gum advertisers accidentally used China’s national anthem as background music because they thought it was “catchy”.

I can sympathize. My best friend and I would fight over which country to represent when playing Summer Games on the Commodore 64 solely because we wanted the best song to play during the medal ceremony. It’s been a while but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Chinese national anthem was one of our favorites!
NPR : Wrong Anthem, By Gum

[tags]funny, music[/tags]

The MBA shortcut

Friday, March 18th, 2005

My co-worker and I were talking today about the benefits of getting into an MBA program. The main benefit seems to be the networking that is the inevitable result of being around a bunch of business minded people.

While I agree that’s important/valuable, I don’t know if it’s worth piling on more debt or getting handcuffed to your company’s education benefits program. In the meantime, I’ve been reading many of the books found on Josh Kaufman’s “Personal MBA Program” reading list.

Playing Dumb

Wednesday, December 15th, 2004

Here’s a valuable negotiating technique I often forget, whether I’m in a job interview or trying to sell something. I’ll often say the positive and negative sides, thinking I’m giving additional information when in fact, less is more.

Everything Sysadmin: The right answer

The name for this technique is “playing dumb.” It is a technique that we geeks often forget. We geeks are smart. We get paid for being smart. We get paid for having all the answers. Someone once told me, “My value to the company is to be the guy that knows everything.” That’s us. We’re the smart people. It’s difficult to not give a well-reasoned answer even when it won’t work.

Election Write-In results

Monday, November 15th, 2004

CobbElections.org - Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration

Interesting to see who people wrote in for the recent elections. Some notable ones were Jesus Christ, Oprah, C. Montgomery Burns, and “I Don’t Like My Choices, So I’m Protesting By Not Voting For Prez.”

North versus South

Wednesday, October 6th, 2004

Being a transplanted Yankee living in Atlanta, it’s funny seeing how the cultures mix. Two of my co-workers are from New York but you’d swear they were born on the bayou. Today they were talking about monster trucks and wrestling, loud enough that everyone nearby could hear, when another co-worker IMs me:

He cried when Burt Reynolds shot the country bumpkins in Deliverance

Coffee nearly came out my nose at that point…

A mystery solved

Sunday, October 3rd, 2004

A mystery solved

Kim is the secret Mav TV champagne granter! She delivers tasty beverages in the still of the night, under cloak of darkness.
–Bill O’Neill

Bad to the bone!

Friday, October 1st, 2004

Bad to the bone!

What is this, an 80’s sunglasses flashback?
–Bill O’Neill

Work

Thursday, September 30th, 2004

Work

All work and no play makes Bill a dull boy…
–Bill O’Neill

Atlanta Time Machine

Thursday, July 1st, 2004

Someone’s gone and made a set of Then and Now type photos of Atlanta. It’s sad to see how quickly Atlanta has become just one giant suburb instead of a cohesive downtown area: Atlanta Time Machine