What I did at work

Work sucks! We don’t have much work these days, in fact, I think that the company is going to go belly up any day now.

On Friday, I decided to rename 2 stored procedures. I didn’t actually rename them, I just decided to do so soon. And why did I decide to rename them. Because I could. Plus it looks like work.

On Monday, I briefly thought about actually going ahead and performing the rename, but instead added a column to a view.

Today I haven’t done anything so far. How much time does it take to to rename a procedure (for those of you who don’t know these kind of things)? Oh, about as much time as it took me to write half of the first parapgraph of this post.

But the days weren’t a total loss. I did incessantly check my email and rss feeds. No, I didn’t read them all, I just repeatedly checked them.

Like I said, work sucks! I need a new job. A new life, maybe even a new planet!

Garth Brooks: The Lost Sessions

Who fucking found these! They were lost for a reason!

Impressed by what I saw on WordPress today

I logged into my WordPress account after a while and saw that they have added a few nice things there. I commented on how I found WordPress to be a little restictive back in September 2005, but they have since added some new templates and features. A couple of the templates are also configurable to a certain degree, but I still think that I can do a lot more with a little html\css knowledge on Blogger.

What really blew my mind was the wonderful Blogger import tool they have. Since blogger does not have an export function, the tool logs into your account and changes settings and templates to output your Blogger blog into a format it can read, imports that and then resets your Blogger settings and template back to what you had them at. It then proceeds to publish all your posts into your WordPress blog.

The interface is slick and really a pleasure to behold. Snappy like an application, it gives you a detailed status as the job progresses. But, and they warn you to do this before you run the import, you should make an independent backup of your template and note down all your other settings. Because if something goes wrong and the job doesn’t finish, you are basically fucked. They may have some mechanism to detect a failed job and pick up where it last left off but I doubt that – you should be ready to reset your Blogger blog by hand if need be.

Technorati : WordPress Blogger Import

Sunrise from a plane

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… somewhere over the Southwest US.

Tree and tracks

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This is from the same time and place as the tree in the last picture post, different tree ofcourse.

Though I think I should have changed the horizon to not be dead center of the vertical axis, I otherwise really like the composition. The tracks starting almost at your feet, leading off on an indirect route to the tree, the partial fence. Ok, I am done blowing my own trumpet.

Tree with birds

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Those might be vultures, at least I like to think that.

This is picture I took picture one early winter morning as the sun was coming up; the lighting actually seems to suggest this is at sunset.

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Saw this recently on the road – I was thinking of hiding the license plate bu then I decided, ehh, the guys’ and idiot anyway!

Rethinking your car’s audio system

Even that shiny new car sitting in the dealship’s most prime showroom spot has an audio system that is severly out of date! Even if its their “premium sound package”, it still something closer to the Flintstones than the Jetsons!

I got a car about a year ago and it has a Bose system with an in-dash 6 CD changer, radio, some cool lighting effects, and a totally useless port for Sirius radio – I use the better XM service. It also has that do-da that automatically adjusts the volume based on the car’s speed.

But its useless. I have almost never used the CD changer except to test that it works. Simply, all my disks have now been ripped to mp3s and reside on a hard disk or in my iPod. The radio is useless too since I can’t stand listening to any terrestrial radio anymore on account of the ads and the inane boring politically-correct bullshit they say or the payola songs they play.

I could have used a decent set of AUX inputs to the stereo for my XM receiver and the iPod but no they couldn’t think to have those on there. I had to have those professionally installed by cutting into the wiring harness and and running wires all over the place!

Car manufacturers have to wake up! Mp3 players are here to stay! So is satellite radio. And who the fuck do you think you are deciding which provider you decide to team up with! I think that is our choice, not yours!

So, here is what I propose. Start designing your audio systems in a modular fashion. Each car will have the basic or premium Starter Pack which will be the speakers and amplifier with a bunch of AUX-in lines. Maybe basic radio. CD players, changers, cassette players (what!?) are all optional. I can pay extra for them or take the savings and buy myself a iPod or other mp3 player.

You can also market snap-in modules for XM, Sirius, iPod dock and charger with controls, other mp3 players etc. Also, you will provide a decent amount of real-estate on the dash where I can mount any additional after market components that I may purchase.

What do ya think?

A vast and wonderful country

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Man lives in tree after domestic spat

…Kapila Pradhan, 45, a resident of Nagajhara village in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, left home after… [Read]

India is a wonderful country full of cultural diversity, a rich history and world class technologies and achievements. But every fucking time that BBC puts up a human interest story from India, its something stupid like this! And the pictures always just serve to furthur that stereotype that people around the world falsly have of Indians being poor semi-clad natives living in mud huts.

You must realize that Indians don’t ride an elephant when they go to work at their nuclear power generators or cardiac care units or universities or space agency or pharmaceutical or information technology companies! They do not charm snakes in their spare time nor climb a rope and disappear at the top. They have mastered the shirt, pants and even the 3 piece suit and tuxedo; they do wear underwear and shoes.

iPod video as a learning tool

In my line of work you are constantly learning – well, at least others in my line of work are

So I decided to start using my new video iPod as a learning tool where I can load up those little clips and bits M$ throws out onto the internet about all their products, Channel 9, that kind of stuff. But, the video is WMV which the holy trinity of iPod\QuickTime\iTunes doesn’t play. Arrrgggghhhh! Now I have to get (pay for) another application to convert this to mp4! And spend time converting! I think I might end up spending more time converting than actually watching these clips.

As far as I can tell, there shouldn’t be any technical hurdles to any player being able to play any format. Its all just software for crying out loud. At some point, Apple and Microsoft each need to put their junk back in their pants, zip up, and get on with making truly universal players.