Pandora is one of the best reason to have a web browser. Seriously.
I love music. Pandora gives me gems of music over and over and over. Between Pandora and suggestions from a few co-workers, I have dove down this rabbit hole of amazing inde groups/artists. Sometimes when I mention the band, I feel like I am the last one to the parade, because these groups have been around for a while, just waiting to be inserted into the next Apple campaign.
I have created several stations but they tend to center around the following groups/artists:
Tegan and Sara, Cat Power, Lilly Allen, Kate Nash, Frou Frou, Imogen Heap, Regina Spektor, Camera Obscura, Jenny Lewis (w/ and w/o the Watson Twins), Rilo Kiley, The Postal Service, Feist and probably several others (which I may update later).
And for most of these artists I have bought at least one album, solely because of Pandora. Yet, the labels want to charge a huge sum of money for them to continue, when it gives them sales. My only guess is, they want more control over what is played, and something that plays what people want, not what the labels want, could impact their bottom line, or more likely, move the industry back to real artists instead of over-produced, over-controlled and over-commercialized manufactured drones.
Oh, also speaking of the web, twitter is great! Much better than reading a ton of blogs to find out what somebody had for breakfast. Now, I just get the important information, "eggs and toast - yum".
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
So That One Time I Almost Died...
My family went on vacation in Tennessee in July. Just me, my brother, his wife, my parents and my sister all in this amazing cabin just outside the Smokies. About as awesome of place as you can go for a week.
I have to first say, I love TN. I would seriously consider moving to TN. My former employer is now in Nashville, but they are way too small to need somebody with my skill set. (I deal with computers now on the scale of thousands). So, just being down there and driving around was a lot of fun. Its sooo peaceful.
Speaking of peaceful, there is this really cool river running through and outside of the park. Lots of people love to grab an inner tube, hop on board and float for an hour or so down stream. My brother and his wife did this earlier in the week and then proceeded to rave about it the rest of the week.
So we decided to do it later in the week. Oh, by the way, it rained several times, which caused the river to rise, and the water to run a tad faster. This made for a slightly less peaceful river, but hey, it can't be that bad. And launching 1 mile upstream from where all the inner tube companies drop people off, should be fine, really.
And so begins my brush with death.
As my sister said later, I should have known better after falling off the inner tube backwards, losing my sunglasses and almost losing my shoes before even launching. Even then I came up gasping because the whole thing came as a surprise. After a little help, I got on the tube and began floating down stream.
The floating quickly became bouncing and bobbing.
And then not so much floating but holding on to the tube while scrambling for a break in the rapids to get back on the tube.
And then it turned into me stuck up against a rock, water rushing around me, and holding on to the stupid $4 tube, trying to keep the river from ripping it away.
The river won that battle.
And then it won the war. Not more than a few seconds after watching my inner tube go bouncing away down the rapids, my body joined it. I bounced around. I bobbed. I dunked. I tried to brace myself. I had to have gone completely under half a dozen times, one of which, where the bottom was well below me, so I had no place to push off of.
Thankfully I am mostly buoyant. That and the river eventually slowed down.
I end up rolling over to the bank, out of breath, completely annoyed, but happy to still be breathing, slightly battered and bruised and turn around to make sure my brother and his wife know I am ok. As I sit there panting, waiting to see them come running up, expecting to see the joy in their faces, I wonder what they thought of seeing me be ripped away like that. I sit there a little longer and eventually they come around the bend, walking. WALKING. And we then discus if its worth getting the inner tube back or leaving it.
I end up walking with the sister in law to make a phone call to get picked up. A father of some teenage boys does one better and gives me a ride back to the cabin. When I get in, I thank him and explain how I was just bounced down the river. He then shows how he too has battle scars from the river, which looked twice as bruised and was actually somewhat bloody. Maybe I didn't have it so bad after all.
The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful. We saw trees and hills and mountains and waterfalls and a cave. That and tons of crafts...
I did get to see The Dark Knight with a friend of mine in Nashville. He brought two of his friends. It was a real geek fest. I love meeting brilliant people with similar interests.
So anyways, thats the one time I almost died on a family vacation.
I have to first say, I love TN. I would seriously consider moving to TN. My former employer is now in Nashville, but they are way too small to need somebody with my skill set. (I deal with computers now on the scale of thousands). So, just being down there and driving around was a lot of fun. Its sooo peaceful.
Speaking of peaceful, there is this really cool river running through and outside of the park. Lots of people love to grab an inner tube, hop on board and float for an hour or so down stream. My brother and his wife did this earlier in the week and then proceeded to rave about it the rest of the week.
So we decided to do it later in the week. Oh, by the way, it rained several times, which caused the river to rise, and the water to run a tad faster. This made for a slightly less peaceful river, but hey, it can't be that bad. And launching 1 mile upstream from where all the inner tube companies drop people off, should be fine, really.
And so begins my brush with death.
As my sister said later, I should have known better after falling off the inner tube backwards, losing my sunglasses and almost losing my shoes before even launching. Even then I came up gasping because the whole thing came as a surprise. After a little help, I got on the tube and began floating down stream.
The floating quickly became bouncing and bobbing.
And then not so much floating but holding on to the tube while scrambling for a break in the rapids to get back on the tube.
And then it turned into me stuck up against a rock, water rushing around me, and holding on to the stupid $4 tube, trying to keep the river from ripping it away.
The river won that battle.
And then it won the war. Not more than a few seconds after watching my inner tube go bouncing away down the rapids, my body joined it. I bounced around. I bobbed. I dunked. I tried to brace myself. I had to have gone completely under half a dozen times, one of which, where the bottom was well below me, so I had no place to push off of.
Thankfully I am mostly buoyant. That and the river eventually slowed down.
I end up rolling over to the bank, out of breath, completely annoyed, but happy to still be breathing, slightly battered and bruised and turn around to make sure my brother and his wife know I am ok. As I sit there panting, waiting to see them come running up, expecting to see the joy in their faces, I wonder what they thought of seeing me be ripped away like that. I sit there a little longer and eventually they come around the bend, walking. WALKING. And we then discus if its worth getting the inner tube back or leaving it.
I end up walking with the sister in law to make a phone call to get picked up. A father of some teenage boys does one better and gives me a ride back to the cabin. When I get in, I thank him and explain how I was just bounced down the river. He then shows how he too has battle scars from the river, which looked twice as bruised and was actually somewhat bloody. Maybe I didn't have it so bad after all.
The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful. We saw trees and hills and mountains and waterfalls and a cave. That and tons of crafts...
I did get to see The Dark Knight with a friend of mine in Nashville. He brought two of his friends. It was a real geek fest. I love meeting brilliant people with similar interests.
So anyways, thats the one time I almost died on a family vacation.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
iPhone Woes
So my iPhone had stopped running apps. I was installing updates from the app store. Because this was in the middle of the day, I had to wait a few hours before I could try to fix the problem.
When I finally got home, I began the long process of backing up and restoring the phone. This process took hours, almost 3 or so. When it finally finished, I picked up the phone and the problem still existed.
I then remove the one app that I updated. That's all it took. My friend warned me about updating apps that change their name. Don't do it! Remove the other app first. He had other issues, I had this issue. I don't understand why apple has problems with this, it makes no sense to me.
But on a good note, there are now ssh clients for the iPhone.
Posted with LifeCast
When I finally got home, I began the long process of backing up and restoring the phone. This process took hours, almost 3 or so. When it finally finished, I picked up the phone and the problem still existed.
I then remove the one app that I updated. That's all it took. My friend warned me about updating apps that change their name. Don't do it! Remove the other app first. He had other issues, I had this issue. I don't understand why apple has problems with this, it makes no sense to me.
But on a good note, there are now ssh clients for the iPhone.
Posted with LifeCast
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Working... on a Saturday
So crunch time has been in effect for a while now, but we finally hit the tipping point.
Systems coverage 7 days a week.
The systems support desk has been covering for a while now, but now they called in the sys engineers.
Which means I get to work today.
Which also means I get OT for working today.
Right now, OT is better than a day doing nothing. I have a monster of a car bill for tollkat... so I can't complain too much.
Speaking of tollkat... pics -> http://pics.tolldog.com/tollkat and soon its own website -> http://www.tollkat.com
Enjoy your Saturday (unless you are here working with me, then enjoy the dry chicken burritos)!
Systems coverage 7 days a week.
The systems support desk has been covering for a while now, but now they called in the sys engineers.
Which means I get to work today.
Which also means I get OT for working today.
Right now, OT is better than a day doing nothing. I have a monster of a car bill for tollkat... so I can't complain too much.
Speaking of tollkat... pics -> http://pics.tolldog.com/tollkat and soon its own website -> http://www.tollkat.com
Enjoy your Saturday (unless you are here working with me, then enjoy the dry chicken burritos)!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
India Part 2
I know it's been a while and I am sure with no current readers that the lapse really matters all that much. Maybe now with the iPhone and lifecast I can keep more up to date.
When others ask me about my time in India the first thing I say is "Do it". I will then proceed to tell them that it is like a paid vacation where you have to go in to work every day.
The work over there was not that difficult, basic systems work that relied more on DW specific information than anything else. I was lucky to be able to go, who knows, maybe I will get to go again.
The office complex was amaingly huge. We were in this place that had about a dozen security guards checking vehicles on the way in. Much more thurough than the guards in RWC trying to protect our catalytic converters. The complex had a below ground mall that was mostly a food court but had cell phone providers, an electronics store and several other odds and ends. Unfortunately the two things it lacked was AC and fresh air.
The hotel we stayed in is probably considered 4 star or will be when it's finished. They were still working on a real fitness room and a pool. The only complaint I had was the water wasn't hot enough for my normal morning scalding shower.
The firs weekend I was there we visited Mysore. We were told it would be a 2 hour drive. Turns out, it's really a 4 hour drive. It made for an extremely long day. But, even with the long trip it was worth it, the temple was amazing and the castle was breathtaking.
We also went shopping that weekend. More on that and the rest of the trip later!
Posted with LifeCast
When others ask me about my time in India the first thing I say is "Do it". I will then proceed to tell them that it is like a paid vacation where you have to go in to work every day.
The work over there was not that difficult, basic systems work that relied more on DW specific information than anything else. I was lucky to be able to go, who knows, maybe I will get to go again.
The office complex was amaingly huge. We were in this place that had about a dozen security guards checking vehicles on the way in. Much more thurough than the guards in RWC trying to protect our catalytic converters. The complex had a below ground mall that was mostly a food court but had cell phone providers, an electronics store and several other odds and ends. Unfortunately the two things it lacked was AC and fresh air.
The hotel we stayed in is probably considered 4 star or will be when it's finished. They were still working on a real fitness room and a pool. The only complaint I had was the water wasn't hot enough for my normal morning scalding shower.
The firs weekend I was there we visited Mysore. We were told it would be a 2 hour drive. Turns out, it's really a 4 hour drive. It made for an extremely long day. But, even with the long trip it was worth it, the temple was amazing and the castle was breathtaking.
We also went shopping that weekend. More on that and the rest of the trip later!
Posted with LifeCast
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
India - Part 1
I guess I have been back long enough to give my impression of my trip to India.
This is part 1.
I went to India for a few weeks for work. You may be wondering why I would go half way around the world for work, read more here. The short answer is, we are working with Thomson/Technicolor/Paprikaas in Bangalore India. They will be doing all sorts of work with us up to and including features.
The team I worked with in India all left a week before I did. Since I tend to spend most of my time at the application layer instead of the networking/storage/hardware layer, and there were only a few machines, I probably would have just gotten in the way.
So anyways, I had to fly several continents away, about a 24 hour trip, by myself. I tend to be slightly reserved when forced upon new experiences, so this was a great chance for me to grow.
First off, Lufthansa's international business class is amazing. Seats that go flat, personal video monitors with tons of movie choices and food. Lots of food. The best way to describe it is imagine spending all day at a nice restaurant with no dress code. You show up, wait for an hour or so, and then they start feeding you. Then they encourage you to take a nap. Then they come by and feed you again. Then again more naps. And eventually they serve some sort of dessert and allow you to sleep even longer. Yes, it is that good.
My first leg was SFO to Frankfurt. After 11 hours, I had to make use of the facilities. Had I known I could sit in the business lounge, it would have made my search for a bathroom much easier. The first two were under construction or being cleaned. After finding one and allowing nature to finally take its course, I went to the gate, which happened to be the same gate I flew in to. Unfortunately, Lufthansa has this weird gate setup in Frankfurt, where they have the basic gate lounge, but check your tickets before entering the lounge, not before boarding the plane. So what this means to people who show up before the agents is that you sit down in the lounge, when the agent does show up, you get ushered out to stand in line so you can go back in and sit down again. Annoying and slightly frustrating.
The second leg, Frankfurt to Bangalore. The flight was just as wonderful. The airport. Hmm, the best way to describe it is this, the airport was being replaced the next week. For an international airport, it was showing its age and definitely a tad bit scarey. Getting off the plane there surrounded by hundreds of Indians, being one of the few caucasians, and possibly the only native english speaker, it was a tad overwhelming. Oh, and there was no AC, it was about 90 degrees and although Indians pride themselves in being clean, they haven't bought off yet completely on the whole deodorant thing. Nothing against them, after a few days, you get used to it, but it was a tad much for my first real breath after 20 some hours of flying.
After making my way through customs, I had to wait for my suitcase at the baggage claim. Another thing to note about Indians, they have a different view of personal space than westerners. So instead of a nice orderly wait at the conveyor belt, it was more like being in a can of sardines with people trying to help take money off of you by getting your bag for you. I opted out of this service, but ended up being forced in to it when one of the "helpers" grabbed my suitcase due to the big white X on it. Turns out my bag needed to be scanned by customs before I could leave. For those flying to India, don't bring a second laptop, they don't like it and want to charge you for it. After being told that I would get off this time, I then grabbed my bags and tried to leave, where the friendly staff who helped me with my bag decided it was time to be tipped for his service of wheeling my bag over to the scanner. When tipping at the airport, its never just one guy. I was surrounded by 6 or so. Meanwhile, my friend, who was there to pick me up at the airport, was yelling at me to leave and to not give them anything. I tossed them 50 rupees and ran with my bags to my friend.
And the most difficult part of my trip was now over.
This is part 1.
I went to India for a few weeks for work. You may be wondering why I would go half way around the world for work, read more here. The short answer is, we are working with Thomson/Technicolor/Paprikaas in Bangalore India. They will be doing all sorts of work with us up to and including features.
The team I worked with in India all left a week before I did. Since I tend to spend most of my time at the application layer instead of the networking/storage/hardware layer, and there were only a few machines, I probably would have just gotten in the way.
So anyways, I had to fly several continents away, about a 24 hour trip, by myself. I tend to be slightly reserved when forced upon new experiences, so this was a great chance for me to grow.
First off, Lufthansa's international business class is amazing. Seats that go flat, personal video monitors with tons of movie choices and food. Lots of food. The best way to describe it is imagine spending all day at a nice restaurant with no dress code. You show up, wait for an hour or so, and then they start feeding you. Then they encourage you to take a nap. Then they come by and feed you again. Then again more naps. And eventually they serve some sort of dessert and allow you to sleep even longer. Yes, it is that good.
My first leg was SFO to Frankfurt. After 11 hours, I had to make use of the facilities. Had I known I could sit in the business lounge, it would have made my search for a bathroom much easier. The first two were under construction or being cleaned. After finding one and allowing nature to finally take its course, I went to the gate, which happened to be the same gate I flew in to. Unfortunately, Lufthansa has this weird gate setup in Frankfurt, where they have the basic gate lounge, but check your tickets before entering the lounge, not before boarding the plane. So what this means to people who show up before the agents is that you sit down in the lounge, when the agent does show up, you get ushered out to stand in line so you can go back in and sit down again. Annoying and slightly frustrating.
The second leg, Frankfurt to Bangalore. The flight was just as wonderful. The airport. Hmm, the best way to describe it is this, the airport was being replaced the next week. For an international airport, it was showing its age and definitely a tad bit scarey. Getting off the plane there surrounded by hundreds of Indians, being one of the few caucasians, and possibly the only native english speaker, it was a tad overwhelming. Oh, and there was no AC, it was about 90 degrees and although Indians pride themselves in being clean, they haven't bought off yet completely on the whole deodorant thing. Nothing against them, after a few days, you get used to it, but it was a tad much for my first real breath after 20 some hours of flying.
After making my way through customs, I had to wait for my suitcase at the baggage claim. Another thing to note about Indians, they have a different view of personal space than westerners. So instead of a nice orderly wait at the conveyor belt, it was more like being in a can of sardines with people trying to help take money off of you by getting your bag for you. I opted out of this service, but ended up being forced in to it when one of the "helpers" grabbed my suitcase due to the big white X on it. Turns out my bag needed to be scanned by customs before I could leave. For those flying to India, don't bring a second laptop, they don't like it and want to charge you for it. After being told that I would get off this time, I then grabbed my bags and tried to leave, where the friendly staff who helped me with my bag decided it was time to be tipped for his service of wheeling my bag over to the scanner. When tipping at the airport, its never just one guy. I was surrounded by 6 or so. Meanwhile, my friend, who was there to pick me up at the airport, was yelling at me to leave and to not give them anything. I tossed them 50 rupees and ran with my bags to my friend.
And the most difficult part of my trip was now over.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Happy Mother's Day
This Mother's Day comes at a strange place for me. Its been 5 years since I have been home for Mother's Day. Living on the opposite side of the country makes it difficult to make it back home. Its also one week before I leave the country for a few weeks to work in a third world country. I wish I could say that was to help an impoverished nation, and I guess in some small way it is, but it is mainly to help reduce expenses for mt employer. Not that that is bad, its just doesn't sound as nobel. But the hardest part about this Mother's Day is it comes a few days after my own mother went through surgery.
Surgery is something you wish you could make it home for. As far as invasive surgeries go, I don't know where a thyroid-ectomy fits. On Thursday my mother had a thyroid on the brink. Now she has a big empty spot where it was.
Thankfully my sister and her husband were close enough they could represent the siblings and help my mother (and more likely my father) out in this trying time. All this a month after my brother-in-law's step-father passed away. My sister is a saint. She may not admit it, but she will sacrafice for others. She has one of the hardest jobs in the world, working with a hospice.
My brother and his wife will be in town to visit my folks in a few weeks as well. So, again, I am the one thousands of miles away unable to see the family on a holiday or in a time of need.
But back to my mom. She is recovering well and will be back to 100% before long. I was surprised how well she sounds. This week she will get a report on the full biopsy of her thyroid. I sort of wish she could keep it in a jar but I guess they won't let her.
In other news, I leave for India in 8 days. More on that later...
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Where I am now
I guess the best way to really start things off, is to start with where I am now.
I am 31 years old. I live in Belmont, CA. I work for PDI/DreamWorks the Redwood City based animation studio of DreamWorks Animation.
My main job is to work as an LSF administrator
for DreamWorks. LSF is a software product designed to run tasks on large clusters of computers. The goal is to have tasks running in some sort of order based on some sort of importance dictated by team, show, and studio. If that sounds vague, it is because it sort of is vague. My technical title is Systems Engineer. So what I do most of the time is make sure LSF is running, make sure the machines in the cluster are running and then make sure we are making best use of LSF and the machines in the cluster.
I love the company, I love the job, I love California. It is almost as wonderful as you would imagine. It involves long hours. It involves stress. I haven't taken more than a few days off in the 4 years I have been here, and I am pretty much always on call (even when I take those days off, they have ways to find me). But, like I said, I love it.
The animation industry is an amazing place to be. I love being surrounded by artists and technical geniuses. I love feeling overwhelmed by the sheer brilliance of my co-workers. Its good to be humbled by the greatness of others.
So this is where I am now in my life, I am where I wanted to be in college, doing the kind of stuff I wanted to do. Later I will describe the road I took getting here.
I am 31 years old. I live in Belmont, CA. I work for PDI/DreamWorks the Redwood City based animation studio of DreamWorks Animation.
My main job is to work as an LSF administrator
for DreamWorks. LSF is a software product designed to run tasks on large clusters of computers. The goal is to have tasks running in some sort of order based on some sort of importance dictated by team, show, and studio. If that sounds vague, it is because it sort of is vague. My technical title is Systems Engineer. So what I do most of the time is make sure LSF is running, make sure the machines in the cluster are running and then make sure we are making best use of LSF and the machines in the cluster.
I love the company, I love the job, I love California. It is almost as wonderful as you would imagine. It involves long hours. It involves stress. I haven't taken more than a few days off in the 4 years I have been here, and I am pretty much always on call (even when I take those days off, they have ways to find me). But, like I said, I love it.
The animation industry is an amazing place to be. I love being surrounded by artists and technical geniuses. I love feeling overwhelmed by the sheer brilliance of my co-workers. Its good to be humbled by the greatness of others.
So this is where I am now in my life, I am where I wanted to be in college, doing the kind of stuff I wanted to do. Later I will describe the road I took getting here.
Greetings
So, I have been told I need to start blogging.
I used to live journal. I have word press on my site, I have done a lot of little writing type things in the past. Maybe if I am a tad more focused, or possibly more open ended on what I write, I can write more.
I guess I can start off with what interests me.
I used to live journal. I have word press on my site, I have done a lot of little writing type things in the past. Maybe if I am a tad more focused, or possibly more open ended on what I write, I can write more.
I guess I can start off with what interests me.
- Smart people
- Artistic people
- Tech gadgets
- Cars
- Music
- Movies
- Religion
- Photography
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