Asymptomatic

There must be intelligent life down here

The Month of Doom
October 17, 2007

I’m writing this post from the Septa R5 into Philadelphia, on my way to Suburban Station and a day of work at a temporary office across the street from Liberty Place. That may be one breath of a sentence, but it’s appropriate for the month I’m having.

Deadlines for work have gotten… interesting. And in the midst of it all, I have meetings with big clients for the rest of the week. Next week I give a presentation on PHP frameworks, specifically CodeIgniter, which is fun since I haven’t used it since maybe June, coincidentally for the client that I’m meeting in the city today. At some point before this major deadline I need to take some time out to watch Riley, since Nana is going on vacation with mom.

Elementary Lined Paper
October 15, 2007

Abby is in first grade and she has daily homework. Much of it involves writing. One thing that she is not good at so far in school is using that ridiculous three-line ruled paper, probably because she’s been using the plain lined paper for so long already, even in kindergarten.

The problem with this paper is that there simply doesn’t seem to be anywhere to obtain it easily.

Hey Wait, Is Radio Dead?
October 15, 2007

Today at Woot they’re selling a 30GB Zune for $99, so when the clock flipped last night, I bought one. At some point in that process the whole MP3/radio idea mix leaked into my consciousness, and I ended up dreaming about it. When I woke up this morning, I was asking myself, “Is radio dead?”

One of the significant contributors to this thought is the release of Radiohead’s new album, In Rainbows. It’s not about the album itself - I don’t have it, and am wondering if I even want to bother given that my thoughts about Radiohead deserve a full post of their own - but another question I had asked myself about it: Is the album getting radio airtime?

9rules and Building Evolving Communities
October 14, 2007

A few of the folks I “hang with” online are/were involved in the 9rules network. I am not a member, but I had tried to become one at one point. I’ve been following the recent actions of the network with some interest, and thought I would save my thoughts for later as they may be relevant for other communities in which I am involved and have influence. Some background on the current issue is probably in order.

Essentially, many people had joined the network for the purpose of being affiliated with other bloggers who created great content. Their goal was to enrich the web. These folks chose to participate in the network insofar as they posted new, quality content to their own blogs, which were syndicated specifically to the rest of the members. Although the network powers-that-be had created a site for interaction among members, these folks never saw participation in those forums as a requirement to their membership, simply their continued contribution of quality blog content.

The Cheese Stands Alone
October 13, 2007

When we used to travel as kids, the entertainment in the car consisted of counting cows out the window, playing the “I’m going on a trip” memory game, looking at the maps stuffed into the pocket in back of the driver’s seat, and as a special treat, those “magic ink” puzzle books. But what we most often did in family car trips was sing songs.

It’s a very unusual idea now to think of singing songs in the car, since the advent of in-car DVD players, MP3 players, and the GameBoy, but for little kids who don’t have the toys or aren’t interested in those things, some interaction with the family via singing in the car can be fun.