I just realized I haven’t written anything in about two weeks, and next to nothing since the beginning of the year when I started working on a new project.
Despite all the crazy goings on at work: layoffs, media rumors, stock rollercoasters…
I. Am. Having. A. Blast. Working on something so cool it will make your head pop off. It’s made mine pop off a couple of times already. It’s magnitudes larger and more consumer-y than anything I’ve worked on before, so knowing that 10 jillion people will see and use it gives me a frisson* every time I see a new mockup.
The new situation/project/team are helping me set a couple of interesting new bars: The larger team of folks I work with are as bright and fun and wow as my Netscape days—a personal benchmark not seen since 1998. I’ve been at this company longer than any other I’ve worked at. And most importantly, I’m managing my own team of designers who are doing amazing work.
Anyway, that’s where I am: Head’s down in Sunnyvale, working on The Next Biggest Coolest Secret Thing at The Friendly Internets Company, thus no time to filter the internet and blast snarky posts about everyone and everything. About the closest I come to it is the occasional post to facebook: Pushing the “Share” button in my BrandX RSS Reader is much easier than hawking up bile and making bitter lemonade. Just pretend I said something witty next to every one of those.
I’m going back into the batcave to play with awesome toys now.
Vocabulary shout-outs
* Thanks Tim Gunn
** Thanks Aynne
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Made ya look? Made me look.
It seems like something slipped through the gate’s gate.
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A conversation in a limo with 10 other folks from work as we head to our Christmas party:
My friend (responding to something I didn’t hear): Hey, erik plays saxophone!
Co-worker’s husband: Really, what do you play?
Me: Woodwinds, music school, blah blah. There was an amazingly talented group of folks in Denver in the late 80s and early 90s
Co-worker’s husband: Denver?
Me: Yeah, that’s where I grew up.
Co-worker’s husband: Really? What high school?
Me: East Denver
Co-worker’s husband: Really? What years?
Me: Uh. 86-90
Co-worker’s husband: Wow. I graduated from East Denver in 94.
Me: Boggle.
Us: Extended conversation about the awesome music teacher who ended up moving to another school after he married the same awesome French teacher we both had. Me not exactly him, but vaguely remembering his sister by name, who graduated one year ahead of me, etc.
Teeny tiny world, folks.
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I had a security block on a card and was asked to answer several security questions which were very unexpected. They gave me a series of multiple choice questions based on cities I have (or have not, in some trick question cases) lived in going back a *very* long time. Interesting.
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While she [Condoleeza Rice] never seemed an ideological Republican prior to her time with Bush Sr, upon her return to Stanford, many of her friends - who, interestingly, are in the main far more leftwing than she is - detected a hardening in her approach to issues such the affirmative action that had greatly assisted her own rise. She was also extremely autocratic. She was intelligent; she was always right. She believed deeply that she was God’s instrument, guided by His will. Despite her inexperience as a manager, she felt that compromise and coalition-building were an unnecessary waste of time. She could be ruthless. She accomplished much, was also feared - and, of course, she was exceptional. (Read More)
Referral from Princess Sparkle Pony blog
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I’m watching KTVU news this morning for no reason whatsoever. Every once in awhile I turn it on to see how long I can stand to have my news chewed up, editorialized, injected with extra fear and/or religion, and regurgitated back to me. I think my current record is about 2 minutes.
The pertinent facts of the current story is this: A woman in Oakland was hit and killed by a car overnight, which did not stick around the scene of the accident or call it in or anything.
Not interesting enough for morning news apparently. Frank Somerville and the (allegedly) dickhead writers of KTVU chose to add this unnecessary bit of fluff: “at Grand avenue and Lennox, which is [tense and knowing emphasis] very close [/] to Children’s Fairyland.”
Because it could have been YOUR CHILD who was viciously run down. In the middle of the night. At 1:15am. Going to Fairyland. As they tend to do at 1:15am.
The fact that a woman was killed isn’t funny, but that the TV news is sensationalizing it is. In a terrifying way.
A few days ago I heard an interview with Mike Gravel on NPR. He noted that the American public has been kept in a state of continuous fear by our government since the beginning of the Cold War, and that the mainstream DNC candidates are not likely to change the status quo.
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