Busy week, slow weekend.

July 19, 2004

It was a busy week.

Here at work we have two ongoing projects at the moment, and both are very similar to each other in that they’re both for web-based companies, both have similar requirements, and both have similar due dates. We all keep getting project requirements confused with each of the projects, and there was a huge push this last week to work on both of them at the same time. As I said, it was a busy week. It didn’t help that my boss had a bit of a short fuse last week due to the pressure that both the two different clients were putting on him as well as things to do before a conference in Colorado today and tomorrow that he’ll be gone for. So it was a bit hectic around work between his grousing about every little thing that came up and the rest of us struggling to keep in line with his expectations. I found myself on the outside of them more than once, though.

One time was particularly frustrating. We sent a build of our software to one of the clients and the wrote us back, said they’d gotten it running, but could they please send us a Windows XP compatible build? When they tried to install it on their machine, it crashed during the install. So my boss put me to work on trying to figure out what the cause was. I’d seen the problem before, and I pretty much knew what the cause was, so I told my boss what we should tell them to do. He said no, it was our responsibility to fix the problem from our end. But that’s impossible, I replied, how can we fix it if we don’t know what the problem is (and what I didn’t add was “and you won’t let me find out”)? I kept telling him that it was a problem with the computer they were trying to install it on, my boss kept saying we had to be able to fix it.

Long story short, their computer was infested with spyware that was crashing our software on the install. Spyware: it doesn’t just monitor your web browsing activities and send the information to a 3rd party who collects the data and tracks your movements and sells said information, but it also affects the standard operating of your computer after it’s been silently installed without your permission.

At this point in time I’d like to recommend Ad-aware, probably the best free anti-spyware software on the market. If you’re in my immediate family, I’ve already installed it on your computer, though. Or even better, switch to Mozilla Firefox as your web browser–no more prompts when you visit a website to install spyware such as Gator, CometCursor, New.Net, Viewpoint Media Player, Weatherbug, and the other spyware that gets pushed on you.

So we were able to fix that, bumbled through a few other problems, and I butted heads with my boss a couple more times. I don’t take it personally, though, because I knew that he was under a lot of pressure as I mentioned before. I’m glad I’m just a teser, however, and not actually trying to make the damned thing work in the first place like three of my coworkers.

Last Thursday I went to a baseball game with my Dad. The game itself was fairly uninteresting, though it was good to get back out in the stands with a pint of beer on a Thirsty Thursday. Since it was no longer listed on the Portland Beavers’ website as a promotion, I assumed that it had been discontinued, but I was happy to find that on Thursdays they still sell $3.50 pints of beer instead of the standard $6.50 price. Yowch! Before the game, I met my Dad at the Goose Hollow Inn along the Max line and we had a couple of beers and some pizza for dinner, and I did something I never thought I’d be able to do. I walked up to his table, asked what he was drinking, and he challenged me to guess the beer correctly. I took a sip, sloshed it around in my mouth, and correctly identified it as Fat Tire ale. Scary, huh? I think maybe I’ve had a lot of beer in my life at that point, especially since Fat Tire isn’t a regular purchase for me.

I also got confirmation that I’m accompanying his to another baseall game in about a week in box seats at the ballpark with some coworkers of his. Actually, it’s the PGE box. At PGE Park. We even have people wait on us and bring our orders to us during the game. No more missing crucial plays! I don’t think the food will be free (*mentally crosses fingers*), but the game will be. Always fun to have pre-paid entertainment, yes? I may go to another game this upcoming Thursday with a friend of mine so I can again take advantage of the Thirsty Thursday promotion before the summer’s over for good.

I was all set this weekend to watch three tapes with episodes of “ER” on them from last week. I’m getting close to the time in which I started watching the show regularly, so pretty soon I can stop taping the episodes, but since it’s so hard to keep up with watching two episodes a day in the evening, I hoarde the tapes for a couple of days. So I popped in tape #1, watched the episodes, wanted more, popped in tape #2 and found…golf? Tape #3…more golf. Dammit! Well, that just means that I spent three fewer hours wtching TV this weekend than I would have. I supplemented by watching my copy of Matrix Revolutions that I picked up at Hollywood Video when I needed a third DVD after picking out two I really wanted to fulfill their “3 for $25″ deal a few weeks ago. Horrible, horrible movie. Well OK, not that bad, but it was a horrible ending to a trilogy. It made no sense, there was no emotion, and frankly, I just wanted it to end. I’m glad it did. I also started watching the episodes of “Nip/Tuck” that I’ve taped over the last four weeks and still haven’t gotten around to.

I think as far as TV goes, though, the best discovery I made was when I was screwing around with my copy of Winamp and I discovered that in addition to a handy directory of streaming radio stations contained within Winamp itself, there’s a directory of streaming video, as well. Including TV shows that people were streaming. I found someone streaming “Newsradio” and I was happy as a clam, so I watched four or five episodes of that yesterday while I worked on my computer and got ready for bed. Ten to one odds says that more and more streaming TV and movies, whether it comes from the studios or comes from home viewers, happens in the next few years. It was pretty neat, though, to just fire up Winamp and be able to watch “Newsradio” like it was on TV. I feel like there’s more to say, some sort of commentary about the technology to do such a thing and where it might take us, but I can’t connect the dots in my head right now. I think you get the picture.

And lastly in my grab bag of goodies, I just made a purchase that seems like a spur of the moment kind of thing, but I think I’ll be happy with overall. For the last few years I wanted one, for the last year I talked about getting one, and for the last few hours I seriously considered getting one. So I figured that the universe had conspired against me to offer me such a good deal, so I bought myself an 80 hour factory-refurbished series 2 TiVo. With the $50 rebate I have coming to me, it only comes to $99. Pretty sweet, eh? I look forward to not fumbling with tapes anymore, and I think that I’ll just tell it to record every episode of “ER”, “Law & Order”, “Law & Order: SVU”, “Friends”, “Seinfeld”, “Nip/Tuck”, etc, that it can find. All the shows I like TiVo will automatically record without me programming it day after day. I don’t have to remember when my favorite shows are on, I don’t have to plan my schedule around wanting to watch a TV show. I can sit down when I want to watch TV and find out what’s sitting in the TiVo for me to watch. Hmmm, seen this episode of “Friends”? Delete it, make more space. Shoot, I JUST saw this episode of “Law & Order”. Skip it. Gotta run to the bathroom, but it’s not the commercial yet. Pause the live TV broadcast, fast forward through the next commercial break to make up the time.

Everyone I’ve talked to who uses a TiVo says that it’s fantastic, and since it was such a good price and I have 30 days to decide whether or not I like, it’s worth trying out. I’m quite certain, of course, that I will post my findings here for you all to read. I don’t get it immediately, of course, but since they paid for shipping hey, it’s all good to me.

And so thus I begin another week. A little richer personally, a little poorer financially. But frankly, I’d rather have much greater value in the former than the latter. I haven’t spent a lot of money on much lately, but this was a good deal on something I definitwely wanted to get. So roll your eyes, family, go ahead and roll your eyes.

Posted in Geekery, General, Movies