Half Bad Boy Blog

Times Are Changin'

2009-02-05T09:19:00.002-07:00

As Roxy Blue says, "Baby, I know times are changin'." And if you don't know who Roxy Blue is, that is probably because you aren't into obscure hair metal bands that only produced one album of any significance at all with a scantily clad female on the front cover that is no longer available for purchase.

Anyway, the Half Bad Boy Blog is coming to an end.

Yes, I am a little concerned about my readership. Hopefully both of them will see this post and follow me over to blog.mvryan.org, where the blogging will continue, hopefully a bit more free-form. See, the problem with having a themed blog is that it makes it hard to write about what you really want to write about. I want to write about whatever interests me and not a theme - even one as cool as half-badness.

I realized this in a couple of ways. The first was that I was feeling constrained in what I would blog about. For example, I might want to blog about technology or politics, but it didn't fit the theme. Lame! Then as I started poking around at other people's blogs, I found a lot of other themed ones, that seem really interesting in the beginning but after a while seem like they are just saying the same thing over and over again. Either that, or they really start to scrounge for stuff, like "Seven Tips For Reducing Stress In Your Life" (tip #1 - stop stressing) or "How To Simplify Your Life" (such as not using any technology at all - but this does not apply to the blogger who must use technology to produce the blog, etc.).

Uninteresting. The interesting blogs to read, if there are any, are more personal than that. And the interesting blogs to write are about whatever topics I care about, because by definition the categorization of something as "interesting" by my brain is entirely subjective. Suddenly my blog becomes the most interesting of all! If I can only cut loose.

Which I'm doing. Eventually. Not right away. But if you agree that stuff I may choose to blog about could be interesting enough for you to care, you should change your bookmark, or feed, or whatever to blog.mvryan.org instead. If, on the other hand, you are incorrect and don't find this stuff interesting, why are you even here? You should stay away. No offense. It isn't that I don't want you around. I'm just afraid I will have to moderate comments from people who wrongly think that my interests are not interesting. I believe I've made myself clear.

So. blog.mvryan.org. In case you missed it.

The Straight-Through-In-Alpha-Order-Music-Listening Experiment Update, Volume 3

2009-01-28T08:27:00.002-07:00

Man, another month has passed on this experiment which has now been underway for four months. So here's where we stand:

Current Artist - Album - Song: Def Leppard - Hysteria - Rocket
Songs listened to: 1615
Total songs: 9691
Percentage complete: 16.67%
Estimated completion: October 2010

AAAAAAAAHH! Two years to complete this experiment! Two years before I will be listening to Yngwie Malmsteen or ZZ Top! Something has to be done. I've simply got to listen to music more often.

One of the highlights of this period was The Cult a couple of weeks ago. Another highlight has been discovering some different types of stuff that I'd bought on recommendations, and hadn't really listened to all the way through before. So that was good. But the rest of the D's are looking pretty good. If I can get through the D's by next month, then I'll have enjoyed all of Def Leppard, Dokken, Dragonforce, and Dream Theater along with some other good stuff. Stay tuned.

Essential Albums: Y&T "In Rock We Trust"

2009-01-28T07:53:00.003-07:00

Artist: Y&T
Album: In Rock We Trust
Year: 1984
Best Song You've Probably Heard: Don't Stop Runnin'
Best Song You Might Not Have Heard: This Time

Say what you will about the cheesy cover, the dorky album title, or the weird band name; Y&T's "In Rock We Trust" is so good that it is my favorite album from 1984, and that's really saying something. Consider other albums that we were all blessed with that year:

Scorpions "Love at First Sting"
Ratt "Out of the Cellar"
The Cars "Heartbeat City"
Dokken "Tooth and Nail"
Twisted Sister "Stay Hungry"
and, of course, Van Halen "1984"

That's some pretty awesome company. So you know what I'm saying when I tell you that this is my favorite album from that year.

Unless you are a pretty serious 80's metalhead you've probably not even heard of Y&T before, so you maybe haven't heard "Don't Stop Runnin'". It is probably the most popular song from this album and apparently still gets air time on radio and MTV. But it isn't the best song. "This Time" is an awesome heavy metal ballad, one of the best ever. "Life, Life, Life" is an example of the common 80's plea-for-peace topic, and is an excellent song. There's not a bad song on the album, but especially the first four songs in a row are really outstanding.

This album is pretty hard to come by legally in CD form, although not as bad today as when I found mine, used. Your best bet might be to just buy the MP3s directly from amazon.com. You won't be disappointed.

(Image credit: amazon.com)

College Football Wrapup 2008

2009-01-10T15:03:00.002-07:00

Well, it was a great college football season. It included some slight disappointments, like early season favorites Clemson and Georgia. It included some refreshing surprises, like Utah and Alabama. And it ended predictably, with yet another variant of intense BCS controversy.

Let's review the major conferences first:

SEC - As expected, the SEC was strong. What was unexpected was the strength of Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, and the collapse of Tennessee. But the SEC continues to be what I love about football - incredible athletes with tough defenses and hard-fought battles every week.
ACC - Clemson was a highly ranked preseason favorite that ended up having a mediocre season, but teams like Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and Miami had pretty good seasons.
Big East - The Big East was a fairly weak conference, with only one team, Cincinnati, nationally ranked at the end of the year, and that team lost their bowl game.
Big 10 - The biggest Big 10 disappointment had to be Michigan, who had one of their worst seasons ever. Many Big 10 teams held higher rankings than they earned all year, based primarily on their name, history, and prestige.
Big 12 - The Big 12 was a tale of two subdivisions. The Big 12 North was comprised of one good team, Missouri, and five other also-rans. The Big 12 South looked all year like the toughest conference in all of NCAA football, but they went 1-3 in their bowl games, so it makes you wonder.
PAC 10 - As everyone expected, USC was really good, and as everyone expected, they lost one game to a conference opponent that they should have won. But the PAC 10 has some truly awful teams, like Washington.
Bonus: Mountain West - I think it's past time that we stop considering the Mountain West a mid-major conference. The Mountain West went 6-2 against the PAC 10 this year, Wyoming beat Tennessee in Knoxville, and is probably stronger overall than the ACC or the Big East. Playing a Mountain West schedule shouldn't penalize a teams strength of schedule anymore, and I think if we are going to keep this BCS nonsense, it is time for the Mountain West to have an automatic berth like the others - they've certainly shown over the past several years that they are good enough.

Let's review my bowl picks:

Las Vegas Bowl - Correct. I said whatever team Max Hall played for would win. He went back and forth but ended up helping Arizona more than BYU, so Arizona won. Can someone explain to me how BYU ended up nationally ranked at the end of the year and Arizona didn't?
Poinsettia Bowl - Correct. I picked TCU over Boise State. They had me worried for a while but ended up pulling it off.
Meineke Car Care Bowl - Correct. I picked West Virginia and was right, although they were worrying me a bit also.
Citrus Bowl - Correct. Florida State was way too much for an overrated Wisconsin team to handle.
Emerald Bowl - Correct. Cal beat Miami in a good game.
Alamo Bowl - Correct. Missouri tried to let Northwestern win this one, but in the end they just couldn't give the victory away.

By this time I had gone 6 for 6 and I was having visions of getting all of my picks perfectly right. Alas...

Holiday Bowl - Incorrect. I'd seen Oklahoma State play a number of times during the year, and I really thought they were better than that.
Sun Bowl - Incorrect. Oregon State surprised me.
Chick-Fil-A Bowl - Incorrect. Apparently LSU in disintegration mode is still better than Georgia Tech at their best.
Citrus Bowl - Correct. Finally I got another one right. My SEC didn't let me down.
Rose Bowl - Incorrect. Penn State simply made too many mistakes to win.
Orange Bowl - Incorrect. Wow, was Cincinnati disappointing!
Cotton Bowl - Incorrect. Not to take anything away from Ole Miss, but I really thought Tech's offense would be too much for the Rebels to handle.
Liberty Bowl - Correct. East Carolina still is not a state.
Sugar Bowl - Incorrect. And happy about it. But still, you have to admit that it was a surprise.
Fiesta Bowl - Correct. Ohio State played well but what an awesome drive by Texas to pull it off at the end.
National Championship - Correct. Oklahoma played Florida much better than I thought, particularly on defense. The whole game came down to a handful of very key plays, and Florida won those key plays.
Toilet Bowl - Correct. ND C&D positively owns this bowl and this year was no exception as they destroyed Western Kentucky by the score of 3 to -17.

So overall, I correctly picked 11 of 18 games, or as my cynical friend said, about the same as picking them at random, which made me feel a lot better. So what do we take from all of this?

The BCS is a complete joke. Each year it very successfully proves its own illegitimacy, and this year was no exception.
The Big 12 South was not nearly so good as they seemed to be. The high-flying offenses that seemed so amazing only seemed that way because the defenses were so lousy.
The PAC 10 is better than we thought, which also means the Mountain West (6-2 against the PAC 10 this year) is better than most people think.
This year's national champion, Florida, barely beat an Alabama team that Utah controlled well. Florida is the national champion, but Utah is the best team this year.

Legitimacy for the BCS

2009-01-03T16:18:00.002-07:00

It's popular every year to engage in the debate about the state of the BCS and how lousy a job it does, or not, in determining a national collegiate football champion. And since I'm all about being popular, I thought I ought to jump in here and add to the noise a bit. Maybe what I've got to say is a bit different though. And maybe not.

I'm going to start with a basic premise about any championship series. That premise is that it is possible for any participant to become the eventual champion of the series. That's the promise of participation. At the beginning of the season, every participant starts out at the same level as every other participant, and every participant can believe realistically that they have a shot at winning the overall championship.

Notice, I didn't say an equal shot. Equality is certainly subjective, and in many championship series, there are many things that are not equal. Ferrari has a much better chance than Force India to win the Formula One championship, and the Celtics have a better chance than the Jazz of winning an NBA title. A lot of this has to do with money, markets, buying power, superior athletes, etc.

Still, the series itself gives every participant a fair chance to win. There is nothing about the nature of the series that will make it so that an inferior competitor cannot win the championship. If the Utah Jazz win enough games, they will make the playoffs - and if they make the playoffs and keep winning, they can eventually win the NBA title. The championship is completely within the realm of possibility, something that is realistically achievable.

This, then, is the fundamental problem with the BCS. I maintain that, in the BCS, not every participant has a chance to win the championship. More precisely, there are a number of teams for which winning a championship is not possible, no matter what they do, without certain lucky circumstances also taking place that are outside of that team's control.

The recent Sugar Bowl game between Alabama and Utah really brings this into light. Make no mistake, Alabama is legitimately one of the top football teams in the nation. They deserved the BCS berth they were awarded. They deservedly spent five weeks at the #1 spot in the nationwide polls. And they were soundly beaten in a square, fair fight by Utah. Soundly. Beaten.

Consider this: The only other team to beat Alabama this year was Florida. Florida did not handle Alabama as well as Utah did - not even close. And no other team - not Clemson, not Georgia, not Ole Miss, not LSU - managed to beat Alabama. Alabama is a good team.

Utah is a better team.

Hey, even I wouldn't believe it beforehand. Oh, I wanted to. I wanted Utah to win. But I just didn't think it would happen.

So, here you have Utah, who soundly beat an Alabama team that was the top-ranked team in the nation for nearly half of the regular season. How can they not at least be considered as a candidate for the national title?

The common argument here is a strength of schedule argument. Actually, Utah's strength of schedule was not that bad. But strength of schedule is just an excuse. Penn State, who lost soundly to USC in the Rose Bowl, very nearly went undefeated in the Big Ten. Had they finished their season undefeated, this year they would have been playing for the national title. It doesn't matter that the Big Ten is a relatively weak football conference these days - an undefeated Penn State plays for the national title this year.

The same goes for USC. Who knows whether the PAC-10 is any good this year or not? What I do know is that the Mountain West went 6-2 against the PAC-10 this year. That implies that Utah's schedule is even stronger than it initially seems to be.

This is why I say the BCS as it currently stands is running the risk of being declared completely illegitimate. Any team from any of the major six conferences has a chance of playing for the national title - all they have to do is go undefeated. Strength of schedule does not matter for them. But a team from outside the major six conferences? That team pretty much has no chance of winning a national title, even if they do go undefeated the whole year. Strengthening their schedule is a crapshoot - they might schedule a team like Michigan, only to find that they are not any good and did nothing to strengthen their schedule. And what incentive do the major conference teams have to schedule the mid-majors? It offers them no upside whatsoever, and is not necessary for them to win a national title.

It's going to be an interesting next few days for the BCS. If Utah is not awarded a shared national title, in my opinion the BCS will prove that mid-major schools don't have a shot at winning the championship, thus proving that the system is broken. And they will have to break their current rules in order to do the right thing. This should provide for some very interesting discussion.

Shanahan's Future

2009-01-02T09:44:00.003-07:00

So a couple of days ago the Denver Broncos fired their long-time coach, Mike Shanahan.

I can't say I'm surprised. I've liked Shanahan, so I personally haven't exactly been hoping for the Broncos to replace him. But I've kinda been expecting this for a few years now.

There's a lot of talk about loyalties - questioning what two Superbowl wins should be worth, can you really fire a guy that won two Superbowls, etc. I'd ask the same question of a manager at any business anywhere in the country - does phenomenal success ten years ago, based in part upon the makeup of that manager's team, excuse mediocre performance today? Or would a business expect continued performance?

The Broncos, admittedly, have a pretty high standard. Shanahan wouldn't be having this problem at, say, Detroit. But a .500 record over the past three seasons is just not going to cut it in Denver, especially with the talent there. Managers are responsible for the performance of the teams they manage. It's true in business and it's true in sports. If the coach can't get the team to perform, it is time for a change.

So it's the end of the Mike Shanahan era in Denver. The bad part of this is, I'm not sure who Denver will get that is any better.

This is, absolutely, positively, good news for Utah State though. Why? Uh, really? You actually need to ask? Obviously, Mike Shanahan is going to be the new head coach of Utah State University's football program. And I'm very excited about that.

The Straight-Through-In-Alpha-Order-Music-Listening Experiment Update, Volume 2

2008-12-23T16:20:00.004-07:00

Well here we are almost another month later already. Christmas is around the corner. Time for another update on the music experiment.

Frankly, I'm starting to wonder if I can stick to it. I've only made it part way through the C's so far, having listened to about 1150 songs of now nearly 7800. I still have a lot of C's to go - about 200 left still.

The C's hasn't been all bad. Of course, some of my wife's Celine Dion sneaked into my list somehow. I had to expunge it with extreme prejudice. But Collective Soul - ah, Collective Soul, one of the best bands ever. That has been a highlight of this experience so far. And don't forget Coldplay, Counting Crows, Creed, The Cult, The Cars, and Christina Aguilera - that naughty little tart with the incredible singing voice. Go ahead - make fun. I really do listen because of the voice. Although I had to suffer through a lot of her early bubble-gum pop garbage.

Anyway, like I said, there's a lot to like in the C's and it has been a pretty good ride. But at the current rate I'm not going to be done for over a year. Do I have the commitment to stick to this? And for what exactly?

No. No. I am going to stick to it. If I do well, I should be through Def Leppard in a month - and if I do really well, maybe through all the D's. Dream Theater is in there though, and that's like 200 songs, along with Dokken. D's are also looking pretty good, but I can I finish the D's in one month? Doubtful.

(Image credit: wireshark.com via imdb.com)

Essential Albums: Queensryche "Operation: Mindcrime"

2008-12-22T12:53:00.006-07:00

Artist: Queensryche
Album: Operation: Mindcrime
Year: 1988
Best Song You've Probably Heard: Eyes of a Stranger
Best Song You Might Not Have Heard: Suite Sister Mary

Wow. Operation: Mindcrime. If they ever put a heavy metal album in the Louvre, this will be it without question.

There's a lot of superlatives that apply to Operation: Mindcrime, and it might take a while to get around to them all, but here's a few:

Best Concept Album Ever
Best Rock Opera Ever
Most Artistic Heavy Metal Album Ever
Most Artistic Mainstream Album of the past 30 years

Of course, that's just my opinion, but my opinion is the only one that really matters here.

I'm not going to go into the back story of Operation: Mindcrime as it is amply documented in many places all over the Internet. Suffice it to say, the story is incredibly dramatic, insightful and even introspective. Without intending to leave out the other incredible Rychers, Geoff Tate is absolutely stunning in his heartfelt vocals, and the indispensable Chris DeGarmo sets the mood of every song with his incredible guitar work. Sometime when you have an hour alone at home or on a roadtrip, just crank Operation: Mindcrime and listen to it good and loud, uninterrupted, all the way through from start to finish. Listen to the story and put yourself in the place of Nikki. Then see if you can keep tears from your eyes as Nikki laments what has become of his life in "Eyes of a Stranger." Good luck with that.

By the way I forgot at least one superlative:

Best Rock Concert Ever

And on that note, I'm going to cheat a bit here and include Operation: LIVEcrime, the live recording of Operation: Mindcrime in concert, in its entirety, during the "Empire" tour. Queensryche in concert is simply amazing - one of the best live acts I've ever seen, and that's some pretty lofty company.

This album was originally released in 1991 and was incredibly exclusive and hard to find just a few years later. Fortunately Queensryche re-released it in about 2001. The live album is incredible, possibly better than the studio version. Just thinking of the incredible ovation at the end of "Eyes of a Stranger" gives me chills.

With the inclusion of this album, I have to add another best song, "Roads to Madness." The live version of this song is just raw power, and it is almost as though that song was meant to be on Mindcrime anyway - it fits right in to the story.

(Image Credits: amazon.com)

Who Will Win The Bowl Games

2008-12-20T09:53:00.002-07:00

So, it is time for the predictions as to who will win the bowl games. At least the ones that matter. Not all bowl games matter. For example, bowl games like the Sugar, Orange, and Toilet matter. Bowl games like the EagleBank and Super do not. So here we go:

Las Vegas Bowl - Whichever team Max Hall plays for. Yes, I know he attends BYU. But he sometimes plays for another team, like Utah.

Poinsettia Bowl - TCU. Has Boise State really played anybody good this year?

Car Care Bowl - West Virginia.

Citrus Bowl - Florida State. Wisconsin was an also-ran in the Big 10, which is really not much of a compliment at all.

Emerald Bowl - Cal. Home field advantage makes the difference.

Alamo Bowl - Missouri. The Big 12 is to the Big 10 as Mozy is to Wal-Mart. Awesome vs. not awesome. Moving along.

Holiday Bowl - Oklahoma State. The fourth-best team in the Big 12 South could be the conference champion in almost any other conference.

Sun Bowl - Pitt. Oregon State continues to lament what could have been and loses again.

Chick-Fil-A Bowl - Georgia Tech. This game is a tale of two teams going different directions. GT has the momentum.

Citrus Bowl - Georgia. SEC vs. Big 10? Please.
Rose Bowl - Penn State. Eh. Who knows if they will actually win. Maybe karma makes a difference in this one, in favor of good ol' Joe.

Orange Bowl - Cincinnati.

Cotton Bowl - Texas Tech. Not taking anything away from Ole Miss, but them beating Florida took a bit of luck. They wouldn't do it today. And they won't beat Texas Tech either.

Liberty Bowl - Kentucky. C'mon. East Carolina isn't even a real state.

Sugar Bowl - Alabama. Most Utah fans think the Utes will win. They have two reasons for believing this. One is that they are completely delusional. The other is that they haven't watched any other college teams besides Utah this year. Hey, I'd love Utah to win. I'd also like to win the lottery. But, like winning the lottery, it just ain't gonna happen.

Fiesta Bowl - Texas. Texas beat Oklahoma this year. Ohio State beat, uh, Michigan.

National Championship - Florida. This is a close, close game. Two really awesome teams. Florida's raw speed makes the difference.

Toilet Bowl - In this marquis matchup between Western Kentucky and North Dakota Culinary & Drama College, ND C&D wins in a landslide for the third consecutive year. It's a bit sad, really - Utah State did so well this year that they did not get to go to this game again. Perhaps that is why they fired their head coach.

What do you think? Do you have a different opinion on these games? I'd really love* to hear about it. E-mail your opinions to i.am.a.doofus@i.disagree.with.the.halfbadboy.com and let me know if you hear back.

* not really

We Are Jerks. Or, How the Confrontation Went, in Alternate-Reality-Land

2008-12-05T13:18:00.002-07:00

Ah, MLMs. Golden opportunities for average joes like you and me to work like crazy to make other people rich. But other than that, not much at all like a legitimate business.

The curse of Mozy is to rent office space next door to an MLM company. Granted, this is not too difficult in Utah County, MLM capital of the world. Still, it makes one wonder what evil the founder may have done for Mozy to be cursed so.

Us on the bottom floor of the new Mozy building have the distinct privilege of sharing the floor with an MLM company, whose name will be withheld here synergistically to protect them, where "privilege" is like unto the privilege that Braveheart experienced to be disemboweled in public as penitence for his sin of wanting to be left alone, much like us.

MLMs are built upon the premise of getting rich without having to do anything. Everything is about appearance and affluence with MLMs. As I type we've got people pulling up in their rented black Mercedes or BMW to come in to yet another open house and try to impress each other. These guys act like they own the whole building, because that is part of the image they are trying to put forth. They are right this moment holding yet another open house which consumes the entire main entrance and main entrance foyer. This is done without any announcement, let alone request for permission, to the other tenants in the building - certainly not those of us on the main floor who share the foyer, entryway, elevators and bathroom. In fact, they are the smallest tenant in the building, but they act like they own the whole thing.

So it is really no surprise, especially to those familiar with Mozy culture, that someone finally had enough the other day and posted a little 8 1/2 x 11 picture comparing regular MLM-style magic juice with "Mozy juice" in such manner that the people across the hall could read it, if they walked up close enough. It is true that the sign made reference to magic juice, special berries picked by monk children high in the mountains in the early morning, and pyramid schemes in general. It did not mention our neighbors by name or necessarily even imply that they were related at all.
Actually the sign is pretty funny.

So I walk out the door for the purpose of conducting natural personal waste removal, and I'm accosted by a representative of said neighbor, demanding in polite tone that I take the sign down. So from here on, I'm going to describe the confrontation, which proves that we are jerks, although I do freely admit that I may be making some of this up.

Neighbor Enraged, Requiring Discipline: Hey, I'd like you to please take that sign down, it is offensive.
Me: What sign?
NERD: (pointing to the sign) That sign you guys posted attacking our company. It is disrespectful and offensive. I don't know why you would put something like that up, and I would like you to take it down.
Me: Well, I wasn't even aware that the sign was there until just now. I don't even know what it says.
NERD: It is offensive to our company. I would take it down myself, but I can't because it is taped on the other side of a window and the door is locked.
Me: So, if the door wasn't locked, you would just walk into our part of the building and take it down? You believe that if the sign is offensive that gives you the right to walk into our part of the building, where we are creating and discussing trade secrets and intellectual property, and take the sign down because you don't like it?
NERD: Well, I would just like you to take it down.
Me: You have a pretty big display of stuff inside your office doors. Some of those displays might be offensive to me. Should I just walk in there and take down whatever offends me also?
NERD: No. Alright. I wouldn't just walk into your part of the building. Will you take the sign down please?
Me: Well, I didn't put the sign up. It would be presumptuous of me to assume I can just take it down without consulting with whomever put it up in the first place.
NERD: You mean you can't just take it down?
Me: No. I can communicate your temper tantrum within the company and see if whomever put it up wants to remove it.
NERD: I don't see why you can't just remove it. It's disrespectful.
Me: You know what is disrespectful? You guys, holding your big open houses in the foyer of the building all the time. You invite people in, you take over the entryway and the entire lobby, which are all public areas of the building, but you treat them like they belong only to you. You make it so we don't feel comfortable even using our own restroom or walking out our own front door.
NERD: Well, I'm really sorry we do that.
Me: No offense, but you are apologizing as a part of trying to get me to do you a favor. I have no way of knowing whether you really mean it or not.
NERD: I still don't understand why you won't just take the sign down.
Me: For reasons that I cannot explain and are really none of your business anyway, I'm not at liberty to just take down a sign that I didn't put up.
NERD: But that sign is offensive!
Me: That's an opinion. What about the sign exactly is offensive to you?
NERD: Well, it is making fun of our product.
Me: (reading briefly) It says here it is talking about "magic juice."
NERD: Yes, exactly.
Me: Do you sell magic juice?
NERD: No! Calling it "magic" is derogatory. We sell fruit-juice for health-conscious individuals that conveys special healing powers.
Me: How much is this juice?
NERD: $42.25 per bottle.
Me: So, your juice is not magic juice?
NERD: No!
Me: Okay. So it sounds to me like you charge over $40 for regular fruit juice, and that this sign doesn't apply to you. This sign is talking about magic juice. But you just sell atrociously expensive regular juice.
NERD: Um..
Me: Right?
NERD: Well, there's a phrase in that sign that talks about pyramid schemes designed to prey upon the naive and greedy.
Me: So?
NERD: That offends me.
Me: Is your business a pyramid scheme that preys upon the naive and greedy?
NERD: That's beside the point.
Me: No, it is the point. Either that phrase describes your business factually, or it doesn't describe you at all. Either way, you should not be offended.
NERD: Well, it IS offensive!
Me: Look, a statement saying that pyramid schemes prey upon the naive and greedy is a fact. it is like someone telling me, "Matt, your hair is going gray." That is a fact. There's no reason to be offended by that. If someone were to tell me, "Matt, your hair is turning pink," that also is not offensive, because it is not true. Either way, it's not offensive.
NERD: But...
Me: I think what you find "offensive" is not really offensive, but disconcerting. You're afraid the naive and greedy people that come in here to do business with you will find out the truth about your business. You're afraid they will find out they have been deceived, and that in fact the whole business model is based upon deceiving people.
NERD: (threatening) Now look here. You'd better get in there and take down that sign, or...

Just then, as he started vigorously towards me, I snapped my fingers. Around the corner walked a half-dozen large, smelly, long-haired guys dressed in black slacks, black shoes, white socks, and black Apple t-shirts. Yes - the Black Ponytails. Mice and keyboards started flailing about as the severe beatings began.

Suffice it to say, I thought we had an understanding. The broken tiles in the foyer were replaced this morning. Yet, today another open-house was held in the foyer. I may need to call those friends of mine again...

Quarterbacks Are Football Players Too, I Maintain

2008-11-30T17:40:00.002-07:00

So far this weekend I've seen at least two different occasions I've seen this happen: Quarterback drops back to pass - defensive lineman breaks free and closes in on the quarterback for the sack - quarterback executes a pump-fake - as the defensive lineman is wrapping up he notices the pump-fake and releases, thinking the quarterback has passed the ball - quarterback actually keeps the ball and completes a play for positive yardage, having avoided a sack - defensive lineman is left in the backfield shaking his head for the sack he almost had.

In fact, in one case this weekend, the lineman had the sack in the opponent's endzone - a certain safety imminent. But he released the quarterback, who ended up making a play for positive yardage. I am almost 100% sure that in both of these situations, the defensive lineman released because he was afraid of getting a personal foul for roughing the passer.

This is football we're talking about here. Last I heard, it was a contact sport. People get blocked, hit, and tackled. It's a rough sport for tough guys. This whole protecting the quarterback thing has gotten way out of hand.

Even Troy Aikman agrees with me. He expressed this opinion recently during a game broadcast - that the rules to protect the quarterback are being too strictly enforced. Now I like Troy Aikman, but that dude was a pretty-boy quarterback if there ever was one. If he thinks the rule is too strict, then it is really too strict.

When it is having an affect on the game, like in the cases I mentioned this past weekend, it is way too much. I know that pretty much all the decision-makers in both the NFL and in NCAA football read this blog all the time, looking for advice. So here it is: Let's set the expectation that quarterbacks have to be football players. They have to be able to take a hit. Let's keep protecting them, like other players, from unnecessary roughness, but let's stop taking special extremes to protect these guys, for the sake of a decent game.

Essential Albums: Alice in Chains "Jar of Flies"

2008-11-26T16:03:00.004-07:00

Artist: Alice in Chains
Album: Jar of Flies
Year: 1994
Best Song You've Probably Heard: I Stay Away
Best Song You Might Not Have Heard: Rotten Apple

One day, years ago when I was living in Colorado, my old roommate Curtis called me from Atlanta to tell me that I needed to go and buy this album right away. For some odd reason I had strongly resisted the grunge movement during college so I never really had that collegiate-exploring-music time, a fact that I rather lament today. So I didn't already have any Alice in Chains music prior to Curtis's phone call. However, I took Curtis's advice and bought "Jar of Flies" soon thereafter. After all, Curtis also recommended that I read "Starship Troopers," so his advice carries merit to be sure.

"Jar of Flies" is what you get when great musicians cut loose to see what they are really, truly capable of, without restricting themselves to a genre. It is a true masterpiece. I took a stab at the song you might have heard, but the truth of it is, probably you've either heard the whole thing, because you own it already, or you haven't heard any of it.

The moods Jerry Cantrell can create with guitar are really incredible, but what Alice in Chains does best is harmony. They are able to come up with the most amazing harmony patterns that sound both unexpected and logical at the same time. Witness "Rotten Apple" or "No Excuses" to see what I mean.

Alice in Chains is a grunge band, but "Jar of Flies" is not really a grunge album - just seven songs worth of great music, and one I consider a definite must-have.

(Image credit: Amazon.com)

The Straight-Through-In-Alpha-Order-Music-Listening Experiment Update

2008-11-25T15:09:00.002-07:00

So about a month ago I blogged about managing my MP3 collection, and at that same time I decided I should embark upon a journey wherein I would listen to my entire collection straight through, sorted in alphabetical order by band name and then album name. I've tweeted my status every so often, but probably most of you don't read my tweets, because your life is not completely lame.

So I thought I should let everyone know that after a month of listening to music at work, I've managed to make it through the A's and B's. Some people have asked, "Matt, how long do you think this is going to take?" And I've blindly answered, "Probably six or seven months." But so far it is looking a bit more like ten months, since I'm at about 700 songs of about 7150, give or take.

But, make no mistake, I simply cannot capture in words how much tremendous fun this experience is! WHOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!

Some other faithful readers have also asked me the following question: "Whoa, Matt. You are freaking awesome." To which I reply, "Thank you. However, I must point out that that is not a question."

EMC Forms Decho

2008-11-18T09:06:00.003-07:00

EMC has created a new subsidiary company, named Decho. The new company was created from Mozy and Pi, so I'm a part of this new company. The name "decho" is derived from "digital echo," referring to your cloud-stored data as "your digital echo" in the cloud. Decho is a cloud-computing company.

So, Matt. What do you think of the new name?

Decho should be a really fun new venture. The competition is formidable - Google, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, Apple - in fact, formidable is a bit of an understatement. But I do really believe that there is a market for a platform-neutral cloud computing solution that makes its money by keeping your data safe, secure, available, and private, and not by mining your data for other profit ventures.
I'm on the Decho train. I've done this ride before, and I have no reason to think anything other than that this will be at least as successful as the last fully-owned-subsidiary-spinout company I was a part of before in my career, named Volera.

Yes. What about the name?

Well, Mozy is already a very successful product. We have over 1 million customers, as I understand it, and we're continuing to grow.

Alright, but let's talk about Decho. What about the new name?

Yes, Mozy is a great place to work. We're in a brand new building, there are many very cool people there, and even Alen Peacock works there. We have our own Rock Band setup on a high-definition TV in the breakroom, which is generally stocked with a variety of snacks. And it is great to work on a product that you know is being used by people all over the world - and should be used by pretty much everyone.

The name! What about the name?

Mozy's technology is truly incredible. The backups happen pretty much automatically. The data is stored in a very safe and very secure fashion. You get unlimited backup for only $4.95 a month. What's not to like?

I'm asking about the name. What do you think of the name?

I really like the name. Mozy is a nice, short word, that means nothing, is hard to pronounce wrong, and just eminates the awesome. I'm totally on board the Decho train.

Not the Mozy name. The Decho name. What is your opinion of the name?

Err, what? What was that? Uh ... ok, sorry, I have to go now.

Programmers are Typists - And More

2008-11-18T08:20:00.003-07:00

After reading Jeff Atwood's blog post "We Are Typists First, Programmers Second" on Coding Horror, I thought I'd better go see what my typing speed was.

I took the same online typing test that Jeff Atwood took, and managed to beat him:

We'd kinda hope that someone who writes software for a living could type with a reasonable speed. I'm curious to know if my mom, who types as part of her profession but is a non-programmer, could beat me.

Even more, I'm curious to know what my typing speed is when writing code. If you were to do a test like that, "mistakes" could be calculated by the number of syntax errors your code generates if you try to compile/run it. However, I'm not sure what a "word" would be, in calculating words per minute.

Surely your familiarity with the language would make a difference in your "speed." What I find a bit interesting about this discussion is that your typing speed in this case does not necessarily equate to your delivery speed.

For example, if you, like much of the computing world, are a Javahead, in my opinion you have a bit of baggage to overcome in order to attain a reasonable delivery speed. Java's mantra seems to be, "Why do something in one step when it can be done in two - or five?" Thus if you are a Java programmer, you've got some verbosity to overcome in order to attain productivity. Fast typing speed matters for you.

On the other hand, if you are a bit more sane and prefer a language like Python, the language is actually helping you out here. It is so easy to arrive at functional code in Python that perhaps the language makes up for typing shortcomings that a programmer might have.

What about a language like C? C is admittedly terse, but it doesn't do a lot for you because it is comparatively low-level. If you don't have libraries in hand to do what you need, writing them yourself kinda removes any advantage you may have gained because of the terseness of the language. Of course C is excellent based on other factors.

I do agree with the post though - typing is important to programmers. It is important for an additional reason - and that is because good software engineers should be expected to generate documentation - design documents, API documents, test cases, and SDK documents like tutorials and explanations of sample code. In short, there's a lot more typing to be done in a software engineer's job than just the typing of code.

Now, many of you are asking, so what does it mean if you type nearly 90 words per minute AND are not handicapped by a blind adoration for Java? What if you are a fast typist AND you prefer Python?
Well! That describes me quite clearly! And apparently, it means little. Sorry.

You Too Can Be A Formula One Steward!

2008-11-06T16:41:00.004-07:00

In Formula One, it is apparently a requirement to change the rules every single year, in a substantial fashion, and also to provide levity and general entertainment for those of us who follow Formula One in spite of the silly governing body. I can't find any actual rule that supports this assertion; I only am claiming that it is a requirement by observation over time.

2009 is no exception, and the FIA has already released some of the new rules. One of my favorites has to do with the qualifications for stewards - effectively the equivalent of referees or officials. It says:

Any national steward participating who is officiating for the first time will be required to ‘observe’ a minimum of one Grand Prix prior to their event.

Wow. I would have thought it would require a little bit more familiarity with the sport than that. But apparently, if you have watched a Grand Prix race before in your lifetime, you qualify to be a Formula One steward. Excellent! This should help matters significantly.

I can imagine a similar rule in the NFL rulebook:

Any referee who is officiating for the first time will be required to 'observe' a minimum of one football game prior to their event.

That's right! We've had it with these referees who have never seen a football game before! From now on, we will only let people be referees if they have seen an actual football game before, at least one football game, sometime in their life!

New MacBook Pro - Mozy Loves Me

2008-11-06T15:52:00.005-07:00

Mozy loves me. She bought me a present. I anxiously opened it, and when I looked inside the first thing I saw was "Designed by Apple in California."

Yes, Mozy bought me a new MacBook Pro. Like I said, Mozy loves me. It is obvious that she wants my body, totally.

So I'm setting up the new MacBook as I speak - er, type. I'm borrowing another MacBook to do this blog posting, because I cannot bear the thought of sitting here waiting without being able to use either my new MacBook Pro or my Mac Pro workstation while the Migration Assistant is transferring files:

As you can see, I still have over an hour to wait. Anyone who knows me knows I get bored so easily that there is no way I can wait that long. So I'm borrowing this other laptop in the meantime.

By the way, did you know that the new MacBook Pro bodies are made with a single piece of aluminum? It's true. These are naturally occurring chunks of aluminum mined straight out of the ground in the shape of a laptop. They are very rare; it is no wonder Apple had to wait so long to produce laptops this way. Anyway, each should be considered a treasure, because who knows how many naturally-occurring laptop-shaped pieces of aluminum there are in the world - certainly the supply is limited.

However, the truly best part about this gift is that I should be able to avoid run-ins with the Black Ponytails next year at WWDC, since in reality I just borrowed that other MacBook long enough to get those guys off my back and spare my own life.

Yes, it is obvious, Mozy is totally in love with me. I'm holding out, though. I've got hand in this relationship. I'm holding out for an iPhone. I'm not ready to commit to a steady relationship, but if she really and truly loves me, she'll buy me an iPhone, and then it might be time to start "going steady," if you know what I mean.

Mozy Commercials

2008-11-05T17:55:00.002-07:00

The new Mozy commercials are on YouTube now, and I think they are pretty great. Nicely done iJustine.

Mozy's New Office

2008-11-04T08:46:00.008-07:00

Here at Mozy we just moved to a new office location, about one mile south of where we used to be, which is closer to home. So every day I drive about two minutes less than I used to - hooray!

Actually we moved a few weeks ago. The last time this happened to me was when I worked at Volera, when we moved from Novell Provo campus to a new Volera building right about spin-off time. Then a week after Volera moved, they laid off 10% of the workforce. So I thought maybe I should wait to blog about the move. Then I remembered, "Wait a minute! Volera sucked! Mozy doesn't suck - Mozy is awesome!" Fear abated.*

Anyway, the new digs are great, and I was committed to not be so superficial as to allow the nicer new building to affect my morale, but I failed. I believe it now - a nicer environment really can help make your employees happier.

So when you walk into Mozy's front door, this is what you see.
We rent office space in this building along with a couple of other tenants. The Mozy lobby is actually on the second floor. Take the elevators ahead at the right to get there. But my office is just through those doors on the left. Mozy rents about 1/3 of the building.
What is to the right? I'm sorry but I cannot say. It isn't because it is a secret - it is because I refuse to promote them out of principle. The Mozy curse is that we must always rent office space next door to an MLM company, which is not that hard to do in Utah county. Anyway, I don't really want to talk about it, it is a bit annoying and embarrassing.

Here is the Mozy lobby, upstairs on the second floor. Walk through that door to get to the receptionist's desk. She knows everything.

Conference rooms at Mozy are named after famous superheroes, like Gambit, whoever that is. Also notice the world's longest whiteboard. That's right - here at Mozy we are the current world record holders for "world's longest whiteboard." If I remember correctly, it is somewhere around 787,500 feet long.

One thing you may not have known before - the world famous Alen Peacock works for Mozy. That alone should convince you to sign up. As proof I present this photo of Alen Peacock in action:

Finally, a snapshot of my office. I mean, cubicle.
These, we are told, are some of the nicest cubicles money can buy. To which I say, "Yes, but they are still cubicles." But I do have a hard time complaining about the 8-core Mac Pro, 24" widescreen monitor, or the Herman Miller Celle chair. Likewise, it is hard to complain about the three Ferraris to the left or the awesome Skullcandy Skullcrusher headphones. Of course, all that stuff belongs to me anyway.

*I wasn't really worried about Mozy, I was just kidding around. I don't speak on behalf of Mozy, I just think it is a great place to work. All that stuff was just a joke. Except the part about Volera.

Trying To Convice Myself That Ferrari != Happiness

2008-10-31T13:22:00.010-06:00

It is said that possessions alone do not make you happy. This is true; sometimes you find the happiness through other people's possessions instead.

Another common belief about money is that the love of money is the root of all evil. This is also true - you should not love your money.

What you should do is give your money to Ferrari, in exchange for an F430. Or, make friends with someone who has a Ferrari, so their possessions can make you happy instead.

If you are like me, and you just can't find anyone with a Ferrari to be friends with (or, can't hide the superficiality of pretending to want to be friends with someone who has one already), the next best thing is to make friends with someone like Kyle who has a friend that will loan him his Ferrari F430 for the day in order to help Kyle complete his Halloween costume of "a successful person."

And then, of course, you have to be selected for a ride. Gratefully Kyle stopped by my cube first thing after he got to work this morning and asked if I wanted to go for a ride. When I looked at him, he showed the Ferrari key, completing the thought. A ride in a Ferrari? Is there really any other answer to that question than an emphatic "Of course!"?

When I walked outside this is what I found - a beautiful silver-gray Ferrari F430 Spider:

We got in, carefully, and gingerly - getting in is a bit of a feat, especially if you are 6'2". Kyle inserted the key, then pressed the starter button and that wonderful 480hp Ferrari V8 roared to life. We slowly pulled out of the parking lot here at Mozy and then onto the freeway.

If I had one of these, I might just drive it onto the freeway all day long, just pulling off so I could pull back on again.

This car is incredible. I must have said that ten times during the drive. The seats were incredibly comfortable; the side bolsters securely hold you in place, so much so that when going through corners you don't even feel the lateral g forces. The car is firmly planted on the road with no body roll through corners. And hearing that Ferrari V8 climb through the gears as you click them off with the paddle shifter - wow.

We cruised along the freeway at what felt like a crawl but was actually around 80 mph.

If you look closely you can see that we are well below the 8500 rpm redline, but at near redline for most normal cars. The engine sounds so nice you just can't think of shifting to a lower gear.

Oh, that black rectangle in the dash, pictured in the lower right corner? Yeah, that is the stereo. You don't really use that thing in a Ferrari - it muffles the sound system in back, pictured here:

You can see the cool air ducts in this rear view mirror shot at speed, and even some of the jealous people around us on the freeway. When you are in a Ferrari, everyone else on the road is jealous.

We're doing about 90 here, hoping to not find any cops. If I had this car, I don't know how I would possibly avoid getting a ticket. It is so easy to take it up over 90; this car gets there before you know it, without even thinking about it. And it doesn't even feel like you are going fast, other than the fact that you are blowing by everyone else on the road.

After leaving the freeway we went down into town to return to work via this nice curvy road called Pleasant Grove Boulevard. Speed limit on Pleasant Grove Boulevard is 40. We were taking those curves at 80 without even thinking about it. It didn't even feel like we were pushing it at all. Simply amazing.

Um, yeah. That plaque says "28 Formula 1 World Titles."

I didn't get to drive this car myself. Oh, I wanted to. But it wasn't loaned to me, it was loaned to Kyle. There's no way I'd even ask. Besides, even just getting to ride in it was awesome, and enough.
Still, here's a picture of me wearing a Ferrari. I think it looks pretty good on me.

That does it. Someday, someday...

No More Caden Hadleys?

2008-10-29T09:27:00.004-06:00

Racer X (the magazine, not the shred metal band) ran a press release from KTM that sadly announces the demise of the KTM Junior Supercross Challenge. I think this is too bad; I personally have quite enjoyed watching these little kids race the tracks that would kill me if I tried to ride them. I even quickly forgave them for deluding me into thinking that I, too, could jump a double. The logic went, "Sheesh, if a 9 year old can do this on a KTM 50, I should be able to do this on my KX 250 no problem!" And seconds later, my collarbone was broken.

But those guys were nothing compared to Caden Hadley (pictured), the guy I was reminded of when I read the press release. Back in 2003, Caden Hadley from Bountiful, UT, raced in the KJSC at the Salt Lake Supercross. I was there when Caden doubled the first part of one of the triple jumps, every single lap. That's about 35 feet in the air. That may not seem like much, unless you actually get out there and give it a shot yourself, especially on one of those little 50cc motorcycles. It sure impressed Steve Bruhn (photo source - motonews.com) and Jamie Little. I'll never forget that - it was awesome.

2008 US Open

2008-10-24T11:57:00.006-06:00

Greg and I took our boys to the 2008 Rockstar US Open of Supercross at the MGM Grand a couple of weeks ago. Of course, I could not blog much about it then, because I would spoil the fun for the one person who reads this blog and also watches the races on TV, and of course it takes an entire week to edit the show, so we had to wait. Then I forgot.

Anyway, the US Open is a great time, there really isn't a bad seat and you can see two nights of racing for about $30/night which is not bad at all. Since Rockstar sponsors it they also bring their Rockstar Girls, which I don't personally care about, but some might, and if it gets you supporting the sport, then hey.

We stayed at the Travelodge on Koval street.
It has the advantage of being within easy walking distance of MGM Grand. But other than that, it was a complete dive. I would also say it had the advantage of being cheap, but they actually hit me with $40 of hidden "additional occupancy" charges that they didn't tell me about beforehand, making it so it wasn't even a better value than some other more upscale places. Avoid.
Also you'll note the Badda Bing girl on the billboard in the background, pixelated. Yes, they really have a new gentleman's club in Vegas called Badda Bing, of all the dumb names. The girl on the billboard has clothes on, but she is not wearing them, if that makes any sense.

At the start of the race the Rockstar girl (lower right) would hold up the 30-second board and do the requisite booty-shake. You might not be able to tell in this picture, but trust me, she's shaking that thing.

Here's a shot of the start of a race. Yes, there are actually guys racing in this photo. See that blur in the first corner? That's them. I realize now that my camera phone is just not cut out for this kind of stuff.

On the way home, in compliance with custom, we stopped at Applebee's to eat, in Cedar City, near the lighthouse. Because of the extensive rocky coastline and high sea traffic around Cedar City, it is a good thing they have this lighthouse.

It was a great time. I got to meet Supercross Lites and Motocross champion Grant Langston, and he is really cool. Chad Reed sported Grant's number 8 for the weekend. We saw Reed on his new Suzuki and Stewart on his new Yamaha. Stewart mostly dominated the weekend, but Reed holeshot the main event on Saturday, spoiling Stewart's run at the trifecta in awesome fashion. Then those two ran an awesome race for 16 laps before Reed made a mistake and crashed. It bodes well for the upcoming Supercross season, and I can hardly wait.

By the way, Greg said I should mention that, other than spending money on gasoline, tickets, hotel, and food, we gave a lot of money to Charity while we were down there. Faith and Hope were also options, but Charity is the greatest of them all and never faileth. So we gave loads of money to Charity. Besides, she was the hottest by far.

Just kidding. Her name wasn't Charity.

A Surly Ad

2008-10-24T00:45:00.005-06:00

Coolness is seeing an ad you created on Google (highlighted):

Here's a close-up of the ad:

We did this one also:

MP3 Management and Tidbits

2008-10-23T19:40:00.003-06:00

I've just finished going through my MP3 collection, trying to make sure everything is tagged with an appropriate genre, correct album release dates, cover art, etc. It seems like this is much harder than it should be. Is it really so hard to create a decent MP3 library management tool that doesn't make things worse once it is done?

I guess if I think it isn't so hard, I ought to write it myself.

Anyway, there's some interesting tidbits at this point, worth noting:

There is not a single MP3 in my collection that was illegally downloaded, RIAA dorks.
There's about 250 artists and about 650 albums. That averages out to about 2 1/2 albums per band, an even more curious statistic considering I have 11 Def Leppard albums, 15 Dream Theater albums, 12 Megadeth albums, 12 Motley Crue albums, 12 Ozzy albums, 13 Pink Floyd albums, and 15 Van Halen albums. Of course some of these are multi-album compilations that sometimes show up as multiple albums in the filesystem. Hmm.
There's a pretty wide range - alphabetically (A-Ha to ZZ Top), chronologically (The Bee Gees to Saving Abel), and stylistically (Cacophony (shred) and Megadeth (thrash) to Enya (new age) and Seal (soft rock)). However, not much country - and what is there is Amber's. I still don't like country.
The bulk of my music is probably centered around my high school years, and that is still the stuff I like most. This is odd though, because I don't listen to the same stuff from that period as much as I used to, but instead listen to different stuff from that period. It is also odd because I like that music a lot, but I pretty much think high school sucked significantly in nearly every possible way.
I have a lot of 80's pop but I don't listen to it. In fact I hardly dare even admit it, especially on the Half Bad Boy blog. I take it back, I do not have any 80's pop at all.

Another thing I just thought of. Back in high school, when I wasn't half bad or even 1/10th bad, I was in a show choir; I sang and danced in this show choir. I thought I was pretty good at it too. I'm older now, and married, so I'm obviously half bad now (nice guys can't even get a girlfriend, let alone get married). I realize now that I wasn't any good at that show choir thing. I realize now that I sucked. I also just now realized that a lot of what I listened to back then had to do with that. I listen to a lot more interesting musical composition and guitar work now. Also now, instead of singing, I play electric guitar. I still suck, but you can suck at electric guitar and still be a half bad boy.

What's Kimi Thinking??

2008-10-20T10:49:00.002-06:00

One of the most entertaining things about Formula One is the rules. There are many really dumb rules; new rules can be made up in the middle of a race, meaning that at any time a new stupid rule might crop up; rule enforcement is selective, meaning that depending on the driver or the team, the rule may or may not be enforced; and you never know what the penalty might be for breaking a rule. Every day is a new adventure in Formula One!

One of the dumb rules in Formula One is the prohibition of team orders affecting the outcome of the race (see the Formula One Sporting Regulations, article 39.1). How you prove this is another question, but there is no question that it happens, especially in obvious situations like last Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, where Kimi Raikkonen allowed teammate and title contender Felipe Massa to pass him in the closing laps, trading second and third place. Since Felipe is in contention for the championship, and Kimi is not, obviously Ferrari would want the two to exchange places and allow Felipe to take second place, earning more points in his quest for the world driving championship.

The pass was admittedly a bit dubious. Massa, who was several seconds behind Raikkonen in third place entering the final stint, suddenly was making up several tenths per lap on his teammate, and passed him with ease on the back straight with just a few laps remaining. I suspect nobody watching had any doubt that Raikkonen slowed up and allowed Massa by intentionally. Although this appears to be against the rules, it is only actually against the rules if the team ordered Raikkonen to let Massa past (perhaps he did it out of the goodness of his heart?), and it is only enforceable if it can be proven, i.e. the FIA would need evidence that Raikkonen was ordered by the team to do so.

So, all of that seems pretty hard to come by, and it seems that Ferrari should be in the clear. Which is why it was pretty surprising to me to hear Kimi's post-race press conference comments, wherein he pretty much openly admitted that he was following Ferrari team orders to let Massa take second place.

Whatever Kimi is, he's no dummy. He knows the rules; and even if he didn't, Peter Windsor very clearly, if indirectly, reminded him in a follow-up question. So the conspiracy theorist in me started thinking: Did Kimi actually do that on purpose? Did he intentionally "accidentally" let it slip out that Ferrari gave team orders in this case?

Consider: Kimi is the reigning world champion. Yet he's basically been shown up this year by Massa. Kimi has driven fairly well, but had a couple of off months mid-season, which were enough to convince Ferrari to put all of their weight behind Massa as the championship candidate. Perhaps Kimi is a bit upset about the way he's been treated; perhaps he feels a world champion deserves a bit more respect than he's received. I can't help but wonder if, during the press conference, he put on his nonchalant, innocent Finnish face and then delivered on-the-record the information that the FIA would need to enforce this rule against Ferrari.

The only real questions remaining now are, first, whether the FIA will actually enforce the rule, and second, what the penalty might be. It might be an interesting week.

SUPERDELL for Utah Governor

2008-10-15T15:13:00.002-06:00

I wish to express, for the record, my statement of support for Dell "Superdell" Schanze for governor of Utah. He is the most righteous and responsible choice.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, Superdell. Quit embarrassing us. No wonder the rest of the country thinks Utahns are wackos.

Don't forget to read his blog. And don't hesitate to comment, this should be greatly entertaining.

Esssential Albums: Def Leppard "Pyromania"

2008-10-14T12:40:00.005-06:00

Artist: Def Leppard
Album: Pyromania
Year: 1983
Best Song You've Probably Heard: Photograph
Best Song You Might Not Have Heard: Die Hard the Hunter

"Pyromania" came out when I was, uh, I mean, about 25 years ago. I still remember hearing "Rock of Ages" on the radio. It sounded awesome then and sounds awesome now, especially live. But I didn't really get into Def Leppard until a few years later, around "Hysteria" time. I really like both albums, but over the past 20+ years, I think Pyromania has weathered the best. Whereas "Hysteria" has a few pop-80's-sounding tunes, "Pyromania" has a timeless sound that doesn't feel like it will get old anytime soon, and yet already is starting to sound like classic rock.

Even though "Rock of Ages" was my first exposure to Def Leppard, I think "Photograph" is the best song on this album, and truthfully a much better tribute to Marilyn Monroe than that lame old "Candle in the Wind" boringness. "Foolin'," "Too Late For Love," "Action! (Not Words)," and even the cheesily-named "Rock! Rock! ('Til You Drop)" are some other great songs on here.

Some of you may feel like dissing on Def Leppard, which is your right. But do realize that they have two 10x-platinum albums in the United States. Can your favorite band say that? Not likely - there are few who can.

By the way, Def Leppard is also a great band to play along with when you are learning to play electric guitar.

(Image credit: Amazon.com)

Motocross Guys Are Awesome

2008-10-11T11:22:00.003-06:00

This guy is a stud. No, not the old, gray, wrinkly fellow on the right; the guy on the left, wearing the Team Yamaha shirt. That is none other than 2007 AMA Motocross champion Grant Langston, who I ran into at the US Open of Supercross last night.

Without attempting to spread rumors about Grant, as I understand he's found that the vision problem he's been experiencing this year is a melanoma in his eye and has been trying to get that taken care of. It was pretty awesome to hear the crowd applauding in support of Grant when he explained the situation at the opening ceremonies last night.

I wanted to get a picture of him with my son, but he's so camera shy that he refused to take the picture before I could explain who would be in it with him. So I snapped it myself instead. Sorry to bring you down Grant.

Here's wishing you the best of luck. I've missed seeing you out racing this year; you are a great competitor and a great ambassador to the sport, a true half-bad-boy of the type this blog espouses. I hope you're able to overcome this scary eye problem and get back in the saddle soon.

Favorite Albums Per Year Since Birth

2008-10-06T14:22:00.003-06:00

So apparently a popular thing these days is to make a list of your favorite album of every year since your birth. Well, at least Matt Rosoff is doing it, and he is more popular than me, so from my vantage point it is a popular thing to do.

Anyway, I thought I'd give it a shot. The rules are:

Only one album per year.
You can only use an album from any artist one time.
Use the year of original release (not re-release years).
"Best-Of" collections are discouraged but ok.

It ended up being a lot harder than I thought. I found that some years have a lot of really awesome stuff to choose from, and some years just basically suck. I also found that I am not nearly the connoisseur of music that I thought I was. I couldn't start with the year I was born, or even for several years afterwards. And I got nothing from the past couple of years, not yet.
I'm trying to remedy this. But here's the list so far, subject to change:

1978 - Van Halen: Van Halen

1979 - Pink Floyd: The Wall

1980 - AC/DC: Back In Black

1981 - Journey: Escape

1982 - RATT: RATT EP

1983 - Def Leppard: Pyromania

1984 - Y & T: In Rock We Trust

1985 - Mötley Crüe: Theater of Pain

1986 - Metallica: Master of Puppets

1987 - U2: The Joshua Tree

1988 - Queensrÿche: Operation: Mindcrime

1989 - Enya: Watermark

1990 - Scorpions: Crazy World

1991 - Guns N' Roses: Use Your Illusion

1992 - Stone Temple Pilots: Core

1993 - Nirvana: In Utero

1994 - Alice In Chains: Jar of Flies

1995 - Collective Soul: Collective Soul

1996 - Men At Work: Contraband

1997 - Creed: My Own Prison

1998 - Goo Goo Dolls: Dizzy Up the Girl

1999 - Dream Theater: Scenes from a Memory

2000 - The Beatles: 1

2001 - Tool: Lateralus

2002 - New Order: International

2003 - Joe Satriani: Electric Joe Satriani

2004 - Judas Priest: Metalogy

2005 - Nickelback: All the Right Reasons

2006 - The Killers: Sam's Town

Like I said, some surprises (Enya? Really??) and some compilations when pickings get slim. I really haven't gotten much into recent stuff. I'll try harder.

Moral Obligations of the Socially Superior

2008-09-29T21:00:00.002-06:00

I am obviously the smartest and most socially competent person I know, but that is not nearly so easy as one might think. I'm constantly concerned about making sure that I am fulfilling my responsibility to society - giving back by helping people to realize how ignorant they are, pointing out their flaws and foolishness to motivate them to become somewhat normal. Problem is, despite my towering intellect, I'm not always sure of the best course of action in certain situations.

Take, for example, the situation that occured to me today. I was at the grocery store, ready to leave and selecting a checkout aisle. As I'm approaching an aisle, I notice another guy walking toward me doing the same thing - looking for a checkout aisle. As I'm eyeing the nearest aisle, he sees me considering it, and immediately launches into a jog so he can beat me to the checkout lane. As he trots into the lane he looks at me with a look on his face that says, "And what are you going to do about it?"

So I acted like it didn't bother me, because it didn't. In fact, the only thing I really felt was a great deal of sympathy for someone who is apparently not too bright. I walked down to the next lane - one this fellow passed up so he could run in front of me into the lane he chose, keep in mind - and purchased my goods. I gathered my bags and started walking out. And as I was leaving, I walked past the other checkout lane, and saw said mentally disadvantaged fellow still standing in the checkout lane he had worked so hard to obtain.

So what is my societal and moral obligation here? I'm not sure what I should be expected to do. And this has really been bothering me ever since because I'm not sure I left that situation the way I should have, the way I am obligated to because of my superiority. What I actually did was to grin a bit smugly at him as I strutted by, but I'm not sure that was enough. Should I have laughed out loud? Should I have pointed at him and told others around him what a dork he was? Should I have asked him what his problem was, or taunted him mercilessly? Will my actions be enough for him to realize his foolishness, or should I have done more to help him realize his lameness?

About Half Bad Boys

2008-09-29T10:21:00.001-06:00

See, it isn't just me that thinks this way.

An E-Commerce Experiment

2008-09-20T21:11:00.002-06:00

Some of you know that I am the President of Vice of SR Investment Group, a company that so far specializes in not making money. Not content with the current rate at which we are not making money, we decided to try to find a different way to not make money.

So we are starting a new e-commerce website, Surly Jack's Outpost, at http://www.surlyjacks.com. It will sell outdoor stuff. I was going to describe it better, but hey, I don't care enough.

Surly Jack is a fictional character we made up as the fake owner of the store, by the way. Don't let him offend you, he's actually not that bad a guy, really.

Surly Jack's was going to open today, but there were just too many things that needed to be done to make it by today. It should be opening up within the next few days. But the real evolution will come later, as we continue to revise the look of the site and make it look, uh, non-cookie-cutter. Yeah.

Anyway, check it out. You can follow Surly Jack's blog and/or twitter to stay informed on the status of the web store. Or go to MySpace and become Surly Jack's friend. Believe me, he can use all the friends he can get.

Essential Albums: Journey "Escape"

2008-09-16T16:26:00.004-06:00

Artist: Journey
Album: Escape
Year: 1981
Best Song You've Probably Heard: Don't Stop Believing
Best Song You Might Not Have Heard: Escape

Journey was my first ever "favorite" band and is still one of my favorite bands of all time. We all owe Journey a great debt, as they are one of those select few bands who saved the world from disco. And that is saying something. Grunge failed to save us from country, unfortunately, and disco, like country, had a lot of social appeal in spite of being lame. So for bands like Styx, Journey, and Van Halen to salvage us from the depths of disco lameness is something we can all be thankful for.

Anyway, choosing "Escape" over "Frontiers" as the first Journey "Essential Album" was not an easy pick. Ultimately, "Escape" is more significant as it was probably the most important Journey album to launch them into the upper echelons of all-time musicdom. "Escape" established them as a known, mainstream arena rock band, solidified and embodied their classic sound, and at the same time stood them above the crowd as one of the best ever. Who among us has not been inspired by "Don't Stop Believing" or has not had the opportunity to make fun of someone singing, "So now I come to you with broken arms?"

Actually, the title song "Escape" might be the best song on the entire album, and probably even the most inspirational. "Mother, Father" is a beautiful ballad, the best on the album, and Dead or Alive is a great live song. In fact, any Journey concert would be incomplete without playing at least half of this album - and in my opinion, they should play more of it at each show.

If you don't have it yet, pick it up, or download it from Amazon.com. You may find that you know more songs from this album than you thought, and that you wonder how you ever made it this far without having owned it.

(Image credit: amazon.com)

Fuel Mileage Experiment, Week 2

2008-09-10T09:24:00.002-06:00

Week two of the fuel mileage experiment has ended. Here are the results of week two:
Mileage: 273.1 miles
Gasoline Used: 9.862 G
Miles per gallon: 27.69

So this week, with the same assumed $4/gallon, it cost me $39.45 to drive those 273.1 miles, for a cost of 14.44 cents per mile. As expected, this is higher, but only slightly higher, than the 13.77 cents per mile cost of driving at the speed limit. Also, as expected, I'm getting slightly lower fuel mileage, 27.69 mpg compared to 29.05, a difference of 1.36 mpg.

Assuming my average times to work are accurate, here are the raw costs of driving back and forth to work for one week, and going nowhere else:
Total miles, one way: 23.3
Total number of one-way trips: 10
Total miles per week: 233
Slow driving time, per trip: 25 minutes
Slow driving time, per week: 250 minutes
Fast driving time, per trip: 22 minutes
Fast driving time, per week: 220 minutes
Time savings for fast driving: 30 minutes/week
Slow driving fuel costs, per week: $32.08
Fast driving fuel costs, per week: $33.66
Cost savings for slow driving: $1.58
Per hour compensation for slow driving: $3.16

Wow. $3.16 per hour. That is how much I am compensated for driving slowly.

Now, I'm sure some of you are thinking, "Yes, but if you drive the speed limit, you won't get a speeding ticket, whereas if you are speeding you run the risk of getting a speeding ticket." True. That will throw off the calculations.

For fun, let's figure out how often I would have to get a speeding ticket in order to compensate myself at minimum wage for driving the speed limit.
Minimum wage: $6.55
Less current slow-driving compensation: $3.39
Per-week difference: $1.70
Assumed cost of a speeding ticket: $100

Using these numbers, if you got a $100 speeding ticket more frequently than once every 59 weeks, it would make up the difference. That's not quite one speeding ticket per year.

Of course, you don't have to stay within the speed limit to avoid getting a ticket; you just have to stay under the "real" speed limit, whatever that is. For the record, I've never had a speeding ticket yet, knock on wood.

A Rainbow

2008-09-09T22:53:00.002-06:00

Is this too soft for this website? Can we just allow it to be here because it is scientifically interesting? How's that?

Anyway, a full rainbow, even a faint double if you really look hard enough. Ok, maybe not, but trust me, it was there. I know, it required three pictures. I guess apparently I need a wide-angle lens.

Since When Is A Correct Call A Controversy??

2008-09-08T12:45:00.005-06:00

BYU eked out a win on the road against Washington last Saturday, 28-27. Lest we get confused, I would not wish to tarnish my half-badness in any way by conveying any semblance of support for BYU. So let's be clear about this: THIS IS NOT A PRO-BYU POST.

Now that we've cleared that up, I've simply got to talk a bit about how stupid the sports analysts are, pretty much universally, everywhere, even on other planets. Lest we forget, they make a point of reminding us every so often, when some type of controversy like this arises. It would be easier if they just said, "I can't actually think for myself, so let's just assume that my opinion lies completely contrary to common sense." That would be much quicker.

If you do not watch college football and are therefore not a half-badboy, I assume you are reading this blog because you are trying to repent. So for you folk, I will give you the basic rundown of the controversy:

BYU played Washington at Washington on Sept. 6.
Sports analysts are required to hate BYU, because they are not from a BCS conference and are therefore less of everything.

Note - I do not have to like BYU. But seriously, how long do we have to put up with this BCS superiority garbage? Haven't we learned anything yet? Anyway.

With time expiring in the fourth quarter, and BYU leading 28-21, Washington put together a heroic drive culminating in a touchdown with 0:02 left.
After scoring, the Washington player threw the football up into the air. On TV it appeared to go some 20 feet or more into the air.
Said throwing of the football into the air was clearly and without question an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty according to the rules (2008 NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations, Rule 9, Section 2, Article 1, Number 2), which state that

After any play the player in possession must immediately return the ball to an official or leave the ball near the downed spot
Among other acts, throwing the ball high into the air is prohibited (item c of said rule)

As a result, the official flagged and penalized Washington 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct, as he is required to do by the rules.
The ensuing 35-yard PAT try was blocked by BYU.
Thus BYU ended up winning the game, 28-27.

Literally billions of sports analysts weighed in over the weekend, all of them blaming BYU and officials for the controversy. Well, maybe not blaming BYU per se, but definitely expressing disdain and disagreement for the fact that an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was called at that point in the game. Anyway, the essence of the argument was threefold:

The player was clearly overcome by exuberance, and was not in control of himself, as could be expected.
No harm was done or intended by the player, who was only celebrating the great play made, and not attempting to be unsportsmanlike.
A penalty or other call by an official should never determine the outcome of a game.

Let's attack these in reverse order.

First of all, it is the job of the officials to attempt to enforce the rules of the game in a fair and unbiased format. They do not weigh the gravity of each individual play and take that into consideration as to whether or not a rule was violated. If a rule is violated, it is their responsibility to enforce the rule. In this case, the ruling was clear. The rulebook clearly describes the inappropriate behavior, which obviously matches the actual behavior in this case. It is the responsibility of the official to enforce the penalty in this case.
At any rate, the plays at the end of the game are not the only ones that can determine the outcome of the game. If not so, then please let me know at what point in the game do the plays become relevant to the outcome? I'd say, potentially all plays are relevant from the opening kickoff onward. Officials should not be expected to guess or determine whether a play will be a determining factor in deciding the outcome, let alone allow this to factor into any decision regarding rule enforcement.
Furthermore, this is all based on the assumption that the ruling actually affected the play. Are you trying to convince me that a college-level placekicker in the PAC-10 does not have sufficient strength to reliably kick a 35-yard field goal with sufficient altitude to avoid a block? Or that BYU (am I actually saying this) is not capable of blocking a field goal except under extreme conditions?

Next point. What exactly was the player's intention is unknown and irrelevant. Intent is not a factor in determining whether to enforce a rule, at least not in NCAA football. If you are tackling someone, and you grab the face mask and turn the head while tackling them, that is a 15-yard personal foul penalty. Whether you meant to do it is not relevant. The same is true in this case. Whether the player intended to taunt the other team or otherwise exhibit unsportsmanlike conduct is not the issue. The issue is that the player did violate the rule, regardless of intent, and it is the job of the officials to enforce the rule.

Finally, the issue with the significance of the play and the resulting excitement meaning that the player obviously was overcome with emotion and could not control himself. Man, how I love that phrase: "Could not control himself." "Yes, Bob, the player is literally not in control of his own self! He cannot make responsible choices! His freedom to choose has been revoked due to extreme excitement!"
Give me a break. Let's suppose the penalty was more harsh. Suppose that he is told, "Look, go out there and score a touchdown. But if you do not hand the ball to the official after the play is over, I am going to cut your index finger off with this here old rusty wood rasp." Do you really think he would score, forget that his finger was in jeopardy, and throw the ball into the air anyway? And then come back and say, "Sorry! Please don't cut my finger off with that there old rusty wood rasp! I was excited and lost control! I literally could not choose otherwise!"

This last one actually gets me more than any of the others. This is not the first time I've heard sports analysts defending the players because they lost control. This is probably because a lot of them used to be players also, which also probably means they don't have much education, and also think they are better than everyone else. Well, in this little place I call "Realworldia," we are expected to maintain control of ourselves and make correct choices, even when it is hard.

In case you were wondering, this is a non-rusty wood rasp. Source: Wikipedia

Fuel Mileage Experiment, Week 1

2008-09-03T08:20:00.003-06:00

I'm conducting a fuel mileage experiment for the next couple of weeks; in fact, I just finished the first week. Here is the experiment: At the start of week one, I will fill up the gas tank, then drive conservatively everywhere I go. No speeding, and no jackrabbit starts. Then I'll record the mileage, refill the tank, and drive like I normally do.

So week one is over. Here's the results:
Mileage: 262.8 miles
Gasoline Used: 9.046 G
Miles per gallon: 29.05

Assuming a price of $4/gallon for gas (which is a bit low but pretty close), that means it cost me $36.18 to drive those 262.8 miles, for a cost of 13.77 cents per mile.

Also, the average time to work (23.3 miles) is about 25 minutes, versus about 22 normally. So I'm saving about 1/2 hour of time per week driving my normal way. How much am I paying for that 1/2 hour? We'll find out next week.

Ahhhh....

2008-09-03T07:08:00.004-06:00

Sugar.

Therapy.

On openSUSE, sorta

2008-08-26T16:42:00.002-06:00

Some time ago I had a Linux server set up at home and it was working pretty well, other than the wireless NIC. It had a Belkin 54g Wireless Network Card F5D7000 in it with the RT2500 chipset. I had been able to get it working on my wireless network, sort of, sometimes. But it was flaky enough that it wasn't good enough to consider my server usable, so I abandoned it.

So this past week I decided it was time to get that thing running. It's good timing because I just built a new PC not too long ago and I kept a lot of the old parts from the old PC that were still potentially salvageable, like the memory and hard drives and case. So I cobbled together a new, better server with the best parts from both old PCs. And now that openSUSE 11 is out, I decided to give it a try.

Well, all I can say is, if only it were as easy to configure wireless on Windows. openSUSE 11 detected the card type and chipset of my wireless card and preinstalled it as a network interface. All I had to do was enter in the access credential and it worked like a charm.

Bottom line: SUSE Linux really is awesome. Remember, I don't work for Novell anymore. I don't own any Novell stock (seriously, what kind of an investor do you think I am???) I have nothing to gain from promoting SUSE Linux really, other than to tell you that it really is a great all-around distribution. Great server. Great desktop. Really.

This is really interesting to me because some guys at work just the other day asked me, almost casually, what Linux desktop I would recommend. I told them it would depend; that for a new user I might recommend Ubuntu, but for me without question it would be openSUSE. The immediate response was, "Well, that's just because you used to work for Novell."

Actually, I've been using Linux for a pretty long time. My first Linux install was dual-booting on a Pentium 100 with Windows 95. I managed to squeeze a Caldera installation onto a portion of that 1 GB hard drive, which was pretty big back almost 13 years ago when I was doing this. I remember many hours spent configuring that video card so X would work.
Since then I've used a lot of Linux in various times. I was a pretty loyal Red Hat guy until Novell bought SUSE back in, ah, whenever that was. I changed from Red Hat to SUSE at that point, and suddenly realized what I was missing.

Novell's problem is leadership, plain and simple. That, and they refuse to admit that their problem is leadership - which is a circular problem. That's not just me talking - Peter Drucker also wrote that if a business is not performing, the management - the leadership - of that business should be held responsible.
Technology has NEVER been Novell's problem. Never in my life have I worked on more talented teams than at Novell. They have excellent technologists and generally excellent products, if management gets out of the way long enough to let the engineers create a quality product (for example, eDirectory, iFolder, or iChain). Of course, SUSE was already a quality software distribution before Novell even showed up, and openSUSE continues to be quality.

It is unfortunate, then, that I find that my career, my experience, is suddenly tarnished because of the fact that I worked at Novell. Novell consistently underperforms, but that isn't because of me or the other individual contributors there. And it doesn't mean that Novell's products are not any good - especially openSUSE, which has primarily just a financial relationship with Novell.

Don't be like that. Don't discount ex-Novell-employees, their experience or capability, or Novell products just because Novell's management isn't being held responsible for better performance standards. Not only is it not the fault of the individual contributors, it simply is not accurate.

ChaCha Says Fake Twitters Are OK!

2008-08-21T14:19:00.002-06:00

I asked ChaCha:

Me: ChaCha, is it dishonest of me to make up fake twitters about my life? My real life is boring, but my fake life could be very interesting.
ChaCha: Twitter is not a diary - and likely shouldn't be - so post whatever you think is fun.

AWESOME! My fake life is going to freaking rule.

ChaCha Explains Electricity

2008-08-20T12:28:00.002-06:00

I asked ChaCha about electricity and power failures:

Me: ChaCha, why does the power go out for just a few seconds, then come back on?
ChaCha: There is an inconsistent amount of power entering your house.

ChaCha never ceases to amaze! So, if I understand this correctly, the power went out because the supply of power to my house is inconsistent. In other words, the power went out because it had previously been supplying power, but then it stopped supplying power, and then it started supplying power again. Genius!

Essential Albums: U2 "The Joshua Tree"

2008-08-18T17:36:00.003-06:00

Artist: U2
Album: The Joshua Tree
Best Song You've Probably Heard: Where The Streets Have No Name
Best Song You Might Not Have Heard: Mothers of the Disappeared

This was one of the first albums I purchased from any band, way back when I was a teenager. I must have listened to this hundreds of times growing up. U2 existed before "The Joshua Tree," but not for me. I'm willing to bet "The Joshua Tree" was the first U2 album for thousands, if not millions, of people worldwide.

"With Or Without You" was the first hit single from this album, and I really love that song. But "Where The Streets Have No Name" gets my vote for the best song because of the way it is written. It is art, pure art. "Mothers of the Disappeared" is a beautiful way to end the recording. But there isn't a bad song on the whole CD, not at all. It's a fantastic voyage from one end to the other.

(Image Credit: amazon.com)

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech - Lest We Forget

2008-08-12T09:05:00.001-06:00

Just listened to this speech, which I probably should have a long time ago. Steve Jobs certainly qualifies as a half bad boy and so I really should link to his speech here.

Chad Reed Changes Bike Colors

2008-08-08T00:02:00.003-06:00

See More Motocross Photos at VitalMX.com

Well, let's see here. That is definitely the current AMA and World Supercross champion, Chad Reed, throwing down a pretty sweet whip there. If the red #1 plate and the Thor gear didn't give it away, the word "Reed" across the back of the jersey ought to do it. And that is definitely a bright yellow factory Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z 450 he's riding.

Now I learned to add in first grade, and so it isn't too tough to deduce that Chad Reed has signed a contract to ride for Rockstar Makita Suzuki for the 2009 season. Whether he was going to get a ride really wasn't much of an issue; the question was more about who would he be riding for. At least now my brother has a reason to keep his Suzuki RM 250. He thought he might have to sell it when Ricky Carmichael signed with Suzuki, and having Mike Alessi hasn't helped matters much. But now that Chad Reed's a Suzuki guy life will be good for us, since we are generally Suzuki folk.

Which doesn't explain much why I have a Kawasaki KX 250, although I can assure you most definitely that it isn't because James Stewart rides Team Green.

I do have to say that ChaCha really blew it on this one. Some weeks ago I asked ChaCha who Chad was going to ride for. ChaCha said JGR MX, which seemed reasonable at the time, but ultimately ChaCha was wrong, and quite simply I expect ChaCha to give the the straight dope 100% of the time, or more.

By the way, thanks to VitalMX.com for the photos and hosting the press release.

Three New Things I Learned Today

2008-08-06T20:41:00.003-06:00

14mm BMX axles do not fit in 3/8" dropouts.
Chromoly steel is really hard.
Grinders are freaking awesome.

ChaCha on Footwear

2008-08-06T09:08:00.003-06:00

I asked ChaCha to help me understand the different types of footwear:

Me: ChaCha, what is the difference between socks, sox, and stockings?
ChaCha: Sox is just a shortening of socks, and stockings come up to the knee or past it.
Me: Ok, but why the phrase "stocking feet?" Since the only difference is one of length, "sock feet" should also be ok but nobody ever says it that way.
ChaCha: It's the way things evolve. We tend to shorten up a lot of terms, TV for television, cell for cellular phone and so on.

Huh? If we tend to shorten up terms, wouldn't we be saying "sock feet" instead of "stocking feet?" And what about this picture of some Boston Red Sox players? "Sox" is apparently equivalent to "socks," but their "sox" clearly come up to the knee, so by definition they should be called the Boston Red Stockings.

I am definitely going to get to the bottom of this issue. And when I do, you will be the first to know the real truth about this conspiracy.

(Image Credit: Somewhere on photobucket, via touchingallthebases.blogspot.com)

ChaCha Repairs Our Internet Connection

2008-07-31T15:03:00.002-06:00

Just now, our internet connection went out for a bit. I asked ChaCha what was wrong:

Me: "What is wrong with our internet connection?"
ChaCha: "There could be many things wrong. What exactly is the problem with it? Make sure your internet is turned on. Do you have wireless?"

That was a pretty disappointing answer. ChaCha, why are you asking me what is the problem with our internet connection - I just asked you that!

But then suddenly, our internet connection came back! ChaCha fixed it!

Me: "Ah, its working now. You fixed it!"
ChaCha: "Great! Thanks for using ChaCha, we can help you in the future!"

I don't doubt it! What a great friend.

ChaCha Told Me To Skip Pam & Toby's

2008-07-31T12:12:00.002-06:00

Today is the Pam & Toby's Lunch & Learn since it is Thursday. I asked ChaCha:

Me: Should i attend the pam & tobys lunch & learn?
ChaCha: What exactly is the Pam Tobys lunch learn? Is it something that you want to do? Will it benefit your education?

The answers to the last two questions are, "Not really" (I would much rather go ride my motorcycle) and "Probably." So, if I translate that, it says to me, I should definitely skip it.

ChaCha Told Me To Get A Twitter Account

2008-07-30T15:18:00.002-06:00

I friend introduced me to ChaCha, an all-knowing being who can answer any question you text to him. Or her. Actually, with a name like ChaCha, I really hope ChaCha is a girl.

Anyway, I asked ChaCha if I should get a Twitter account:

Me: Should I sign up for a Twitter account?
ChaCha: Twitter is a service for family, friends, and co-workers to talk and stay connected through the exchange of quick questions.
Me: Yes, I know, but should I sign up?
ChaCha: If you love to share what you're doing with other people, or find out what others are up to, absolutely!

Gee, thanks ChaCha! What enthusiasm! With an endorsement like that I literally could not avoid signing up.

Alen told me if I got a Twitter account, then I could follow him, and he would follow me. That sounds like a circle to me.

Housing "Crisis"??

2008-07-30T11:36:00.001-06:00

Good commentary on what is currently being referred to as the "housing crisis." Maybe Dennis is right - we probably just need to stop panicking and be smart.

Another Reason DRM is Bad (In Case You Needed Another Reason)

2008-07-28T07:38:00.002-06:00

Ars Technica wrote "DRM Still Sucks" in this article that you should read at least briefly.

Saying that DRM still sucks is not exactly news - pretty much everyone knows it by now. Hopefully you are not still buying your music encumbered by DRM. This isn't about being able to do something illegal - I love music and yearn for more good music, and am willing to pay a fair price to support people who produce good music - rather, it is about being able to listen to the music I buy. What happens to your music when the provider of the DRM technology disappears? Will you lose your ability to listen to your music, or have to buy it all over again?

That's why I'm buying all my music from Amazon.com now. Yeah, I still think it is more expensive per song than it should be, but it's worth it to me to support their anti-DRM venture. Buying from Amazon.com sends the RIAA a message that Napster and AllofMP3.com were not about piracy, but rather about DRM-free music. Perhaps if enough of us buy there, they will eventually come around.

Yeah, I know, it is a lot to hope for - probably unreasonably so. But I'm going to be optimistic and use my money to vote for DRM-free music. I hope you will also.

Choose Your Children's Names Carefully

2008-07-22T10:25:00.003-06:00

I firmly believe that the name you choose for a child seals their earthly destiny - primarily, in what career they are going to have. For example, if you name your son "Hank" he will be forced to become an automobile mechanic; if you name your daughter "Janice" she will be forced to become a receptionist.

As evidence I point you to this webpage. What else could this person grow up to be but a lawyer??

Yes, that is a VIP Concert Pass

2008-07-18T17:31:00.002-06:00

I've been meaning to blog about this for about a week now but I just haven't received all of the necessary pictures yet. So let me just send out a teaser, and say that yes, that somewhat-blurry image above is a picture of my very own Cheap Trick VIP Concert Pass to the Cheap Trick/Heart/Journey concert at USANA amphitheater last week in Salt Lake City.

Yes, of course, it was completely awesome. Stay tuned.

Essential Albums: Van Halen "1984"

2008-07-18T16:52:00.004-06:00

It's about time we had a new feature here on the Half Bad Boy blog. I thought, probably most of you are thinking, "Will someone please tell me what is good music that I should be listening to?" The easy answer to that is, Almost nothing even remotely current. But that doesn't help you spend your money.

So I thought it might be time to try a new feature: the Half Bad Boy Blog Essential Albums. Every month or so I'll try to list an album that is part of any half bad boy's essential music collection. And if a month goes by and I don't post anything, feel free to just wait longer.

Artist: Van Halen
Album: 1984
Best Song You've Probably Heard: Jump
Best Song You Might Not Have Heard: Panama

It probably comes as no surprise to readers of this blog that a Van Halen album would be the first selected Essential Album. But some might be wondering, why 1984?

Well, it isn't because it is my favorite Van Halen album, although it is right up there. It isn't because of album sales, although at ten times platinum, it is one of the best selling Van Halen albums of all time. In my opinion, 1984 is a landmark album for Van Halen because it was the first to show that they could be successful as a mainstream American band, not just as a hard rock band.

For all the talent that Eddie possesses, I think his biggest talent is amazing songwriting, not guitar virtuosity. "Jump" shows that in spades. It is upbeat enough that you might hear it in a grocery store, but it rocks hard enough that it tends to close out every Van Halen show. Play "Jump" with the volume turned up - you cannot help but smile. It is such a great song.

There are a slew of great songs on 1984. It is hard for me to envision that there is any living, hearing person, besides my own parents, who have not heard this album clear through a number of times. So selecting a "Best Song You Might Not Have Heard" from 1984 was tough. Odds are you've also heard "Panama," and just about every other song on this album. But just in case you haven't, check out "Panama" - it is a great time.

1984 peaked at number 2 on the charts, behind "Thriller," one of the top selling albums of all time. And now, it is the Half Bad Boy Blog's first ever Essential Album.

(Image Credit: amazon.com)

Mac OS X Installation Tip

2008-07-17T13:52:00.003-06:00

At work I've been trying to install Mac OS X Tiger on a Mac Mini for testing purposes. I have to say I was really having a tough time getting it to work and had even begun wishing I was on a Linux machine again.

At this point, I realized that probably there is a built-in loyalty detection device in the Mac hardware that can tell whether you are truly sincere or not. And since I had given fake devotion to the Cult of the Mac before, that is probably why it was not letting me install Tiger at all.

As a final straw, during installation I completely reformatted the hard drive and renamed that volume "ILoveSteve_Really". The installation worked. I'm not making this up.

So, to all you Cult of the Mac people, whom, as far as you are concerned, I love, respect, and admire beyond comprehension, if you ever have any trouble getting OS X to install, try showering some evidence of devotion upon your installation volume, and perhaps you too will find success.

Political Compass Test

2008-07-15T16:23:00.003-06:00

I took the Political Compass Test today. My score was:

Economic: -0.75
Social: -0.92

That's about as centrist as you can get. No wonder I can't find a political party that I agree with.

Corvette ZR1 = Awesome

2008-07-11T09:45:00.002-06:00

A bone-stock Corvette ZR1 apparently just set a 7:26 time around Nurburgring, one of the fastest times ever by a production car. Check out the video:

Project CRX Part Deux

2008-06-26T11:26:00.002-06:00

Some time ago I started Project CRX, with the noble intention of acquiring and hopping up a second-generation Honda CRX and making a true thing of beauty. And I did the first part, way back in 1999 - I acquired a black 1988 Honda CRX Si with about 160,000 miles on it, for $1500. It was the fixing-up part that I failed to do, sadly. Still, I really - and I mean really - liked that car.

The Honda CRX was an unsung hero of automotive history, in my opinion. When they came out, I thought it would be the ideal commuter car - great gas mileage, small, agile, and fairly good performing. This lasted for four years, 1984-1987, the CRX's first generation. Then came the second generation, with a much better looking body style and even better performance, especially if you got the Si. And if you fix them up - well, just look at the picture; need I say more?

My little black CRX was not a good looking car. The interior was shot, seats were torn, and there was a big hole in the dashboard where someone had stolen the stereo from the previous owner. Outside, there were a number of rusted panels, and the paint was faded in almost every place. The one upside was that the paint was such a dull, lifeless black that I'm pretty sure it absorbed all of the radar, and so I never got a speeding ticket.

Even worse was the fact that the driver side window did not really roll up and down easily. I tried to adjust the inner window tracks but I couldn't get them to align properly. After I'd already spent the money to install a pretty decent stereo system, I was trying to roll the window up one time and in the process the window bound and shattered all over the place. I replaced it with a door from a junkyard, which was unfortunately white. Now I had a black CRX with a white driver-side door. I didn't think it would matter much, because I always intended to paint it. I drove it that way for probably three years.

It may have been an ugly car, but it was a blast to drive. Even though it just had the stock D16 inline-4 that came with the Si, it had plenty of horsepower for the size of car, and I really loved to drive it - so much, in fact, that I didn't really care what it looked like.

I put 50,000 miles on that car and was pretty pleased with the fact that it had over 200,000 miles on it. I even did get the chance to install an AEM intake and a Greddy cat-back exhaust on it. Even with 200,000 miles on it, I was getting 44 miles to the gallon on the highway at 75 mph.

One of my best memories in that car was driving home by myself along this back road to my home called River Bottom Road. I was taking the road at roughly twice the posted speed limit as it wound around the curves following the river and the hillsides bordering the river bottoms. Like always, my CRX went exactly where it was pointed as fast as it could. It was like driving that road in a go-kart. Days like that were almost like the car's gift to me for taking care of it.

One day Todd and I were going golfing and were on the freeway, about one mile from the golf course, when the CRX just died. It shut off right there on the freeway at 70 mph. I coasted over to the side of the road, tried to restart the car but it wouldn't start. After several futile attempts, I called a tow truck and had it towed home.

Later that day I went out and tried to start the car again, but still no luck. I decided to start by pulling the plugs to see if they were sparking, thinking that perhaps the distributor need replacing. As I pulled the first plug out I saw that it was covered in oil. It ended up that two of the four plugs were completely coated in engine oil when I pulled them from their sockets.

At that point I knew my CRX had died a catastrophic death. Either the oil had leaked in through the head, requiring a new head, or the oil had leaked past the piston rings, which would require a completely new rebuild. My CRX was dead. It was a very, very sad day.

My intention all along had been to eventually swap a B16 or (ideally) an LS-VTEC into my CRX. At that time, however, I did not have nearly the coin for such a swap, and couldn't afford to go without a car. I had to let the CRX go for basically nothing.

Since then I've been driving my 2002 Grand Prix. It's not been a bad car, not at all. But it doesn't offer the fun that the CRX did. And now, with gas prices where they are, I'm thinking it might be a good time to get another CRX, which would not only help me save money in gasoline but also be a dang good time to drive again. Since I'm now driving about twice as far to get to Mozy as I had to to get to Novell, it seems like a reasonable idea.

So we're back to the beginning again, Project CRX Part Deux. As before, the first task will be to acquire a CRX. I'm going to be a bit more picky than before. Here's what I'm looking for:

Second-generation (1988-1991) Honda CRX.
Preferably an Si, and in particular I'm not all that interested in an HF.
It should be in drivable condition and must pass inspection and emissions tests.
Ideally it should already have the B16 or LS-VTEC swap done. If not, it pretty much has to have a ZC or D16 in it.
I'd like the body to be in really good condition - no rust would be great.

Just about anything else I can deal with. For example, I can deal with a suboptimal interior. I can deal with little to no stereo system. I can deal with lame wheels and tires. I can deal with faded, worn, scratched, or chipped paint as long as there is little to no rust.

I'm not willing to sink a lot of money into one of these, because with the age who knows how much money I'll end up putting into it anyway. But I'll keep the blog updated, because if I find a deal that can work for me, perhaps I'll be initiating Project CRX Part Deux.

(Image credit: explicitspeedperformance.net via Google)

Noise Reduction is for Sissies

2008-06-25T15:35:00.003-06:00

Lately I've been rocking these Skullcandy Skullcrusher headphones and I gotta say they are pretty sweet.

These are the first headphones I've ever had with an actual built-in amplifier and subwoofers that you can actually feel vibrating against your ears. Sound quality is pretty good, the cups are comfortable, and they also look pretty half-bad, considering the title of the blog and all.

Downfalls? Well, the cord is awfully short, and there's no volume control on the cord. No noise reduction, although I'm not sure why you need it when your headphones kick tail like these do.

Oh, and you can't actually get these anymore. Try the new Skullcandy Hesh headphones instead, I suppose. But be sure to not get the white and pink ones, unless you can back it up big boy.

(Image Source: Circuitcity.com)

Chris Cannon Defeated - Thankfully

2008-06-25T15:20:00.003-06:00

I'm relieved to say that Chris Cannon was defeated in the Utah primaries yesterday. Those of you who are faithful readers of this blog (as far as I can tell, the only person in that group is myself) will recall the condescending letter I received from Congressman Cannon in response to a letter I mailed him before, and my reply to him, telling him that just because he is a congressman and I'm not doesn't mean he is smarter than me. Well, I didn't actually say that, but I meant to, and I hope the point came across.

Whether the new guy will be any better is hard to know. As hard as it may be to believe, he is even more conservative than Cannon - meaning, even Cannon was just not conservative enough for Utah County, amazingly.

Now if we could just figure out how to get rid of Orrin Hatch - then things would be much better.

Fyngyrz on Privacy

2008-06-19T11:31:00.002-06:00

Fyngyrz writes a cool article discussing privacy. Check it out.

Cult of the Mac Blood Brother @ WWDC, Day 5

2008-06-13T10:40:00.007-06:00

I really like these black Dockers. They match perfectly with my black belt and my black t-shirts I've received all during the conference. And I must say I think I look quite stunning with my black shoes and white socks.

First thing this morning, after the wardrobe improvements, I walked down Market St. to the Apple Store. I bought a new Macbook Pro with several performance upgrades. I placed it gently in the beautiful, sleek, new laptop carrying bag that I was provided when I registered for the conference.

I'm still not significantly overweight, nor do I have enough hair for a ponytail, yet. But I'm working on it. I didn't even shower today.

I walked into Moscone West this morning. It didn't take me long to find the Black Ponytails. I approached them resolutely. They regarded me with some reservation as I opened my laptop bag, intentionally displaying the new laptop I had purchased that day, which I hoped to be able to pay for later, and extracted the document they had left with me the night before.

I handed it to the leader of the group. He took it with suspicion, and immediately scanned his sight to the bottom of the page, where he saw my fingerprint, imprinted upon the document in my own blood.

He smiled. "Welcome, brother." I smiled back, then turned and walked away.

A calming, satisfied smile settled across my face. Paraphrasing Winston Smith, I thought to myself, "I love Mac."

An Apple n00b @ WWDC, Day 4

2008-06-13T03:26:00.007-06:00

Day 4 was a pretty interesting day. For starters, I took this picture. This guy's name is Mike; he works for Apple's developer relations program. His job is akin to what I did for many years at Novell. Except, Mike is successful at his job, whereas I could never get Novell to do the things that would have made Novell successful. Or me. Now you know one of the reasons I am not at Novell anymore.

Anyway, I took this picture not for that reason, but for another reason. I can't tell you how many times people have e-mailed me asking, "Matt, what would your brother look like if he gained 40 pounds?" Well, stop asking and just take a look at this picture. Now you know.

Sort of. It is rather grainy, I admit.

Later that day I went by Dan's hotel to see what his room was like. Dan called the St. Regis Hotel and somehow managed to score a room rate of about 1/2 the normal $500-$600 per night rate. I called the same hotel within about 10-15 minutes and could not get the same rate - in fact I was told it was not possible.

Apparently they have a different understanding of "not possible" than what I have. Anyway, Dan had a corner room with an incredible view of downtown San Francisco:

The second picture is just to the left of the first, showing a great view of the Moscone Center and Yerba Buena Gardens. WWDC hosts a big bash in Yerba Buena Gardens on Thursday night, which was tonight, in the gardens. It was a great frolicking time. In fact, I was having such a great time that I lost track of where I was and forgot to take what you by now would assume would be my normal precautions. Instead, I suddenly found myself alone in a dark and remote corner of the gardens, surrounded by none other than the Black Ponytails.

I once heard that the reason Metallica kicked Dave Mustaine out early in the band's history was because when the other guys would get drunk, they would just get really silly, but when Dave would get drunk, he would get angry. Well, suffice it to say that the Black Ponytails would also not get along with Metallica when they are drunk. When you combine free alcohol, the Black Ponytails, an Apple n00b like me, and the darkest, remotest corner of Yerba Buena, you end up with a dozen substantial embodiments combining to form about 3000 pounds of black Mac fury. Believe me, I was petrified.

"Well, if it isn't the Linux baby," one of them taunted as they surrounded me and backed me into the corner.

"Now, guys, I'm not meaning to cause any trouble here," I said, before I was blasted upside the head with a copy of Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X, 2nd Edition that had been hurled at me.

"Shut up, Linux baby. You don't get to talk," one of them hissed from the other side.

The leader continued. "Look, you freak. Nobody invited you here. Nobody wants you here. You think you can just show up here because you paid?!? You don't have true devotion! You don't truly love Apple! You aren't dedicated to making Steve Jobs ridiculously wealthy! We can see it in your eyes."

As he spoke, they all opened up their black backpacks and pulled out USB mice and stylish thin Mac keyboards. Those with the mice held onto the end of the cable while the mouse itself dropped down, dangling from their hands. Those with the keyboards grabbed one end with both hands and held it up in front of them, like a baseball bat. They were closing in, closer and closer. The air reeked of fear and 3000 pounds of body odor. I tried to remain calm, but panic started to set in. Didn't anybody see me? Didn't Zach and Dan know I was gone? Was there nobody to help me?

"You aren't one of us. You don't belong here. And now you are going to pay."

With that the blows started coming, harder, harder, and faster. Mouse and keyboard buttons were flying everywhere as the blows came in. I crumpled to the ground. My head was throbbing from the blows of the mice hitting my head, being used like medieval maces. I raised my hands to try to deflect the flailing mice, but then I felt the hard, crushing blows as the keyboards hit my ribs and back, held sideways so that I was being struck by the edges and corners, thus inflicting maximum damage. I felt bruises turn into welts, then blood blisters, and finally open, bleeding wounds. I could hear the occasional sickening crack of ribs when a particularly well-aimed keyboard struck exactly right. I curled up, drawing my legs up towards me, which elicited numerous jeering cries of "Linux baby! Linux baby!" Still, the hurling mice seemed to find their way inside my defenses. Now partially broken apart, the remaining plastic fragments on the mouse bodies would cut, grab, and tear at my flesh, leaving small stabbing and cutting wounds all over my face, head, hands, and back.

After what seemed an eternity but was probably only five to ten minutes, they finally stopped and stood back a pace. I lay immobile for some seconds, trying to determine if it was finally over. But just as I'd determined they were done, just as I moved to start to get up, the leader snapped his fingers loudly, and on that signal two of them stepped in, pinned me down and forced my hands behind my back, tying them tightly together with mouse cables. They stood me up and held me between them.

The leader bent down and pulled my laptop out of my case. He looked it over with an air of superiority and disdain. Then he finally looked at me. "You see this laptop?"

"Yes," I panted. "Please. Come on, just leave me alone. I'll leave."

He laughed a short, scoffing laugh, and took a step toward me. "This laptop is a..." - he cocked his arms back, ready to swing - "PIECE" - he struck me forcefully with the laptop across my head where I immediately felt warm blood gushing from the newly opened wound - "OF" - the backswing caught me full in the face as the taste of blood flooded my mouth - "CRAP!" - he brought the laptop up and shattered it over the top of my head.

My head was throbbing like nothing I had ever felt before. I was so dizzy I could hardly stand or even retain consciousness. I spat blood from my mouth just for it to fill up again. It hurt to breathe against the wounds in my back and sides. I could barely see past swollen eyes and cheekbones. My hands ached where I knew bones were broken. Blood ran freely down my face and pooled on the ground below.

The two Black Ponytails continued to hold me upright while the leader turned and went back to his backpack. He pulled out what appeared to be a piece of parchment paper. Between the throbbing in my head, the intense blackness of the darkest regions of Yerba Buena, and the lights flashing in my eyes from the blows to my head, I really could not tell what it was.

The leader came back. With a smug grin on his face he strutted up to me. He grabbed my hair and lifted my head up, shoving the paper in front of my face. "You see this paper?" he said. "You wanna read this paper. You wanna do what it says, and sign it. And you wanna find me tomorrow and bring it to me. You wanna do it, Linux baby. Or we're gonna finish what we started here tonight."

Keeping hold of my hair with his left hand, he dropped the paper on the ground in front of me. Then, suddenly, he pulled back and punched me with the full force of his fist right in the nose. I felt the bones break as I struggled to breathe, my nasal cavity filling up with blood.

The two that were holding me up finally let me go. I collapsed to the ground as the Black Ponytails dispersed into the night. Just before I lost consciousness, I was barely able to make out the words atop the paper on the ground in front of me. They read:

THE CULT OF THE MAC
To Be Signed In Blood

An Apple n00b @ WWDC, Day 3

2008-06-12T23:02:00.002-06:00

Day 3 at WWDC, well, I was admittedly a little bit afraid to even head back there today. It seems like I keep running into those Black Ponytails. Usually it is only just one of them at a time, but I was a bit concerned what might happen if I ran into all of them at once.

However, it seemed that the day would go pretty well. I walked in to Moscone West and noticed that nearly all of the slobber had evaporated off of the bust of Steve. I attended some great sessions and picked up some ultra-top-secret software provided to all attendees that I can't discuss or even admit publicly that I have. I even stopped at the Apple Store and bought myself an Apple T-shirt, wondering aloud at the fact that Apple could get people to buy their t-shirts at their own conference when at Novell we had to give them away to get anyone to take them (with the exception of the awesome "Got Linux?" t-shirts, those were really special).

It was the last session of the day and I'd done pretty good at keeping myself out of trouble. My final session of day 3 had to do with scripting on the Mac. When we got to Q&A, I stood up to ask my question:

"Eric is a really great Python IDE available as open source on Linux. Have you considered providing and supporting Eric on Mac in your developer tools? That would really be awesome."

About the time I muttered the word "Linux," every head in the audience turned on a swivel to scowl menacingly in my direction. Displaying obvious disdain and exercising the greatest of patience, the presenter took a deep breath and then replied measuredly: "Xcode is already a great Python tool. There is no need for Mac to attempt to copy anything that is being done by Linux."

I apologized and turned to sit down, but not before I noticed the Black Ponytails sitting a number of rows ahead of me.

I tried to leave the session quickly but my exits seemed blocked at every turn, almost as though it were a coordinated effort. Finally I exited and started my long walk up the corridor toward the common area. Suddenly I found myself surrounded by Black Ponytails.

"Hey, check it out, it's the Linux boy!"

"Yeah Linux boy! Maybe we should make the Mac more like Linux! Lol!" (Yes, he really said "lol".)

They all laughed as the started shoving me back and forth between them. Mockingly, one said, "Ooh, check me out! I compile my own kernel!"

"Looky what I can do! I know how to use a command line!" sneered another.

Then with another shove they got serious. "Look here, you Linux baby! You infant! Linux is nothing compared to FreeBSD! Compared to Darwin, the core upon which heaven's own OS is based - Mac OS X!"

"Hey, guys, I know! I like FreeBSD! I just come from a Linux background, that's all!" I protested.

"Shut your hole, Linux baby. Who invited you here anyway?" With that, I felt a huge shove in the back and fell into the sizable girth of the guy in front of me. "Who said you could touch me, Linux baby?" he threatened.

Just when I thought all hope was lost, I heard Dan and Zach call out to me, "Hey Matt!" The Black Ponytails looked around casually, then dispersed as if by a signal. I had escaped certain demise.

I spent the rest of the evening at the Apple Design Awards and the Stump the Experts night. I thought perhaps if the Black Ponytails saw me there they would realize that I really wasn't such a bad guy. Unfortunately, I'm not sure they saw me; they were on the other side of the very large room, engaged in what seemed to be a very intense coding session. But maybe they caught a glimpse; maybe they will still give me a chance.

An Apple n00b @ WWDC, Day 2

2008-06-12T01:14:00.002-06:00

Anyone who has seen Wayne's World knows that you never want to be that guy that wears the shirt of the band to the concert of the same band. I thought the same rule would apply at WWDC. I mean, of course by day two I had already received two new black Apple t-shirts, but I did not think that I would be expected to wear them during the conference. I found this not to be true, however, as I arrived at the show the second day and found that everyone was wearing one of their new black t-shirts, except for me.

So I guess it goes without saying that the Black Ponytails spotted me without problem. I had not even noticed them as I sat down in the session I was attending that afternoon. I pulled out my Dell laptop. I mean, I know it is an Apple conference. But surely they don't expect everyone to have a Macbook, do they?

Well, apparently they do. I hadn't even finished logging in to my laptop when I was struck in the back of the head by something small and hard. At first I thought it was a rock, but when I turned around and looked I saw it was a small USB thumb drive. Not far behind me were the Black Ponytails. One sneered at me and suggested, using unkind words not appropriate for polite company, that perhaps I should put my laptop away. I obliged, wondering why these people just could not be accepting of someone new.

An Apple n00b @ WWDC, Day 1

2008-06-11T13:46:00.005-06:00

Day 1 of WWDC was Monday, June 9, and it started of with the keynote by Steve Jobs. Even though we checked in on Sunday night, we decided to risk it and not get in line for the keynote until about 6:00 a.m. the following morning. So we showed up Monday morning at 6:00 a.m. for the 10:00 a.m. keynote. We found our place in line in a dark alley behind the Moscone Center, hundreds of yards from the door, but fortunately we were there in time to see the keynote anyway.

After some time they started letting us in to the building as we progressed through the various waiting locations. When we entered the building, everyone had to stop and kiss the bronze bust of Steve in the lobby entryway. I was reluctant, in part because it seemed a bit zealous, and in part because by the time I got there it was already dripping in saliva. But everyone was doing it so I just gave in.

It was at this point I saw some guys not far ahead of us in line. One of them happened to look back right as I offered what must have been an obviously obligatory, insincere kiss to the bust of Steve. He glared at me and then started whispering to his friends.

They all looked roughly the same: Each was quite substantially overweight; each wore black cotton slacks with a black belt and a black t-shirt that declared devotion to Apple in some way; each wore black shoes with white socks. Each had long hair pulled back into a ponytail, with a smattering of dandruff scattered notably on their shoulders. Each carried a laptop bag and an iPhone. I smiled weakly as he pointed me out to the other five or so in his little group. They just glared back at me.

Just then the line started moving. They left me alone as the line progressed. Here you can see a picture of all the people less devoted than we were:
Our group rustled our way up the stairs as we drew ourselves closer and closer to that mecca known as Presidio. It is admittedly hard to walk quietly when you are wearing a sanitary undergarment for the relief of incontinence. Personally, being a n00b, I had chosen not to wear one, failing to see the need. But the others felt it necessary; who knew what would happen at the keynote?!?

Finally, after hours of waiting, we arrived!

We were really inside the WWDC Keynote! And, we could almost see the stage from where we were. Those around me struggled to contain their emotions as the starting time approached, while I struggled to locate a place where I could get a snack.

Finally, Steve Jobs himself walked out onto the stage. Many thoughts filled my brain, such as, "His voice is a lot higher-pitched than I imagined." Everyone managed to maintain control until he announced the new price of the iPhone: only $199. People all around me burst into tears and into their sanitary undergarments as the room filled with a grateful chorus: "Thank you, Steve! Oh, thank you!"

I was also pleased; the new iPhone was only 1/2 as unaffordable to me as it was before. In fact, I began to feel some inklings of devotion to Apple plant themselves into my heart. It made me nervous, so I quickly uprooted these tiny seedlings. Still, I was oddly feeling compelled to purchase a brand new MacBook Pro, so I would have something to put into the laptop bag I had been given at conference registration.

I walked back to the hotel amidst the rustling throng of exuberant, delighted conference attendees. Each emanated a happy smile from their face and the smell of byproduct from their nether-regions. It made me glad that they were so happy. Then I caught site of the Black Ponytails again. They glared at me as I walked by. Perhaps they could detect a distinct lack of rustle as I walked? Perhaps they could detect the distinct lack of odor wafting out behind me? Perhaps they could tell that I took a shower that morning? Whatever it was, apparently I was not fooling anyone. I tried to ignore them as I walked by, but I'm looking over my shoulder now.

Provo's "Freedom" Festival

2008-06-05T16:21:00.002-06:00

It came to my attention today that the America's Freedom Festival (in Provo, Utah) committed has chosen to recognized Jack Thompson as a Freedom Award Recipient at the Freedom Awards Gala on July 2.

I live in Utah and generally like most things about it. I do not agree with the giving of an award to Jack Thompson for any reason, primarily because I think he is preying upon a frantic conservative populace in order to enrich himself personally for a cause he would otherwise not care about. However, I am willing to concede to any other organization the right to recognize Jack Thompson for things he's done.

What is ridiculous, however, is that he is being recognized at what is presumably a celebration of freedom. Jack Thompson is not about freedom. He is about government censorship of free expression as guaranteed by the First Amendment. Furthermore, in the opinion of at least Judge Dava Tunis of Florida, Jack Thompson is guilty of 27 different charges of inappropriate conduct from the Florida Bar, including such things as knowingly making false statements to a tribunal. In fact the Florida Supreme Court will no longer accept any filings from Mr. Thompson unless signed by another lawyer.

It is hard to believe that a festival of freedom, held in Provo, Utah, which is probably the most conservative city in the United States, holding a gala to recognize champions of freedom, would have a committee, presumably made up of locals, that would select such a person as being deserving of this award, if in fact they are aware of what Mr. Thompson is really all about. My guess is that they really aren't aware of anything other than the fact that he fights against video game companies for releasing and distributing video games that include nudity, sexual content, graphic violence, and adult themes.

I'm not advocating such games nor am I championing the cause for even more games of even more extreme natures to become available. I do find it interesting, however, that we have such strong, organized opposition to video games when there is no similar opposition of this magnitude against other media, such as books, magazines, music, or movies. I suppose each of those media went through their own battles as well earlier in their history. But I do find it interesting that we basically do nothing to prevent or curb pornography, which has a documented association to sexual deviance and violence, but some would raise Jack Thompson up as a champion of freedom for fighting against video games, which as yet have not been shown to cause violence.

It is especially surprising on another front. Consider the case of CleanFlicks, the DVD rental company that rents edited versions of mainstream movies. At least it used to; I'm not sure what their business model is now and how it is different from what it was in 2006, when they were ordered by court to cease their business model. You probably know that CleanFlicks is a Utah-based company, and you can imagine how many upset people there were around here when this ruling came down.

Apparently people don't see these issues as two sides of the same coin. Apparently, the Freedom Festival folk don't realize that it is the same line of thought that took CleanFlicks away that they are championing by honoring Jack Thompson. One cannot simultaneously champion the cause of someone to take freedom of legal expression away from one group and lament having a similar freedom removed from them.

I'm willing to grant that some video games today are inappropriate or even evil. It is one thing for an individual to make personal choices about the type of entertainment they will pay for, or that they will allow into their home. It is another altogether to attempt to circumvent the constitution in order to stop something you feel is evil, and yet another thing to decide to take the freedoms of others away for the purpose of stopping evil. Choosing to keep content that I find inappropriate out of my home is my right and responsibility; even Playboy would not argue with that position. It is when I determine that since something is wrong for me, I have the right to take away the freedoms of others to stop the evil that I'm standing on a slippery slope.

We've fought too hard to obtain freedom to treat it so lightly. And there have been too many champions of true freedom for us to so tarnish it that we would choose Jack Thompson, of all people, to honor at the America's Freedom Festival in Provo. What a shame. What a disgraceful, embarrassing shame.

Daytona Motorsports Group - Planning To Destroy AMA Roadracing?

2008-06-02T17:25:00.002-06:00

When the AMA selected the Daytona Motorsports Group to manage their professional racing series, it seemed like a reasonable thing. DMG would be in charge of racing and promotion, and the AMA could focus on the casual rider.

At least, it has seemed reasonable, until recently. Things changed when the DMG (motto: "We Make Cool Things Suck!") decided to make wholesale changes to the AMA road racing class structure that seem utterly ridiculous. Roger Edmundson tried to defend their decisions but ended up showing that he really knows nothing about AMA road racing at all; just read the link above and notice some of the boneheaded things he says. Roger, have you ever even seen an AMA street race?

One big problem I see with this is that it will completely separate AMA riders from the world series, namely World Superbike and MotoGP. How can we expect North American riders to be picked up for 1000cc World Superbikes and 800cc MotoGP prototype bikes if the premier class becomes a dumbed-down restricted-ability 600cc class?

Hey Roger. I have another idea. While you're at it, why not put restrictor plates on all of the motorcycle carburetors? We could drop the horsepower down to lower than what you can buy in the showroom, literally starving those engines for air and fuel! Lets weigh the riders with their bikes, so the fit riders don't have any advantage over the fat ones who look like, say, Tony Stewart! Then, instead of having them run on all of these "dangerous" street circuits, lets have them ride around and around in circles on oval tracks! Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun to watch.

Troy Bayliss Has Some Dance Moves

2008-06-02T08:48:00.002-06:00

Former World Superbike Champion Troy Bayliss got the unfortunate chance to show off his awesome dance moves right after a hair-raising high side exiting Release during race 1 at Miller Motorsports Park. My heart was in my throat as I watched him, sitting there in the middle of the racing line, with bikes racing by on either side. I couldn't help but exclaim, "Troy - get up! Get out of there!!" as I watched him try to make his way off the track.
I'm glad you're ok, Troy. Awesome dance moves there on the straightaway by one of my favorite riders ever.

Comparing Lap Times at MMSP

2008-06-01T18:18:00.005-06:00

I've wondered for a while what the difference is between World Superbike bikes and AMA Superbike bikes. Are the World Superbike bikes faster, and by how much? Or is it mostly the riders?

Now that they've come to Miller Motorsports Park this year, I at least have some anecdotal evidence. AMA Superbike ran the entire course this year, instead of the outer course only, which the World Superbike guys ran. So I went back to last year's AMA data for Miller Motorsports Park to get my data.

In 2007, the top AMA Superbike Qualifying time was by Ben Spies, at 1:49.405. This year, the top World Superbike Qualifying time was by Carlos Checa at 1:48:193, putting Checa just about 1.2 seconds faster than last year's top qualifier.

Even more interesting is to take an average of the top 10. In last year's AMA Superbike qualifying, the average time of the top 10 qualifiers was 1:50.271. This year, the average time of the top 10 World Superbike qualifiers was 1:49.007, again about 1.2 seconds faster.

Another interesting comparison was to look at the slowest qualifying times. This year in World Superbike, the slowest qualifier qualified 29th at 1:52.601. Last year's 29th-place AMA Superbike qualifier logged a time of 1:58.232.

Until Ben Spies or Mat Mladin race World Superbike, we'll never know for sure how they compare to the likes of Troy Bayliss, Troy Corser, Carlos Checa, Nori Haga, and the other World Superbike folk. Mat Mladin, being from Australia, surely could have gone on to race World Superbike by now if he wished - he's won six AMA Superbike titles after all. Methinks he enjoys cherrypicking in AMA Superbike and so I won't expect him to move up soon. The rumor is that Spies will be moving on to MotoGP next year, not World Superbike. Personally, I'd sure like to see at least one good US rider in World Superbike, so we can find out if the World Superbike riders are really that much better, or is it just that the bikes are that much quicker.

Personally, I think the bikes are probably about one second faster. I have a very high opinion of World Superbike rider abilities. This especially shows up in the slower riders, as there was not nearly so much dropoff in times toward the end, which supports my other hypothesis, which is that World Superbike riders are generally more evenly-matched across the board.

UPDATE:
Freddy Spencer explained a bit in the World Superbike broadcast that the differences between the bikes are subtle; the main thing he mentioned was that World Superbike bikes are allowed to run more aggressive camshafts and timings than AMA Superbike bikes. I suppose that could explain about a second per lap advantage on a 3 mile circuit. But I'm guessing that, overall, World Superbike riders are much better across the board than in the AMA.

Two big questions though. First, why is it that the factory Rockstar Makita Suzuki team so completely dominates AMA Superbike (I don't think they've even lost a race in almost two years) but the bikes in World Superbike are much more evenly matched? And second, could Carlos Checa or Troy Bayliss win in AMA Superbike on a brand other than Suzuki?

World Superbike at Miller Motorsports Park

2008-06-01T17:45:00.012-06:00

It was an awesome weekend; World Superbike joined the AMA for a racing event at Miller Motorsports Park this weekend. Derrick and I went yesterday and had a pretty good time.

When we got there we first spent some time in the vendor area and the paddock. We saw a bunch of really awesome custom choppers there; this was one of the coolest ones:

As we wandered through the paddock we saw some very clear reminders that we were really at a World Superbike event. Notice the names of Troy Bayliss and Michel Fabrizioso, the factory Ducati riders:

We stopped at the Scorpion USA booth and saw Bubba the Scorpion there:

In the Yamaha tent they were displaying Valentino Rossi's MotoGP bike. Okay, I realize it probably was not really Valentino's real MotoGP bike. Still, it was cool to see:

We watched most of World Superbike qualifying on the front straightaway, about 500 yards from the turn. This is literally the fastest part of the track, as they would get of the throttle and start braking for the turn right in front of us. Sorry for the pictures; apparently my camera phone distorts the pictures at 190 mph. Actually, with the delay between when I press the capture button and when the picture actually gets captured, it requires quite a bit of timing to even get a shot with a rider in it; it is amazing I even got any at all.

We also saw the World Superbike practice and Superpole event. I captured this shot of eight different riders making their way through Tooele Turn:

We also got to watch the AMA Supersport race and the first AMA Superbike race of the weekend. The superbike race featured some great racing between Aaron Yates, Neil Hodgson, and Jamie Hacking:

Mat Mladin was challenging for the lead until lap 3, when he went off the track right near us in an awesome high-speed lowside:

That left Ben Spies to take the win, which he did convincingly, thus making us a pretty happy bunch (we are all big Ben Spies fans):

Is Your Backup Secure?

2008-05-29T08:11:00.002-06:00

While there are a number of online backup solutions available, not all provide the same levels of data security, according to Heise Online, in which several leading solution providers were tested for vulnerability to a man-in-the-middle attack. Many solutions failed the test, but Mozy passed with flying colors.

So, I'd say if you aren't using Mozy, now would be a good time to switch. Or start.

2008 ALMS at MMSP

2008-05-21T17:45:00.015-06:00

Derrick and I went to see the 2008 ALMS races at Miller Motorsports Park last Saturday. It was a beautiful day and good times were had by all.

We showed up just in time for the IMSA Lites races, which seem to have taken a cue from the AMA in their class naming conventions. Regardless, it was good fun to watch these guys race around and made me wish I could try it. And it just got better from there.

Action shot!

Next was qualifying for the SPEED Challenge series. Mostly Porsche 911s and Corvettes in this class.

The KPax Porsches were quite nice looking and pretty fast.

There were some nice looking Corvettes also.

Close Racing

Next was ALMS practice and qualifying. Last year we got to watch these guys race. Alas, this year the race was on Sunday so we did not get to see it.
Right as ALMS practice was about to start, Dave and my dad showed up. We watched the remainder of the events with them.

Here's a shot of one of the awesome, eerily-silent-running Audi LMP1 turbodiesel prototypes.

Like last year, this year one of the yellow Penske Porsche LMP2 prototypes won the overall, even beating the LMP1s which are supposed to be faster.

My favorite cars in all of ALMS are these yellow Corvettes - they sound AWESOME!

Here an Acura prototype has just completed a pass on a Ferrari 430 .

That yellow LMP2 Porsche wasn't behind these other two cars for long.

Next was the Star Mazda series race. I didn't get to see them last year so I was kinda looking forward to it.

There was some pretty close racing in Star Mazdas. Notice the paint job on the red car in front - it looks a lot like F1 Ferraris did a few years ago, when Vodafone still sponsored them.

The last race of the day was the IMSA Challenge series - all Porsche 911s.

My favorite shot - four Porsches in one photo!

Belgium vs. Australia

2008-05-09T17:47:00.002-06:00

The other day I was talking with my dad on the phone about the recently concluded AMA Supercross championship, and my pleasure that the Australian Chad Reed had managed to claim the championship (if you read this blog you already know that I'm a big Chad Reed fan).

Dad was trying to be supportive but he just wasn't really showing the love. Finally I asked him about it, and he said, "Well, I know you really like Reed, but I was kinda hoping that Windham would win it. You know, since he's an American. I just think since you are an American you should cheer for Windham over Reed."

Well, Dad's entitled to his opinion. So I thought about this for a while. Then I realized: This is the same man who had posters of Roger DeCoster on his workshop wall when I was little.

Roger DeCoster. The Man. The legend. The Belgian.

Chad Reed - AMA Supercross Champion

2008-05-09T17:31:00.002-06:00

Embarrassingly, I have neglected to blog about the awesome fact that Chad Reed is the 2008 AMA Supercross Champion. Sincerest apologies, readers.

2008 will be one of those Supercross seasons to remember, unless your name is Kevin Windham. Don't get me wrong, I'm not dogging on K-Dub. He rode a great season and shouldn't be at all upset with his effort. But I'm betting that this one hurts enough that he would like to forget it.
Maybe he'll remember it just enough to compete the 2008 Nationals and win that title. I'm all in favor of that.

But this post is not about K-Dub, it's about Chad Reed. Chad had an uncharacteristically inconsistent season, with some rather distant finishes in a number of races due to minor things like a blown engine or a broken shoulder. This season, it was Windham who was consistently top-5 or better every race, not Chad. What Chad did do that was very Chad-Reed-ish was to fight like a dog for every point possible, against conditions and obstacles that would sideline practically any athlete of any sport you want to name.

I'm a big fan of both Windham and Reed. What made the difference this season was that Reed went out and got that championship. At the start of the season, when Stewart dropped out, everyone thought we might as well just hand the championship to Reed. Well, it wasn't handed to him - he went out there and earned it, every point of it. Both Windham and Reed had opportunities to seize the championship; the difference was that Reed seized it when it really mattered, and Windham didn't. When Reed faltered, when Windham had those opportunities to take points and really make it hurt, he didn't always grab those opportunities.

That, my friends, is the difference between winning and just having a really great season.

First Week Goals - Nailed

2008-05-09T17:22:00.002-06:00

I'm feeling pretty stoked right now because I met my goal of completing a feature request by the end of my first week.

I have learned a lot of programming languages in my time. I've delivered production code in six: C, C++, Perl, Java, PHP, and Python. All six have syntax that varies from one to the other, Python being the most unique of the six; all six have varying degrees of suck-itude (Python, hardly any suck-itude; Java, 100% suck-itude); some are object-oriented, and some are C. But they really are all quite a bit like each other in concept.

Objective-C, however, is kinda throwing me for a curve. The metaphors of this language are a bit unique, and it is hard to anchor them to anything. I don't mean that I can't do it, but rather that it is stretching me.

That's why I'm so pleased that I met my goal. I imagine once I get this new technology figured out, what I did in one week (well, in fairness, it was really only about half a week, because of all the new-hire stuff I have to do) I should be able to do in a day or so. No matter. I'm stoked and ain't nobody bring me down today.

Get a Dog, Little Longy

2008-05-06T09:00:00.002-06:00

I started my new job yesterday at Mozy.com and it seems like it is going to be pretty cool. Speaking only for myself, I have to say that if you aren't using Mozy now, I wonder why. Things seem cool here, and so far I'm loving my new Mac Pro workstation.

The name conjures images of cattle rustlers and dusty plains. Which, of course, conjures images of Patrick Star, hence the title.

If you are still wanting for a clarification, perhaps you need to dedicate more time to the fine community of Bikini Bottom.

Breaking Up with Novell

2008-05-01T17:48:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow is my last day of employment at Novell as a software engineer. I've never before mentioned in this blog who I work for.

I'm sitting in my office thinking about my last day tomorrow. It's an incredibly nostalgic and bittersweet emotion. I'm looking northward out my office window on the 7th floor. I have a magnificent view of the mountains and Utah Valley - at seven floors up in Provo, Utah, you are pretty much at the top of the city. I am sure going to miss this view.

I dated a girl in college named Stefani. She was a great girl, and we enjoyed our time together. In spite of this, after time I came to believe that our relationship was not ever going to work out. With mixed emotions I broke off the relationship, not because I didn't like her, but because in spite of the liking it just wasn't working out.

Choosing to leave Novell has been like that. After eight years (give or take) at a place, you can't help but harbor fond memories and feelings. I don't know how else to describe the feeling, unless you too have ended a relationship that was not fruitful, even in spite of all the enjoyment you had gotten from the relationship.

Funny thing is, I don't regret my decision to leave at all. I don't have any second thoughts or feel like I'm making a mistake. I guess it is a feeling of sorrow, regret, and disappointment - oh, if only it could have worked out. Alas, it didn't. I guess it wasn't meant to be.

The upside: After I broke off the relationship with Stefani, I met another girl that was even more wonderful. She is still my girlfriend (and wife) after 14 years. Maybe that's a good omen.

Def Leppard Performs Live on "Dancing With The Stars"

2008-04-29T21:31:00.000-06:00

I am afraid to know exactly what this means.

Ralph Sheheen Should Watch Supercross

2008-04-28T15:25:00.002-06:00

I'd like to invite Ralph Sheheen of Speed TV to watch supercross. At least, I think he should watch it if he is going to announce it professionally.

I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming he doesn't actually watch it. Otherwise, his statement from Seattle's race of "Chad Reed is one of the luckiest riders there is" makes him look like an idiot.

However, in case he really did mean to say that, and in case he really does think that Chad is one of the luckiest riders, let's recap:

He gets sick on the day of the Minneapolis race and ends up only able to race to 7th place.
He completely dominates the Daytona supercross only to have his bike quit on him three turns away from the finish line on the last lap, when he was over one minute ahead of second place.
He breaks his shoulder blade and separates his shoulder in Detroit and manages to only place 12th.

Gosh, Ralph. Does that sound lucky to you?

On Doing Whatever It Takes

2008-04-28T14:55:00.003-06:00

I just finished listening to the awesome webcast of the Seattle Supercross on supercross.cc.com (you guys do an awesome job). If you haven't heard or seen the race, Honda riders were supposedly trying to help Kevin Windham win his championship by holding off Chad Reed as he tried to come through the field. When Chad passed got inside Andrew Short (cleanly, I might add) and passed him, Short grabbed a handful of throttle and T-boned Chad, almost taking both of them out. After the race, they interviewed Shorty, who said something to the effect of, "Hey, Chad doesn't pay my salary. Honda pays my salary, and I'm just doing my job. I'm supposed to do whatever it takes to help Honda win a championship."

Let's clear something up right now. Intentionally trying to wreck into someone to take them out of the race is only acceptable in a demolition derby. In any other form of racing, it is a dirty, disrespectful tactic, shows poor sportsmanship, and is dangerous. Bumping and rubbing are acceptable in some racing forms, and supercross is definitely one of them. Intentional takeout attempts, successful or not, are a different thing altogether.

So at this point I don't know who to not be a fan of anymore - Andrew Short, or Honda. Maybe I'll choose both. When Chad passed Davi Millsaps just a lap or so earlier, Millsaps raced Chad fair, but didn't try any kamikaze takeout moves. Davi and Shorty are both factory Honda riders. If Short is telling the truth, then Davi failed to follow team orders by not trying to take Chad out of the race, which means that Honda is a dirty team. But if Davi was racing the way he had been instructed, then Shorty took it too far by attempting a desperate takeout move when Reed passed him, in which case Short is a dirty rider.

I've seen it from Short a number of times, so here's to betting it is Short deciding to be dirty, since he can't be as good as Reed is. Maybe he's trying to compensate for never having hit puberty. Or maybe he secretly wishes that he was with Ellie instead of Chad. Whatever the reason, I've thought it through - Andrew Short has officially lost a fan. I doubt he cares, but nonetheless, I'm rooting against him from this point on. And Honda too. He's a factory rider. Whether it was team orders or not, he represents Honda when he rides and when he speaks.

Hey, Andrew Short! Hey Honda! Check this - Chad Reed came from dead last - 21st place - and beat your factory rider, who led almost the whole race but couldn't hold on to win it, who could not keep from being beaten by Chad Reed even when he tried to wreck him. With a broken shoulder. Choke on that, Honda. Choke on that, Andrew Short.

Collective Soul - A Good Omen?

2008-03-21T13:18:00.002-06:00

Last year was a really good year for concerts. I saw six really awesome bands: Goo Goo Dolls, Dream Theater, Foreigner, Styx, Def Leppard, and the best concert ever, Van Halen. Not all the same type of music, as we can plainly see, but every one of these bands was outstanding live. Goo Goo Dolls was the first show I saw last year, which surprised me at how really great they sound live. It was the foreshadowing of many other good shows to come last year.

Well, I caught my first concert of 2008 just a couple of days ago when I had the great privilege of seeing Collective Soul live. I had heard really excellent things about these guys as a live act and was not disappointed in the slightest. Collective Soul dudes, you guys put on a very awesome show and so much props out to ya. Everyone else, take an opportunity to see these guys if you get a chance.

The Perils of Motocross to the Young Mind

2008-03-14T20:05:00.003-06:00

Anyone who reads my blog at all knows that I have a real thing for Motocross and Supercross, the world's greatest sports, alongside football. But I have to admit, I'm worried a bit about the effect of motocross on the minds of young professionals.

Take Trey Canard for example. He is doing absolutely fabulous so far in his rookie season, having won the first three pro Supercrosses he raced in so far. But perhaps his avid involvement in racing is having an effect on his brain; perhaps the home schooling is not going quite so well as one would hope.

Apparently, this is at least true somewhat in math. Trey has, in repeated interviews, indicated his plans this year to give "200%" to his racing effort.

Oh. I see. Trey is planning to give even more than people who are only going to give 110%, 120%, or even 150%, although apparently he doesn't plan to be as committed as anyone who is going to give 1000%.

Well, Trey, I've got news for you. You cannot give more than 100%. This is a mathematical fact. Perhaps if you went to school instead of racing so much you would already know this.

I will translate Trey's statements, in order to make them easier to understand: "This year I plan to give twice as much as possible. I plan to be two times more dedicated than is possible. I plan to perform in the races two times better than I possibly can."

Maybe I'll try this at work. I'll give 200%, and bill my employer for two times the amount of work than I can possibly do.

Interview Prep Helps

2008-03-13T11:08:00.002-06:00

I ran across some resources for interview preparation and thought I would put them here, mostly so I know where to find them someday in case I need them. Some of these are CS-specific, BTW.

New PC Build

2008-02-22T09:43:00.008-07:00

Well, my old trusty home computer finally died. I've used that thing pretty hard for about 5 years when I originally built it for around $1000. Considering that it was powered on nearly all the time for that long I'm pretty happy with the life.
I didn't actually want to spend the money on a new PC, but since the old one died I figured I might as well build another good one. Hopefully this will last as long as before.

Here are the specs for the new PC:
Smilodon Raidmax tool-free case w/ 500W power supply
Gigabyte GA-MA770-DS3 motherboard - PCIE 2.0 x 16 and DDR2 1066 capable
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3.2 GHz CPU
nVidia GeForce 8800 GT video card
Two Samsung 750 GB SATA 3.0 hard drives configured in RAID 0
3 GB DDR2 1066 RAM
ASUS DVD-R/RW optical drive w/ lightscribe

Here's a picture of most of the main components, unopened. It's like Christmas. And I mean that literally, because not only is Christmas a day when I get neat new things, but I also hit the realization that I had to pay for it all, and it kinda bums me out.

This Gigabyte motherboard is dang cool lookin'. I don't know if cool lookin' makes it any faster or better, but it is cool lookin' nonetheless.

Look how tiny that processor is, especially compared to the rather substantial AMD heatsink/fan combo, which is also cool lookin', whatever that is worth.

Awesome video card. Like in my previous build, this is the single most expensive component in the whole system - more expensive than the processor, motherboard, or even one of the hard drives.

Everything is in place inside the case. Everything is cool lookin'. We've hashed over this already.

The finished, cool-lookin' product. Did I mention how cool lookin' this thing is? Wait, yeah, I did.

James "The Spoiled Baby" Stewart Drops Out of 2008 AMA Supercross

2008-01-23T17:19:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, James Stewart announced that he was dropping out of the 2008 AMA Supercross season because he hurt his knee again last December 20.

This is a bunch of baloney. I mean, I believe James when he says he hurt his knee again. But he is dropping out of the season because he is afraid that if he doesn't, he will lose the title straight-up to Chad Reed.

Consider:

Chad and James were tied for the points lead going into last Saturday's Anaheim II round.
Each had won one race, and in each race they were running very similar lap times.
James won the last race - he WON THE RACE with a "hurt" knee!

James knows there is a very good chance he will lose the title to Chad, hurt knee or not. He also knows that he is stronger outdoors than everyone else. Racing the rest of the supercross season puts his outdoor season in jeopardy, whereas the supercross season is already in jeopardy because Chad is sufficiently competitive. He also knows that by dropping out, everyone will speculate that, had James raced the whole season, he would have beaten Chad, which we all know is not necessarily true (and also just as dumb a thing to say as "If James hadn't crashed he would have won").

One thing we do know - Chad Reed wouldn't have dropped out. He raced an entire second half of a season with a third degree shoulder separation. He would suck it up and race, because he is a tough dude. That is something James is not familiar with.

James Stewart: "I am a spoiled prissy baby mama's boy."

Van Halen Road Trip - Follow-up

2007-12-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

Well, the Van Halen Road Trip is over, and I must say I highly recommend such an activity - if you are so fortunate to have such supportive spouses as we have, that is. :)

All in all it was a great trip. We left about 5:30 a.m. for Sacramento. This picture on the left shows us stopped at a freeway on-ramp about one hour into the trip. Luckily we had great weather all the way out and back. Weather in Sacramento and San Francisco was absolutely gorgeous - I don't remember a more beautiful day in San Francisco than November 27, 2007, and I've been there a number of times. Even Donner Pass was snow-free and relatively warm; we were told while there that there is generally about 6 inches of snow on the ground by that time of year.

We visited Alcatraz on the morning of November 27, 2007. Our reservations for tickets were not honored, but fortunately for us we were able to get tickets to the 9:30 a.m. ferry anyway. This is probably due to the fact we were traveling there off-season. If you ever go to Alcatraz, you'll probably still want to try to make reservations, but be sure the reservations are actually honored. Pier 33 is the pier we left from; maybe you can call them directly.

Anyway, Alcatraz is awesome as you might expect. Visiting Alcatraz in the winter is recommended as there are parts of the island that you are only allowed to tour during the winter months; they are closed during the other parts of the year due to the large numbers of birds there. And don't miss the self-guided audio tour - when they say it is award-winning, they mean it. Amazing.

Van Halen performed at the Arco Arena in Sacramento that night, Tuesday November 27, 2007. This was nothing short of the absolute best concert I have ever been to. I was born a few years too late I believe, so I never really saw the big deal about David Lee Roth vs. Sammy Hagar as the Van Halen frontman. Well, everyone, now I get it. Not taking anything away from Alex or Eddie, who are fantastic musicians, but David Lee Roth is a performer. He made the difference between this show and my previous Van Halen concert encounter about ten years ago, which was simply great and not downright unreal like this year's show.

We were talking on the way back, how fulfilling it must be for Eddie to be up there performing with his own son (who did just fine thank-you). More tour dates have been added, so if you have not seen the show yet, you still have a chance.

We came home on Nov. 28, stopping at Donner Memorial State Park. The sacrifices our ancestors made to populate and settle the United States were beyond comprehension, and it made me very grateful to take this time to think of these people and others who suffered so much, and how great my life is today as a result. All in all, it was an awesome trip.

Greg, myself, and the Dall*ns at Donner Memorial State Park.

Unreal - Utah State Wins Again

2007-11-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

What a wacky year of college football. Utah State wins again today over the Idaho Vandals, pulling themselves clear up to 7th place in the WAC and clearly not the worst football team in the nation. This is a spectacular improvement from last year. Way to go Ags!

Utah State Wins A Game

2007-11-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

It has been a truly wild, crazy, amazing college football season thusfar, but the craziest thing happened last night when Utah State won a football game.

Utah State had lost 16 straight games, dating back to last season, before finally winning a game last night in Las Cruces over New Mexico State. (Take that, maryck!) This is almost sure to vault USU up in the polls from 119th. Way to go USU! There is nowhere to go from here but up!

Yes, Utah State is my alma mater. What of it?

ROAD TRIP!

2007-10-03T01:54:00.000-06:00

Van Halen is on tour, and that means one thing for me and my half-bad buddies - ROAD TRIP!!!

Actually, it mostly means that we have to go to Van Halen. It isn't like we really have a choice here. But since Van Halen isn't actually scheduled to come anywhere even close to where I live, we decided to make a road trip of it and go to the show anyway. We wouldn't do this for just any old band, but then again, Van Halen isn't just any old band.

So, we will be renting a cool car and driving to Sacramento, California, which until just recently was the most local scheduled concert venue. Trip begins on November 26, a day before the concert. We hope to visit Alcatraz on the morning of November 27, then we'll be at Arco Arena for the concert event of the decade. Can't wait!

Half Bad Days are Good Days

2007-09-07T11:40:00.000-06:00

A Half Bad Day is a day when a Half Bad Boy does a Half Bad Boy thing. Going to rock concerts is a half bad thing. So is holding a Guitar Hero party or attending a college football game.

Yesterday was a Half Bad Day. The day before, it rained, and Greg and I know when it rains that means it is time to take the motorcycles to the sand dunes the very next day. Oh yeah, wet sand dunes and motorcycles.

Yeah, check out those awesome dunes. These are absolutely not the dunes we rode yesterday. The dunes we rode on yesterday are now covered with motorcycle tracks. Tracks that the wind will cover up, and restore the dunes to pristine riding conditions for next time.

Any day on a motorcycle is a great day, especially on pristine sand dunes.

Dream Theater Rules

2007-08-01T12:47:00.000-06:00

My brother and I saw Dream Theater in concert the other evening, and man those guys freaking rock.

I'd love to go into a lot of detail about how awesome John Petrucci is. If I did that, then I would also have to talk about how awesome Mike Portnoy is, and Jordan Rudess, and John Myung. I don't really have the time for that so you'll just have to take my word for it that Mike Portnoy's drum set was totally wicked and that this band is stacked with talent, probably more than any other band I can remember, with the possible exception of Rush.

But I can't just not talk about Petrucci. Without question he is one of the very best guitarists alive today. Eddie Van Halen is still the best guitarist I've ever watched live, but Petrucci is a close second. Nobody else even comes close - we are talking orders of magnitude here. What an awesome talent.

I don't know which was cooler - opening by playing a Dream Theater version of Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra op. 30 (also known as the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey) or closing with an amazing Dream Theater medley which terminated with Petrucci center-stage hitting and holding a perfectly clear high E on the 24th fret right before the closing chord.

Definitely skip Into Eternity and don't worry about Redemption, but do not miss these guys. What an awesome experience.

Hey Celebrities - We Don't Care What You Think

2007-06-15T16:09:00.000-06:00

I've got some news for all you celebrities out there:

We don't care what you think, about anything.

You know who you are. Athletes, musicians, actors, socialites, etc. You hold these press conferences, or get these TV spots, and get in front of the country to give us your opinion on some topic that matters to you. You do it all the time. I can only assume that you believe we want to know how you feel on these issues.

Well, we don't. Just because we, as a whole, may show our appreciation for your talent with our dollars does not mean our appreciation extends to you or your opinion on matters that are not directly related to what we do pay you for. Take Sheryl Crow for example. She is a great, talented musician who has written many songs that I personally enjoy listening to. How she got the idea that this therefore meant that I care what she thinks about current events is beyond me.

Take a note - we don't care what you think. You don't identify with most of us anyway. Your everyday life is like a fantasy tale for most of us. We are aware of that. You don't know what it is really like to work a full day to make ends meet. Stick to what you are good at, and quit trying to push your opinions on us. We really could not possibly care less.

More Half Bad Than I Used To Be

2007-04-09T17:01:00.000-06:00

Sorry it has been a while. A new job means a new schedule and I'm just getting used to it. But around these parts, we don't really care about jobs. We care about being a half bad boy, and I have to say I've made some real progress in this area.

The first, essential step was to restore my leather jacket status, which was done over the Christmas holidays. I now have a black leather jacket, like before. This was a very important step - I literally felt the levels of half-badness rise once I put it on for the first time!

The second and probably biggest step to increased half-bad-boydom was when I acquired my electric guitar, a new Ibanez RG-350 SP1. You can see a picture of it here to the left. I have to say, this is a pretty sweet guitar. It takes me about 15 minutes to get the thing into tune, but once it is in tune it stays in tune quite well even with the Edge III Tremolo on the bridge - and you can bet that I use that sucker. I am the king of the dive-bomb!

You also gotta love the sharktooth inlays on the neck. The neck is nice and fast, the guitar is not too heavy, and very versatile. It has a great sound for all kinds of music.

If you are going to have an electric guitar, you also need an amplifier, so I got one as well. The Line6 Spider III series amps are, in my opinion, great amps for the money. I picked up this little 15 watt practice amp for $100. That's a pretty good price for a brand new amp that offers reverb, tremolo and chorus along with the distortion. Four programmable presets make it real easy to find the right sound for a song quickly.

Sorry, this reads like an ad, but I really love this stuff. I can't really play very well, but I am very good at making lots of really awesome loud noises. Sometimes, all you really need to do is make some loud noises to get in touch with your half bad self.

Another good way to do that is by playing Guitar Hero II, which I bought for my XBox 360. Finding this game was no easy feat. I visited several stores before I was able to find it at a nearby K-Mart. (Good advice for the future - if you can't find something at a mainstream store, try picking it up at K-Mart, where nobody shops unless they absolutely HAVE TO.) This game deludes me into thinking that I really can play the guitar, until I move over to my real guitar and jump back into reality. Guitar Hero II - a good time in a $90 box.

All combining to make me more half bad than I used to be. When you combine this with the job switch, things are definitely looking up!

The BCS - An Intentionally Self-Defeating Organization

2007-01-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are, January 2 2007. The NCAA College Football bowl games are almost over. Also almost over is the BCS's annual "prove why we are stupid" campaign.

Boise State proved me wrong in my predictions, and I couldn't be happier. They are the deathblow in a volley of shots lobbed at the ridiculous BCS. Bowl Championship Series? Try Bowl Comedy Series.

Let's see how I've faired so far in my predictions:

BYU v Oregon - Hit. Oregon wasn't exactly the tops of the PAC-10, but not considered child's play either. But BYU handled them 38-8.
Cal v Texas A&M - Hit. The PAC-10 may be overrated, but so is the Big XII. Cal wins 45-10.
Tennesse v Penn State - Miss. Tennessee should have won, but maybe there's some karma involved here. Penn State wins 20-10.
Auburn v Nebraska - Hit. Two fundamentally great teams, but Auburns superior defense and 2nd half adjustments prevail. Auburn wins 17-14.
Arkansas v Wisconsin - Miss. What can I say? Arkansas should have won this game but just did not play well enough to get it done. Wisconsin wins 17-14.
USC v Michigan - Miss. Memo to Michigan: When something isn't working, DO SOMETHING ELSE. Michigan was committed to their gameplan come hell or high water, and it sank them. USC wins 32-18.
Boise State v Oklahoma - Miss. And I couldn't be happier. This is one of the best football games ever. Boise State wins in overtime 43-42.
USU v ND C&D - Hit. USU was destroyed by ND C&D in the Toilet Bowl, 3267 to -21.

What does all of this mean for the BCS? Who knows? #1 Ohio State barely beat Michigan, who got trounced by USC, who got beat by both UCLA and Oregon State, UCLA was beaten by Florida State, etc. etc. etc. What it means is: WE NEED A PLAYOFF.

Otherwise, next year the BCS will spend a lot of time and money to prove, on national TV, to millions of viewers, that it is stupid again.

2006 NCAA Football Season Summary

2006-12-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

Whew, that was a great regular season of NCAA football! So great, in fact, that I didn't actually take any time to blog about it. Sorry about that. But now that it is over, I guess it's time to see how my predictions are going thusfar.

I Said: SEC football is where it is at.
Result: Dead on. Of course, who would argue that? Okay, maybe some people would - but not the intelligent ones. There were so many good SEC football games this year, I don't even know where to begin. So I won't.
The disappointment of the year has to be Auburn. When these guys are clicking, I still think they are the best team in the SEC. But they didn't put it together week after week, quarter after quarter. Hats off to Florida and Urban Meyer (who I like) for winning the SEC and a title bid.

I Said: The PAC-10 is overrated.
Result: Pretty much true. USC is good - but they lost to Oregon State and UCLA (?). Who knows about anyone else. We'll find out in the Rose Bowl.

I Said: Notre Dame games are usually a good bet.
Result: Whoops. I should have looked at their schedule. Are you serious? I'm sure they can get a better schedule than that.

I Said: The Big 10 and Big XII are also good.
Result: Mixed. The Big 10 is really more like the Big 2 (I can't take credit for that, but I don't know who to give it to). The Big XII has been pretty unpredictable, but the Texas v. Texas A&M game was great!

I Said: Utah State is terrible.
Result: Yep. Ranked 118th in the nation. At least they won a game, although it might have been by forfeit.

I Said: BYU is not nearly as good as they think they are.
Result: BYU is probably not as good as they think they are - but they are pretty darn good. They deserve their #20 ranking.

So, now we are gearing up for the title game. As much as I like to see an SEC team in the title game, I have to say that Michigan got robbed here. Sorry. And if USC had beaten UCLA, I would still feel the same way. So what if it is a rematch of the earlier game? The national title game should be between the two best teams in the country, and there should be no way that you go down in the polls simply because you don't play one week.

So, here are my predictions for the bowl games - at least the ones I care about:

Ohio State v. Florida - Ohio State. True, they haven't seen speed like the SEC. But Ohio State is a dang good football team. Florida is not consistent enough, and too error-prone. Sorry Urban.
Notre Dame v. LSU - LSU. How Notre Dame got invited to this game is beyond me. They are just not nearly so good as LSU, and with this game essentially being a home game for LSU, they have the definite advantage.
Boise State v. Oklahoma - Oklahoma. Boise State may be undefeated, but they are from the WAC. Utah State is also from the WAC, if that means anything. Unfortunately, this will be great fuel to the fire that says mid-majors shouldn't go to BCS bowls.
USC v. Michigan - Michigan. They barely lost to Ohio State, the best team in the country, by 3 points. USC lost to Oregon State and UCLA, both unranked.
Arkansas v. Wisconsin - Arkansas. Outside of Ohio State and Michigan, the rest of the Big 10 are at varying stages of fair. As a general rule, I will always pick the SEC over just about anyone.
Auburn v. Nebraska - Auburn. At least, Auburn should win it, if they bring their A-game. See the rule above.
Tennessee v. Penn State - Tennessee. Again, see rule above.
Cal v. Texas A&M - Cal. This is a tough call and should be a great game to watch.
BYU v. Oregon - BYU. I saw them play live this year - they are really good.
Utah State v. North Dakota Culinary & Drama College - ND C&D. Actually, I hear they only have ten people on the entire team, including coaching staff and cheerleaders. But it doesn't change my pick.

So there you have it. We'll check back in a month and see how it played out!

2007 Supercross Series Half Bad Boy Race Report - Toronto

2006-12-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

The Half Bad Boy Race Report - the decidedly biased, not-necessarily-true, fun-to-read supercross race report

Well, the 2007 Supercross series got off to a rip-roaring start this past weekend in Toronto, Canada. So far the season is looking like a good one; Chad Reed won the first main event of the season, forcing the television announcers to pull out their programs to figure out who this guy is as they learned that James Stewart and Ricky Carmichael are not the only two people racing.

Stewart caught Reed about halfway through the main and they diced back and forth for several laps. Completing lap 18, Stewart was barely ahead of Reed when he pulled in front of Reed and brake-checked him going up the face of the finish line jump. Reed ran into the back of Stewart, causing Reed to roll the jump while Stewart jumped off the track completely.

Reed then took over the lead, while Stewart, in a very James-Stewart-esque move, pulled directly into oncoming traffic without looking. Travis Preston landed from the double and had nowhere to go - he T-boned Stewart directly, causing both to crash. Stewart was able to remount and continue, while Preston was out of the race.

After the race, Stewart dropped his bike to the ground and then fell to the ground himself, grabbing his ankle and rolling around on the ground like a European soccer star. Travis Preston walked over to tactfully explain to Stewart that Stewart is an idiot, but before he could make his case, he was escorted off the floor by official JC Waterhouse and the rest of the James Stewart entourage.

After the race, Erin Bates interviewed Jeremy Albrecht, Stewart's mechanic, who summarized the incident thus: Stewart went off the track. Since Stewart is better than everyone else, every other rider is expected to accomodate him and avoid crashing into him at all costs. So Stewart naturally expected Travis Preston to turn his bike in mid-air and not crash into him. They were both very disappointed in Preston, as well as all the other riders who could have had anything to do with his failure to win.

Albrecht and Stewart then filed three unsafe riding complaints:

Against Ivan Tedesco, for "riding underneath the place where James wanted to land."
Against Travis Preston, for "landing from a jump in the place where James wanted to drive sideways."
And against Chad Reed, for "winning the race when James wanted to win instead."

I'll let you know how this all plays out.

(Some or all of this may not be true. In fact, it may be a complete lie. For example, James Stewart might not actually be a big baby.)

Upset About Microsoft/Novell?? Take A Pill!

2006-11-08T16:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry to write a technical article on the Half Bad Boy Blog. I hope you can bear with me. Its just that the general reaction to this whole Microsoft/Novell agreement is so baffling that I really need to talk about it.

I'm assuming you are familiar with Open Source and Linux, the freely-available and freely-created operating system which is one of the flagship open source offerings. The community of developers and users behind open source are a particular and idealistic group, not necessarily all of the same mindset, but with some generally common goals. Among them: The idea that the rights of a person to use and even modify software should be unrestricted; the passion to create high-quality, great, useful software products; and the belief that the movement is ultimately unstoppable.

And when you think about it, it is unstoppable. Linux is truly a great operating system - secure, stable, powerful, fast, versatile, and actually quite easy to use. It is a strong competitor to Microsoft Windows - better at Windows at some things, not better at others. Yet. But there are only really two main ways for a company like Microsoft to compete with Linux - on price and on features. Since Linux is free, Microsoft cannot beat Linux on price - unless they start paying people to use Windows. And with thousands of developers around the world working on Linux for free, there is ultimately no way that Microsoft can compete on the basis of features.

The effect of open source is the commoditization of software. Interesting projects will draw more developers, leading to better software, making the project more interesting, etc. The process snowballs, and once it gets to a certain size, it is pretty much unstoppable. The licensing and intellectual property laws protecting it ensure that this is the case.

Linux is beyond this point. It is not better than Windows, yet. But there is no stopping it. Eventually the computer operating system will become a commodity, and we can thank Linux for it. Microsoft won't be able to make money there anymore.

Those of us involved in the open source movement know this. We have foreseen this for years. We understand the effect of the movement. For years people involved in open source have viewed Microsoft as the enemy, because they are the antithesis of everything the open source community stands for (with the possible exception of quality software - and some would even disclaim that exception). Those involved in open source have for years said that the movement would ultimately mean the demise of Microsoft's business models, and the death of Windows as we know it today.

Surely these people don't think they knew something that Microsoft didn't. Right? Right???

Come on, people. You had to know that Microsoft would know this. Whatever you may think of Microsoft as a company - ruthless, shady, cutthroat, etc. - you surely don't think they are stupid. They realized the same things you did, long ago. They must have figured out, long ago, that eventually they will have to adjust their business plan to align themselves with this movement. They would have to do that or die.

You would think that any step that Microsoft would take in such a direction would be a sign of a clear victory. It should be viewed as a sign that the day finally came - the day when Microsoft realized they had to figure out how to play nicely with open source in order to survive. This should be viewed as the day open source won - the day when technology works on open source's terms, not the other way around.

That is what I find baffling about the reaction to this deal. The most logical explanation for this decision, on Microsoft's part, is that they realized that they needed to do this to remain relevant. Why else would they be willing to pay Novell $348M to enter into this deal? Many so-called open source experts have said that Microsoft is doing this in order to take over Linux. Hello, people! They can't do that, because of the licensing of Linux. For so-called open source experts, you sure don't understand open source very well.

Some people were initially upset about this arrangement because they were sure it violated the GPL. They were sure of this despite the fact that both Novell and Microsoft have many experienced, paid intellectual property lawyers on staff to make very sure that no such violation existed in the agreement. Now, they are upset because they think the arrangement should be a violation, even though it apparently isn't (IANAL).
I find this pretty interesting because of prior experience I've had with people regarding the GPL. I can't recount how many times arguments I've had with people over the GPL have included them saying some variant of the phrase, "Well, that is not what the GPL is intended to mean."
If you want to play in the realm of law and intellectual property, you have to play by the rules of the game, and one of the rules of the game is that a copyright license covers exactly what it states that it covers. Intent is of no significance.

I could go on and on here, but I won't. To summarize, my point here is simply twofold:

This agreement should be viewed as a win for the open source movement. Novell's stated objectives are to promote and protect open source. Microsoft's stated objectives are harmony and interoperability. The most logical explanation for this is that Microsoft needed to make this move to remain competitive.
Any parts of this agreement that you think violate the GPL are more likely a) your incorrect assumptions based on information you don't have, or b) your misunderstanding of copyright law such that the GPL should mean what it is meant to mean, and not necessarily what it says. Frankly, you pretty much need to just shut up and deal with it. You are being pretty presumptuous to assume that you know more about law than paid corporate IP lawyers.

I'm still waiting to see an argument against this that actually holds any water. Until then, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt. The principle of Occam's Razor implies that the most logical explanation is likely the right one - and the most logical explanation is nothing but positive for the open source movement. Take a pill and relax.

A Trip To India

2006-10-02T08:15:00.000-06:00

I've been meaning to blog about a trip I took to India a few months ago, and I finally decided, "Matt, just get that sucker done."

My employer sent me to Bangalore, India for a week at the start of the summer on a training engagement. Whether we should have gone is not really the subject of this blog. I know it was really expensive.

I remember the day my boss came to ask me to go. I suspected I would be asked to go, since I am the newest member of the team (and the least important). Most everyone else had already been to India before, and of those of us that hadn't, some were already booked to go to China the week prior to my trip. The ones that had already been weren't too keen on going again, and since they are more important, they could make me go instead. If you think I'm being mean to the people of India, I'm not - read on and you will understand.

Here are some of the things you have to deal with in order to take a trip to India.

US Passport. Apparently, this is to convince the United States that they can let you leave. I don't quite get that. But I do know that if your employer is short-sighted enough as to not really plan well for your international voyage, it will cost somewhere around $185 to get a passport in a timely fashion (like, about 1 week).
Indian Visa. This is where you try to convince India that, since the United States is convinced that they don't care whether you leave, India should be happy to take you.
Shots. I had shots for diptheria, tetanus, hepatitis, polio, etc. I can't remember them all. I am still having follow-up shots. One has to ask, how is it that the Indian people seem to survive just fine, but us Westerners have to get completely medicated in order to survive? My guess is, they are tougher than we are.
Medication. I had to get some anti-malarial horse pills, along with a prescription to Ambien to try to help me adjust to the time change (more on this failed experiment later).
Entertainment. I bought a 30Gb Creative Zen Vision M just for the occasion - and I used it, buster.

I was starting to understand why people don't want to go to India. Then the travel began, and I really started to understand.
India is a long ways away. I know you know that, but if you've never gone that far you don't quite get it. It is so far away, in fact, that if you go any farther you are coming closer to home.

Here is how the trip to India went:

Fly from Salt Lake City to Cincinnati. Actually, we had the choice of Cincinnati, New York, Newark, Atlanta, etc. It doesn't really matter. This is an inconsequential portion of the trip.
Fly from Cincinnati (or wherever) to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Try to sleep, since it is nighttime in India, even though it is just the afternoon in Salt Lake City. Take an Ambien, wake up four hours later, and feel groggy for four more.
Oh, by the way - if you ever have to fly through Charles de Gaulle, DON'T. What a nightmare.
When you land in Paris, you are just over halfway there!
Fly from Paris to Bangalore. Try to stay awake since it is daytime in India. Suffer from lack of thirst. Resolve to take bottles of water in your carry-on luggage next time (and then, months later, wonder if you will be able to due to new flight regulations and the potentially explosive properties of water).
Land in Bangalore - and be amazed.

Truly amazed. Not repulsed. Not shocked. Amazed.

Don't get me wrong. Bangalore is not really all that much like Provo, Utah. For one thing, Bangalore has much fewer Suburbans, Excursions, and 12-passenger vans. Bangalore also has many more auto-rickshaws than Provo. Also more motorcycles - but most of them are smaller and less powerful than even my Kawasaki KX 250. Traffic is insane. Traffic laws seem to be more like guidelines or suggestions. People are everywhere, even in the middle of the night.

You may ask, is it dirty in India? Yes, it is. But it is also very beautiful. Sorry, you will have to go there to see what I mean.

We checked into Le Meridien, which is highly recommended, if you can afford around $300 per night. I hooked up my laptop and called my family via Skype. They asked why I waited so long, and I explained to them that I had just barely arrived (some 30 hours later).
I then tried to sleep. I learned the hard way that my antimalarial medication has a side effect of keeping you awake. So instead of my Ambien keeping me blissfully asleep for 8 hours, it had the effect of causing me to sleep for around 3 hours, and then I would be groggy for the remainder.

This is how most of the trip went for me. I was always tired during the day. Horrifically tired. Taking microsleeps in class, unintentionally, when I wasn't doing the training. Then nighttime would come and I would struggle to get any sleep. By Thursday I had completely given up on trying to adjust my schedule and was just trying to get sleep whenever I could.

So far the trip sounds mostly like torture. It wasn't. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. I would not trade it for anything.
The singular biggest reason for this is the people. The people of India are simply great people. I could not believe how polite, friendly, and kind they were. This was true with hotel staff, restaurant staff, people in the training sessions, taxi drivers, shop employees - they were all very helpful and polite.
Of course, some readers would say that these people were all like this because I was their customer. This is not an untrue statement. However, I have also been the customer of similar people in the United States - I've stayed at hotels, gone to restaurants, ridden in taxis, etc. Rarely do I get this kind of service here.

I also got some great mementos. I picked up some jewelry for my wife - true amber jewelry along with star sapphires - some knick-knacks for my kids, and a hand-carved sandalwood chess set for myself. I will probably never play chess with it. It is great to look at.
I'm well aware of the concept of negotiating price in India. I saw hand-tied silk rugs that I could buy for $200. I was told that they take three months for one person to create. I did not take economics in college, but I'm no idiot. I know that you can't have a business if you pay your employees more than you bring in revenue-wise. So I know that person who ties those rugs is making less than $800 a year. Considering the amount of money I make, I simply lost the heart to negotiate price. I felt I shouldn't do that when I've been given so much.

I can't explain what an awesome experience it was to go there. I will never forget it - ever. The people were amazing to meet.

And the travel is the absolute pits. I am a large man - 6'2" and about 215 pounds. Not enormous, but large. I'm not really fat either. I mean, I have some extra insulation in certain regions, but mostly I'm just broad-shouldered and big. Cramming me into coach is simply inhumane. I was shoved into a seat against the side of the plane all the way from Paris to Los Angeles on the way back. The only thing more uncomfortable than sitting there was trying to get out. I had literally no legroom - my knee was crammed up against the seat in front of me. I stayed there, getting warmer, getting smellier, starving to death because they are feeding me this crappy French food.

Being in India was an experience I will never forget. I will always be grateful for that opportunity. Travelling to and from India was also an experience I will never forget. It was torture.
Overall, my trip to India was an unforgettable experience that I will always be grateful to have had, and one I don't look forward to repeating. At least not in coach.

Ahoy, mateys!

2006-09-19T15:30:00.000-06:00

Avast, ye scurvy bilge rats. Seein's how today be International Talk Like A Pirate tide, 't seem'd that 't be a good idee t' include a short entry about meself, were I be a pirate.

Me pirate name:

My pirate name is:

Dirty Sam Cash

You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. You're musical, and you've got a certain style if not flair. You'll do just fine. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Me pirate personality:
You are The Cap'n!

Some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some slit the throats of any man that stands between them and the mantle of power. You never met a man you couldn't eviscerate. Not that mindless violence is the only avenue open to you - but why take an avenue when you have complete freeway access? You are the definitive Man of Action. You are James Bond in a blousy shirt and drawstring-fly pants. Your swash was buckled long ago and you have never been so sure of anything in your life as in your ability to bend everyone to your will. You will call anyone out and cut off their head if they show any sign of taking you on or backing down. You cannot be saddled with tedious underlings, but if one of your lieutenants shows an overly developed sense of ambition he may find more suitable accommodations in Davy Jones' locker. That is, of course, IF you notice him. You tend to be self absorbed - a weakness that may keep you from seeing enemies where they are and imagining them where they are not.

What's Yer Inner Pirate?
brought to you by The Official Talk Like A Pirate Web Site. Arrrrr!

Pirate resources:
English-to-Pirate translator

Learn your pirate name

Pirate personality test

Until next September 19 - yo ho, me hearties!