This is what my work week looked like the week I was in Lexington. Don’t let the gaps in the schedule fool you… I was just too busy to update my calendar to reflect the meetings I had in those times.
My Work Week in Lexington
BTW, my department is hiring, both developers and project managers. Don’t worry, your week won’t look like that. I just had to compact 9 months worth of meetings into less than 2 weeks.
When discussing things with a coworker, came up with JFGI to replace RTFM.
Of course it’s been done before…
Changing my default browser fonts to Cambria, Calibri, and Consolas has made a world of difference when it comes to how readable things are.
Or… how my friend got a $470 hot water heater for free.
Excerpts from an email:
[At the store] > ... the cashier scanned the heater, > her register beeped. [At home] > Somehow, the water heater wasn't > on the receipt at all. I chuckle to > think of how a Home Depot store > manager is going to explain that > someone walked off with a > 6 foot x 2 foot x 2 foot water > heater without anyone noticing...
I’m betting the scanner beeped (it recognized a bar code) but failed to transmit a bar code that the cash register understood. The cash register probably displayed something on screen to notify the cashier of this, but they were too busy scanning other things to notice. What should’ve happened is that the barcode scanner should beep once (bar code recognized) and the cash register should instruct the bar code reader to emit a second ‘good, bar code understood’ or ‘bad, bar code not understood’ tone.
Make sure the Terminal Services service is started on your local computer.
After rebuilding my system post-crash, Alt-Tab no longer worked when I was remoted into my work computer using Remote Desktop Connection (mstsc.exe). At first I thought it was because I’d update to Windows XP SP3. I tried to edit the properties of the .rdp file that I was using, ensuring that the Local Resources tab’s Keyboard settings (Apply Windows key combinations (for example ALT+TAB)) were set correctly (I tried both In full screen mode only and On the remote computer).
I finally found the solution buried in a forums.microsoft.com post (anyone else notice that these pages, as found by Google, seem to have issues loading?). I had to look through Google’s cached version of the page. I’m reproducing it here in case anyone else has the problem.
Terminal Services service.If you found this post helpful, please click an ad.
It’s been a while since I last rebuilt my laptop. This time, I didn’t lose much. The big stuff (notably, pictures) resides on the file server, and a lot of stuff is under source control.
svn co Playpen.[playpen]\tools\Registry\Windows Tuning - Tweaks.reg.One of the companies that I interviewed with and was very close to accepting an offer from seems to have gone the way of the dodo. I’ve only been able to find one indirect reference to a forum posting detailing the fact that the company’s product was being shut down.
The reason that I didn’t go accept the offer was because I was worried about the amount of work I’d need to put in to getting what would be my part of the startup off the ground wasn’t worth the risk that the startup wouldn’t make it.
It’s nice to have one’s decisions validated.
Last week, starting Monday, I woke up at the following times:
One of the main parts of my job is communicating with remote offices.
In fact, I somehow try to take on more responsibilities like this.
It took me a while to figure out what young attractive women had to do with programming as I was scrolling through my RSS reader: Nullables in VB – must read article.
This is a script that for iTunes for Windows that will programmatically rate the current track.
You can bind it to a shortcut and set a Shortcut Key such as Ctrl+Alt+1.
You need to pass in the number of half stars (yes, iTunes supports ½ stars).
Download iTunesRateCurrentTrack.vbs.
If you have problems with the .vbs file, download and rename iTunesRateCurrentTrack.txt (right-click, save-as).
##### iTunes Rate Current Track Script ##### Usage: iTunesRateCurrentTrack rating [-q] rating Number of 1/2 stars. Valid values: Integers from 1 to 10inclusive. -q Quiet mode. Don't display any non-usage error messages. Examples: iTunesRateCurrentTrack 1 iTunesRateCurrentTrack 7 -q
Dear E-Commerce Web Sites,
Before you get overzealous when validating email addresses, please do a bit of research. Wikipedia is a good place for general background (it’s also the first hit you get when you Google email address specification). For more in depth reading, one would obviously look at the IETF RFC 2822.
Notably, a plus sign (+) is valid in the local part.
And yes… it should be noted that the company I’m going to work for is guilty of this overzealous validation.
I can’t talk about all of today’s interviews. Describing them would be like some of the logic puzzles Dina and I have been doing lately. This is not a real logic puzzle, but I might take the time to write one. If I do I’ll obviously blog it.
One company presented me with the DW-dating conundrum. I feel I did badly enough on the interview that I’m not sure that I’d want to work there if they brought me back for a second round.
Many, if not all, of the companies / interviewers have Googled me / read my blog. As transparent and straightforward as I attempt to be here, I find this presents an interesting set of constraints on what I can and can’t say about my current thought process. Appearing too psyched about any one particular company may erode my bargaining power down the road. Chronicling my worries about another company may cause them to ding me before I have time to explore those issues further in a subtle manner in order to satisfy myself that all is well. It especially constrains me from making blanket statements such as “None of the companies foo.” or “All the companies bar“. (Note to techies reading this, I have never named a code variable foo or bar.)
This interview process is interesting. I think it is much more about bi-directional fit than any of my previous job searches. Part of that is the time-scale I’m operating on (long), part of it is the fact that I have some fall-back options, part of it is that the job market is healthy without being overheated. Surprisingly, in some ways, I’ve done very little to look for a job other than telling people I know that I’m looking, and making myself attractive. I still haven’t gotten around to some of my job-search-to-do items such as “Search Monster, CareerBuilder, and BostonWorks”, and may never do so this time around. Most of my interview traffic comes from:
One final note, Google passed on an opportunity to interview me. I figured it was a long shot anyway.
If you would like to proofread my résumé, either the online version or the paper version, tell me via email, comment, etc. I’ll send it to you in MS Word format.
I’m really, really rusty when interviewing. I’ve been dinged on a much higher percentage of interviews than I have in the past.
Mind you, on one of them I just gave up in the end when I realized that they were jokers.
I’d encapsulate that part of the logic. I’d write it once and unit test the heck out of it.
When that answer isn’t good enough / the right way to do things, it’s time to realize that it’s probably not a place I want to work anyway.
Update – 2007-03-08 08:45 – After I wrote this, one firm semi-un-dinged me, they’d like to bring me back for a 2nd round, in part due to some of the blog entries here.
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alt="Photograph: Giza, pyramid, desert, Cairo, 2005-10-07, © Nick Varacalli."
title="Giza, pyramid, desert, Cairo, 2005-10-07, © Nick Varacalli." />I’m currently looking for a great job that I can stay at for years to come. For those who’ve asked what I’m looking for, here’s a synopsis. I’m writing this for people who can help me find a job, prospective employers who want to know more about me, and in order to clarify my own thinking. Overall, I’m flexible.
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alt="Photograph: Giza, pyramid, Cairo, 2005-10-07, © Nick Varacalli."
title="Giza, pyramid, Cairo, 2005-10-07, © Nick Varacalli." />I think I dislike job searches for the same reason that I dislike searching for a house (or even an apartment).
Even though you look at a number of opportunities at the same time, you’re still not able to do a fully parallel search. Once you find something good, you have to commit to it without
really knowing what you’re getting into. Once you’re in a job, or a new place, it’s difficult to decide you don’t like it and find another one. I much prefer looking for something like a humidifier where I can compare the dozen different models that meet my general criteria. With a job or a place to live, there are many, many more choices to look at. And yeah, the decision is that much bigger.
In some ways, it’s also like looking for an SO. Same general idea with the added constraint that most SO’s will get really mad if you look for another one at the same time. At least looking for an SO has the redeeming quality that you occasionally get to know fun people. Mind you, interviewing with smart people at cool companies also gives me a similar rush.
Had 4 interviews last week. Two of them went well. One, I didn’t do (anywhere near) my best, and the interviewer and I just didn’t hit it off. One… well… that’s the one that reminded me of the parallels between these three types of searches. The interview felt like a bad blind date:
Me: Nice weather we’re having.
Interviewer: Yup.
Me: How about the Celtics?
Interviewer: I don’t follow basketball.
Me: What do you do for a living.
Interviewer: I work.
Absolutely no chemistry, and no attempt on the part of the interviewer to attempt to enjoy the evening.
Worst thing is, I’m not sure how I did on the interview.
Is that just the way the interviewer is, cold and reserved until you get to know them?
Or did I just completely turn them off?
Oh well… there are other fish in the sea.
Scheduling 4 interviews, a family, parents group, dancing, ?poker?, and a night out in one (work) week is exhausting.
