Month: February 2010

This may be my ATF lego sculpture, ever

Steven  Hawking  JUST in case you can’t tell, which isn’t very damned likely.  If the creator would like attribution, she needs to tell me who she is.  Or he. 

I wish I had a tenth of the creativity and drive that some people who make things like this have.  Not that I’d do anything with it, just, you know, wishing I could have it.

Want a Job? Get a Computer Science Degree

Network World (02/22/10) Marsan, Carolyn Duffy

Leading universities are reporting that enrollment in computer science and engineering is up significantly this year as students discover computer-related degrees offer better job prospects and earnings potential.

“The government has made it clear that computer science is a growth field, and I think that message is getting back to students and their parents,” says Bruce Porter, chair of the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. Corporate recruitment of top computer science graduates has stayed strong despite the economic downturn.

Last spring Georgia Tech’s College of Computing had the highest job placement rate of any major on campus, as well as the highest starting salary.

“The financial sector–credit card companies, insurance companies–are very much interested in computer science students, as are defense companies and software development and networking companies,” says Georgia Tech’s Cedric Stallworth.

Last year, computer science graduates from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign received an average of 2.3 job offers and had an average starting salary of more than $72,000. The number of students enrolling as computer science majors is up 40 percent from last year at Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University reports that computer science applicants are up 14 percent from last year and 76 percent from 2005.

UWOD

February 19: Olympic Narcolepsy

The sensation you get that you will abruptly fall asleep at any moment during the day due to trying to watch as much of the Olympics as you can the night prior, causing you to stay up way too late. A seasonal disorder, occuring in winter or summer only, and is of brief duration (around 2 weeks), and usually occurs in even numbered years. VCR, TiVO or other recording device is the only known remedy.

Jim: “Boy, look at John. He is drooling all over his spreadsheets and computer and he even had 3 cups of coffee. What do you think is wrong with him?”

Jane: “I don’t know, but I think he may have Olympic Narcolepsy trying to see the Jamaican bobsled team medal. It was the last event last night.”

On make-up

I figured out this morning that it’s easier to put my make-up on in the dark. No need to fuss with getting the lipstick in the right place that way, no worries about defining the wrinkles one way or another. I put it on, assume it’s right, and then go. Much more efficient.

And, in a similar vein, sometimes I apply my eyeshadow so badly/randomly/quickly/distractedly that later in the day it makes women sitting across from me unconsciously try and smooth theirs out. I shouldn’t think that is as funny as I do, but there it is. Does that mean I have a bad attitude? Heh. It’s mostly only one person who does the unconscious blending thing and honestly, the weirder I am in her eyes the better I like it.

You know what this also means? I never look in the mirror when I’m in the bathroom, or when I do, I don’t look at the makeup. I just look at how red my eyes are. Fricking flourescents and dry office air.

Old

Two things that are okay about getting old:
1. My hearing is going, so much so that I no longer need to wear earplugs to bed most of the time. Now normal house/animal/people noises don’t wake me up every 6 minutes. Just every 12 minutes. It’s like a freakin’ vacation.

2. Mosquitoes don’t like me anymore now that I’m old and tough and bitter. When I was young, I always had quarter+ sized welts going. I don’t miss that. I adore seeing the mosquitoes homing in now on younger, sweeter meat, completely passing me by. It almost makes up for the stiff joints and the size Long bras.

Happy Valentines Day

In a great romance, each person basically plays a part that the other really likes.
– Elizabeth Ashley

Story writers say that love is concerned only with young people, and the excitement and glamour of romance end at the altar. How blind they are. The best romance is inside marriage; the finest love stories come after the wedding, not before.
– Irving Stone, 1903 – 1989

The life of man is the true romance, which when it is valiantly conducted will yield the imagination a higher joy than any fiction.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803–1882

Medicine, law, business, engineering. These are noble pursuits. And necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love. These are what we stay alive for.
– Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society (1989)

You need not attempt to shake off or to banter off Romance. It is an evil you will never get rid of to the end of your days. It is a part of yourself … of your soul. Age will only mellow it a little, and give it a holier tone.
– Edgar Allan Poe, 1809 – 1849

Tradition wears a snowy beard, romance is always young.
– John Greenleaf Whittier, 1807 – 1892

These are all from Van the Quotemaster, aka :
Copyright 2000-2010 G. Armour Van Horn, all rights reserved. This document may be distributed freely.

Free, Free At Last

Four day weekend starts NOW! Martinis all around!

Bob earned brownie points today – he sent Valentine’s day roses to me at the office. So he not only remembered the holiday he also remembered that I wasn’t going to be in the office tomorrow.

I like getting flowers in the office. People actually come and speak to me when they see the flowers. Granted, they mostly just poke their heads in the door and ask, “Blowjob?” but that’s better than what they usually do which is to complain about software they can’t figure out.

I takes my little comforts where’s I gets ’em.