Rhonabwy

Tomorrow isn’t my first day, but it is the step in that direction. I fly down to LAX to start the process of working for “the new company”. For those of you who haven’t heard - I’m no longer workin’ for “The Man”. This time, I’m “workin for the Mouse”. Yep, I’ve joined Disney. In particular, I’ve joined the Walt Disney Internet Group at their Seattle office. The first few days are introduction and orientation, and then I’m back in Seattle to get settled into the new position.

There is a huge amount going on within the company, so as you might expect - this will be the only real post about the job at all. Yeah, I guess I’ve learned something since 2001. I’m looking forward to it, I’m glad to have had a little time off, and I’m not at all sure about navigating L.A. sunday, monday, and tuesday. You get the good with the bad, I suppose.

I’ll be back in Seattle in no time, ready to spend more time on that awesome new patio, hack away at my random evening projects, and theorize about the new video system that we’d like to have. All pending the upcoming announcements from Apple, of course. Good rumors there… Initial reports, btw, of the MacBook Pro (shitty name, neat laptop) are really positive. I’m waiting to see the nitty-gritty from the likes of John Siracusa or Jon Udell. Reported battery life is ~ 3.5 hours, btw.

I was mentioning cinnamon rolls to a friend the other day, and she suggested Mae’s Cafe, up at 65th and Phinney Ave. Since I’m always on the lookout for a really good cinnamon roll, Karen and I headed up there this morning to see what the “world famous cinnamon rolls” were all about.

Unfortunately, we were deeply disappointed. The rolls were stale, just plain and simple. And not even smothered in butter and frosting did they get any better. Even the cores were dry. It was darned disappointing. They looked like they might be really good if they were fresh - but I can’t recommend them based on today’s experience. I barely touched mine - tried the outside, tried the core - just gave up there.

We did follow on with a drop by Essential Bakery at 34th and Wallingford. Very different style of cinnamon roll - more carmelized and pastry like - less bready. That took care of the yearning.

BEFORE:

(and to be fair, that’s pretty cleaned up from really before….)

AFTER:

So there is this book, Sex, Intimacy, and Business, which I haven’t yet read. A friend recommended it to me, but I haven’t either picked it up yet. Still, I found tonight (through a very roundabout path) that they have a blog, so I started reading through some of the more recent entries.

It’s a pretty good corporate blog - or at least it looks like it’s heading that way. Probably the best business blog that I’ve read recently is Guy Kawasaki’s blog. I’m not even sure you can call it a “corporate” or “company” blog. He’s just dealing some straight stuff on business that really rings home. Of course, he’s an author - so some of his business is himself… which is why I class it as a “company” blog. Ah… anyway.

One of the BE posts really rang for me tonight. It talks briefly about how you see your job - as a job (done only for the money), as a career or as a calling.

I’m not sure where my view really falls into place. It’s definitely not just “for the money”, because I always leave a gig when it gets to that point. But I also can’t really say that I’m taking a plotted out career path in either a historic or modern sense. I’m usually just looking around for something that sounds interesting, that sounds fun, and where the people are really great. It’s mostly, actually, about the people. That being said, technology and making things with technology I think is a calling for me. I’ve been intrigued and pulled towards building things since I was a kid, and computers are the medium that I’ve just really attached to. My father builds (general construction), my mother builds (artist, author - I think she denies both, and raising me and my brother - which I’m sure she wants to deny at times, but can’t), my grandfather built (machinist), my great-grandfather built (carpenter - and I’ve got his tools!), and my wife builds (web developer AND artist). I’ve been surrounded by creating and building.

I suppose I could have as easily gone into architecture, but a fascination with Rube Goldberg machines at an early age led me to engineering when I hit college, and by then it was clear that computers were, indeed, the shit - and I was hooked. I even did finish my electrical engineering degree too (I got two degrees all said and done), because I was also somewhat stubborn. I mean, really - I was going to be damned if I would let a single class on power (electrical power - transmission, motors, generators, etc) stand between me and another degree.

So which of those buckets to I drop my view on jobs into?

Heh. Screw it - I don’t need no stinkin’ buckets. I’ll build my own.

(for the record, I try very hard not to allow my software to get into a Rube Goldberg state - I relish simplicity in design, which drives my wife nuts sometimes when it comes to art and the house)

Today I’m indulging with a little Zepplin in the background. I caught a snippet of something in a shop the other day, and realized that I hadn’t listened to those albums in ages. So today is a Zepplin day at our house.

(Houses of the Holy is the album currently rolling)

Okay - maybe a little more than 200 years, still…

This has nothing to do with modern geek tech, but it’s still really incredible. I picked this up from Digg - Archaeologists get ancient audio from grooves on Pompeii pottery.

I wish I could understand the french in the video to catch the full import.

I’m guessing the very act of spiraling the grooves into that pot had enough texture from the vibrations in the air that we could pick it up. It’s really amazing listening to that snippet of audio - to think, that could be - I’ll even say probably is! - an audio recording of SPOKEN ROMAN LATIN from Pompeii. That’s just amazing!!!

I know that design motif wasn’t terribly uncommon - so can this be redone to get other audio snippets from the past!?

It was darned cold today, but the guys were out here working even still. I figured it might be below the mark, but they said it was all “OK”, so they were out there. The steps are finalized and mortared in place now. The patio is all laid and bordered, and the land slightly regraded when all is said and done. We managed to get a lot more flat space “up top” out this - which I really didn’t expect. I would’ve expanded the patio even further had I realized, but at this point it’ll make a nice planting area. Or maybe a spot to stash the grill once we have some plantings in place.

Tomorrow they should finish up - they are planning to lay in gravel and sand to fill in the open spaces between the flagstones, and then they’re done. They’ve done the vast majority of cleanup work already. We even have a few leftover stones that we can fiddle with a little later this year. Not much, mind you, but something.

Karen and I walked to the library today to return a book (and just get out). I had to walk fast to keep warm, and then I was glad I’d dressed warmly and worn a hat. I can’t even imagine what those guys were feeling like by the end of today. Way cold.

Fitting the risers to the stairs:

The finished top surface, the second picture a little better at seeing the risers that they fitted:

And finally, the stairs from the front:

They’re not here today because of the cold - you just can’t place pavers on frozen ground. Ah well. I expect when it warms up a bit, the whole thing will complete pretty quickly.

Adium, NetNewsWire, and Mail.

Good lord, they just suck your attention. Of course, I don’t have many complaints at the moment - since I’m just hangin’ out. Sometimes, in fact, I wish they’d generate a little more stuff to keep me entertained.

Er, let me add Conversation to that list. (or your favorite IRC client). They’re active enough to keep me permanently distracted.

Well, I’ve finally finished Fable on the XBox. That was a neat game - I bought it MUCH later than when it came out, picked it up off the “used sale” shelf at one of the local game stores. That’s the way to go for games as far as I can tell.

I suppose I could follow on with it’s sequel : Fable, the Lost Chapters, but it seems to be Windows PC only - so I guess that’s out. I suppose the next big RPG I’ll immerse myself in is the follow on to Morrowind entitled Oblivion. I suppose it’s due out sometime in the near future, although “early 2006″ could be up to May 31st as far as I can tell. Of course that means getting an XBox 360, which Microsoft can’t even manage very well to provide right now. **grumble**. Probably best though - I’d buy and be playing one if it was available.