Holy crap. Just got off the phone, got some HUGE news from someone I know, something that will change their life massively. Damn, certainly wasn't expecting that when I picked up the phone. Talk about having life get turned upside down - I'm still reeling from it.
(Apologies for the lack of details at this moment, but I will get into more details when it is appropriate. I just had to write this down somewhere, even if it was vague.)
So, a recent article on Derek's blog got me to thinking about the whole "blogging about work" thing again. (I talked about this early on, when I first started the blog.)
His experiences are certainly an eye-opener - keeping work and blog separate is something I'm actively doing, but I know someday somebody is going to find this. I made a decision from the get-go to simply keep any personal information that could identify somebody out of the blog. Everybody here (my partner, employees) is "somebody I work with", so I hope to avoid that trap as much as I can.
Of course, if I rant about somebody's stupidity, they may recognize themselves in the description of events, but that is their own fault (for being stupid enough to piss me off that much). Nobody else will be able to put them together by reading my blog, and that's all that matters to me.
With the latest taxcut package passed, it got me thinking about the US taxcode once again. This isn't a commentary on the taxcut package passed (that is for another entry), but a comment on the actual code itself.
I think it is time to ditch the entire thing. Start all over again.
I favor a complete overhaul of the tax code - when an intelligent person can't do their own taxes because the code is too complicated, something needs to give. The majority of Americans now have to hire tax preparers to do their taxes nowadays, or purchase software from a variety of different vendors, because doing taxes on their own is nearly impossible. Just this last tax season, I actually attempted to wind my way through the 1040 instruction booklet, and gave up - my head hurt after an hour. The clauses, the rules, and the exceptions to the rules was nearly impossible to decipher.
This has all been brought about by one tax after another being introduced by one legislative session after another, then "cuts" being made that only benefited certain economic groups. Of course these cuts looked good on their political surface, so why not? But now the tax code is an undecipherable mess, and keeps getting worse year by year as it continues to be tinkered with.
I think we need to start all over again, with a simple and basic income tax system. Graduated percentages are fine and reasonable (as exist in the code right now), and will help share the burden fairly. (I'm not much of a proponent of a "flat-tax" system, with a single percentage across the board, as I think it would cause a seismic shift of tax burden onto lower income families and individuals.) Do away with ALL deductions - no more child deductions, no more home interest deductions, tax-free bonds, tax-deferred holdings, nothing. Each person should be taxed individually - eliminating the issue of marriage penalties or bonuses. You earn $x, you pay $y in taxes, regardless of who you are or your personal circumstances. And the law would need to be setup so that Congress would only have the authority to change the percentages - elminating their ability to get "creative" as they have for years now. If they need more money or want to give a taxcut, they could change these percentages, but the process would be open and understandable by all.
This would, at least initially, kill me. I am eligible for a fairly large number of deductions currently, and I would lose them all under this new system, and would pay significantly higher taxes because of it. But I would welcome a system like this with open arms - it would be simple, direct, and eliminate the insanity that surrounds the whole tax system currently. And that could be nothing but a good thing.
I'm not going to hold my breath though.
Edit: Ironically enough, I wrote this article first, but then found this article at ABCNews.com after finishing it. It covers a lot of what I said here, including some of the issues surrounding the "temporary" taxcuts that have just been passed. I guess I wasn't the only one thinking about this recently.
At work today, I was doing my usual complaining about my daughter, her crying jags, about how I have less of a social life than I did before (which is saying something, because before I had her it was practically non-existent), the time that you just spend caring for a baby and the resultant "hit" that nearly every other aspect of your life (hobbies, etc.) takes. Since my wife and I are both experiencing the same things, it is helpful to talk to people outside, just to vent. And the question came - "Do you regret having her?"
You know, for all the complaining I may do (at work, here, to my friends), all the bitching about lack of sleep, the inability to do things that I did before - I don't regret it. Not one bit. If somebody offered me the opportunity to go back, consequence free, and change the decision to have a kid, I wouldn't in a heartbeat. Everytime I hold her in my arms, look at her smiling face, and realize that I'm holding my own flesh and blood, I keep realizing just how lucky I truly am. I couldn't imagine a more wonderful thing, and I wouldn't change a thing.
I still reserve the right to complain from time to time, though. I am human, after all.
My wife and I subscribe to a huge pile of different baby magazines - my wife signed us up for one magazine after another when she was pregnant, and they dutifully continue to come in the mail every month.
Now, my wife reads them, perhaps not thoroughly like she did before we had the baby (when everything is new, and you HAVE TO BE PREPARED - any first time parent can attest to that feeling), but she still grabs a few minutes here and there to read a few of the articles that look interesting to her. (I have to ask the stupid question - what parent actually REALLY has time to read these behemoths cover to cover, month after month? Hell, I've got a pile of magazines 8 inches thick that I haven't had any time to read AT ALL since my daughter was born!)
Beyond the funny story or essay that periodically appears, my wife also shares a few of the articles with me. I personally find myself feeling very ambivalent about these magazines. The covers proclaim this wonderful information - "What Makes a Great Dad?", "Peekaboo! How games help your little one learn", "18 Toys all Babies Love", "Why selling your child on the black market ISN'T right for you" - and this is just a sample from one magazine cover. How could you not want to learn this great information? (Not even getting into the constantly contradictory information that seems to come from one "expert" after another.)
My parents have told me how lucky we are, that when I was a baby they didn't have this kind of access to information, that you just did things by the seat of your pants and with their parent's help. Funny, I don't think I turned out too bad, nor do I think my wife turned out bad. I guess that's my whole problem, the whole reason I'm so ambivalent about reading these magazines. I actually value my ignorance in some strange way - successive generations of human beings have grown up with nothing more than a mother's advice and a bit of common sense, and we've managed (for the most part) to be pretty decent overall.
So when I get these magazines with these "must read" articles, I keep finding myself asking "how did we manage before these magazines were published?" How did my parents manage? And I realize that for the most part, showing your baby love and affection, playing with him or her everyday, taking care of his or her basic needs, and teaching them things and responsibility as they get older - that's what being a parent is all about. Don't fill your head with a thousand different fads, a hundred different new theories of child rearing - as far as I'm concerned, they just keep changing. Just use a little common sense, be consistent and fair, and be there for your kid.
Jeremy has a great article on Google's PageRank system and its problems with the newer blogging community. Worth taking a quick read-over.
I'm sorry Neve - your parents are bad parents. We keep meaning to take pictures of you, take videos of you, but we just keep forgetting. Over and over again. Once we finished taking the 20th shot of one of us feeding you, we wanted to get some different poses, and we just don't seem to think of the cameras when we are with you. We're trying to be better, but we hope you will forgive us if there are a few gaps (especially the video camera - we're really bad about using that). We promise to try harder.
Oh, and happy birthday. A whole 5 months old!
A little background information - my wife and I both enjoy jellybeans, and buy a large bag of JellyBelly-type jellybeans at our local warehouse store periodically. We have a decent-sized dish we keep in the kitchen with the jellybeans in them for a quick grab when we are in the mood. Of course, just like any mix, there are some flavors we like more than others, but we make a habit of just grabbing a handful and eating them as-is, and that spreads out the "good" ones and the "okay" ones pretty well.
My MIL also enjoys jellybeans, and will eat them at our house when she is here. She was here today, as a matter of fact, to help my wife watch the baby while she was doing some things around the house. So I come home from work today, to find our dish of jellybeans (practically full when I left for work this morning) really picked through - quite literally every "good" flavor is gone, just the few crappy ones are left. This isn't the first time she has done this either - she even acknowledges to my wife that it will drive me crazy. She's right!
I'm going to have to start hiding the jellybean dish from her when she comes over. Or, alternatively, build up a nice dish of the "reject" flavors she won't eat, and substitute in that dish when she comes over, just to see her reaction.
You ever have that feeling that life has become very static? That you go through your daily life like a zombie, just doing the same things you did yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that? It becomes comfortable, abliet boring as all get out sometimes. Not that you are unhappy with how things are, but you wonder about how life could be. What it would be like if your daily routine, your habits, were turned on their head?
Change is a good thing - something came up today that made me remember that.
Last week my wife and I entered a glorious state - our nearly 5-month old daughter slept through the night for not one night, but 3 nights in a row. (Our definition of "sleeping through the night" is bed by 10pm or sooner, awake at approx 6am or so - in other words, a normal adult's night sleep. Anyone who tells me that "sleeping through the night" is sleeping 6 hours straight regardless of awakening times, like the "experts" say, can shove it - YOU get up at 3am and say "hey she slept through the night" because she went to bed at 9pm. "Experts" my ass.)
Friday night she slipped a little - woke up at 4am, but she had fallen asleep very early (8pm), so we figured it was just an anamoly. Saturday night was back to business.
Then last night came.
Fussed like a son of a gun half the evening. Finally went to sleep at 8:30 or so. Wife and I went to bed, and she woke up when? 12:30am. Fed her, sat with her while she literally stayed up until past 2am. Finally put her down and spent another 1/2 hour getting up and down from bed to sooth her to sleep. I'm wasted today - nowhere near enough sleep to function.
For months my wife and I have been virtual zombies, and last week was our first true taste of freedom, of getting a decent night sleep on a semi-regular basis. And I want that freedom back!
Don't you hate when you loan stuff out to people, and you end up having to ask for it back? I loaned something out to somebody quite a long time ago, and I still haven't gotten it back. I know they know they have it (not a case of "crap, I forgot I borrowed that from you!"), but they still haven't returned it, and now I have the task of having to ask for it back. I don't know why, makes me feel like a heel or something.
For most of you this is really 4 years too late, but bear with me.
A few days ago I mentioned that I had never seen The Matrix. My "geekness" was questioned, deservingly I'll add. So I did what any sensible person would do - I finally watched the movie this afternoon.
Oh.... my.... god.
Why? Why did I wait 4 freakin' years to see this movie?
I was blown away. Beyond the obvious geek quotient in the movie (what a fucking awesome concept!), the special effects were incredible, and the movie oozed style. Wow.
All I know is I'm buying a copy tomorrow for my collection. Damn!
So today I drop by my office to grab a couple of things that I need. I unlock the door, walk in, and turn to face the alarm console to put in my code.
And I draw a complete and utter blank. Not a clue.
Well, I type and type and type, code after code, realizing quickly that I'm screwed - nothing is working. Then the outside alarm goes off, lots of noise. Eventually the code pops into my head (thanks brain - way to wait a minute too long!). The cops show up (rather quick actually - was pretty impressed). Fun ensues, but everything gets straightened out.
Mind you, I've typed that code in quite literally thousands of time. This is not some oddball thing. I've come to the conclusion that I am usually so brain-dead in the morning that I must do it by muscle memory, and if I try to go in later in the day (like I did today), then I'm actually thinking about what to type, and I screwed myself.
So, I'm talking to a friend today, and tell him about yesterday's blog entry (link). Much to his chagrin, as I also had never seen the original X-Men (which I finally saw last night - great movie!). In his words - "You're not a geek!" I always considered myself a geek, but I guess I'm woefully out of it when it comes to some of these more recent releases - I have a wife who just really isn't into these kinds of movie, and I rarely see movies without her (at least in the last few years).
So, am I that much of a freak, or is it just bad happenstance? If I get around to seeing The Matrix, can I "regain" my geek-ness? Or is it hopeless?
So, The Matrix Reloaded hits theatres today. Tons and tons of people will be lining up to see it. And I have a confession to make.
I have never seen The Matrix.
One of the ultimate geek movies, released over 4 years ago, and I have never seen it. Not intentionally, mind you - just one of those wacky things where everytime the opportunity came up, I missed it. I have no excuse, no ulterior reasoning. I just haven't taken the 2 hours to go rent it and watch it. I have no idea why, honestly.
Sorry, but I had to get it out of my system.
At Dean's World, he links ( twice!, and apparently originally linked from Jerry Kindall's blog) to a very interesting article from an American who travelled to North Korea, and created a travelogue of his visit. Fascinating reading - worth the time it will take to read through for an insight into a very different, very tolitarian culture.
See the article here - http://www.1stopkorea.com/nk-trip1.htm
Here I am hand-writing this entry on a pad of paper. Why am I hand-writing this? Well, I'm surrounded by a mass of communications equipment, but no way of easily "jacking in" to write this entry. I'm in Margaretville (NY), a small town nestled in the heart of the Catskills. Sitting in a tiny little building, situated on top of a very steep hill (which I just had to walk up), fixing a server for a client of mine in a pseudo-co location facility.
The juxtaposition is amazing. Outside (where I am right now), I'm surrounded by forested hills, gorgeous scenery - the trees just look fantastic in all their different shades, hardly a house in sight. (A couple of massive satellite dishes are just over behind me, but I can't see them from this vantage point.) Inside this building is the very heart of a modern cable system - racks and racks of satellite receivers, servers, boxes, etc. (I'm a geek, but I can't identify half of what this stuff does, honestly) - a quarter million dollars worth of hardware, as their tech told me. Very neat stuff, and I'm here alone too - the tech guy who let me in went back to the administrative office 5 miles away.
The sensation of being alone in the middle of nowhere with nature, and yet knowing that just 3 steps away through a door is a mass of advanced communications equipment, servicing 5000+ people is such a strange (but neat) one, that I'm really at a loss to describe it.
No point to this entry beyond sharing a "hey this is cool" feeling. I'll have to type this in when I get back home tonight. All I can say is that I wished I carried a camera with me.
Hand-written at approx. 2pm today while a RAID array rebuilt itself. Typed in verbatim from the pad I wrote it on.
Why do so many people insist on double parking? I get to a client's office this afternoon, and they have a fairly small parking lot to start with (9 spots). So I get there, and there are 8 cars, except for this fancy blue sports car - which just happens to be parked dead center between two other cars, taking up 2 full spots. It wasn't even one of those "slightly off center" things where you could say that they were just a little sloppy - it was painfully obviously done on purpose.
Just one of those pet peeves of mine - had to park on the grass, and get my feet nice and wet in the process. Grr.
Okay, I admit it - I really like Survivor.
I know some people just don't "get" the whole reality show genre. Frankly, for the most part I don't "get" it either - too many reality shows seem moronic or worse. Contrived situations, painful interactions, the works. (Seriously, did anyone actually enjoy Joe Millionare? That was the most painful show to watch, and I only watched a couple of episodes.)
But I can't get over my Survivor addiction - I had dismissed the whole show as silly the first time I heard about it. But channel surfing, I stumbled onto the first show of the first season 20 minutes in, and watched out of boredom initially. Then the tribal council started, and that was that. I was hooked. Haven't stopped watching since.
So I was watching last night... (spoilers ahead)
And was completely disappointed, in every possible way, by the ending.
Seriously, I agree with the critics - this was the best Survivor since the first one. Great characters, interesting location, Rob constantly tweaking his allegiance back and forth and engineering some great moments. It was one of the first Survivor's in a long time I watched without having any clue how things were going to play out week to week. Let me tell you, that was nice.
Then last night happened. And one of the most undeserving contestants ever won the game. Jenna - the lovely young swimsuit model. And not even in a small way - a 6-1 landslide.
I admit, out of the Final Four, the only one I thought truly deserved to win was Rob - his treachery was notable, but he actually came and played the game, and fairly well in my opinion. Butch was lucky to be where he was, but he treated everyone very well, worked hard. Matt was a bit nuts, and was about as clueless as could be in the beginning, but got a few lucky breaks (thanks to some other loudmouths who engineered their own downfall), and by the end, he managed to learn enough from Rob to actually play okay. I'm sorry to say, Jenna simply coasted on her looks and her looks alone - even by her own admission, she was a whiny brat, and didn't contribute like other people did. Based solely on the final two, Matt should have one handily, and would have been FAR more deserving.
What the hell was the jury thinking anyway? Even Christy, who HATED the "evil stepsisters" (Heidi and Jenna) still voted for her in the end! WTF? It was like mass psychosis - I've never seen anything so out of balance.
So, although I will probably re-watch the first 12 episodes a few more times, I seriously doubt I will ever re-watch Episode 13 anytime.
What a great season, what a lousy ending.
Sorry for the lack of postings - I'm still trying to get used to writing down things on the computer when they come to me. I've gotten used to simply complaining about things out loud to other people, although I'm sure she would be happy to hear less of it! :-)
How difficult was it to get into blogging regularly once you started?
Over at Jeremey Zawondy's blog, a comment in response to one of his articles about telemarketing caught my eye. Sander van Zoest posts a link to an interesting script to use when telemarketers call.
Thank goodness that I live in NY state, and they have a fantastic "do not call" list that actually works. It sure would be fun to use that script though, just to turn the tables a little. :-)
Over at The ArcterJournal, Alan pretty much sums up a problem I've had for years - how the heck can you let the person on the other end of a tech support call know that you aren't the average "Joe User" calling them, and that you've already done everything on their script and more long before you even though about calling them? I could relate a thousand stories - heck, I was stuck on hold hell with a level one UPS support person just today who had me checking a dozen stupid IE and TCP/IP settings even though the problem I was having was one of their modules crashing with an Invalid Page Fault. I guess it was the 10th time I told her that it finally sunk in.
I will most likely rarely discuss political issues in this blog, primarily because they are such divisive issues for so many people, and in text form (rather than face to face) it is harder to get past differences in opinions. But once in awhile I just have to post something to see what other people are thinking, or just to say something that is on my mind.
I find myself simply amazed at the political muscle being thrown around in Washington DC these days in regards to tax cuts. I have to say that I have a lot of troubles with the current plans being pushed by the White House (even if it has no chance of passing in the Senate) - another huge tax cut being proposed, with a significant portion of that going toward wealthier Americans. As much as I find myself benefiting from the last taxcut package (2001), and certainly have no desire to pay any more taxes than I have to, I find myself strangely at odds with the whole thing.
I actually would prefer to see no taxcuts at all.
Probably a strange thing to say, but when our country is running in massive deficit mode, I find my mind being boggled at the concept of "we're not pulling in enough money right now to cover our bills - let's give more back to the American people". I guess I believe that, for the most part, the economy will right itself of its own accord, with or without the taxcut. It strikes me as a brazen short-sighted political move, one that will cost myself and my children later on down the line in much higher debt service payments. I don't buy into the fact that massive taxcuts stimulate the economy - if that is the case, why hasn't the economy been booming since 2001?
Simultaneous to all of this talk about taxcuts, the federal government is cutting a ton of state funding (fiscal responsibility? Can't pay for everything if we are going to give tax breaks!). So then the states either (a) raise their taxes, or (b) cut funding to the local governments. If (b) then local governments are forced to raise taxes (through increases on property taxes - the ultimate in regressive taxation, and definitely a rant for another day). Ultimately somewhere along the line somebody is paying - the burden is simply shifting.
I do think our government needs a good solid overhaul bureaucratically - far too much money is wasted on far too many redudant agencies and programs that could be more efficiently spent with just a little foresight and the political will to make it happen. It would be ugly, for sure, but the cost savings would probably be quite significant.
I think that we missed the boat in the late 90's, when the government was pulling in way too much cash - rather than take advantage of that time, pay down our debts, put some money aside for a rainy day, etc., we created a whole new class of programs to use up the extra money we were getting, and then some. We are now trying to continue to spend the same amount of money, simultaneously providing tax breaks to everyone. That money will ultimately come from somewhere - most likely crippling tax hikes down the road, when the problem can't be ignored anymore.
Okay, it's late, and this has been a bit less organized than I would have liked, but I can't hack the idea of saving this and trying to tighten it up later, so there you go.
So, a few days ago, I posted about a problem I was having at one of my client's offices and a setup using VPN. The person I was asked to email reviewed the email and forwarded it to their system administratin dept, and told me to "call him right away if they don't get back to you in 24 hours".
Friday goes by, no email, no call. No time to call them at the end of day. Call my contact back on Monday am, leave VM. Call again Monday pm, leave VM. Repeat on Tuesday. Repeat Wednesday am, still no callback. Call other guy in tech support dept, say "oh, he's in, just had to step out". Uh, huh. At this point I'm fuming (all I want is an answer - even if it is "sorry we can't fix the issue"), but don't have time to deal with it.
Tonight I decide (after putting daughter to bed) to remotely connect to the new office and test the VPN connection for the hell of it. Guess what?
Working -rock- solid. For over 3 hours now.
So, why is it so hard to simply call me and tell me that - why make me have to find out for myself?
I'm tempted to have the customer dump this ISP, just to spite them. I mean, if they can't even be bothered to call me or email me and tell me they fixed a very serious issue, what will it be like when I have a real problem? I've had troubles with Roadrunner (our local cable ISP), but relatively speaking they are the most customer friendly company I've ever seen.
One of the things that they don't tell you (amongst other things) when you have a kid - your memory goes. I have never been more forgetful in my entire life than the last few months.
So, as I'm leaving the house today to go to my friends's house, my wife reminds me about something that I was supposed to do last week. I had completely forgotten, as usual. As I'm driving, I think that this would be a good blog entry. I make a note ("blog") on the sheet next to me to remember to put this entry in later.
How right I was.
I get to where I'm going, look at the note, and say "blog"? What was I supposed to write? I actually racked my brain for 5 minutes until I finally realized what I had meant to write into the blog - that my memory was going since I had my daughter.
How ironic.
As mentioned in a previous entry, I have a 4-month old daughter at home. For the last 2 months, my wife and I had a deal to handle middle of the night feedings - if she woke up before 3am, I got up, after 3am, she got up. It worked well for the first week, then I slowly started realizing I was getting severely shafted, as my daughter's sleep schedule shifted to normally 1am - 2am wakings for a quick bottle. My wife was, for the most part, getting a solid 7 - 8 hours of sleep straight through.
2 months later, and 3 nights ago, my wife actually feels guilty and says "since she is only waking up once a night, we'll trade off nights. I'll take Tuesday, you take Wednesday, etc." Great, I think - every other night I get to go to stay up a little bit later, catch up, still get a good night sleep, and my wife can share in the joys of the 2am feedings again.
Tuesday night (wife's night) - she fusses from 10:30pm until 11:55pm, waking up every 10 minutes or so, since I'm up anyway I deal with her. Finally can't comfort her anymore (she is hungry), I end up feeding her. (Figured I'm already up, not going to be a prick and make my wife get up - just seems wrong.) Wife gets solid 7 1/2 hours of sleep.
Wednesday night (my night) - Wakes up at 1:30am, lucky me I get to get up. :) Wife gets solid 7 1/2 hours of sleep.
Thursday (tonight - wife's night) - Wakes up at 11:30pm, I'm finishing an entry here before I go to bed, try to comfort her. I fail after a few attempts. Guess who fed her? Guess who is going to be getting (most likely) a solid 8 hours of sleep tonight? Grrr.
Already my daughter has it in for me, and she hasn't even obtained rational thought yet. I'm in serious trouble.
So today I go to one of my client's offices, to setup a quick VPN connection in this new office to their existing office (2 blocks away - don't ask, or you can if you're really dying to know). So I setup the VPN router, configure the still-in-the-box DSL modem and get a connection established. Of course, no connection. First I spend an hour and a half fighting with them until I find out they screwed up the MAC address that I provided them 3 times (twice on the phone, once through email), so I wasn't getting assigned an IP. Get that resolved. Internet connectivity (woo-hoo?).
Setup the tunnel between the offices. Connected, I'm starting to wrap it up while downloading a couple of quick updates from the primary server to one of the workstations. Error message - disconnected from resource. Hmm, maybe a glitch. Try again after restarting all components - 2 minutes of VPN uptime, then down. Back up again 5 minutes later, then down after 20 seconds. Up, down, up, down, down, down, down, up, up, down. I'm now there for over 4 hours, should have been done 2 hours ago (actually 3 1/2, if they hadn't screwed the MAC address). Internet connectivity is fine the whole time, so it is definitely a VPN issue. Try setting up a tunnel to another satellite office (for testing purposes), solid as a rock. Realize issue is only affecting the VPN connection going b/t these 2 offices that are 2 blocks away from each other. Call ISP, conveniently bypassing 3 tiers of front-line support BS in the process (good to keep a few contacts when you find people willing to help you in the past).
Explain details of the problem, I get told they don't support VPNs on their service. (Funny, I remember telling them what we were planning on using it for when I helped them provision the line 6 weeks ago. When asked to clarify their "no VPN" policy, as these are business-class DSL lines, they explain that they don't have the technical resources to aid customers on the phone with VPN configurations due to their complexity.) I explain that I'm not asking them to support me setting up a VPN on their Internet connection, that I'm quite capable of doing that by myself. I need to know why two offices that are less than 2 blocks away are incapable of talking to each other intermittently (mostly down, sometimes up). Back and forth, then told to email details to some guy who will "look into it". Then told "but no promises, as we don't really support VPNs".
Gee, thanks for telling me. 6 times in one conversation. I guess most of your customers don't use Q-Tips or something, or you just like beating that statement over their heads.
If they can't fix an obvious routing/equipment issue on their end, and don't even want to talk to me about it, what else can you do? Looks like I have a client who will be provisioning Roadrunner tomorrow, unless some miracle occurs.
Have come to the conclusion I need a new keyboard - I have a beautiful 101-key IBM keyboard, circa '92, that I have used forever and love. The tactile response is fantastic. However, the damn thing is LOUD. When I really get typing, my wife says its sounds like a machine gun. Never a problem before, but now I have a 4-month old daughter in the house who doesn't sleep quite as soundly as my wife does.
What was I thinking, putting her in the room across the hall from my office?