Post #149,224
3/29/04 2:38:55 PM
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What a week it's been
Right now I'm sitting in a large, odd-shaped room with 1 middle-aged white male (who will be turning into a full time employee within the next few days), 5 people of Middle Asian heritage, and a middle aged manager of unknown ethnic background. Location is the northwest side of Houston, the HP campus formerly known as the Compaq corporate campus. I'm a contractor along with everybody else in the room.
Got called last Tuesday afternoon by a recruiter with "Have I got a job for you - are you available?" spiel. I mutter under my breath "Of course I am you moron; since you found my resume on the Internet you should have read where it said I stopped working last month." So he sends me to the unnamed client. Wednesday afteroon I get called by the actual onsite manager - gives me the sales pitch, and asks "Are you interested?". Right now, if there's a paycheck involved, I'm interested in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, but I don't say it out loud. So I say "Yes" and he says he'll call back with the HP employee/manager he reports to tomorrow morning. Thursday morning comes, she calls, he's not in the office yet, so she gives me her pitch on what the contractors do. He arrives at quarter past the hour, rehashes what he told me yesterday, then says "Do you have any questions?" "Yes I have several things I'd like to find out about your company". He replies "Well, I'm 4 minutes late for a meeting that I'm running, but I can answer a few questions". I say "Since I have more than just a few questions, call me today when your schedule allows time for us to talk". He promises to do so, and the woman manager says "Thanks and goodbye".
Guy doesn't call back in the afternoon. Instead, a woman from the contract shop's office calls to make me an offer. Terms are a slight pay raise over what I used to make at my last job as a perm, no benefits, and the duration is 6 months unless one or all parties decides to cut me loose early. So I decide to accept. However, she hits me with a "gotcha" -> as a condition to becoming employed, I have to buy a laptop from a SPECIFIC manufacturer and a specific version of MS OS. (Wouldn't look good to walk into a client's door with a competitor's laptop.) So I blast to Best Buy Thursday night to by a HP laptop with Windows XP Pro on it, call them back Friday morning to say I've met their requirements, and here I am.
Nice laptop tho: 2.4 gig Intel P4, 512 meg ram, and 60 gig hard drive. I would have preferred to have them supply the equipment, but them's the breaks.
Will report in with further news as reality warrants.
lincoln
"Windows XP has so many holes in its security that any reasonable user will conclude it was designed by the same German officer who created the prison compound in "Hogan's Heroes." - Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times
[link|http://users3.ev1.net/~bconnors/resume.htm|VB/SQL resume]
[link|http://users3.ev1.net/~bconnors/tandem_resume.htm|Tandem resume]
[link|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net|contact me]
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Post #149,226
3/29/04 2:50:29 PM
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Congrats!
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Post #149,229
3/29/04 3:39:39 PM
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That's great news!
Any port in a storm, etc...
-YendorMike
[link|http://www.hope-ride.org/|http://www.hope-ride.org/]
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Post #149,230
3/29/04 3:44:10 PM
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wipes the sweat from forehead, how long a commute?
"You're just like me streak. You never left the free-fire zone.You think aspirins and meetings and cold showers are going to clean out your head. What you want is God's permission to paint the trees with the bad guys. That wont happen big mon." Clete
questions, help? [link|mailto:pappas@catholic.org|email pappas at catholic.org]
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Post #149,252
3/29/04 4:41:09 PM
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Over an hour each way
Not knowing how bad the toll roads would be, I took known back roads. I-10 eastbound (into the city) during morning rush hour is a slow crawl at best; I'd have to go several miles before catching the Sam Houston Beltway up and around the NW side of the city, then catch the Hardy Toll Rd northwest to the campus.
Have to talk to the chief to see what the "regular" working hours are, maybe I can be an early starter or late arriver to minimize the traffic I'll have to face.
One nice thing though: I'm about 5 miles from the Houston Fry's.
lincoln
"Windows XP has so many holes in its security that any reasonable user will conclude it was designed by the same German officer who created the prison compound in "Hogan's Heroes." - Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times
[link|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net|contact me]
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Post #149,278
3/29/04 6:09:12 PM
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You mean Tejanoland's got those evil things, too?!?
(Toll roads, that is....)
Gawd, is there no respite, no escape?!?
jb4
shrub\ufffdbish (Am., from shrub + rubbish, after the derisive name for America's 43 president; 2003) n. 1. a form of nonsensical political doubletalk wherein the speaker attempts to defend the indefensible by lying, obfuscation, or otherwise misstating the facts; GIBBERISH. 2. any of a collection of utterances from America's putative 43rd president. cf. BULLSHIT
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Post #149,280
3/29/04 6:18:40 PM
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There is an escape from toll roads
Go west.
Travelling across the northern part of the country, toll roads seemed to disappear around Chicago. I don't know where the line is down south, but on the West Coast they are few and far between (I'm not sure that I've seen one in fact - probably did and forgot).
Cheers,
Ben
"good ideas and bad code build communities, the other three combinations do not"
- [link|http://archives.real-time.com/pipermail/cocoon-devel/2000-October/003023.html|Stefano Mazzocchi]
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Post #149,281
3/29/04 6:33:06 PM
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Trust me, Oklahoma is west of Illinois
And it's positively infested with 'em. I've (mercifully) never been to Houston, but nowhere in The World's Largest Hole-In-The-Ground that I have been to has the damn things.
But I guess I shouldn't be surprised about anything in Houston....
jb4
shrub\ufffdbish (Am., from shrub + rubbish, after the derisive name for America's 43 president; 2003) n. 1. a form of nonsensical political doubletalk wherein the speaker attempts to defend the indefensible by lying, obfuscation, or otherwise misstating the facts; GIBBERISH. 2. any of a collection of utterances from America's putative 43rd president. cf. BULLSHIT
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Post #149,294
3/29/04 8:19:57 PM
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Tsk, tsk
As I said, Travelling across the northern part of the country. As in the drive that I took last summer, right past Chicago. Tolls all of the way up to Chicago, and that was the last toll that I saw.
I expected this since my father-in-law said that on a much more leisurely set of trips that he did, tolls disappear around Chicago.
I have no idea what happens south of the route that I took (I-80 to I-76). In particular I skipped Oklahoma.
Come to think of it, my father-in-law skipped Oklahoma as well. It has nothing of interest for him.
Cheers,
Ben
"good ideas and bad code build communities, the other three combinations do not"
- [link|http://archives.real-time.com/pipermail/cocoon-devel/2000-October/003023.html|Stefano Mazzocchi]
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Post #149,309
3/29/04 9:36:46 PM
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It's a great place to go if you like ...
summer heat. Yeowch!
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who's only driven through OK once, in the summer, in a 1966 Oldsmobile without air conditioning, on newly paved asphalt, ...)
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Post #149,288
3/29/04 7:17:44 PM
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They are probably coming to Washington soon.
We've had a brief and disastrous flirtation with government by initiative - basically the tax cut 'n spending increase variety. People are screaming they don't want their taxes raised any more, so spending cuts and "user fees" are becoming popular again.
There probably won't be an untolled highway within 100 miles of Seattle in 20 years at this rate.
Why do I bother writing a .sig? It's just going to be wiped out the next time somebody *COUGH*Greg*COUGH* sends critical output to /dev/null. :D
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Post #149,330
3/30/04 2:25:17 AM
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Yep, Ben's right
When we drive out to New Mexico, the last Toll Road we see is Oklahoma through to Tulsa I think, then none the rest of the way through Texas and on out. And there were none on our way to L.A. once, either, from NM.
Congrats on the job, Lincoln!!!
Nightowl >8#
"Don't be a cynic and disconsolate preacher. Don't bewail and moan. Omit the negative propositions. Challenge us with incessant affirmatives. Don't waste yourself in rejection, or bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good." Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Post #149,295
3/29/04 8:27:46 PM
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Yep - they're better than Chicago's
We have EZtag sensors at every pay point, and a lot of paypoints have EZtag only lanes so the traffic flows well. I've often paid my toll while doing 75-80mph. Last I was in Chicago they were implementing the tags - there was lots of waiting.
The new Westpark toll road is EZtag only.
Per a recent EZtag statement, I can now use my tag in Dallas. Apparently it's part of a plan for [link|http://www.itsa.org/ITSNEWS.NSF/0/5ad68430d27efc6485256ddc0065be25?OpenDocument|state wide tollroads], kinda like in Oklahoma.
Darrell Spice, Jr. [link|http://www.spiceware.org/cgi-bin/spa.pl?album=./Artistic%20Overpass|Artistic Overpass]\n[link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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Post #149,297
3/29/04 8:38:57 PM
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They have that out in the Northeast
Better yet, the states cut deals with other states, so an EZpass for the NJ area will continue working in, say, Massachusetts.
Oops, I mean worse, because that inconvenience makes it easier to get motorists to accept more (and larger) tolls. :-(
Cheers,
Ben
"good ideas and bad code build communities, the other three combinations do not"
- [link|http://archives.real-time.com/pipermail/cocoon-devel/2000-October/003023.html|Stefano Mazzocchi]
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Post #149,320
3/29/04 11:37:16 PM
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That's how Chicago's work
We call it [link|http://www.getipass.com|I-Pass]. I have (er, I mean, my girlfriend has) one. Works much the same way as you describe. I-355 has a dual-lane 80-MPH I-Pass lane. Really nice for high-speed commuting.
-YendorMike
[link|http://www.hope-ride.org/|http://www.hope-ride.org/]
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Post #149,353
3/30/04 10:18:11 AM
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so they finally got it done?
I noticed it at a few spots when I was last there, but most of them were still cash only.
Darrell Spice, Jr. [link|http://www.spiceware.org/cgi-bin/spa.pl?album=./Artistic%20Overpass|Artistic Overpass]\n[link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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Post #149,369
3/30/04 11:37:46 AM
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Well...
2 lanes out of 8 are supa-quick IPass only. All the rest accept IPass (say, if you get stuck by that bastard who won't let you change lanes)...They're talking about eventually making it so that the norm is supa-quick IPass lanes, and those without IPass will have to "exit" and "get back on" to pay tolls manually. But that's not the norm now because, according to a study done last year, only 40% of tollway users have IPass currently. They want to get that up to 75% or so over the next 3-4 years.
Of course, one of the other things I've heard bandied about is that they're considering using the transponder tags as a sort of police-in-absentia. When you go through a tollbooth, the time and your transponder code is recorded. It's all stored in a central facility, and I have personally seen it. It's recorded down to the second. So they can tell when you go through which tollbooths, and can calculate your speed based on the two times and the distance... The minute that that happens and they start issuing tickets for it is the same minute that I will return my IPass.
-YendorMike
[link|http://www.hope-ride.org/|http://www.hope-ride.org/]
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Post #149,387
3/30/04 1:29:30 PM
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Yess, and that's exactly why I'll NEVER have an I-PASS!
Yendor, have you been on the Tri-State lately? If you have , perhaps you've noticed those little towers placed along the side of the road? You know, the ones with the two or three solar panels and...an I-Pass sensor?
The "authority" claims that they only use them to track travel times for use by Shadow Traffic and other reporting services.
Yeah!
Right!
The way they do that is by identifying a transponder traveling past a tower, then identifying the same transponder traveling past another tower and deriving speed from the time difference. And you know that the transponders are associated with exactly one license plate.
Of course I trust the Illinois Toll Highway Authority! I trusted them almost thirty years ago when they promised to have the bonds paid off by 1975, too....
jb4
shrub\ufffdbish (Am., from shrub + rubbish, after the derisive name for America's 43 president; 2003) n. 1. a form of nonsensical political doubletalk wherein the speaker attempts to defend the indefensible by lying, obfuscation, or otherwise misstating the facts; GIBBERISH. 2. any of a collection of utterances from America's putative 43rd president. cf. BULLSHIT
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Post #149,390
3/30/04 1:50:32 PM
3/30/04 1:50:54 PM
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Used for that here
[link|http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/incmap/|Houston Real-Tile Traffic Map]
It's not used to report to the police, else I'd have had a number of tickets by now - especially since the sensors are on the regular highways as well as the tollroad. If they started using the tags for speed enforcement then nobody would use the tags, thus defeating the major benefits the toll road gets from using the tags. Being able to revert to cash is part of why I'm not that keen about the Westpark Tollroad being EZ-Tag only.
edit - fixed link
Darrell Spice, Jr. [link|http://www.spiceware.org/cgi-bin/spa.pl?album=./Artistic%20Overpass|Artistic Overpass]\n[link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
Edited by SpiceWare
March 30, 2004, 01:50:54 PM EST
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Post #149,393
3/30/04 2:10:53 PM
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IIRC...
...there was a court case a while back that required businesses to accept "coin of the realm". The case was that someone insisted that a product be paid for by a credit card. The potential buyer refused, and cited an FTC(?) rule stating that if a purchaser offers to pay for a good or service with legal tender (read: cash) and the seller refused, the purchaser can assume that the seller is offering that good/service for free. So he took it and walked out of the store. The seller had the "purchaser" arrested, it went to court, and the "purchaser" won.
I see a test case coming for the first person whizzing through your Tejano-IPass-equivalent waving a dollar bill for the requisite closed-circuit camera to see.
(Hell, if I were better fixed, I'd do it myself!)
jb4
shrub\ufffdbish (Am., from shrub + rubbish, after the derisive name for America's 43 president; 2003) n. 1. a form of nonsensical political doubletalk wherein the speaker attempts to defend the indefensible by lying, obfuscation, or otherwise misstating the facts; GIBBERISH. 2. any of a collection of utterances from America's putative 43rd president. cf. BULLSHIT
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Post #149,413
3/30/04 6:11:27 PM
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I'd love to see a link to that story!
Hope your Google skills are better than mine - no luck yet.
lincoln
"Windows XP has so many holes in its security that any reasonable user will conclude it was designed by the same German officer who created the prison compound in "Hogan's Heroes." - Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times
[link|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net|contact me]
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Post #149,235
3/29/04 3:47:11 PM
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Congrats
Get the requirment for you purchasing the laptop in writing. Maybe you can deduct it on taxes.
-----------------------------------------
It is much harder to be a liberal than a conservative. Why?
Because it is easier to give someone the finger than it is to give them a helping hand.
Mike Royko
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Post #149,238
3/29/04 3:49:28 PM
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Other than starting in the hole because of laptop purchase,
it's a living. I certainly hope the laptop will be a minor expense when all is said and done. It's weird they do not provide you with a desktop unit of their own to begin with.
Good luck!
Alex
"Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something." -- last words of Pancho Villa (1877-1923)
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Post #149,260
3/29/04 4:59:59 PM
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Laptop was expensive
but at least it's mine, so when my time is up, all of the emails in Outlook will come with me (I lost 4 years of emails when I got kicked out of another employer in 2001. My bad for not forwarding personal emails to my home account.)
And according to a friend who is a contactor, the laptop is a legitimate business expense since it was required for employment and the company doesn't give any subsidy or reimbursement, once you get past the 2% level for deductions against your adjusted gross income on your Schedule A.
lincoln
"Windows XP has so many holes in its security that any reasonable user will conclude it was designed by the same German officer who created the prison compound in "Hogan's Heroes." - Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times
[link|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net|contact me]
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Post #149,262
3/29/04 5:14:26 PM
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POP3 or Microsoft Exchange?
If it's Exchange connector, you still need to make a local copy.
Why do I bother writing a .sig? It's just going to be wiped out the next time somebody *COUGH*Greg*COUGH* sends critical output to /dev/null. :D
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Post #149,345
3/30/04 8:30:07 AM
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If you itemise already because of the house mortgage
this guy goes under the non reimbursed by employer expense part of your return.
thanx,
bill
"You're just like me streak. You never left the free-fire zone.You think aspirins and meetings and cold showers are going to clean out your head. What you want is God's permission to paint the trees with the bad guys. That wont happen big mon." Clete
questions, help? [link|mailto:pappas@catholic.org|email pappas at catholic.org]
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Post #149,264
3/29/04 5:24:01 PM
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Congrats!
guess we won't be meeting for lunch now. At least it's a good reason :-)
I'll be hosting a movie night in the near future, an evite will be sent your way.
Darrell Spice, Jr. [link|http://www.spiceware.org/cgi-bin/spa.pl?album=./Artistic%20Overpass|Artistic Overpass]\n[link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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Post #149,414
3/30/04 6:14:42 PM
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Yeah, I know
I was looking forward to that sandwich again. Haven't had one for over a year now (family's not keen on deli food).
Movie night sounds like fun. I am overdue on giving you an invite to visit my house and take on Brett in video games. Be forewarned: he's a sore loser and just as bad a winner too; he loves to rub it in when he beats the old man.
lincoln
"Windows XP has so many holes in its security that any reasonable user will conclude it was designed by the same German officer who created the prison compound in "Hogan's Heroes." - Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times
[link|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net|contact me]
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Post #149,273
3/29/04 5:55:00 PM
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What everyone else is saying :-)
Incidentally there is an amusing similarity between us.
We both live near I-10. :-)
Cheers,
Ben
"good ideas and bad code build communities, the other three combinations do not"
- [link|http://archives.real-time.com/pipermail/cocoon-devel/2000-October/003023.html|Stefano Mazzocchi]
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Post #149,416
3/30/04 6:18:48 PM
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In which state?
lincoln
"Windows XP has so many holes in its security that any reasonable user will conclude it was designed by the same German officer who created the prison compound in "Hogan's Heroes." - Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times
[link|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net|contact me]
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Post #149,430
3/30/04 8:23:42 PM
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Details, details ;-)
"good ideas and bad code build communities, the other three combinations do not"
- [link|http://archives.real-time.com/pipermail/cocoon-devel/2000-October/003023.html|Stefano Mazzocchi]
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Post #149,431
3/30/04 8:29:43 PM
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Try here:
[link|http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?ed=M7tNO.p_0TqT&csz=santa+monica%2C+ca&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=|Ben's neck of the woods].
Alex
"Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something." -- last words of Pancho Villa (1877-1923)
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Post #149,449
3/30/04 11:53:41 PM
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More precise location
[image|http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/mp/gr/mplogo.gif|0|[ Yahoo! Maps ]|13|99]
[link|http://us.rd.yahoo.com/maps//maps/extmap/*-http://maps.yahoo.com//maps_result?name=&ed=7_E73ep_0TprvlD5wbe_rBfsusph3xfDpCP6gHJzZEBa3I.VJLUeESLvEHNb7g61DyZAUdMll8V2EaBn10A5yhptLFqE1IZvJcGoWADRwfw-&csz=Santa+Monica%2C+CA&desc=&mag=9&ds=n&state=CA&uzip=90401&country=US&BFKey=&resize=s|
Map of
Santa Monica, CA
]
That map includes both my home and my job. And the walk between them. Which covers where I am for a very large fraction of the time.
Cheers,
Ben
"good ideas and bad code build communities, the other three combinations do not"
- [link|http://archives.real-time.com/pipermail/cocoon-devel/2000-October/003023.html|Stefano Mazzocchi]
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Post #149,517
3/31/04 2:15:21 PM
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Wearing earplugs?
That airport is pretty close! :)
Alex
"Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something." -- last words of Pancho Villa (1877-1923)
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Post #149,523
3/31/04 2:43:44 PM
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The sound isn't bad
It is a small airport, only private planes.
Now LAX I couldn't live that close to...
Cheers,
Ben
"good ideas and bad code build communities, the other three combinations do not"
- [link|http://archives.real-time.com/pipermail/cocoon-devel/2000-October/003023.html|Stefano Mazzocchi]
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Post #149,290
3/29/04 7:21:38 PM
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Good! And good luck!
Imric's Tips for Living
- Paranoia Is a Survival Trait
- Pessimists are never disappointed - but sometimes, if they are very lucky, they can be pleasantly surprised...
- Even though everyone is out to get you, it doesn't matter unless you let them win.
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Nothing is as simple as it seems in the beginning,
As hopeless as it seems in the middle,
Or as finished as it seems in the end.
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Post #149,292
3/29/04 7:51:42 PM
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have fun...
take an Apple PowerBook with you to work... :-)
Congratulations.
Have fun,
Carl Forde
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Post #149,305
3/29/04 9:32:57 PM
8/21/07 6:28:45 AM
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Congrats!
pity about the laptop though.
Java is a joke, only it's not funny.
--Alan Lovejoy
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Post #149,311
3/29/04 11:10:09 PM
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Bwa, I'm out of it.
Congrats!
Always nice to have a chance to say iwethey.employed++
Why do I bother writing a .sig? It's just going to be wiped out the next time somebody *COUGH*Greg*COUGH* sends critical output to /dev/null. :D
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Post #149,319
3/29/04 11:35:04 PM
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woo hoo! way to go!
bummer about the laptop...any room for a second partition?
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Post #149,415
3/30/04 6:18:12 PM
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It is a 60 gig drive
I'd have to buy the latest version of Partition Magic, something I'm thinking about adding to my shopping list. I want to get my own set of CDs for MS Office since I'll need it for email, sharing docs, etc. Question is: which version? Office 2003 or Office XP? Both run about the same at retail and mail order, so I'm hoping to hear the pros and cons of both from IWETHEYers.
lincoln
"Windows XP has so many holes in its security that any reasonable user will conclude it was designed by the same German officer who created the prison compound in "Hogan's Heroes." - Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times
[link|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net|contact me]
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Post #149,417
3/30/04 6:23:53 PM
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Consider BootIt-NG instead of PM
[link|http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html|Boot-It Next Generation]. It's a boot manager, partition resizer, etc. It works very well, IME. I used it on my Thinkpad T41 laptop and it worked fine. It's much cheaper than Partition Magic (which is now owned by the evil Symantec).
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #149,421
3/30/04 7:12:10 PM
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Office XP v.s. Office 2003.
They both suck. Go with 2003, you'll get bug fixes and security updates that much sooner, and for longer. Microsoft has this habit of not really fixing anything for older versions of their products. They both have Product Activation, too, so you aren't saving yourself any hassle by picking one over the other.
Blarg!
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Post #149,426
3/30/04 7:37:48 PM
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Congrats. But you gotta change your subject
to IWeThey.Employed++
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Post #149,626
3/31/04 11:22:04 PM
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I had a few whiners
whining that I had used the same subject line in more than one post, so I went with something more unique.
But I'm not bitching about the change in status (for the good!)
lincoln
"Windows XP has so many holes in its security that any reasonable user will conclude it was designed by the same German officer who created the prison compound in "Hogan's Heroes." - Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times
[link|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net|contact me]
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