Today I would like to write, briefly, about politics. Tonight, the Santa Monica Public Library hosted a talk with John Dean. As he put it, "For those of you under 45 years of age", John Dean was counsel to President Richard Nixon.
Mr. Dean, if nothing else, was a brilliant speaker, and full of interesting comparisons between today's political climate and that of 1973. He continued to be terribly critical of the current conservative Republicans, and has written some interesting articles which you can read on findlaw.com. At some point during the presentation he mentioned the notion of 'Goldwater Republicans', referring to the political leanings of Senator Barry Goldwater, as Mr. Dean claims to be very close friends with Senator Goldwater's son. He also claims that the title of his recent book, which I will give below, is something that Senator Goldwater coined. 'Goldwater Republican' is something I had heard about before, and wondered what it meant, and I wrote it down to research later. Finally, we purchased a copy of his book "Conservatives Without Conscience" which I intend to move to the top of my list.
My wife absolutely loved the talk. When she was young, she spent the summer of 1973 stuck in front of the television watching the televised presentation of the Watergate congressional testimony. When she had Mr. Dean autograph a book to her mother, she told him that watching him on TV helped her become a legal services attorney; that his honesty and public accountability made a long-lasting impression on her.
After the talk, Beth and I walked to get something to eat, and I asked her: "What's a Goldwater Republican?"
"Well, it's sort of like Schwarzenegger. You know, socially liberal, big on privacy. Kind of like you You're a prototypical Goldwater Republican".
Clearly my wife was both complimenting me and answering my question at the same time. Fascinating. I've only done minimal research on Barry Goldwater, including only briefly perusing his entry in wikipedia. Being labeled like that is a little disconcerting, for sure, but something I can label myself will help me believe there's a political stance I can take, even if it's one that has had no power since 1980. The following is obvious: I've no objection to the notion of Republican politics, I just can't stand what it's become. Being too young to understand Republican politics pre-Reagan, I merely understood there was an alternative, I just never knew what it was.
I don't know what this is going to do to my political leanings at all, but this talk did exactly what it should; I've walked away with very important questions, as well as a couple of answers.
In addition Mr. Dean also confided in me that he loves Google Desktop Search and tells his friends so. According to his bio in findlaw.com, he works in Beverly Hills. I hope to bring him to the Santa Monica office sometime soon.
Finally, thanks to the folks at the Santa Monica Public Library for the great work they are doing providing a great service by educating the public, and particular thanks to Robert Graves, whom I understand did all the work making this event happen.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Why You Should Pay Your Bills
So this story starts with a shameful admission. I've become bad at paying bills. I used to be great at it, now not so much. I think it's related, in part, to moving in with Beth, who likes to keep things neat whereas I like to keep all my papers in piles, everywhere. No matter, it would be unfair to accuse her of being responsible for my inability to pay bills.
Usually this doesn't amount to much, but on Thursday, my wife came home to find out that our gas had been turned off. OK, no big deal. So Friday morning, I walk over to the gas company office, (which, conveniently, is directly across the street from my office) and paid the bill. A subsequent phone call to the office was all I needed to arrange to have the gas turned back on, but nobody would come by until Monday. So I showered that morning in the office (which is not as bad an experience as you might expect) and figured I'd get by for the rest of the weekend. Beth was happy with this, it meant we had no reason to eat at home. All our meals would be out. She was unhappy with not having hot water for tea. We couldn't figure out how to get past that. See, we don't own a microwave. I suggested to Beth that maybe it would be OK if we put a mug of water in the toaster oven, but that was met with a ridiculous look.
The problem, though, was that we had a house guest that night. So I called her and told her, "Hey, you can stay over, but uh ... see ... we have no hot water. So no shower." Our guest was unfazed: "No problem! I'll still visit and shower when I go home on Saturday." OK, that worked. Saturday morning, we actually went swimming, and there was a shower at the pool. So OK so far. However, last minute, we had a young man stay with us Saturday and Sunday night.
We checked the faucets. There was still some hot water. Great, the tank hadn't emptied, and fortunately remained warm. We told our second guest, "you use the shower, but not too much, make sure there's some water left for Sunday." We rinsed dishes in cold water and piled them up in the sink for a proper washing on Monday.
Our guest had enough hot water for a shower Saturday night and even for Sunday morning!
Monday morning, I stayed home to wait for the gas company engineer to turn on the gas and relight the pilots. It's an understatement to say that I was ready for a shower. Around 10:30, he shows up and asks me which appliances he needs to address. "The stove, the dryer, the hot water heater ..." and so on. He wanders around the house a bit to start on the appliances, comes back and says, "You do realize your hot water heater runs on electricity, right?"
Usually this doesn't amount to much, but on Thursday, my wife came home to find out that our gas had been turned off. OK, no big deal. So Friday morning, I walk over to the gas company office, (which, conveniently, is directly across the street from my office) and paid the bill. A subsequent phone call to the office was all I needed to arrange to have the gas turned back on, but nobody would come by until Monday. So I showered that morning in the office (which is not as bad an experience as you might expect) and figured I'd get by for the rest of the weekend. Beth was happy with this, it meant we had no reason to eat at home. All our meals would be out. She was unhappy with not having hot water for tea. We couldn't figure out how to get past that. See, we don't own a microwave. I suggested to Beth that maybe it would be OK if we put a mug of water in the toaster oven, but that was met with a ridiculous look.
The problem, though, was that we had a house guest that night. So I called her and told her, "Hey, you can stay over, but uh ... see ... we have no hot water. So no shower." Our guest was unfazed: "No problem! I'll still visit and shower when I go home on Saturday." OK, that worked. Saturday morning, we actually went swimming, and there was a shower at the pool. So OK so far. However, last minute, we had a young man stay with us Saturday and Sunday night.
We checked the faucets. There was still some hot water. Great, the tank hadn't emptied, and fortunately remained warm. We told our second guest, "you use the shower, but not too much, make sure there's some water left for Sunday." We rinsed dishes in cold water and piled them up in the sink for a proper washing on Monday.
Our guest had enough hot water for a shower Saturday night and even for Sunday morning!
Monday morning, I stayed home to wait for the gas company engineer to turn on the gas and relight the pilots. It's an understatement to say that I was ready for a shower. Around 10:30, he shows up and asks me which appliances he needs to address. "The stove, the dryer, the hot water heater ..." and so on. He wanders around the house a bit to start on the appliances, comes back and says, "You do realize your hot water heater runs on electricity, right?"
Monday, June 19, 2006
Our Anniversary
In May I attended my first JavaOne conference. It was a wonderful experience and I feel more educated for it. In general I've not attended technical conferences and I am beginning to see them as perfect for where I am in my career.
The nice thing about JavaOne, which I'm sure applies to many other conferences, is that they keep you busy, pretty much all day, from 8AM to Midnight. After a couple of days I was totally exhausted, and I eventually got sick. But this story has nothing to do with that.
The point is, I got to see my good friend Amy. She didn't attend JavaOne, but she lives in San Francisco and there was no way I was going to miss visiting her. But I was so tired, so utterly exhausted from the conference that it was hard to find time for her.
Finally, I called her one afternoon. "I'm free this evening. I'd love to meet you somewhere, but if you came to the hotel -- I hear they have a nice restaurant."
Amy was more than willing to travel, and we wound up having a great time.
I asked her how she was. "Great," she said. "Kim and I are celebrating our five-year anniversary."
"No," I said. "You haven't been with Kim for five years, you've been with her for six."
Amy disagreed. "No. It's been five years."
I persisted. "No. It's six. Right? Cause you got together with Kim just shortly after I started dating Beth, and that was six years ago. In fact, today is the anniversary of our first date."
Amy said, "No... wait. Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. It's six years. Beth and I are six years, so you and Kim are six years."
"Wow," said Amy.
"Right. Because Beth and I met in 2000, and ... so that's ... no ... wait ... we met in 2001 ... it's not six ... OH NO!"
Amy said, "What?"
I covered my face with my hands, "Oh, man!"
"What?" said Amy.
So I told Amy, "Oh, man, I can't believe it. See, OK. A couple of weeks ago, Beth was lying on the bed, and I told her, I said 'Beth, you know what I just realized? You're going to be in Montreal during the anniversary of our first date, and I'm going to be in San Francisco, so we're going to miss it.'"
'Aww...' said Beth.
'Yeah,' I said. Then I paused to lay my trap. 'Can you believe we've been together for four years?'
Beth said, 'Wow. I can't believe it was that long.'
Now I had her trapped, so I said, triumphantly, 'You big dummy! I can't believe you don't remember! It hasn't been four years, it's SIX!'"
The nice thing about JavaOne, which I'm sure applies to many other conferences, is that they keep you busy, pretty much all day, from 8AM to Midnight. After a couple of days I was totally exhausted, and I eventually got sick. But this story has nothing to do with that.
The point is, I got to see my good friend Amy. She didn't attend JavaOne, but she lives in San Francisco and there was no way I was going to miss visiting her. But I was so tired, so utterly exhausted from the conference that it was hard to find time for her.
Finally, I called her one afternoon. "I'm free this evening. I'd love to meet you somewhere, but if you came to the hotel -- I hear they have a nice restaurant."
Amy was more than willing to travel, and we wound up having a great time.
I asked her how she was. "Great," she said. "Kim and I are celebrating our five-year anniversary."
"No," I said. "You haven't been with Kim for five years, you've been with her for six."
Amy disagreed. "No. It's been five years."
I persisted. "No. It's six. Right? Cause you got together with Kim just shortly after I started dating Beth, and that was six years ago. In fact, today is the anniversary of our first date."
Amy said, "No... wait. Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. It's six years. Beth and I are six years, so you and Kim are six years."
"Wow," said Amy.
"Right. Because Beth and I met in 2000, and ... so that's ... no ... wait ... we met in 2001 ... it's not six ... OH NO!"
Amy said, "What?"
I covered my face with my hands, "Oh, man!"
"What?" said Amy.
So I told Amy, "Oh, man, I can't believe it. See, OK. A couple of weeks ago, Beth was lying on the bed, and I told her, I said 'Beth, you know what I just realized? You're going to be in Montreal during the anniversary of our first date, and I'm going to be in San Francisco, so we're going to miss it.'"
'Aww...' said Beth.
'Yeah,' I said. Then I paused to lay my trap. 'Can you believe we've been together for four years?'
Beth said, 'Wow. I can't believe it was that long.'
Now I had her trapped, so I said, triumphantly, 'You big dummy! I can't believe you don't remember! It hasn't been four years, it's SIX!'"
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Google releases something awesome
Oh, man, have I been wanting to talk about this.
This week some brilliant folks at Google released the Google Web Toolkit. This thing makes me excited to be a programmer again. Let's face it, writing Java that turns into JavaScript and HTML? That's wonderful. I don't know really know HTML (does anybody really know HTML?) and I surely know less JavaScript, but I do know Java, so when I saw the Web Toolkit released internally as a beta, I gave it a try.
The first time I wrote a piece of code that both displayed on a browser, and ran through the Eclipse debugger, I saw the magic. Then I showed it to people in my office. Several times. Anytime someone asked. They, too, saw that it was 'magical.' There's potential in this tool, and, I can't wait to discover what people will do with it.
Then I started working on it. With all my free time. My wife misses me. I've written some sample applications, for my own edification, and to help the team find bugs, both in the implementation and documentation.
Monday, May 01, 2006
More at the Correspondents Dinner: George W. Bush
To be fair, George Bush was fairly self-deprecating, and kinda funny. His presentation was also on YouTube as a single ten-minute presentation.
I've thought a bit more about the two presentations. Bush clearly got more laughs, and was willing to make fun of his foibles and those of his administration ('I survived the White House shakeup!') while Colbert really did meet much more dead response. I think Colbert had a difficult job: balancing the character he portrayed on the show with presenting to the attendees, a very specific audience. His routine was wrong for the audience to which he presented. I sure didn't laugh very much either, as I was sort of stunned with his jokes, which *were* funny, but impressively scathing. I applaud his choices, and hope he doesn't find himself on the unemployment line like Bill Maher and Phil Donahue. Maybe they'll just demote him back to working with Jon.
I've thought a bit more about the two presentations. Bush clearly got more laughs, and was willing to make fun of his foibles and those of his administration ('I survived the White House shakeup!') while Colbert really did meet much more dead response. I think Colbert had a difficult job: balancing the character he portrayed on the show with presenting to the attendees, a very specific audience. His routine was wrong for the audience to which he presented. I sure didn't laugh very much either, as I was sort of stunned with his jokes, which *were* funny, but impressively scathing. I applaud his choices, and hope he doesn't find himself on the unemployment line like Bill Maher and Phil Donahue. Maybe they'll just demote him back to working with Jon.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents Dinner
Many of you are already aware of the speech given by Stephen Colbert (of the Colbert Report) at the White House Correspondents Dinner. If you haven't seen it, it's a bistering attack, primarily pointed at President Bush and the White House, pretty much right in the president's face.
Stephen Colbert's presentation can be seen in three parts on You Tube:
I made a point of writing to Comedy Central to congratulate Stephen Colbert for his bold presentation, and suggest people do the same. The more positive responses Comedy Central receives, the less likely Colbert receives any sort of punishment, public or private. Here's what I wrote:
Stephen Colbert's presentation can be seen in three parts on You Tube:
I made a point of writing to Comedy Central to congratulate Stephen Colbert for his bold presentation, and suggest people do the same. The more positive responses Comedy Central receives, the less likely Colbert receives any sort of punishment, public or private. Here's what I wrote:
OK, this is not his show, per se, but Congratulations to Stephen for refusing to pull punches at the Correspondents Dinner. Our first amendment is one of the few things keeping the ideals of this country together, and the ability for Stephen to make his statements, farcical they may be, allows people to consider the benefit of public contrary opinion. Thank you, Stephen, for what I presume will be your last presentation at the Correspondents Dinner. *sigh*If you would like to make a comment that Comedy Central receives, I recommend you use their Comment Form.
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