Harry's Ruminations

I call this blog Harry's Ruminations, because I think alot, and right now, I'm obsessed with how much things suck and how little I can do to stop them from sucking. First, let's get it out of the way: I lost yesterday. I had a good, fun day, but I lost, finishing 3rd out of 6 drivers. Interestingly, all of us were on r-compound tires, so this isn't a bad showing, and I actually lead the class for most of the runs, but I never improved on my 63.7 time, so I got beat by a 62.4 on the last round, then knocked out of 2nd by a 63.4. Anyway, what's really got me down: Work just flat-out sucks. We just went through a round of layoffs (275, prolly closer to 300) and today I heard rumor of a forthcoming 1500 around December. I should be concentrating on my wedding plans, moving my new family to our house, and building a new life, but all I can think of is how crushing work is. Also, the team situation...I just don't know if we're going to make our milestone on...

In 1969, Camille came to Louisiana and killed 250 people. For the last 10 years, they've said the next category 5 hurricane to hit Louisiana will obliterate New Orleans. Tomorrow will likely be that day. MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED. THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE. HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT. AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LI...

Well, morale took a hit, and some managers were somber but I still have a job, and will wonder no longer.

In pre-marital counseling yesterday, I got to face it: I have an obsessive personality. Whether it's grades, music, photography, work, women, autocross, I GET OBSESSED. As with most things, the human fallacy is believing everyone is just like yourself. I realize that most folks are not obsessive, but I am. I not only don't get balance, I barely comprehend how most people achieve it. The closest I can come is imagining most other people have a schedule in their mind of what they're doing at any given moment, and whenever they is over, they drop it (complete or not) and move on the next thing. That would drive me batty, but then, that's the standard workaholic foible: "I'll quit when the work's done " Thing is, the work NEVER gets done.

Today is the day LXK rids itself of 275 people, and at least one of those was my friend. We have a meeting to discuss things @ 3pm. I think me just being here after lunch is a good sign; they were supposed to tell you by noon. 'Course, I was in meetings until 12...

link 220 hp Super tight suspension Limited slip transmission Weighs 2200 lbs (400lbs LESS than the Pup) Carbon-fiber body panels 2000 of 'em worldwide Of course, it'd be difficult to drive a CF car with acrylic windows as a daily driver, but what a MACHINE...would prolly run with a Lotus Elise or a C6 Corvette on a Road Course; just crank in some negative camber. :-)

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Adlphia is been a poop, so I'm hosting these on imageshack (click on each thumbnail for a larger pic) Little Lauren, daughter of David + Anne

... More fun dreams last night. Something about the wedding going wrong and me getting arrested for marrying my cousin...? I mean, I know Bella and I are close, but I'm pretty sure the family tree converges around Adam and Eve, but not before. :-) Anywho...lots of excitement going on: Twenty-six days to the wedding, the MINI's been in the shop for diagnosis and it goes back as soon as parts arrive (burnt-out power-window on driver's side + bad idler pully + serpentine belt), and work's, well, bananas (as ever). On the bright side, beautiful morning with a Fall crispness in the air :-)

Compliments of Fark.com

Yes, Jackson is hell I now have proof.

went on a book-reading bender from 3-8 today and read all of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 600+ pages at a sitting can cause brain warpage, so forgive me if this rambles. Also, this probably has SPOILERS, so don't read on if you want to read the book for yourself. Now in his 6th year at Hogwart's, Harry's moved past pissy adolescence into likeable pre-adulthood. Ron, Hermione, and the other Gryffindors are learning about life and love, all while the wizarding world explodes with death and intrigue as Lord Voldemort reigns again. It's trite, but Rowling has reinvented her character YET AGAIN. The standard, rote stories of the first few books have given way to long narratives, DEEP characterizations, and appropriate twists-and-turns. Now, we see the endgame exposed, the quest required to destroy Voldemort.

Woke-up to the gentle tapping of rain against my window and thought: My Car's outside and the sunroof is up. ...Yup...great... Anyway, I had this freaky dream that I can't quite shake. For some reason, my coworker D flew up to New York City, and I followed him, going to a museum that I couldn't get it because I didn't have any money but "You can get in for free with a ticket to Seattle". It ended up that we hung out in a restaurant in the airport by the subway. I don't remember what we talked about. But, it was a very vivid dream and I have no idea what it means...

I filled-up the MINI for $36.63 this morning...yike On the bright side, my MPG indicator is reading 37.9 currently :D

Results: (lower scores are better) Car# Score Entrants(Driver,Navigator) 4 179 Lo Arnold, Phil Schneider 3 466 Ginny Eager, Robin Murphey 10 780 Judd Campbell, Kelly Campbell 7 1030 ??? 9 1119 Jim Lamb, Lynn Lamb 2 1282 Mark Thomas, Betty Thomas 8 1354 Ken Hold, Ed Howell 6 1362 Chris Davis, Kurt Clayton 1 1532 Grant Goodin, Mark Goodin 5 1800 DNF--Subaru Pics: top: line of porsches: a 914, Gary's 968, and a beautiful 930. bottom: Closeup of the 930 Pic of me at a control with my map, route instructions, and PalmPilot I was using for timing. Winners: (from Left) Lo Arnold + Phil Schneider (1st), Robin Murphey + Ginny Eager (2nd)

Lexington Gas Prices Muhahaha....website for finding cheap gas.

7 hours, 3 beers, 4 Sprites, 2 rounds of Gojo, 1 large pizza, and no busted knuckles later, Joes' maxima has 2 new front struts and a fresh oil change. I think we could do it now in under 3 hours if we had to do it all over again. Joe's upper suspension mount + bushing was making some extreme noises, and since his car has 138k miles on it, he decided he wanted to get some Monroe Sensa-Trac struts, and he asked, "Harold, do you think you want to tackle this?" Thinking to myself, I've wrenched on my Jetta, MINI, GTO, and Big Red, sure...how hard could it be? Well, MacPherson struts are clever if devilishly complex devices, and properly servicing one requires a medieval looking device known as a spring compressor: you see, the strut is a combination of shock (which controls or "damps" the elastic motion of the spring) and the spring, which actually holds up your car off the "unsprung weight" of things like your control arms, wheels, and wheel hu...

If you use Firefox + Gmail, here's a cool extension that adds the 'Delete' button to the gmail interface. link

Stupid quiz of the week: WARNING: There's some VERY obscure stuff on there....

There are few experiences to equal being at work at 8 o'clock at night replying to email from your boss's boss, explaining why your crack team of developers didn't deliver on the function your reported was "done" two days earlier. You know what? I take it back. I'm GLAD I got her fired; we'll be lucky if she's the last, given how cavalier everyone's working these days. So yeah, here we are, knee deep in code, with my normal unitized team, decomposed into two halves, each working on a significant chunk of work. I had a meeting, told them deliver me three things in 4 weeks: Code, Running unit tests @ 80% coverage, and Documentation. Then I went off to put out fires everywhere else, attend meetings, sell my car...you know, team lead stuff. So, I come in Monday, feeling all chipper, and I go around the room. "Yes, good to see you. How was your vacation? Awesome! Well, let's get this over with so I can go and read those journal articles...

I came in #3 overall indexed time at today's event. Unfortunately, Mike took #1. :) Still, a GREAT day autocrossing.

Fired my first person today. Well, I didn't do the firing; my manager did, but she was on my team and I could've made it go either way. If I'd insisted she remain, she'd have still been here, but I didn't. Hence, I fired her. I feel bad about the finality of it, but it needed to happen. She was unprofessional, and a drag on the morale of other members of the team. Still, the associated sob story is rough: Two small kids, her husband is a lout, and she was a very personable likeable woman. However, when it comes right down to it, if you're not producing over a long enough time, something must be done. Yeah, I still feel bad. :-(

MINI UK Announce Factory JCW Option Daddy Like! However, this close to the model changeover, I might wait for the 07 and the factory changes....I'd really like to try that 4-door (rear suicide doors) version

Muhahaha....A new blogger in town. Welcome to the blogosphere, Marshall.

Results: 'H Stock' - Total Entries: 8 Trophies: 3 Car Color Region Tire Brand Times Total 1Tm 024 Janssen, Mike 93 Honda Civic SI Green 45.062+1 44.023 43.382 42.818 42.621 42.621 - 2Tm 12 Bourne, D. Scott 01 Honda Civic EX Silver 45.670 44.251 43.929 42.743 44.235 42.743 0.122 3Tm 14 Combs, Harold 03 Mini Cooper Green 44.762 45.270 44.378 44.497 43.941 43.941 1.198 Mike Jansen wins HS in the car he bought SATURDAY and drove back from DC: 1992 Honda Civic Si Hatchback, with VTEC and only weighin 2300lbs. 127hp, double-wishbone suspension all around. Yikes.

From the GM Fastlane Blog Therefore, we are introducing the 2006 lineup this month with an emphasis on value. We have cut prices on 30 of our 76 models. For instance, the Chevy Silverado Crew Cab was $31,045 in 2005, but the 2006 is priced at $27,990. We are launching new models at prices that are aggressively competitive, such as the Pontiac Solstice at $19,995, when we could sell them all at twice that much this year. Also, we are extending our warranties on certain models and adding former options as standard equipment. Sell things for what they're actually worth, or else your customers are going to just wait for incentives anyway.