Thursday, August 24, 2006

Best use of a Segway

The Mariners get my vote for best use (and implementation) of a Segway transport.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was Helen and my 7th anniversary, and I've got a hunch it'll be one of our most memorable. Neither of us finds it necessary to go overboard to celebrate special days - birthdays, Valentines Day, anniversaries. We'll go out to a nice dinner or go for drinks, but my feeling is I can choose to make any day a special day, and I don't freak out if people don't make a big deal on my behalf. I'm pretty sure Helen's of the same mindset, so we weren't upset or perturbed when the latest launch was scheduled on the night of our anniversary.

When we entered the Willows campus conference room a little after midnight, our colleagues gave us a round of applause and a hearty chorus of "Happy Anniversary!" J-Fo even brought us an anniversary balloon attached to a bag of candy. It was very sweet. Did I mention the team we work with is simply awesome? They are smart, hard working, dedicated, creative, and generally happy funny people who are passionate about the work but can totally pal around with you. Most of the people on our team are people I'd want to be friends with even if I didn't work with them. They are, without a doubt, the best reason I have to go to work every day.

So this is the way Helen and I spent the night of our 7th anniversary - laughing and working with a bunch of the smartest, nicest people you'd ever find in Redmond on a Tuesday night. For the first couple of hours, while we were waiting for the new code to be installed, we entertained ourselves by watching funny clips, amazing b-ball dunks, and listening to "Working Where The Sun Don't Shine" (The Colorectal Surgeon's Song). Thanks for sharing, Jeff.

As it turned out, the launch didn't go as planned, and night turned into day (look at the window in the 2 pictures at left) as we conducted a rollback.

We were all dead tired as the hours mounted and people fresh from their full night's sleep and morning Starbucks started rolling into the office. A couple of them happened into the conference room, looked at us, and backed out with a "wet puppy" look of sympathy. Or maybe they were just scared of Tish, who for some reason started to transform into the unabomber.
Besides the obviously disappointing failure to launch, there was only one other thing that was amiss - the notable absence of PJ, who had been a fixture at all of our prior launches. This time, PJ was scheduled for the "day shift" covering for all the folks who were on the night shift. With the unforseen problems during rollback, it got late (or early) enough that PJ actually made it in to commiserate with us, and to take over for the deployment team. With the rollback complete, Helen and I headed home to let Jack out and get some rest. I don't know which member of the team was the last to leave, but my bet would be on Oliver.

It may not be most people's idea of a happy anniversary, but I know this is one night I'll look back on with great fondness.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Friends don't let friends watch golf


One of the Senior PGA tour stops takes place right in our neighborhood and residents get free passes to the event, so we walked over to the clubhouse and attended our first ever professional golf event. Let me tell you - as boring as golf is on television, wathing it live is 1000 times more boring. On television they use cutaways and multiple cameras allow you to see the golfers up close and see the concentration on their faces. After the action is over at one hole they can zip you over to another part of the course - editing out the long pauses between shots and the even longer wait while the players are taking their sweet time sauntering down the fairway. These guys may be able to hit the ball 300 yards, but they sure ain't breaking any track records getting to the ball for the next shot. Watching golf live you totally lose the magical benefits of technology and editing which at least has some measure of success in keeping your attention. There's probably a greater difference between golf the television experience and golf live than any sport I can think of. Maybe if it was the regular PGA tour instead of the Legends it might be more exciting.

So the lesson here kids, don't let your pals trick you into going to watch a golf tournament at least until you can officially become a member of AARP. Resist with all your might. Don't let them fool ya with the old "it's more exciting watching them live" or "it's just like going to the Mariner game." But then again, I guess it's still not as bad as getting poked in the eye with a stick. I think.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Bring out the brooms

Over the wall of my Dilbert cubicle today came Heidi's mournful voice, "The Yankees swept!" Her lament wasn't directed at me, but at Jeff - our resident sports fanatic and die-hard Mariner fan. Both native Washingtonians, they have an ingrained hatred of all New York teams, and the Yankees in particular. Of course, I dared not snicker out loud, though I couldn't help breaking out into what must have been an evil grin. Good thing for cubicle walls.

I know I shouldn't revel in the misery of Sawx fans, and I'll probably go to hell, or worse, suffer the wrath of the baseball gods by swallowing a late September collapse of my beloved pinstripers. But I have to share this gem of a blog post I found on www.survivinggrady.com

Here's everything you need to know about yesterday's game in a nutshell: In the bottom of the fourth, down 3-0, we came screaming back with two walks and four straight hits -- one of them a Manny home run -- to take the lead, 4-3. We had the Unit scrambling and in the dugout, you could just see Francona snuggling up to Momentum, slowly but craftily working his hands to the buttons of her blouse. In short, everything starting to look our way. Then Kapler comes up with the bases loaded and a chance to blow it all apart... and meekly grounds into a double play to end the inning. Just like that, Momentum picks up her sweater and pocketbook and heads across the field.

Later, in the top of the sixth, the Yanks loaded the bases on three straight walks, and Jorge Posada stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and a chance to blow it all apart. And he does, smacking a triple to no man's land.

See, that's a big difference. Whenever they needed the big hit, they got it. When we did, we didn't. And it hasn't helped that our pitching has suckled the teat of crudliness for the past three games.

I knew it had the chance to be bad, this series, but I'll be honest -- I didn't expect the schoolyard beat-down that's been going on. This has been an embarassment of epic porportions, punctuated by moments of baseball so profoundly bad, I've been forced to wonder how this team has kept my hopes aloft for the better part of this season. Each subsequent game has brought horrors more ghastly and inexplicable than the previous, to the point that if Abreau and Damon simply drove a pick-up truck around the bases, mowing our players down one-by-one, I probably wouldn't flinch. This is bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad baseball. Giving up 28 walks to one of the most offensively potent line-ups in the game? No soup for you, my friends. No soup for you.

Despite my sudden urge to booze up and riot, I'll keep myself grounded with the thought that if we win the next two games, we'll be only two and a half games behind the Yankees. And we could still -- mathematically if not realistically -- catch 'em.

But, seriously, if Curt coughs up six runs in the first couple innings tonight, I'm gonna have to wash my hands of this series and just put on some porno.

So delicious.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Giddy Up Pinstrippers

When the Red Sox - Yankees series was approaching this weekend, I couldn't have imagined a better outcome than what has transpired so far. The Bombers won both games of a double header on Friday, with prodigal son Johnny Damon returning to torment the Fenway faithful.

Saturday the Yanks followed up Friday's twin killing with another pounding of the Sox. I gleefully imbibed the self torment of Red Sox Nation by reading through a few of the numerous fan blogs.

Just when you didn't think it could get any better, Sunday night the Sox took a 5-3 lead into the 8th inning only to see it wiped out with 2 outs in the 9th on a Derek Jeter flair to right to score Melky Cabrera. Giambi and Posada followed with home runs in the 10th, and Rivera closed the deal on a most excruciating loss. Of course the pennant's not won yet, and you just know it's going to get down to the wire...but it's not a bad time to be a Yankee fan.