Author: Mark Alexander

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Mercury, Bitches!

The entire surface of planet Mercury has been mapped. Detailed observations of the innermost planet’s surprising crust have been ongoing since the robotic MESSENGER spacecraft first passed Mercury in 2008 and began orbiting in 2011. Previously, much of the Mercury’s surface was unknown as it is too far for Earth-bound telescopes to see clearly. The above video is a compilation of thousands of images of Mercury rendered in exaggerated colors to better contrast different surface features. Visible are rays emanating from a northern impact that stretch across much of the planet, while about half-way through the video the light colored Caloris Basin–an ancient impact feature that filled with lava–rotates into view. MESSENGER has now successfully completed its primary and first extended missions.

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Mavericks?!?

Work thankfully wasn’t terribly busy today, so I—along with probably every other Apple-lovin’ geek on the planet who was able to—watched the live feed of Apple’s WWDC keynote today. And like everyone else who saw it, I have a few opinions that—since this is my blog and I’ll write what I damn well please—you can take or leave as you want.

OS X 10.9

Mavericks? Really? I lived in northern California—on the coast, no less—for sixteen years and never even heard of Mavericks. Apple, you couldn’t have come up with just one more cat name before moving on to OS XI? In my opinion, that was just plain stupid, considering 10.9 doesn’t appear so radically different from 10.8 that it would justify a whole new naming convention. I think you jumped the gun here, guys.

I was secretly hoping that when Craig Federighi took the stage he’d look at the crowd and say, “I know a lot of you will be disappointed, but there will be no OS X 10.9.” After the huge  sigh of disappointment from the audience died down, he’d smile,  point his clicker at the screen and say, “Say hello to OS XI!” And then unveil the most amazingly redesigned OS since X itself appeared—and only then with a new naming convention in place. That would’ve been the Apple I’ve come to know and love.

Sadly that didn’t happen. I guess we’ll will have to wait until next year.

Needless to say, I was underwhelmed by 10.9. Yeah, there are a couple new features (including much-improved power management) that I’ll undoubtedly find useful, but on the whole the presentation was a major snooze-fest.

Will I upgrade? Duh!—if only for the better power management.

Mac Pro

“Can’t innovate any more, my ass!” ~ Phil Schiller

Amazing. Beautiful. I couldn’t decide if it was plucked from the core of a crashed UFO or if it’s a Cray Mini-Me. Once again, Apple does what Apple does best and it sort of made up for Maverick. I applaud their vision. But with the overall downturn in desktop PC sales, is anyone paying attention? Will the new Pro be a smashing success? Only time will tell—as evidenced by how quickly the cheap self-destructing knock-offs appear on the market running Windoze 8.

iOS7

I love my iPhone. I love my iPad. But like many have said lately, let’s face it—the OS that runs those amazing devices is looking a little long in the tooth. While iOS7’s fresh coat of paint—while undeniably beautiful—is less than the wholesale reimaging I was expecting, but the new feature set is everything I’d hoped for. I’ll be upgrading my devices the moment it’s available.

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Spidey Sense

In the last week I’ve had two phone interviews for two different jobs. The first was one a bust almost from the beginning. I knew going in that it was for only a short-term (3 month) contract with no possibility of going permanent, but at this point I’m so fed up with the situation where I’m at now even that would be a relief. Unfortunately, while the interview went well, the person I was speaking with told me she couldn’t even guarantee six weeks, much less three months; something that came to a complete surprise to the recruiter who put us together. I politely thanked her for her time and told her I this really wasn’t what I was looking for. 3 months I could live with. Half that? Not so much.

The other interview—just this morning, for a six-month contract-to-hire—went very well. I had all the “right” answers to his questions, and the technical aspects of the job sounded like exactly what I was looking for. He suggested I stop by this afternoon to meet in person and tour of the facility. My little heart went pitter-patter. Would this be one of those “kismet” interviews?

The answer to that would be no. Almost from from the moment I arrived, my spidey sense started tingling—and not in a good way. And it only got worse. The guy I interviewed with—my would-be future supervisor—was nice enough and I could tell I’d really enjoy working with him—but he wouldn’t be on site. He’s based in Salt Lake City.

And that brings me to the biggest reason I quickly decided I didn’t want to work there: I would be one half of only a two-man on-site team—pretty much the same thing I’ve got going on now (at least when we have an I.T. Director) but with twice as many users as I currently support. Secondly, the rest of the I.T. department is spread out across other cities, so there isn’t going to be a whole lot of bonding going on there. Maybe this is a trend; I know we were moving in that direction at my last job in Phoenix, but it was only implemented long after I’d departed. And lastly, it took only a few minutes in the building to remember why I turned down so many offers from investment bankers during the 90s; the atmosphere—even though this place was brand new—was just plain skeevy.

Being a responsible self-starter, I certainly enjoy the freedom that the situation of being more-or-less alone and unsupervised would have provided, but I what I really want (and miss) is what I had at my last job in Arizona; I want to once again be part of a bigger work “family”—one that’s linked by more than telephone and video conferences.

I know my ideal job in Denver is still out there, it’s just a matter of time before it shows up. It has been my experience that whenever I’ve moved to a new city, the first job I land there is only a stepping stone; something to simply get me settled. It’s the second job that always seems to turn into something magical—and while I am rather disappointed at the turn of events, I can say unequivocally that the position I interviewed for today wasn’t that job.

When we moved to Denver, I was dead-set against going back into supporting a hospital environment, but now that I’ve been away from it for almost four years (I worked at my company’s insurance division for 18 months before leaving Phoenix), I think I might actually be ready to return, and I told the Universe as much. The last time I told the Universe I was ready for something, Ben appeared. We’ll see if it’s still listening…

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Every time…

…I have to unbox some cheap-ass piece of black plastic Dell crap at work, I come to appreciate Apple and its aesthetic, quality, engineering, and packaging all the more.

 

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CHRISTINA!

Bring me the laundry basket!*

*This phrase grew from the infamous line in Mommie Dearest where Joan yells, “Christina! Bring me the axe!” into something my last housemate in San Francisco and I used to say to each other when we ran across a picture of some hot guy. It started out as “Bring me a sock!” [to jerk off in], but if the guy was super hot it became into “Bring me the laundry basket [full of socks]!”

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A Question for My Denver Area Readers

One of the things I miss most about Phoenix are the healthcare providers I had there. My Primary Care guy was amazing. My Ear-Nose-Throat physician was supposedly one of the best in the valley. My eye doctor was outstanding. Heck, I even liked my dentist. And working for the company I did down there, I had the added perk of only a $50 copay to any of our emergency rooms and any procedure I had performed at one of the hospitals didn’t cost me a thing.

Unfortunately, my luck in Denver hasn’t been as good. While my Primary Care physician is decent enough, he’s geographically undesirable. And since he only knows other doctors in his general area, that means anyone else I need to see (like an otolaryngologist for my yearly checkup) is also an hour drive from home. I found a decent eye doctor in Glendale (based on a referral I got through this blog a while back), so I’m hoping I can do the same again for my other providers.

I need a suggestion for a good primary care physician in central Denver/Glendale or the Greenwood Village/Lone Tree/Littleton area. Also a dentist. And if any of you have a therapist you can recommend, that would be great too. (With all that’s happened during the last six months, I’m reaching the point where I think I need to start seeing someone—at least until the mother-in-law moves out.)

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One Of My Favorite

…photos from my dad’s collection of pictures he took during World War 2.

The one in the middle front, and the one in the back about to throw the ball, please.

I remember when I was a kid I used to get all tingly looking at this. Is it any wonder?

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