Speaking of Public Urination...

I don't think I'm a cynic when it comes to children. I LOVE children...especially when they belong to other people. But I did grow up with 4 siblings, only to inherit another 3 in my teens, and don't even get me started about all the nieces and nephews. So, with all that child-exposure I maintain that I'm a realist, not a cynic.

And I've witnessed firsthand the sleepless nights, excessive and projectile bodily fluids, and tyrannical tantrums. Not to mention the stories I've heard about my own horrid behavior as a young-ling. Do I think people should procreate; absolutely, with a few conditions and for the right reasons.

1. It should in no way be a reflection of the perceived 'next phase' of one's life - that's just societal pressure disguised as natural priorities.
2. Financial stability is a must. I'm not talking Trump-dom here, but a potential college fund would be a step in the right direction.
3. While one's desire to have a child is almost certainly some incarnation of one's love for their significant other/spouse; it's important to realize that a child can only make a bad relationship worse.
4. Potential parents should wholly and thoroughly understand that bearing children will completely change and altogether ruin their lives forever - in a good way.
^_^

Re: The Top 10 Dead (or Dying) Computer Skills

The Top 10 Dead (or Dying) Computer Skills What this article should really be called is: "If You Don't Already Know This Stuff, Don't Bother Learning It"

I don't believe one's livelihood is in jeopardy who possesses [most of] these skills, quite the contrary. Due to the once severe popularity of some of the listed technologies and the potential decline of compatible software/hardware, there will be a multitude of clients requiring the conversion of legacy code.

There is a significant delay between the time a technology is deemed 'on the way out' and the time it actually exits the industry. I myself spent 3 days of last week enhancing and debugging a web page written in Perl with a Microsoft Access back-end database; it sucked.

The volatile nature of this industry simply requires that those who wish to remain necessary within it, never stop learning. My limited experience within this industry so far has led me to believe there's no sure-fire recipe for learning the most coveted technologies so that you can excel the fastest and earn the most. The key is learning as much as you can as often as you can; whether it's proprietary Microsoft technology, open-source free ware, architecture concepts, or best database practices, etc. You can never have too much knowledge. The more knowledge you have to draw on, the more tasks you'll be able to tackle and the more employers you'll be appealing to. And the odds are, you will draw upon all of it at some point.

There's No Junk in My Trunk (somebody stole it).

WANTED:
Trunk Monkey; must be rabid and carnivorous.

So for anyone who doesn't already know, I recently had my work laptop and purse stolen from the trunk of my car while it was parked about 10 feet from the floor to ceiling windows that line the front of my gym. After doing a little research regarding the technology (or lack thereof) surrounding automobile alarms and the inexpensive yet effective devices available to would-be thieves; I thought I would share my newfound knowledge with my fellow seekers-of-knowledge, and the people who read my blog.

Check out this URL, and do a search for the phrase "Car Alarm Code Finder" (BTW, you'll find lots of other nifty little [criminally negligent] devices on this site, too). For the bargain price of $150.00 I can be the next proud owner of a device which, not only will record the encryption key used to disarm and unlock a vehicle within a 100+ foot distance for later retrieval (like...oh, say when I return to the gym at the same time the next day), but will also traverse all possible encryption key combinations for most standard, factory installed alarm systems within approximately 10-20 minutes.

In other words, somebody casually walked up to my car, hit a button; simultaneously disarming my alarm and opening my trunk, grabbed my crap out of it, closed the trunk and walked quietly away. The mystery of how a person silently and unobtrusively entered my trunk, which contains no external access points of any kind, and afterwards showed no visible damage, while in front of literally a crowd of people is suddenly solved.

The moral of the story is, it's way easier than you could ever imagine to not only access your car, but also to steal it, so don't leave anything of value in it and don't get too attached to it.

Related Links:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/car-alarm6.htm

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back!!!

First impressions? Well, the page templates are nice, but there's no Microsoft Sans Serif font option; I don't mean to be a sellout, but it's a very crisp, clean, yet genuine font if I've ever seen one (seriously, try it out sometime in Word). On the flip-side it is a free blog which took me approximately .36 minutes to set up and I am a sucker for efficiency and intuitive procedures. Anyhoo, onto the blog-licious-ness....

You know how when you're in that second semester of your senior year in high school, talking to the career counselor(s) and they insist you need to find a job, nay a career, which not only stimulates and challenges you, but also represents a natural talent you've never had to work to foster. It's a task you'd be performing whether someone paid you for it or not. Yea...I never, ever bought that crap. I knew those were the people who, though fulfilled and probably much less sleep deprived, would likely struggle to earn a living or even to find work in a fiercely competitive market. I, on the other hand, decided to make the primary subject(s) of my career decision; market demand and monetary potential versus educational investment. Hence, I become a computer scientist.

That's right...I spent more all nighters in the computer lab than I care to count, bribed more TA's than I care to remember, and performed more sexual favors than.... well you get the idea. Anyhoo, here I am; approximately a year and a half following my college graduation with approximately 3.5 years (or 5 if you're reading my resume) of industry experience under my belt and I'm feeling a little lost. I have spent the last 10 or so years very successfully convinced that one's career needs only one simple ingredient: challenge.

There's no question computer science has provided challenge; not so much just a challenge of pure intellect, but also strict discipline and die-hard perseverance. Yet, here I sit, a mere 10 hours away from another stimulating 8.5 hour day of coding problems, solutions, and creation; somehow wishing I could wake and do something else. What else; I'm not sure.

Now maybe it's just that second glass of wine I had with dinner or maybe it's because I've watched Office Space twice this week, but I'm not so sure anymore that challenge alone is enough to vocationally fulfill me for a large portion of my life.

There were 'tasks' I performed as a child that nobody ever had to ask me to do. On the contrary I often had to ask or beg my parents to be given the resources/time to perform such 'tasks'. Such items included (but were not limited to); creative writing, fictional reading, cooking, riding horses, and dancing (mostly ballet).

Could I potentially have made a lucrative career out of one of those items? With a lot of commitment, hard work, and support; maybe. Did I miss the mark in my career discrimination? Should I have chosen a task that I have genuinely always enjoyed rather than just something I happen to be good at? Maybe.