digitalMoto.net

As some of you might know I get a reasonable amount of spam. This one came through this morning and made it through my filters. There wasn’t a link, so it must be a test run. Mail servers will usually bounce an email back to the sender when the destination email box doesn’t exist. Spammers can use this as a tool in determining if an address exists. They send one email to a seemingly valid address and another to a known bogus address. If the bogus email gets bounced and the valid one doesn’t then they know the valid address is truly valid. If neither email comes back, then they keep going. After all sending an email has no real cost.

Anyway, here is the content of the spam: Read more…

My contract is ending with my current client. It was supposed to run through Sept 31st, but things are slowing down and my project is at a logical end in about a week.

So.
So?

THat is how consulting works. I make my money and the client has more flexibility. I already looking for my next assignment. I’ve got 2 weeks to finish everything up which is an usually long period of time in this business. Usually it is “You’re done. Pack your stuff. Thanks. See Ya.” This time I have days and I am getting paid while I look for my next assignment.

It you’re a fan of LOng Way Down or adventure motorcycling, you might want to check this out.
On July 31st for one night only, Long Way Down will be shown at select US Theaters.

Link

Driving up the street, I spot Western Seminary (Link) directly in front of my truck and I say…

“Is that where they teach the pedophile priests how to not get caught?”
“Ya know, you can be a truly disagreeable person when you get in these moods?”
“Really? I thought I was stating the obvious.” Read more…

It’s Monday.

It feels like a Monday. Chilly 60 degree, event-less morning commute/ride. Half of a Red Bull sits next to my keyboard as I type. Eyes open but a little unfocused. Read more…

New morning.
New day.
New ideas on yesterday and tomorrow.
New opportunities.
New toy.

Of course, I forgot my cell phone… It truly is a crackberry. Since I have gotten that thing, I have not stopped sending emails, checking maps, making phone calls, playing video games, taking pictures… Pre-Red Bull, I was a complete zombie as I got ready for work today. I was lucid got I saddled up, but not when I walked out of the bedroom this morning.

Anyway.

It was under 60 degrees and overcast when I pulled out of my driveway this morning atop the FJR. The ride to work was mellow and quick. I only waited a one light on my entire ride down Sandy. I had my foot down once on I-84, then speed limit or better the rest of the way through the interchanges, over the bridge, and down I-5 to the office. I’ve even got plenty of fuel for my ride home. Nice.
Read more…

I was swapping funny links with Eddie at the office.

Bambulance
Accident

I had an interview this morning. It went OK. The gig sounds interesting. I could take it or leave it at this point. You might be asking why I have been interviewing, when I actually like my current position. It isn’t the position. It’s my consulting firm. Long story short… I have gotten some legal advice. It would appear that my current employer is breaking Federal and State laws through illegal payroll deductions. I can let it slide or file complaints and possibly a lawsuit. Not fun, but what else should I do? I’ve already tried to address the issue with my firm. They told me I didn’t know what I was talking about.

Maybe this new gig will go or maybe my current client will offer me a permanent position. Either way, I need a new employer.

How do you deal with frustration?

I find that lately I ignore it for the most part. There is so much going on in my life. I have completed a great many changes but so many more still await my attentions.

Changed or altered in the last 2 years: Friends, lovers, employment, programming focus, motorcycles, family, housing, travel modes, pets, food, on and on… Lost. Gained. Sold. Redirected. New addictions. Lost touch and passed into the next realm. I’m tired. Even my now usual two Red Bull breakfast isn’t spinning up my brain as quickly as it once did. Read more…

I went to see The Police on Friday. Yawn. Boring… They just stood there and played. No excitement. No interest. “We’re just here to collect our paychecks.” Read more…

Crackberry:
A new phone is on the way. I ordered a Blackberry Curve (link). I really want a Bold (link), but they are only available on AT&T at the moment. Verizon should be getting them later in the summer, but my existing Sprint PocketPC is 90% dead. Voicemail doesn’t work correctly. I can’t read or send email or send text messages. Read more…

Steve explained this decision matrix to me weeks and weeks ago. It has sat on my white board without much thought or notice until today. I had to clean everything off so that I could work on my plan for getting all of my documentation finished.

Priorities:

1. Important/urgent things. That should be obvious.
2. Important/not urgent. Still with me?
3. Unimportant/not urgent things.

What about Important/Urgent? These are distractions and should be ignored.

Think about it. If it was really important, then it would migrate to the important row. Things that are not important and not urgent are things that you should do as filler when you have free time. Kind of like cleaning off your desk when you have a few minutes late in the day. It needs to get done, at some point in time, but it doesn’t have to be done at any particular moment…

So… I am working on documentation this week. I’ve got a lot of code that needs to be converted, docuemented, blah, blah, installation guides, user guide, deployment guides, operations guides, help files, etc… In my search for better tools I found ‘How to write good’ it provides an invaluably contructive refferance to avoid the status quo for indeciferable documentation as it abounds in the information technology sector of our economy.

And here it is… Read more…

I’m back from another run to Canada. 4 days, 3 nights, one car search at the border… It’s good to get out of town every once in a while. It is good to come home too. Now back to finishing hte move and unpacking everything!

Route