dafydd comes up with a fun meme

[unixronin]

This could get interesting....

Invent a memory of me and post it in the comments.  It can be anything you want, so long as it's something that's never happened and reasonably reflects how you think of me.  Then, if you wish, post this to your journal and see what people would like to remember of you, only the universe failed to cooperate in making it happen so they had to make it up instead.

Comments

(Bah! Entirely up to me, he says.)

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

Hawaii. Going coffee tasting. Picking fresh pineapple. Snorkling with the tropical fishies. Hiking. Horseback riding. Looking for jobs and real estate while we were over there.

Re: (Bah! Entirely up to me, he says.)

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Most or all of that could probably be arranged, once we have money again ....

(Money? What's that?)

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

Okay.... so do we take smalls or leave them with someone?

(Money is one of those ineffable things.)

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I guess we'd have to figure that out at the time.

[smileswhf.livejournal.com]

I remember the time that you were working on the mars pathfinder mission at JPL. You wrote some code to make the rover in the test bed go around in circles "chasing its tail." We all thought it was really funny until that total moron in configuration management thought that the code was real and put it under change control as part of the delivered system. It was pretty embarrasing sitting in the change control meeting and having to explain to Tony (the project manager) why the code needed to be backed out (although just between you and me, I think he got a kick out of it).

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Damn, you have me dead to rights on that one. :) I think we'll stop short of "roll over and play dead", though.... :)

[smileswhf.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you like it. I was thinking a couple of weeks back that you might enjoy working at JPL, you know, if you didn't have a 2000 mile commute. It's a pity the meme has taken off. I'm in the groove and ready to write fake memories for all my friends.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Commute? Hey, if I could get a job at JPL, we'd just move. Yes, even back to California.

(Not that I don't like the state .... its the loony laws and the crack-smoking politicians. Oh, and the cost of living.)

[smileswhf.livejournal.com]

Hey! Arnie is a republican. We all know that republicans are strictly into pharmaceutical abuse and don't smoke crack. I'll grant you the cost of living one. It pretty much bites. But I like the loony laws. I mean if you can't play with your government, what good is it? If you ever read the book Friday by Robert Heinlein, he characterizes "new california" as a place where there is an election and a lottery every day. I think he was pretty much on the mark with that one ;)

If you are serious about a job at JPL, wander over to jjwright55 and chat with Jesse. He would be one of the best people to start passing around your resume. JPL often has software development openings when no one else does. They have an insanely long hiring process so most people have other jobs by the time they get an offer out.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

How's the Governator working out so far, from an in-state geek perspective? Surely he's got to be better than Davis.

Actually, in many cases it's not so much that the laws themselves are inherently loony, as that the police and Justice Department interpretation of them is so inconsistent and erratic (and frequently in blatant disregard of the actual law).


How long does JPL's hiring process tend to be? I almost got hired at NASA earlier this year, but they redefined the position and then went with a different candidate.

[smileswhf.livejournal.com]

It's hard to say how Arnie is working out. There were a couple of big blips right around election day and then everything quieted down again. I think he has done a couple of things right in terms of stabalizing the budget situation. When it comes to social issues I think he is more inclined to duck and run. He's not socially all that conservative himself, but he can't blow of the conservative backing that helped get him into office. Duck and Run is really ok. I mean, the governor's office in california really doesn't have much control on the social politics. Our legislature is very active on the social scene. It was pretty funny when the Mayor of S.F. was handing out marriage licenses to gay couples. Arnie came out with his "I'm against gay marriage, blah, blah, blah" and everyone ignored him. As for Davis, I never had a problem with him. I think his biggest flaw was that you never got a sense that he was a forceful personality. I can't say the same about the Lt. Gov. (Cruz Bustamante). That guy is just icky.

As for the loony laws, you're right about enforcement at the local level. I have an abiding hate for the LA Sheriffs because they are so good at enforcing the law as they think it should be and not as it is. At the higher court level we do better. I know that in the federal courts the 9th circuit is universally dissed but it's not because their reasoning isn't sound. It turns out that a fair amount of legal change starts in california and migrates east. The one area in which I think ca has really screwed up on that is tort law. We have created way too much bad precedence of people recovering damages when they should not have. Which is making me think about that article you posted today and the part where in New Zealand they got rid of driver's license renewals. That would so never work here. If you have a crappy driving record, they do in fact make you retake the written and the driving tests. Given how many people we have on the road and how many of those people don't come from here, abolishing the license renewal checks would be a bad thing.

Re jobs at JPL. JPL is run by caltech and has it's own way of doing things that are different from the other nasa sites. How long it takes depends on whether you are a contractor or JPL direct. If you come in through a contractor, you can get hired within a week. You can search for those jobs on the message boards pretty easily by putting JPL in with your keywords. JPL direct jobs have to go through jpl procurement which can take weeks. Last I heard they had overhauled procurement to get it down to 2-3 weeks to get an offer out. Used to be 6-8 or more. I was poking around a bit today and there wasn't a huge amount out there but there were a few openings. here is one that looked interesting: http://jobsearch.monster.com/getjob.asp?JobID=20535683&AVSDM=2004%2D04%2D14+10%3A32%3A45&Logo=1&col=dltci&cy=US&brd=1%2C1862%2C1863&lid=348&fn=&q=JPL
Unfortunately, jobs openings are directly related to project life cycles so it matters very much when new projects are starting.

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

Hey, if you can get him an interview at JPL I'm certain he could probably swing getting the job. And it wouldn't be that far from my uncle Leo and his wife, Aunt Fumiko, is a realtor so we could probably find housing there fairly easily.

[smileswhf.livejournal.com]

Damn, if I'd known this before I would have put the word out. Better late than never I guess. Although the "find housing there pretty easily" might be overly optimistic if you were thinking "buy" instead of "rent." The housing market in this area has been insane for more than 2 years now. I keep asking "Am I the only one who remembers the early 90's when the market crashed?" Unfortunately for me the answer is yes. I've been looking for a house to buy since the beginning of the year. It's pretty discouraging.

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

Oh well, I thought we had spread the word far and wide.

I don't wish to buy a house in CA anymore but would like to rent.

What about

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

the time you were doing some repairs on your house and found the really strange series of things in a box in the chimney? As I recall, there were four unmatched slippers--a child's, a woman's and two men's, a bottle full of dried primrose blossoms, and two cardboard pillboxes full of Dr. Purbright's Unmatched Fantod Remedy. I think you were talking about either donating the stuff to the Smithsonian or selling it on e-Bay. I never found out what you decided to do with it.

Re: What about

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I came up with something better than either -- I took a tour of the Winchester Mystery House and planted it all in odd locations around the place as I went through. Last I knew, the docents still hadn't figured out it wasn't original -- and I left the Dr. Purbrights in blatant plain sight. :)