The Life and Times of Jim
Hi, there. I'm Jim. Welcome to my phlog!
This site was written for Las Vegas, then LouisVille. Now, it seems to be about anywhere. In these phlogs, you'll see a lot of my personal notes and pictures. I like to post my observations here to remember life and celebrate it. I'm not religious. I don't pray for good fortune. I'm ecstatically grateful for the gift of life and I think our time should be remembered and not taken for granted. I'm not a writer. I think pictures tell stories so much better than words. I love just about everything in this life, and, I guess that would have to include you. So, if you've seen me, don't be surprised if your picture is in here somewhere. Of all the critters, people are absolutely the most interesting. 
<< 11/2004 < 11/2005 Calendar 12/2005 > 11/2006 >>Sign InView Other Logs
Sat 
11/26/2005 09:00:46
 Jim  About this site
It's coded for Internet Explorer users. Netscape doesn't work well and until Microsoft and Netscape can get together on standards, I see no reason to keep up with them. I want to finish this project and be done with it, and not have to update this site everytime they come up with a new release.
SO THERE!!!
Fri 
11/25/2005 21:25:50
 Jim  Exactly what is a pussy cat?
It defies definition. Which came first? The pussy or the cat?
Wed 
11/23/2005 04:38:17
 Jim  What motivates me is this, there’s one last thing
I could have retired. I could have wasted the rest of my life. I could have been out of the rat race.
There is something I'm supposed to accomplish. MY GOD told me this.
My god is nature, and nature doesn't speak English.


Nature makes you hungry, makes you have children and then protect them, all without words.
Nature's told me there's something I'm supposed to do, in the form of an instinctive feeling. I'll know when I've done it.
Then I can fade away. I give my body perhaps 10 more years.
Whatever is going to happen, it'll happen in the next couple of years.
It won't be me doing it though. It'll be nature doing it through me. I'll just doing what I've been told to do.
Maybe it's my destiny to save someone's life, I don't know yet.
Hopefully, I won't be a pawn anymore in ending other people's lives. I hate being the messenger of death.
For some reason, I've been given the understanding of what life is and why we are here.
But I can't share it with anyone, simply because, they just can't see it. You have to know it.
You have to listen to the god that created every cell in your body.
And God doesn't speak English.
I still don't understand why people don't marvel at a blade of grass.
I saw that it was a miracle when I was a child. Why would god have to do a magic show better than that?
We all have been risen from the dead. Why is that so hard for people to see?
Wed 
11/23/2005 04:17:37
 Jim  I talked to my Dad, and Mikey yesterday.
They both left me with a negative feeling about myself.
Dad, once again, compared me to the person whose roof he lives under.
His wife's son is a computer professional. According to Dad, he gets contracts all of the time.
So, what's wrong with me.
I could try to tell Dad that I'm not a coder, I'm a designer.
My goal is to create a product that doesn't need my high rates, or a high level of competency to maintain.
If I get contracted to write a report on a system, it won't be just a report.
It'll be the most efficiently written report in the entire system. It will be the best report they have.
I would consider part of my job to be writing a report in such a way, that a 6th grader could modify it.
I could write code that only I could modify. I could even write code with hidden bugs in it.
But that's not my style. I don't want to make a living off of a set of programs.
If his wife's son is always getting contracts to make updates on the same set of programs, it's probably crappy code.
He's making a living off of being sloppy. His code is unmaintainable by anyone else.
My legacy to Las Vegas is a series of Tandems that sit in the basement somewhere.
One person updates it. He does't need any eduction. He runs a menu.
There is no programming expertise needed to maintain it.
I talked to Mikey. He said talked to Kevin.
Kevin told me there wouldn't be anything out there until after the holidays.
He told Mikey something was coming up in Washington and that they'd be willing to train Java programmers.
I put that together like this, fuck em. I've never used headhunters in the past, except for this one time. I learned their tecniques back in the 70's. I know what they do. I know how to they get jobs for people. It's not rocket science.
But I'm not looking for a job right now.
If I was, I wouldn't be using a headhunter. I'd be using my time to make my own contracts. I'd cut the middle layer of incompetency out of the process. A headhunter, an employment office, a job councellor, none of these people are necessary in obtaining work. If they get in the way, they are useless.
About the Raymond James interview, one more time.
I was glad that I didn't get a job working there. They seemed too slow and too incumbered by unnecessary details to be a place where I could be creative. If I worked like that on this website, I'd be spending most of my time filling out forms I created. On this site, I can create more in one day, than I could in one year working there.
About M2, one more time.
It may be fine, for someone else to sit at a desk, and write code exactly as they had been told to do. To me, doing that would make me unnecessary for the project. Why wouldn't the person who wrote the code and showed me exactly where to put it, just write the code herself? Billing comes to mind. They need a body to say that they wrote the code, so they can bill for that person's time. In other words, I'd be useless following marching orders like that.
I'd be last chair, last clarinet, in the band. And that is just not my style!


Every day in this life should count. We have 30000 days to live here. We can decide to waste or not waste each day.

Wed 
11/23/2005 03:36:16
 Jim  When you work, work hard. When you play, play hard
That would be my formula for a good life.
I wanted Becky to be involved in the evolution of this website.
We went to Walmart and bought some cheap desks. Now they are sitting side by side in the bedroom.
I want Becky to help me accomplish something cool. Any female can give birth to a child. Thats as natural as breathing.
Very few people give birth to ideas.
She's already helped me bunches and she doesn't even know it.
Becky's biggest contribution to this sites development, is her not understanding how to use it. |
Everyone has talents. I need her talent to finish this site. If this site can be broken, she can show me how.
She'll try to do things on it without reading the instructions. She doesn't see the functionality of this site, she see's the flash and pizazz of it.
Henry Ford was a genius of sorts. I think they called him "The Father of the Assembly Line". 
His accomplishments wasn't so much the Ford vehicle, it was the assembly lines where the Fords were built. To make the assembly more efficient, he didn't study the hardest worked, he studied the laziest one. The laziest people figured out how to do the same amount of work, with the least amount of effort. They thought about what they did.
He turned Mass Production into the science it is today.
Wed 
11/23/2005 03:14:58
 Jim  Fun day. It was full of clashes.
I got irritated at Becky because she didn't seem to know anything much about setting up my website.
I told her we have a choice.
That's to be poor, or not to be poor. The way to be poor was to waste each and every day.
The way to get ahead, is to make each and every day count.
If its spacing out the days until the end that she wants, then we should go into truck driving now.
To me, that is slow suicide.
I want to make each day count. I want to do things most people don't do. I do not want to be normal.
Life is a gift. We have a choice. We can appreciate it, or we can take it for granted.
I think most people take life for granted.
Mon 
11/21/2005 20:43:11
 Jim  I finally returned a Headhunter’s call.
He called last Thursday, when we were on the road. He said, it's the slow season, and not to expect anything until after Thanksgiving, but it seems to me that most people would say, don't expect anything until after the first of the year.
By the first of the year, I won't be looking anymore though. Hmmmm.
Sat 
11/19/2005 11:31:47
 Jim  We drove over 1,000 miles in 2.5 days
I just totalled it up, and that's the bar minimum.
BTW - My F150 gets 15mpg now that I've switched to a 92 octane.
It got 10mpg using 87 octane. I wouldn't have thought a 6% difference in octane would make a 50% difference in MPGs.
Sat 
11/19/2005 11:08:49
 Jim  I may find out who hires for the Starship Cruise L
It seemed to me that I'd be a good fit for one of those boats. I can deal, maintain their systems, and fix things. Everything there was so familiar. I know I could improve their marketting strategy too. The boat had mainly drive bys (like us), and bus people on it. Most of the people their would never be the targets of a Las Vegas casino.
I was dying to fix half the things I saw. I was this || close to fixing one of their toilets
Their slot enrollment wouldn't let you combine points. It couldn't handle joint memberships. Data entry was rough.
Their cruise reservations was clunky. After signing someone up, you had to search for their name in the database and pull up a change screen to see what you had entered. It looked like a cheesy system.
Sat 
11/19/2005 10:27:44
 Jim  Gambling boats on international waters
We took a 6 hour cruise on a Sterline Lines gambling boat. It had the same set up as any small casino in Las Vegas.
Once you get on the boat, EVERYTHING IS FREE!!!
They had a free buffet, several bars and live entertainment.
We spent most of the trip either on deck or at the Vegas Lounge.
I kept rousting people up, and eventually, we created quite a spectacle.
What a blast. These two, huge, (semi-drunk)  guys (that I activated by clap dancing) ended up taking over the dance joint. The impressionist singer got them, Becky, and three girls to go up and dance for everyone. It was wild!
Becky was 100% darling, dancing in front of the audience.
I love her so much!
Eventually I got up and joined her (slinging my suit around in my hand while toe stepping, haha).
I took a low key in the audience.
I kept letting out ear piercing YEOOWWS while appearing to sip my coffee. Its hilarious!

People kept looking around trying to figure out who was doing it. I was wearing a black suit and drinking coffee, so it couldn't be me...haha...right? Becky and I both did it at one time.
God I love sitting back in a bar and causing crap to happen just by giving people eye contract and facial commands. Several guys came staggering up to my table, giving high fives, saying things like, "you know what's happening, you're one of us".
We had several, semi-deep, conversations with an electrician and a state worker.
The state worker said he loved living in Titusville. Its so far away from the big cities, life was stress free. He works 5x8.
The electrician talked about the cruise, the workers, and his life in the small town.

Sat 
11/19/2005 10:07:13
 Jim  Cocoa Beach
Of all the little beaches we saw, this one just didn't have the touristy quality. Cape Canaveral was just a military block of land, snf Cape Kennedy was hatd to see. I thought it would have had at least on Motel called "I Dream of Jeanee", but, nah.
Sat 
11/19/2005 10:05:00
 Jim  Coming back up from the Keys on Route 1 and I95 wa
There were backups all around Miami. At one point, a power line going across I95 was downed.
I still have to laugh when I see a Route 1 or Interstate 95. It seems every state has one (or two).
Sat 
11/19/2005 09:07:43
 Jim  We returned to the beach (mile marker 73 on Rt 1)
The ocean is so very interesting. 
There was life everywhere you looked in the waters.
Hermit Crabs
Walking into the ocean, I noticed all of the shells moved. Hermit Crabs were everywhere!
They can't make their own shells, so they find an empty shell, crawl into it and call it home.
You can see these shells roam around on the beach. When you pick them up, they snap back into the shell.
Sometimes they'll come out, as if to say, "What The Hell Is Going On Out Here?". They're so funny.
I found this one that was homeless, sitting on a cement block. He couldn't find an unoccupied empty shell, so I scoured around and found him one. They are picky. It has to be just the right size inside.
Horseshoe Crabs
Standing in the warm ocean waters, I noted the sand kept moving under my feet.
So, I eventually bent over to dig up whatever was causing the sand to shift.. It was horseshoe crab.
These guys are about 5 inches long, prejurassic looking, and ugly, but, they are very animated.

Jelly Fish
I kept finding these purple and  pink, geometrically shaped blobs on the beach.
I picked one up and it felt like old jello, then it moved on its own. It was a stranded jelly fish.
Albino Lizards
I went to use the bathroom around 10pm. It was very dark.
Coming up to the bathroom, the building was COVERED with albino lizards.
Cute little fellows! I think they like to hang out around the building because bugs are attracted to the lights.
Blue Crab
Sometime at night, when Becky and I were looking at the ocean while sitting on the tailgate of the truck, I spotted a shadow moving across the beach. I got up and investigated. It was a Blue Crab that was about a foot wide.
I played with the little fellow. He'd get all flustered and stand up raising his big right claw.
Eventually I quit toying with him, and he ran up into the trees.
Possums
Sometime during the AM hours, I saw one scooting across the beach, running along at about 8mph.
Sea Gulls.
I did my little bird training thing, where I toss up a piece of bread and a sea gull catches it in mid air. About 40 sea gulls came around, but only 3 of them got how to play the game. They would go out in a large circular path, then fly by and hover for their chunk of bread. They were the fat ones, har har.
I discovered why the ocean appears light blue in areas.
It's not the clouds like I'd thought. Where the ocean is light blue, the water is only a foot deep.
That means, in these areas, you can walk for miles out into the ocean without getting so much as your knees wet.
What happens after a hurricane hits an area.
People clean house from the floods,and place their junk on the side of the road.
Also, boats wash up to the roadside. The owners either don't want to mess with them or can't afford to have them relocated back into the water, so they become property of Key West. They are free (clear title and all) to whoever wants to haul them away. If a person wanted free boats, cars, or antique furniture, this is the place to go.
I explored a 40' sail boat that was beached.
It had an eight cylinder engine, the sails and most of it was intact. You could tell somebody lived in it, but probably couldn't afford to get it placed back into the water. It was nasty inside. Imagine how a travel trailer would look if it had been turned upside down. Thats what it looked like. It would be a fun to fix something like this up.

Sat 
11/19/2005 09:06:04
 Jim  Florida Keys
 


This tiny tourist island is about 40 square miles in size. Its streets are narrow and are lined with local curio shops and local restaurants. If you wanted to find a chain restaurant or store, you had look for them (but why would you?). 
We finally parked near a marina and walked around with the other tourist. 
Eventually, we ate at an open air restaurant on the pier.

It was nice, and very laid back. It reminded me of a Joe's Crab shack, but had more personality to it. Hundreds of people were eating there, and pigeons kept hanging around our table.
Rental scooters and electric cars are very popular in Key West.
I thought that if someone rented those Segway, two wheeled Human Transporters (stand up electric scooters), they could make a decent living. Probably a $40k investment could get a small rental business started. hmmm.

Sat 
11/19/2005 09:05:23
 Jim  We took off for Miami around 3am. Miami is BIG!
We ended up driving Route 1, by the ocean shore. It took us through downtown.
Miami is crazy, even at that time of night.
I thought that driving through town would be a lot easier at 5am than it would be in the daytime.
It wasn't.
All it took was two insane truckers, trying to merge in to one lane to really muck traffic up for miles.
One couldn't back up, the other couldn't move forward. What a mess!
Staring up at the buildings hurt my neck.
Almost all of them were well of 30 stories high. My GPS quit because it couldn't receive transmissions from the satellites directly above. The buildings blocked the sky!
We left Miami in time to catch the sunrise on Route 1, the entrance to the Florida Keys.


My focus kept drifting into my subconscious and we finally pulled over at a hurricane ridden park.
There, I waved over a Sheriff, for a casual conversation. This guy was GREAT!
He'd done the Florida loop two weeks prior. He knew our route! The only difference was, his started from the Keys and ours started from Orlando. Anywy, he pointed out a beach near mile marker 73 that was on the shore, had a bathroom and a shower, and didn't close. He said that was a great place to catch some ZZZ's. He also had a laptop in his car, hehe, like me!
He said the hurricane from two weeks ago wiped out a lot of the Keys. Everything was a mess. He said the Police Division lost 60 vehicles too! While that sounds pretty incredible, as time went by, I realized he was probably telling the truth
Tue 
11/15/2005 20:30:22
 Jim  Bowling
Becky and I went bowling tonight. I beat her by the way..haha.
I love to people watch at the bowling alleys
The serious people: They look like they made a terrible mistake everytime they don't knock all of the pins down.


The ditsy people: In the lane next to us, a girl was bowling, WHILE TALKING ON HER CELL PHONE!
The coaches: They tell the ditsy people what they are doing wrong.
The fun people: They laugh and shrug their shoulders on every ball.
The social drinkers: They smile and crack jokes after every ball.
The game of bowling can't be conquered by people or machine folks.
The finger holes in the ball and the condition/location of the pins make the game random.

Tue 
11/15/2005 09:48:59
 Jim  I’m taking a Brainbench test for Cobol 74
Tue 
11/15/2005 09:17:02
 Jim  If a person thinks whites are racist,
Try finding a neighborhood in Las Vegas where a black person will be killed, just for being black.
I know, if a white person walks down D street in Las Vegas, he's looking to die.
They'll kill you down there, just because you are a white.
Tue 
11/15/2005 09:13:34
 Jim  That was, um, special Robert..hehe
You must have pasted that in there.

Discrimination is terrible in the United States.
It isn't so much the people as it is the laws enforcing anti-discrimation.
To me, it seems like the White Anglo-Saxon Male (WAM) is the most discrimitated against person in the US today.
Bosses have to keep the door opened these days when talking to an employee. Why? Fear of discrimination law suits.
If you're white and middle class, look out. You probably won't get a grant, a scholarship, or welfare assistance.
However, if you're black and lower class, you should look out. You probably will pay high auto insurance rates.
I've never really looked into it in depth, but I know insurance companies discrimate against sex and race.
I have tried this experiment myself. I got a quote from Allstate, told them I was caucasian and I got a quote.


Then I called again, saying I was black and got a quote. They charged more.
Mon 
11/14/2005 03:57:51
 Jim  Feeling kind of lost
Reloading my laptop has left me with some strange feelings. I keep asking myself "What am I doing?".
There is no right or wrong way to do anything in this life,
and in a sense, the future is as much written as the past.
But still, trapped in the present, I feel like I may be doing the wrong thing.
I wonder what would have happened if we never came here. I wonder what would have happened if I didn't quit M2.
I only proved one thing by quitting M2, which was to myself. 
I won't let anyone demean me for any amount of money. I'll alway choose to keep my integrity intact.
The direction I'm headed doesn't seem to be as clear cut as I'd like it to be.
I'm wondering though the present.
Sun 
11/13/2005 10:58:03
 Jim  That bar was pretty cool, wasn’t it?
It was a sleezy dive, but that's just the way I like em. I still still hear those toasted people laughing...har har.
Daytona could be a blast!

Sun 
11/13/2005 06:43:35
 Jim  We won, we won!!!
Dogs are easy! We bet $8, and won $15.
Greyhounds are some very fast dogs. Its pretty neat.
The gates open, a rabbit goes around the track, and the dogs run after it.
The track people were pretty sleezy though, and the stadium needed quite a few repairs.
Sat 
11/12/2005 16:37:24
 Jim  Spent the day tearing apart one laptop, reloading
Swapping pieces parts, and watching software load up. I hope it'll all be worth it.
We're going to the Dog Races tonight
This should be fun. We'll bring binoculars, Becky with an 8x10, and me with an 10/30x50.
I'll be watching little dog tongues flying around the greyhounds heads. haha
It would have been a lot more fun to go to Miami, but reloading seemed to be more important.

Sat 
11/12/2005 09:31:35
 Jim  Net info
0A0B0C0D0E

Fri 
11/11/2005 15:39:51
 Jim  HP Chat
Sammy: Hello Jim,
Sammy: Welcome to HP Total Care for Pavilion Notebooks. My name is Sammy. How may I help you today?

Jim Cutlar: This my 3rd time back today. I have a HP Pavilion ze4600 Notebook PC (AMD) 
Sammy: I am sorry for the inconvenience caused to you, Jim.
Jim Cutlar: The laptop's monitor started blinking on and off. The dvd's decoder seemed to be having problems. I installed some softpacs from the HP site. Then, after flashing BIOs...it fails to work.
Sammy: Have you flashed the exact BIOS?
Jim Cutlar: I just hooked an external monitor to the laptop. It had no response. The power light is on. The special keys blink.
Jim Cutlar: I believe something may have gone wrong wit the flash. I waited for it to finish for over an hour.
Sammy: Jim, I have just been through your previous chat session.
Sammy: Are you able to download the service manual?
Jim Cutlar: I downloaded it, and read it. From what I read, the chip is not replacable, and may be reflashable.
Jim Cutlar: The laptop won't boot with a USB floppy though.
Jim Cutlar: I started to follow the instructions for removing the motherboard, but, unless I can rejumper it to go back to factory spec, I'm not sure what good that would do.
Sammy: Jim, I suggest you to take the notebook to nearest Authorized Service Provider and have a check by a technician.
Jim Cutlar: That sounds like a great idea. I wonder if there's one in Orlando.
Sammy: Sure, I will help you with this.
Sammy: Could you please give me the zip-code?
Jim Cutlar: 32714
Sammy: Here is the information:

Altamonte Springs CompUSA Superstore (4 Miles)
Store # 607
130 E. Altamonte Drive
Altamonte Springs, FL 32701
Store Hours Mon - Sat: 9am - 9pm | Sun: 11am - 6pm
Phone Numbers Main: (407) 339-8009 Fax: (407) 261-4098
Service Center: (407) 261-4075

Sammy: Orlando CompUSA Superstore (15 Miles)
Store # 309
7802 South Orange Blossom Trail
Orlando, FL 32809
Store Hours Mon - Sat: 9am - 9pm | Sun: 11am - 6pm
Phone Numbers Main: (407) 438-1270 Fax: (407) 852-2298
Service Center: (407) 852-2275

Jim Cutlar: Thank yo very much. I'm worried that I may have invalidated my warrentee. Do you think I did by trying to fix the CDRom problem?
Fri 
11/11/2005 01:14:20
 Jim  Just great! My laptop is toast.
I think its motherboard is fried.
I flashed the bios with what was supposed to be the correct software, and it won't boot now.
Worst thing about it is, I'm not sure who it was purchased from or when. Mikey knows though.
At any rate, I've got to send it in, and I'm on a time schedule. I need to finish this website.
It's amazing, how a simple thing might affect the future.
Thu 
11/10/2005 18:55:36
 Jim  Hey BEckKy...YOoooOOO
How are you? My shifter key is sticking. Finger stikin good. haha.


Wouldn't it be nice if my old buddy Lyle Bell at the Hard Rock Hotel got me in!
He'd be the guy doing the hiring there.
We'll find out next week I guess.

Thu 
11/10/2005 18:26:32
 Jim  Spent the day working on Ad Entries
Not much of a day really. haha
Tue 
11/08/2005 15:47:24
 Jim  You know the year is 2005 when:
1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.
6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.
7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.
8. Leaving the house without your cell phone is cause for panic
10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.
11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )
12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.
13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.
14. You are too busy to notice there was no ..9 on this list.
Tue 
11/08/2005 15:41:38
 Jim  What is love?
Rebecca- age 8: When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.
Billy - age 4: When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.
Karl - age 5: Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne.
Then they go out and smell each other.
Chrissy - age 6: Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.
Terri - age 4: Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.
Danny - age 7: Love is when my mommy makes coffee for daddy and she sips before giving it to him,
to make sure it tastes OK.
Emily - age 8: Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together.
Bobby - age 7 (Wow!): Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.
Nikka - age 6 :If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.
Noelle - age 7: Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.
Tommy - age 6: Love is like a little old man and woman who are still friends even after they know each other so well.

Tue 
11/08/2005 07:30:10
 Jim  With computers, people use jargon to create whole
To use words like OOP in a sentence even sounds stupid.
OOP is not a computer command. Its not a program. Its not a language.
It's a magazine's description for something we've been doing for years.
Just because someone says its new, doesn't make it new. It only makes the word new.
Until this century, Shakespear added more words to the English language than any other entity.
Microsoft and Ibm have more than doubled the number of words in the English Language.
Tue 
11/08/2005 07:22:21
 Jim  I once bought a Ford Probe. The salesman said it h
I asked him if it got better gas milage, or had more horsepower, than a car that didn't have it.
He said no. He'd read about how great it was in a magazine.
OHC meant that the cam is over the engine heads. Ok, so they moved it, um.
Would that make the Probe a car of the future. nah.
It was just jargon.
Mon 
11/07/2005 20:44:00
 Jim  Sometimes I forget to say the important things abo
Robert, what you said earlier was some sweet introspection.
You looked at yourself, at where you are now, and you thought back to where your mom was back then.
Becky got a raw deal. She didn't cause it to happen, and neither did you.
Sometimes, bad things just happen. Getting away from all possible causes is just a logical thing to do.
But if Helen Keller could find happiness being deaf and blind, then all things are possible.
Mon 
11/07/2005 20:08:58
 Jim  We just got back from Tampa.
I thought the interview with Raymond James went well, but I also think I'm great, so, my viewpoint doesn't count.
What I don't understand is this:
St Petersburg is a beautiful, and quite interesting city. The beaches are pure white. The ocean is deep blue to light cyan. The marina's and waterways are everywhere. So, why, did Raymond James decide to build its multiple highrise towers in the middle of an alligator infested swamp? hmmm.
If I get the spot, that'll be great.
If I don't, that'll be fine too, but it would be nice to work for a huge company like Raymond James, just to see what it's like.
This site is almost done. It should be done in a week!
Becky and I will be marketting LVDarlings first, using a modified format of this site.
This site is an experiment and it's odd and goofy.
For example, it's supposed to be about Vegas, but I have Florida ads, and Florida pictures all through it.
Now that's just strange.
What's coming up for this site is the interaction of people using the logs.
It'll be like email, with using email. No spammers will get into here. One of the ways I'll prevent that is to not exept logs from people without cookies.
Mon 
11/07/2005 07:02:30
 Jim  That was nice Robert.
I got all puffy eyed reading it. I'll be going to my interview today with Puffy Eyes because of you...lol.
I touched it up a little (put some periods in it, and fixt sum spelling). haha. I love writing like that.
Becky just asked me what color underwear and socks I wanted to wear.
In my mind, I'm thinking - - - For the interview?

Wow...what a picture my thoughts painted for that! LOL.
She always picks out the clothes I'm going to wear each day. In the moment that she asked that, my mind saw me sitting in front of the interviewers. They're all dressed up, and I'm wearing underwear and socks.
Mon 
11/07/2005 00:27:15
 Jim  This site has turned into a site like no other.
I feel a sense of pride about it. Out of simple thought, I've created something new, that doesn't exist anywhere.
Mon 
11/07/2005 00:23:55
 Jim  After about 3 months of coding on this system
I think I'm almost done. A few things need to be changed for commercial purposes.
The Guest Log needs to have buttons for responding to a Log entry. It will work like Email.


The ad creator will then have a simular button to respond to that person, in their log.
Clicking on an ad's heading needs to create an entry in the Ad creators log, and not go to email.
Also, I need to create a live, working site. I'll probably use LVDarlings.com to that in.

Sun 
11/06/2005 16:54:46
 Jim  Just to clean off my desk
Tuesday at noon - Lunch with Enricci 407-551-1319 or 213-408-0236
Tommorrow at noon - Raymond James interview in Tampa.
Remain calm, if they ask about M2, say:
- M2 wasn't what I was looking for.
- I'm looking for personal growth in a challenging environment.
- I'm also looking for stability and long term employment.
Sun 
11/06/2005 16:49:19
 Jim  I bought a suit (pants to match) at Sears today.
Jimbo, man, you look marveloussss.....lol.
Shoes, suit, pants, and two ties cost $160. That's not a bad price to pay to look snazzy.
We also got a portable Dvd/Cr Reader/Writer.
If I don't back up some of this stuff, I'm going to lose it.
Fri 
11/04/2005 20:47:14
 Jim  We don’t have any problems right now.
Life is good! I've got an interview coming up, and severally really great prospects in mind.
The way i figer it, i kant doo any worsser than wat i jest dun.
Fri 
11/04/2005 20:42:41
 Jim  Right click your desktop
Select Properties, Desktop, and click on something like Autumn. Thats a nice one. In position, select Stretch.

Fri 
11/04/2005 20:19:51
 Jim  Wow...is it just me
Or am I the only person around that's ridden in a laundramat's clothes dryer (on fluff dry of course).
You can't do it on the cotton setting, that would be bad...
lol
Fri 
11/04/2005 20:18:03
 Jim  They were terrible Renee.
I apologized for just about everything I did there.
I'm sorry I came in early. I'm sorry I'm late on this assignment. I'm sorry I turned in my resignation in the afternoon and not in the morning,....on and on.
I bought these guys 2 large pizza's as my going away present to them.
I wanted to see if any of these people had manners enough to come by my cube and say thanks.
One manager thinks eating animal by-products (cheese) is wrong, another doesn't eat pizza, another said "hmmph".
One programmer can't have cheese because of IBS, Mikey is on a diet.
Three programmers came by my cube to say thankyou.
Another programmer called me on my cell phone, and we're doing lunch.
I told two of these people that I'd contact them if something good came up.
The whole time I was there, I met one manager, and we didn't get along.
She cost me $120 too with her complaining. I spent 12 hours on a project and got reprimanded. I didn't bill for the time she complained about. However, this other fellow and I spent more time on a very simular project, and we were told - great job. That was the proof I needed  I was being picked on. , maybe it was because I came in early the first day.
- All of the other managers would walk by me and look away. I noticed they did that to everybody.
I may never know why these people acted the way that they did.
All I know is, I'm glad I'm out of that place.
--- There I go, turning the page, and ending another chapter. We're on to the next chapter in our lives.  ---
Fri 
11/04/2005 19:43:54
 Jim  I talked to my good ol buddy Jerry Newberry today
What a great guy! We think alike. Its nice to talk to a like mind.
I needed to find some kind of solace in my decision. He gave it to me.
He was a Tandem guru since it first came out, so he understood everything I told him.
And it was nice to hear from another developer.
He said he absolutely.hated doing maintenance code.
He did it at Bank of America on Base24.
Same thing I was doing...add a chunk of code, then talk or document it for days.
He said he talked to Kevin McDonald and he's the head of some IT department for BOA.
Good ol Kevin. What a die hard. I should call his butt an give him a hard time.


Hmmmm. Its nice to be known by people in high places.

Fri 
11/04/2005 19:17:25
 Jim  Hey, guys.... :)
You can change what you've typed in by clicking the Blue edit button...
But you have to register and sign in.


You don't have to register every time you come here. But you may have to logon.
Sailing Swans
I quit my job today...so we may be hitting the road soon. If we move to Tampa, we're gonna live on a boat!!!

Fri 
11/04/2005 10:22:46
 Jim  Now this is a test...this is only a test...
I'm buying two large pizza's today for everyone here. I want to see if anyone has enough manners to say thank you.
Fri 
11/04/2005 06:45:12
 Jim  When I think about a job, I think about where I’ll
With this job, I saw myself doing the same thing I was doing on the first day I started:
-  30 minutes: Being told about a line of code they want added
-  10 minutes: Adding that line of code and recompiling.
-360 minutes: testing that line of code


-  25 minutes: documenting it that line of code, in the code (5 lines), in a document, a time sheets and a task list.


-  60 minutes: talking about that line of code, if I did anything other than exactly what I was told to do.
From the times above you can see that one programmer who just coded could replace all of the other programmers.
But, that's what maintenance programmers do, I guess. They don't code, they test and document. Thats messed up.

Development programmers use their time as follows:
- Designing and programming are interactive with the user and takes up about 90% of the time.
- The users are almost always happy to create the documentation. The design specs change in the development cycle.
- It's typical to write several hundred lines of code each day.
I can honestly say I didn't learn anything new in the last month.
If I stayed, I would have learned how to mindlessly write sloppy code. I can't do that. I care about the quality of my work.
The worst thing I saw about this job was: myself slowly going broke with no reputation to show for it.
In programming, if you don't gain new skills, you are almost worthless.
The only way to keep a job without learning new things is to lock yourself in. You can do that working for the government, or some big corporation where noone knows what or how you do what you do.
Usually, the people who have seniority in a programming shop, are the people with the fewest skills.
They haven't learned other ways of doing things, and they usually think their way is the only way.
They almost always say, "Thats not the way we do it here". 
Any programmer who reads this, should realize it is the truth.
Bad coders get promoted, while the good coders move on.
About job recruiters. They're great for when you don't know anyone, and you haven't established a reputation.
However, once you've been at a place for awhile, if you do exceptional work, people will talk about what you've done. When you leave a job, people will call you wanting to hire you. If they don't, then you have either a bad reputation or none.
We all sell ourselves by what we do. If we don't care about what we do, others will see that.
And there was no way I was going to get a good reputation at a place that controlled every thing I did.

Fri 
11/04/2005 05:40:42
 Jim  If I get the job in St Petersburg, Becky and I mig
We talked about that tonight and it sounds like a great idea. They don't cost about as much as an apartment does.
Fri 
11/04/2005 05:23:33
 Jim  For anyone who doesn’t know it yet
Today is my last day on this job.
I told them to Take This Job and Shove It (that's a joke).
No, seriously though, it just wasn't the right spot for me.

Fri 
11/04/2005 04:38:06
 Jim  Oh yea, I forgot to mention this.
What you see, and what we see are different on this site.
The menu's above are almost completely customizable.
You can add menu items and delete them.
I think this is the only site on the whole web that lets you put your favorites online.
And I mentioned about the logs.
The Guest Log is the only log everyone can see, unless they have a link setup.
Right now there's oodles of logs on this site. 


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