So, I changed the width of my blog to 800 pixles. Which is about 140 pixles wider than it was. This allowed for my little Election Results gadget to actually fit in the side bar, and it allows me to just have things look closer to what they look like when I'm writing the blog. In other words, I like it!
Then I put together just a quick little graphic for my logo... Just something I threw together using a script that came with GIMP... you know, That's how I roll!
So... that's what I did. I have an interview tomorrow, wish me luck!
Later,
SteveO
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
A new look, and New Gadgets!
I changed the look of my blog. I was looking at the different templates they have for blogger, and I liked what I saw. I have also come to the conclusion that I want to customize my theme.
So far, my thought is, why re-invent the wheel?
So many themes that are really close to what I wan have been made. The only problem is that there is nobody reading my blog that needs the 800 pixle width. I suppose on my Nokia 770 I can only get that, and cell phones too, but I don't feel a need to market my blog toward the mobile device blog reader (mobders, I coined that term myself.)
So... I downloaded the source code for the templates that Google uses. It's an in-line style sheet, and I guess that is good. I am using the template for what becomes an approach to reverse engineer the data the template is organizing. I guess I haven't been spending much time on that lately. I spent the weekend researching the candidates running for president... and during the week I apply to jobs. My count so far is 59 applications and 24 interviews completed so far. I currently have 1 interview on Thursday and I am waiting to hear about another 2 interviews that I may be able to get by the end of the week. It is a hard job search this time around. I think I may just have to take a technical support job. I have turned a few down already, but I think I might have to stop being picky about what end of the technical industry I work in.
oh well, I guess that is what I get. I just have to keep looking though.
Later,
SteveO
So far, my thought is, why re-invent the wheel?
So many themes that are really close to what I wan have been made. The only problem is that there is nobody reading my blog that needs the 800 pixle width. I suppose on my Nokia 770 I can only get that, and cell phones too, but I don't feel a need to market my blog toward the mobile device blog reader (mobders, I coined that term myself.)
So... I downloaded the source code for the templates that Google uses. It's an in-line style sheet, and I guess that is good. I am using the template for what becomes an approach to reverse engineer the data the template is organizing. I guess I haven't been spending much time on that lately. I spent the weekend researching the candidates running for president... and during the week I apply to jobs. My count so far is 59 applications and 24 interviews completed so far. I currently have 1 interview on Thursday and I am waiting to hear about another 2 interviews that I may be able to get by the end of the week. It is a hard job search this time around. I think I may just have to take a technical support job. I have turned a few down already, but I think I might have to stop being picky about what end of the technical industry I work in.
oh well, I guess that is what I get. I just have to keep looking though.
Later,
SteveO
Monday, February 4, 2008
#1 question for Barack Obama
That's right, Google broke out the hard questions. They came out, and the first interview question they had for Barack Obama was" What is the most efficient way to sort a million 32-bit integers?"
Genius! He also answered with a bubble sort... and said he knew the answer because they have spies... that was funny.
Obama is doing a very good job a winning my vote, but he has not done it yet.
more on that after my Republican review. As for now, I am siding with Obama out of the Democrats.
Later,
SteveO
Genius! He also answered with a bubble sort... and said he knew the answer because they have spies... that was funny.
Obama is doing a very good job a winning my vote, but he has not done it yet.
more on that after my Republican review. As for now, I am siding with Obama out of the Democrats.
Later,
SteveO
Saturday, February 2, 2008
The glory of Craigs List...
Today on Craigslist I found a dog carrier. Normally this sort of thing would be around $90, but I found it for $5! Plus, I can take it on the plane! Jaani likes it, sort of... actually he wants to run free, but he can at least fit in it.
I guess when he sits in it like that it doesn't look like he can fit in there, but when I lie it down (like under the chair of a plane) then he fits fine. I think that for a plane it would work fine.
Well, that's it for now, I am still working on trying to get some good videos for the Republican Candidates. Once I get that done, then I'll post about my opinions there.
On a final note for the day, I finished filing my taxes! With a little luck it will only take about a week for me to get my refund (like last year)... So, I guess that's it.
Later,
SteveO
I guess when he sits in it like that it doesn't look like he can fit in there, but when I lie it down (like under the chair of a plane) then he fits fine. I think that for a plane it would work fine. Well, that's it for now, I am still working on trying to get some good videos for the Republican Candidates. Once I get that done, then I'll post about my opinions there.
On a final note for the day, I finished filing my taxes! With a little luck it will only take about a week for me to get my refund (like last year)... So, I guess that's it.
Later,
SteveO
The Primaries and Caucuses are coming to Washington!
The election year is in full swing, and the candidates are going to be chosen.
First we need to remember what the Primaries and Caucuses are.
The primaries (aka primary elections) are a vote by the people of a local or State government to determine who that state will support for president.
I heard on the news today a definition of a caucus relating it to a colonial town meeting. Where you gather with your neighbours to discuss issues relating to who will run the town. I seemed to like that as a simplified definition... and I like the sound of that.
Finally and probably most important is the purpose for having these two important parts of the election process... I swear I never heard this in school... which is really sad... The results from the caucuses and primaries are used to determine the Democratic and Republican nominees to run for the office of President of the United States of America!
As far as the candidates go, I would like to start by looking at the Democratic candidates in this post. The Republican candidates will be for my next post on the elections.
To start with, we have Barack Obama.
I have to say I really like what the man has to say: Bush has never said anything of sustenance at the State of the Union address, Middle Class tax cuts, pull out of Iraq, unemployment insurance, and affordable health care... For his video, I choose his response to Bush's last State of the Union Address.
Next is Hillary Clinton.
Take the tax subsidies away from the oil companies to create a fund for alternative energies (strategic energy fund), tax cuts for the middle class, public health care, end the war on Iraq, bridge the Spanish language gap, economic emergency fund, and more student funding. In other words, she is really big on public services for the people. Anyway, I think for my video, the best one I could find was from the Democratic Debate about her experiences that qualify her for president...
Last, and it looks like he may probably be least is Mike Gravel.
MSNBC said he dropped out on January 3rd... His website says he is still in... either he fired is web developer when he dropped out, or he is still running. He has an interesting history considering he played a significant roll behind the "Pentagon Papers" which ended the draft during the Vietnam War.
If you want to see some really intelligent talks that ask the candidates real questions, check out the At Google Talks for the Democratic Candidataes (Caution, these videos are 1 hour each):
Barack Obama - Candidates@Google
Hillary Clinton - Women@Google
Mike Gravel - Candidates@Google
The Mike Gravel one is good... Obama is a speech, not an interview... The Hillary Clinton one is definitely a different tone but still good. The Mike Gravel one is the best I think...
I can see that a lot of money will have to come from taxes for public health care, but at the same time ending the War on Iraq/terror will free up trillions of dollars. I think that should cover a good chunk of it. However I think a genuine concern is national spending... and there are some really good arguments to consider when talking about spending money. For instance, watch this video which talks about David Walker's argument concerning government spending:
I think I'm part of the You Tube Generation... maybe... but concerning this video it does seem that DavidThePatriot, the poster of the video, is rooting for Ron Paul for president, 2008. Ron Paul does seem to have some good arguments, but as a republican my analysis of him is a topic for my post about the Republican candidates.
And now for something completely different...
Snoqualmie's pass may just open in another few hours! Apparently the avalanche control people have done their job enough to significantly reduce the risk of avalanches and are ready to clean up the pass. The pass has only been open for 4 hours this week, marking the longest period in three decades that the pass was closed. Crazy stuff.
Anyway, that's it for now... Check back later for more election themed stuff.
Later,
SteveO
First we need to remember what the Primaries and Caucuses are.
The primaries (aka primary elections) are a vote by the people of a local or State government to determine who that state will support for president.
I heard on the news today a definition of a caucus relating it to a colonial town meeting. Where you gather with your neighbours to discuss issues relating to who will run the town. I seemed to like that as a simplified definition... and I like the sound of that.
Finally and probably most important is the purpose for having these two important parts of the election process... I swear I never heard this in school... which is really sad... The results from the caucuses and primaries are used to determine the Democratic and Republican nominees to run for the office of President of the United States of America!
As far as the candidates go, I would like to start by looking at the Democratic candidates in this post. The Republican candidates will be for my next post on the elections.
To start with, we have Barack Obama.
I have to say I really like what the man has to say: Bush has never said anything of sustenance at the State of the Union address, Middle Class tax cuts, pull out of Iraq, unemployment insurance, and affordable health care... For his video, I choose his response to Bush's last State of the Union Address.
Next is Hillary Clinton.
Take the tax subsidies away from the oil companies to create a fund for alternative energies (strategic energy fund), tax cuts for the middle class, public health care, end the war on Iraq, bridge the Spanish language gap, economic emergency fund, and more student funding. In other words, she is really big on public services for the people. Anyway, I think for my video, the best one I could find was from the Democratic Debate about her experiences that qualify her for president...
Last, and it looks like he may probably be least is Mike Gravel.
MSNBC said he dropped out on January 3rd... His website says he is still in... either he fired is web developer when he dropped out, or he is still running. He has an interesting history considering he played a significant roll behind the "Pentagon Papers" which ended the draft during the Vietnam War.
If you want to see some really intelligent talks that ask the candidates real questions, check out the At Google Talks for the Democratic Candidataes (Caution, these videos are 1 hour each):
Barack Obama - Candidates@Google
Hillary Clinton - Women@Google
Mike Gravel - Candidates@Google
The Mike Gravel one is good... Obama is a speech, not an interview... The Hillary Clinton one is definitely a different tone but still good. The Mike Gravel one is the best I think...
I can see that a lot of money will have to come from taxes for public health care, but at the same time ending the War on Iraq/terror will free up trillions of dollars. I think that should cover a good chunk of it. However I think a genuine concern is national spending... and there are some really good arguments to consider when talking about spending money. For instance, watch this video which talks about David Walker's argument concerning government spending:
I think I'm part of the You Tube Generation... maybe... but concerning this video it does seem that DavidThePatriot, the poster of the video, is rooting for Ron Paul for president, 2008. Ron Paul does seem to have some good arguments, but as a republican my analysis of him is a topic for my post about the Republican candidates.
And now for something completely different...
Snoqualmie's pass may just open in another few hours! Apparently the avalanche control people have done their job enough to significantly reduce the risk of avalanches and are ready to clean up the pass. The pass has only been open for 4 hours this week, marking the longest period in three decades that the pass was closed. Crazy stuff.
Anyway, that's it for now... Check back later for more election themed stuff.
Later,
SteveO
Friday, February 1, 2008
My Taxes are almost done!
I have almost finished my taxes, and all I need is one more W2 to come in the mail. I figured that if I had worked at bungie all year, I would have make over $66,000 this year! That would have been great. I can see the mind set that got me into buying me car. If I was making that much still, I would be in the same position I was in working at Bungie... No debt... extra savings... oh, that was nice. I would have even been able to go on a more extravagant vacation. Like Mountain View California for the most recent Google Camp Fire... Colorado to go visit Julia. Or just somewhere random.
Oh well, it will be nice to finish up my taxes, and get my refund.
I can hear the two little snorting machines in the background. They are napping on the couch. I can hear a loud snoring, then a quiet snoring... then loud... then quiet. It really is nice to see them getting along. They both hang around under my feet when they are awake... they play all the time... I will grab a toy and throw it, then they both go running after it, and play tug of war as they run back toward me. I love my pugs... well, my pug and Ev's pug.
Anyway, I should get going. The sun is sort of out... at least on the horizon, so I'm going to take this opportunity to walk the dogs.
Later,
SteveO
Oh well, it will be nice to finish up my taxes, and get my refund.
I can hear the two little snorting machines in the background. They are napping on the couch. I can hear a loud snoring, then a quiet snoring... then loud... then quiet. It really is nice to see them getting along. They both hang around under my feet when they are awake... they play all the time... I will grab a toy and throw it, then they both go running after it, and play tug of war as they run back toward me. I love my pugs... well, my pug and Ev's pug.
Anyway, I should get going. The sun is sort of out... at least on the horizon, so I'm going to take this opportunity to walk the dogs.
Later,
SteveO
A happy picture
unfortunately my internet connection doesn't work in my room... so it's the 770 to the rescue... even though typing on it sucks... I guess i should get a bluetooth keyboard or something...
anyway, here is a pic to counter act the video in my last blog entry...
anyway, here is a pic to counter act the video in my last blog entry...
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