Been a while, figured I'd throw an update up here. Wow, it's been a long while now that I actually look at my updates. Oh well, here we go!
Moved to Orchard Park, NY, to start my new job. Still can't believe I've been here four months already. Job's pretty good -- still learning the software itself but with only one product it's pretty expansive so that'll happen. Testing itself is going fine, though tricky since we don't exactly have documentation. Mostly winging it and asking questions when I don't know what the program is supposed to do...which is a lot. We did just put in place a new development process that will give me more time to investigate the parts of the software I have to test, so that's handy. Also it's nice to be able to walk, especially when we get a foot of snow dumped on us overnight.
Been traveling a TON. Two weddings, Thanksgiving, holiday dinner/party, plus a trip to the zoo -- all weekend trips to Rochester. Plus two weekends in Ithaca (Batman: Arkham Asylum is fun), one in Albany (so is Dominion), one to Philly for my birthday (yay Brewers!), and one to DC (for the Rally to Restore Sanity). That's 5+2+1+1+1=10 weekends on the road out of a possible 18, plus the very first weekend which was just running around picking stuff up and moving in and such. So yeah, been keeping busy.
Other than that...not much goin' on, really. Mostly just doin' what I do. Playing a lot of Borderlands with Ben and Ian. Finished Machine of Death a couple weekends ago. Crazy book, that. Watching Community after we watched Season One in Ithaca one of those weekends. Everybody is insisting that I watch all the back issues of Arrested Development so I started that over the weekend. Kinda funny, but mostly I just want to punch everybody not named Jason Bateman in the face. Especially his mom. And sister. And the magician brother. Also the main guy reminds me of Mal Reynolds.
**********
name that tune:
let me apologize while i'm still alive
i know it's time to face all of my past mistakes
it's gonna kill me for the rest of my life
previous: guitar hero hero, mc lars
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Sunday, October 31, 2010
the most important part of the rally
"We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is -- on the brink of catastrophe -- torn by polarizing hate and how it’s a shame that we can’t work together to get things done, but the truth is we do. We work together to get things done every damn day. The only place we don't is here [points to the Capitol Building behind him] or on cable TV. Americans don't live here [points] or on cable TV. Where we live our values and principles form the foundation that sustains us while we get things done, not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done.
[...]
Because we know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light we have to work together and the truth is, there will always be darkness. And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land. Sometimes it’s just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together."
-- Jon Stewart
[...]
Because we know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light we have to work together and the truth is, there will always be darkness. And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land. Sometimes it’s just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together."
-- Jon Stewart
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Glenn Beck and Machine of Death
So Glenn Beck called out newly-released Machine of Death, an anthology of short stories based on the premise of a machine that can tell you how you will die, for being an example of our "culture of death". Has the man never read Poe? Or Les Mis? Or ANY FICTION EVER?
You'd almost wonder why he even bothered. Sure, it hit #1 on Amazon yesterday, so what? Well apparently it's because HIS book came out yesterday too and, consequently, was NOT #1. How's THAT for word-of-mouth marketing of a self-published book by a bunch of internet nobodies? SCREW YOU GLENN BECK!
***********************
name that tune:
They say Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil
I can beat "Through the Fire and Flames" on expert level
While Slash rocks the strip up and down LA
I push multi-colored buttons on a stick all day
previous: so what, pink
You'd almost wonder why he even bothered. Sure, it hit #1 on Amazon yesterday, so what? Well apparently it's because HIS book came out yesterday too and, consequently, was NOT #1. How's THAT for word-of-mouth marketing of a self-published book by a bunch of internet nobodies? SCREW YOU GLENN BECK!
***********************
name that tune:
They say Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil
I can beat "Through the Fire and Flames" on expert level
While Slash rocks the strip up and down LA
I push multi-colored buttons on a stick all day
previous: so what, pink
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
official business
So I figure this is as good a place as any to confirm the rumors of my demise imminent employment.
Effective this morning I have accepted an offer from ValueCentric, LLC in Orchard Park, NY (a suburb of Buffalo), to take a position as a Quality Assurance Specialist. I am slated to start August 9 pending some formalities and paperwork, drug tests, credit check, that sort of thing.
I figure the intervening time will be spent figuring out how much of the ridiculous crap I have stored up around the house will actually be coming with me to the apartment I've picked out: piles and piles of books, clothes, furniture I didn't know mom and dad had saved for me, etc. The apartment, incidentally, is approximately three feet from the office so I very likely will be walking or biking to work every day, which was one of my stated goals all along.
The work itself seems to be very similar to what I've been doing for the past nine months i.e. manual software testing. ValueCentric is in an entirely different business so the particulars are different, as is the style of testing on the whole, but I should be plenty prepared and have no questions at all about my ability to actually do the job.
Also:
HOLY FRICK I ACTUALLY GOT A JOB
**********************
but she has faith in me
and so i go on trying faithfully
and who knows, maybe on some special night
if my song is right
i will find a way
while she waits
previous: shut up and smile, bowling for soup
Effective this morning I have accepted an offer from ValueCentric, LLC in Orchard Park, NY (a suburb of Buffalo), to take a position as a Quality Assurance Specialist. I am slated to start August 9 pending some formalities and paperwork, drug tests, credit check, that sort of thing.
I figure the intervening time will be spent figuring out how much of the ridiculous crap I have stored up around the house will actually be coming with me to the apartment I've picked out: piles and piles of books, clothes, furniture I didn't know mom and dad had saved for me, etc. The apartment, incidentally, is approximately three feet from the office so I very likely will be walking or biking to work every day, which was one of my stated goals all along.
The work itself seems to be very similar to what I've been doing for the past nine months i.e. manual software testing. ValueCentric is in an entirely different business so the particulars are different, as is the style of testing on the whole, but I should be plenty prepared and have no questions at all about my ability to actually do the job.
Also:
HOLY FRICK I ACTUALLY GOT A JOB
**********************
but she has faith in me
and so i go on trying faithfully
and who knows, maybe on some special night
if my song is right
i will find a way
while she waits
previous: shut up and smile, bowling for soup
Monday, March 8, 2010
update
job hunting continues to suck. i've said it before and i'll say it again -- as often as i hear the phrase, "wait, you actually like testing?" directed my way, i sure am having a hard time finding somebody to pay me to do it.
some college buddies and i are gonna have a writing project sometime in the relatively near future. we're working out the details still, but hopefully it'll be underway soon. essays on technology ,philosophy, politics, who knows what will show up. i'm pretty excited about it.
games i've played in the last two months: disgaea, final fantasy tactics, baseball mogul, king's bounty, deus ex
books i've read in the last two months: robert jordan's wheel of time series books 1-4
jobs i've applied to in the last two months: countless
****************************
throw your arms around someone (throw your arms around someone)
maybe spread a little love
I know it sounds a little dumb (or maybe we're a little drunk)
But all we need is some ice cream and a hug
previous: bright spring morning, suburban legends
^^ new favorite song of all time. yes, it passed deathbed and every new day. ^^
some college buddies and i are gonna have a writing project sometime in the relatively near future. we're working out the details still, but hopefully it'll be underway soon. essays on technology ,philosophy, politics, who knows what will show up. i'm pretty excited about it.
games i've played in the last two months: disgaea, final fantasy tactics, baseball mogul, king's bounty, deus ex
books i've read in the last two months: robert jordan's wheel of time series books 1-4
jobs i've applied to in the last two months: countless
****************************
throw your arms around someone (throw your arms around someone)
maybe spread a little love
I know it sounds a little dumb (or maybe we're a little drunk)
But all we need is some ice cream and a hug
previous: bright spring morning, suburban legends
^^ new favorite song of all time. yes, it passed deathbed and every new day. ^^
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
philosophy of art
/* i'm changing how i post the song titles, figured i might as well start posting actual subjects in the subject lines. songs will all be at the end of the post. */
elliot and i had an interesting discussion last night, which was spawned by one he had been a part of during a book study of c.s. lewis' the abolition of man. their discussion, as i understand it, ranged widely over many kinds of art, though elliot and i focused primarily on my fortes -- music and literature. the following is a rehash of our conversation.
the topic of the discussion at large was basically, "can art be purely objective?" my stance is, yes, it can -- in a manner. it is very simple to say that such-and-such is "good" and something else is "bad", but those are pretty obviously subjective terms. taste in art varies immensely, and fortunately so -- if everybody enjoyed the same things, why would you ever see anything different?
that said, many have made a militant case that certain flavors of art are at their core (or to use elliot's term, "intrinsically") better than other kinds. we have a friend who will readily admit that he feels this way about jazz music. his opinion is that jazz is simply the best, to the exclusion of all others. the explanation used is that jazz musicians learn the rules so they know how to break them, creating a different, superior kind of art in the process. none of that i have an argument with, save that his initial point returns to the end of the explanation -- that jazz is better because of how it arrives at its point of creation.
the problem with that statement is that, well, i do not especially like jazz. does that make me wrong? should my enjoyment of music be somehow diminished because of of technicalities of how the music i like came to be? i believe not. i would argue that it is impossible to argue that artistic taste can be wrong. as said in the opening, if there were no new tastes and interests, as a race humans would never have expanded beyond banging a rock with a stick for music. people desire different, greater things all the time.
if we were to say jazz is the pinnacle of human art, how then are all later works treated? derivative, lesser because they came after and by changing it they lost some intrinsic part that made jazz what it is. but then, how was jazz invented? is it not derivative of its predecessors as well? what then separates the origins of jazz from the origins of its offspring or its ancestors? nothing!
therefore, arguing any "intrinsic" value for any one type over any other is illogical, and i would extend that to the (often coinciding) argument, "if you knew more about it you'd understand." education is not now nor ever was a requirement to enjoy art. learning the complexities may increase enjoyment by way of appreciating the finer details, but the same can be said for any topic of study, not just those of a creative nature.
therefore, it is incorrect to argue that jazz is the best music -- but its influence can be plainly stated. there is a very important difference between arguing, "jazz isn't any good," and, "jazz doesn't matter." the former is a matter of taste; the latter is demonstrably wrong. the influence jazz has had over subsequent musical evolution is simply inarguable. my preferred forms of music are in fact almost directly derived from jazz (third wave ska, specifically, though nearly all forms of rock music are derivative as well). i fully recognize that without jazz, the music i love most would never have existed. all music is derivative to some extent or another, and as such no music is intrinsically better.
such a conclusion also extends itself naturally to all other forms of art, from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, theatre, literature, right on down the list. differences in taste created all forms, and thus it is impossible to quantify which is better on those grounds.
an example: literature has come a long way from the spoken poetic epics of homer, norse tribes, and native americans (just to name a few). the invention of the many different genres available to us -- mystery, science fiction, biographies among others -- is a fantastic stretch from their humble spoken origins. even such simple constructs as dialogue and prose were at one time fantastic achievements now taken for granted. would anybody dare to argue that homer is greater than shakespeare, dumas, poe, or tolkien? all entirely different, and all extremely influential -- but none is better than the other from any objective standpoint.
in summary: it is entirely possible to be objective about art, provided such a discourse is limited to historical value. yes, artistic taste is subjective, but arguing that some art is better based on such qualitative measures is fallacious. it is differences in taste that created all of the legion flavors of art.
***************
name that tune:
Go roll down the window
Go crank up that radio
Let's drive until we hit the sky
It's not about where we go
Let's start living life
Before we die
previous: callin' baton rouge, garth brooks
elliot and i had an interesting discussion last night, which was spawned by one he had been a part of during a book study of c.s. lewis' the abolition of man. their discussion, as i understand it, ranged widely over many kinds of art, though elliot and i focused primarily on my fortes -- music and literature. the following is a rehash of our conversation.
the topic of the discussion at large was basically, "can art be purely objective?" my stance is, yes, it can -- in a manner. it is very simple to say that such-and-such is "good" and something else is "bad", but those are pretty obviously subjective terms. taste in art varies immensely, and fortunately so -- if everybody enjoyed the same things, why would you ever see anything different?
that said, many have made a militant case that certain flavors of art are at their core (or to use elliot's term, "intrinsically") better than other kinds. we have a friend who will readily admit that he feels this way about jazz music. his opinion is that jazz is simply the best, to the exclusion of all others. the explanation used is that jazz musicians learn the rules so they know how to break them, creating a different, superior kind of art in the process. none of that i have an argument with, save that his initial point returns to the end of the explanation -- that jazz is better because of how it arrives at its point of creation.
the problem with that statement is that, well, i do not especially like jazz. does that make me wrong? should my enjoyment of music be somehow diminished because of of technicalities of how the music i like came to be? i believe not. i would argue that it is impossible to argue that artistic taste can be wrong. as said in the opening, if there were no new tastes and interests, as a race humans would never have expanded beyond banging a rock with a stick for music. people desire different, greater things all the time.
if we were to say jazz is the pinnacle of human art, how then are all later works treated? derivative, lesser because they came after and by changing it they lost some intrinsic part that made jazz what it is. but then, how was jazz invented? is it not derivative of its predecessors as well? what then separates the origins of jazz from the origins of its offspring or its ancestors? nothing!
therefore, arguing any "intrinsic" value for any one type over any other is illogical, and i would extend that to the (often coinciding) argument, "if you knew more about it you'd understand." education is not now nor ever was a requirement to enjoy art. learning the complexities may increase enjoyment by way of appreciating the finer details, but the same can be said for any topic of study, not just those of a creative nature.
therefore, it is incorrect to argue that jazz is the best music -- but its influence can be plainly stated. there is a very important difference between arguing, "jazz isn't any good," and, "jazz doesn't matter." the former is a matter of taste; the latter is demonstrably wrong. the influence jazz has had over subsequent musical evolution is simply inarguable. my preferred forms of music are in fact almost directly derived from jazz (third wave ska, specifically, though nearly all forms of rock music are derivative as well). i fully recognize that without jazz, the music i love most would never have existed. all music is derivative to some extent or another, and as such no music is intrinsically better.
such a conclusion also extends itself naturally to all other forms of art, from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, theatre, literature, right on down the list. differences in taste created all forms, and thus it is impossible to quantify which is better on those grounds.
an example: literature has come a long way from the spoken poetic epics of homer, norse tribes, and native americans (just to name a few). the invention of the many different genres available to us -- mystery, science fiction, biographies among others -- is a fantastic stretch from their humble spoken origins. even such simple constructs as dialogue and prose were at one time fantastic achievements now taken for granted. would anybody dare to argue that homer is greater than shakespeare, dumas, poe, or tolkien? all entirely different, and all extremely influential -- but none is better than the other from any objective standpoint.
in summary: it is entirely possible to be objective about art, provided such a discourse is limited to historical value. yes, artistic taste is subjective, but arguing that some art is better based on such qualitative measures is fallacious. it is differences in taste that created all of the legion flavors of art.
***************
name that tune:
Go roll down the window
Go crank up that radio
Let's drive until we hit the sky
It's not about where we go
Let's start living life
Before we die
previous: callin' baton rouge, garth brooks
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