Idealistic Realist

Appreciation at work

2008-01-17T19:22:00.000-08:00

I had a long talk with my new boss earlier this week. It was a very frank discussion about whether my expectations were being met regarding my job. I gave him the most honest feedback I could give. I pointed out the things that were satisfactory which were plentiful. When it came to this things that were lacking, I suggested things that I would like to do to improve them. I left the conversation very satisfied. I appreciate my boss's efforts to make sure that I am happy with what I am doing for the company.

The really interesting thing is that since that discussion, my boss's boss, who currently assigns my tasks because he is locally and my boss is not, has been visiting my cube often to tell me that during the next year I will be much more focused on certain things and getting my opinion on other important things. Curiously these are the same things I told my boss that I wanted to do.

Coincidence or not, I feel very appreciated at work. I like it and it motivates me to work harder and improve myself. I hope it was a conscious effort because I would like to work for a company that has the values that it takes for managers to manage this way.

Snow plowing on a private street

2008-01-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

I live on a private street. When it snows it gets plowed last and usually very badly. After getting a foot of snow early this morning, I hear the plow go by at 9:00 AM. That is early. I was impressed. Then I looked out the window to see how clear the road was and I was surprised to see that road almost completely clear. The plow driver had taken the extra time to clear the huge piles of snow that other drivers leave. This is important to me because the huge piles are usually directly beside and infront of my car (I park on the street on the outside corner of a elbow in the road). Thank you plow man whoever you are and please come back next time.

A music adventure

2008-01-13T13:49:00.000-08:00

I am always on the prowl for good music. I am not exactly in the mainstream when it comes to artistic preferences. That make traditional channels for music fail. I also like to support the up and coming artists. Especially when they do something completely different. Unknown and different are huge hurdles for musicians.

I recently found a web site that makes an effort to help out these new artists, both the progressive and the conservative types. The site is www.thesixtyone.com. It describes itself as mp3.com meets digg. It uses a reputation system to allow listeners to vote for songs. Once the songs get enough votes they get published on the main page of the site.

I think this is a great thing. It is also motivating for a musician like myself that has thought about a career in music. I am busily listening to music of all genres and voting for the one that are exceptional.

Acquaintances and Japan

2008-01-13T13:42:00.000-08:00

On of my wifes friend was nice enough to think about me when an employer in Japan asked her if she new any Engineers in the US that would like to relocate to Japan. I am an engineer and I have considered relocating to Japan. I even know a little Japanese! I am interested to see if anything comes from it, but it was very nice of her to think of me regardless of the outcome.

Think positive.

2008-01-13T07:37:00.000-08:00

In a world where it is easy to find things to complain about, I am going to use this blog to mention as many of the little good things that I notice during the day as I can remember.

My first thought is that this is going to be difficult. Of course this is pessimistic and exemplifies why I need to think about the positive things. I am sure I will get better at seeing the positive things with practice.

To start with I am going to mention the good things that I run into everyday:

My family - Just having a family is such a positive thing. Companionship. Empathy. Support.

My house - I like my house. It insulates me and my family from extremes of weather.

Music - I have to mention this because I listen to and create music everyday. It is my creative outlet. Good music of any genre is enjoyable to listen to. Creating music instantly improves my state of mind.

More positive things to come...

Waste of money

2007-03-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

Why can't the US Mint learn from its past mistakes?! The Susan B., the Sacagawea, and now this:

http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/$1coin/

The first two failed. The Susan B. because it was too much like the quarter. The Sacagawea failed because no one knew what they were. Both were gobbled up by the coin collectors. This new design is nothing revolutionary. It reminds me of the British Pound coin in its size and coloring.

However, we still have a paper dollar and all the coin machines will have to be updated to take these. These are two major obstacles that have never really been solved. Also what about the cash registers. Where do these new coins go. There are only so many slots and they are all taken. How about we scrap the penny? It is truly not worth making any more. It is worth more as scrap zinc.

I just wish the US Mint would stop wasting money designing new currency they is just going to fail like the other attempts. Besides, the portraits they chose for there new coins are just plain ugly.

It takes a News Anchor...

2007-03-06T15:18:00.000-08:00

I watched the Bob Woodruff special the other night. It was very enlightening. At first I thought, "It is sad that it takes a news anchor getting wounded in specific way to shed light on an little know battlefield injury." I felt that there are other injuries that were just as note worthy that were not getting the same coverage simply because no well known person has been injured that way. It turns out that Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is very common.

The fact that a person can have TBI without showing external wounds makes it easy for doctors to misdiagnose as PTSD or simlpy miss it completely. Any person near an explosion can suffer from TBI. A helmet does not protect against the shock wave that rattles your brain.

The other part of the story was about how the VA Hospital system is unprepared to treat TBI. This was not a shock to me. The VA has never been good at its mission. There was some mention about the preparedness of the Military hospitals, but I don't remember any direct comment about it being adequate or not.

It was interesting that the Walter Reed Military Hospital scandal story broke soon after this special. I would hope that the Military and Civilian leaders of our country would listen to the media stories and investigate weaknessess in the system.

With more wounded coming home everyday, I can't see how the level of care is going to improve. The VA hospitals have always been a joke. I would say something needs to change. Less wounded would be a good start.

What is "pop" music?!

2007-02-27T16:43:00.000-08:00

I have a problem with the categories that stores use for categorizing music. There are stores that lump almost everything into the “Pop/Rock” category and everything else is either “Country”, “Dance” or “International”. This does not help me find anything. Luckily they also alphabetize the sections and I only have to check a few sections. Further more, this only works if I know the name of the artist I am looking for. If I am browsing for new music I am left to search almost randomly.

I would love to simply ignore these categories as useless marketing tools, but I need to interact with people that have bought into this scheme of categorization. When I want to find new music I need to be able to map my scheme to the “popular” scheme that the masses use.

My scheme was developed during the digitization of my personal music collection. I categorize each artist based on musicological definitions. I have a Minor in Music and I am a trained musician, so this makes sense to me. My categories follow the development of music. I will use the last century of music development to explain.

Folk: Folk music is the origination of almost all modern music. It could be the Celtic music of the Irish and Scottish or the tribal music of the Africa. The instrumentation is varied, but the melody is generally simply and repetitive and the lyrics tell a story. The vocals are prominent.

Bluegrass: In Kentucky, Tennesse, and the Carolinas folk changed into what is now called Bluegrass. It is essentially the same music as the folk music of the Scottish and Irish immigrants of that area, but with different instruments such as the fiddle, guitar, banjo and little to no percussion. Vocals are still strong but there are instrumental interludes.

Country: Country is the modern derivitive of Bluegrass. Standard instrumenation is minimal drum set, bass guitar, acoustic/electric/steel guitar. Instumuments and vocals are equal.

Blues: This is the slow solemn music that grew out of the African tribal music. It has minimal instrumentation, such as a single guitar, which focuses the attention on the vocals.

Rhythm and Blues: If you speed it up Blues a little or a lot and throw in a piano, horns and some drums you have Rhythm and Blues.

Jazz: Jazz is a derivation of R&B. The signature of jazz is the looseness of the style. Swing is a type of Jazz.

Rock and Roll: If you combine R&B, Jazz, and Country you get the original Rock style. After the British Invasion the style changed but still has the same charcteristics. The band is usually a three or four piece: vocals, drums, bass, guitar. The tempo is moderate to fast and the song follows a typical Intro-stanza-chorus-stanza-chorus-outro pattern. More recently a solo occurs somewhere between a stanza and a chorus.

American Buddhism?

2007-02-27T16:41:00.000-08:00

I recently had a debate with my wife about how Buddhist can live a productive life in the USA. This turns out to be a big problem and one that has been asked by many people, even the Dai Li Lama.

Let me define a few terms so things are clearer. I used the term "Buddhist" to mean anyone that follows the core principles of Buddhism: The Middle Way, The Four Noble Truths, The Eight Fold Path, Refuge in the Three Jewels. When I say "live a productive life" I mean work for a living and provided one's family with all the basic needs, i.e. food, warmth, shelter, etc..

The crux of the problem is the fact that one cannot survive in the USA without making money. The exception to this rule is to isolate oneself from society completely or live in an isolated community. This avoids the problem rather than dealing with it. Although it may end up being the "correct" solution. There a stories of buddhist retreats setting up shop as a bed and breakfast or a bakery to make money to run the actual retreat or provide other services to those in need. This apparently is what defines American Buddhism. The use of capitalism in the name of doing good for others.

I am skeptical if this is practical solution. I seems to me that this takes something away from Buddhism. It is basically the logic that Robin Hood used. Maybe the distinction here is the money is not bad, but rather the greed that it is associated with is bad.

Microsoft's new pal Linux

2006-11-25T15:52:00.000-08:00

I wrote this soon after the whole MS/Novell deal. I still agree with most of this so I am just going to publish it.

Who believes that Microsoft is really playing nice with Linux? I sure don't. The deal a few weeks ago between Novell and Microsoft proves it. Actually the fallout from the deal has illuminated the point.

So Novell and Microsoft agree not to sue each others customers for purchasing software that may contain unlicensed uses of the other's patents. Along with this covenant, money is changing hands. Microsoft gives Novell some money and Novell give Microsoft some money. What is this money for?

There are many explanations. On the surface it sounded like it was for cooperative marketing each party would do for the other. Then the topic of patent infringing code in Linux comes up and people say, "Oh! That money must be for licensing fees." Novell is paying for patent licensing for Linux (the money Microsoft is paying Novell can be argued that is it for the licensing of Novell patents in Windows). Novell insists they know of no infringing code in its Linux products while Mircosoft says it it there but will not say where. They agree to disagree. With Novell's claim why would they pay Microsoft for licenses they do not need. This does not make sense to me.

There is also this little thing about the possible violation of the GPL (the license that most Linux software uses). Microsoft promises to not sue people how get SUSE Linux based products from Novell. They also agree to not sue non-commercial users and developers of any Linux. What about businesses that get Linux from other sources? It is most likely the same exact code the Novell's Linux has since everyone is a consumer of the upstream community projects (the kernel, glibc, GNOME, KDE, etc.). They apparently can be sued.

Lets put these two points together. Linux may or may not have patent violating code in it and a small set of people are indemnified by Microsoft for these possible violations. This ambiguity makes people cringe. The major stumbling block for Linux to make it in the OS market was the fear of getting sued for using it if there are patent violations. Now companies are still afraid of using Linux because of the confusion of this deal.

Microsoft wants to show that it acknowledges a competitor and that they will cooperate to allow interoperability. I think they have identified the company, Novell, that they want to survive. Then they will systematically drive other Linux companies out of business with the threat of lawsuits while at the same time controlling the one save Linux company, Novell, so that Linux will never really compete.

The Linux community has spoken and it is obvious that they feel the same. The SUSE/NOVELL boycotts, the Samba team's request that Novell retract the deal, the personal announcement of a long time SUSE employee leaving because of this deal, and all the other community blogs have shown that no one is buying that Microsoft is playing nice with Linux. There are indications that version 3 of the GPL will turn this deal one it head. It will explicitly make the indemnification on one user apply to all users and all the major Linux projects will opt for the new version of the license as is their right. If the deal was about patent licensing, Novell will have paid Microsoft for nothing and magically Microsoft can't sue any Linux user/developer for violating is patents. They could of course retract the deal which would show their true colors.

Way to go Novell. Thanks for nothing.