Just came home to pick up some suff....
Admitted: Sunday ~9am ish
Delivered: Monday January 17th 2005 at 5:01 am
Weight: 10lbs 1oz
Length: 22in
Feet: Are HUGE
Pictures will follow when I have some time
According to the doctors, if baby Seamus doesn't get here by Saturday night - we're inducing labor Sunday morning.
Back durring the WoW (World of Warcraft) open beta in late 2004, I played enough to know that I'm damn happy they have a monthly fee. Without it, I know that I would never leave my house - it's that good
Well Fargo, being true to form, decided to cronical the adventures of a (somewhat crude) WoW character 'Flintlocke the Dwarf' in two Planet Fargo columns. Due to popular demand - it's now a daily comic! It's damn funny - you should read it - now!
About the Dwarf known as Flintlocke...
http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/578/578637p1.html
Latest Comic...
http://pc.gamespy.com/flintlocke
Early last week I got a call from a headhunter that was looking for someone with Internet Explorer Toolbar experience ( think Google Toolbar ), and I actually have some with the GameSpy Toolbar" - a proof of concept product that was never picked up by marketing . So he chatted me up, and arranged an interview for today in El Segundo at 4pm. But there was a hitch, I had to come by his office in downtown LA after the interview to be pre-screened for the interview and fill out an application.
Can you pick out the numerous problems with this? I know I can.
So I told him that I would go to the interview, but there was no way I could make it to downtown. It's just not going to happen. Traffic, rush hour, downtown LA, rain, non-validated parking, how can a "pre" interview be done "post" interview?, and of course a personal dislike of these practices by recruiters.
So he placated me, but then he wouldn't stop calling me! It was if he were a very needy salesperson. The final straw was when he called me on Sunday night at 8:22pm as I was spending time with my family. I snapped, told him how unprofessional he was and to leave me alone. I don't care if I make 3x my current salary & it's the greatest job ever, it's not worth it if I have to deal with the likes of him.
I hope this is the last I hear from Zion partners. But something tells me that the next call from "Unknown" I get, may be from him.
[insert spooky music here]
This week I voluntarily ended my 5.25 years of employment at GameSpy. In that time I have learned much about the seedy underbelly of the video game industry, and worked with many talented people to make products that people actually need and want (or may not have wanted - but that's a different story). GameSpy was a magical place, but for me it is time to move on and learn new skills at a new company that, strangely enough, reminds me greatly of the old 1999 GameSpy.
I know not what the future holds for me, but in the here and now - this is the time of change, not only with an employment shift – but soon I will be a father. Brynda’s in her 39th week and due on the 14th! When will that baby drop?
I will miss working with so many talented people out of Irvine - including the few that relocated to Brisbane ;-)
Goodbye GameSpy, a division of IGN Entertainment.
Hello Codeit – I hope there’s an even seedier underbelly you can show me.
for a while now I've had a direct link to Jason.DeArte@Gmail.com listed at the top of this page. And I've only received 2, that's right TWO, pieces of spam arrive to my Gmail account1. Both were also detected as spam and placed in the spam folder.
I'm really impressed google's spam filtering, I wonder how long before they license their mail systems to ISPs? It's a definite step up from SquirrelMail . Don't take this as a slight against a good OpenSource project, but it's hard to compete against a company that has the time, resources, and the commitment to deliver on the vision. but that's a different rant
1 I should also point out, that both pieces of spam were for genuine imitation rolexes ::sigh::
Or would you prefer the more verbose? The full title of the book is: "How would you move Mount Fuji? - Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle - How the world's smartest companies select the most creative thinkers".
It's been a very long time since I actually read a real book. And by that I mean, I'll read a printed programming book or listen to an audio book during my work commute. But I must say - it's been ~6 years(!) since I read what the rest of the world would call a real book.
But why break a streak?
On and off for the past year I've participated in the occasional job interview. You may ask "But you seem so happy at GameSpy for these past 5 years - is something wrong?" Nothings wrong per-se, but it's always good to keep your options open ;-)
Let's be clear: I haven't been on that many interviews, but on the few that I have been on - I quickly realized that I would tend to crack at either the puzzle question or some little detail of a programming question and somehow forget everything I know about C/C++. And this is just unacceptable.
Sure - it's stress, but it's that stage-fright stress I never got over. Other than experience of doing repeated interviews or doing a Chippendale's act (a visual that only my wife would appreciate, and cause mental scaring in others) - the only thing that I can do to help is prepare for the puzzle.
You know, maybe I'm not breaking a streak after all? Maybe I'm just reading another manual? Instead of GameAI, Theading, Debugging, or a new programming language - I'm just learning the history, reasons and strategies of geek interviewing.
Yup, that's the sort of light-weight denial/creative accounting that I can live with ;-) It's not a real book - the streak remains UNBROKEN! Whoo-Hooo!
The book was both a slow and fast read. Less than half seems to be dedicated to the actual puzzle Q&A. The rest, of greater or equal value, was mainly comprised of history, the who's & whys of the puzzle - as well as how they can be used poorly.
As you might expect, the longest portion of the book would be reading a question, closing the book, trying to figure out the solution, and then checking how close I came to both the how and why of the answer. The book was actually loads of fun. I must say that the only puzzle that caused me pain had to be the 5 pill bottles with identical looking pills, except 4 have 10g pills and 1 has 9g pills. And unfortunately the digital scale only worked for 1 weighing. It was driving me batty. Then I asked Bren - she spent less than 5 min to realize that you place on the scale 1pill from BottleA, 2 from B, 3 C's, 4 D's and 5 E's. If all were 10g, the scale would read 150g - but it wouldn't, the difference would reflect number of pills from the 9g bottle.
I love that woman of mine - marrying her 10 years ago is still the smartest thing I've ever done.
Now to see if it actually helps on the next interview (whenever that may be). I'll still be nervous, but at least now that I know a bit more about how these cushions should and should not be asked - I may not "flub up" as much as before ;-)
Bren gave me a list of >=21 people to call when Seamus is born - or more accurately a list of people to call during and after the impending birth of our son. All listed in order of
It's all craziness.
Especially if I'm not allowed to have my cell phone turned on & I've sworn not to leave my child's side for fear of mix up.
I can picture it now.
[bad sitcom wiggly lines]
Midwife: He's crowning! Daddy, did you want to come over here?
Me: Damn this hospital phone! why doesn't 9 get an outside line?
Midwife: You should really come over here - this is a once in a life time..
Me: I'd like to - I really would. But if I don't call her sister right now I won't live long enough to even see him pop out...
[/bad sitcom wiggly lines]
Naa, it probably won't happen like that - nor will all 21 get a call right away. Sorry extended family members and friends, I'll be a little to busy to operate a telephone keypad. But I will get around to calling everyone on the list in due time - presuming that the list is accurate and I have everyone's current telephone numbers.
...as proclaimed by Fargo at approximately 12:10am this morning from his castle in ladera ranch. Reports are unclear if copious amounts of spirits were involved.
Those with actual writing talent may or may comment on this spectacular revaluation in the coming months.
In other news, I found the coin the in the first cabbage roll I ate. This is 3 years now that I've found the coin. [smack talk]Suck it down crt![/smack talk]