Checking In

A catch-all, catch-up post

There are 1,133 posts filed in Checking In (this is page 25 of 114).

Suddenly buried in gadgets

Well, that didn’t last long. I was all set to eschew getting more stuff when local PC manufacturer Lenovo had its public warehouse sale on Saturday. I wound up buying a new laptop and an IdeaPad K1 tablet. Much of my Copious Free Time has been spent getting these set up, leaving me less time for blogging. I hope to be able to post more starting this evening.

In my defense, this is the first brand-new laptop I’ve ever bought. This explains why there are so many non-working old laptops lying around the house. That, and I’m a packrat and a geek!

May I ask why?

I had a job recruiter call me yesterday. I get about one of these calls a week, often from different recruiters pitching the same job. These recruiters are often young people just starting out. Frequently they don’t know much about the industry. This call was different though.

“Hello?”

“Hi, may I speak to Mark Turner?”

“This is he.”

“I’m Ashley from Blah Inc. recruiting. Is this a good time?”

“Sure,” I said.

“I have this great opportunity for a sysadmin position and think you’d be a perfect fit!”
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Veterans Day parade

Kelly and Hallie had haircut appointments Saturday morning, so Travis and I had a little free time on our hands. After a few attempts prying him from his video game, T and I went downtown to see the Veterans Day parade.

We arrived there about 10:15 but saw no parade. Fayetteville Street was deserted, with no cars and no people. We heard drumming coming from the State Capitol area so we walked over to see what was going on.

There was a crowd milling around the armed forces memorial on the north side of the Capitol but it wasn’t a parade-worthy crowd. Instead, it was kind of small. Based on the crowd after the parade, I’d be willing to bet that there were more people who marched in the parade than watched it.
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Tightening the belt

I took my watch to the mall’s watch store Friday to get the battery changed. As I was walking away, I thought to ask if the watch person could remove a link from my watch band. Now my watch band is more snug than its ever been, and that’s because I’ve lost weight.

I’ve also returned to wearing slacks I haven’t warn in more than ten years. All but one of my belts are secured at their skinniest notches.
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Raleigh zoning busts startup

By Takaai Iwabu for the News & Observer


I cringed when I read how a local startup company was busted by Raleigh’s zoning inspectors Tuesday after being featured in Monday’s N&O. This doesn’t look good for a city that is attempting to show it’s startup-friendly.

Then I looked at Takaaki Iwabu’s photo of the group, showing thirteen employees working in the founder’s basement.

Thirteen? Thirteen? Dude, come on! There’s rarely even a dozen people in my company’s RTP office suite and we have thousands of square feet!

This is not a case where a guy and a few close friends are working out of a home office. I think once the company reached 4 employees, tops, it should have found a real space. Either that, or let your employees work out of their own homes using telecommuting. I can imagine how the neighbors must feel about thirteen extra cars in their neighborhood.
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Herndon Class of 1987 25th reunion

Herndon High School Class of 1987 rides an antique firetruck in the 2012 Homecoming parade


This weekend was the 25th “mini-reunion” of the Herndon High School Class of 1987, a reunion I helped to organize. Kelly and I have a history at our high school reunions, being that we met at our ten-year reunion, so it seemed like putting together a modest reunion in-between the 20th and 30th was appropriate.

So what did I do? I found out the date of the school’s homecoming game, created a Facebook event on the Class of 1987’s Facebook page, and negotiated a reduced-rate room deal with the hotel. My classmate Richell Sleptz lives in Herndon and suggested places we should meet. Working together, we got something going.
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A-Caroling we won’t go

The cast list of the 2012 production of A Christmas Carol was posted today and alas there’s nary a Turner on it. I’m told the theatre had a tough time deciding because of all the talented people who auditioned this year. Oh, well. We all gave it our best shots and that’s all you can do, right?

I still hope to do a play someday. Perhaps something a bit less grandiose for starters. A Christmas Carol has been run like a well-oiled machine for 38 years now. It’s probably not the best choice of starting out.

The Turners are still all in for being zombies for this month’s Haunted Mordecai trolley rides (same as last year but with Kelly and Hallie, too). Look for us there!

The full cast list is below the fold.
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AWOL on last night’s debate

I’ve been flying solo with the kids for most of this week as my lovely and talented wife was away for business. She’s back now but while she was gone I had my hands full with kid duties. As such didn’t feel compelled to turn on the TV during last night’s debates. Yeah, as much as I like politics I didn’t even watch. I didn’t think I’d learn anything about the candidates that I didn’t already know.

I suppose this is how the majority of voters probably feel. With as much as people hate all the negative advertising being pushed by political consultants, it takes a special kind of person to willingly tune into watch more blood-boiling political scrapping.

From the reviews I’ve read, though, I wasn’t the only one AWOL from last night’s debate. In addition to the truth and the moderator, our president apparently didn’t feel the need to show up. Obama must not have read my critique of his speaking skills because it seems Professor Obama showed up in President Obama’s place. It takes a royal screw-up on Obama’s part to make Mitt Romney look like the human one.

I agree with some pundits’ opinion that most folks have made up their mind by now. Some say that debates mean little in the long run. Still, Obama wants to hang on to his job he’d better show more fire from here on out.

Log Cabin Republicans for Romney?


I found this tweet today that raised my eyebrows:

Britt Marsh
@designlessthts

the facebook says that two of my gay friends “like” mitt romney. I’m gonna hope that was some fluke. now I really want to puke even more.

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9:21 AM – 27 Sep 12 ·

Could this be more Hacked by Mitt Romney hijinks?