This week is one I have been targeting as decision week in regards to my finding a job.

I’m in serious discussion on one position now and expected to hear something on it by today. Nothing has been heard, so now I must explore Plan B.

Plan B is a short, six-week contract at GSK doing LDAP work. I can’t fit a career into six weeks, but it helps pay the bills until that regular job materializes. I did LDAP work at Glaxo two years ago so the contract would be easy for me. My thought is that the income will give me breathing room to explore more long-term opportunities, including some within Glaxo itself.

Only problem is that I don’t want it to screw up the “serious discussion” job should I not be able to take it for another six weeks. I’d like to hold on for a few more days to hear about it. After being between jobs for a month as of tomorrow, however, I don’t have much of the luxury known as time.

Thailand’s Finance Minister was trapped today in his BMW when the car’s Windows-based computer crashed.

When the computer, running Windows CE (also known as “wince”), crashed, the doors and windows locked and the air conditioning shut down. He was freed when one of his guards smashed a window with a sledgehammer.

This little incident can do more damage to Windows than that sledgehammer ever did. It must suck to spend megabucks on a sports car and then have to deal with shitty software.

(via Interesting-People)

I had some fun playing with the Dialectizer, which can convert any webpage into one of several, uh, “languages.”

For a funny example, check out the page you’re reading translated into hacker speak.

Isn’t the web cool?

I was browsing around Best Buy last week with a $20 gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket. I was drawn to the “communications” department, being the radio nut that I am.

There were at least four different mobile phone services I could choose from, some having three or more phones to choose from. Lining the walls were rack upon rack of phone accessories: cases, chargers, earphones. You name it.

A whole section of FRS and GMRS walkie-talkies caught my eye. There were 1 and 2 watt models. Some with chargers, some without. Some even had built-in GPS units. Every possible feature one could imagine was on at least one product. I was amazed.

As I stood there awed by the selection, I was reminded why I love America’s free market. In America, every consumer itch, no matter how small, can get scratched. Every taste can be catered to. Truly amazing.

I think a key reason for the product diversity in that department is that the govermnent is mostly uninvolved. The FRS and GMRS radios are no-license or self-licensing products. Also, the FCC never enforced one mobile phone standard in the US. Thus, we have competing services using competing protocols with competing phones: all to better serve the consumer.

Regulation is big sucks! Rulez is the free market!

Maybe I’m a curmudgeon, I don’t know. Ok, I am a curmudgeon. Kinda like it, actually. But I don’t think it’s too curmudgeonly to not appreciate one of my fellow citizen’s antics.

For months now, some dude on a motorcycle has been roaring down a street behind my house going insanely fast. It wasn’t just one time, mind you, but a regular basis. I’d be out in my backyard around 6 PM and more often than not this bozo would race down the road at what clearly was unsafe speeds.

The street itself goes from 45 MPH to 35 MPH behind my house. This guy was moving at 60 MPH or more from the sound of his bike. I decided to do something.

I wrote the Garner Police traffic enforcement and told them this guy’s routine. Though I didn’t get a reply from them, I did see them patrolling the street every night for a week. The speeding freak kept a low profile, or so it seemed.

As the weather got warmer our happy biker was out again, doing his thing, but soon his full-throttled engine went silent. Last week, I found out why. This was in my inbox, from Garner’s weekly crime report email:

Thirty-two-year-old Donald Parrish of Raleigh was arrested for driving his motorcycle on Timber Drive at speeds in excess of 80 MPH. A friend of his, Linda Perry of Garner who tried to hide him in her house was charged with Obstructing an Officer. Officers had seen the motorcycle speeding on two different occasions and tried to initiate a vehicle stop, but the driver sped away both times. The officers felt the risks were too high to pursue the motorcycle. Officers did, however see the direction the motorcycle went and were able to gather information from witnesses as to where the motorcycle and driver were located. They found the motorcycle in the backyard of Ms. Perry, but she lied to officers about the location of the driver. Once the driver was located and asked about speeding away from the police, he confessed to the speeding and other charges.

Ha ha, dumbass. You gave it your best shot but no Darwin Award for you. Instead you got what you deserved. I only wish I could’ve been there to see it.

Kudos to the Garner Police department for catching this idiot!

None other than Pat Buchanan, rumored “Deep Throat” Watergate source and perennial presidential candidate, has written a column questioning Bush’s motives on the attack on Iraq.

Now it’s true that Pat sometimes says things that I have a hard time agreeing with. But in this case, he’s right on the money. These are questions that demand answers. Answers that had better come before our troops become fodder for another so-called holy war.

I see from the Interesting People list, and other new s sources, that the 1950’s McCarthy hearings executive sessions are now online.

A recent newspaper article revealed how McCarthy would initially question witnesses in closed-door sessions. Those who stood up to the Senator would not be the ones he would question in public. The poor saps who bowed to his authority would then get skewered in front of the cameras, making McCarthy look like a big man, of course, while ruining the careers of innocent people.

I understand the notes available online are eye-opening, though the site appears to be “slashdotted” now, no doubt from all the millions of regular MarkTurner.Net readers. 🙂

I’m amazed at how busy I’ve stayed and I don’t even have a job. I am doing three things at once here, working with friends to set up their server, chasing down job leads in the TriLUG IRC channel, and scrambling to get out to an RTP lunch with $FORMER_EMPLOYER friends.

I’ve stayed up until 1 AM some nights in simply applying for jobs. I spend at least an hour on every cover letter I write (sometimes two hours or more). Job interviews take anywhere between two hours to yesterday’s four hours. I’ve had lots to go to, too! Last week’s trip to Wilmington took all day (worth it, though).

Then there’s the work I’m doing for clients as part of my consulting business (unpaid). I’m building RPMs for some cool Linux apps I found. I’m also feeding digital video into my PC for placement on the web.

Add to all this the fun time playing with Hallie and I’ve got surprisingly little free time. I love staying busy, but damn! Imagine if I was trying to actually work now!

I was reading this touching account of the recent memorial to television’s Fred “Mr.” Rogers. It sounded like it was a fitting tribute to a man who helped make this crazy world easier for children to understand.

I was getting into the article until I read about an anti-gay group protesting outside. Protesting Mr. Rogers? Excuse me? Who the hell would dare protest Mr. Rogers?

Turns out its the Kansas hate group known as Westboro Baptist Church. Morons like these really give Christianity a bad name. They should be ashamed of themselves.