I have reached a milestone in my effort to lose some weight. This morning the bathroom scale read 199.8. Less than two hundred pounds. I honestly can’t remember when it was that I crossed two hundred going the other direction, but I think it was while I was still active with martial arts in the mid-1990s. It took me ten years to put fifty pounds on, and only seven months to take it back off.
The rate of loss has slowed considerably from the first couple of months when I was losing about ten pounds a month, but I was working out twice a week in extreme heat then too. I hope to lose another ten or fifteen pounds before I stop actively trying to lose weight. I also want to incorporate some regular physical exercise, which will impact my eating lifestyle.
I don’t feel that what I did was that difficult, mostly I eliminated snacking between meals and added some exercise to my weekly routine. I don’t consider what I’ve done to be a diet, either, rather it is a change in my eating lifestyle. I still enjoy a soda or a pizza out. Diets too often are an aberration in ones eating habits, something so far removed from the normal eating habit that once the desired weight is reached, a return to normal eating will only result in regaining weight. By eliminating snacks between meals, and trying to exercise more, I’ve built new habits - a new lifestyle - that will maintain my weight going forward as there is no diet to stop.
In the last couple of weeks the amount of trackback spam my site has been subject to has skyrocketed. In all the time I’ve been using MoveableType to manage the site I’ve only had a handful of trackback pings that were spam. In the last ten days I’ve had hundreds at a time.
Not wanting to open every single entry to undo the ‘allow trackback pings’ option I did an end run around the bastards. Since I don’t display the pings, and since I don’t want them at all anymore (no one has ever legitimately linked to me via the mechanism) I simply renamed the CGI script. Now the script-kiddies mindless robot code no longer sees my site as vulnerable.
I’ll wait a few days before I relax my vigilance, but I think this ultimate measure will end the problem once and for all. I just wish I’d thought of it sooner.
As I transition from being a consultant to being an employee again there are some obvious changes occurring, and some that aren’t obvious. The best analogy I can think of is the difference between high school and college. In high school you are told what to do, where to go, and made to toe the line at every turn. You can’t even wander in the hallway during class without a pass.
In college you are entirely on your own. Some professors may take an interest in their best students, but it is possible to drift along unseen and unmonitored. As an employee you have policy and procedures to follow. Lines and boxes. It’s a good thing, mostly; it results in a safety net of sorts. Consulting is operating without that net. You agree to a riskier way of working and in return you get a higher reward.
I’ve been without the net for a decade. It feels good to have one in place again.
Molly Ivins, a shinning light in journalism, has died from breast cancer.
As a part of my new employee orientation today the various methods of receiving pay were presented. The usual suspects were offered: paycheck by mail and direct deposit. The wrinkle was an option to get a “total pay” Visa card. This functions like a debt card only the money in the account is your paycheck. (Or some portion you designate.) No bank account? No worries - we’ll just put your pay into the account behind that little piece of plastic and away you go.
I recognize that for some, who might not have a bank account, that this is an attractive option. In a society that increasingly places importance on using electronic means to purchase goods and services not having access to “plastic” can be a tremendous obstacle to overcome. Still, it seems to me, that just having your paycheck in a debt card sets one up for a spiral of debt. Worse with no chance for savings.
Today is my last day on this project. It has been a good two and a half years professionally, and a tumultuous time personally. There have been times when this project, with all its instability, frustrations, and issues has been the best part of my life.
I am very happy to say that this is no longer the case. Once again I feel like I have found balance in my life between work and play, between professional and personal, between living and working. I am moving towards something rather than trying to leave anything behind.
The coming days and weeks will hold new challenges and new opportunities. I’m going to feel like the kid who moved to a new school in the middle of the year for a while, and I’m sure I will have moments of doubt and fear. However, to some extent I get to wipe the slate clean and start over fresh. Since this is the first new job I’ve had in a decade that didn’t also involve moving to a new city, I can focus more of my energy on the new position and not on the aftermath of moving.
To quote Calvin, from the final “Calvin and Hobbes” comic strip (31 December 1995):
In the two and a half years that I have been at my current engagement I have had surprisingly few problems with my workstation. Microsoft Windows is often maligned but XP has proved to be a stable platform for me. Or at least until this morning.
Upon arriving at work today I was greeted with a blank, black screen and a small white underscore cursor blinking merrily away in the upper left corner of the display. Control-Alt-Delete had no effect, neither did powering the machine off and restarting it. A quick call to the help desk resulted in an over the phone diagnoses that my hard drive had died.
Within an hour the technician had come, tested all the external connections, re-seated the cards and memory, and, when all of that failed to restore the machine, taken the hard drive away for diagnostics elsewhere. By mid-morning he had returned with a new drive, freshly loaded with the standard set of developer software. Fortunately the client has a policy of keeping the “My Documents” folder on a network drive, so I didn’t lose any of my files. And the tech was able to access the drive contents and copied some settings files and my email archive to the network for me.
That my workstation croaked just three days shy of my last day at this site is ironic I suppose. I’m adjusting desktop settings, reapplying configurations, and updating the base software to the levels I had yesterday - all activities I’ll be repeating to one degree or another next week at my new job.
The United States is being forced to grow up in as a result of efforts to improve border security. Starting tomorrow US citizens returning to the country from Mexico and Canada will be required to show a passport. A driver’s license or birth certificate will no longer be accepted. The tighter passport controls are only the first step. Tomorrow’s change is only for air passengers. As soon as 2008 the requirement maybe expended to include ground travel between the US and it’s neighbors.
The longest “open” border in the world just closed.
A friend of mine at work is on the verge of buying his daughter a laptop for college. A year ago he got his son an Intel machine for college, but this spring he is looking at Macintosh laptops as she is going into graphic arts. In a way I envy him, as he gets to explore a new operating system and a new set of applications. I’ll get to vicariously experience his journey as he is already looking to me for advice about software and setup.
I’ve always liked exploring new software. My Applications folder on this machine has nearly 250 entries; I download new software every week if not every day. A part of my delight with new software is seeing how they did it. What controls did they include on the menu bar? How are the panels and dialogs arranged? I also like playing with the customization features, can I select the font, is there a less obtrusive theme for the interface, et cetera.
My latest “new” software has been the latest version of all the instant message chat clients. For years I have used one or more of the multi-protocol replacement tools, that allowed me access to all the messenger services from one piece of software. The Mac OS X tool in particular, Adium, allows a tremendous amount of customization and setup. Switching back to the native clients has been eye-opening in that I can’t control the look and feel of the chat window or the contact list. And I am not at all used to having blinking ads embedded in my software.
In a week I’ll be starting a new job. Some of the software I’ll use there will be familiar, tools I’ve used for years. Setting them up will be comfortable and affirming, like putting on favorite old clothes. Some of the tools will be new and I’ll get to explore their nooks and crannies. I’m looking forward to both experiences.
For the first time in a decade I am taking a new job that doesn’t require a cross country move. And for the first time in ten years I’ll be an employee and not a consultant. I’m excited about the changes ahead and eager to get started with the new company.
The past two and a half years have been very good for me career wise, and I’ve made some true friends here. Leaving this engagement will be bittersweet. I am looking forward to new challenges and new opportunities to learn and grow. I am not looking forward to leaving behind some of the people I’ve come to know here.
I’ll write more about the new job, and my experiences there once I know for certain what (if any) blogging policy the new company has, especially regarding any mention of their business by employees. For now I am happy to say that I have a new job.