Merry Christmas Family and Friends, Your Christmas gift should be arriving via FEDEX soon - I know after years of wanting a Chia-pet, that you will be happy with a Chia Obama! When I first saw this commercial (YouTube) on TV I thought it was an Energizer bunny spoof, but it's a real product - enjoy. Holiday greetings and best wishes for 2011. Stephen graduate from Cal Poly SLO in June 2011 with a degree in computer engineering, and now works at NetApp in Silicon Valley. On the way home I Ieft my new camera in the tasting room at www.roberthallwinery.com. Fortunately the staff saved it and Stephen picked it up on his way out a few days later. Video of the graduation:
In May we joined my sister who accompanied her son's graduating class to Great America in San Jose. That evening we could not agree on a pizza, so we each ordered our own (We also brought our shares back to the hotel and ate it later.)
In August Jay visited me, and then we visited Ingrid in Half Moon Bay, and got a few rare photos of all of us together:
I have been taking the aerobics classes that are offered for free during lunch at work for nearly two years. Lately an instructor has been asking me to substitute for her kickbox class. Imagine me - an aerobics instructor? After spinning locker combination locks all my life and increasingly having to squint to see the numbers, I'm happy with my new Speed Dial Lock from Master. It opens in a few seconds of "up up right down" thumb movements without the need to even look at the lock.
In July 2010 Donald Goldmacher, co-producer and director of www.heist-themovie.com (view trailer here), interviewed me about various aspects of my career and the impact of outsourcing. We also discussed my role in Programmers Guild - particularly about a YouTube that I created which shows immigration attorneys at a seminar instructing HR personnel the legal process for not hiring qualified U.S. workers. The film included a segment of that video , and my statements about the impact that Carly Fiorina's call to offshore Hewlett-Packard operations to China has impacted me, other tech workers, and the U.S. economy.
On October 13th 2011 I attended the premiere of the film at
the Mill Valley Film Festival, and for a brief moment got to see me on the
silver screen. And the
Variety Magazine review spelled my name right. (Now we hope and push
for traction for the film. I have a copy and can arrange local
screenings if there is interest.) See photos of my trip to the premiere at the film festival here. I learned C in 1984 at an evening course at American River College from the first edition “The C Programming Language” – and I still have it. The first edition of the book was published in 1978 - back when there was no PC and people still used slide rules. C++, Java, JavaScript, C# all evolved from C. C was my primary language during upper division work at CSUS and I developed in C at every job I had in the 1990s – including HP and NEC. And I have used the derivates of C at every subsequent job - including my current one. Dennis Ritchie - co-author of "The C Programming Language" died 10/12/11.
Influenced by my business class at Reno High at age 15 my mother drove me to Dean Witter office to meet with a stock broker to purchase five shares of McDonalds. I believe I paid $24 per share and sold several months later at $31 per share. ($35 profit for doing nothing!) This year, on the theory that McDonalds will sustain profitably and dividend payments through good or bad economy, I purchased many more shares of my first stock - this time of course without making an appointment with a broker. Regarding high school, one of my Facebook friends is Mel Shields, who was my film instructor at Reno High. In August we had this exchange about the 1968 original Planet of the Apes - which I still maintain was an excellent movie. I have not seen the 2011 "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" yet - but I have high expectations. (Crazy, I mention Muir Woods above - and Muir Woods is part of the plot in the 2011 movie: "When she suggests that [smart monkey] Caesar needs more open space, Will begins to frequently take Caesar to the redwood forest at Muir Woods National Monument.)
|