I get a lot of hits on the contact information for Austin City Council members page.
Just so everyone knows, I will be updating that and the other contact pages, but not until after the new folks take office, which I think will be January.
Archive for the ‘Admin’ Category
Administrative note.
Wednesday, November 7th, 2018Obit watch: September 6, 2018.
Thursday, September 6th, 2018George Austin, blogger and regular commenter, died earlier this week. Borepatch and ASM826 have nice tributes up.
Adding to what they said: I didn’t know Mr. Austin (I wish I had) but he was a frequent commenter here: as a matter of fact, he was the originator of Gavrilo Princip Day. We extend our condolences to his people.
Kenny Shopsin, restaurant owner. I never met him, either, but I was familiar with him by way of Calvin Trillin’s writings. I even have a copy of his cookbook, though of course I waited for it to show up used.
I suspect Mr. Shopsin and my stepdad would have gotten along famously, while there’s a 50/50 chance that Mr. Shopsin and I would have rubbed each other the wrong way. Such is the way of the world.
Nine years.
Saturday, July 28th, 2018I’ve been doing this for nine years?
Where does the time go?
Thanks to everyone for their continued support. I can name a few people specifically: Borepatch, Joe D., Lawrence, Roadrich, Mike the Musicologist, South Texas Pistolero, Infidel de Manahatta, pigpen51, roadgeek, thinkingman, Chuck Pergiel, Morlock Publishing…and probably a whole host of others I’m forgetting now.
Thanks, everyone. Can I keep this up for nine more years? I intend to try.
I deny the allegations and I defy the alligators.
Monday, July 23rd, 2018Contrary to what (some of) my friends believe, this is NOT my secret Twitter account:
To the dude at my local burger joint: NEVER, EVER PUT TOMATOES ON MY BURGER AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. I AM NO LONGER A MAN THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED FRUIT OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!
— Ordy's Summer Lovin' (@OrdyPackard) July 23, 2018
Though I do fully support the sentiment.
Damn!!! Maybe… and just maybe… you could take the tomatoes off? 🙈🙈😱
— Cami 💋 Your favorite Chilean🇨🇱 (@CamiMadeinChile) July 23, 2018
Yeah. That’s a negatory, GhostRider. First off, there’s tomato residue left on the burger. Second, and more importantly: when I go somewhere and order a burger (or, for that matter, most other foods) and I say “I want it this way, with these toppings,” I expect to get what I ordered. If I ask for “ketchup and onions only” I expect to get that, not something with lettuce, tomato, and a bunch of vile glop on top. Don’t tell me “scrape it off”: FIX MY FOOD THE WAY I ASKED!
(Sorry if it seems like I’m worked up, but I’ve lost count of the number of meals I’ve had ruined or had to send back because someone didn’t get my order right, or added things that weren’t listed on the menu, or or or…)
Personal and administrative note.
Monday, July 2nd, 2018Those of you who are regular readers of my blog may recall that, almost exactly five years ago, I started working for the IronPort division of Cisco as a contractor.
I am pleased and excited to announce that, almost exactly five years later, and after many ups, downs, and changes, I am no longer a contractor: I am now an official, full time, “blue badge” Cisco employee, with all the rights and responsibilities appertaining to same.
I’m still doing IronPort and email security related stuff: the job hasn’t changed, only my status. This will bring some changes:
- a hefty pay raise
- possible yearly bonus pay (not counting those chickens before they hatch)
- Paid time off!
- Paid holidays!
- Better and (I think) cheaper medical/dental/vision coverage
- Reimbursement for continuing education. Unfortunately, St. Ed’s has apparently discontinued the Master’s program I was considering before I left Dell. But I might be able to leverage this into getting some certifications.
I’m also hoping that this will give me more access to resources, both inside and outside of Cisco, that I can use to pursue some projects that interest me, particularly with respect to computer security. (I’m thinking possibly more Bluetooth work.)
This blog’s policy remains the same: I won’t be discussing non-public matters involving Cisco here. I may point to publicly accessible documents, such as press releases or the annual security report, but don’t look here for anything internal. Anything I do say here is just my opinion: it certainly isn’t Cisco’s, and, you know, I could be wrong.
(Speaking of public matters relating to, in this case, an ex-employer: what the heck?)
Three Letter Security.
Thursday, April 19th, 2018Isn’t that what “TLS” stands for?
So I know about the certificate issue. When I follow Bluehost’s instructions to update the certificate for WordPress, I get this:
It’s been like that all morning. I haven’t opened a ticket with Bluehost yet, as I figure if Bluehost is having an issue, they’re probably already aware of it. If this continues through tomorrow, I’ll contact their support.
Your patience is appreciated. UN-altered REPRODUCTION and DISSEMINATION of this IMPORTANT Information is ENCOURAGED, ESPECIALLY to COMPUTER BULLETIN BOARDS.
TMQ Watch: January 16, 2018.
Thursday, January 18th, 2018Yes, we know, we’re way late. It doesn’t have anything to do with something we’ll get to in a moment. It’s just been a matter of it being relatively cold here in the greater Austin metroplex. And like a giant lizard or some other cold-blooded animal, we’ve been curling up and conserving body heat. (We also fell into a time sink Tuesday night reading the archives of Damn Interesting. But that’s another story.)
But the cold spell is starting to break. After the jump, this week’s TMQ. Plus: viewer mail!
Administrative note.
Friday, November 24th, 2017This is your yearly reminder that, if you shop at Amazon using the search tool on my sidebar, links in my posts, or through my store, I get a small kickback on each purchase.
Said kickbacks allow us to indulge our eccentricities, and purchase such things as expensive books on Smith and Wesson revolvers, knives, and even the occasional firearm accessory. Thank you for your continued support.
While we are on the subject of the holidays: if you are inclined to get me a present, please do not purchase this book for me. Not in a one, ten, or 20 pack. Thank you.
Also, while I would kind of like a hat from The Boring Company, $20 seems way way high to me for a gimmie cap.
Promoted.
Thursday, October 19th, 2017By way of great and good friend of the blog Joe D, in the comments: a record store owner in Michigan decided to pull a prank on his customers and make them think he only had one album in stock.
And what album was that?
You’ll have to click through to find out, though I will give a hint: it was one that is thematically appropriate for this blog.
Administrative note.
Thursday, April 6th, 2017My birthday is coming up soon. As always, I do not expect any of my loyal readers to get me presents.
However, if someone felt inclined: please do not buy this book for me. Thank you.
(Seriously. I have nothing against Jesse Sublett: he seems like a pretty cool guy. But I don’t care much for the food at either Threadgill’s location. And one of the worst aspects of Austin culture is the incessant nostalgia: or, as Lawrence likes to put it, “the burned-out old hippies who constantly talk about how they went to the Armadillo, dropped acid, and saw Shiva’s Headband.” Said it before, I’ll say it again: if the Austin Chronicle and other people had their way, this town would be a 1970s music theme park.)
Speaking of Travis County…
Thursday, February 2nd, 2017I’ve updated the county commissioners page as much as I can. Jeff Travillion’s page still has staff and contact information “coming soon”.
As always with any of these pages, if you detect errors or omissions, please contact me.
Meta obit watch.
Thursday, December 8th, 2016John Glenn obits to come tomorrow, after everyone has had a chance to write and correct them. I’m sure the NYT obit has been in the can for a while now – it wouldn’t surprise me if at least one of the credited writers has died or left the paper – but sure as god made little green apples, there will be at least one correction.
Random notes: November 9, 2016.
Wednesday, November 9th, 2016Look, I’m not the person you should be coming to for your day-after analysis. I’m not a political pundit: there are smarter, better people (many of whom don’t work for the mass media) who can give you a more serious take on all this.
I also haven’t had time to figure out what all this means for gun politics, and if it is a net win or loss for the 2nd Amendment. I did see that California’s ballot initiative passed, which didn’t surprise me, but I haven’t been able to find results for other states. I don’t think we’ll see an attempted assault weapons ban, or an attempt to end-run the PLCAA, and I do think we will get a friendly Supreme Court justice. But again, look to other people for their takes, because I haven’t thought this all the way through.
(Edited to add: Looks like background checks passed in Nevada, too.)
(Quick ETA2: According to Weer’d, Bloomberg’s background checks lost in Maine.)
(My big thought right now: “Hmmmm. I think I can wait until National Buy an AK Day to get that AK-47, instead of trying to pick one up this weekend.” This gives me some room to maybe, possibly, pick up something less serious and more fun.)
The first part of this week has been busy, and the remainder is going to be even more so. Posts will be as time and events permit. I notice Cleveland is playing on Thursday night this week, so I’ll try to have the loser update up sometime on Friday.
I’ve been somewhat negligent on TMQ Watch updates, but part of that has been hesitation to write about TMQ and Easterbrook. At this point, it appears Easterbrook has given up on TMQ for 2016, but is hoping to return in 2017, per his Twitter feed.
The reason I’ve been hesitant to write about this is that, also according to some things he’s said on Twitter, Easterbrook has been hospitalized for a while. While we tend to give TMQ a hard time about some things, Gregg Easterbrook is not on our short list of people we wish ill to: we send him our best wishes.
I will be updating the city council/county commissioners/state reps lists, but probably not until the new people take office and have contact information posted. i think it will be January before this happens.
Christmas is coming.
Friday, September 23rd, 2016I’ll post another reminder after Thanksgiving, but remember: clicking on Amazon links, or using the search box, gives us a small kickback on your purchases, and allows us to indulge our penchant for small electronics, knives, books, and movies from the 16 page list, “A partial and incomplete list of movies we might want to watch or have talked about watching (with annotations)”.
(I maintain that as a Google Doc which is shared with a few friends. I’m not sure I want to share it here, and if I did, it would be read-only. But if you ask directly, I might think about it…)
(Speaking of the Amazon search box, is anyone having trouble with it? It seems to be working okay for me, and I thought I replaced that when Amazon end-of-lifed the old version, but Lawrence made a comment to me the other night about it not working…)
I don’t expect gifts: the thoughtful and pleasant people who hang out here are more than enough of a gift for me. However, as an administrative note: if you are someone who feels inclined to purchase a gift for me, please do not purchase this book. Thank you.
(However, I wouldn’t object to a book on goat raising. Especially those Nigerian dwarf goats. I have been trying to persuade my mother that she needs a dwarf goat, or some dwarf cattle, to keep the Corgi company and give it something to do besides park itself under the bed.)
(Via. The funny thing is, I’d actually heard of this guy, or at least his toaster project. I would be more interested in the toaster, though it strikes me as an inferior version of “I, Pencil”.)
The nicest thing anybody has said about me so far this week.
Tuesday, September 20th, 2016In the context of a discussion about “What’s wrong with rednecks?”:
You have all of your teeth.