Jon Sagara

Friday!

• 16 17 reasons why the Apple iPhone sucks
• Amazing pictures of China
• How to pour ketchup
  I tap the label with my open palm, and it works just as well.
  
• Time to change the shorts
• Miscellaneous pictures
• Mandatory nerdery

BTW, I'll only be doing this on weekdays, so Daily Links will be back on Monday!

F'n brilliant movie.  Hilarious.  If you're thinking about having children, you'll get a really good look at what the child birthing process is like.

Excellent, excellent flick.  Highly recommended.  Lots of f-bombs, and a little graphic in small parts, but very well done.

Life in the 'Lope ain't all bad.

We occasionally run into this kid's dad when we're walking Homer at night:

At 22, Eric Giannini Jr. has been overseas once to attend a summer study course in England in 2005.

This weekend, the Sacramento-born Giannini begins a second foreign trip, this time as a Russia-bound Fulbright Fellow.

"I feel very thankful that I got the Fulbright," Giannini said in his parents' Antelope home last week, a month after he graduated magna *** laude from St. Mary's College in Moraga with a bachelor's degree in integral liberal arts.

[...]

Pretty amazing stuff!

• Squirrels with lightsabers
• Coked-out driver destroys entire cornfield
• Miscellaneous pictures
• If you watch this video, 3 baby kittens will die
• 31 different ways to lace shoes
• Really bad wiring jobs

On the way there

• A woman sitting on a planter behind a drug store in a run-down neighborhood.  She had a bag of Friskies cat food sitting next to her.  She looked hungry.  She was alone, with no cats in sight.  She had that ravenous look in her eyes.  Sadly, the train was moving along briskly, so I didn't get to see the conclusion to this unfolding mini-drama.
• A lonely jack rabbit, sitting in between two metal gates, looking hopelessly confused.  Or, maybe depressed.  Eating carrots and living in holes in the ground is no way to go through life.  I know that if I were a jack rabbit, I'd want to shoot myself.  Except I wouldn't have opposable thumbs, so maybe I'd just play in traffic instead.
• Big Foot (the sasquatch, not the truck).  He said to tell you Hello.
• Nah, I didn't really see Big Foot.
• It was your mom!
• Just kidding.
• I did see a dead fish floating in the water, though.  That was pretty cool.

On the way back

• I was too busy talking on my cell phone and writing these blog posts, so I wasn't really watching.  I dropped the ball, dear reader, and for that I apologize.
• Late breaking update: Saw a jack rabbit playing on the tracks.  He mistakenly jumped out of the path of the oncoming train, but at least he had the right idea.

The last time I rode the train was from SLO to Davis and back.  It took 11 hours each way.  That's right.  I could have driven from SLO to Esparto and back, and I still would've beaten the train.

I think the most excruciating part of the journey was the stop at each station along the way.  I don't remember exactly how long each was, but it seemed like forever.  30 minutes is a long time when you're only 21 years old.  I had shit to do!  That beer at the bar certainly wasn't going to drink itself!

But I digress.

Today I have to go to San Francisco to participate in a design review for our new project that we're working on in Sacramento.  This is my first design, so my project lead and manager both thought I should have my first experience in front of the design review board.  They asked me if I wanted to go.  Except it wasn't so much a question as it was a statement of fact.

"You're going to San Francisco on Wednesday."

"Ok."

The Train from Roseville to Emeryville
7:08am – So here I sit on the 7:08am train bound for Emeryville, and I have to say, I am pleasantly surprised.  There's no lollygagging on this vessel.  If you're not at the station by the time the train arrives, you'll find yourself waiting for the next one.  No waiting around for stragglers.  I would hesitate to even call it a 5 minute stop at each station.  They're very prompt.  Get in.  Get out.  Get this cattle car moving again.

I am optimisitc that this ride will turn out better than the last one.  The bar for that is pretty low, though.  As long as we don't t-bone a car on the tracks, we'll have ourselves a winner.

ttfn

The Bus from Emeryville to San Francisco
9:25am – A little bit of traffic on the Bay Bridge. 

9:45am – Passed a hot dog stand called "What's Up Dog?".  Eating there has become one of my Top 10 Life Goals.

The Bus from San Francisco to Emeryville
4:10pm – Bus to Emeryville leaves at 4:20pm.  Sprinted from Davis Street to the Hyatt Regency.  Just caught the bus driver as he was climbing back onto the bus.

"Is this the bus to Emeryville?"

"Nope."

Shit.  But at least I made it there before the bus left.

4:20pm – The real bus to Emeryville showed up about 5 minutes later.  It was already full, so when I got on, I had to stand in the aisle.  My coworker, Mike, left the office a bit after I did.  I didn't see him get on, but after an heroic sprint — more heroic than my own, in fact — he made it.  The bus driver saw him running and held the door open for him.  He was the last one on.

Speaking of the bus driver, what a looney.  He cut off at least 3 other drivers.  One of them pulled along side, honking and flipping off the bus driver.  The bus driver happily honked back and waved, a huge grin plastered on his face. 

Also, a cop attempted to pull him over twice:

<siren, then voice over bullhorn>  "Pull over."

*snicker* "No, it's a cardigan, but thanks for asking!"

*bus driver keeps driving*

*bus driver about to pull onto the Bay Bridge*

<siren, then very insistent voice over bullhorn>  "PULL THIS BUS OVER NOW!!!"

*bus driver keeps driving*

Hey, you know, this guy committed at least a dozen moving violations on the way, but he got us to the train station on time, law and order be damned.  You've gotta respect that kind of dedication to your craft.

He's my new hero for the day.

The Train from Emeryville to Sacramento
5:00pm – So far, uneventful, but the ticket dude took my boarding pass to get from Sacto back to Roseville.  I might be stuck in downtown Sac.  If so, I will be sleeping in the bus station tonight.  Also, I will be pissed.

5:30pm – Yes, he took my bus boarding pass.  He's going to look for it.  I may be going home tonight after all.

5:53pm – w00t!  I'm going home.  No showering with bums tonight!

Epilogue
I was very impressed with the commuter train to SF.  It didn't save much time over driving, but it was a lot less stressful, and it gave me time to write this post.  I wouldn't mind doing it every once in a while.  Amtrak, you have redeemed yourself.

Let's try something new: a daily links post.  These links will be to stuff I have come across on these here Intarwebs that I somehow found amusing.

I'm in a hurry this morning, so I'll only post this one, but in the future I will post at least 5.

• They didn't study

So that’s how you get a tractor to jump 20 feet into the air.  I was going about it all wrong!

[Via Random Good Stuff]

First, in the interests of full disclosure:

In the past, I performed contract work for Rex's company, Code-Frog System Architects.  I have since turned down the offer of more work so that I can spend time with Troy. 

I'll keep this short because Rex has put up loads of specific information on his Web site, Ready to Give Up.

Essentially, it boils down to this:

• His daughter Katie was born with severe and complicated medical problems that have been VERY expensive to treat.
• In the process of treating his daughter and trying to save her life, Rex went deep into debt, got laid off, and ultimately lost his house.
• Rex rose to the challenge and started his own company.  He's kicking butt, but he's killing himself doing it.  He works on the order of 80-100 hours per week, on top of helping his wife take care of their family.
• While Rex earns a decent living, he's making no headway on his accumulated debt.  He is able to pay interest, but unable to pay down the principal.
• Rex cannot afford to take time off of work to take his daughter to a specialist, who may be able to diagnose and fix her medical problems.

Basically, what he's after is this:

• Enough money to eliminate his current debt
• Enough to allow him to take his daughter to see specialists that might be able to restore some normalcy to the Winn family.

You may have seen this on Digg.com last week.  I didn't read through the comments, but I understand there were a lot of people calling Rex a fraud and a scammer.  This mischaracterization of him is unfair at best.  Given that I've had a working relationship with Rex, I feel compelled to share his story and solicit help on his behalf.

If you're skeptical, there's plenty of information here to back up what he's saying.

Do I trust Rex?  You bet.

Am I posting this in the hopes of landing more contract work from him?  No.  As I said above, I have turned down extra work since Troy's birth so that I can spend time with him.

How do you know he's not a fraud?  I don't, but I've known him for several years now, and we have corresponded over the phone and email for work matters.  Never once have I gotten the impression that he would do anything shady or illegal.  I would have a VERY difficult time believing that Rex is trying to scam people out of their money.  He is one of the most genuine, hard-working people I have ever met.  I trust him as a business partner, and I extend that trust to him as a person.

So please, if you can spare a couple of dollars, help Rex give his daughter the treatment she so desperately needs.  Just visit his site and click on the PayPal link:

http://www.readytogiveup.com

I just received this email from a coworker about a buddy of his who works for the state:

I have a friend who works for the state. He’s been trying to figure out a way he can play world of warcraft at his job, which he and several others were doing every day until the IT staff finally put in a firewall to stop users from playing the game (apparently lots of people just did it all day like him). He next tried to remote desktop and play the game from his home computer, but he found out the 3d graphics don’t work over remote desktop. Now he’s looking for another solution.

It’s nice to know that our tax dollars help pay for world of warcraft.

It's good to have priorities.