November 2012

So it’s that short work week in the United States where people try their hardest to work whilst at work but in reality they’re reveling in the fact that it’s a short work week and just kind of trying to do what they can do to get through these three days before the Thanksgiving holiday. I know that I’m looking forward to an extra day off this week and that I am thankful to work for an employer that believes that Thanksgiving is a time to rest and relax with family and friends. It’s unfortunate that the retailers are corrupting these believes into thinking that Thanksgiving is a day to stand in line to wait for an opportunity to ravage the latest offerings in the way of Black Friday. I hear Black Friday is coming as early as 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving night! I find that disheartening.

While I try to use this week at work to clean up odds and ends that have been lingering on my To Do list for far too long, the truth of the matter is, folks are scheduling way too many meetings for my tastes. I’m not a meetings sort of guy. I’m a “hide in my space and write code” sort of guy and people seem to forget that from time to time. I don’t find sitting on hours and hours of conference calls to be overly productive. But I suppose I should be thankful that I have the opportunity to work at all, there are too many in the world that don’t know where their next meal is coming from. So I suppose I have what Twitter would call a First World Problem.

Earl was productive last night and went to the grocery store and by the looks of the amount of food in the cupboards and the refrigerator, it looks like we are going to have quite the Thanksgiving feast on Thursday. It’ll be a small affair here in our cozy home; just as we have done in years’ past, it’ll be Earl and me and Jamie for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s the way we like our Thanksgiving, quiet and enjoyable. We can save the driving all over creation for later in the holiday season when we are out drinking egg nog and spreading holiday cheer.

Again, another First World Problem.

I had been reading for a few months about the Nexus 7 tablet, Google’s offering to the ever-growing portable computing arena. As the leader of a solidly Apple-centric family, despite my quest to move to Linux full-time, I didn’t think that a 7-inch tablet that didn’t run iOS would come anywhere near the popular iPad. However, curiosity always gets the best of me and when Apple announced the new iPad (the 4th generation one) and the iPad Mini, I decided to get as much money as I could for my relatively new iPad 3 (the newly obsolete one) and try my hand at the Nexus 7, which was available at half the price of my iPad.

One always hears “bigger is better”, which I always counter, “only if you know how to use it.”  But I digress. The truth of the matter is, I am LOVING my Nexus 7 because of it’s portability. Using my iPad 3 would feel just too big now.

My Nexus 7 updated itself to the latest iteration of Google’s Android OS, Jelly Bean right after I purchased it. The main reason I was curious about the Nexus 7, the predictive Google Now application, is working beautifully. When I awoke this morning, Google Now told me the weather, let me know what was on the family calendar and it told me that there was no abnormal traffic along my commuter route today (apparently the Amish aren’t racing their buggies this month). Google Now is wicked cool and while it creeps some people out (it’ll eventually get to know where my favorite restaurants are based on my check-ins and the like), I think that this sort of thing is brilliant. And did I mention that the Nexus 7 feels much more portable than my iPad? I can take this thing anywhere and I love it.

Just for fun I used Google Maps as my GPS to get to work this morning. How I have missed Google Maps and the navigation functionality is brilliant. Because I am such a road geek, the beauty of Google Maps navigation makes me want to actually work for Google and help them make the application more awesome. It doesn’t scold me for not following the directions (other GPS units will bong-bong and bark out “Rerouting!” with a bit of haughtiness) but Google Maps quickly reroutes and doesn’t make me feel bad for thinking outside of the box. There was a little bit of a slow down on the Thruway around construction this morning and I had a little warning pop up alerting me of this. And did I mention the portability of this device?

People often ask me what kind of computer (or computing device) I recommend. I’d have to say that if you’re looking to give a tablet as a gift this holiday season, I’d definitely go with one of the seven-inch tablets. The Mac Mini might be a bit pricey. I haven’t messed around with an Amazon Kindle enough to weigh the experience of that against the Nexus 7 (they both run Android) but I will say that I have been very pleased with the Nexus 7. Prior to Android 4.0 I wasn’t a fan of the Google tablets, but with Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) and the follow up of Jelly Bean (4.1 and 4.2), I have to say that the user experience is good and the hardware feels solid but not too bulky.

Today in 1863, President Lincoln gave one of the best known speeches in history. Today is the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, and with all the divisiveness in the United States today, I thought this would be a good opportunity to share this awe inspiring speech.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

I am sitting in a Panera near Elmira, New York. I just drove through some snow in nearby Corning and it was a beautiful sight. I suddenly felt excited about the approaching winter and I felt a little flash of holiday spirit for a few moments. It was a good feeling. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving.

This Panera is identical to the location in Watertown. The layout is indistinguishable from it’s northern counterpart. As seems to be a growing trend in what used to be these quasi-trendy restaurants, there is a child running and hopping up and down the entire length of the seating area that goes along one wall. The family that we assume would lay claim to him does nothing to control the child. If he’s not bouncing on the seat he’s jumping on the table. Perhaps he’ll get tired soon.

My little Jeep adventure is turning out to be quite enjoyable this weekend. Little adventures like this recharge my batteries nicely and the rumble of the road, along with seeing friends, exploring some dirt roads in the Jeep all coupled with the scenery such as seen in the pictures below, is just what the doctor ordered. I feel good.