Day: May 13, 2002

Programming humor ahead

So I’m really a geek. I have a set of Fridge Code (think Magnetic Poetry, but for geeks) that used to adorn the outside of my locker at Sloan (yes, world, you too can return to the high school experience with your very own locker! Just send us your GMAT scores and pony up your tuition!). People kept moving it around and I finally took all the words down except for one that I would rotate in and out. This weekend I grabbed one at random and put it on the front.

I looked at the word today after I completed my transition with the new leadership of the E-52s. What word had I picked? Deprecated. It’s perfect! Much better than lame duck or short timer. “Sure, you can ask Tim to do that, but he’s a deprecated interface these days so don’t count on him to actually finish it.”

The power of the blog

I was contacted yesterday by an individual who was able to fill in some of the blanks in my ongoing search for information about my wife’s family. You may recall that we hit some dead ends in Calitri searching for her great grandfather, as his name is very common in the family. We were also unable to find information about his wife. This was because, my source tells me, she was actually born in another town.

What’s cool about this is that I never would have found this person and his information without this blog. It’s a two way communication tool. The part that makes it two way isn’t necessarily the technology, although things like comments and discussion areas help; it’s more about asking the question in the first place.

Back again…

I was in Calais, Maine this weekend—and in St. Stephen in New Brunswick Province of Canada. They’re separated by a few hundred yards of river and a time zone. We stayed with Lisa’s childhood friend Kelley in a former hunting cabin that’s undergoing extensive reconstruction. It was a really good time… albeit a bit cold.

It’s amazing experiencing currency exchange shock so close to home (disclaimer—this was the first time I ever visited Canada). Our hosts told me that it’s pretty common to tell jokes about the exchange rate (sample: “The lottery is up to $35 million Canadian! That’s, what, about $300 US?”).