Undirected Ramblings

Not a Wuss, After All [Permalink]

Tue Dec 05 23:45:20 EST 2006
Category [General Miscellany]

Today, day 2 of my new job with Interface21, was spent at the Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando, Florida. I've never been a big fan of roller coasters, and before today I think I've been on a full-scale roller coaster exactly once in my life. The idea of intentionally placing myself in a situation where I was practically guaranteed to have the crap scared out of me just never seemed particularly appealing. Today, however, the combination of opportunity and peer pressure placed me in the position of riding not one, but three (3) roller coasters in one day. I returned for a second ride on two of them, and I have to say that I actually enjoyed the rides, despite being left with a somewhat queasy and out-of-balance feeling each time. They're quite an adrenaline rush, and it's kind of interesting to see what sorts of psychological tricks and acrobatics they can put you through in order to get your blood flowing. The Dueling Dragons coaster was particularly exciting, a ride in which you are suspended from above and twirled around in the air upside down and right side up and around and around, almost running into a second car of passengers, from which you turn away at the last moment. I think my head is still spinning a bit from being thrown around so much.

Tomorrow we head down to Hollywood, just north of Miami, for The Spring Experience. I'm excited to be attending what promises to be a dizzying array of sessions all about Spring. Being in a fancy hotel on the beach shouldn't hurt either, but I'm really most excited by meeting all the Spring luminaries with whom I will now be working, and learning a lot along the way. I've got a good week ahead of me!

One More Reason I Should Work For Google [Permalink]

Wed Jan 04 11:32:21 EST 2006
Category [General Miscellany]

What could be cooler than a giant mass of silly putty on your desk? Note the imprint of an entire newspaper.

ICE + DHS = ?? [Permalink]

Wed Aug 10 11:06:19 EDT 2005
Category [General Miscellany]

This is at least the second place I've heard this, so it must be catching on. The Washington Post is highlighting a new scheme for letting emergency response workers know whom to contact In Case of Emergency (ICE...get it?). By putting an entry in your mobile phone's addressbook prefixed with "ICE", you could save workers a few seconds (maybe even minutes) of trying to figure out which number to call, presuming they know to look for the prefix.

From the article:

Kathleen Montgomery, deputy press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, said she did not have any comment on the matter because it was not the department's idea. Instead, she recommended that citizens look at the department's emergency preparedness site, Ready.Gov. The site recommends that next-of-kin details and other emergency information be kept on a "family contingency plan" sheet that can be downloaded from the site.

It's good to see the good old DHS is on the ball.