Bobbis.net

I finally fixed the times on here. I was looking for an easy fix to this, but ended up tacking on 7200 seconds (2 hours) to the system time when inserting new stuff into the database and also changing the code to deal with time as a string instead of an int. Fun stuff.

Let me know if you find anything wrong with the site. I will eventually be moving my site to a pre-made CMS. I've already got my mind set on Drupal, so we'll see how that goes.

I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend.

I have finished moving bobbis.net to Dreamhost. I still need to move some other sub-domains and domains I am hosting on yogurt to here, but the big move is complete. If you encounter any problems, please let me know.

Some of you may have noticed that bobbis.net and www.bobbis.net weren't working on and off for a while. Then perhaps it started working, but some images and links wouldn't work. This is a result of moving my DNS to dreamhost, which doesn't allow me to remove some DNS settings for bobbis.net or www.bobbis.net. The result is the value for bobbis.net and www.bobbis.net to have two values which are given at random. One value is correct the other is for the dreamhost hosting. I have decided I should just move bobbis.net to dreamhost now instead of waiting for my redesign for the move. This may take a while to do since I have to clean up a lot of accumulated junk and move my databases. Expect some odd issues on and off.

If you are looking for the pictures of the El Paso Juarez trip you can download them en-mass here (31 MB).

So, I have fully moved into my new Mac mini at work. The machine is really fast (compared to my 3 year old laptop). Today, I finally had enough time to finish settling in. I finished setting up my new IMAP email so I can keep things easily synced up between my laptop, work computer and webmail. I also found the newest beta of NetNewsWire Lite that supports NewsGator. NewsGator allows me to keep my RSS feeds synchronized between my laptop, work computer and online. I also wrote some AppleScripts for when I leave my computer and come back to it. When run they will change my Adium status to away and change my IRC nickname to away as well as pause iTunes and start the screen saver. I also installed the release candidate of Parallels Desktop and installed and configured Windows. I have to say I am very impressed with the machine. The only problem is with Kerberos in Mail.app and using kpoprelay. I will eventually start forwarding my email to my dreamhost email.

Yesterday I moved my DNS hosting to dreamhost, and some people may have noticed my site not respond for a while as a result. Apparently they had some crazy default DNS settings that overrode some of my settings causing www.bobbis.net to not work and bobbis.net to work.

Tomorrow is Chris Hoff's wedding Gaila and I will be going to in Newton, so that will likely be fun. Speaking of weddings, Nick and Maggie's wedding is coming up here soon as well. Nick has asked if I wanted to be a groomsman which I was happy to accept. We also talked about having a get-to-gether in new next few weeks. Perhaps the up coming holiday weekend?

Anyway, I should be getting to bed so I can get up in the morning to order new glasses and be able to head down to Newton in the afternoon.

I finally moved to the Mac mini at work. I have a bunch of programs I need to get installed. I am amazed how fast and snappy things are. It makes me want to get a new computer now. Anyway, the gotcha I came accross was the use of Mail.app with ISU's Kerberos. The best solution is to use kpoprelay to skirt around using Kerberos. Instructions on how to do this can be found at http://www.it.iastate.edu/faq/view.php?id=718. Hopefully this will help a few people.

I'm back from the Mexico trip. You can see pictures here. I learned a lot and had some fun. It was exhausting. I got to meet lots of people both in El Paso and Juarez and learned how they were able to live.

Class started again on Monday and so far, I think it is interesting, though it does take a lot of time out in the morning. At work, I have been busy training the new people and will eventually find the time to move my work computer to a tricked out Mac mini. The new college web project is back on the radar, and I'm going to be looking into using Drupal. I will probably try using it for this web site just to get experience with it.

I have taken the first steps today to get off of my ISU email and getting new hosting for bobbis.net. I have signed up for a Dreamhost account and am playing around with that. I'm a little worried that they will require they host the DNS, but I'm going to try a few things first before I start moving stuff over there.

Also, Colin has signed a lease with a new roommate in a building across the parking lot. This will allow for Gaila to move in the the apartment Colin and I are in now starting in August.

They canceled the section of MGMT 478 I signed up for. Since I wasn't at the computer the whole time after 5:00 when they sent the message I did not know about it until 11 that night when AccessPlus is in read-only mode. Before the section was canceled there were several other sections that were available that were not at 8 AM or 6 PM to 9 PM. When I was able to register for a different section, the only section left was 8 AM. Now my Tuesdays and Thursdays will be class from 8 AM to noon.

It's the end of the semester, which means it's time for a clear slate. Time for me to create some goals.

• Learn COCOA (see last year's goals)
• Get Linux file server running again
• iPod connection for car stereo
• Mac mini media center
• Cell Phone / PDA
• Re-do bobbis.net
• Move hosting
• Move off of iastate email
• Loose some gut with the bike and horseback riding with Gaila
• Gaila and I move in together
• Job hunt
• organize filing cabinet
• Get professional clothing
• Enjoy the last summer in school

This is what I have so far, some compromises may be made, some are more important than others and the list is in no particular order.

So, I happened to fall off the face of the earth for a while. This can be expected during the last part of a semester, especially the spring semester. I'll try to go through some updates quickly.

AmesMUG

The AmesMUG server died on April 1st. Both the drives in the mirror set died and there were no backups. Currently the AmesMUG web site is hosted on this server and there are no mailing lists. I will be creating a form to collect email address for when we do bring back the list. In the mean-time, AmesMUG is looking for donations to either repair the server or buy a new one.

LANFEST also happened. It was just as good as usual despite not having a mailing list to announce it.

VEISHEA

VEISHEA was a bunch of work. Gaila and I rode our bikes (I got a bike btw) to campus by 8 AM that Saturday to setup the MUG tent. We were able to show off a dual booting MacBook Pro and kids played LEGO StarWars most of the day. We broadcasted the parade off the delayed FOX broadcast and had to edit out commercials, even-thoough I was told there would be no commercials. After the initial broadcast, Sheng and I had to figure out how to stream the final edit which resulted in re-encoding. During the re-encoding Sheng, Gaila, and I stayed around in the computer lab to watch the TV show House and the original Blues Brothers movie. After all was done, Gaila and I grabbed our stuff out of my office and we managed to catch the beginning of the midnight fireworks. Pictures of VEISHEA.

School

AmInd had another 20 minute group presentation project that was done. English 302 had a 12 page research report due this past Friday. Monday was the presentation for MIS 432 semester long group project, and things are wrapping up for the MIS 434 project which can be seen at kopeckydesigns.com.

Microsoft

I had my phone interview with Microsoft on Wednesday, April 12th. It appears that they were still looking for interns for the summer. I believe the interview went well, and I took it seriously. I totally forgot what the C# project last semester was all about when I was asked about it. Further reflection found that the C# project was a boring project anyway using flat files to store customer information. There were no really technical questions asked. After two weeks of no response I had to ask them what the status was and was informed that I was not going any further. I read an interesting line in the response that lead me to believe they don't hire skilled people.

Please understand that while I enjoyed speaking with you and learning about your talents, we encounter an extremely competitive market and have to make some very difficult choices often regardless of our candidates' skills.

Personal Stuff

With all the stuff above over with, finally, I actually had enough time to have a life. This Saturday Gaila helped me clean my apartment, which had seen the effects of neglect for the past month or so. For the first time in quite a while I don't have any projects looming over my head and was able to actually relax in a clean apartment. Today was a meeting in Marshalltown for the Mexico trip. Gaila and I will be leaving early Saturday morning the 6th and will be back on the 12th late at night. The week after the trip starts my summer class in MIS 435 (Business Telecommunications). I will also set aside some time every day or two for studying Cocoa and Mac programming. Don't let me forget this!

Anyway, I hope people's semesters have been good and I hope this summer will be a good one.

... with Microsoft. That's right, you heard it, MICROSOFT!

"How could this happen?" you say. "Why would I even apply?" you ask.

Turns out, a while back I went to a meeting where Microsoft was presenting something, advertised by the Computer Science Club. They were giving away free prizes (including an xBox 360), and there was free food. They asked for a resume to be in the drawings. I ended up with free pizza and a small sized "Let's Get Nerdy" t-shirt, nothing good. So, this afternoon I get the following e-mail:

Dear John,

I hope this email finds you well. I am a recruiter from Microsoft and have recently been able to review your
resume. I would very much like to speak with you about opportunities at Microsoft and would like to invite you
to phone interview with me within the next week or two. I have a copy of your resume and would appreciate
about 30 minutes of your time to discuss your qualifications further. If you are interested in speaking with me
about job opportunities at Microsoft, please send me some windows in your calendar over the next two
weeks, and I will schedule a date and time for us to talk. Please send availability in Pacific Standard Time (PST).
Also, please send me a telephone number at which you can be reached (land line preferred).

The headers show that it can from Microsoft's servers in Redmond. The from indicates that it came from a microsoft.com address and was identified as a person from Kelly Staffing, Inc. From what I hear, a few other people who attended that meeting have gotten requests for phone interviews as well.

What should I do? I'm pretty sure I don't have much of a chance actually getting a job at Microsoft, even if I did try. Should I try seriously? I do have connections with people who have interned at Microsoft and are going to intern and who are very familiar with the full-time interviewing process, but these people are far more qualified than I am (and even some of them have been turned down for full-time jobs). Also, I do question the stability and the management of the company as well, for legitimate reasons. The constant delay of Vista is starting to get people inside the company to talk.