There are two things I want to do to increase my productivity:

1. Convert my keyboard to Dvorak
2. Convert my "sleep" "schedule" to the Uberman's Sleep Schedule (2)

Too bad I don't have time.

9:59:30 PM    comment []  

SmarterChild is pretty cool. You just send it (user SmarterChild) AIM messages and it responds. It's like the ultimate command-line interface. Examples:

• revelations 13
• forecast 44106
• syn hot
• 31551*531991

6:32:25 PM    comment []  

"Crazy is working 70 hours a week at a job you can't stand."

3:36:21 PM    comment []  

Craig Andera posted a tool called PopRouter for building POP3 message handlers, similar in spirit to the way the ASP.NET infrastructure lets one build HTTP request handlers. The usage model is dead simple: install the server, tell it what POP3 mailbox to monitor, and provide a class implementing a single, simple interface (IPopRouterHandler). When a message comes in, you get a crack at it. Nice.
-- [Peter Drayton's Radio Weblog]

At the company I used to work at, I wrote a system back in 1999 which would POP a mailbox, examine the subject line, and then run a late-bound object to would import a contact. (Car dealer X uses one format, CarPoint uses another, etc.)

Replace VB6 with .NET or Java. Replace the registry mapping with XML config or manual dispatch. Replace late-binding with a common interface. Replace POP with MSMQ or reliable SOAP. It's all similar but not the same. Design patterns are useful; I wish I had known about them earlier (like when I was 16, instead of 19).

Incidentally, Carpoint has been doing XML since like 1999. That was the first XML code I ever wrote. Woo.

1:40:35 AM    comment []  

Blind Date is the best show ever. Somehow, it manages to make fun of relationships, dating (!= relationships), hang-ups, religion, LA, food, sex, and everything else that matters to people in just 30 minutes.

Maybe it's because I've never been on Blind Date, or maybe it's because someone saying "Is that a bloody eyeball [tattooed on your foot]?" is intrinsically hilarious.

I used to like Springer, but that's become a parody of itself. The only good parts now are the arbitrary George W. Bush references: "I don't think I'll have to get a job because the economy will be going so well thanks to our President, George W. Bush." Which doesn't make sense (wouldn't you need a job anyway?), and certainly doesn't make sense in context.

And, as a practical matter, Blind Date takes 30 minutes to watch; Springer takes an hour.

1:08:22 AM    comment []