Friday, March 04, 2005

The Scoop on "Scoop" Some of you may recall my post about "Scoop."  Well, "Scoop" is at it again.  Here is an email I received from him yesterday: From: "Bad Writer" <badwriter@work>; To: "Jason J. Thomas" <jjthomas@work>; Subject: Sry not to cc u on this ... I added these ipz to the boxz ... Bad Writer wrote: > > Here are the 2 server ips > > some IP address = some domain name alias some other domain name > some other IP address = other domain name alias some other domain name> This is <network engineer>z response ... Ok, how about if we try the following for alias/secondary addresses: The VIP address on the content switch will be xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. -Network Engineer . I changed the names above to protect some others and protect some data, but I have to ask: Is this anyway to conduct business communication?  I feel like I am talking to an aging hipster who refuses to embrace regular language to conduct business.  I mean, spell "Sorry" for Chrissake!  And, hey, possessives are with an apostophre, not a "z"!  Apparently, this is rankling my co-workers.  One of them was in my office early yesterday morning, complaining about trying to decipher his instant messages.  He was exasperated.  I just don't get how you can be a professional and speak like a hacker.  Come on, now! 1:42:24 PM    comment []  trackback []

On Old Friends The other day, I mentioned a conversation I had with an old friend of mine.  I was also discussing this problem with another friend of mine recently.  Well, when my friend called, he was apologizing for the loss of my grandmother, which happened in November 2003.  I had thought I had told him, but apparently I had not.  I gre up with my old friend, and I have known him for almost twenty years.  I met him when I was entering 6th grade, and we both lived down the street from one another in lovely Brooklyn.  We went to middle school together--a local Catholic school.  We also went to the same high school.  I also knew his older brother, and we had the same group of neighborhood friends as we all went to Poly.  When I went off to Boston University, my friends stayed in Baltimore, married, and started families.  When I returned to Maryland to go to the University of Maryland for graduate school, we would hang out from time to time.  At the time, my old friend had just separated from his wife (both guilty of marrying quite young).  After I finished grad school, I moved back to Baltimore and shared a house with him in Locust Point.  We then went our separate ways--he moved out to Anne Arundel County and eventually remarried.  I moved into my own place.  Over the last few years--sadly it has been that long--I moved in with my ex-girlfriend and then moved out when the relationship ended and he has welcomed a son into the world.  Unfortunately, after he remarried and moved to the county, we both sort of grew out of touch.  This is the point of my somewhat long and rambling post.  I consider myself someone who is a good friend, but I am ashamed about the way we lost touch.  I think part of it results from my college friends.  Most of them are in different parts of the country, but the one thing that keeps us together is technology.  I know it sounds geeky, but we email frequently and occasionally instant message.  My friends I grew up with are much more "unconnected" then my college friends.  Part of this results from their original blue collar careers, but that has changed in the last few years.  The other reason for losing touch, though, is that we have taken different paths.  My friend has moved to the suburbs, has a lovely wife, and has three lovely children.  My path has been to remain in the city and enjoy my relationships.  I really have no excuse for being out of touch, but I think part of it is that we now move in different circles.  Does this mean I am a poor friend?  I hope not.  I will admit that I am guilty of being out of touch.  Last summer, the ending of my relationship precluded me from being in touch (as I was embarrassed about my situation and I wanted to correct it on my own).  The larger reason, though, is my friend has concerns and responsibilities that far exceed those of his urban friend--children being chief among them.  I have a good group of friends in my neighborhood, and it is both incredibly easy and nice to be able to hang out with them from time to time.  I think another reason is time--we work during the week, the weekend is for running errands, so finding the time is difficult, to say the least. The bottom line is that I am going to do a better job of getting together and catching up with my friend.  Sometimes it is good to just hang out, and I know that is something he misses too.  1:11:05 PM    comment []  trackback []