The World Needs More Ninjas

Just wanted to give you an update on what’s been going on in our lives. I started a new job at Cisco as a software engineer and so far it’s going fine. So far, it’s just been selecting which group to work for and they typical “orientation” stuff (evidently the length of orientation varies directly with the size of the company).

We moved into a new house, which we’re thoroughly enjoying. Leigh Ann’s parents were extremely helpful getting us set-up last weekend. There’s still a lot to do, but at least several rooms are finished. One note when you move: clearly mark where the TV remote is. It took us about four days to find it. Another note: don’t pack a steak knife in your toaster oven (or at least check the toaster oven the first time after you move). Just some life lessons from our experience.

And, we will be adding a new member to our family in August! Leigh Ann is 12 weeks pregnant with the little fellow that we are calling Bean (I named him after the character in Ender’s Game but didn’t tell Leigh Ann that until later). We’ll find out the gender towards the end of March so we’ll wait and decide on a real name until then.

I also got that periodic reminder of just how bad the whole DMV experience is. I went on a Friday afternoon thinking it wouldn’t be too bad during the day. Well, I had an hour in line to contemplate just how wrong I was. Then it’s on to the ID bonanza where you have to show: (1) old driver’s license, (2) lease or mortgage for new address, (3) social security card, (4) passport (because my SS card is laminated…this cause-and-effect makes no sense to me), and (5) proof of insurance (had to run out to the car to get this). Then, I got hit with a pop quiz that I wasn’t expecting. You can miss 5 out of 25 and still pass and I missed 4 . I learned that I need to brush up on my DUI laws. Then, it costs 32 freakin’ dollars to get the license (our IL one was $10). And, they don’t take out-of-state checks. I had $31 in my wallet so I actually had to run out to the car again to scrounge up a dollar worth of change to pay in cash.

On to a few random tidbits from the web:

• Steve Jobs:
  

  Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music. That’s right! No DRM system was ever developed for the CD, so all the music distributed on CDs can be easily uploaded to the Internet, then (illegally) downloaded and played on any computer or player.

• Dennis Kucinich emerges from elf-land to propose a U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence. Evidently he’s completely oblivious to the existence of the State Department and its purpose.
• Interesting anomaly in web traffic: of the top ten most visited sites, every company has at least 10000 employees. Except one. That site only has 23 employees. Can you guess that it is? Answer
• Rarely do I laugh out loud when watching a video, but this new Mac vs. PC ad did it for me. My new company laptop has one of those security agent things for XP.