G.F.C.G.
Regular trash pickup resumed this morning, meaning that our neighborhood should be spic-and-span by tomorrow morning. It is starting to look like a regular cesspool. Around every toter, there is a swarm of flies. Virtually no one is able to fully close the lids on their containers. It’s about damn time these “sanitation engineers” are getting back to work.
I don’t begrudge them their ability to strike and hold out for better pay, but I think they’re going to get the short end of the stick in the long run. They’re going to have to pay 20% of their medical costs starting next year, and with the way health care costs keep spiraling upward, that 20% is going to eat into their new salaries very quickly. Then again, it’s only a 5-year deal, so I’m sure they’ll be able to renegotiate then if costs are out of control.
Photo booth shots
Darci scanned in the photo booth shots. This one is my favorite:
Updated: I got the originals from Jeff:
Jeff and Sarah
Jeff and Sarah got married this past Saturday in San Francisco. The ceremony and reception were held at Dogpatch Studios, somewhat near to AT&T Park, and a $10 cab ride from Union Square.
Jeff is one of the more eccentric people I know, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but their wedding was one of the classier ones that I have been to in quite a while. The ceremony was held in the 3rd floor loft. Jeff and Sarah stood on a dais in the middle of the room, while the rest of us surrounded them in a big circle. Afterward, the reception moved to the downstairs studio, which is a big, open warehouse room. They decorated it very tastefully, and there were bean bags and couches all over the place. The dessert table was filled with cupcakes and various other candies. All of the kids in attendance would sneak over and grab handfuls of candy any chance they could get. So did I.
Joel on Office Politics
Joel Spolsky just released a new article called A Field Guide to Developers. The salient point, for me, anyway, was the section on office politics:
The world of programming is very just and very strictly ordered and a heck of a lot of people go into programming in the first place because they prefer to spend their time in a just, orderly place, a strict meritocracy where you can win any debate simply by being right.
Bears!
Well, not really. But my dad just got back from a fishing trip at Bristol Bay in Alaska. Click on the picture below for the full album.
Power outage
There was a bigtime power outage in our neck of the woods today. Apparently some cement truck took out a power pole, and power was out from Antelope to Natomas to SMF. Hopefully the driver is okay.
Pregnant Kelly, having spent an uncomfortable two hours coaching in a sweltering gym, decided it was unacceptable to sit it out at home, so she invited herself over to Beau and Michelle’s. They were extremely gracious, offering to have us over for dinner. We quickly accepted. Many thanks to the Offners for letting us crash at their place for a few hours, eat their food, and play with their kids. Otherwise, we would have been sitting in our steaming house, sticking to the leather sofa, wondering what to do without TiVo or the Internets.
It's official
Intel will cut 10,500 jobs in the next year. Ouch.
Once again, I’m counting my lucky stars that I didn’t get a full-time gig there. My deepest sympathies go out to those who will be affected by today’s news.
Edit: More local information from the SacBee:
The company said the bulk of the cuts to its work force will come from marketing, management and information technology workers. Because Folsom is headquarters for Intel’s IT department, employing up to 1,800 workers to manage the company’s internal computer networks worldwide, the cuts could hit particularly hard in the Sacramento region. It also has a large contingent of marketing staff.