Update: The New Roof...

I wish I could take some pictures for you, but it's kinda dark right now.  Last night when I got home from work, I could see that Chris (our contractor) had been hard at work.  There is a big pile of fabricated soffits, gutters, and other stuff I can't identify in front of our house.  All across the front of the house, the soffits are installed, minus a trim strip that I suspect will be the last thing to go up.  It really looks good, especially compared with the old, tired paint job that used to be visible. 

The latest word is that the actual roofing panels will be complete next Wednesday.  Because Chris has a vacation coming up, that means the project won't be completed until early September – later than originally planned, but so far as I can tell only due to factors completely outside Chris' control...

Rancho Jamul Auto Care...

I've blogged about Dave and the guys at Rancho Jamul Auto Care before.  We've been taking all our vehicles there now for several years.  They continue to delight us with their straight-talking, hard-working ways.  Nobody else (especially the danged dealer!) touches our three Toyotas.

One thing we didn't expect from Dave was that he'd enter the modern world of the Internet and web.  But we've just learned (via Doug S.) that Dave now has a web site.  What's next?  Free wi-fi while we're waiting for our cars (just kidding, Dave)?

Millar Ranch Road Revolt!

Via Doug S., this story that involves two of my colleagues from work (at Service-now.com).  Millar Ranch Road is a rural road in East San Diego County.  There's a stretch of it that was in notoriously bad condition, and the government hadn't done anything to fix it for years.  So a bunch of local citizens – including Operations guru Aaron B. and wizard developer Bow R., both of whom live off of Millar Ranch Road – got together and took matters into their own hands.

Our company has a culture of “can do”; it's one of the things I love about working there.  These guys are demonstrating that attitude way outside their professional specialties!

Without further ado, the Millar Ranch Road Citizen's Revolution:

What Would Happen If...

...the earth stood still, stopped rotating?  Fascinating, but I'm sure glad it's not going to happen!

The 800 Lb. Elephant in the Room...

Is Oracle.  Through their recent purchase of Sun Microsystems they acquired ownership of the Java programming language.  Google uses a variant of Java (but not from Sun/Oracle) in their Android cell phone operating system – it's the primary development platform there.  Now Oracle is suing Google for patent infringement.  Here's the news and here's James Gosling's reaction (perhaps NSFW)...

Who Doesn't Want to Save Kids' Lives?

If you read this blog, then you already know that I'm no fan of the unions.  The report below covers a recent flap wherein the teachers' and nurses' unions come down squarely against saving kids lives.  Seriously.




The only solution that comes to mind through my anger is high-velocity lead...