JohnA lifeBlog

Several people have asked what my office looks like. I’m not really sure why they ask, but since I had my camera on me when I stopped by there before leaving, I took a picture.

As you can see, there are several servers, an eMac, my Powerbook, a Galileo thermometer, and an array of trash, etc.

So, it basically looks almost EXACTLY like my room at home.
Also, look for a fun picture from Bush International Airport on my Mac Blog!

Yeah, it’s beta… but still…

Greetings from Houston!

My flight out of Houston is delayed an hour, so I decided to go and scope out a free wi-fi hotspot, and found one. Apparently the Continental President’s Club lounge offers free wi-fi access to its members. Of course, since the 802.11 signal travels much farther than the small club, I am able to “appropriate” said Internet connection while sitting just outside said small club.

I am SUCH an Internet junkie… I mean, after 5 hours, I was suffering withdrawal…

In preparation for my trip to New Orleans, I had to brave Wal-Mart to get some kitty stuff. Anyway, since I actually got there about 15 minutes before they opened, the night stockers were still working.

What really surprised me was what was playing over the store’s loudsystem. Apparently there is a night “DJ” for Wal-Mart stocker employees that offers tips on how to merchandise, information about Wal-Mart, and helpful hints on how to improve your job performance.

It reminded me of the scene in Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo where Lisa shouts “Oh Boy! The company loyalty song!” while the Simpsons are attempting to earn plane fare back home by working at “Osaka Seafood Concern”

I dunno… it just seemed really… freaky. But maybe it’s just me.

So, I’m off on my annual summer vacation tomorrow, which I am REALLY looking forward to. I will be gone from June 29th through July 20th. I’m going to be flying into New Orleans, visiting Pensacola, and (time permitting) visiting Atlanta.

It’s nice to finally get a break… I’ve been working like crazy the last few months, and I am in dire need of some R&R.

Oh, and I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures and put them online (as always)…

Finally, I want to wish my sister Jenni a happy 15th birthday!

So I got a call from Jonathan this morning, from the middle of the ocean.

The Iridium phone is really amazing… it sounded just like a regular cell phone. Jonathan is really enjoying the cruise… excuse me, the “conference”.
Now I want to go on a cruise. Any suggestions?

While I was up tonight nursing my chronic insomnia, one of my friends from my past logged onto IM, and I had a chance to speak with her. Her name is Melanie, and she is really doing wonderfully, She is living in New York City, and is pursuing her dream of being stage manager of a broadway production. She’s well on her way, having worked recently on a broadway production in the role of assistant stage mananger.

After talking to her, I felt really proud. She was in the youth group that I helped lead many years ago, and I am so impressed to see someone as talented as her pursuing her dreams and desires, and doing so rather well. Melanie is a brilliant young woman who will succeed regardless of where she has been, but I like to think that maybe I was able to help her go in the right direction.

Thanks, Melanie, for making me proud.

So, with Jonathan off to Affiliate Summit 2004, he has with him one of the coolest toys I have ever seen… an Iridium satellite phone. It’s about twice the size of a normal cellular phone, but has the distinct advantage of being able to send & receive calls from any point on Earth. Since the affiliate summit is being held on a cruise ship, it’s a terrific idea.

Anyway, I was impressed with it. It’ll be interesting to receive a call from it and see what the voice quality is like.

White House memo claims right to waive torture laws

I just don’t understand the mentality that can say that “we’re above the law” when claiming to enforce the law. It’s no wonder why people have very little respect for laws & law enforcement.

We apologize for the outage of the johna.org web server cluster… our engineers worked diligently to bring the johna.org datacenter back online.

Please note only about 25% of the 200-node johna.org cluster is currently online, so some features may be unavailable. We appreciate your patience.