Monday, August 30, 2004
Due to elephant invasion I’ll be working from home this week. My telecommuting wasn’t voluntary. Contractors are not welcome in government buildings near the convention site. I would complain about the silliness of this particular precaution if the view from my terrace, where I sit with my laptop, weren’t so pleasant.
Since the republicans are in town. I thought I would be nice to give them some design advice. The most noticeable thing about the convention site is the blindingly bright red floor, and it looks horrible on TV. Contrasting with the blue chairs, the floor creates a strobe light effect. This always happens when you put inverse colors at full saturation directly next to one another with no neutral lines between them. It’s amateurish. People will tune out if you hurt their eyes.
Another tip for the GOP: motion attracts the eye, when your backdrop moves I stop looking at the speaker. This is the equivalent of using a blink tag on the web. I am anxiously waiting to see if keep the motion on during the important speeches.
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Once again I’m sick. At least once a year my tonsils become infected, I get a bad cough, and generally feel shitty. A short course of antibiotics may cure me but I would still rather not be sick in the first place. Which leads us back to the 80’s when AIDS put a big scare into everybody, and drastically changed the treatment of conditions like mine. In response, doctors became very reluctant to perform tonsillectomies. Tonsils being a major source of T-cells are useful in fighting AIDS. Thus, young people, being the most the likely to engage in high-risk activities, should keep their tonsils. At least that was the thinking at the time, or at least that is how my doctor explained it to me.
So unlike my parents or grandparents I still have my tonsils. As a teenager they would become infected much more often then today, as much as 3 or 4 times a year. I was constantly taking antibiotics. In generations past tonsillectomies were a right of passage, kids looked forward to eating post surgery ice-cream to sooth their throats. Today no matter how often I get these annoying little infections no doctor ever suggests removing the mostly unnecessary organ of focus. Since most doctors now deem this surgery unwise it is not clear that insurance would cover the operation when antibiotics will likely cure the short term problem.
On the plus side, knowing you will get a particular condition once a year in a way makes it easy to deal with. I can think back through years of tonsil infections and remember where I was living and who I was working for during each. It’s like I’ve grown up with my good friends streptococcus, amoxicillin, and zithromax. Where will we have our reunion next year?
Monday, August 02, 2004
It’s been a while since I’ve updated this thing, my apologies. For those who aren’t already aware I am once again employed. It’s another short term gig. This time with SIAC who has contracted with the city to build its new payroll system. I of course work on the UI. There are some interesting elements to the project. City contracts have tons of benefits, each agency with its own slightly different set. We are building the product to support all these different configurations.
The irony that I help city workers, with their excellent job security, claim benefits, while I have neither security nor benefits doesn’t escape me. Although I can’t complain too much as my hourly rate is probably comparable to Mayor Bloomberg’s, at least for the next 3 to 6 months.
