Author: Joe

Books

Shades of Grey

I was really stumped at the library, I feel as though I’ve read everything by now (realistically closer to .005%). So I randomly walked into fiction and grabbed Shades of Grey. Not to be confused with 50 Shades of Grey, I think they’re much different.

This turned out to be complete nonsense for the most part. However nonsense can be very amusing, so I did get some chuckles reading it.

The first half or so started a bit too slow for me, but the second half picked it up and I liked the later chapters. I really should consider just reading the second half of books.

Coincidentally I have read another book from Fforde, and that too was some silliness involving nursery rhymes.

Adventure

Kevin-a-thons

After hearing of the damage that Honey Badger Kevin had sustained from the recent Superstorm Sandy, I really wanted to help the guy out. So I put out word to the Honey Badgers, and the response was astounding!

We had 8 Honey Badgers on the scene and got an amazing amount of cleanup done in just a few hours. It was really amazing to see what an organized effort can get done when everyone works together.

Kevin’s and his father were incredibly appreciative, and it really felt great to of been able to help them out. They thanks was extremely welcomed and sincere.

Dustin saved fish, drained a mattress, de-carpeted stairs just to name a few. Jared silently (as always) cleared out an entire side room full of air conditioners. The Ludgates and friend Maggie made short work of the supply room and got all the other numerous items out as well (including a Clue VHS game).

It was truly an amazing effort!

When John B. and Julie arrived we were just finishing up and would then move on to “other” Kevin from the other team. I got directions and mapped them out. When I say the actual map, I knew he had to of gotten hit pretty hard.

When we arrived it was amazing to see just how many people were already on the scene helping him out. I swear I don’t know that many people, let alone have that many friends. It was pretty awesome.

What made this clean up a bit interesting was the shear volume of items involved. I’m sure I hold onto too much myself, but they seemed to of held onto literally everything they must’ve ever had. It was an incredible amount of stuff.

Again, Kevin and his family were so appreciative for the help we were able to lend. They and Kevin’s dad thanked us with more pizza than I’d ever seen. Two pizza parties were had for us on this day of help. Again, something truly amazing.

While it is really a shame what our friends are dealing with, it is pretty great to see other’s selflessly coming to the aid of others during such a time. Literally seconds after sending out an e-mail with the suggestion I had gotten responses of yes, where and when.

I’m very fortunate to know such fine people.

Adventure

Superstorm Sandy

We got yet another big weather event on Monday with Hurricane Sandy coming to town. She surely lived up to the hype with evacuations of the barrier islands taking place.

I’m glad to report that I found myself pretty much safe in Linwood, with only a mere minutes loss in power and no cable for a few days. Not too bad at all.

Sadly a lot of friends didn’t fare as well. The shore took some mighty serious flooding and I’m hoping I can help some people out with the cleanup. I’ve heard some bad stories and hope that there is something I can do to help them out.

Work turned out to be interesting as a result of all the craziness. We were closed for 3 days and came back to a good amount of craziness with a ton of work to get done ASAP.

One really cool project as a result is a relief site to help raise money for students hit hard in the storm. So rapidly building up a page to collect donations to help students in a really short amount of time is cool. It’s nice to know my skills have the potential to reach so many so fast.

This has been a very strange year or so weather wise. I blame the year of the dragon for all.

Books

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

Post author By Joe
Post date October 29, 2012
No Comments on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

I was really stumped with what to read next. Thought I knew it wouldn’t happen, I thought something would just amazingly jump out and beg that I read it. I must remember to always enter the library with a plan in the future, or at least kinda a plan.

At work the school always has a college book that they incorporate into the courses every year. So I figured I’d look over that list online somewhere and give one of those books a shot. I went with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime because it had dog in the title and I recalled seeing the cover in the past.

It turned out to be nothing at all what I was expecting. While a dog is mentioned early on (a murdered one at that) and a puppy at the very end, it was mostly a tale told through the eyes of an autistic child. It was very interesting to read something that was written (or attempted to be written) from an autistic point of view.

It was a very good book and I enjoyed reading it a lot. A thought a lot of thought went into it, even with the chapters being in all prime numbers (it makes sense if you read it). I’m really glad I gave this one a shot and can see why the school put it on it’s college book list a few years ago.

Adventure Development

Day of Errors

Had I known ahead of time how this past Tuesday would have unfolded, perhaps I wouldn’t of even gotten out of bed for the entire day.

While working on a site for a client, we have production and testing directories setup on the server. I have been doing web development for over 11 years now, and this setup is pretty standard for me. Well I made a completely idiotic error and decided to delete the files on the production directory. aka I deleted their live website. At this time my stomach dropped to the floor and I began to feel very stupid (it’s a very beginner’s error).
My phone rings at work. Someone is getting hundreds of form submissions as they’re speaking to me on the phone. I hang up and the phone rings again, it’s happening to several co-workers and by the thousands. The most aggressive spambot form attack I can recall by far.
The hard drive on our web server at work dies. The server is down and the hard drive must be rebuilt. This means no website for several hours at the least.
I decide to send out a text alert letting students know that even though our website is down, they can still access other servers, such as their online classes. It turns out that despite being completely branded with no messages stating otherwise, the login for Blackboard has changed from last semester. Now I have to send out a correction text alert. Few things are moreÂ embarrassingÂ than a correction text alert.

For any of the above to happen in a work day, would constitute a bad work day. However to pull off all 4 completely unrelated events in a span of 2 hours is truly amazing. While the above is clearly a mix of my error and bad luck, I’m still amazed that all could occur at almost the same time.

It’s a good think I’m a pretty calm guy. I survived the day of course, but wow was I burnt out from all of it.

Books

A Fistful of Collars

As a known sucker for any dog based/themed book I choose to give A Fistful of Collars a shot when I noticed it in the new arrivals section. I’ve read a previous book in the Chet and Bernie series, so I figured why not continue.

It’s a mystery series about a private investigator and his dog, but written from the dog’s (Chet) point of view. Again, how can you go wrong with a book written from a dog’s point of you?

I thought this was very cleverly written and pretty funny at times. I’ve always wondered what dogs are thinking at times, and the author does a solid job of humorously assuming what they might actually be thinking if there were telling a tale from their point of view.

This book was a great break from a very busy work week. It was nice to pick up something that was a fun but also puzzling read. Chet is a fine dog and loyal partner.