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Big Success!

I had a really great demo here in San Diego. Everything went well. The audience was really interested and asked lots of good questions. I interacted with lots of friendly tech people, including a member of the Firefox team. What was really great was that my Dad and his wife and my sister Tracy and her two boys were there, so it was particularly gratifying to do well with family watching. Thank you to those of you who prayed for me or wished me well.

Forgot Camera

Everytime I go someplace I forget at least one thing. This time it was my camera. I have been meaning to take some pictures of the home I grew up in and schools I went to, etc. Maybe next time.

My presentation is tonight. I am looking forward to it.

Arrived in San Diego

I worked all night long and then when I got off work it was off to the airport. Ruth Ann was a big help by packing for me and fixing me a good breakfast. I was very tired, but I realized that I am not able to sleep on the plane. I mean I was real tired, and I am a great sleeper, but the problem is I snore, and I was not traveling with anyone who would elbow me if I was causing a scene, so I was careful to stay awake, which was very difficult.

I usally never sit by any pretty girls on the plane, but this time I was surrounded by the UCLA girls frisbee team. Those girls were doing things on a commercial flight that I have not seen before. For example they were putting their feet up on top of the seats. And you know where there is like 3 seats together? 5 or 6 of them would get in there together for some sort of girls party or something.

There was a pretty UCLA co-ed sitting to my left but she had on earphones and was reading Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. So we did not do much talking, but I did tell her that "deluge" means "flooded". I hope I am right.

My Dad and his wife Fran picked me up at the airport. My Dad fixed us some gin and tonics with a squirt of lime and we hung out and caught up. That felt kind of sophisticated. Also he had a computer problem that I fixed real quick.

Today (or now yesterday) is my birthday. We had a steak dinner, and then I got an eclair with a candle on it. I got cards from my Dad, my Mom, and my older sister Taffy. My younger sister Terry called me, and my youngest sister Tracy came over for a little while. Also talked with Ruth Ann some. Nothing big, but frankly I was too tired for anything more.

The Office

The Office is one of my favorite TV shows. I also like Boston Legal and LOST. Anyway, I read something interesting about the show. When they are filming the show the characters are sitting in front of computers. Well it turns out those computers are live and connected to the internet, and what many of the characters are doing when they appear to be working away is blogging. For example, Pam has a myspace account. The other characters on her friends list are all sites run by the real people, not corporate PR people. I thought that was interesting.

You tube has a video out which at the very end contains scenes from a future episode. It looks like Roy is attacking Jim!

Marj the School Marm

The lovely Marj will be playing the school marm Rose Petal at the 4th and 5th grade mystery dinner. The lovely but blogless (for now) Ruth Ann assisted with dressing and make-up. The lovely and blogged Amy provided the costume. Good work team! I am sure Marjorie will have a great time at this very fun event, although if you look closely in her eyes it does appear to me that Miss Rose Petal may in fact be the murderess! Stay tuned...

Update: She was niether the murdress or a victim, but she had a great time.

I really want to see...

I know it is not the type of movie that everyone likes, but I really want to see Miss Potter and it is not only because I am in love with Renee Zwellweger. They are other reasons too. Like the fact that the only place it is showing is at my favorite theater.

Babysitting

So Emily my 3 year old offers to babysit NatJ my 4 year old. The funny part is, I almost took her up on it.

Except this Monday

I am going to San Diego. I have a presentation of my project on Wednesday and I will be back Thursday. I grew up in San Diego and it will be good to see my Dad and sisters.

Monday is Movie Night!

Monday is Movie Night!

Applied for Job

So anyway, the first programmer for my project recently found a job, and they are hiring more people. He says it would be perfect for me. Just the kind of thing I am good at in programming, and also flexible working conditions. What I really want to do is work my current job and this job, so I submitted my resume. They sent back a programming test, and I believe I did real well on it.

It would be great to get a programming job because it would help me to sharpen my skills that I use for my project. I have long been a computer programmer, but I have never been a professional computer programmer.

Also I would love to earn more money to get ahead financially. I hate living hand to mouth, but unfortunatly I had to organize my finances this way in order to try to reach a deal with the IRS.

On the other hand if I get the new job, before I get a deal with the IRS, it will probably blow the deal. It is frustrating that the financial incentive is to not work, rather than to work. I would have a ton more money coming in, but I would probably have to work 2 jobs for a year to pay back the IRS. On the other hand I really have no idea when I will be able to reach a deal with the IRS, or even if I will be able to reach a deal at all?

There are other factors, too. My son is in school, and even though he is 21, the government still expects the parents to pay for it. Apparently you have to be 24 before the goverment considers you to be an adult when it comes to paying for college. So anyway, getting a second job may be the only way to keep him in school.

So anyway, I may have a dilema coming up.

IRS

Thursday was the deadline the IRS gave us that they would respond to our offer. Never heard a word from them. So Friday we called them. Answer, "Sorry we are behind." Great. If we told them that they would hammer us. As usual, the whole government deal is one sided. It is like we exist for them.

One thing I have learned in life is never EVER NEVER get on the wrong side of the government, not the law, not the tax collectors, not child protective services, none of them. They are big, mean, slow, heard it all before, and do not care about you.

So I go to my tax attourney, and pay the last of my bill. So far they have done nothing for me. Their slogan is, "Make your IRS problem, our problem." At this moment it still feels like my problem. So anyway they said it has been so long they will probably want another round of financial data (bank statments, pay stubs, etc). Great. Why not just fill out a form, and then have them contact you to request data when they are ready to look at your info? No, instead you spend a ton of time gathering up every possible piece of information, only to have it go obsolete before they get around to looking at it.

So anyway, our financial life is on indefinite hold, and we have no control over it. It does not have to be this way. We could have the Fair Tax, but apparently most people still like having the IRS around.

New Programmer

No new info on book. Not sure what happens next. No word on contract yet.

Met a programmer for lunch Tuesday. Showed him a demo of my project and he was impressed. Then I asked for the sale: Do you want to join the team? Yes!

This is very exciting because he is very talented. It is the first guy to join the team without the promise of money. With 3 developers working on it we should really start to make progress on it. Fun!

Mail From My Friends at Blogger

from Blogger Help
to Chris
date Mar 23, 2007 12:44 PM
subject Re: Help Info Appears to be Wrong

Hi there,

Thanks for letting us know about this bug with the new version of Blogger.
We'll look into it and hope to have it fixed as soon as possible. In the
meantime, we appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,
Karl
The Blogger Team

He Likes It!

to arnold@skeeve.com,
cnystrom@newio.org
cc Debra_Williams@prenhall.com
date Mar 17, 2007 3:47 PM
subject Re: Prentice Hall interested in epublication of New I/O

Yow! I like it! Great outline! This looks really interesting.

Arnold

Bad Saturday

Saturday was a very bad day for me. I could not sleep the night before because I had a big important presentation to do. Then I got up at 3am to go to work. Then I go to the presentation. I get up on stage and set up and my laptop does not work. We can not get the video to output so I can not project on to the screen. So I slink off the stage. We play around with it a while without any sucess, so I tell the guy never mind. I will present some other time. He said, no they needed me. They had too much web stuff and wanted some more tech. He asks if I can use his laptop and just discuss my project and skip the demo. I reluctantly agree.

I go up to do the talk and the sound is just awful. Too soft for about 10 min. Then they boost it up, and there is this rumbling noise the whole time. Someone actually sent me e-mail during the talk saying that they were interested in the subject, but could not hear a thing I was saying.

So I am giving my talk and this guys' laptop is locking up on me and I can not keep the slides coordinated. Then at one point the video gets all messed up. I was like the audio/video jinx or something. It gets fixed, but then locks up again. It was just horrible. The second half of the talk I am just racing through it to get off stage.

A guy actually greats me as I get off stage, "That really sucked, but I am still interested in your project."

And therein lies the silver lining. As bad as the presentation was, people so much identify with the problem I am trying to solve and my solution to it that they were still interested in it. I exchanged several business cards with people who were interested, so we will see how it goes.

Was I able to get some sleep when I got home? No. My roof needed repair. So I am dead tired and I have never fixed my roof before, but after a trip to Home Depot up I go. I was able to get a 2 hour nap before going back to work.

Missed church on Sunday because I was so tired after work. It is pouring down rain now, so I am very glad that I sucked it up and got the roof fixed.

The Domain

The Domain opens today. It is basically a town within the city. The Domain is on the south side of MoPac near Burnet where the old IBM facility is located. I predict it will become the premiere shopping site in Austin. Here are some pictures. There are a number of good places to eat, too.

Theology Pubs

Finally! Theology Pubs are coming to Austin. It is about time!

Also, The Gospel According to Austin is an interesting read for you locals.

The Dentist of Auschwitz

I normally avoid holocaust stories because they are so depressing, but while web surfing I wandered across The Dentist of Auschwitz and could not stop reading.

From NatJ

Out of the blue from NatJ who turns 5 tomorrow:

"Sorry Dad. No offense. You are not cool."

Whats up with that? No respect.

Book Outline

Tell me what you think:

--

Beyond the Web with NewI\O
by Chris Nystrom

1. Why Internet applications?
2. What is wrong with current solutions?
3. What is NewI\O and How does it work?
4. Downloading, Installing and Running Dreadnought
5. Your First Program: Hello NewI\O!
6. Advanced NewI\O Programming
7. Extending the System: Adding to the API
8. Debugging NewI\O Programs
9. Running Your own NewI\O Server

Appendix A: NewI\O Links
Appendix B: NewI\O FAQ
Appendix C: NewI\O API