Brady Interception

Holy crap. Brady's second interception. It's only the 2nd quarter with 12:53 to go. Dammit! Yes, he's playing for the 'muffins this week.

Okay, I am going to stop making blog entries every time something happens in this game.

Another Peyton Manning commercial

Ohmigod...the new Peyton Manning commercial is as funny as the first. Makes it tough to severely dislike the guy. Well, at least until he points to every man on defense before starting each play.

Saturday night at Sanctuary

Last night I ventured out to Sanctuary for Samantha's birthday. It was a gorgeous night, so I walked the 1.5 miles there. It was a great walk; I was walking alone, and came up with some interesting thoughts about missing people and places which I will blog about when I'm not trying to distract myself from a Chiefs scoring drive.

Dude, I have Tony Gonzalez playing for the studmuffins this week. We know the Chiefs are going to score. Couldn't he have caught the damn ball?

While on the topic of football, I must note that I was quite frustrated with the fact that Georgia-Georgia Tech was not shown here. We got to watch Stanford-Notre Dame, which actually ended up being an excellent game. Still, it's just weird to go to a bar during rivalry weekend and not see one of the major rivalries.

So anyway, I get to the bar, and saw fellow Warren Tavern softball players Rooney and Phil. I had one of Sanctuary's excellent martinits, but then switched over to beers for the duration. I met a lot of very cool people, got to talk to some I hadn't seen for a while, and was out quite late. Happy birthday, Sam, and thanks for organizing!

Oh, and I was wrong about the Chiefs. They just got a field goal.

Yay, weekend!

Last night I went to Matt L.'s house to meet up for dinner. He made us two each of his famous margaritas (which were soooo good), then we walked to a sushi place. Excellent sushi, excellent sake, excellent company. Thanks, Matt!

Today Eve and Jeff came into town. We went to the S&S Restaurant for brunch which was delish. From there, we drove to Harvard Square, where we wandered around for two hours, scaring children in the Curious George bookstore and getting makeovers in the make-up store there (well, Jeff skipped the makeover =D)

They left, but are now on the way back, as both Eve and I managed to grab the wrong bag at the make-up store =). I'll be sitting here, doing homework, and waiting for the Florida-Florida State game to come on at 3:30.

Ooo...also, this is a very touching article about a reunion between a Holocaust survivor and the woman who protected her (go here. They also mention a charity I did not know about but will now donate to in which those who protected Jews during the Holocaust are provided for.

Thanksgiving Review

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving again this year. I drove out to my parents' house, arriving shortly before Jeff and Eve. It being noon and dinner not planned to be served until 4:00, my mom set out an incredible assortment of food on the table for us to eat while watching the National Dog Show and football. So we started out with corn chowder, corned beef, shrimp, cheese and crackers, and cashews and almonds. Yum. Those of us that aren't pregnant also enjoyed a pumpkin beer.

My aunt and cousin Lew arrived around 1:30, and joined the party in the family room. More eating and football. Jeff, Eve, and I took a brief break from stuffing our faces and watching football to set up their new carriage for my unborn niece. We then headed to the dinner table to eat a delicious meal. Thanks mom!!

Afterwards, it was back to the TV for more snacking and football. Then back to the table for the official dessert. Is this not a disgusting display of gluttony or what??

I drove home around 9:00pm, so I'd be able to get sleep before the gym and work today. For the first year in about six or so, and probably only the 4th or 5th time in my life from infancy, I did not attend a day-after-Thanksgiving sale. Do ya see the will power?

Macy's Parade on TV: Stream of Consciousness

My family used to always go to the Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving when we were younger. We re-established the tradition by going the previous two years, though this time we could sit in Eve's neighbor's office. Much nicer.

Today I am watching it on TV, trying to stay behind on my TiVo so I can fast forward through the commentary by Katie Couric.

So far I've seen the Ohio marching band and the Rockettes. Whenever I see

Holy crap! Gordon's still on Sesame Street???

Anyway, sorry, they're on now. So I always watch the Rockettes for a woman I used to dance with when I took lessons in Atlanta. She was an amazing dancer, though was cut from both the Rockettes and Atlanta Hawks dancers in the final round in the same year. (OO! Weebles!) She'll make it someday, so I always keep an eye out.

I love watching the bands because they all wear the same uniforms, but you can always see the token fat guy, token mini guy, and token "I have way too much energy" guy. Hysterical.

What the hell is a Puffy YamiUmi?

Okay, there was just a float that was an ad for Royal Carribean. Pretty tacky, but I guess thanks to people like me with TiVo, advertisers need to do all different kinds of advertising now.

Hula dancers....dude...they must be freezing.

Okay, time to head to Sharon. Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Fun with spell check

My spell checker just tried to replace "ringtones" with "ringbones." Uh...yeah! Needless to say, I added "ringtones" to the dictionary.

It is amazing how lazy a spell checker can make me. I mistype "software" probably 4 out of 5 times in my haste. Usually "softare." I also tend to butcher "programming," "while," and "judgment."

Veterinarian?

Can anybody recommend a good vet in the Boston area? It's time to take Scully for her yearly checkup, and I wasn't thrilled with the place I went last year.

Back Update

My back is hurting today, though it's actually not as bad as I had feared! Yay! I am working from home to avoid sitting in the car. I am very happy that I am not traveling for the holiday this year!!! I can't remember the last time I didn't go somewhere for Thanksgiving...

Be safe in your travels!


Yeah, I'm not so good with the Photoshop =)

Basketball and Owwwwie

I played basketball after class today with Yoav, Sam, Robbie, Deming, Paul B., John W., and a random guy who was playing before we got there.

It was fun as always. However, at one point, a rebound got batted away and was headed right toward my face. Like Neo avoiding bullets in The Matrix I leaned all the way back to avoid the oncoming weapon. It really didn't hurt at the time, but now it is kiling me, dude! I already sat in the jacuzzi for a bit and took some Advil. Hopefully, it will be better by gym time tomorrow. (Of course, last time I had a major back injury--the car accident in 2001 when the dude ran a stop sign into me--I was back at the gym the next morning, exacerbating my whiplash and probably extending my subsequent physical therapy. Silly.)

Anyhoo, after that incident, I didn't duck the next time and got hit square in the forehead by Sam. I'll get you for this, ShotBoy!

On a different note, I was really sad driving home, and not just because my back was killing me. I realized that everybody that played today will be gone next term other than Sam and me. Of course, Sam throws enough elbows to make up for the rest being gone, but it will be so sad once everybody graduates or moves back home after their term on campus.

System Engineer Your Love Life

HAHAHA! This is too funny. (Well, only ultra-nerds might understand the humor...)

Josh Beckett is Hot

And he's ours! All ours!! Bwah ha ha!

World's Ugliest Dog is Dead =(

This poor pup died today. It's a sad story, but the picture is pretty funny.

On a related note, I have realized that I always vote for cats that are in bowls, pots, or sinks on kitten war.

Software Engineering Reading

I am working to get some of the software engineering readings and critiques out of the way, mostly because I enjoy it and it serves as an excellent means of procrastination from System Architecture.

I just finished an article by Stuart Shapiro that detailed the history of software. It was very interesting stuff, written over 15 pages in Times New Roman 8 or something.

Hmm, that's it. Truth be told I'm just procrastinating from starting the next article =)

studmuffins Win!

The studmuffins beat Dubya's Crusaders this week to go to 6-5 thanks to outstanding play (well, fantasy-wise at least) by Tom Brady, Keenan McCardell, Larry Fitzgerald(!), and LaDainian Tomlinson. Go, 'muffins!

One Less Guilty Little Pleasure

--Stop reading if you watch "Desperate Housewives" and have not yet seen it--

"Desperate Housewives" lost me last night. Last season was wonderful and creative. This season makes "Melrose Place" look realistic. In last week's episode, Gabi is confronted by what she believes to be a burglar in her home, falls down, and loses her baby. A week or so later, some scary looking guy shows up who says Carlos sent him, and Gabi does not confirm with her husband nor call the police. Then she gets in the car with this guy? Doesn't start screaming when she notices no window or door handles on the passenger's side of the car? Whatever.

Not only was the character's action unrealistic, but the writers made the situation appear worse than it was, framing what would be a balloon release as a potential kidnapping or murder. SO stupid.

And that's only the one character...the whole show was so unrealistic that I just can't see spending 40 minutes (thank you, TiVo) a week watching it anymore. Bummer.

Girl Talk at Dinner

Tonight Elizabeth and Corey came up to Charlestown to hit Figs for dinner. We had so much fun....1.5 straight hours of nothing but girl talk. I'm not sure the couple to our right enjoyed it quite as much, but we had a blast! It's so nice to hang out just with girls once in a while...the whole near all-male workplace and classes thing is great, but I really miss talking with people exclusively of my own gender. Thanks, girls!

More search fun

Okay, when you search on "ew what is that smell ! Did someone fart!?", I am the second listing. Seriously, check the Google search.

I don't know what is more disturbing...that someone searched on that phrase or that my place is the anals--ahem, I mean annals--of history is being thus established. (Oh, god, that pun is awful, even for me...yes, I'm cracking myself up).

Quick weekend recap

Just realized I hadn't blogged:

Friday: I had a presentation for Business of Software. Usually I love doing presentations, but on Friday I was just off. I'd say in 98% of presentations I stay calm and do a good job, but I just flubbed in on friday. Bummer.

Luckily, I was able to perk right up by traveling to Town Spa in Stoughton to have dinner with Brian, a son of a friend of Suzanne's. Excellent company and food...thanks Brian!

Saturday: Sam's friend Brian was in town with his friend Nathan. I met up with them at Harvard Square, then Brian and I wandered around and shopped for birthday gifts for Eimear (sorry about the spelling!) before meeting up with Sam and Nathan for dinner at an Ethiopian place. The food was very good, though the service was slow...for good reason, as there was only one cook and one waiter.

After that, we went to Eimear's house for a birthday party for Brian and Eimear. It was a great crowd and lots of fun. Much of the crowd was from Analog Devices, though a few were from MIT.

Sunday: T-minus 1:45 to Pats!

Programming langauges software engineering class

Today in Software Engineering Professor Leveson told a story from when she taught at UCLA. She told her students they needed to have meaningful variable names, and would get a good grade only for this type of name. One of her students therefore used variables such as JesusDiedForOurSins. When she did not give him full credit, he complained because these names were certainly meaningful to him.

(For those that don't do software, you should have names like bankAccountId, withdrawalAmount, etc.)

Only two more classes left =(

Yoav and I just ran through our presentation on software in Israel for our Business of Software class. I will be very happy when this presentation is over: I love working with Yoav and Paul, but a last-minute addition of a non-attention to detail person made the project less fun. Rather than having no effect on the presentation, this dude actually made it worse.

Ilana goes to the bank!

I went into a bank today! It was very exciting. I have not been inside a bank in years other than to open or close an account. However, my ATM card expired, and--me being me--I lost the replacement they sent. They are sending another, but in the meantime, I needed cash.

It was actually very nice. Seemed like a soothing place, nice and quiet. Very different from the beeping of an ATM. Not that I plan to go back inside a bank for a while, but it was a fun excursion (And one I greatly overestimated time-wise--I gave myself half an hour, and was only inside about four minutes.)

Study Break: Warren Tavern

Last night, I went to the Warren Tavern around 8pm. It was really empty for a Wednesday night, but I saw John, one of the locals, at the bar, so I plopped myself down at the bar for a quick drink. Of course, the Warren Tavern crew was all there: Gregg, Shannon, and John.

The place quickly filled up. By the end of the night, I had seen Donnie, Rooney, Brie, and Sam. Justin was singing, sounding great as always. The highlight was seeing Todd, a man who lives in Charlestown but grew up in Sharon; I have pictures of him at my third birthday party. It's always great to run into him. Ooo! And I met some cool new people, like Rebecca, a fellow curly-haired girl who got her PhD from MIT in 2000. Yay!

With all the talking and seeing folks, I didn't notice the time slipping by, though I did notice that my drink would get mysteriously refilled without my asking (thanks, Gregg =D). Eventually, midnight came, the lights went on, and Brie, John, and I went to Sully's to finish off the night. Sully was working the bar, which was nice, as I hadn't seen him for quite some time. We stayed for about an hour, then went our separate ways.

I miss Wednesdays at the Tavern and need to go more often. I mean, really, how many places can you go to by yourself and just know you will run into folks?

Funny

This: Airtoons

and this:

Pats' Injuries

Here is my new analogy:

test pilots:"The Right Stuff"::football players:Patriots

What is happening to our team? Losing Koppen and Gay?? Our offensive line is hurting enough without the loss of our three-year center. Of course, we have plenty of D-backs...hey...wait a second...

=(

Weird searches

If you google "blog 40 dates smells like an ashtray," my blog is second on the list. Weird. Someboy else googled "green m&ms home run" and got me. =)

Laughing til my hair hurts

After class today, I played basketball with Robbie, Deming, Yoav, Sam, Paul, and Spiros. It was so much fun. I don't think I stopped laughing the entire time; not even when Sam or Paul were ripping my arms off (either in payment for something I did, or as something that would earn my wrath) =D (Yes, I'm laughing at that even now)

Deming, Robbie, and I beat combinations of the other three dudes three times. Then they left. Paul and I went against Yoav and Spiros. The two of us both like to pass and hack, but not shoot. Yoav and Spiros are the opposite. Seriously, I laughed so hard that it felt like the roots of my hair were hurting.

Thanks guys!

Third grade rules!

Yoav and I have decided to celebrate having a guest professor by switching our name signs. Remember? Like kids used to do when they had a sub in like, third grade?

Of course, I can't stop giggling.

studmuffins win!

We beat Lance's B4U team, anchored by Peyton Manning, by two points. And this is without our ringers of Ladainian and McCardell. Go, 'muffins!

Tim Berners-Lee at MITRE

Today I was very excited to hear Tim Berners-Lee speak at MITRE. I have heard many excellent speakers at MIT and Sloan, and was excited to have the true inventor of the World Wide Web at MITRE.

However, MITRE severely limited Berners-Lee's topics. They asked only that he discuss history; nothing too technical and nothing from the future. For the techies out there, he had only one line devoted to RDP and the Semantic Web.

Here is my metaphor: MITRE has God come to speak to the company. They ask Him not to talk about why He created the world or how He did it. He should definitely steer clear of why we are here, or what will happen in the future. He should only read from Genesis.

I know I do not blog about work, but I felt this incident merited comment. Here we have one of the most amazing innovators and most-forward thinking people in the world, and we ask him for a history lesson. What a waste.

Parcells and girl talk

Bill Parcells looks so sad tonight. He attended his brother's funeral hours before the game. I really think the cameras should steer clear of his face out of respect for the guy; emotion is written all over it. Makes me sad every time they show him, and it takes a lot to make me feel sad for Parcells. =(

On a happier note, I've caught up with several girlfriends the past couple of nights. I've had great talks with Katie, Eve, and Kellie tonight, and Sharleene last night. Life is good. I need to give Suzanne a call and catch up on Mathew's college choices (and put in a renewed effort to steer him back to Dartmouth).

Totally obsessing about fantasy football

I am down by 15 points in my league. I have Brian Westbrook and the Philly defense playing tonight. Westbrook already has a touchdown, giving me 6. ARGH. I should be sleeping, but I'm way too competitive. Oh, and the guy I'm playing has no one in tonight.

A-Rod? MVP?

A-Rod as MVP? Are you kidding me? Yes, he plays defense. Yes, he bats well.

Question: What pitcher would rather see David Ortiz than A-Rod with the game on the line?
Answer: Only the really stupid ones.

Big Papi deserved this award.

OOo! I almost forgot...

Another of my favorite points during the Pats game yesterday was when one of the commentators remarked on how much weight Ricky Williams had lost since his return this year, and what good shape he'd been in all year.

Did anyone else laugh out loud at this comment? Dude, it's amazing what not having a constant case of the munchies will do for one's physique....

Sigh..it's been confirmed.

I'm a nerd! Not quite as nerdy as Matti though. We high-nerds must still defer to the Supreme ones. =)



The survey comment said I am definitely MIT material and should apply. Hmmm...sounds like an excellent idea...

Business model reply from Blogniscient

Last week, I wrote about attending a Web 2.0 gathering. I was very impressed by the technology, but the business models left me wondering about how the sites would make money.

Ben Ruedlinger, president of Blogniscient, posted a very good comment in response to my question of how the businesses would make money. You can read it here.

For my non-techie readers who may not read the post, one point he makes is that they had to pitch the concept, demo, and business model in five minutes. I always forget that not everybody speaks as quickly as I do. =) Techies, go read the comments for yourselves.

From the Department of Redundancy Department

One of the few highlights of this game thus far came when one of the announcers said, "And that is Brady's [interception] career high of his career."

Of course, nothing will ever beat "The University of Maryland University College."

What's with Deion?

I love Deion Branch, and have had him on my fantasy team since about the 8th week of his rookie year.

Today, I have seen two instances already in which he has packed it in. The first was when Evans had an excellent run. When he got brought down, Branch was just standing there watching, rather than trying to block for his teammate.

Next, on third and long, Deion caught the ball, and instead of turning up the field, ran out of bounds with about five yards to go.

What is going on here?

Accomplished so far today

1. Got out of bed (Eve, had to throw that in for you)
2. Ate oatmeal
3. Went to gym; ran on elliptical and lifted lower body
4. Drove home
5. Showered (losing delightful campfire smell from hair)
6. Got dressed (okay, put on bathrobe)
7. Started laundry
8. Started Business of Software homework on Open Source
9. Surfed StumbleUpon
10. Switched wash from washer to dryer; put more stuff in washer
11. Worked on Web 2.0 intro for Business of Software project
12. Realized StumbleUpon slacking could actually be considered Web 2.0 research
13. Surfed StumbleUpon
14. Cut and pasted final versions of System Architecture lecture review notes

I think the above accomplishments definitely give me permission to do nothing but watch the Pats game for the next 3-3.5 hours. So nyah.

My hair smells like a campfire

Tonight I forewent a night in NYC with my sis to go to the Cambridge Brewing Company's semi-annual brewer's dinner with John H. and Biju. We had an absolutely outstanding meal: soup, appetizer, salad, main course, and dessert, each accented with a beer. YUM. We were chatting over desserts and the last of our beers when my parents walked in for their 8:30 reservation.

One of the funniest parts of the meal was when the brewer came around to introduce himself, and started telling us about the brewery. He stopped, and said, "Wait. You guys look familiar." Weekly Fridays at Cambridge Brewery have finally paid off! ;)

After about 2.5 hours, one of the hosts asked us very nicely if we would mind taking our drinks to the bar so they could fold our table in for a table for 11. We took our remaining beers, and sat at the bar. We were there about an hour or so, then said good-bye to my parents. We were walking out, but the brewery had a fire pit going, with a wood fire. It smelled like camping in South Carolina =)

We stayed and talked by the fire for a while. I then dropped Biju at his car at the Stata center, while John insisted on walking off his creme brulee.

On the car ride home, I realized my hair smelled like campfire, and my new gloves smelled strongly of leather. Two of the best non-floral smells in the world. Every breath was glorious =D

Thanks to John and Biju for a great night of food and conversation, and to my parents for trekking in to enjoy the beer =)

I love college football

Such a good Saturday (following an excellent night out on Friday). College football and long talks with Evie about a wide variety of subjects. That plus a little surfing on StumbleUpon makes for a very good day ;)

I honestly think that even if I had the drive to sit down and do homework, my brain would be too lazy to output anything of quality. Best to stay away from it all =D

Wednesday Television

I stayed home from Warren Tavern last night, which is unfortunately becoming increasingly common for me on a night when I always used to find myself at the bar (Wednesday is their big night, with Justin singing and Gregg bartending).

I finished my "small" project for System Architecture last night (18 pages with diagrams on multi-tiered architectures in J2EE), and--rather than venture out in the rain to the Tavern--rewarded myself with a lazy, lazy night on the couch with my TiVo.

"Lost" was excellent. (STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED IT YET) I felt that it pulled itself out of a run of boring episodes with the reappearance of Will. I do wonder if Shannon is truly dead, though. In the previews, they said that one survivor is lost forever. However, during the trek through the jungle, one of the tail-enders vanished. I wonder if she is the one who will be lost and if Shannon will pull through. I actually hope not; that actress is most certainly the least talented of the bunch. She is like Tori Spelling on 90210 in that she only has one expression: sneeringly disgusted.

"South Park" was good. Not great, but good. I think the writers have played out the whole "people blindly following the rants of Eric Cartman" thing. Time for a new theme. There were some laugh-out-loud parts, though.

And, of course, "Drawn Together." Always cute. Always mindless. Always a wonderful, guilty waste of time.

And now it's almost time to head to Project Management, in which we will have a guest lecturer.

Forgotten article

I read a really good article earlier this week. It explained a lot about why certain people are good at articulating specifics in technology, while others can speak of concepts, but not get deep into the details. Those in the latter category tend to be the "absent-minded professor" type and are often more cerebral or some such thing.

Of course, since I fall into this latter category, I cannot remember the author, title, publication, or location of this article. Ah, irony...how thou mockst me!

Web 2.0 Meeting

Last night, Robbie and I went to a Web 2.0 meeting at Tommy Doyle's in Cambridge. We wandered over there after partaking in the delicious beer and cheese plates and pumpkin beer at Cambridge Brewing Company...yummm....

Dharmesh had told us about the meeting, and we were really looking forward to it. It had an interesting format: half an hour of mingling, half an hour of presentations, and then more mingling. The room was absolutely packed. I was very impressed by the size of the crowd.

Before the presentation, we spoke a little with Derek (sorry if the name is wrong) of Element55, a company that tracks billing for lawyers. It sounded like a very interesting project with technology that incorporated phone call length and destination into an automated biling system.

The three presenters were Reddit, Blogniscient and Kiko. All three presentations were well done, and the technologies and ideas were forward-thinking.

However, they reminded me a little too much of the late nineties, when many companies had great products, great presentations, and no business models. None of the companies mentioned business models in their presentations. One responded they were hoping to fund through advertising when asked by someone in the audience. Robbie and I assumed the other two companies were looking to do the same.

Until someone comes up with a viable strategy for actually making money in Web 2.0, a lot of these brilliant ideas and hard work may end up having been wasted.

Excellent Project Management Class

I really enjoyed today's System Project Management class. Instead of concentrating on the use of tools involving DSM or PERT, we looked at the traits of project managers based on surveys distributed to the class.

Prof de Weck started off by listing some of the information on qualities needed in PM's, such as leadership, planning, and politicking. We then discussed Briggs-Myers personalities (I'm ENTJ / ENFJ). I like learning that pertains to actual student experiences, seeing what people think works and doesn't work. Class flew by.

Towards the end I saw the letters DSM flash up on the PowerPoint and started to get a bit nervous, but de Weck flew through those slides.

As an aside, I realized today again how much I miss managing large-scale projects like I did at SI. Hmm..

Pats outplayed

Sigh....the Pats were outplayed. Indy looked like an excellent team. Stupidheads.

The one thing about last night's game I haven't found anything about is the flag that Belichick through in the 4th. I guessed that it was out of frustration for not being able to really throw it for the blatant hold on McGinest that led to the Colts' touchdown on the play.

Has anybody found anything on this?

In other news, I have Project Management this afternoon, and will head to a meeting on Web 2.0 in Kendall Square as recommended by Dharmesh. I also hope to get some work done on my System Architecture small project in which I am looking at multi-tiered software architectures using J2EE (now don't look so excited! Really, calm down....y'all can have autographed copies once I finish...)

Game update

9:19: It took Indy two minutes to score, and it took me under three minutes to hit mute to block out John Madden. Can't stand listening to that guy.
9:22: Had to turn the volume back on to hear the crowd for 4th-and-2.
9:26: Pats score! 12 points for the 'muffins on Brady-Branch. Then Branch does some awful little touchdown dance, seeming to completely negate the props I gave to the NFL earlier. He's lucky he was the MVP of the Superbowl--and, more importantly, a star on the studmuffins--or else I'd be going down to Foxboro to kick his butt right now.
9:39: John Madden showed true insight in his call, "[Manning] doesn't want to hear, 'why don't you win?'"
9:44: Al Michaels just called Peyton "the most cerebral quarterback." Has he heard this guy talk?
9:45: I wonder if it is worth it to give up on the TiVo replay capability in order to listen to the game on the radio and have it sync up. Hmm...
9:50: I love watching Bethel Johnson.
10:01: Unfortunately, Edge is at least as much fun to watch, as long as he isn't playing against your team. This guy is amazing.
Okay, I am stepping away from the laptop to concentrate sending positive energy to the Pats ;)

Web 2.0 Meeting

Tonight I met with Yoav, Robbie, and Dharmesh to work on our Software Business project which focuses on Web 2.0. We had a very quick and productive meeting to divvy up work. Yoav then left for his own dinner plans, and I was going to be a good girl and go home and eat well. However, the convincing of Dharmesh and Robbie proved to be too strong ("Hey you want to do dinner?"), and I ended up going out to the Kebab factory with them for Indian food. I even broke my no-take-home-leftovers rule in which I allow only good food and chocolate within my home.

We had interesting conversations, ranging from team compositions to entrepreneurship to how we chose to go to school at MIT. I was very interested to hear about Dharmesh's Improv Comedy class at Sloan, which sounded like a lot of fun. I'm happy I was "coerced" into going. =)

Buh-bye, TO

Terrell Owens will be deactivated for the remainder of the season after serving his current three-game suspension. And throughout the land, a cry of desperation is heard from fantasy football owners. I mean, really, the dude is ranked 20th in Yahoo standings after going 5th overall. I had him on my team two years ago and he kicked butt for me. Luckily, he's not this year. I heart LaDainian.

Actually, the whole TO thing shows one of the reasons that football can replace baseball as the American pastime. The NFL is the only league which--in my humble opinion--is run well. NBA is taking a step in the correct direction by making its players dress professionally. I guess the NHL is going in the right direction by actually playing this year.

MLB continues to flounder. One can actually observe the difference between the two leagues based on the attire of the players: MLB players (e.g. Manny) dress sloppily in their uniforms, with shirts untucked, pants un-stirrupped, and in the case of Trox Nixon, shirt buttons undone. Any of these infractions can result in a fine in football (well, except the buttons. Football players are too manly for buttons! =D). Yes, it's strict, but it sets a precedent for the entire league.

In an age when a positive steroid test in MLB can yield only a ten-day suspension, it is good to see a league that takes a stand on outrageous behavior, even when it's exhibited by a star player.

Amusing day

Today has been quite an exciting day.

My sister was on TV this morning on a local New York news station. They profiled pregnant women who do pilates to stay in shape. Apparently, she and another woman were the two in the class being profiled. I can't wait to see the video.

Shortly thereafter, Matt L pinged me to let me know I was in the Sloan magazine. Yoav, Robbie, and I had our blogs profiled in this week's Sloan Review. Very exciting =)

Next, my mom had jury duty (okay not so thrilling). However, I went to high school with the plaintiff's lawyer, and my mother made our Halloween costumes senior year. She couldn't wait to be called and tell the judge she had once tranformed the counsel into Fred Flinstone, but she was dismissed without needing an excuse. Funny nonetheless.

OOo! And the studmuffins, my fantasy football team, look like they are going to win this week. I am up by 20 points (63-43) going into tonight. I have Tom Brady and Deion Branch. Dead Larvae (our opponent) has the Indy defense and Patrick Pass, who most likely will not play. Go, 'muffins!

Of course, no matter how exciting today has been for us, it can't possibly compare with the Carolina Panthers cheerleaders. The Daily Quickie has the funniest coverage I have seen yet.

Google Local Maps for Cell

Has anybody tried this?
Google maps for cell

System Architecture on Friday

I was trying to wait until I had my notes written up, but I'll just give a brief overview of Sys Arch on Friday.

We had our best speaker yet: Daniel McCue of Xerox. He was a very friendly and open person and gave a good lecture that encompassed both hardware and software. It is rare to see such a successful intertwining here at MIT; most applications are addressed as being one or the other.

I'll post my notes as soon as I get them organized.

Friday/Saturday

Yesterday Software Engineering and Business of Software were excellent as usual. In SE, we discussed testing. Definitely a wide range of experience in the room in that field. In BS, we discussed Open Source, which is of great interest to me as that is the focus of my team at work.

However, I have to say that the highlight of the entire day was Calfboy. 's presentation which pertained to venture capitalists and open source. During this presentation, he used the term incestuous to refer to the VC's. If it wasn't for having a friend on the team and for them not having a proper Q&A session, I had a question all prepared about exactly why the VC's would be incestuous with their cohorts

This same "person" likes to speak about the 90's as though he is of a ripe old age; a tired, wise old man who survived the dotcom bubble--poor, yet maintaining a subtle dignity (yes, let's all cough "bullsh*t" right now). He made several comments about "when he was in Silicon Valley" and all the startups he joined. Hysterical. I could hear numerous giggles from behind me, so of course was laughing myself.

Luckily, the rest of the class was really excellent. We had a guest lecturer who led us through a discussion of the Red Hat case study. Prof C then closed with some final words about Open Source. Good stuff.

Today, my parents came into town, and we walked over to Filene's Basement with a quick stop at Boston Beerworks for lunch. At the Basement, we picked up lots of cool Pats gear, as well as a sweater and purse for me (yes, I have shopping issues. We all know this).

It was lucky we bought so much clothes. On the way home, we put on pretty much everything we got as the weather got colder. We went through Haymarket, the North End, then home. Yay!

Now I am watching NC State-FSU (go, State!), blogging, and getting ready for a night on the town =)

Lead by example

We have a professor who really does not like when students are late to his class or leave early. For example, his class ends at the same time many of us have a class that is starting about a mile away. He has scolded us for leaving his class early to go there, calling it "a disruption."

However, he does not set a very good example for us. He arrives late to his own class when he has guest speakers taking his place.

I think a way to gain a lot of respect in this world is to practice what you preach.

Accurate depiction of Peyton Manning

Accurate (and therefore very funny) description of the Nomar side to Peyton Manning on Boston.com today.

Is it wrong to wish that all of the Mannings would just go away? Between Peyton's fidgeting and dorky image and Archie and Eli whining about going to San Diego, I think these boys deserve way less camera time. Not to sound like a Yankee fan, but dudes...count the rings. Brady's be-ringed hand can be used to reflect light all over Boston when the gas-shortage-induced power outages start up this winter.

Tofu

I had tofu for dinner. It was smushy and covered in soy sauce.

Yeah, not much to write, but blogging beats doing homework. =D

Not a good day for the Browns

Neither Larry Brown of NBA coaching fame nor Mike Brown of FEMA can be particuarly happy today.

Some of Mike Brown's emails were leaked. We knew this guy was in the top 2% of the country in the moron category (kind of the anti-MENSA if you will), but these emails are shocking, even considering the source.

Sports Guy's Take

Interesting article from the (Boston) Sports Guy about Theo's departure.

It's interesting for two reasons. First, it details some of the reasons he thinks Theo may have left. Second, it provides an explanation for why blogs are needed today. In short, the Red Sox ownership has too many ties to the Boston Globe and other local media outlets. They are able to manipulate stories to suit their needs. Or are they?

Regardless, blogs offer a good forum for discussion by real people who are not getting paid by anyone for their work.

(If anybody from the Red Sox is reading this, please disregard...I can be bought!) (kidding.... =D)

Ilana breaking silence on Schilling

Is anybody else tired of the phrase "Schilling breaks silence?" As in, "Schilling breaks silence on clubhouse tension," "Schilling breaks silence on possible Manny trade," and "Schilling breaks silence on Theo departure."

All this guy does is yap.

Here is my analogy:
Schilling: waiting to break silence::Person with incredibly small bladder who has been drinking cheap beer for three straight hours:waiting to break seal

Both are inevitable and therefore neither's occurrence is particularly shocking.

Happiest Moments of our Lives (Ramble warning)

In Real Simple magazine this month, the authors suggest that we might not know as much about those close to us as we think, and that this type of history should be written down. Questions to ask family include how parents met, where they grew up, what they did for fun, etc.

One question to which I was surprised not to know the answer is "What were the best times of your parents' (or family members') lives?" I honestly have no idea what the answer would be. I would guess that it was the blissful four years between when my parents had me and when they had Eve. =D Haha. Kidding! Mom and Dad, unless you want me spreading this rumor, you will have to think about and answer that question for me, please.

It also got me thinking about the happiest times in my life. It is a really hard question to quantify. I had some wonderfully happy months, days, moments...what is the length of the happiest time considered? Guessing that it is an extended period, these would be my answers (in order from oldest to most recent)
* Freshman year of college
* Backpacking through Europe in college for three months
* Senior year of college after getting my job at Fusion in February
* My second year in Atlanta

I've been thinking all day what was the singular most happy moment of my life. There are certain times in my life that I can remember feeling my heart filling so much I thought it would burst. They still have the same effect today:
* Surprising my family on Thanksgiving by returning home the first year I was in Atlanta...everything went right that day, from flying standby on an earlier flight, to Eve getting me at the Logan Express terminal, to getting my parents flowers, to seeing the happiness on their faces when I surprised them, to eating, to sleeping in my childhood bedroom with the window open to feel the crisp New England air
* Running through Boston screaming "The Red Sox won the World Series!" until getting to Fanueil Hall and feeling the energy there
* Watching the Braves Fourth of July game in 2000 with friends
* Camping with friends in South Carolina when Kellie and I could not stop giggling
* Reading my acceptance letter from Dartmouth

Then there are the memories of times so happy their memory and longing to return to that time can hurt:
* Radio saying that in Atlanta I was "The center of the universe" when it came to socializing
* My arrival on Grayton Beach after driving through Alabama in the middle of the night and my subsequent 8am swim

And, of course, the happiest I have ever been for another person:
* When Eve told me Jeff proposed to her

Then there are the happiest moments tempered by sadness, those memories that are wonderful but we were too young to remember accurately, and more. However, I should probably end this blog entry soon =) (Of course, now that it's published, I keep remembering more stuff...I'll probably have to write a follow-up entry)

My friend Kellie filmed an interview with her grandparents so she would always have their images and voices to share with family. I know her grandfather has Alzheimer's now, so his memory is not as clear, and these tapes are therefore quite valuable. My dad also did a similar capture for me, making a videotape of interviews with my friends from high school as a graduation gift for me. Even if people are still around you, there are moments in time that, if not captured, can fade or be altered in your memory.

I think I need to get a video camera.

Theo is leaving?!?!

According to boston.com, he sure as heck is. Interesting that the reference for this breaking news is a blog...hmmm....

Not sure how I feel about this departure. I like Theo, and he did help get us to the playoffs the three years he was here. His moves after we won the World Series were questionable, but dude...we won the World Series.

Okay, I admit it. I'm just mad that a good-looking single Jewish man who knows something about sports is leaving town.... =D

Back to work

Ah, so it's monday and I'm back to work after an adventure-full weekend. On Saturday, I went with Katie and her friends to two parties: a very fun one at Hurricane O'Reilley's, and a very awful one at some dude's house (long story, ask for it. It's pretty funny, but too long to write)

Last night, I went to the Pats game with my dad. The game was just awful. Being with my dad at the game was fun, as was tailgating with Mark and Jonathan, friends of our family.

Okay, gotta work, but felt bad for not blogging much.

BTW, duck tour goers, how was that?

It's snowing

I kid you not. It's going to be a looooong winter.

These are no little flurries, either. These are big, fat, proud flakes. Bastids.

Software engineer at her best

Okay, so it's not really software-centric, but man, do I feel like a dope.

I have spent about 12 hours over the last three days trying to rid myself of what I thought was spyware being constantly invoked by a trojan. I even deleted and reinstalled Firefox because it spawned windows that Explorer did not, even when i followed the same paths.

I kept getting a window that said, "Zedo blah blah." Turns out boston.com has this embedded in some of their pages and Firefox doesn't kill the popup.

This seems to be a fairly common problem. I am currently downloading Firefox's adblaster plugin to take care of these windows.

Always the most obvious solution, huh?

One Year Ago Tonight

Watching in Warren Tavern	Bottom of the 9th
Random revelers	Big huge crowd at Fanueil Hall
Me with random dude with broom	Duh

Business Trip: Marc H. Meyer

The second speaker of today's business trip was Marc Meyer. The talks are given in a dark, basement room, so the first talk of the day left me a little daydreamy.

Then Meyer gets up and puts yet another S-curve diagram in a PowerPoint presentation up. My brain began switching to more pressing matters...that is, until he put M&M's on said S-curve chart. He turned out to be an excellent speaker.

I liked his style. Before introducing each segment, he said, "Here are four challenges. Here are five challenges." I like when speakers set things off clearly like that, rather than just talking.

My caveat: I wrote these up from my notebook while talking to Jeanne. Some things may be inconsistent. Let me know if you see any =)

Some highlights:
Market expansion challenge #1: Create a product line architecture based on scalable shared subsystems that hit a related set of market applications.
* An example is different soles on fishing boots. A $129 pair of fishing boots has interchangeable soles at $19.99 each for different terrains.
* In reference to transitioning from hiking boots to software: "The world lives in software."
* Challenge #2: Design appropriately for platforms.
* Much to the delight of Paul B and Kevin, our resident Ford employees, Honda was used as an example rather than Toyota.
* Is the platform the car or the engine? For Honda, the engine. Build the car around it.
* Focus common subsystems.
* Create scalable products which can result in scalable manufacturing.
* Funny moment: Meyer asked who liked to use power tools. Many hands raised. He responded, "That's the difference between MIT and Harvard."
* Mentioned that Ryobi is better than Black and Decker (had to put that in since my drill is Ryobi. I heart my drill) They execute better; Black and Decker outsourced production to China, then had a Chinese company create a strong competitor, taking much of their business
* Challenge #3: Organize appropriately for platform strategy
* IBM used to have poorly differentiated product. They now have separate silos. Hard part of doing platforms is organizing it.
* Good quote in response to MBA-type question: "I'm just a propeller head like most of you."
Second part of presentation: Leveraging Technology to New Markets--Applications for Enterprise Growth
* Many can leverage platforms but not many people can grow revenue.
* Challenge 1: Add related technology.
* Another funny moment: Meyer asked "Who owns a sailboat? Anybody? At Harvard, this would be completely the opposite."
* A winch on a sailboat is a windlass on powerboat. There are way more powerboats than sailboats.
* Example of PEG: Many uses for this, including colonoscopy, dialysis, and post menapausal competition. He called this "A product line targeted to the back end."
* Challenge #2: Do deep dives on target users, buyers, and channels.
* Build a safer mousetrap. Studied latent needs. Created plaastic mousetrap which costs $.10 vs wood and metal for $.25. Lower volume, higher margins.
* Challenge #3: Leveraging technology to new market applications
* Used Honda Element as example. "Animal House on wheels." Built for young, partying-type men. Fills in the single/extreme intersection on the single-family vs. extreme-settled chart.
* Honda used a shared powertrain technology. Has large effect on return on assets.
* Challenge #4: Empower multi-functional teams liberate from traditional gates.
* I loved this part. He put up a picture of the Red Sox jumping on each other after winning the World Series.
* Meyer does not like stagegate. He called this "Scoop and poop" on projects.
* Need to know how to build enthusiasm within your company.
* Like Red Sox championship chemistry, only not only 86 years.

Wednesday of the Business Trip

We had an interesting speaker in Tom Rosburn of Honeywell. He spoke about climbing to upper management. A discussion of the quality of the talk ensued, followed by a question and answer session for the 06's to grill us on the program. The talk was mostly dominated by employment questions. Afterwards, several of us milled about to entertain individual questions.

Then it was back to the SDM offices with Matt, Dave, Yaming, and Kevin. We sat in a team room and worked for a while. Those guys crack me up. It's fun to study with others in the room, although maybe not very efficient.

Tonight we had a speaker. I did not find I connected with him very much. I must admit I am tired of the "born with leadership" or "learned leadership" question. Dude, born with leadership does not sell books. Learning it does. What do you think these guys are going to say?!?

Ooo! The talk is over! I can emerge from my corner =)

Wow...Mike Luckovich's cartoon

Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Journal Constitution created this cartoon about the 2000 soldiers killed in Iraq. Wow. Very powerful.

SDM Business Trip Pool Outing

Last night Paul B planned an outing to a local pool hall. I met up for dinner at Cambridge Side Brewery first with Spiros and Christian. After that, we headed around the corner to the pool hall. The usual suspects and then some were there: Sam, Matt, Matti, Spiros, Christian, Paul B, Dave, and an SDM 04 from Boston and Steve, Yaming, Kevin B., Sky from distance. We really need more women in the program. Not that I don't love hanging out with the guys--they're all really great--would just be nice to have a wingwoman once in a while =D

This morning I spent a good two hours cleaning spyware off my machine. I don't now how non-technical people can deal with that stuff. It's very complex to remove, even for a software person like me. This one was a very fun trojan that kept spawing different spyware apps. So much fun.

Then it was off to MIT to hear our keynote speaker, Tom Rosburn of Honeywell, brought in by John Haj. We was a good speaker. It's also cool because the SDM06's are here, so we get to meet them. Unfortunately, they are still just 10% women. Everybody does seem nice though.

Now Jan is doing her debrief. Guess I should stop being rude and go listen =)

Lost in the tunnels

I got lost in the tunnels on my way to the SDM town hall meeting. I was so proud of myself for having found them. I ended up going underground for about 15 minutes, only to emerge two buildings farther away from where I had started. D'oh!

On the way back, Dave walked Biju, Kevin B, Jeff, and me through the tunnels the proper way. Very cool. He also told us about various courses we could take over IAP such as glass-blowing.

Saccio Retires

I recently referred to Professor Saccio in my outstanding lecturers entry. He is now retiring. Thanks to Michael G. for the info!

Also as a bi-product to that entry, I have gotten back in touch with Mr. Pane. I sent him an email, and he responded with one that had me laughing out loud. Thanks! =)

Disturbing Ken doll

Having been a little tomboy growing up, I never played with dolls. However, I did have one Barbie doll. In what would turn out to be a very prescient habit, I would just try different shoes on for her. Anyway, Ken is getting a makeover. Boston.com traces him through the years. Scary, dudes.

Axl is old?!

ElleGirl has released their list of the coolest old people. Among them are Axl Rose and Madonna. Dude...I feel old, too.

Freudian Directory Navigation

I was just trying to navigate over to my JBoss directory on my local Linux box. Instead of typing out the usual cd /usr/local/jboss/server/default/etc., I typed cd /usr, then hit return. I realized I had to go to local next, but was thinking about how dumb it was to go to usr first. I ended up typing "cd loser." Excellent. It's going to be one of those weeks =D

Welcome, distance students!!

The distance students are in town this week for our quarterly "business trip." For those that might not be as aware about the SDM program, about a third of our students learn at a distance. During class, they appear before us in a Brady Bunch-like matrix.

It's great when they are all in town. It's kind of like having a family reunion in which you like all the people that are coming in from out of town. I really look forward to it. This will be our last one all together, as some of our local students are graduating in January of this year.

We will have many social events throughout the week in addition to the scheduled talks.

Welcome to Boston, all!

Lazy blogging weekend

Sorry for the lack of updates. Just taking some time off from blogging. I felt bad about it until realizing that many of my fellow bloggers are doing this same thing. =D

Have spent today working on my analysis of the jUDDI project for project management and doing write-ups for software engineering. Of course the write-ups for this week are going particularly slow, as the first one deals with the axiomatic basis for computer programming. After this summer's study of axiomaticrap in systems engineering, the word causes my eyes to glaze over.

Hello, my name's Ilana, and I like Microsoft.

I just got out of Steve Ballmer's talk at Sloan. It was excellent. Some highlights:

1. My absolute favorite example of future technology was a system in which, if you were watching a sporting even on TV, you could say "Hey, Dad! What did you think of that call?" and it will automatically connect you with whomever you say. If anybody out there has ever watched a game with me or my family, you know we are on the phone pretty much the whole time. I want that technology!

2. In the future, there will be a "better architecture of big pieces of software," rather than more, smaller products.
3. Microsoft Windows' primary customers are software developers
4. Someone asked Ballmer what as a CEO he controls and what he delegates . He controls the culture of the company, the choice of excellent people to 3-4 levels below him, the overall vision of the company, and the external image of the company as a company.
5. When asked about open source, Ballmer noted this was a "forever" competitor, unlike the fleeting nature of some commercial competitors.
6. To compete with open source, microsoft must innovate, build a better ecosystem (i.e. environment around software), build strong security, and increase overall customer value.
7. Ballmer kept emphasizing software as a service. Very pertinent to me considering my current work at MITRE
8. When asked about competing with Google, Ballmer brought a laugh to the audience by calling them a "search and advertising business."
9. The next big vision is the "Backpack PC," a cheap, rugged tablet notebook for students.
10. Healthcare needs great software innovation. It is the least automated of all the categories
11. Companies today have a big advantage when competing, as the internet gives them much more "sensory input," including blogs.
12. Typical Ilana humor: a guy in a red hat asked a question. He wasn't a Linux guy, but of course his attire made me laugh.
13. As for emerging markets, Ballmer noted three levels: developed (e.g. competes with a company in US), emerging middle class (target market), and the "out of the economic mainstream" (needs to do "computing by the drop:" internet kiosks and cafes"
14. When asked about an alternative career, here were his choices: professional basketball player, pro tour in golf, and lastly a professor at a business school, to which he said "that was such shameless pandering it nauseated me, too."

Robbie will write his notes up later. Yoav, I'm sure, will comment as well =)

Oh, and I love panda bears! (I'm trying to see if the google ads will pick up on all the panda bear stuff I've blogged in the last week. Little geeky experiment for me. Sorry to my readers and to panda bears.)

One year ago today

One year ago today, I woke up ecstatically happy. We had beaten the Yankees in seven games. It was so unbelievable.

It's amazing the effect that sports have on a city. I remember going shopping the day after we were massacred by the Yankees in Game 3. Everybody was dragging, grumpy, and rude--even more so than normal. After Game 7 and throughout the World Series, the whole city was so upbeat it was unreal. As A. Bartlett Giammatti said, "School will never start, rain will never come, sun will warm the back of your neck forever."

I'll reminisce about last year and post some of the things I wrote as the week goes on.

Steve Sinofsky Talk

Yesterday I went to hear Steve Sinofsky talk at MIT. He was a very good and entertaining speaker, and 90 minutes flew like it was nothing. Before the talk even started, I was able to pass the hour I waited talking with Paul B. and Robbie. That hour also flew.

Robbie always takes really great notes, so I will wait for him to post his (yes I'm lazy). The highlight of the talk was a preview of the next version of Office. It really looks excellent. It seems as though Microsoft is trying to step up its effort in order to show that paying for software has something over Open Source.

Ooo! And this was funny: some guy in a Google shirt sat slouched a couple rows behind me. I think his only purpose in coming was to ask Sinofsky when Microsoft would open source its components. Sinofsky responded "no time soon," and the student walked out minutes later. Hysterical.

Anyway, the project called Office 12 looked really good. As a prisoner of PowerPoint due to my work in defense, I am excited for its new ease-of-use features.

Dude, now this is written, I feel dirty. Extolling the virtues of a Microsoft project as a Java and Open Source-type developer? Inconceivable! (Sorry watched Princess Bride the other night =D)

SDM Bumper Stickers Found!!!

I have found the long-lost SDM bumper stickers. For some reason, I had them filed away among my bank statements and phone bills. I'll have them in class today =)

The good part about Miers' nomination

The only part about Miers' nomination that makes me smile is Arlen Specter's visibility on the case. It reminds me of a time back in 1996 when I was at Dartmouth.

I was walking over to the apartment of my friends Melissa and Selma. Seeing as how it was senior year and a day that ended in a 'Y,' I was hungover. Okay, I wasn't that bad senior year, but I was definitely hungover that day.

I had almost reached their apartment when a funny-looking dude got in my path. He told me his name was (Something) Specter and that he was running for President. We often had presidential candidates running around Dartmouth during election years, seeing as how we were up in New Hampshire at all. These ranged from the Hemp Lady to Bill Clinton to Bob Dole. Despite this knowledge, I didn't believe this guy and his funny, made-up name for a second. "Sure you are," I replied. "So am I!" and walked away.

With that, I went upstairs to my friends' apartment, leaving the guy standing there looking flabbergasted. I told my friends that some dude named "Something Specter" had made up some story about running for President. Being much more politically savvy than me, they laughed hysterically and told me who he was. They then looked out the window and confirmed the guy outside was him.

Yay, hungover 22-year-old Ilana!

Bad Ilana

No sooner than I had written the post below (okay, half an hour afterwards), Katie and I left to take a rare lunch away from the office. We made a last-minute decision to go to Cheesecake Factory, which is in the Simon-owned Burlington Mall. D'oh! The wait was at least 30 minutes, so we went to Pizzeria Uno instead. Still in the same mall. I wonder if they will be shut down as well.

Now that I have bought stuff at that mall, I will need to go to Pizzeria Regina to make up for it. =D

Principles vs. a lot of shoes all in one place

The Simon Mall group is screwing over Pizzeria Regina. Not cool. So do I boycott their malls? There own so many malls (Burlington, Phipps, Lenox, etc) and have so many stores there, like Lord and Taylor and Sharper Image. I guess I will try to shop elsewhere when I can and eat more pizza at Regina's to make up for their losses.

Leo probably headed to the Yankees, Shakespeare defamed, Regina's evicted. I need another panda picture.

Ok, now I feel better.

Leave Bill Alone!

Yet more people who doubt Shakespeare's claim on his plays. Stupidheads.

These are people who should have gotten the whole decoder ring thing out of their systems before they turned 18. Now they are looking for hidden messages in Shakespeare's sonnets. Dudes, give it a rest. Go, like, find a cure for the common cold or something.

Say it ain't so, Leo!

The Yankees are trying to grab Leo Mazzone, the Braves pitching coach. If you have watched a Braves game on TV, you have seen this guy. He is the one who rocks back and forth the entire time. He is also the one who built an incredible pitching dynasty in Atlanta (yes, that somehow could not win in the playoffs in the last few years).

Stay in Atlanta. Don't go to the Yankees. I don't want to have to root against you and mock the rock rather than cheer it.

Excellent Project Management class

I found today's System Project Management class to be very enjoyable. We had a guest speaker who led a discussion about a Microsoft Office case study. It is fun when we talk about software in the SDM core classes, as the people who are usually the quietest in most discussion suddenly come alive to talk about software.

Between my Business of Software and Project Management classes, I am beginning to think they should change the name of the school to the Microsoft Institute of Technology. =) However, that might just be because I think I'm funny. Yoav commented that the name should involve a mention of the defense and aerospace fields that are always cited. I agree with him there, too, but my new name for MIT is so cute it's like, panda cute!

My car passed inspection!

Yay! My car passed inspection!

Nothing much else of note today. This morning as I was driving to the gym I heard a really sad song on the country station. Something about a girl that gets cancer, her hair falls out, she wants to go to the prom but has no hair, a boy asked her, he shows up with a shaved head, they go to the prom, they dance, they're in love. Yup, it had me all teary and I had to wait to go to the gym. The moral of this story is don't listen to the country music station when you're still more asleep than awake.

Now I'm in class waiting for project management to start.

Everything is a bright, shiny object today

I am having one of those days in which everything is distracting me. It's been very hard to settle down and get work done. Not quite sure what the cause is. Maybe seeing the sun after so much wind and rain? Hmm...I have no idea. I'd like to continue guessing, but I need to go try to focus my attention on something. What, I have no idea. But something.

OOo! And I hope y'all noticed that earlier today I finally put a description under the "Ilana's Blog" up top. I'm proud of me and my description-publishing initiative.

Who'sh an 'ittle panda bear?

From Boston.com, the new panda at the Washington zoo. Too cute to not post:

For all you South Park junkies: when I just looked at this picture again, all I heard was the "Sexual Harrassment Panda" theme song. HAHAHA. That always makes me laugh.

"When one little panda calls another little panda a name, that makes me a saaaad pannnn-da."

Thank you, Quality Volvo Auto Repairs!

This morning I took my car into Quality Volvo in Wakefield. It had failed inspection for the second straight year for the same reason: the driver's side front suspension. I had been dreading this appointment all week. I really like the mechanics there, but was willing myself to leave if I felt they did not treat me fairly.

I got there around 8am. I told them what had happened and asked to get an estimate before they went ahead and did any repairs. I sat down on the couch (with the owner's golden retriever that is always in the office), and did homework.

At 9:15, they gave me the bill marked with no charge. They had replaced a part on the car for free. They said it really didn't need to be replaced, but since it failed inspection, they considered it to be under warrantee and fixed it. I asked how it wouldn't need to be replaced if it had failed, and they told me that Volvos have different alignment from most cars, and some of the inspectors do not account for this.

I really don't like the guy who did my inspection. After taking it back to get my sticker (I already paid for the inspection, and the final look has no charge), I will not return there. I went back this year because I was happy he had found something wrong the previous year, figuring his attention to detail would help me be more safe. Finding the same thing two years in a row is a little weird, though.

Thank goodness for LaDainian

Tomlinson has thrown for a TD, rushed for a TD, and caught a TD. He is the anchor of my fantasy team. Can't believe I even considered picking Shaun Alexander with the number one pick. Yay, LT!!

Go, studmuffins! Let's improve to 4-2!

Pats Game Disqualification

What kind of crap is this? Logan Mankins (#70) gets kicked out of the game for supposedly throwing a punch from where he was laying at the bottom of a pile? Are you kidding me?!?! Denver has been taking cheap shots all day, ever since the Pats first run in which someone had a very late hit on Pass. Grrr...

Yes, the Pats look really bad today, but bad officiating still stinks.

Grrr.

Saturday Update

Yesterday was a great day. I puttered about until about 5:30, at which time I picked up Brian and headed to Dave and Christian's. There we met up with their friend Matt, Dave's sister Meghan, and picked up Matti and Dave's friend from college Erica.

We headed down to Fall River to see the (crap, Denver just had a huge run) The Avett Brothers, a bluegrass group out of North Carolina. Dave and Christian have been watching these guys for years (crap, Denver scored. We look bad). I went with them once before to a concert at a bar in Harvard Square.

The concert was even better this time. The venue was at a Fall River arts center. It was a big open room set up with pews. The only problem with the set-up was that it did have a church-y feeling to it; during the opening act, I felt like I was talking in class when I whispered.

Then the Avett Brothers came on. They are so much fun. Great energy, great humor, great songs. By the end, we were all up and dancing in the back. Oh, and Dave and Matt went out to get take-out for dinner: buffalo wings, hummus, and bruschetta.

Afterwards, we headed home, with Christian DJ'ing once again on Meghan's iPod. Too much fun....

And today: After having some trouble getting out of bed this morning, I went to Costco. (Oo...Simms just called this challenge wrong. He said the elbow didn't count as being down, but then the referees contradicted him. Now he's pretending he was saying this the whole time. Dumbass). I finished my errands in this whipping wind and headed home.

Busy Friday Night

After class, Robbie, Yoav, Dharmesh, and I headed to the Helmand to discuss our Business of Software project. After a bit of initial talk, we ordered a delicious dinner and got deeper into our topic of Web 2.0. It was really quite an exciting discussion; the group is very knowledgable about basically all aspects of Web 2.0, so it was good to be able to listen and participate. I had initially had trouble with the definition of Web 2.0 itself, but that is part of what everybody runs into with it apparently.

After that, I rushed home, dropped off my car, and raced into the North End to meet up with Suzanne and Matthew who were in town so that Matthew can look at schools. They saw Tufts yesterday, and are off to Bowdoin today. I sat with them at the restaurant for a while. Afterwards, we headed to Mike's but the line was ridiculous, even the "local express" line (i.e. the rapid way to the counter for those that lived in the North End and know the tricks =D). We left there and walked to Bova's instead. From there, it was back across the bridge to Charlestown.

It was pouring the whole time. At one point, a car hit a puddle, and a huge wall of water like they show in cartoons hit and drenched me. Matthew and Suzanne were hit by separate waves. By the time we got to my condo, we were soaked to the bone. I gave Suzanne a pair of my jeans (which I had inherited from Eve...thanks Eve! We talked for a few hours, then they left at 10pm. I had such a great time with them.

I then started getting ready for bed. However, I talked to Sam on the phone, and ventured out to his friend's party instead. I was happy I did. It was great to hang out with Sam and his friends Brian, Milt, and John. I haven't been to a house party for a while. It was nice to be at one.

This morning I dropped a bunch of clothes and luggage off at Rosie's Place. It took me about a half hour from the time I left my door until I finally left the building to head over there. First, Rosie's Place wasn't on my GPS, so I had to run up and get the address off my computer. Then I ran back downstairs, hopped in my car, reached for my phone, and realized I had no idea where my purse was. I took all the donations out of the trunk to look for it, put them all back, and headed back to my condo where my purse sat next to my computer. I grabbed it and went back downstairs. I was finally on my way.

And now I'm doing homework. =)

Business of Software class very good

I am liking my Business of Software class more and more. After the initial premises for the class were established the required terms defined in the first few weeks, it has become a very interactive and interesting class. There is a lot of diverse experience in the room, and it is good to hear others' points of view. Prof Cusumano has been doing an excellent job of guiding the discussion, adding his viewpoints, but letting the class learn from each other as well.

Between this class and Prof Leveson's Software Engineering, Friday is becoming a very, very enjoyable day for me.

Leveson's class out early

Today Professor Leveson ended class early because she had gone through everything she wanted to. So nice to have a professor that does not just idly fill time.

The class itself was good as usual. We discussed object-oriented programming vs. functional. After that, we got into a discussion on reuse. It's' really interesting to hear the classes' opinions on different subjects. Very diverse.

Hi, my name's Ilana, and I'm a SYTYCD junkie

Okay, I admit it. I have four episodes of "So You Think You can Dance" saved on my TiVo. I've watched each at least three times. Sometimes to perfect the steps I've learned off the show, sometimes just to watch.

The one thing I can't watch is Lauren Sanchez. That woman freaks me out. She makes Michael Jackson look natural. Seriously, check the photos.

Anyway, the more I watch, the more I still think Nick should have won. However, I also still think Ashle should have been the top woman. She has incredible lines; she always holds her form. She also has longer lines than little Melody, which may have hurt her in the fast-paced final girls dance. It's much harder to get those longer legs to do the quicker movements (believe me, I remember from being a way over-tall pre-teen).

I'm sure most of my audience just doesn't care about SYTYCD, but I am seriously hooked.

Thankfully, another very guilty pleasure--Comedy Central's "Drawn Together"--starts back up next wednesday. Dude, between "Lost," "South Park," and "Drawn Together," Thursday TiVo will be just awesome. And if they get SYTYCD back on Wednesday at 8pm...dude...

Controversy too well-timed?

The whole "run-to-first-base-on-third-strike-after-being-called-out" controversy seems like something a little-too-perfect to happen to the most boring ALCS in years. All of the media is lamenting a Red Sox- and Yankees-less ALCS, citing the probability of low ratings? Then all of a sudden, this huge controversy?

Okay, so the terrible call and subsequent run to first happened. But can't you see the conversation among the umpire and referees? "Dude, let it stand. We only have .0001 viewership right now." "Yeah, this could push us to .001." "Let's leave it."

The best thing about the whole thing is seeing all the replays of Slappy McSlapsalot from last year (ARod slapping the ball out of Bronson's glove).

Gotta love Belichick!!

In response to the Falcons listing Michael Vick as "Probable" (meaning he will most likely play) rather than "Questionable" (50/50 chance), the Patriots listed 15 of their own players as "Probable." HAHAHA.

Full details here.

Rapist caught!

The cab-driver rapist was arrested.

Scott Berkum Talk

Today I went over to MIT for a talk given by Scott Berkum, a former Program Manager at Microsoft. His talk was very enjoyable, though I really did not learn much new. It was mostly directed at those who have not yet been in the workplace, which I have for over nine years now =). Great and entertaining speaker, though. I'm bummed to have to miss his 4pm talk on "Why Software Sucks," but religion calls.

Some pointers and thoughts from the talk:
* Don't send out bad resumes. It's seem obvious, but a lot of people do it (you wouldn't believe the crap I saw while at SI. I think my favorite all-time was one in which the person had put "Great written and oral communicator" and "communicator" was misspelled)
* Berkum used a picture of a football team to illustrate the different roles a person can play. You want to be the guy making the tackle, even if someone is drawing a face mask penalty on you at the same time
* Chewing with your mouth closed is a good thing. Smacking is gross (Oops, sorry. That was inspired by the guy sitting next to me. It was seriously making me nauseous)
* Work-life balance is incredibly important. Yeah, we all know this, but I loved the quote: "You work eighty hours a week?!?! That's embarrassing!"