Category: Personal

For quite some time I’ve wanted my former co-worker to speak to JHTC and now he’s agreed to be at our March 10 meeting. The title of his talk is “Drive Product Success with User Experience” and I’m disappointed in not coming up with a better one but to be blunt Glen is a UX god, absolutely worth your time to come hear.

Glen is someone who can cut through any discussion to find the real decision points and turn that into product requirements and visual design. His blog post today, What are you arguing about?, is a perfect example of his ability to convert argument (in a rhetorical sense) into answerable questions.

One his pithy principles that I love is Who’s the landlord? What he means is every product feature, design aspect or word on a page or screen has to carry its weight. Nothing “just gets” in without contributing to the end goal, which is (in his case) building lovely software, software whose customers say “I love this and have to have it.”

See for yourself March 10!

Summary: Robert Hunt of American Baseline was either negligent or incompetent in handling my situation and I would not recommend other homeowners use his services.

The Longer Version:

One of the annoying things about our lovely new house that I didn’t find out until long after I could actually use the information is that this house is in a flood zone. An AO-1 flood zone and the garage is far short of the permanent open space (venting) required.

Flood insurance–required by all mortgage lenders–usually costs around $500 a year for this size house. Being in the AO-1 zone raises that to almost $1400. Having too little venting increases that by about 50%.

This is in Mountain View, mind you, and so completely ridiculous. What is the source of the flooding threat, according to FEMA? Not Permanent Creek, which literally runs across the back of my property, but ponding from the nearby 101 on ramp. Ha! I say. You cannot tell me that any water wouldn’t flow first to Permanente Creek, which is far closer than my house.

There is the possibility of relief by getting a Letter of Map Amendment from FEMA. This requires submission of an Elevation Certificate prepared by a licensed professional. No one I knew had gone through this so some web searching brought me to Robert Hunt of American Baseline.

Robert claimed over a decade’s experience in preparing these certificates and related matters. His fee was $800 but okay since I’d be saving over $2,000 a year.

I submitted the certificate he prepared and six weeks later got an envelope from FEMA. Happy days, I thought, but instead the letter inside said there were three deficiencies in my request.

I passed the response along to Robert and he sent me back a revised certificate. A few weeks go by and again the FEMA response is there are still two problems.

I sent this to Robert. Now he–from what I could tell–actually read the FEMA letter.

One of the additional items FEMA wanted was a topographical map of my property showing the structure and drainage. Robert said he’d never heard of this being required but it would cost another $1700 to prepare.

I called the company to which FEMA outsources the evaluation of these requests to get an explanation of this out of the blue map requirement. When I first looked into getting the LOMA I had also spoken to someone at this company and he never mentioned needing the map.

I was told that all they needed was a hand-drawn map, not something formal. Phew!

The other issue, though, was that by one of the measurements my house was four inches (out of over 25 feet!) short of the requirement and so my request couldn’t be granted, making the map unnecessary anyway. After a lengthy discussion I came away with the understanding that if a different but still applicable reference monument could be found, I might get past this measurement hurdle.

One of my neighbors was granted a LOMA in 2007 so this seemed like a possility.

I spoke with Robert and he agreed to look for a different reference monument, now that he had the address of the neighbor who got the LOMA. I would have to pay for the extra work, even his time if no monument could be found, and I was okay with that since it would still save a lot of money.

Another monument was found, a certificate was prepared and submitted and–you guessed it–another rejection letter was received. My house was still four inches short, despite getting an additional three plus feet of elevation!

Talking with the FEMA (outsource) rep again he explained that the problem was not the absolute elevation but the relative position of my house to the height of the center of the road out front. This could not really change just from finding a different monument. He claimed to have tried to explain this to me in our previous conversation but from my POV he used language that required a solid grasp property surveying to understand.

A grasp that a layperson can reasonably expect a licensed land surveyor with over a decade’s experience preparing these submissions to have, wouldn’t you say? When I asked Robert Hunt about this he said that wasn’t his to say, that I knew the risk involved and he did what I asked.

When I asked for a refund of the second payment, which was almost as much as the original fee, he said that I knew the risk involved and he did what I asked so no refund.

To me this is a terrible answer. Of course I would like my money back and any no would be bad but in this case I think Hunt is being unprofessional and should give the refund. As with any area that requires extensive training and education, like law, medicine or plumbing, a professional should give clients advice on how to achieve their goal–or if the goal is realistic at all–and not just blithely do useless work.

I do not believe that Robert Hunt did not know that the second round of work was unnecessary, not if he has the professional skill and experience he claims to have. As such I think he acted against my interests; this is neglicence or incompetence but either way I should not have had to pay.

She lay on the bed, wet and sticking, taking a deep breathe
She reached over and grabbed a robe lying beside the bed
Covered herself. Her, well, co-star was already sitting up
Faced away from her and chatting up a guy who finished
His own scene in the next setup.

The cameramen, sound guys, stagehands, directors were
Standing in various groups arranged by concerns:
Players, sets, the technical requirements for the next
Set of scenes to be shot. No one was really looking at her,
No one was talking to her. An anonymous body,
She may really as well have been a stick of furniture.

A very pretty and well-stacked bit of blond furniture
That suited the technical requirements called for in
The day’s scripts and directors were well satisfied
She could perform on camera as requested, her
Skin worked well with the lighting and props, her
Hair lovely but easily managed to not interfere.

She wondered whether any of her co-workers
Noticed that she often forgot to avoid direct
Bodily fluid exchanges and how happy she was to
Service anyone on the set. Some actresses were
Like that, happy to use a sexy body for career
Advancement or reasons stumbling around
Inside a woman’s mind. None of them, of course,
Knew the results of her last doctor visit.

Today is a wonderful day, for reasons stated voluminously elsewhere. I do not think our new President can work miracles any more than I believe in Santa Claus but he can do good and will in ways that neither GWB, Dick Cheney nor John McCain would consider.

Speaking of McCain, man did we dodge a bullet! His potential presidency was looking more and more like a third term for the current criminal crew. With the added bonus of biting our nails to the quick over the prospect that he would be in some way incapacitated, thus putting a former TV weather girl in charge of our nation.

My prediction is that Obama will have serious difficulties dealing with the ongoing adjustment to globalization of which the trouble with Al Qaeda and the economic quagmire are but two manifestations.

As pointed out to me by self-described conservative friends, we liberals tend to get stuck in on decisions because we try to account for every point of view (see appointments of Clinton, Hilary, and Gates, Robert). While I tend to see this as a strength, since the decisions made are stronger–for all its good and bad, the United Nations on whole is still a useful organization that would never have been founded by a (modern) Republican administration–such a process will not produce the immediate results some fantasists forecast after the elections.

We are, once again and most happily, on the Freedom Highway. The destination is many mile markers down the road.

TS1 and I went down to the Tank tonight and got to see a blast of a game that finished with the Sharks winning 6-5 over their top rivals in the Western Conference and defending Stanley Cup champs, the Detroit Red Wings.

The Sharks opened fast, getting the first goal from Dan Boyle inside of three minutes but the Red Wings aren’t the best team in the league the last decade or more for nothing and they tied it up fast, just a minute later. The Sharks’ Joe Pavelski took three minutes to get the next, and that’s how the first period ended.

The referees were just terrible tonight. Los Tiburones started the second and third period on penalty kills from some pushing and shoving as the teams went off the ice at the end of the periods, and the Red Wings capitalized on the first of those to tie it again 90 seconds into the 2nd and taking their first lead soon after. The Sharks got an equalizer from Christian Erhoff and the teams traded another pair of goals towards the end of the period.

The 3rd started 4-4 and I was afraid we could see a late goal loss like the Sharks gave up Thursday night, but Milan Michalek and Patty Marleau scored in quick succession midway through. The Red Wings were able to get a fifth score but despite pulling Chris Osgood for most of the last two minute of the game were not able to get the tie.

Se now Ts1 has been to two Sharks games in the last two seasons and our boys won both times! I think the Sharks should give her season tickets to see how long her streak can run. The loss to the Flames Thursday was the first home regulation loss in 11 months, tonight started a new run. I’d love to see them do what Chelsea did until earlier this seson, go more than four seasons without a home loss!

Following up my post from a few days ago, I want to point out another sad OpEd piece by a Republican apologist. This time it’s Charles Fried, Solicitor General under Reagan and someone who thinks SCOTUS Associate Justice Samuel Alioto is just conservative and not nearly as radical as Freid’s longtime pal Antonin Scalia.

Freid’s essay addresses whether the Obama Administration should pursue criminal charges against Bush Administration staff and their allies in the various Cabinet departments over allegations of torture and perjury. He comes down, not at all surprisingly, against the idea:

There is now ample reason to believe that Mr. Gonzales was among those at the highest level of government who allowed Americans to engage in torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of those in our custody. Mr. Gonzales’s misleading and cowardly testimony certainly deprives him of any claim to our indulgence, but nonetheless neither he nor any of the others who participated in this abuse of detainees should be criminally prosecuted — not for their sakes but for the country’s.

Of course, we wouldn’t want to emotionally upset the country over partisan divisiveness! Unlike, say, what the Republican leadership did in the late ’90s to Bill Clinton, attempting to remove him from office for lying about getting a blow job.

I find this manner of claim sad enough but completely consistent with Republican behavior of wrapping themselves in the flag at every turn on every issue. Freid, though, doesn’t stop there; instead he elevates the hyperbole by comparing the charges to the behavior of Soviet dictators and–you guessed it–Hitler’s treatment of officials he perceived as betraying him. “Night of the long knives” indeed!

Apparently Freid has been working a bit past his sell by date, having been on the Harvard Law School faculty since 1961. I applaud the NY Times for attempting to present a balanced selection of perspectives but the editors need to exercise better judgment on what they publish.

And the Republicans need to recognize that miscreants need punishing, which would really be the best thing for America.

While I wish USC had been in the game, both Oklahoma and Florida played really well tonight and gave the nation a quality national title game. Florida won 24-14 and there can be no question the Gators were the better side, but overall the game was close, clean, no one can complain about the refereeing and the result wasn’t settled until late.

Tim Tebow was awesome, just a dump truck in pads, Pervy Harvin was close behind with three huge runs and the Florida defense made more than enough solid stops. Two titles in three seasons for Urban Meyers, with two different quarterbacks, is hard to argue with.

If Tebow and Mark Sanchez both come back for their senior seasons, I’d love to see next year’s BCS matchup be Florida versus USC!

Barack Obama is still 16 days away from his inauguration but the Republican smear machine is in full gear. Today’s NY Times–that tool of the liberal media, no less–carries an Op-Ed piece from two key members of the outgoing Bush crew, John Bolton and John Yoo, full of worry that Obama will try to sidestep the Senate’s proper role in foreign policy.

Is that a laugh or what? Bush may have followed the proper form in some instances but only superficially and only when his people recognized they had no alternative. And even then they used half-truths, outright lies and evasions so that Senate Democrats had no chance of the meaningful oversight Bolton and Yoo insist is so important.

Yoo, according to Wikipedia, “wrote memos in which he advocated the possible legality of torture and that enemy combatants could be denied protection under the Geneva Conventions.”

Bolton has a long record of working in Republican administrations. Under Reagan, for example, he was the point man for the administration’s effort to deny Japanese-Americans reparations for their WWII internment and a bill that claimed immigration control is an essential tool for the war on drugs.

GWB tried to appoint him as the US representative to the United Nations, a joke in itself, but the Senate blocked him. This was a guy, after all, who had so little self-control he was booted from the US delegation to the North Korean disarmament talks for calling Kim Jon-Il a tyrannical dictator. Not that Kim isn’t, but a diplomat is supposed to know better than to shoot his mouth off.

Back to the point at hand. In the opening paragraph Yoo and Bolton claim that Obama and Hillary Clinton are likely to “lock the United States into unwise foreign commitments” by bypassing the Constitution’s requirements that such initiatives receive supermajority approval from the Senate. What a freaking laugh coming from the assclowns who mad secret deals with countries like Syria and Jordan and lied their way to a pointless, terrible war in Iraq.

We recently incorporated JHTC (now formally Jewish High Tech Community Inc.) and have already received a number of pieces of business junk mail. Actually physical, paper mail. Today, though, we received one that really takes the cake.

And by cake I mean the people who run or work for this company should be forced to listen to a mix tape of Bjork, Barry Manilow and Mongolian throat singing played backwards at earblasting volume. Continuously. For two weeks.

Even the Better Business Bureau says that the company known as Corporate Compliance Recorder is a scam intended to trick businesses into paying $150 (the price is higher now) by making us think their notice comes from a government agency.

The thing looked hinky to me but never having been the president of a corporation before I was unsure. This is a great thing about the web, if other people have run into similar crap you can usually find them out.

I thought the return envelope they included was postage paid, so I could at least cost them 40 cents or whatever to send them a piece of my mind, but sure enough their was no postage on the envelope, damn it.

2009 is only two days old but these assclowns are already in the running for Scum of the Year.

[Continuing my New Year’s Day tradition…]

A wise machine once said
When asked why it did not
Zoom off for its own singularity
That life just has too much fun left

Even as so many dark clouds form
Think of this sage advice at length
Before getting stuck in with gloom
As doom is no boon companion

This is no Pollyana-ish admonition
For naive Candide aspect on the world
Life is a complex set of needs, wants
Ranging randomly along the walk from 1 to 2

Do you want to be happy, the machine asked?
Then be happy, or at least permit yourself
The prospect of happiness as just reward for
Handling the twists a life throws up

Whatever’s going on in the world at large
You can give yourself space to enjoy the
Passage of time, to savor the joy of
The few or many friends and family you have.

That’s not my headline, it’s from Reuters’ match report, though I agree wholeheartedly. Five goals on the road today against a Newcastle side that’s begin climbing back from a horrid start pairs nicely with Friday’s 3-0 slam of Bolton, a +7 on goal difference tally.

First place after 20 games, three points clear of Chelsea and top of the table as 2008 comes to end. For the first season in many we aren’t sitting third, fourth or fifth looking up at Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal and happy to have a firm grasp on a Champions League slot–this season is our opportunity to win the Premier League for the first time and add back a cushion to our lead over United for all time top flight titles.

Steven Gerrard lead the way today with two goals and an assist, showing why he wears the armband by captaining a lineup with five subs in the starting XI. A lineup with none of the normal strikers up front either, a reward to Dirk Kuyt for all his hard work as right winger.

Sami Hyypia recalled his thrilling partnership with Jamie Carragher in central defense, putting one in with his head too. Emiliano Insua, our Argentine fullback who turns 20 in 10 days, made another strong appearance covering for the injured Alvaro Arbeloa. Yossi Benayoun was creative, setting up Gerrard on the first goal, and Ryan Babel celebrated a rare start with the third goal.

The game was also good news because Javier Mascherano started on his return from an injury layoff and Martin Skrtel got on for the last few minutes, his first appearance since tearing a knee ligament at Manchester City October 5th.

Liverpool’s Challengers

Number two Chelsea were dominant at Craven Cottage this morning but the match ended 2-2 as American international Clint Dempsey got free twice in the six yard box and put set piece kicks from Simon Davies in the net both times. His second, in the 90th minute, was a real spirit killer. The Blues had to overcome tough first half hamstring injuries to Alex and Florent Maluda but credit Fullham with strong defense that mostly shut down both of Chelsea’s speedy, aggressive fullbacks.

Rumors are just rumors until they come true though I do wonder if Scolari will want to stick out the season at Stamford Bridge if he gets no spending cash in January except what he takes in by selling. Alex and Malouda are the two most frequently touted to leave but their prices will certainly be impacted by the second injury each has had in the half season.

Arsenal scraped out a 1-0 victory today over a Portmouth side which has struggled seriously since former Gunner captain Tony Adams took over from Harry Redknapp but Arsene Wenger is another manager getting an unacustomed level of negative press. Aston Villa is getting results and Friday’s clawback for a 2-2 draw between the two teams was rough but earned.

His very young team has suffered from internal dissent epitomized by the stripping of the captaincy from William Gallas, injuries to key contributors Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky and an abundance of red cards and yet is still sitting fourth–for the moment, with Villa not playing until Tuesday.

The critics, though, say Wenger should have used the club’s strong finances to add veteran depth as he looks for trophies at home and in Europe and that after 12 years in charge his arrogance is getting the better of his judgment. Luckily for him this is the off year for the biannual African Nations’ Cup or he’d be digging deep into the reserve squad for bench bodies next month.

Sir Alex is probably sitting happy at home today after Manchester United shook off the transcontinental jet lag Friday to beat Stoke with a late goal and an extra day’s rest before hosting strugglers Middlesboro tomorrow. Assuming the Red Devils win tomorrow, which is no sure thing this season for any of the Big Four, he gets two weeks with only Cup ties against Championship sides to rest up and prepare for the Jan. 11 collision with Scolari and Chelsea.

The club’s two games in hand (against Wigan and Fulham) mean that a victory in that match leaves Ferguson’s men sitting pretty to move up to second, a position he’ll take any year when all his remaining games against the other teams in the top five places are at Old Trafford. Inter Milan in the first knockout stage are a big obstacle to a second consecutive Premier League/Champions League double but the gaffer was able to drive Jose Mourinho out of England.

The Reds will hope history is on their side as they hold on to their league lead going into 2009, with the top team as the calendar changes finishing top three of the last four years. For my dollars/pounds/Euros, Manchester United are the biggest threat to a Liverpool title but if Fernando Torres can stay healthy, Steven Gerrard stays strong and Rafa Benitez has his usual strong results in the winter transfer window I believe the Reds will rule.

I earned my paycheck for yesterday by inviting the web’s greatest connector, Robert Scoble, to our office to shoot video about Aptana Cloud and Aptana Studio. His blog post about the visit is titled The best 2009 web development tool?, which gives you guidance on his reaction. Thanks Robert!

Shunning the spotlight myself, instead the stars are Kevin Hakman, our Director of Evangelism, and Kris Rassmussen, Cloud lead.

[Sorry, had to delete the videos due to issue with the Kyte.tv video player]

Note: Titles at Aptana are a bit different. For instance, I’m the only person with the word Manager–and Kevin is the only one with Director–in his or her title. Kris, as an engineering lead, is theoretically the equivalent of a senior manager or possibly director. I just felt more comfortable with the more traditional title since the rest of it, the team name portion, is very non-standard: Customer Success.

A sunny January day at the big mall in Costa Mesa
Jenny is looking for a new pair of black pumps
Trying on spangly dangling earrings and Ray-Bans
Seeing who there is to see on the stroll.

Mackenzie is at the same mall, checking out the
Talent on display–this is a place you go
Because you know you the goods for the show
Because you want people to see your strut.

Very few people notice Mackenzie at the mall today,
Noticed him yesterday or last month or last year
You might think he’s accustomed to social invisibility
But down inside he wants to be seen as much as Jenny.

He sees Jenny, in fact he likes the way she struts
Trying on those black pumps and would gladly
Buy them for her, or the jewelry or sunglasses
If Jenny would only look on him kindly.

Mac–he like to call himself Mac, nobody else
Thinks of him as a Mac kind of guy, not too many
People think of him too often as any kind of guy
People hardly look at him unless he spills coffee on them.

Mac thinks his hobby makes up for the dateless
Saturday nights, painful family holiday dinners where
He has no answer for his mother’s withering looks
At the empty chair where his wife would sit.

Mom and Dad try to hide their sadness and
Growing disdain at Mac’s continuing failure, his
Once promising but now dimming prospects,
See their bright and happy boy turn hollow and grey.

Jenny is still full of promise, just out of college,
Working for smart people at an exciting startup
More beautiful than as a high school cheerleader
Looking at her future reaching out to hold her.

Ten years from now people will start to call her
Jennifer but now, sweet, friendly, open
That’s too formal to occur to the people she knows
She looks like Jenny to everyone.

Mac knows Jenny, he sees her at the mall on weekends
Grabbing coffee at lunch with girlfriends
Working out at the gym. The gym Mac joined to
See more of Jenny, and be seen by her.

Today is the day, Mac says. To himself, he has
No buddies to brag to or work up lines with
He’s going to have a conversation with Jenny
See if she will spark to his flame.

Just in case she doesn’t, Mac has a plan B.
Smart guys work up their options, he knows.
Mac’s plan B is unconventional, 9mm’s of hard steel,
Surely he won’t need it, Jenny will see his love.

Adamo? Shouldn’t that be Adama?

We’re asking the developer community for their input on the Aptana Studio… what you like, what you hate, and do you want. Per the survey page:

We want to make Aptana Studio better for YOU. To do that, we need to understand what you do, how you work, what you like about Studio, and what drives you nuts. Whether you’re a regular Studio user or you’ve only tried it once or twice, we want to know what’s working for you and what’s not, what features you can’t find, and what features you can’t live without.

From now until January 10, you can help us determine our direction for the next year and beyond by taking a few minutes to give us your thoughts.

Please take a few minutes and give us your thoughts!

Corruption has been with us as long as there have been individuals able to exert control over desirable things. Some cultures even today, from what I understand, simply accept this as a reality of life and behave accordingly.

In the US, though, we claim not to accept it. We have laws against such actions!

When I read the story two days ago about federal agents walking into the Illinois governor’s home and arresting him I laughed until I cried. Then I started thinking about how widespread this mentality is among our so-called corporate and political leaders today, and the connection I made was to alcoholism and drug addiction.

These are men (almost exclusively) who have about as much money and/or power as one could make use of in several lifetimes but still crave more. So much so that they risk losing everything to get it. Kind of like Sylar on Heroes, to draw a pop culture analogy.

Sylar is as powerful as any of the superempowered characters on that show yet despite a substantial urge to throw off his murderous behavior, the hunger that drives him to acquire more is simply too strong (or so the writers are having it for now).

Rod Blagojevich was arrogant and stupid enough that he actually talked on a telephone line about wanting to get paid for naming someone to replace Barack Obama in the Senate despite being the target of a years-long federal investigation!

I’m also thinking of the executives at Enron, Worldcom and Conrad Black and former Congressman Randy Cunningham (R, CA), all sitting in prison cells today when they could have been lazing on the beach in Ibiza under fluffy umbrellas, surrounded by barely dressed woman and fawning servants instead of large, vicious men, industrial food on plastic trays and steel bars blocking the sunlight.

What is the compulsion that drives such men? The only answer is addiction, but in our culture the desire for more money is viewed as an undiluted good thing. Can’t be too thin or have too much money only you can be too thin and want more money so much the desire can destroy you the same way anorexia or cirrhosis will.

We need a name for this disease, I suggest Aurumitis. Aurum is Latin for gold, which should appeal to the oversized ego that is one symptom of the affliction. And the first step is admitting you have a problem.

Once again Paul shows he knows how to run a company where people enjoy their days. I did mention the XBox 360 LAN here in the office before, right?

Today he brought in a sushi chef who made us a literal boatload of good eats at lunch time. For dessert everybody got an Aptana orange 8GB iPod Nano. A few snaps: