rob was here.

I just loaded up the website to my previous company (Northstar Technical) and noticed that an application I wrote is now listed in the product listing of the company! How cool is that? I made a product! The project started as an idea in late 2005 at home, where I mocked up the interface. It turned into a personal full fledge project when I showed the Senior Engineers. I finished it in the Spring of 2006 and it was trialled with some customers. I left the company around about then in favor of my current employment. It's just cool to see something grow from an idea that occurred some evening to a marketplace product now advertised on a website.

I attached a screenshot in case the website ever disappears:



If you look closely at the screenshot, you'll notice that the app is running in Linux, specifically Fedora Core 4-5, which to date has been my favorite Linux experience. This application also marked my first experience developing software from a *nix environment, which I did to make sure I could. For nostalgia sakes, take a look at this post.

One experience I had from that project was it was my first serious attempt at striving at all means to make a usable and meaningful interface, specifically a dashboard. Dashboard design has become an intrigue of mine at my current job, specifically for web applications as opposed to the desktop application shown here. It's funny how one thing leads to another.

damn generic answers:

Dear Rob:

Thank you for your e-mail.

We were pleased to look into your review inquiry and have determined that all customer reviews are reviewed by the appropriate department before they are posted.

The manager lady called me back after, and assured me the shipping charges will be returned to my visa. The worst part, Lost comes on tv tonight! They'll pay dearly for this! Actually.. I wonder if they have a good deal on HDMI cables..

I just got off the phone after complaining to a Futureshop service person for almost 45 minutes. I've been waiting for my television to arrive for 43 days so far. Her manager will call me back shortly. While I wait, I just sent this email off:

To: service@futureshop.com
Subject: Website review not working

Hello,

I just posted a review for a television I ordered, under the part where it says "Share what you have to say". I noticed it didn't come up on the website after I pressed the "Send" button there at the bottom of the website, I was wondering why?

To help you track down which review is mine, here is a snap I took of the page:

It would be greatly appreciated if you could help me resolve this issue. That way, other people won't make the same mistake that I did.

Thanks again,
Rob

I'll post the response when I get it. The irony is i'm complaining that the site doesn't work. Oh the ironing!

Humans, especially male ones, are familiar with bathroom urinal etiquette. That is, when walking into a public lavatory that is in use, one should always select to operate at the furthest urinal away from another in use. If all urinals are in use, one should leave and come back later. Those individuals displaying the highest manners will outright ignore the presence existence of other beings in proximity.

Cats, especially female ones, are not familiar with bathroom kitty litter etiquette. That is, when walking into a public lavatory the back porch at the same time as another cat, both cats will sit and wait indefinitely instead of applying an exponential backoff algorithm to secure usage rights. The resulting situation is a striking example of deadlock, with the litterbox not being used by either party, which of course is not optimized productivity.


Of course, maybe it was the large ackward looking bipedal creature standing in the porch snapping pictures that was keeping them at bay.