Tralfaz

Month: June 2015

  • A CEO steps down, and I should care

    A CEO steps down, and I should care

    Yesterday afternoon, it was announced that Dick Costolo was stepping down as the CEO of Twitter. The NY Times, and virtually all my media alerts posted about this “event”

    Excuse me if I don’t give a shit. A fabulously wealthy individual, who will likely not ever need to clip coupons, will give up his role at the top of Twitter, a mindless time waster (yes, I am aware of the irony of this automatically posting to Twitter) because he didn’t have luck in continuing its meteoric growth, and that the attempts to monetize were not run away successes.

    Of course, he will remain a member of the board of directors, so he isn’t exactly frog-marched out the door. Color me surprised.

    People have this concept that CEO’s are omniscient and omnipotent beings. But the truth is that the team that surrounds the CEO (often hand picked) is the key to strategy. Of course, looking at all the shuffling of the senior ranks, it isn’t clear that Dick had a good plan.

    Of course, one of the articles I read (nb: almost threw up reading) was how the interim successor, Jack Dorsey had a luxurious beard that would attract the confidence of “mommies” (what the fuck is that demographic?)

    Don’t get me wrong, I use Twitter, and it has been an effective way to learn and share experiences within the product management community, but if it disappeared, the world wouldn’t end.

    (Perhaps I shouldn’t be listening to kick-ass Steppenwolf tunes when I write.)

  • Is life no longer worth living?

    Is life no longer worth living?

    I wrote back in March about a life changing event. Having the gout. It sucks. Talk about white privilege diseases, and Gout is top of the list. But the doctor said it would return.

    One of the things they say causes flare-ups is beer. Sweet, wonderful, hoppy beer. Apparently, the puric acid is the culprit.

    After the major flare up (that about crippled me for 4 days) I swore off beer for a couple of months. Actually, all alcohol. Then three weeks ago I succumbed to the nectar of the goods, malted barley beverages.

    I had some minor discomfort, so I backed off. Then the last weekend, I had two 12-oz bottles (A Lagunitas Sucks ale), and two days later, major flare up. I missed the early indicators, so I couldn’t take my preventative medication (which is pretty gnarly, I need to remember to NOT take my statin when I take it).

    So, it looks like I am off of beer forever.

    Life may not be worth living.

  • To the asshole who was exit lane surfing

    To the asshole who was exit lane surfing

    Yes you, the black BMW who dove in behind me on the exit lane for Lawrence expressway from 280N this morning. Traffic was already moving briskly, 55mph or better, but you had to get a few car lengths further up

    After you honked at me in my wife’s Rav4, I made sure I kept it a reasonable exit speed. Because often it backs up onto the freeway there, and I have seen some doosey accidents there, I take a little caution.

    So, yeah, fuck you.

  • eBook Evolution

    I have written about ebooks a few times in the past. I started in 2008 with the Sony E-Reader, and then moved on to an iPad in 2011, and then to the Kindle in 2014. As a lifelong, heavy reader, books have always been a significant part of my life. The eBook and reader has been a godsend. Yet, all is not perfect in the reader world.

    Being a long time e-reader user, an early adopter, and several technology nodes along the way, the challenge is that I have books from multiple vendors, in multiple formats, and that complicates life.

    Sony was the first stop in the path to an e-reader. It started using proprietary Sony only formats. Yet, as the technology evolved, and Amazon become a powerful player, Sony books ended up being in protected ePub format. Moving them was trivial using Calibre, and they remain in my library.

    I later bought a second generation iPad, about the time that Apple launched their bookstore. I have to admit, that the reading experience on the iPad with the Apple application was/is outstanding. However, the protection that Apple uses for their books is not removable, so you are limited to using the iPad or now the iBooks application on the Mac to read them. That would be OK if I always used my iPad to read, but alas, I prefer to use an e-ink reader (no distractions, a better immersive environment.)

    All was well until the second Sony reader began to die. Its battery always sucked, and I ended up replacing it less than 18 months after buying it. However, even with the new battery, it really never lived up to the quality or performance of the original reader I had from Sony. Bummer.

    I could have turned 100% to the iPad, but at its core, I still prefer the e-ink based readers. However, at this time, late 2013, the battle was over. There were some also rans, the iPad, or the Kindle.

    So I took the plunge, and bought a Paperwhite kindle (wifi only, without the ads). As much as it pains me, it is now a damn good reader, and the Amazon book ecosystem is solid. Huge selection, reasonable prices, and a painless purchase/access process. It really just works.

    Of course, the Amazon format files are protected (again, it is trivial to remove this protection).

    The integration with Calibre is excellent, and converting my extensive collection of ePub books to .mobi format for the Kindle is trivial.

    One thing is for certain, the only loser here is printed books. It has to be a special book indeed where I buy a dead tree version.

    So, like much of my digital life, I have many epochs of detritus, collections spanning multiple technologies. Don’t get me started about my music collection (Amazon, Apple, Google Play, and my ripped CD’s).

  • Why I don’t Watch Sports-ball Games

    Why I don’t Watch Sports-ball Games

    Thursday I got a hankering for some Pizza for lunch, so I hit the local Round Table Pizza and their buffet (yep, I felt like pigging out, so nyah!) Of course, there were TV’s on in the dining area tuned into various games.

    The one that had audio turned up was a Baseball game. Oakland A’s versus Detroit Redwings or something (note: I do know that is a hockey team).

    SportsballI have never really been a big fan of sports on the ‘tube. Yes, I will watch a game once in a while, but I really don’t look forward to the weekends to sit idly watching game after game. I can’t remember the last time I tuned into ESPN (and in fact, if you could drop ESPN, and my wife wouldn’t disown me, I would banish it from my cable lineup).

    Back to the broadcast I was watching. Baseball is a fairly slow paced game. You don’t have rapid fire pitching, so there is plenty of dead air time between the batters and even within an “up”, so the sportscasters feel the need to fill the dead time with inane blathering. They just say the lamest things, sometimes weaving in statistics, or weather, or what some player did 5 decades ago.

    It isn’t just Baseball, watch a telecast of a football team, and you get the same mindless drivel. These sports casters are often retired players, and the banter that they do reminds you that while they may have gone to college, they certainly weren’t scholars. The ‘expert‘ panels at half time in football make me stabby.

    I am sure this will draw some hate.

  • Let it Bleed – The Rolling Stones

    The-Rolling-Stones-Let-It-Bleed-album-coverWhen a band has been around as long as the Rolling Stones has, looking at their catalog can be daunting. Do you buy something really early? Or how about a best-of collection? It can be a crapshoot either way.

    However, with The Rolling Stones, there is one album that you can buy with confidence, and be cure to have a set of tracks that are timeless, classic, and thoroughly enjoyable.

    I speak of the album “Let it Bleed”. It has several iconic songs that are instantly recognizable, from the Vietnam ware protest staple, “Gimme Shelter” to “Midnight Rambler”, and the theme song from my high school graduation “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.

    Unlike later LP’s, where there were 1 or 2 worthy songs, and a bunch of filler, every, and I do mean EVERY track on this album is awesome.

    I long had a copy ripped from a CD that belonged to a friend. Feeling a little guilty of its providence, I recently bought a re-issue on vinyl, and I must admit that not owning this on vinyl before was a mistake.

    A classic album, from an iconic band, there’s nothing to regret buying this.

  • Led Zeppelin

    Led Zeppelin

    While I inherited a pretty awesome amount of vinyl LP’s of Jazz and Classical from my father inlaw, my rock and roll collection has been almost nil. I am missing the collection I jettisoned in the 1990’s in my frenzy of moving. Fortunately, with the revival, there are ample opportunities to expand and augment.

    One band that I never really had a lot of vinyl of is Led Zeppelin. Not that I wasn’t a fan, I had a well worn copy of IV, but when it came time to buy records, something else always stepped in front of the earlier Led Zeppelin. I did buy several of them on CD, but like many of the mid 1980’s CD’s they were pretty pathetic sounding, a shitton of compression, and thin mixes, as the producers did as little as possible to get the CD’s to press.  I was underwhelmed.

    This last weekend, I splurged. Amazon recommended the 3 LP re-release of Led Zeppelin 1. A bit pricey at 42 bucks, it did include 3 albums, completely remastered by Jimmy Page himself, with extensive tracks from a magical 1969 concert in Paris.

    This afternoon, the LP’s arrived (including a copy the Rolling Stones “Let it Bleed”, another impulse purchase), and it is amazing. Now to get the other re-issues.

    Audible bliss, contained on 180 gram vinyl LP.

  • What I am reading – Matt Drake novels

    I have admitted to being a fan of the Doc Savage stories in the past. Fun, targeted at teenaged boys, and quick reading, they are the classic adventure stories. I read all 181 original stories, as well as all the modern additions.

    I have been searching for a similar series of stories, and am currently tasting the Matt Drake series by David Leadbeater. Not really in the Doc Savage mold, but more of an Indiana Jones on steroids, searching for relics, and fighting with organized mobsters (governments or whatever) to save them from evil plans.

    Good action, somewhat believable plots (as long as the idea of Norse gods being real and 500M years old isn’t too far fetched).

    Not sure I will stick with the whole series, but it has started well.