Archive for March, 2008

More CNET layoffs last week

I haven’t had a Google alert set up on “CNET” for quite some time, thus I missed the news last week about another round of layoffs. Hit pretty close to home, a fair number of the folks I worked with recently at TechRepublic got hit.
The one that surprised me most was probably the Trivia […]

I’m now one month from having to pay two mortgages

When I bought my place here in Nashville, the timing worked out such that I would not have a payment due until May 1. So as we near April 1, I’m now just one month away from having to make simultaneous mortgage payments on two homes. I know I’ll be able to carry […]

Wow, Ford made a lousy investment with Land Rover

Ford just announced the sale of the luxury division which includes Land Rover for $1.7 billion. Reportedly that’s about 1/3 what they paid for the group originally. That is the definition of a bad investment, when you lose 2/3 of the money you put in at the beginning.
That doesn’t even include of course […]

Not having Internet at home really sucks

I’m still Internet-less at my new townhome, both AT&T and Comcast have issues because it is a brand-new place that doesn’t show up on their database. I think I might though be able to eventually get it thru Comcast, there’s a person I’m supposed to call on Monday to get an update. There’s […]

Buying / selling construction equipment is apparently a job for overweight, middle-aged, white guys

So last week when I was in Vegas, there were of course a number of conventions in town. But by far the largest was Conexpo-Con/Agg, a construction equipment convention.
You could tell who the attendees were because they all wore their badges even when they were on the casino floor instead of at […]

What I like about McCarron

I’m in Las Vegas this week, I’ve just arrived at the McCarron International Airport. My Mom’s flight arrives about an hour after mine, so I’m sitting here in the baggage area using the free WiFi service. Which is the thing I like most about McCarron.
Of course there’s other things to like about the […]

$3,000 prostitutes??

The apparent fact that Eliot Spitzer, governor of New York, utilizes call girls is not the part that surprises me. What does surprise me is that these were apparently $3,000 prostitutes.
Who knew there were such things as $3,000 prostitutes? And just how good-looking are these ladies to be worth that much? It […]

I’m officially a resident of Nashville

The last four weeks I’ve been living a gypsy life, staying in a temporary apartment paid for by my new employer. The 30 days are up this weekend and thankfully I managed to close on a place yesterday. So I now have a permanent address here in Nashville.
I’m still in the apartment though […]

Little kid upholds the Asian stereotype

I don’t really do enough volunteer work, so I agreed to help out with this local school that my employer has “adopted”. Starting last Thursday and running for the next several Thursdays, they’re running an evening practice session where the kids can try sample standardized tests. In preparation for a statewide test that […]

Is Microsoft preparing to construct two dozen gargantuan new data centers?

So the rumours are flying around that Microsoft may soon announce plans to construct about two dozen humongous new data centers. These would be around 500,000 square feet, for a total square footage ov about 12 million. Crammed to the rafters with servers.
To put that size in perspective, according to Wikipedia the average […]