Thursday, December 29, 2005

Couldn't agree more ...

Just read this (from Joel on Software) on the benefits/dangers of teaching Java instead of C and Scheme. Oh so true, if you have ever interviewed people that only knew Java. Every programmer should know what pointers are and how recursive functions work.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Working at Yahoo!

So, I am in my second week now, my laptop and my linux box are alomst configured how I really like it (thanks Dan for some config files) and I am getting ready to do stuff. First though I need to learn a little about PHP, javascript, firefox plugins and the stuff my group has done so far. Over the past 5 years I have mainly worked on the backend of indexing and query processing and not so much on front end issues. Here at Yahoo! I will have to, which is pretty exciting to me and a welcome change. Maybe, in the future you will get to see something on the Yahoo site that I did ... Am working on it.
Other than that I am trying to get an idea on who does what and how things generally work at Yahoo!. Since I am bad remebering names it's doubly hard for me. Don't worry, I will manage. ;-)

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

My first day ...

Had my first day at Yahoo! Orientation day. Not overly thrilling ... but then ... how thrilling can it be to present the benefits options related to health care ...
Ran into a few people I knew from my old job ... felt a little like coming home. Anyway, doing another short intro class today and then I will join my new group in the Mission College campus. Already got my Mac laptop (sweet 15" powerbook) all set up and am not paying too much attention. anyway, I am good to go ... Stay tuned ...

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Need to finish a project report ...

Now that I am done with the bathroom remodel, I need to crank it up a notch for my class project report. It's due on Monday at 1pm. Monday is also my first day at work at Yahoo!. Since I haven't really done an awful lot, I basically have today and tomorrow at nights and when the kids are not sleeping. Somehow I will get it done, but I am not very excited about it. I really should be super-psyched to finish it because it means that I won't have to take another class, yet I somehow don't care ...
Oh well, back to report writing, it will be over soon...

My first post-IBM project ... DONE

437 trips to home depot (there is always something you forget) and two minor setbacks later (a cracked toilet bowl and non-fitting pipes), the bathroom remodel is complete.


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Originally uploaded by jmeyer.



Was fun doing something that did not involve a computer ... well, it kind of did anyway since I was posting about it ...
I am just thankful, that a home depot is less than 1 mile away from my house ... maybe, that's why I never go with a list and always forget something ... Anyway, all that's left to do is now to give the kids a bath, who had to wait for a bath for a week ... (just kidding ...)

Monday, December 05, 2005

My first post-IBM project ... (4)

Half way done with tiling the bathroom...


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Originally uploaded by jmeyer.



Man, because the darn room is so narrow, we chose a diagonal pattern. As it turns out, out of roughly 45 tiles, only 6 of them did not need to be cut... Makes for extremely fast tiling. ( ... Got the whole thing tiled by 7pm ... ). Tomorrow I will do the grout, maybe paint the walls and then install a new toilet and voila, the (almost) new bathroom will be ready.

My first post-IBM project ... (3)

So, now I am ready to tile ...


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Originally uploaded by jmeyer.



Because, the original 2x6 tongue and groove oak subfloor was too uneven, had to go with plywood and then backerboard. Caused a little delay ... 'cause I had to go back to Home Depot and get plywood.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

My first post-IBM project ... (2)

Barely 3 hours later, a not-so-bad looking bath room is turned into an awful mess ...


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Originally uploaded by jmeyer.



Already, my back hurts but need to make progress until the kids go down for their nap and I have to stop making noise. Stay tuned for more ...

My first post-IBM project ...

You are probably wondering what on earth a picture of a bathroom/toilet is doing on my blog ... The picture below shows one of the bathrooms in the house my wife Sonja and I bought two years ago. It is now time for a remodeling.


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Originally uploaded by jmeyer.



Doesn't look so bad in the picture you think? Well, if you had the luxury (or not) of taking a closer look you would see that the flooring is dingy, the toilet constantly runs and that everything could use an overhaul. Saty tuned for progess I will hoepfully make ...

Friday, December 02, 2005

My last day at work ...

Today was the day! I left IBM but not before taking a silly picture of myself. ;-)


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Originally uploaded by jmeyer.



As it turns out, I seem to have touched or impressed more people than I thought. It's very cool to know that what I did mattered to more people than just me. It was sort of an emotional day, not so much for leaving IBM and my work there behind me but rather having to part with my friends there. I wish all of them all the success and luck. With that, I am now going to remodel my bathroom during the week between jobs and then see if I can do some cool stuff at Yahoo! Stay tuned for more on that ...