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Let me be the first to predict that as a result of climbing health care costs Americans will have to auction off pictures of their ailments on Ebay to pay for treatment.

I came across a pretty interesting BBC audio interview of UK's Gary McKinnon accused of "the biggest military computer hack of all time". The guy is interesting and interviews really well. The US is probably more upset about the fact that their systems were so unsecure rather than the information he found. He claims to have found proof that UFOs exist but I'll let you decide for yourself.

By the way, the audio is the horrible Real Audio. Here is a link to an alternative Real Audio player for Windows. If you need free software for Windows that doesn't have spyware then try this site.

Well the week is over and my headache has subsided. I've settled back into the work routine and it's not so bad. Also, I've had several phone interviews so I know the market is good if I want to bail. Everyone have a nice weekend!

After my tropical vacation an immediate depression hit me as I returned to work. First off, I'm not going to say where I work since there have been several people fired for blogging about work (hello 1984). There are plenty of things about my job that get to me: boredom, rewarded incompetence, nepotism, threat of layoffs, etc... However the thing which really depresses me is the childish nature of grownups when they are embroiled in politics. It reminds me of children fighting or the drunk preppies on reality shows or even entire nations warring over the inconsequential. It's the type of behavior that brings everyone down. It's talking behind peoples' backs and trying to get people fired and sabotaging peoples' projects. That's what gets to me.

95% of the people I started working with five years ago have either left or were let go because of personality conflicts. I'm not exaggerating. That means that most people don't get along with the people they work with to the point that it makes working together impossible. Hopefully other companies are different. I'm guessing they aren't though.

I've been back from vacation for two days now and I'm starting to get used to the work "reality" again but it was a rude awakening after spending a week in tranquility.

Sorry for the downer of a post. By the way, the image I found is from here.

What better way to start the first few hours of a vacation in Maui than by stealing a car? Let me explain...

Whenever my family goes to Maui we use "Word Of Mouth Car Rentals" because they are insanely cheap (~$13/day). The owner and company have plenty of quirks that remind me of the "Soup Nazi" sketch on Seinfeld. Here is the procedure to rent a car from them:

1. Call them to say you want to rent a car. They will then say to stop talking and email them with all the pertinent information
2. Send them an email with flight and driver's license info.
   
3. Wait for their reply email.
4. Call them on the day of your flight to Maui before you leave so they can tell you where they will hide the rental car. They will tell you the color, car type, license plate, and location of the car.
5. When you arrive at Maui you go find the car and it will be unlocked with the keys under the passenger seat.

I had been through that process three times and it's strange but it works. However this time was another story. We arrived in Maui at 9:00 PM (Midnight P.S.T.). I went immediately to the part of the lot where the car was supposed to be. It wasn't there. There were no cars matching the description. Samantha and I then began walking down every row of the parking lot. I even yanked on the door handles of most of the cars that I thought might be rental cars (yes, the security guards were looking at me with suspicion).

Finally, after an hour of wandering around I had to decide what to do. After combing the lot I found one other vehicle that was from Word Of Mouth. I knew it was from there because I found the keys and contract in an envelope under the seat. The contract was for a John Woodin and his friend Andrew Forbes. The car was a Toyota Corolla but mine was supposed to be gold and this one was blue and also the license plate didn't match. So, I looked over Mr. Woodin's contract to try to look for clues. His flight was due to arrive the same night. So, I theorized he had seen my envelope and not noticed the difference in our names or assumed that they misspelled his name. I then had to make a difficult decision (keep in mind that Word Of Mouth isn't open at night so I couldn't call anybody): should I take this guy's car under the assumption that he took mine or should I try to find a taxi? As you can tell from the title of this post I decided to take his car. By that time is was past 1 AM California time and I was tired and wanted to get to the condo. I felt really guilty that I might be inconveniencing someone else (if he didn't take mine) and that I could be arrested for car theft. I even called my parents asking if they would bail me out if I was arrested. My Mom laughed and said she didn't want to be an "enabler".

This morning we drove to Word Of Mouth and the owner was pissed off, not at me though. He agreed with me that the other people messed up and he gave us another car. The first car vibrated badly and the seat belt didn't work so it was nice to get an upgrade. So, that's the story of my first car theft!

World's ugliest dog, official! Via Simon.

Update: he has his own website!

Update: Rest In Peace.

Jace can't walk yet but he can climb up on a dining room table. His developing brain must have deduced that climbing is a more beneficial skill than walking in his habitat because of all the obstacles strewn across the carpeting.

Don't adjust your computer screens... no Photoshoppery here... our garden has some crazy zucchinis!!! (I previously claimed this was a cucumber but I obviously need to learn more about vegetables and pay more attention to what my wife is saying).

I managed to see "War of the Worlds" yesterday. I loved it. It was an intense rollercoaster ride. I highly recommend it if you would like to see a great action movie.

That being said, I have been leery of Tom Cruise's films for a few years because of the influence Scientology has in his life. I first really started thinking about it after seeing "Minority Report". Without a huge grasp of the details of the religion (does any non-member really understand it?) or the short story I did wonder about why Tom brought the idea to Spielberg.

One thing I don't get about "War of the Worlds" is the emphasis that the alien machines had been buried under the Earth for millions of years. That wasn't in the book. One guess is that it is in line with Scientology doctrine or it could just be a random twist that Spielberg added. Either way, it's fun to speculate.

For the last eight years or so I've been teased by "Sonic Drive-In" commercials knowing that they were nowhere near the Bay Area. I always wondered why they would spend so much money on marketing to an area that can't buy their product. Now I know. They built up an irresistible craving for something based solely on the fact that I couldn't have it. So, on my day off today I decided to make the harrowing trek (45 minutes) to the Tracy Sonic.

I have to say that I was amazed.

I went there with no expectations or knowledge of how things work there.

Here's the enumerated bliss:

1. Drive-up covered parking spots where you can order food on an intercom (they also had walk-up covered seating areas outside with ceiling fans).
2. A menu with huge variety.
3. Employees served food on roller skates and put the tray on my window (I think the acne-scarred kid who served us wanted a tip but I wasn't sure).

I had a bacon cheese burger on Texas toast with fries and a lemon-berry fruit slush (with real pieces of fruit!). Samantha had an extra-long hot dog with fries and a banana shake. The food was great.

I never thought it would be worth it to drive one and a half hours round trip for a fast food place but it is.