Ξ September 26th, 2007 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Blog |
Matt number one is my hero. You should see his website http://wherethehellismatt.com/. I wish I had the guts to do what he did. I have a fairly secure job and income, the idea of dropping everything and taking off for a while seems VERY appealing, but I don’t think I could do it.
Matt number 2 is Maddy D. We used to work with each other at AIG, but we remained friends after I left. Matt has been working with me on some outside projects and has been doing a teriffic job. We had a meeting with a client yesterday and I think he WOWed them. Flippin’ sweet.
I spent last Saturday night in NJ at Rosie’s sisters place. Good times. She has three sons who are all of the age of “Holy Terror”. We wrestled, we shot snot rockets, we made all kinds of bodily noises (the boys did too!). how can you beat that!
I think i’d like to try being a Human Cannonball. I’ve done a little reading on the matter and would love to find a place to “make the dream a reality”. So far the search has been fruitless.
School has been going well. I’ve been dumping a few details in the School section of this website if you’re interested. I have to say I’ve learned a few things since this has all started. I’ll keep anyone who’s interested up to date in the school section.
Thats about it for the moment. We have a few things coming up that will keep us busy though including a dinner cruise, a play, and a few weekend trips.
OH one other thing .. Virgin American Airlines has some great deals through mid feb. There are some great prices to Ca, so you might want to check it out.
Ξ September 20th, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Blog |
I just read the first few pages of Alan Greenspan’s new book “The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World”. It looks amazing. I’m ordering it right now. I’m always on the prowl for something good to read. I tend to like Politics, History, mystery/sci-fi/, and Computer reference books. Basically, if it has pages, I’ll turn em’. I was at the library at lunch time trying to get Lee Iacocca’s book “Where have all the leaders Gone” but they were all out. I ended up with The 13th Apostle and India and Pakistan: The Origins of armed Conflict .*shrug*, I read anything.
So, it’s the end of Summer. I don’t actually mind so much. I much prefer this time of year anyway. I like the temp in the 70’s as opposed to the 80’s and 90’s. Rosie and I are booked on a few fall trips that I’m really looking forward to. The weather should be crisp and we should get a chance to get out and see lots of stuff.
Rosie is staying with her sister this weekend, so I’ll be on my own. I suppose it’ll give me a chance to get a ton of stuff done. ASG Telecom is looking for the control switch software, and I have to get estimates for my bathroom to get demolished and put back together again. Exciting huh? Woo Hoo! Gene K might end up coming over as well.
Oh well, thats about it this week.
Best Regards
Biff
Ξ September 14th, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Blog |
The week in review. The Linux class started at Pace University this week. I have seven guys in the class (in all the Linux classes I’ve taken & instructed, not one woman; go figure), and it seems like a good group so far. Pace has been a bit disorganized in having the materials, computers , software and server prepared, so I’ve been running around trying to pull everything together. Wednesday was a fire drill. I had to load the server with software so that they could do their software installation. It should have been done before the class even started last week. Anywho, the files finally completed copying over AS the students started doing their installations.
My own class (the database management course) still hasn’t met yet. I arrived last week to find that the instructor wouldn’t be in class the first week of School. She left a HUGE assingment for us, but when I got to class last night I was about the only one there. No School .. a Jewish holiday .. go figure.
It’s official. I’ve downloaded every good song on the Internet. Seriously though, if you know of any good electronic music/mixes, send me a title. I like stuff like Underworld (whom is playing their only NY date tonight at central park, and I’ll miss them), The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, BT .. etc. Anything with a really good drum/bass beat or trance like … either way, I’ll listen to it.
Weekend plans will include a Wedding on Sat, and perhaps a road trip on Sunday. Not sure yet. It’s 4:30 on Friday evening, and I’m having trouble thinking about anything but getting out of here and starting the weekend. I still have a ton of code to write over the weekend, but at least I can do it while I’m watching TV in my living room. Nassau Library System AND ASG Telecom both have large projects going on. I suspect I’ll be coding on them for a while. I have a new part-time coder working with GreenStar Systems which has been a HUGE help. He’s been doing the web stuff and I’m writing new telecom software. I’m writing software for a snazzy telecom Control Switch. If you check out the diagram It’s kind of cool .. in a geeky kind of way.
So .. thats about it. It’s about 5:00 and I’m bolting to the door. Have a good weekend
Ξ September 8th, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Blog |
A lot of people ask me to explain Quants to them. It’s a bit difficult, so I I found this ARTICLE ON QUANTS that is a fairly interesting read as well as a reasonable explaination to what it’s all about. While I’m not on the financial end of things, I do write software for the group
Ξ September 6th, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Blog |
In a stunning last minute decision, I’ve decided to register for school again. I’ve taken a semester or two off because I’ve been teaching the Linux Engineering course at Pace University’s Computer Learning Center, and wanted to take a bit of time to see what that would do to my schedule. I wasn’t really planning on taking classes (as a student) until January, but as everyone around me was getting ready to start school again this week, I felt a pang of guilt. I should be working on my graduate degree too. So I pulled all the paperwork together and got myself registered for “Database Management Systems”. It’s an elective. It doesn’t seem overly exciting, but I’ll probably learn a lot.
Part of the process was to call Pace University to find out what my teaching schedule would be like this year, so I could fit the class I wanted to take in around that. A few weeks ago they told me the course would be starting sometime in October, but I wasn’t sure if it would be on Mon/Wed or Tues/Thurs. So I called to find out. Much to everyones chagrin, they neglected to tell me that class was actually starting THIS MONDAY! I’m glad I called. The departement I work for there isn’t overly organized.
So as usual I’ll be a little busy for a while. It was nice to have an easy/lazy summer, but I’m definitly prepared to get back to work again.
For those who’ve asked, the Quant gig is challenging, but a lot of fun. The group here is very nice. There are about 14 of us in the group. Of the 14 there are a number of people with PhD’s in Finance or in Math. A few others have a CFA which is considered graduate work in Finance. It’s supposed to be very difficult to get. Some people have both the CFA and a Phd. There’s a few others like myself in graduate school for various subjects. Mostly Computer Science, Finance or Math though. There is one fellow working on a degree in Political Science too. The environment here is VERY academic (thus the motivation to get myself back to school this semester). One thing I can say for certain, there are no dummies in this group (other then yours truly). It’s generally a quiet place to work. Social conversation ranges anywhere from academic topics and finance to paintball and beer chuging.
Ξ September 4th, 2007 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Blog |
I don’t generally go away on Labor Day weekend, mostly because everyone else goes away that weekend. I’m not a huge fan of sitting in traffic on the way home, or crowded airports, or hotels jammed with idiots (everyone else who’s not me).
So, it was a quiet weekend for Rosie and I. We worked out a lot, and maintained our diets. We even got around to writting some “Thank You” cards for our wedding (only 9 months ago). With any luck, the’ll be out the door before our first aniversery.
Not much else occured except that we’ve booked a few trips over the next few weeks. We’re headed to Montaulk and to North Carolina at some point, and then in Dec, we’re going back to Disney! This time share stuff is really working out well. I do however find that I need to book a bit in advance, but aside from that .. I dig it a lot.
