just a friendly reminder. I don't write in here as i have my own blogs. You can catch them in syndication at tamaratemplerss and imnotaboyrss2.

Blag update: http://www.tamaratemple.com/

I don't write so often in this journal. Mostly I write at my blog at http://www.tamaratemple.com/. You can get my blog syndicated in lj at tamaratemplerss.

Account Manager, Strategic Accounts

Application Support Engineer

International Web Producer

Senior Oracle DBA

Senior Software Engineer (Java)

You say it too: http://www.letcaliforniaring.org - sign the open letter to Governer Schwarzenegger to tell the California Supreme Court that current marriage laws are unconsitutional. Everyone deserves the right to marry whom they love. Freedom to marry!

Funny animation "Animator vs Animation"

Finally, got a haircut. I think the last time I had it cut was in January. They loved my pink hair at the salon. I think he did a great job on the hair. :)

New entry on blog: http://www.tamaratemple.com/?p=34

Since no one even noticed my piercing yesterday, I decided to wear cat ears to work all day. People noticed. XD

I'm going radcal!

Too bad no one even noticed when I went to work on Monday.
Note: This photo is reversed left to right.

This was my Halloween costume this year. I went as a mouse!

From Apple News:

One day, Jason Russell, Laren Poole, and Bobby Bailey bought a camera on eBay, jumped on a plane, and began filming a documentary. The next day, they were saving lives. Invisible Children, the documentary the three produced, has become a highly successful film alerting millions to the plight of the children of Uganda. But the three filmmakers weren’t done yet. They also founded an international nonprofit organization, also called Invisible Children, that’s one of the fastest-growing nonprofits on the planet. And it’s built around Mac computers.

Linky: http://www.apple.com/business/profiles/invisiblechildren/index.html?sr=hotnews?sr=hotnews.rss

Blog update: http://www.tamaratemple.com/blog/?p=33

updates on blog: http://tamaratemple.com/blog/

Tamara Temple’s Blog » t3h internetz wil n3v3r fail uz!

When to call it quits

(Comment at blog site)

Here's my GnuPG Public key ( available behind the cut ) I also saved it in the MIT public key directory at http://pgp.mit.edu/

For some people, morning comes too early...



photo credit goes to a fellow zillan.

for those of you who don't follow the feed of my other blog:
http://tamaratemple.com/blog/

Checkout http://www.twitbin.com/ - an add-on that puts twitter in a sidebar of firefox.

http://whedonesque.com/comments/13271

He gets to the nut of the issue.

Castle for sale: 40 rms, 7 turrets, fully finished dungeon - CNN.com

"• 120-year-old Searles Castle stands in Massachusetts' Berkshire mountains
• Seven-floor French chateau-style castle going for kingly sum of $15 million
• It's been private home, a private school, conference center, tourist site
• Balconies, terraces, lagoon, tennis courts, temple, dungeon -- but no moat"


Via http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/19/castle.forsale.ap/index.html

The engineering department had a big fun event yesterday. We all went down to Hollywood and had an adventure. Some went on a walking tour of Hollywood, some went on a scavenger hunt, and some went bowling. I was originally scheduled for the walking tour, but they weren't ready for us at the time we arrived, so we had some free time. I went wandering off and got lost, so I missed the tour. I ended up going to the bowling alley and hanging out the Zians instead.

It's hard to break into a new group. I felt myself both left on the outside, and putting myself on the outside. It's an old pattern. I'm both shy, and scared, and I don't make the effort to insert myself into conversations and groups, so I'm stuck not being part of them. I found myself quite a bit jealous and put out during the afternoon.

After bowling, they took us over to the Arclight theatre, which is pretty spectacular for a movie theatre. We had cocktails and hors d'ouvres. Some people got real drunk. There was a birthday surprise for one person -- a cop came in and arrested him in public, then wished him a happy birthday. It got real serious for awhile there while people were sucked into the gag.

Then they served a buffet dinner which was tasty -- salad, pasta and chicken parmesian. More drinking. Then they opened up the movie theatre and gave us free sodas and popcorn and we all trouped in to see Spider-man 3. I loved the movie, but some people gave it low marks. I guess they objected to all the romance and moralizing. I thought it was amazing.

Today was good, too. Got my first pay stub. It's real!! I'm employed and getting paid!! It wasn't that big since I didn't work a full pay period, but it was good. It will cover rent for next month completely plus a bit more, so I'm good.

I'm loving Santa Monica. The place has a good vibe. There are several homeless people here, I can see why they would be drawn here: it is affluent, comfortable, friendly. Parking is a bit of a mess. I have to park on the street, and require a special permit to do so. getting home late last night was a problem, I almost didn't find a spot to park; as it was the spot I parked in was dubious: my bumper was hanging over a driveway.

I haven't updated in a while and things have been really hectic.

First, I have a job (yay) and it is in Southern California, which means I have to move (boo). The job is a senior QA engineer with a dot.com company that does price comparisons for online shoppers. This is a great position as it allows me to work with a good mix of technology, process and people, which I love. The company is in Santa Monica and that's where I'll be living.

On the 17th, I had my gall bladder removed. This is after suffering for over a year with gallstones. The near constant nausea and pain is gone now (yay!). It finally took a gastroenterologist with enough clout to get the surgeons to move on it. Anyway, i feel fully recovered from that escapade and the scarring is minimal as they used the laproscopic methid.

So, I'm down in LA now, and I just applied for a studio apartment. Rents in Santa Monica are quite a bit higher than they are in Santa Clara, but I can afford it with the salary they are paying me. The place is only a few blocks form the Promenade in Santa Monica and a few blocks from the beach, so I will be quite happy, I think. The commute should be about 15 minutes, I think (haven't run it yet to find out).

I'm going to the chamber of commerce tomorrow if I can find it and city hall to see about parking permits for the moving van and my car (they have permit parking only from 6pm to 8am in my neighborhood). Hopefully, they will issue temporaries until I can get the permanent one for my car.

This is going to be quite an adventure for me. I am sad to leave all my loved ones behind in the Bay Area. Frequent phone calls and e-mails will help the transition. I have a job ahead of me to find new doctors and therapist, join a Yoga class, maybe take some classes at the community college here in Santa Monica, get connected with the neighborhood, etc. I'm looking forward to it all.

from xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe comes Chess Photo

gall bladder surgery went well. Am recuperating ok. Little pain. :-D

Sunday, April 15, a friend and I went to the Albany Bulb, formerly a landfill and dump site, which random people turned into art. There are walking trails all through the area and art work scattered all over the place. The art is made from the junk that was found there, and there are lots of paintings and sculptures to be found. Lots of stuff is hidden, and you have to be willing to go off the beaten path to find it. We spent a good 3 hours trekking around and still didn't see everything there is to see.

For more info on this, see [ http://www.bumsparadise.com/ ].

I'm going in for Gall Bladder surgery tomorrow, Tuesday, April 17, at 11:30am, PDT (GMT-7). Good wishes and healing thoughts are more than welcome. Should be no problem, they're doing it laproscopically. They are keeping me overnight just in case the pain killers cause me to go into a depression, but I think I'll be ok.

John Ringo has an unpublished op-ed about what drives liberal thinking and policy making.

"Unified Theory of Liberal Stupidity

Or...

Why Does The Left Hate Western Civilization?"

I found it thought provoking, and can entertain the possibility that he might be right. It certainly doesn't change my progressive views. But then again, I don't hate America. I love this country. In spite of the bad things done by this country, it is still a country of freedom.

Went on an adventure with friends Tigger and Pal (the dog) this afternoon. Saw some rabbits, some birds, and whatnot. It's good to get out in nature. This time I took my camera along. :)

in Lifehack.Org

Twitter: Use it Productively - lifehack.org
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/twitter-use-it-productively.html

They discuss some uses for twitter. Anyone see an actual use for it? I signed up for it, but since i don't know anyone using it, I see no point in posting what I'm doing to it. It might work if there were a group of people wanting to use it, but how do you generate interest if there is none?

via Boing!boing!:

nakkeTattis.jpg (JPEG Image, 450x600 pixels) - Scaled (90%)
http://hastalasiesta.org/stuffs/nakkeTattis.jpg

just passing on a link from Mr Kurt: http://mr-kurt.livejournal.com/48988.html

Ok, here's the list ( behind the cut )

From the National Sexuality Resource Center at San Francisco State University:

"Less than a week after Largo City Manager Steve Stanton announced he was transgendered, the small Florida community's city commission fired him*. This is workplace discrimination, plain and simple. I just signed the 'Stand with Stanton' petition, and I hope you will too: http://nsrc.sfsu.edu/Petition.cfm

When the Commission fired Stanton, they ignored his excellent record as an energetic and effective leader. Stanton has received consistently positive performance reviews from the City Council and the Mayor while managing over 1,200 employees and the city's $130 million budget.

The promise of America is that if you are a good employee, you should be rewarded for it regardless of your race, creed, disability, gender or sexual orientation. Stanton's firing was an un-American display of workplace discrimination and this injustice should be reversed. Sign our 'Stand with Stanton' petition that we'll deliver to the City Commission in Largo, FL."

The city voted 5-2 to fire Stanton. The Mayor, whom Stanton had told about her desire to transition, voted against the resolution to fire Stanton.

The city has laws protecting gender identity and gender expression from discrimination. They clearly went against their own laws in this case. Stanton has said she will not sue the city. This is a pretty sad way to go out.

When the drummer sits down at the kit for his audition, the band leader says, "Can you start with a samba pattern on your bass drum?"

The drummer obliges with a boob b-boom samba pattern.

The leader then asks, "Can you add a Mozambique cowbell pattern along
with that, with your right hand?"

The drummer thinks, "I can do that, no problem" and obliges, giving
it his best Steve Gadd possible.

He is then told, "Now add a 2-3 clave with your left foot on the
hi-hat."

The drummer struggles a little, but gets it happening.

Next he hears, "Now add a cascara pattern on the snare with your
left hand."

Years of studying Gary Chester and listening to world music finally
come to fruition and the relieved drummer finds he can play the whole
pattern. Pleased with himself, while he's still playing, he turns to
the band leader "So! do I get the job?"

"Hell, no!", snarls the bandleader. "That kind of crap is why we
fired the last guy."

Lacrimae Rerum » On Intelligent Design~

"What is science? It’s the system of acquiring knowledge through the scientific method. To fit this, the knowledge must be observable and able to be tested.

What is intelligent design? It’s the assumption that there is a creator based on the belief that the complexity of the universe can’t be explained by any undirected process."


Well written deconstruction. Her father is a developmental biologist, but disavows any Vulcan mindmelds or coercion on his part.

Save the Internet : Fighting for Internet Freedom

"Together we won the first round in the battle for Net freedom. But the phone and cable giants are launching a counterattack. We need to raise the alarm and send a clear message to our new Congress: Make Net Neutrality the Law in 2007!"

Please at least sign the petition. Do think about sending a letter to your representatives in Congress as well. Thanks.

Gifts for public school science teachers: http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/evolk12/gifts/giftsforbioteachers.htm

And for those places where text books are stickered, warning of that horrible evolution theory, here are some additional stickers:

Textbook disclaimer stickers
http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/textbookdisclaimers/

more on game science:

WIRED Blogs: Wired Science
Ask a Scientist: Jane McGonigal
Topic: Conference



"Our first victim is Jane McGonigal, former lead designer for 42 Entertainment. If you’re a gamer, you probably know McGonigal’s work. She was an architect of the I Love Bees alternate reality game/viral marketing blitz for Halo 2, and co-designed the unusual Cruel 2 B Kind benevolent assassin game. She also recently completed a doctoral dissertation on “Ubiquitous Play and Performance at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century.” McGonigal will give a talk at AAAS about how alternate reality games help players develop a “scientific mind.”

I'll be meeting with Jane McGonigal on Sunday, Feb. 18th. Post any questions you have for her in the comments."

Sploid: U.K. lies about dope!

"The British government has lied for decades about the dangers of various legal and illegal drugs, leading generations to believe a completely safe substance like LSD actually kills people.

In truth, the binge-drinking British are being killed off by two legal drugs, alcohol and tobacco."

Article in Fast Company:

Paying Attention to What Unfolds

"If we were more mindful of everything as it unfolded and let go of the control of what we think we want before it happened, life would go in a totally different direction. We would learn more, grow more, meet people we hadn’t intended to meet and evolve on a totally different plane."

Well, I *had* an interview set up for Friday with a company down south.

They called and left e-mail on Thursday saying the interview was cancelled.

Apparently, they had "a change in direction" and had to hire quickly on the req. Usually this is a euphamism for budget cuts.

Oh well. I was looking forward to the trip, but I'm just as happy to not be looking at moving. Maybe something will come along in the bay area instead.

The HR head did say he had another job in mind for me, less senior, slight less pay. I said I was interested. We'll see what happens.