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January 21, 2007

I've been blog tagged!

This time it's FreeBSDGirl's fault.

In a shocking divergence from the typical list of 87 poorly spelled and barely cohesive questions that make up the usual myspace blog tag questionnaire, all that's required of me this time is to list five things that my readers don't know about me.

This actually is an interesting task since I really have no idea who reads my blog. Based on my logs a typical reader is either on page 43 of a search engine result and disappointed finding that my entries with Google and interview in close proximity actually contain no useful advice, or came from the blog tag from FreeBSDGirl that spawned this entry. This means that you know almost nothing about me! This should be easy.
  1. I've submitted a bug fix for the FreeBSD kernel yet never actually used it: (Since most of you are probably FreeBSD nuts, I'll start with this.) Although I was tasked with submitting a bug fix in the kernel as part of a class towards my MS, I've never actually used FreeBSD for anything other than hacking at its own kernel. This is a surprising feat considering I'm an active engineer at Yahoo! which makes heavy use of FreeBSD
  2. I own a home in the most dangerous city in the US: Although I rent my primary residence, I'm the partial owner of a rental property within the city limits of St. Louis, MO, which was recently found to be the most dangerous city in the US.
  3. Mike is not my first name. I'm a fraud: Like C. Montgomery Burns, I actually go by my middle name. I do this to reduce confusion with my father who has the same name. My real full name is Terrence Michael Nicholson Jr.
  4. I watch anime: Even with the fresh memories of what anime addiction can do to your body, and an innate fear of otaku, I've recently expanded my cartoon library to include some anime (because The Simpson's, Furutama, and Family Guy just aren't as good the 50th time around). I'm actively following Naruto and Bleach.
  5. I met my gf on the Internet: I met Winnie, my girlfriend of ~2 years, on the Internet in 1997. However, we didn't meet up on the net via typical means. There was no internet personals site involved, nor did we meet on the leading MMORPG of the time. We met using the cutting edge random chat feature of the popular ICQ messaging service. Was it fate? Only time will tell.
And now to declare my victims and link to their respective active blogs:

January 14, 2007

Hiking afoot again

IMG_0510
Hey All,

It's a new year, full of resolutions, and work is stressful. Luckily my hiking thing is continuing to prosper. Well prosper as far as the second event. It's cutting the stress and helping me get back into shape. Too bad it's so cold.

Anyway, I'm usually against embedded flash, but I'm always against embedded flash and today will be no different, so click on the thumbnail for a slide show. Don't those breathtaking photos make you want to join? If so just let me know.

January 9, 2007

Wedding Websites

My sister and her fiance, Reggie, are getting married in just under a year.

Typically amid the other more important planning the benefit of technology become lost in the shuffle. This has apparently changed. Shannon and Reggie have had a website created to capture the various electronic information about their wedding.

Although I'm not really that crazy about the look and feel of the site (that hidden main menu is terrible, for instance), I believe this is a great idea. There may be real money in easy to create micro sites for various occasions and events. Who wouldn't pay $60 per year for a website dedicated to their $20,000 B'nai Mitzvah, or perhaps for their 50th wedding anniversary party?

A see a void and an opportunity. Too bad that I'm too lazy to try to make a quick buck out of it.

Visit Shannon and Reggie's Wedding Website.

January 2, 2007

Recap the Holidays

Slot Cars
Hey All,

Nothing that exciting going on.. nothing blog worthy anyway. Here's a quick recap of the slightly funny parts.
  • Yahoo!'s own David Filo and Jerry Yang gave every Yahoo the present that just keeps on giving... well keeps on giving at least once more. Jerry and David personally handed out $100 to donate to charity. This is a stark contrast from the previous several years which included a jacket or gym bag. I have a feeling that the choice of gift has something to do with complaints about the styling of the jacket last year. Yes... Yahoos complained about a gift on public channels that our very active founders probably participate in. If I were Jerry or David, this gift is exactly what I would have given this year, if only to shut them up and help those who need it for a change. I donated mine to NCSE. Thanks a lot for this opportunity to donate Jerry and David. It's appreciated. (Oh and thanks for that jacket last year too.)
  • I spent hours playing with slot cars while quite intoxicated with my sister's finance Reggie.
  • Grandma and Grandpa changed from the norm this year and instead of giving all the grandkids a bag of candy for Christmas, those over the age of 21 each received a case of beer.
  • A beer filled MRM annual investor meeting was held at the fine St. Louis Schlafly Tap Room.
  • I was the murderer in a vintage 1985 murder mystery game on NYE 06. Devo was not present.
  • SF Bay Hikers came back to life. Do you want to hike? Join the group. It's fun!

That's all for now.