Should I have issued a press release?
Posted on November 29, 2004
Filed Under Internet & Technology | 4 Comments
I’ve had my [Gmail](http://www.gmail.com) account since August. I guess I missed the opportunity to announce this honor to the world like [these folks](http://www.onlypunjab.com/money/fullstory-newsID-8049.html) just did:
>The Landist Society announces that their founder, Andy Louis-Charles, has been invited to join the Google Gmail beta testing group. The Gmail beta version was established in April of 2004 to help Google better understand its customers’ needs and improve their new web-based email service. The Landist Society is proud to have its founder, Mr. Louis-Charles, be selected as a representative individual that will help increase Google’s understanding of customer needs.
>”I am thrilled about Google’s invitation to join its Gmail beta testing group. To be selected by fellow beta users to help during the testing period is an honor. The Landist Society is always striving to find and improve the technology services we offer our members. Now we have an excellent channel with which we can express our members’ specific needs to Google,” said Andy Louis-Charles, Founder and Managing Director of the Landist Society.
Now maybe there’s a more exclusive beta test that no one knows about, but if this is the same Gmail invitation that I got along with a few million others then this is kinda funny. I’m sure it is since he was “selected by fellow beta users.” Maybe he won the “absolutely famous lottery” too. 
Surviving high school: 20 years later
Posted on November 28, 2004
Filed Under Life | 2 Comments
Last night was my 20th year High School reunion. In high school, I was overweight, awkward and geeky (long before being geeky was even close to cool). I was teased a lot and spent most of my time wishing that I could disappear into the wallpaper. I wanted to go to this party to put some demons to rest. I know that I’m not that same self-conscious kid. It’s more than just the weight loss and the fact that I finally got my naturally curly hair under control. It’s about self esteem. I finally got some, and the changes I made on the outside came as part of that.
I wore a sleek black dress and had my [Ouidad](http://www.ouidad.com) haircut and color touched up last week. I had butterflies in my stomach the entire day, remember walking down the halls in high school hearing people laugh at me as I walked by. Last night, I overheard people talking about me. But this time, they were talking about how great I looked! Wow. Everyone I spoke to was nice and fun to talk to, even some of the people that were mean to me all those years ago. No apologies, but I didn’t ask for any. We all grew up. I enjoyed their reaction as they looked at my name tag (with my scary high school yearbook picture on it) and they were amazed at how different I looked. I’m about 40 lbs. less than I was when I graduated high school and I long gave up trying to straighten my hair, instead concentrating on making what I had naturally look the best it could. My night ended with my classmates voting me “Most Changed Female” complete with certificate and a bottle of wine. And when my name was announced the applause was genuine.
I never would have believed that this group of people would have singled me out without it being to humiliate me. To be fair, not everyone was hurtful to me. But no one stuck up for me back then either. Now I understand that my classmates were likely too caught up with their own teen angst to concern themselves with mine. That’s high school. Their vote was meant and taken as a compliment. For the first time I can smile thinking about the hell that was high school. It took 20 years, but it was worth it.
My review of the Spongebob Squarepants movie
Posted on November 26, 2004
Filed Under Entertainment | Leave a Comment
Went with Eric & the girls. A friend of mine works for the movie chain and gave us free passes. The theatre just remodeled and put in new seats. Comfy. Nice nap. End of review.
Eric didn’t think it was on the scale of *Thomas and the Magic Railroad* (our barometer for the lowest of the low in kid movies) but not that far off. At least he stayed awake for the whole thing, which is more than I can say.
Oh, and the girls (especially Laini) loved it.
He’s in computers, right? Well, not exactly.
Posted on November 26, 2004
Filed Under Life | 1 Comment
Let me rant here for a sec. Eric is still unemployed. He’s been looking and following up on some decent leads, but this is a bad time of year and we’re hoping that something will come up soon.
Well-meaning and loving friends and family members have been driving me crazy. They want to help. But they don’t understand what Eric does. All they know is that “it has something to do with computers.” His experience for the past 20 years or so has been in banking. Specifically, he was a business analyst with a specialization in funds transfer systems. As I understand it, he was a bit of a project manager type, supporting the software for very large banks that allowed money to get from point A to point B. Once a quarter or so, he had to go to work on a Saturday for disaster recovery tests mandated by “The Feds” to make sure that if the systems crashed, the bank could recover every cent. They used software from a vendor but it had to be highly customized to suit the bank’s needs and that’s where Eric came in. He knows C well, and he’s familiar with a lot of technologies but his experience has mostly been on proprietary systems. He is an expert in all things funds transfer (VAX, SWIFT, OFAC, CHIPS, FedWire).
So with that in mind, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for him to go after general computer programming or consulting jobs. When his Mac is acting up, he relies on me to fix it. He’s brilliant, and can pick up any technology easily. Employers are looking for experience more than “read it in a book once” skills these days.
But those programming and consulting jobs are exactly what well-meaning friends and family keep sending him. “He’s in computers, right?” Well, that’s kind of like saying that you’re “in pens” because you have to sign checks on your job, so you’re qualified for a job as an attorney because that’s a job “in pens” too.
Motorola RAZR V3 Phone
Posted on November 25, 2004
Filed Under Internet & Technology | Leave a Comment
Is it just me, or does anyone else think the new [Motorola RAZR](http://www.motorola.com/mdirect/hellomoto/experience/v3/flash/default.shtml) phone is ugly? Yes, it’s really thin. But I can’t see myself carrying the thing. It’s okay-looking when it’s closed, but something about the keypad bothers me. Eric has been drooling over it, but there’s no way he’s spending that much on a phone right now. If you disagree with me, Amazon has it for $369 after rebates. You probably have to sign up for a new [Cingular](http://www.cingular.com) contract to get that price. I’m stuck on my current contract until May 2006 so I’m glad that the hot new phone everyone is talking about is ugly, and there’s been some rumbling that the [Treo 650](http://web.palmone.com/products/smartphones/treo650/index.jhtml) has [quality](http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/21/1632209&tid=100&tid=1) [problems](http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000373021548).
