Disorderly Content

05:00	Packed and ready to leave the hotel. What a short, strange trip it's been.
06:42	On the standby list for an earlier flight. I'm Platinum, which helps. We'll see if it's enough.
07:18	Full flight. Barring a miracle, I'll be here a while.
08:11	Still at JFK. I was first on the standby list. Unfortunately, that wasn't good enough. So I'll be here for another four hours.
09:24	@renatojr_rj After two days in muggy New York, I can't wait to get back to the cold of San Francisco.
10:33	"Da plane! Da plane!" My SF-bound 767 just arrived at the gate. Still an hour and a half to go before departure.
11:40	Boarding begins...
11:52	On the plane. No WiFi on this one. Gonna be a long afternoon.
12:13	They have the heat cranked way up. Hey! I'm dyin' here!
12:18	Okay, that's better. The heat has turned to cool. Now how about turning "at the gate" into "enroute"?
12:40	Still waiting for those intl passengers. Already half hour late, and probably another half hour to go.
13:17	Finally leaving. I think.
13:38	Now they're saying the door repair they did isn't really repaired, or maybe it is. New ETD: who the hell knows?
19:59	Just landed in San Francisco. Long day.
21:44	I think if I write a book about being around Chassidic Jews, I'd call it "Everything I Do is Wrong". Way too many rules for my taste.
22:11	Why did nobody tell me this? Eoin Colfer of the Artemis Fowl books is writing a sequel to Douglas Adams' HG2TG books. This has potential!

04:50	Funeral day. Glad my brother's here to share my dyspeptic view of the proceedings. Think they'll mind if I tweet as it happens?
06:28	At my sister's house. Really more of a construction project than a house. Gonna be a long day.
06:38	My brother in law and nephew look like Weebles.
07:20	At the funeral home. Everybody's whispering. What is this, a wake? Oh, right...
08:40	Service over. Now to the cemetary.
11:12	Back to my sister's house for shiva. Aside from a shaky moment graveside, doing okay.
14:49	Okay, family visits are done. No casualties, which is good. Dinner with my brother tonight. We'll head to the airport in the ayem.
18:34	Good Italian dinner with Sam. Got caught in the rain without our umbrellas. Somewhere mom is shaking her head in disbelief.

06:45	@JustaSunGod If a man stands in a forest, and he doesn't tweet, is he really there?
08:01	Leaving for the airport. Way too early, but I can get some excellent brooding in at the gate.
09:27	BART sure loves us SFO travelers! Shortest trip's the most expensive: San Bruno to the airport (one stop) is $13.80 round trip!
10:05	@alwayscoffee Depends. Is it one rival or many?
10:07	Bill O'Reilly: "Of course Canada has longer life expectancy than the U.S. -- we have 10 times more people." http://bit.ly/sLTf1
10:16	@alwayscoffee Then it's rival's words. Rivals' words indicates multiple rivals.
10:30	Armed cop is cruising the gate area with a dog. Drugs? Some more immediate threat?
10:36	Plane just arrived at the gate. Still an hour before my flight departs.
11:18	WiFi on this flight. Too bad I don't see any seat power outlets. No way my laptop will last 6 hours.
11:19	My peace is shattered. Here come the invading hordes!
13:06	@Grackene Thanks. I'm doing okay. I think I did my mourning a while ago. Now I just have to get through the funeral.
13:07	Inflight WiFi is a wonderful thing, at least as long as my battery lasts. The movie is 17 Again. I'd walk out, but they frown on that.
13:22	@_Rayna http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0974661/
14:16	@alwayscoffee This may explain the problem: http://bit.ly/ATB8E
14:35	@richcirminello That sucks. Glad I don't have AT&T. Oh, wait. I do...
14:45	Suddenly our flight has gotten bouncy. Not happy.
14:52	Ah, that's much better.
15:07	Couple sitting next to me swapped seats with their two little boys. Now I know why they don't allow knives on planes...
15:29	@froonium By God, you're right! It's... it's... it's... WIlliam Shatner! How's that for irony?
16:53	Just arrived in NYC, where it's hot, damp and gray. Lovely.

07:28	My second round of pepper pictures (say that five times fast) was accepted. Back to using my lightcube. Or I will be, after the road trip.
07:32	Western Digital announces 750GB and 1TB My Passport drives. And now my 500GB seems positively anemic. http://bit.ly/YVTg1
09:39	@JustaSunGod Right on both counts. Poor momma and daddy.
11:53	Follow @billprady, #bigbangtheory producer. He's attempting to lurk on Twitter. Such disregard for fanboy protocol must be foiled!
11:57	@kobeatl Not ready for you to leave. It's just not fair!
14:01	Just printed my boarding passes for tomorrow's flight. Boise via Reno, and then the road trip begins...
14:02	RT @lomara: Shopping for iPhone car charger. But first, I must share this monstrosity with you all. http://twurl.nl/2ztqtk [Hideous!]
14:06	Oh, my. Not just bacon ice cream, but *candied* bacon ice cream. http://bit.ly/NIqkG
15:42	@MsCaliLogan Hey, some of us like it up here! (Especially when you come to visit.)
19:27	You know that macro lens I couldn't find? Found it. It was right where I put it, but of course I didn't think to look there. *sheesh*
20:21	So much for my road trip. Mom just died.
21:45	Okay, flight to New York booked for the morning. A flying visit both literally and otherwise.
21:53	@froonium Thanks, Ricky. I appreciate the thought.
21:54	@lomara Yeah, me too. But at least she can be at peace now.

11:31	First attempt to shoot peppers with my new macro lens was a fail. Need to work on the lighting some more.
12:07	Mtn View farmer's market. Warm. Sunny. Crowded.
13:04	@chrismarquardt I'm waiting impatiently for TomTom to release their iPhone app. Hope I can still use their Homer Simpson voice with it.
13:54	Second experiment with macro lens and peppers complete. Definitely better, but good enough?
16:05	@richcirminello No, but I'll find a copy. My second attempt turned out much better, and I think I can improve on that.
16:14	Done editing the pictures from yesterday's shoot with Kobe. Now what?
17:20	Good news: Amazon tells me my Middleman DVD has shipped. Bad news: it'll get here while I'm on my road trip.
23:36	Home after a fine dinner and plenty of photographer conversation with Rich. Not as much fun as actual shooting, I grant, but still fun.
23:48	Gotta get me one of these: http://bit.ly/1xqnSG #whattheduck
23:58	@kobeatl I'm going to miss you. Sure you can't stay a little longer?
23:59	@lomara I could make some rude joke about Canons, but it would be beneath me. Then again...

07:54	@barryeisler That's one o' them rhetorical questions, isn't it?
09:04	@VictoriaDahl Mine was a Plymouth Fury. As big as the Town Car, except without the elegance or any sense of style.
12:03	In the studio for another shoot. Pics to come...
22:06	@kobeatl What a coincidence! Sounds like the day I had!

From my inbox:

From: Subject: Date: To: Reply-To:	webmaster@maintainance.com Webmail Maintainance July 25, 2009 4:12:27 PM PDT undisclosed-recipients:; accountmaintainance@maktoob.com
Dear Valued User,
Due to the ongoing Maintainance and upgrades congestion in our Webmail service,We shall be deleting all unused accounts from our Data Base,You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Info below after clicking the reply botton, or your account will be suspended within 48 hours for security reasons.
UserName: ............................................
Password:..............................................
Date Of Birth: ........................................
Country Or Territory:...............................
After Following the instructions carefully, your account will not be discontinued, Hence all your mails shall remain untouched .Thanks for your attention to this request.We apologize for any inconvinience.
Webmaster.

You know, if they hadn't misspelled inconvenience, I might have fallen for it.

11:23	@froonium You mean that's *not* what the SD in SDCC stands for? Who'da thought?
12:29	Why I'll never fly US Scare: flight canceled 15 mi from dest when they discover the airport's closed. Geeze. http://bit.ly/E4c2L
12:46	RT @froonium: Om, om on the range. Oh, sorry. Taking a meditation workshop at Karmic-Con & got confused. #sdkc [Froon is a very silly man.]
13:24	RT @froonium: Wonder if #Farscape DVDs include deleted Aeryn/Chiana oil scene,or any behind-scenes footage from Pantsless Fridays at office.
13:42	@froonium Rumor has it #Farscape entry in Guinness Book is for most visual effects, not most beer consumed. But I like your answer better.
13:58	RT @froonium: @disorderly You'd think the GUINNESS book would know you can't have visFX w/o beer, at least not in Oz. Sheesh. Priorities!
16:45	RT @wilw: http://twitpic.com/bhkyc - Red Shirt Cologne. No, seriously. [Since @barryeisler redshirted me in Fault Line, should I get some?]
17:12	@VictoriaDahl "Victoria Thinks She's Hot"? But you *are* hot!
19:06	Okay, what the hell did I do with my macro lens? I have various vegetables from the farmer's market, and nothing to shoot them with.
20:12	Reading all the tweets from #sdcc, I wish I was there. And I'm glad I'm not, what with the crowds and lines and heat. Have fun for me.

08:01	Geek humor: if you know why this is funny, you're one too. http://www.google.com/search?q=recursion
09:19	@barryeisler But Barry, if you can't trust an attorney/dentist/realtor/Gabor sister, who can you trust?
09:26	I get the Birthers' reasoning. Just like how I can't prove Dick Cheney doesn't satisfy goats orally or otherwise. We can't know for sure.
11:28	OMG! NOW I can die happy! All my favorite things in one place! http://bit.ly/BrdpO
11:59	@JustaSunGod Archie, as I recall. But just thinking about the question gave me a weird 90s flashback.
13:10	Found on an FB comment: "The plural of anecdote is not data." And your aunt in Canada does not exemplify health care policy.
13:26	io9 reports on the Comic Con table read of The Middleman's unfilmed finale, and it is pure awesomeness. *snif* http://bit.ly/uKNtZ
15:19	Hey, Alanis: *this* is ironic. http://bit.ly/KRMod
15:23	RT @barryeisler: If you like Orwell... http://bit.ly/H56GF
15:40	RT @barryeisler: If TPM isn't part of your daily read... you're missing out. http://bit.ly/16w9GO [You're welcome, Barry.]
16:12	@barryeisler Pretty sure I did. I remember you cursing me for all the time you spent reading it.
19:53	At the Silicon Valley Tweetup. Nice articulate people who can speak in more than 140 characters!
19:54	How dare they hold a Tweetup in a place with no signal? Good drinks, though.
21:03	RT @StephenAtHome: people tell me i'm white, and i believe them because i've never been arrested in my foyer [Nor will you, Stephen.]
21:04	Regarding the Gates arrest, Gawker has a cogent analysis. The police don't look good at all. http://bit.ly/pVSFN
21:53	Just added myself to the http://wefollow.com twitter directory under: #photography #glamour #microstock

08:08	Last night's Daily Show follows Sec of Energy interview with segment on iPhone fart apps. And the universe implodes...
08:12	Working my way through this weekend's Vegas pics. Although "work" may not be the right word... http://yfrog.com/5orbzj
08:26	When journalists sneer at bloggers, point them at this piece on Walter Cronkite. Corrections longer than the article! http://bit.ly/LnT6T
12:14	Can someone talk to the APA and get Birthers declared a mental disorder? Or should I steal from their playbook and deny their existence?
14:07	Crazy long lines to check out at Costco. On a Wednesday afternoon?
15:41	io9's 15 sci fi convention disasters. Ashamed to admit I think they mostly rock. Especially Family Guy; Stewie rules! http://bit.ly/syfA0

08:22	Rachel Maddow clear the record on Pat Buchanan's bile and his lies. I love you, Rachel. http://bit.ly/3kNXAM
08:23	BTW, Buchanan does (or at least did) believe in affirmative action. But only for Catholics.
12:41	Now that's thinking outside the box! Turn Central Park into an airport. Imagine the convenience! http://bit.ly/OECBl
13:22	RT @tweetpenguin I'm expanding my social network (you can too): http://tweetpenguin.com/disorderly Interest: #photography
15:12	I have a weakness for meta-humor. That Hitler clip that's been used and abused? He gets the last laugh in this one. http://bit.ly/16H9oL
17:01	Barry Eisler teaching 1/2 day writing workshop in SF on Oct 4th. Guaranteed to be entertaining and informative. http://bit.ly/dgdqN
17:06	CNET: "Microsoft closing YouTube competitor." Maybe because no one ever heard of the frelling thing! http://bit.ly/MPjmp
19:35	@barryeisler Secret baby? Do tell!

06:35	Still in Vegas for a few more hours. Lots of fun shooting yesterday; I'll be editing photos all week!
14:05	On the plane. We'll leave soon, lightning permitting. Already 15 min late, with a 45 min connection in SD.
14:45	55 min past scheduled departure, we're on the tarmac. Update expected in 30 min. Maybe.
16:07	Made my connection with seconds to spare. Have I mentioned how much San Diego Airport sucks?
17:23	Just landed at SFO, only 20 min behind schedule. Home soon.
18:41	Home! No more adventures! (Yeah, I didn't buy it either.)
20:53	Interesting piece on #Farscape and BSG as tales of homelessness. Could Farscape have relevance in the real world? http://bit.ly/gMako

07:42	Feeling worn out this AM. No alcohol; just too much fun and too little sleep. And lots of photos to go through when I get home.
08:42	@elkit The horror! The horror!
14:00	One model has arrived. The other is finally awake. Let the photography commence!
21:26	Kristy: "When in doubt, just straddle it!"

00:24	At Tabú at MGM. So loud!
00:47	It's so loud that RJ & Kristy are texting each other across the table.
00:52	I can tell we're in for a rough morning...
00:54	Dear God, In my next life, I want to be a knockout blonde. Sincerely, Hank
09:49	Someone attacked me last night. That's the only explanation for my agony this morning. Feels like something die in my mouth.
14:54	Shooting in the hotel with Kristy. Totally hot, and not just because the AC isn't keeping up.
16:06	100 degrees, rain, and we're going out to shoot. What, are we nuts? (This is what they call a rhetorical question.)
20:32	Somehow we always end up at the Carnegie Deli. And somehow I end up ordering the same thing. That's a good thing.
22:43	Shooting in the hotel. In the room. In the tub. In the bubbles.

07:05	Starting to work my way through last night's photos. Wow. Just... wow.
07:11	Pat Buchanan: "White men built this country!!!" http://bit.ly/1pui07 (And they did it while being horses asses on the subject.)
09:47	Store called Urban Expressions abuses customer using a well chosen urban expression. Gotta love their customer service. http://bit.ly/MmAQa
11:22	@JustaSunGod Buck Rogers? Thought it was awful, but still watched it. I'll put up with a lot for Erin Gray.
12:08	Amazon shows why the Kindle is total crap: unsells copies of Orwell books without purchaser's consent or even notice. http://bit.ly/imdi4
13:39	The Bay Area is down 20 degrees from last week. So why am I going to Vegas, where it's in triple digits?
18:08	On my way to the airport, because it isn't nearly hot enough here...
19:41	@Fawnnee Goin' back to Vegas! We'll be clubbing until way too late tonight, and photographying tomorrow and Sunday. Hope I don't dry out!
19:43	Please, AT&T. Make the price of iPhone tethering reasonable. I don't ask for much...
21:11	On the plane: good. Exit row: excellent.

08:54	@donttrythis Mythbusters? Reality? Is that what they're calling it now? (But seriously, folks... Congratulations. Totally deserved.)
09:00	Still time to submit topics for #Farscape panel at Comic Con: deadline Mon AM. Wish I could be there. http://www.facebook.com/AEHomeVideo
09:47	Proof the Emmys don't entirely suck: @DrHorrible got a nomination! Is this a first for web content?
16:47	"As my friend Sean Hannity would say, Joe (the Plumber) is a great American!" How many ironies can you find in that sentence?
18:42	Shooting tonight with the amazing SaraLiz. Sucks to be me.
18:59	Lars: "I come sporadically. Hank comes all the time."
22:54	@mikefulton RJ's studio in Fremont. Just got home. And wow, some of the shots I got are amazing.

06:35	@alwayscoffee It's about time, I'd say. When do I get a friend request?
09:41	Gonna be another scorcher.
18:21	On my way to an SGI reunion. Last job I loved.

00:05	RT @ObiWanKenobi_: @disorderly That's no moon. It's a space station. [I love Twitter!]
11:49	RT @alwayscoffee: This made me laugh so hard (it's a little dirty, fyi): http://bit.ly/Iqptx [Put drink down before you click. Trust me.]
12:03	Farscape's Ricky Manning on why it's more important to sound right than to be right, at least for fiction. http://froonium.com/?p=316
15:57	Note to self: if you must go hiking up a hill on a 99F day, try to find one with at least a few trees...
16:01	@disorderly is 86% hetero. Check yourself and others at http://tinyurl.com/natxro [Only 86%? Should I worry?]
17:42	@_Rayna @barryeisler How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb? One, and that's NOT FUNNY!
18:43	@froonium Did you read the rest of the @teebalicious declarations? They're either absurdly funny or funnily absurd. Maybe both!
20:04	Second ep of #Warehouse13 on #SyFy a big improvement over the pilot. Hope they can keep this up.

07:33	@JustaSunGod Start with the Bahamas. That way even if the coup fails, at least you're in the Bahamas.
10:01	RT @froonium: If there isn't a p0rn flick entitled "Hairy Peter and the Half-Blonde Princess", there oughta be.
11:12	What could go wrong? South African ATM armed with pepper spray attacks maintenance workers. http://bit.ly/tHaRw
13:49	Bad idea: trying to take pictures standing in the middle of a well used road. Even if I did manage it without incident...
14:09	Wells Fargo is suing itself: http://bit.ly/OAxZC Did I mention that the world makes no sense at all? Because it doesn't.
16:20	One positive about not working is that I can get solicitors off the phone ever so quickly. What's that about turning lemons to lemonade?
16:23	RT @barryeisler: I know I'm immature. But I love this video. http://bit.ly/OLzES [Yes, you are. Sadly, so am I.]
16:39	@VictoriaDahl Who says you can't be nerdy, odd *and* sexy?
16:55	@richcirminello I think I'll globalize contemplation for a while.
17:14	@alwayscoffee @VictoriaDahl Barry does so have innocence! He keeps it in a box on his mantle. (He didn't say it was *his* innocence.)
17:27	@VictoriaDahl I was thinking something metaphysical. More Harry Potter and less Hannibal Lecter. @barryeisler @alwayscoffee
17:38	@chrismarquardt Costco has WD 500GB mini drives for $120. Find someone with a membership card.
17:40	@alwayscoffee Let's face it: ordinary innocence is so... so ordinary...
20:09	@JustaSunGod Big Bang Theory is like beer: you have to learn to appreciate the flavor. The writers like the characters, and you may too.
20:45	@JustaSunGod As I got to know the characters, the funny came back. With a vengeance!
23:37	Watching Stephen Fry in a show called Kingdom. I hate all of these people. Hate, hate, hate! Don't think I'll give it a Season Pass.
23:57	RT @donttrythis: Did a short interview with John Schwartz at the NYT about nutbags... I mean Moon Landing Deniers: http://tr.im/seF2

09:38	@alwayscoffee That someone is abusive, self-important and wrong. You don't find that sort of triple threat often, aside from GOP gatherings.
10:35	RT @JustaSunGod: "1/3 of Taiwanese funeral processions include a stripper" CoolFacts app. There's a joke about a Stiff in there somewhere :D
14:16	Now that most of my blog posts are daily collections of my tweets, does that mean I'm less a blogger and more a bleater?
14:20	@WanderingG I know @barryeisler very well. He's all that in person, plus a goofy (& ribald) sense of humor. Life is *so* unfair...
19:18	@richcirminello Have fun. Scenics or models?
22:17	Okay, that was weird. An emergency bdcast about a child abduction just took control of my TiVo. None of the controls worked while it ran.
22:50	@VictoriaDahl You mean there's evidence? I wanna see!

08:32	Out kind of late last night with a few Bay Area Rainiacs (fans of @barryeisler). Need sleep...
10:31	@VictoriaDahl Two questions (which I'm sure you thought of): Will the interview sell more books? Will practice help you with your fright?
10:32	@renatojr_rj More photos with Kneely? Or someone else?
11:16	@VictoriaDahl Not true. I have it on good authority that my parents were married. To each other, even.
11:34	@VictoriaDahl Wait! You meant that as an *insult*? (But I'll gladly take the chocolate...)
11:37	This is what happens when you leave pranksters an opening: http://bit.ly/j5OZa (Hee! He said "opening"!)
14:15	Karaoke last night, miniature golf tonight. Wait, this *is* the 21st century, right?
22:11	@richcirminello Glad I played miniature golf instead, then.
22:15	Today's lesson: I am really inconsistent at miniature golf. Two holes in one, and a couple of holes that will haunt my memories.
22:51	Great post on why Wolfram Alpha in particular and natural language UI in general suck. Read it and weep. Or laugh. http://bit.ly/tEHd5
23:00	Aha moment: Wolfram is doing what a dotcom-era startup called Dejima attempted. We failed completely, and so will he. http://bit.ly/tEHd5

07:05	“I’m a big Sarah Failin’ pan!” Thank you, Fox News and Daily Kos! http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001914/
09:04	"Louis, I believe we would make excellent traveling companions." #1stdraftmovielines
09:09	RT @froonium: (Not mine, but too good to leave out:) "For every heart on Broadway, there's a broken light." #1stdraftmovielines
09:17	"Given the size of that shark, we should give serious thought to returning to shore for a larger, more powerful vessel." #1stdraftmovielines
09:29	@Emeraldcity3 Because a bunch of us use the FB Twitter app to feed our tweets to FB. It's a killing (or at least wounding) two birds thing.
09:47	RT @donttrythis: RT @RichardWiseman Just posted 'World's Quickest Personality Test' on You Tube http://bit.ly/La7ON [I was category 3.]
12:22	Hanging out at Golden Gate Cemetary, shooting airplanes as they fly by.
16:23	RT @lomara: RT @stephenfry: Pleasing that http://bit.ly/aB1oG was the featured front page article on Wikipedia all today. [So very British!]
22:43	There's karaoke going on. Gods, make it stop!

08:51	Urbandictionary.com adds "pullin' a Palin". As in, when the going gets tough, the supposedly tough bail. Not the rep she was looking for.
10:35	@sandrift Nope. I saw the ChiaObama ad months ago. It had been retired, out of concern for (realization of?) bad taste. Guess it's back.
13:37	My favorite lunch: Caesar salad and pizza at CPK.
15:48	Finally finished watching the premiere of Warehouse 13. Does anybody else remember a TV series called Friday the 13th? http://bit.ly/EXGRY
18:12	On my way to SF for drunks with @chrismarquardt and friends.
18:14	That was supposed to say "drinks".
18:14	Sometimes the iPhone spell check makes me crazy...

07:53	@alwayscoffee I'll grant the adorability, but why no RSS feed? You want us (okay, me) to risk missing some of your deathless prose?
08:42	@alwayscoffee Awfully nice of you, ma'am. I thank you, and my RSS reader thanks you. Now I'll never miss a word!
09:12	@donttrythis That's one of the great features of my Camry Hybrid. It won't lock the doors if it detects the key inside. Smarter than me...
10:07	Damn! http://bit.ly/NuZVw sez all those famous Sam Goldwyn quotes weren't his! Now I wonder: did Reagan *know* he was making quotes up?
10:35	@JustaSunGod If they aren't following, doesn't that mean they aren't reading? And if they aren't reading, how can they follow?
13:59	Just back from a drive along the coast. It's *cold* in the wind! What the heck happened to summer?
15:40	Just bought Prowl for my iPhone. Not I have push notifications for Facebook, Twitter and anything I want to write myself! Too cool!
16:05	@LotusSixSixSix A tech junkie? I've been one of those forever. Twitter's just my latest toy. Glad you decided to join in!
17:03	@alwayscoffee Who's the funny looking guy?
17:08	@alwayscoffee Butler? The guy from 300? I thought he was all CGI.
17:14	@richcirminello Yoda? Little green guy? Trains warriors? (That's a #Farscape reference.) Why?
18:53	Downtown San José. A little Thai food, followed by Forbidden Broadway at San José Rep.
19:49	@JackieKessler I love #HHGTG, but think the original radio series is the best incarnation.
22:09	Just got back from Forbidden Broadway. Too much fun! Need to spend more time in theaters.
22:57	@richcirminello Wish I'd thought of it, Rich. Next time I hit SJ Rep I will.

Back around the time the dotcom bubble burst in the Valley, I was working at a small and wholly disfunctional software firm. Things were so bad on the engineering side that Management put me in charge of getting the product on the right track, even blessing me with the title of Chief Architect. Okay, I demanded the title as a combination of reward for what I was taking on and a sign that I had to be listened to. But that's by the way...

The company's product was supposed to handle natural language command processing; you'd type what you wanted and it would figure out what you meant. One problem with the approach was that it relied on agents: dozens or hundreds of little software modules that would recognize a word or phrase, which would be combined with the work of other agents to build up more complex concepts. And that was a problem because the bigger the vocabulary, and the bigger the set of things it needed to understand, the more of these agents and the longer it would take to get anything done.

This was a huge problem, but it wasn't one the guys in charge had any interest in solving. Where I worried about making the core software do what had been promised, and do it while we were all still alive, the CEO, CTO and such were only concerned with adding more features they could use to excite customers. But still I tried, both to convince the execs that we needed to solve the scalability problem and to figure out a way it could be done.

Even after I left, I'd find myself trying to solve a possibly insoluble problem. Many mornings I'd be in the shower, mulling possible approaches, before reminding myself that it didn't matter! By then the company was dead, long dead, and nobody would devote a moment's thought to making their software work. Except me; it might be days, it might be weeks, but there I'd be, trying to find an answer.

And so it went for the past eight years. I didn't think about it much, at least until a couple of weeks ago when I ran into the former VP of Marketing at a photography Meetup. We talked about some of the old horrors and generally had a good time reminding ourselves of the insanity we'd survived.

But something must have clicked. Because there I was in the shower a couple of days ago, and suddenly I had an answer to the problem. Not complete, of course, and not enough to commit to code. But I had an approach to making all that agent stuff more efficient. Which of course is irrelevant. Nobody cares about the problem, and nobody will ever hear about the solution. But it's nice to know that I don't have to think about it any more. At least in my mind it's done. And it all got done in the back of my mind, which is a good place for it.

07:18	RT @jakonrath: CHERRY BOMB, the new Jack Daniels thriller by JA Konrath, is available today! http://tinyurl.com/ndk7yy
09:24	@VictoriaDahl @alwayscoffee I've always liked this definition, Ali: Erotica involves a chicken feather. Porn uses the whole chicken.
09:37	@VictoriaDahl Followed by "crevasse"?
10:03	A good day for #shutterstock submissions: 53 out of 53 images accepted. Sure beats my last batch: 0 for 20!
10:13	@JustaSunGod Hell no, Lee. There are whole bunches of us who stopped caring about MJ long before he became a charicature of himself.
10:30	@lomara Not to be cynical, Kim & @seanbonner, but isn't there a sizable benefit from all those visitors to Lost Angels for MJ's funeral?
10:43	@lomara If they aren't from LA, there are hotels with all the guest taxes. And restaurants and whatnot. Is parking free onsite?
13:30	Nobody in the aisles at Costco. Why? They're all in line for the checkout.
14:04	Pretty good interview about the #SyFy rebranding. Lots of #Farscape love, even if it's too little, way too late. http://bit.ly/qvt1w
14:06	RT @JustaSunGod: Oh this is SO WRONG http://bit.ly/cpf00 [Made me laugh!]
15:00	@VictoriaDahl You mean like "driving one handed"?
15:04	My new favorite site: http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/. It started with http://bit.ly/Uzwvu and only gets more awkward from there.
15:11	Seen on a Facebook comment: "I want to start a t-shirt company with roosters on the front of each shirt. Name...Cock T's"
15:27	George Allen, the former Virginia Senator who introduced us to "macaca" is writing a book. The title? The Triumph of Character. Really.
17:46	@renatojr_rj Were you dead? Does this mean you're now undead?
20:49	Not much turnout at our blogger meeting (which used to be a Meetup, before Meetup started charging). Is our group dying, or will we revive?
21:20	@VictoriaDahl I know it's summer, but even Fox doesn't show this many reruns.
21:24	@VictoriaDahl I'm sure you meant that in the nicest possible way...
21:56	27 minutes into Warehouse 13 and we finally get to the opening credits. Can you say "leisurely pace"?

11:04	Yowza! RT @alwayscoffee: Writing my first sex scene. Feeling dirty and slightly voyeuristic. I've never had to undress another woman before
19:10	RT @JackieKessler: RT @lilithsaintcrow: I do not drink coffee for me. I drink it to keep the people around me alive one more day.
19:33	@JackieKessler Where are these nudie avatars? So I can avoid them, you understand.

09:25	@VictoriaDahl I'm shocked! Not at all what I'd expect from Southern Methodists! Oh, wait; that's *not* what SMU stands for?
10:25	Sarah Palin tries to silence the press by threatening to sue those who attempt to explain her bizarre behavior. Yeah, that'll work.
13:36	RT @chrismarquardt: Meet-up with @chrismarquardt downtown SF Thursday night, 6:30pm Anabelle's Bar and Bistro [I'll be there, Chris!]
19:25	Just set up a monthly donation to http://decoderringtheatre.com. You should subscribe via iTunes or whatever if you love Old Tyme Radio.
21:15	@lomara You'd think we could write 140 consecutive characters without typos and grammatical embarrassment. Sadly, you'd be wrong.
21:47	Blame @VictoriaDahl; I certainly do. RT @Zoe_Nichols: As Raggedy Anne said to Pinocchio when she sat on his nose: lie to me, lie to me!
22:38	@lomara Not me. I'm catching the end of Field of Dreams on CMT. (Watched ID4 earlier tonight.)
22:45	@lomara Confusing Heaven with Iowa. Definitely a fantasy. I've been to Iowa...

07:01	Compuserve shuts down. AOL finally kills the software, inconveniencing literally tens of users. If that. http://bit.ly/exwxQ
08:29	Have a grand 4th! RT @JustaSunGod: 9 Reasons to celebrate America (from a Brit!) :D http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8134410.stm
10:37	@elkit I guess Born in the USA is out of the question, huh?
11:14	@elkit And here I thought you were from North Dakota like Lawrence Welk!
20:03	Joel on The Soup: "Hooter girls stick together. Not out of loyalty; it's sort of an occupational hazard."
20:33	@VictoriaDahl I did that Monterey Bay kayak trip once for work. They told us to keep our distance from the wildlife, but no one told them.

07:40	Quote of the day: "That's Episcopalian for STFU" - Jon Stewart on Mark Sanford. http://bit.ly/i0csV
07:48	@JustaSunGod Real Genius! I love that movie!
07:55	@JustaSunGod "Why do you wear those things on your head?" "Because if I wear them anywhere else, they chafe."
09:14	Went through all the pics from Wednesday night's shoot and there's nothing stockworthy in the lot. At least today's shoot can't go worse!
10:46	Waiting patiently for a haircut. Looks like everybody had the same idea this morning.
10:56	Playing Wild West Pinball on my iPhone while I wait. It's free at the moment and worth at least that much.
14:58	Does this mean we won't have Sarah Palin to kick around any more? (That's a Nixon reference for those of you too young to know.)
15:11	@VictoriaDahl Sure, that's the reason, you betcha.
18:20	Just finished an amazing photo shoot. How can two women be so beautiful, graceful and just so gosh darned adorable? Is a puzzlement...
18:30	@alwayscoffee No doubt, Ali. Be aware that I *will* photograph you one day. This I vow!
19:11	@VictoriaDahl But is it also the path to enlightenment? Enquirous minds want to know...
21:18	If you want the most prurient literary debate (or the most literary prurient one), follow @barryeisler and @VictoriaDahl. Trust me on this.

06:23	@chrismarquardt Thanks, Chris. I like it too! And no Photoshop; we were all there on the day. Is it any wonder I love photography?
07:26	@JustaSunGod I once asked a Brit friend how they celebrate the 4th. "That's not Independence Day", he said. "We call that Thanksgiving!"
11:15	Microsoft puking IE ad was directed by Bobcat Goldthwait. WTF? That's dumb even for them! http://bit.ly/ryck1
13:43	Forbidden Broadway is coming to San Jose Rep! Just ordered my ticket for next Wed's show. http://bit.ly/YnRCV
15:06	@VictoriaDahl, @barryeisler I'm happy to contemplate either one. Mmmmm...
15:17	Reading a fascination tweet discussion on the difference between "bent over" and "on her knees".
15:55	Wha? Too many TLAs! RT @barryeisler: For me, BO, OHK, OAF all terms of art. Yes, can BO while OHK, but OHK supersedes BO.
16:01	@barryeisler Oh, I know why you did it. I was just marveling at the alphabet soup!

11:38	Joe the Plumber won't run for political office because God told him not to. Thank you, God, from the bottom of my heart.
11:51	Whoa, mama! RT @RedheadWriting: It's hotter outside than the girl-on-girl action at an Indigo Girls concert. #justsayin
12:03	Brilliant! An alarm clock that turns off on snow days. Sadly useless where it doesn't snow or if you aren't in school. http://bit.ly/AOBIg
12:16	Holy Sign-of-the-Apocalypse, Batman! NPR posts about Supergirl's underwear! Seriously? http://bit.ly/ke6Ev
12:21	@chrismarquardt Twitter says this guy doesn't exist. Typo?
14:28	Oh boy! My MOO Cards have arrived! And they're *much* cooler than Rich's cards! http://www.moo.com
14:45	Oh crap! A&E to release a new set of Farscape DVDs. As if buying them twice already (plus a few eps for my iPhone) isn't enough love...
15:59	Ewwww! Also, ouch! RT @VictoriaDahl: http://bit.ly/uyElw
16:00	RT @barryeisler: RT @VictoriaDahl: Ok... a foreskin is one thing. a foreskin shaped by your own grizzled hands is a totally different animal
18:12	@VictoriaDahl Clearly you have a lot to learn about Barry. Somehow he gets away with the most shocking behavior. Must be the hair.