Here is an awesome picture of KidWonder - the best caption submitted in a comment will end up LOLZ’ed and I’ll change the post title to it.

Update: Thanks Brian.

moar funny pictures

A big Happy Mother’s Day shout out to all of the mothers out there. MomWonder, KidWonder and I had a great Mother’s Day adventure today. We headed to a local entertainment complex where we stopped for lunch at Applebee’s:

MomWonder, enjoying a hot fudge sundae:

KidWonder, enjoying some of Dad’s chocolate mousse:

Fully energized, the Wonder team headed to the Bowl-a-rama for a heated game of ten pin. Here MomWonder is engaging in the questionable practice of getting extra luck for an upcoming shot ;-):

We ended our outing at the Pool room next to the bowling alley. Here KidWonder is showing us how easy a game of 8-ball can be:

Great fun was had by all. We’re now home, relaxing as KidWonder gets a nap. Happy Mother’s Day MomWonder. You have made such an impact on KidWonder’s life (and mine!) and we’ve had so much fun in the last 10 1/2 months together.

The 3rd edition of Learning Python, by Mark Lutz, covers the Python programming language as of Python v2.5. With O’Reilly books, the Learning series is generally less sophisticated than the Programming series (ex/ Learning Perl is easier than Programming Perl). I would normally get the Programming version, but I think the Programming version that covered v2.5 was not yet released when I went shopping for a book on Python.

Anyway, I read this book from the perspective of a veteran programmer, having previously worked in COBOL, C, C++, Java, Perl, PHP and .NET technologies such as C# and ASP.NET. I was interested in an in-depth look at Python, a language I had tinkered with for a single work project before but really had not mastered.
Continue reading this post…

I am really enjoying reading Roger Ebert’s new blog, Roger Ebert’s Journal. Fanzines beget blogs is the latest post, and its awesome.

Subscribe Atom or RSS.

Emurse is “an anagram for Resume, is a powerful online tool designed to help take control of your job hunt.” It is a great service, and I am fortunate enough to know the team behind it - they are awesome. One of my favorite (paid) features is an e-mail notification I get whenever anyone reads my resume. It shows the referral domain and the domain of the viewer. Since Emurse has such great SEO, most of the referrals are from Google search result pages.

You can also infer what is going on in the web industry by looking at these. My resume is web and engineering heavy, so I end up seeing interesting trends in those areas. Here’s one I got today, can you guess why?

—
Hey Tom!

Your “Main” Resume has just been viewed. Below are the details:

What: “Main” Resume - Webpage
When: Friday, April 25th, 2008 03:33:35 PM
Where: Sunnyvale, CA, United States (estimated)
Who: yahoo.com
From: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=(intitle:resume+|+inurl:resume)+php+engineer+(cs+|+”computer+science”)+

(digg+|+Topix+|+Propeller+|+StumbleUpon+|+Metafliter+|+BuzzFeed+|+SlashDot+|

+NewsVine+|+Reddit+|+Truemors+|+Mixx+|+Fark+|+BiggNews)&btnG=Search

For more detailed information, visit http://www.emurse.com/website/overview/

Happy job hunting!

Best,
Emurse.com

Take my advice - don’t order anything from backdropsource! I ordered a green screen kit from them in late February for work, and they have been a hassle to me ever since then.

First, everything in the kit was listed in stock, but when I ordered it, mysteriously, the green screen itself didn’t ship. When I called in, I was told that there was a problem with it and it was recalled by the manufacturer, and did I want a different size. “No”, I told the service guy, “I want the one I ordered”. A few weeks pass by, I get no notification of a new shipment of the screen, I call back. Still not in stock, I am told, did I want a different size? No.

Another few weeks pass, and it gets annoying. So I call backdropsource support, and tell them I want to return the item. Did I want the different size? Um, NO. NO I DON’T WANT THE OTHER SIZE. I just want a refund. So now I have to send back the rest of the kit.

I send back the rest of the kit, and see that it is delivered back to bds. I call in - the supervisor needs to talk to me, and he’s “on break”. Hrm. I wait for a callback that doesn’t come. Next day: I call in (mind you, at a different time of day), and the supervisor needs to call me back, b/c he’s on break. Nice job, where can I sign up to be the supervisor on break?

A week passes by, and now I’m actually pissed off about this. I call again, at 10am EST, and… guess what? The supervisor is on break!

Me: I want a refund.
He: We’ll call you back.
Me: You didn’t ask for my phone number.
He: Oh. (pause) What is it?
Me: xxx-xxx-xxxx.
He: OK, we’ll call you back.
Me: No, you won’t.
He: Huh?
Me: You always say you’ll call me back. You never do. Your supervisor is on break all the time. I never get a call back. I deserve a refund here, you promised me (via e-mail) that I would get a refund, where is my refund?
He: (pauses) I’ll definitely have a supervisor call you back.

4 minutes pass by, and wouldn’t you know it? A supervisor calls. And promises me he’ll refund me my money.

And then he doesn’t. So today, I called my credit card company, and disputed the charge.

Beware backdropsource, they employ bait and switch tactics and then use any excuse not to refund your money.

Update (April 30th): I got a call yesterday from customer service @ Backdropsource, and the supervisor that called “found” the tracking numbers I had sent in twice already, and issued me a refund. So I dropped the dispute with my credit card. It was nice to get a call for once without provoking it, but all in all, I’m still pretty worn from the whole experience. So… proceed with caution with Backdropsource.

A great time was had by all this past weekend at our house, as my family came to visit KidWonder from Massachusetts and Virginia. The Patio Pro grill (having been assembled already) served well as we had steaks and kabobs over the weekend. KidWonder was also in rare form, entertaining all with coos, giggles, and general cuteness. Some of the pics:

Auntie, cousins, and KidWonder

The Wii was a big hit, as usual. Wii Sports/Boxing in action.

KidWonder is the coolest.

Playing pattycake with Cyndi.

Awesome post on Andy Baio’s blog today. Milliways, known to many HHGTTG readers as the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, was also the name of the sequel to Infocom’s great Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy text adventure game.

I am on a bit of a HHGTTG kick these days, as I am rereading the The Hitchhiker’s Trilogy, and I’m also watching The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Plus, I really really loved playing the Infocom text adventure game. For all those wanting to take a crack at an actual prototype version of the Milliways game, Andy provided it. And you should definitely check out his post, as it has a juicy back story to the game’s development.

Play Milliways (Release 15, Serial 880512). Java 5 required.

I had the pleasure of assembling the above Patio Pro last night. I have to say, the assembly instructions were terrible. I have attached the instructions here for your viewing pleasure.

Where do I start? There is a big “Assembly Instructions” summary page (p3), which most of the instructions point back to, doesn’t identify *any* of the pieces in the picture. The instructions on pages 4 and 5 are not clear, and when they reach for explanation, 4 or 5 steps will reference the same small figure on that page, and point back to the summary picture. Not exactly easy to follow. None of the pieces were stickered or tagged in any way when I opened the box.

I also ran out of washers by the end of the assembly, and had leftover nuts and bolts. Not exactly confidence-inspiring.

After 90 minutes, I finally finished, and read the following after step 17:

NO RETURNS ON USED GRULLS.

Indeed.

Color Wars is an absolutely great idea. Ze Frank and others put this together. The official explanation. I like it so much because it is starting to really use existing services such as Flickr and Twitter in a way that makes the whole more than the sum of its parts. And they are having fun! And they have merit badges, and nerd raps, and RoShamBo, and all sorts of things!

Color Wars site: http://colorwar2008.com
My Team (updates protected, if I like you, I’ll add you):
http://twitter.com/Team9Ball
Follow Ze Frank on Twitter to hear about new challenges as they start.
Current challenge (entries due by April 20th): Young Me, Now Me.