More questions...

I had a final set of questions I'd planned to answer earlier (from tigerbright), but I got into another dry spell of writing about me. (I'm still writing about other stuff - see LongHairedWeirdo if you're interested.) But I got another set of questions from a potential employer today.

I try to make sure my answers include at least a few irreverences, because if they can't handle that, they should figure that out now. ("Technically, "TRUNCATE TABLE is a valid command and DELETE TABLE is not... but DELETE FROM (tablename) is fully logged, and thus slower than TRUNCATE TABLE (tablename)" and "Add a –s for instance-named-y goodness.")

Sometimes I throw in some extra tidbits - contrary to popular statement, clustered indexes *do not* physically sort the data; the sort is virtual, using doubly-linked lists between the row elements - to wow them with my in depth technical knowledge. I think it's cheating; so it's a bit of information that stuck to my brain, but other than explaining why clustered indexes get fragmented (some new DBA's eyes just got wide, reading that... just like mine did) it's not really all that useful. Impressive as hell, though.

Well, despite having a bit of a headache, I decided that I might as well finish up my last series of questions, so here they are:

1. Why did you discontinue For the Dream?
The biggest, and least-likely-to-make-people-think-I'm-bipolar[1] reason, is that I realized that Glenn Greenwald was closer to being able to do what I hoped to do than I'd ever be. And then I saw the hate directed at him and I realized that there wasn't anyone who could sew the country together with sound reasoning and passion.

[1] What's the difference between being stuck in a long term, super-hopeful, "ooh-shiny", "Maybe I can make a *real* difference!" phase, and a (hypo)manic phase? I haven't the foggiest. But I feel like I was always tied to reality. Oh, I had exceedingly unrealistic hopes, and there were times they were almost expectations... but I didn't, e.g., feel I could run up my credit cards because the book would sell and bring me a six figure advance. Reality started to set in, and most importantly, I realized I couldn't reach across some of the divides as I'd imagined I could. A lot of people want the divides; they can't comprehend not wanting the divisions. It's going to take time for those things to change. One of the things that scares me is that a lot of folks seem to be wanting to play Gerry Ford, and "heal the divisions" by covering them up and forgetting about them. I think the divisions are more of an abscess and need to be opened and drained, or they'll just continue to fester.

2. Presuming that you find an excellent job within easy commuting
distance of kightp's home and you both remain in excellent
health (both of which I devoutly hope for), where do you see the two of
you in five years?

Darn good question, because it sneaks in my answer to number 4 at the same time. My hope is to get a job with Oregon State University. If I do that, I can start taking Psych classes and figuring out where to go to grad school. In five years, I kinda-dream that I might be taking doctoral classes in Eugene, and travelling back to Albany frequently (or her visiting me). But I'm going to have to go whereever I can follow my dreams. That's one of the biggest reasons I have for wanting to live here as long as I can... because if all goes as I think it might, I might have to move to follow my dreams.


3. Any hope I can see you and Pat in this area sometime?

It's entirely possible; I have family in Philly, which is a short train ride from there. I'd like to hit the east coast again for a long-ish term visit.

4. If you had the option of changing careers without losing anything,
what would you change to?

Psychology. Or computer geek studying psych in his spare time, which is more likely :-).

More questions...

I had a final set of questions I'd planned to answer earlier (from tigerbright), but I got into another dry spell of writing about me. (I'm still writing about other stuff - see LongHairedWeirdo if you're interested.) But I got another set of questions from a potential employer today.

I try to make sure my answers include at least a few irreverences, because if they can't handle that, they should figure that out now. ("Technically, "TRUNCATE TABLE is a valid command and DELETE TABLE is not... but DELETE FROM (tablename) is fully logged, and thus slower than TRUNCATE TABLE (tablename)" and "Add a –s for instance-named-y goodness.")

Sometimes I throw in some extra tidbits - contrary to popular statement, clustered indexes *do not* physically sort the data; the sort is virtual, using doubly-linked lists between the row elements - to wow them with my in depth technical knowledge. I think it's cheating; so it's a bit of information that stuck to my brain, but other than explaining why clustered indexes get fragmented (some new DBA's eyes just got wide, reading that... just like mine did) it's not really all that useful. Impressive as hell, though.

Well, despite having a bit of a headache, I decided that I might as well finish up my last series of questions, so here they are:

1. Why did you discontinue For the Dream?
The biggest, and least-likely-to-make-people-think-I'm-bipolar[1] reason, is that I realized that Glenn Greenwald was closer to being able to do what I hoped to do than I'd ever be. And then I saw the hate directed at him and I realized that there wasn't anyone who could sew the country together with sound reasoning and passion.

[1] What's the difference between being stuck in a long term, super-hopeful, "ooh-shiny", "Maybe I can make a *real* difference!" phase, and a (hypo)manic phase? I haven't the foggiest. But I feel like I was always tied to reality. Oh, I had exceedingly unrealistic hopes, and there were times they were almost expectations... but I didn't, e.g., feel I could run up my credit cards because the book would sell and bring me a six figure advance. Reality started to set in, and most importantly, I realized I couldn't reach across some of the divides as I'd imagined I could. A lot of people want the divides; they can't comprehend not wanting the divisions. It's going to take time for those things to change. One of the things that scares me is that a lot of folks seem to be wanting to play Gerry Ford, and "heal the divisions" by covering them up and forgetting about them. I think the divisions are more of an abscess and need to be opened and drained, or they'll just continue to fester.

2. Presuming that you find an excellent job within easy commuting
distance of kightp's home and you both remain in excellent
health (both of which I devoutly hope for), where do you see the two of
you in five years?

Darn good question, because it sneaks in my answer to number 4 at the same time. My hope is to get a job with Oregon State University. If I do that, I can start taking Psych classes and figuring out where to go to grad school. In five years, I kinda-dream that I might be taking doctoral classes in Eugene, and travelling back to Albany frequently (or her visiting me). But I'm going to have to go whereever I can follow my dreams. That's one of the biggest reasons I have for wanting to live here as long as I can... because if all goes as I think it might, I might have to move to follow my dreams.


3. Any hope I can see you and Pat in this area sometime?

It's entirely possible; I have family in Philly, which is a short train ride from there. I'd like to hit the east coast again for a long-ish term visit.

4. If you had the option of changing careers without losing anything,
what would you change to?

Psychology. Or computer geek studying psych in his spare time, which is more likely :-).