www.donaldmarino.com

Not because of any anticipated election results, but really because the vitriol and lies from Republicans and Democrats is making me sick. I’m so tired of hearing these assholes blast one another.

I am really sick of the GOP party line that Democrats are basically terrorist loving devil worshippers that will hold gay marriages in the Senate once they’re in power. I heard more salient and cogent positions on the playground in the third grade. Also, you either stay the course in Iraq or you might as well open the borders to the terroists. Anyone that buys that ridiculous false dichotomy is not smart enough to vote. The Democrats counter with, well, we’re not Republicans, which, I admit, is sort of compelling, but not really a policy platform. Fairly disappointing.

I am really tired of the attack ads from both sides, and it makes me sad, because what it really says is none of these jackasses could legislate their way out of a wet paper bag. But they sure can smear one another!! Woo! That was a killer attack ad there - you got my vote buddy! Now, what were the issues again?

Just look at how badly our government is failing us on every level, and look at the weirdo religious zealots and criminals that represent us in Congress. Horrible. We cannot be proud of their work, no matter which party they serve. And they do serve the party, not the people. Pork isn’t the same as looking out for your constituents, but Pork is basically the best any of them can do anymore. Other than, obviously, bleat out the latest set of talking points and lies. Don’t expect them to do any real legislation, because they won’t. This last Congress was technically our least effective in history. There’s something to be proud of.

All I really want is to stop listening to the bullshit they put on TV during the last few weeks of the election, and the press everywhere stooping to their usual low in recycling all the bile over and over. So, let’s hope November comes and goes with relative peace. I hope we elect at least a few legislators, instead of the parade of talking heads and mud-slingers we’ve grown to expect. It would be pleasant if Congress could do something useful from time-to-time. And uphold the Constitution, rather than undermine it at every turn. But, that’s too much to ask anymore, I think. Right now, I’d settle for having them all shut up.

The New York Jets aren’t really that bad.

You can’t really blame the sportswriters. They have to prepare for the season and the games beforehand, too. It’s just that in the sports business, the old cliche is still the truth - They have to play the games. Before the season, the story on the Jets was as follows: New coach, no Curtis Martin, Chad is fragile and might not return or be the starter, this is one of the two worst teams in the league, blah, blah, blah.

Good thing they still play those games. As of week 3, the Jets are 2-1, tied for first place in the AFC East with none other than the vaunted New England Patriots. What is satisfying is wathcing the press begrudginly change the storyline. They don’t want to, believe me. After all, they wrote the Jets and Pennington off before the season, they publicly went on record about how bad the Jets were _supposed_ to be, and now they are eating those words. As yesterday’s game unfolded, I listened to Dick Enberg abandon the “Willis McGahee is god” script he had on the desk in front of him. I listened as the studio announcers changed their tune about this Jets team, and admit they are tough and have “character”. I read the vehement New York press, who all but told the Jets not to play football this season because it would be hopeless. Every week now, they have to write positive articles about the Jets and you can see the begrudging tone right there on the pages. “This isn’t what I wanted to write, I was all prepared to blast the Jets’ ineptness. Dang.” Excuse me while I enjoy the hell out of it.

Pennington is once again recognized as one of the best in the game. I’ve said it here before, and I’ll repeat it: Chad Pennington has the best intangibles of any quarterback in the league. Mock his arm strength, call him fragile, do whatever you want. The guy wins, doesn’t make mistakes, and his teammates believe he will lead them to victory. And he delivers. He’s the best QB the Jets have ever had. He’s healthy and strong, and he’s still in his prime. Before the game, none other than opposing QB J.P. Losman mentioned that Chad is one of the quarterbacks he studies and emulates. And he’d be smart to learn from Chad. Losman turned the ball over 3 times. Chad? Not once.

So, while I know the Jets aren’t likely a playoff contender this year, I won’t be the one counting them out. And neither will anyone in the Jets locker room. This team comes to play every week, and they expect to win. That alone is something to enjoy. And I am. So, I don’t mind if the media doesn’t like it. The Jets are ruining their script for the season and keeping the bile in their bellies, and off of the newspapers and airwaves. I hope it makes them sick. It’s fun to watch. Pay attention, because in a couple more weeks, all the media will be praising Chad and pretending they never threw him under the bus before the season. Good thing some of us were paying attention, and we’ll certainly remember.

__

ps - I give credit to Solomon Wilcots, who has already publicly apologized for being a Pennington doubter and admitted Chad has outperformed all expectations. It takes a man to admit in public that he was wrong. Much respect.

Having an extremely wide range of skills and experience should be an advantage and a differentiator in the employment marketplace. But, much to the contrary, it’s making it much more difficult to find good fits in the employment arena.

It seems like I would be having much more success if I had only focused on one technology stack during my career. All of the recruiters and job descriptions have become keyword driven. So, basically having experience in many different languages, operating systems, programming environments and problem domains _hurts_ your chances of getting the interview. Because they’ll go for the guy that can say he spent the last five years only doing J2EE every single time.

I would assert that being so poorly rounded would be a disadvantage in the marketplace, as almost no job is really that focused. Developers need to be adaptable and quick to learn new technologies, be able to recognize he value in them, and adapt to new problem spaces and toolkits. If you’ve spent the last five years ignoring everything but J2EE or C#.NET, you probably aren’t the adaptable type. You probably cling to your one skillset with an iron grip. That’s not they type of developer I’d want to add to my team.

During the last five years, I’ve delivered code in a dozen languages, on Windows, Linux, UNIX, and Macintosh platforms. I’ve built and maintained computer hardware and done systems administration. I’ve designed, built and administrated SQL databases in several RDBMS systems, commercial and otherwise. I’ve built custom continuous integration and deployment systems. I’ve built a software test lab from scratch. I’ve integrated tools in various languages that most wouldn’t have thought would work together. I’ve solved tricky problems that most single-stack developers couldn’t fix. I’ve delivered solutions in a wide variety of problem domains from simple Employee Time Tracking ware to detailed Remote Sensing software, to RF Engineering visualizations. It’s frustrating when a potential employer calls up and simply asks “How many years of J2EE have you done?” So, I honestly answer, “Well, one, but…..”, and they instantly pass on you. This just keeps on happenning, and honestly, I don’t understand how some of these people so easily write you off.

I’m glad I’ve taken the path that I have. I know now that I can tackle almost any technical domain and acheive success. But, how on earth do you convince a potential employer that it’s true? It’s becoming fairly frustrating to see how my breadth of experience seems to be a hinderance in the job market, when really, it’s my chief strength. It’s something employers should value, but they just don’t seem to.

There’s a fine line between stupid and clever.

My dog Ripken is an Alaskan Husky. Not too many people know what that really is. At least, not too many people who don’t mush sled dogs do. Nearly all competiton sled dogs are Alaskan Huskies these days. It’s getting pretty rare to see a team of pure-bred Siberians be competitive anymore.
Lots of people think you either meant to say Siberian Husky” or “Alaskan Malamute”, neither of which is at all right. And before you ask - yes, he is named after the greatest shortstop ever to play the game.

An Alaskan Husky is not really a distinct breed, but more like a type of dog or a category. No Kennel Clubs recognize the breed, merely calling it a ‘mixed breed’. But it is a relatively distinct kind of dog. You can tell an Alaskan Husky from other types of dogs pretty easily. The most common stock mixture in Alaskan Huskies is Siberian Husky, Alaskan Malamute and Greyhound. Ripken is very much a mix of Siberian Husky stock and Greyhound, but he isn’t a directly mixed breed, his mother and father were both also Alaskan Huskies as well. Unlike his parents, both of whom were working dogs in Alaska, Ripken is a house pet, and spends a lot of time laying around on beds and sofas. But, given the chance, he will run and run and run. Also, typical of the breed, he doesn’t bark, but “talks”, making a sound best described as “RoooRoooRoooo”. It’s quite charming.

Alaskan Huskies take a lot of patience and discipline to train. They are very pack-oriented though, and will respect the pecking order. If you do not establish your dominance firmly when they are young, you will have a hard time keeping them. Ripken has been the best friend I could ever ask for and is a really smart, affectionate dog. I highly recommend Alaskan Huskies to those who have the space (did I mention they love to run and run) and patience to raise them properly. Here are some pictures of Ripken, who is nine years old. He is a very typical looking Alaskan Husky, and goes 55 lbs, much lighter than an Alaskan Malamute or a Siberian Husky. You can easily see the greyhound in him.

I liked the way my team fought back in the second half yesterday. Too bad we utterly sucked in the first half. The thing that I took away from this game mostly is the Bill Belichick is a bitter, cold, immature person. So, he wins footbal games, you can’t deny that. I’ll say it right here: He needs to grow up and stop being a freaking baby.

What I’m referring to, of course, is the utter lack of respect and class he’s shown to Eric Mangini, the Jets’ coach, who is commonly known as a Belichick protege. During the week leading up to this game the media constantly tried to make a story out of the matchup of former mentor and pupil. It’s an obvious storyline, and let’s face it, our media isn’t exactly long on nuance. They want the obvious story. Both coaches faced a lot of questions about the personal matchup. While both coaches deflected the questions saying things like “It’s the Jets vs the Patriots, not Bill v Eric”, there was a distinct difference in tone. Mangini was at least respectful and mentioned that aside from sports, Belichick is a friend. In a show of class, Mangini said, “I dont put any guidelines on friendship.”. As for Belichick, he couldn’t even cough up Mangini’s name. This has been going on for a long time. When Mangini went to interview with the Jets, Belichick literally locked him out of the Patriots facility. Even after the game yesterday, Mangini’s second ever, where he rallied his team against a fine Patriots squad, Belichick couldn’t or wouldn’t offer a single note of praise, and again, couldn’t even choke out Coach Mangini’s name, referring to the Jets coach as “him” or “he”. Asked if he thought Mangini was ready to go be a head coach in this league, Belichick could only come up with “That’s not up to me.”. Inspiring. Doesn’t he know that crap says more about him than about Mangini? So childish. Even worse was the after game handshake, if you can call it that. Belichick silently gave a super quick cold-fish to his former friend and sprinted away. No words of consolation, no “good luck this season”, a hit and run. That is totally classless and immature. How hard is it to say “Good game, your guys did well. Good Luck”? I guess it’s too much to ask of a bitter old man like Belichick, or is he not a bitter old man, but a big fat baby?

Grow up Bill, you really made yourself look bad this week. But, congratulations on the win, I guess it’s all that matters to you in this world.

There’s already far too much negativity in this blog, so I’ll skip the details and confine myself to noting that when it rains, it pours.

Went to Sprint. $20.00 later, I have a slick new flip phone, a new contract for the same monthly price, and contrary to the outright lie of the Verizon rep, my same telephone number. That was easy.

Special thanks to my friend Peter Williams who told me that Verizon was lying to me.

If this doesn’t get you going, you might need to check your pulse.

MotoGP vid

For a moment, let’s ignore the basic fact that Verizon gleefully handed my phone call records over to the spy-on-our-own-citizenry branch of the Federal Government. That alone is worth a serious rant, but let’s stay focused on the issue at hand. Today my cell phone broke (it doesn’t seem to charge anymore). Little did I know that this is Verizon’s best-possible-case-boy-are-we-gonna-screw-you wet dream. I found out that Verizon has set this up to be the worst possible consumer position ever. Here’s the deal:

My 2-year contract expires in December, a mere 3 months and change away. I took my almost 2 year old cell phone down to the Verizon store, figuring it was time for a new phone anyway, well, i’d just sign a new contract and get a new phone free, or maybe just buy something cheap to replace it. I explain the scenario to the guy at the counter and tell him I’m willing to re-up the contract for another 2 years for a free phone, or a good chunk of credit towards a new phone. So, the guy informs me that I cannot renew my contract until it expires in December, at which point I can receive a free new phone. Well, I say, my phone is broken now, what am I supposed to do? He says that I can pay full retail for a new phone or pay a $50.00 out-of-warrantee charge and get a replacement shipped out to me. I don’t bite. Why on Earth would I pay you anything when I can just wait and get a new phone for free? The current model isn’t worth $19.99, much less $50.00. If I buy a phone now (the cheapest model starts at $150.00), then I’m screwed in December, since I paid fover $150 for 3 months of phone life. So I say let’s work this out, there’s got to be something you can do, after all, I’m standing here agreeing to be your sucker, um, customer for 2 more years. Why don’t you just renew the deal now, and give me a new phone? This sends the dude on some ridiculously long-winded explanation about how Verizon doesn’t make any money on me in that case , etc., etc. Um, Like I give a flying F**K if Verizon makes or loses money on me. So, after he finishes and gives me the satisfied look, like “See, it all makes sense”, I ask him how that little “loss” (yeah right, they’re losing money on me :rolls eyes:) he describes compares to losing every bit of my business for the rest of my life. Blank stare. Eventually, this guy says, what I would do is go on Ebay, buy a Verizon phone and bring it in and we can put it on your account. Convenient. He can see by the look on my face at this point that this is not an attractive option.

So, exapserated and realizing he’s not selling me a phone, he sends me over to the repair tech (um, yeah it doesn’t seem to charge). So I ask the technician if I can just sign a deal with another provider like Sprint or something and take my number with me, like, ten minutes from now in the mall store across the street? Nope, he says, that number is tied to the contract. Sprint can’t activate it for me until December at best. So, I have no options. I can either:

A- not have a working phone (but still fork over $47/month anyway)
B- buy a phone from these jackasses for $150+ (and still fork over $47/month anyway)
C- buy a replacement model of the worst phone ever for $50 and wait for it to arrive (and still fork over $47/month anyway)
D- Get service from someone else and suffer through changing my cell number, which is a HUGE p.i.t.a., especially since I sent out a bunch of resumes with my current number recently. (and, you guessed it, still fork over $47/month to Verizon until December)
E- eat shit and die

So, I left. Broken phone and all. What could I do? I am not spending one more dime on Verizon goods or services ever again. I realize that all these communications companies are going to screw me the same way, but I’ll be f***ed if I’m going to let Verizon strongarm me into buying a new or a replacement phone 3 months short of the free phone point. These are the same people that sold out my call data to the Feds; nice. I just want to know who comes up with this crap? And why on Earth would they think I’d just fork out cash for a new phone at this point? And how am I supposed to belive Verizon loses money on giving me a free crappy phone and then charging me at least $47 a month for two years. Look, I’m not that stupid, OK. Just terrible, simply awful. All I can do is not do business with them again. But in the short term, I’m kind of screwed, because when my phone battery dies in a day or two, I’ll be phoneless unless I do something. Looks like tomorrow I’m going on a phone store tour to see if any of these companies are actually willing to compete for my business.

I just don’t see how that makes any sense from a business standpoint. Why would you ever abuse your customers in such a way? Especially when I am 3 months short of deciding wether to renew my deal with them (fat chance)? So, my advice is to avoid Verizon like the plague. They are more than willing to screw you over, and hope you’re dumb enough to take it. Infuriating.