Technology Burner Technology Burner

Repeat after me: Don’t discuss politics with friends.

I have far too many left-leaning friends with whom I have extremely strong differences of opinion to engage in political debate with them. They tend to all come at me at once, so that I feel like I’m being ganged up on by them and their (from my perspective) ill-informed views.

It’s not conducive to legitimate discussion, and I always wind up offended and frustrated, which usually results in me storming off in a huff.

Here are a few examples of ways good friends can force me to withdraw from a political discussion in sheer exasperation:

Well, it's the end of the first week of my 36th year on this planet, and in keeping with my previous post here's a rundown of the highlights:

WORK

Revitalized Corporate Affinity Discount Program

When I first started this blog, I hoped to contribute something useful to the ongoing conversation in healthcare technology circles, specifically as to how information systems that automate proven processes can help people to live happier, healthier lives.

Sometimes this has been easy, and sometimes it has been difficult; more and more it's been difficult, partly for personal reasons, but mostly because the opportunity to stay on the edge of technological innovation at the organization I work for wasn't there.

When Sophie (my 3-year-old) was told that I was away at a meeting all this past week, she had this to say to my wife:

“Maybe I can go outside and I can find my car and then I can drive the wheel and you can sit in front of me and I can find Daddy at the meeting and bring her home.”

Other than her ongoing problem with gender and pronouns, this is pretty much the sweetest thing I ever heard.

So the rockslide has thrown a wrench into the works here. Dan Portillo is totally on it, and the buses toward Vancouver have already been rescheduled.

The down side is that instead of leaving the hotel at 7 AM Friday, now I’m leaving at 11 PM Thursday. Oof.

There’s a bug in Bugzilla for this.

Friday will be an extraordinarily long day.

Still, this summit has been very interesting and I’m getting a lot done here. That aside, though, I do look forward to seeing my daughter again.

Got my iPhone on Friday morning, and it’s very nice. I’ve got a number of apps installed on it, and have weeded out a few I don’t care for already. The Scrabble and Texas Hold’em games are awesome, although Scrabble is a little bit crashy for me right now.

I’ve finally figured out why you see so many dweebs wandering around with their Bluetooth headsets on. It’s not that they want to look important… it’s that the hear is the safest place to store it when it’s not in use!

Sarah took only two days to decide she doesn’t care for her Pantech Duo, so it’s been returned, and an iPhone 3G (8GB) is on order for her. Hopefully we’ll have it by the end of the week.

Friday morning I plan to head over to the local AT&T store at around 6 AM to get in line to pick up an iPhone for me and a red Pantech Duo for Sarah. My instructions are to get her nothing if they don’t have that exact phone (red Pantech Duo) in stock.

I look forward to checking out the app store and seeing what kinds of stuff is available at launch time.

Once I have the iPhone, I have a number of auctions to start, including for my iPod touch. I’m debating whether or not it makes sense to upgrade it to iPhone OS 2.0 before I sell it, or to just leave it as-is.

I’ll bring my Treo along to the waiting in line so I have some communication availability. Might bring my laptop as well. We’ll see.

Beatrice was born today at 16.45 and she’s weighting 3500 grams.

Both Beatrice and her mother are fine and already smiling at each other.

Oh, and she was born on the 4th of July? What could I expect from an american wife?

I am on vacation in Lacey, WA until July 12. Look for new posts in the second-half of July; until then enjoy this video of my godson dancing to "Why Don't You Stay?"

I wish I could, actually.

Just got off the phone with AT&T. The reason I can’t get DSL here is that they’ve already got customers using all the bandwidth they have at our CO. Epic fail.

As soon as Sarah gets off her currently ongoing phone call, I’m going to call AT&T and see if I can get DSL service here. Their web site tells me that I can’t, but I have neighbors that have it, so I’m hoping that it’s just a glitch in their system.

Charter has gone offline four times in the past week, for as long as 15 hours. I’m fed up with it.

I sure hope AT&T can hook us up. I’m getting tired of having to deal with outages when I’m trying to get work done.

Please excuse me while I pat myself on the back over this...

Hi Jeff,

I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo
has been selected for inclusion in the newly released
second edition of our Schmap Northwest Guide:

Whidbey Island
http://www.schmap.com/northwest/water/p=302080/i=302080_8.jpg

If you like the guide and have a website, blog or personal
page, then please also check out the customizable
widgetized versions of our Schmap Northwest Guide, complete
with your published photo:

Source: The Healthcare Information Systems Blog

July 11th. I have to wait until July 11th to get my new iPhone. Oh, the humanity!

I want one.

I’m nigh-on giddy with anticipation at the impending WWDC keynote. Less than 12 hours to go now. I expect this is a sure sign of my immense nerdiness, but I don’t care.

I sure hope the rumor that it will be available later this week is true. I’m all set to go!

Working on getting myself packed and ready to head to Toronto. My flight leaves late in the afternoon tomorrow, so I have plenty of time. I’m just one of those people that likes to be ready well in advance.

I’ve got the files I need (I think), expense reports I need to hand in, and most of my personal effects all piled up and ready to load into a bag. I’m really close to having a small enough amount of stuff that I could just put it all in my new laptop backpack — but not quite. Going to need to scrounge up a small enough second bag.