Actually, better than well. I can’t stop talking about this place. Dogs in the office? Awesome. My own lab coat? Awesome. Telephone booths? Awesome. Craft night? Awesome. Eatsy? Delicious. Having one of these in our kitchen? Awesome.

Most importantly, the people? Incredibly smart, talented, hard working and–wait for it–awesome.

Oh wait, I haven’t even talked about the work! How many places are there where you can go from zero to production deploy on day one? Or find yourself the subject of CTO tweet and team leader blog post?

Like I said, I can’t stop talking about this place. The good news? You can experience it for yourself because we’re hiring in NY and SF!

Oh, and we’re going to give it another go with the Mac. Anyone know if those things support sloppy focus yet? Also is spaces anything close to decent yet? (i.e. can you wrap and drag windows amongst spaces?)

the crab preempted me, but here i is, Windows 7 on Fedora 12 via KVM. Although the fedora kids would have you believe the setup is a walk in the park, it actually isn’t. Some things to note:

1. You must have a processor that supports the virtualization instruction set
2. you must enable said instruction set in your computer’s bios
3. the default virtualization lib install only supplies the qemu emulator. this will not work with windows 7. many BSODs await you on this path.
4. Instead, install the kvm emulator packages.

and that’s it! I should also mention that the performance on this thing is pretty sick. I can’t even tell i’m running two operating systems at the same time.

now to see if i can get ie6 running and to hookup some network routing magic.

On the menu:

• empanadas
• Crackers with Fromage d’Affinois and Sarabeth Marmalade
• butternut squash soup
• mashed yams
• corn bread pudding
• brussel sprouts cooked in bacon fat (mel special)
• macaroni cheese (mel special)
• challah stuffing
• bourbon cranberry sauce
• turkey

Other new additions this year included real plates and cups! Maybe next year we’ll have real chairs.

Many thanks to our wonderful guests who provided all the booze and desserts as well as fantastic company for a night of eating and drinking. Also, major props to mel for the mac & cheese and brussels as well as tessa for a wonderful home made apple pie.

As always, we’re looking forward to next year’s dinner. We’re hoping to see all the smiling face of those who could and couldn’t make it this year. With the new job, we might not be trying as many new recipes this year, but i’m sure we can find something interesting to add to the menu.

Finally, many were curious about the infamous spreadsheet, so here it is. Enjoy.

I’m in Sunnyvale this week finishing my last days at the Y Bang. Awkward is the only word that comes to mind right now. Saying goodbye to the people who have supported and shaped my life for the past four years is not something I take lightly, and although I’ve been working remotely for the past year, I’ll still miss my daily interactions with the group.

Deboarding the plane in SJC this past Sunday, I was a bit surprised to be awash in memories of the first days of my return to California and all the decisions that led to this point. I remembered landing in Oakland four years ago filled with excitement and enthusiasm. I think I even raised my hands in victory as I trotted down the stairs and took my first breaths of bay area air as a newly re-minted Californian. There was a lot to be happy about in addition to the sunshine and blue skies. I was tired of new york, I was going to be closer to family, and I had this great new job that blended two things that I really loved–engineering and sports. In hindsight, that moment is going to be hard to beat. But on this particular Sunday, all I could think about was how a lot of the things I was excited about just didn’t pan out–not necessarily in a negative way, but more in a non-expected way. I never thought I’d move back to New York and I certainly never thought I’d leave Yahoo!.

So, here I am. Y! Sports Defender no more. While leaving has it’s down sides, I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead at the new job. I’d like to say a final thank you to all my co-workers at the Y!. It’s been a lot of fun. If any of you are ever in NYC, give a holler. Otherwise, I’ll see you all on the Madden field.

pubes on a site, originally uploaded by attack_gecko.

This blogging hiatus has been interrupted to bring you pubes on a site.

anyway, we’d have loved to stay here, but it turns out that the landlord has other plans for the apartment, so sorry to any kids out there looking to sweep this place up.

moving. again. in july. this is going to suck.

carmen was pretty upset about it. more than a few tears were shed over all the work she put into this place. And the curtains. oh, the curtains.I guess we shouldn’t have really unpacked all my stuff.

i’m trying to look at the bright side. there’s a possibility of moving into a building with fios! plus, who knows, maybe we luck out and find an even better apartment. maybe one that’s off of an avenue so the kids in snv no longer have to hear sirens blaring over the phone all the time.

so, i guess i should wrap this up by asking if anyone knows of an apartment in the east village area with fios. anyone?

anyway, it’s been going pretty well. we’ve been running three times a week. started at 20 minute runs and have worked our way up to 25 minute runs. actually, i should say that we started out with two back-to-back ten minute pieces and have worked our way up to one consecutive 25 minute run. We’ve progressed decently.

Are we where I think we should be after two and a half weeks? not really. I’m impatient, i know. We haven’t quite gotten to doing core work, push-ups, and squats that i’d like to introduce. We haven’t gotten to the stuff that really hurts. I’d love to get there, but i can’t be her trainer.

I can’t be her trainer because trainers need the latitude to make you cry.

Maybe it’s the militant way I was brought up in sports, but the only way i know how to get results is by breaking down the walls of rational thought. Crying is a pretty effective mean to that end. It’s like breaking a horse . . . almost. It doesn’t sound nice, I know. And it’s not that everyone has to cry. It’s more about being able to push them to that point.

The thing is, I know if i do make her cry, i’m the one that’s going to be hurting in the end, and maybe even our relationship will suffer. how much can you love a guy who makes you cry all the time? well . . . i guess she could develop some sort of stockholm syndrome or something.

anyway, the other day, it sorta happened. we got into an argument right before our run and i sorta left her in the dust for a good half a mile as i ran off some anger. eventually i calmed down a bit and realized what i was really doing. suddenly, this image of what she was experiencing, what it was like to see me running further and further away from her, popped into my head and my better nature came through. It wasn’t the sort of crying that you want to see, though. it was the “my boyfriend is a dick” crying instead of the “i’m so tired i’m going to puke” cry.

It also wasn’t a pleasant experience. We usually chat about our day while we run. It was total silence yesterday other than the occasional “watch out for the dog shit” signals. We didn’t talk much the rest of the night either. All-in-all pretty uncomfortable for a while.

We did, however, run a whole lot faster. We got about a minute thirty past our usual halfway point landmark, which means we found three extra minutes in a 25 minute run.

Was it worth it? The irrational in me says yes–it would have taken multiple weeks to reach that pace otherwise. Imagine how fast we could have run if it was the puke-crying! The rational says no–look at the cost! Inner conflict is so lame. We smoothed things out eventually. I think the cornish game hens i cooked up for dinner helped a bit. cooked in bacon fat with pearl onions.

moral of the story: maybe there are other ways to get people to perform, but making them cry sure is effective. and, no, I can’t be your trainer.

sub-moral of the story: i can be a real dick.