“But yes, she did steal my high school sweetheart.”

broderic on September 17, 2005

Dreams. Man, I wish they could be real. But I guess that’s why they’re dreams.

Tossing and turning this morning. I had one that was so life-like it was not even funny, and like the majority of them I wish it were real.

It starts in a physics class in the University of Miami. I am taking it with the girl who’s become an icon to me, I. She is the first girl I have had a crush on, and probably the first girl who retruned the feelings back. She drives plenty of my feelings on what a girl should be like. She was smart, the smartest in grade school. She wore glasses. She was blonde, blue eyed. I was able to talk to her. We were friends throughout grade school. I often wonder where she is now. I think this dream comes from the depths of my psyche looking for her…

First day of class, I am amazed that after 20 years we end up in the same class. She does as well. I try to act cool and not think about the implications. Class is taught. I get the first homework assignment. I finish it up.

Next class is a movie presentation or at least looks like it will be one because the seats are like a movie theatre. She sits in front. I sit down next to her perusing my homework smiling at her. The professor comes in and gets ready to lecture. I., she turns my way and we converse. Small talk. Inane banter. Yet, out of the blue she says, “What happened between us?” She was referring to a point in grade school where I liked her, she knew I liked her, but I never had the balls to express that to her. Plus, she also had a feeling there, too. Like a moment, which passed, and we both never made the connection. Perhaps, I was in the friend zone…

“What happened between us?” I go cold at those words. They were why I sat next to her. I wanted to make the move, and yet, she says them. I don’t remember what I said but they were to the effect that I don’t know. She goes onto say that we had something. That there could’ve been a there there. Then she explains her end, “Kimmie, (one of her grade school girlfriends) said you weren’t interested in me. She said to move on.”

My heart breaks upon hearing this. The feelings I had for her come swelling to the surface. I am speechless. She did like me! At the time, I should’ve said something! It could’ve been…

The professor begins his lecture.

I say with anticipation, “Can we talk about this after class?” She nods. We listen to the lecture. The class poses and answers some questions. I look at her and she at me. I think of everything I want to say. I can’t wait for the class to end to find out the big reason why we never were.

I wake up wishing for the answer. It has been 20 years since I have seen I. I occasionalyl have dreams of her. I would like to know how she is doing. I wish that we would meet cute. I think that that too is a dream.

“Steven Seagal? That fat fraud is a disgrace to the martial arts.”

broderic on September 14, 2005

Transporter 2. Not as bad as it would’ve been. It was the best comedy of the fall. Unfortunately it wasn’t supposed to be. There were a lot of unbelievable things happening in this movie. And you’ve seen them all in the commercial. Except for the way he disarmed a bomb with a hook, a wooden bridge, and an Audi. If you saw Diamonds Are Forever you’ll know the stunt.

Jason Statham is being considered as the new Bond. That would not be such a good idea. He should be the new Seagal.

3 of 5 stars.

“Guess how many pieces of gum Beth chewed last year. “

broderic on September 14, 2005

In September school starts. This semester I am only taking one class, CS780 Software Reliability and Testing. I’ll be posting some notes about the class and some homework here. Join in the discussion to help me get an A.

First up is an assignment about DSC Communication Corp. and problems with telephony code.

Notes on the paper, “Testing Time Cut on Software Linked to Phone Outages.” Balt. Sun , Leslie Cauley:

  • They took the risk that they didn’t need to test the changes. What risk management did they have in place? What processes and procedures allowed them to accept the changes?

  • Would the changes have been caught in the first place? Did they have tests to catch this type of problem? Did they have regression testing? Would their test plan have caught this issue?

  • It was rather costly issue: 200 engineers on a bug hung!

  • How old is the system in use?

  • There was a mention of the regulation of the industry prevented them from acting quickly to identify the problem. Why is that an issue? Can’t the Bells ask for better testing from their suppliers? Insist on it in their contracts?

Links to more information:

  1. comp.risks digest forum post about the root cause.

  2. A Google Search for any information about this problem.

  3. More about the liability issues facing the company.

  4. More about the problem

If you have any help, please post it in comments.

“Sir, Siskel and Ebert are two people.”

broderic on September 11, 2005

The latest DVD that I bought was the full run of Undeclared. It’s another TV show on DVD that I like. I found it hilarious. Seth Rogan rocks. It is seventeen 30 minute episodes of hilarity.

Unfortunately, I can’t see the last three. The third DVD of the set doesn’t load on my DVD player or TiBook. I think the DVD is blank. I get error 13! How do you exchange these things anyhow? O well.

I recommend the show highly. It would’ve been the second TV show DVD that I watched all episodes of. Following in the grand tradition of News Radio.

“I wanted a house just like Xanadu, but without a dorky name.”

broderic on September 9, 2005

I am really getting lazy with my movie reviews. Here’s a quick roound up of the last few I saw.

40 Year Old Virgin – 3 of 5 stars. Could’ve been 20 minutes shorter seems to be the running complaint this summer. Don’t see it with your mom. Even if you’ve been laid it will make you feel like your the titular character.

The Constant Gardner – 3 of 5 stars. A challenging movie for the summer. First, the accents where somewhat hard to decipher that it made it hard to catch some of the plot points. Are they speaking in English?

Red Eye – 3 of 5 stars. Sweet 90 minute movie! Not enough of Rachel McAdams running. The script writes itself — See these people. They’ll be part of the plot soon. Yadda. Yadda. Yadda.

“You see, it’s like the old saying, ‘Everybody loves a cane.'”

broderic on September 8, 2005

A couple months ago, there was a dustup between Nike Skateboarding and Minor Threat over the former appropriating the image from the seminal Minor Threat album cover for their summer tour. I really want to go on a rant about this, but don’t have the time to. I think that Jason Kottke was right in calling it an homage.

I remember about 15 years ago that the rage in skateboarding graphics was copying a well known logo and transforming it into a skateboard manufacturer logo. The best was the NBA logo of red, white and blue lay up guy transformed into a skater doing a kickflip. These were all tweaking of the establishment. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

I remember about 20 years ago that my favorite pair of skate shoes were the black and red Air Jordans. Still the best after all these years. Nike was a part of skate culture a long way back. I can still recall a cover of Thrasher with Jesse Martinez kicking out a big judo air in a pair of Air Jordan’s.