Robert Hall

One of the nicer office cube alternative arrangements I saw was back in '99 at the then-new Broomfield, Co campus of Sun Microsystems when I interviewed w/ them..they had small offices for all developers w/ sliding glass doors on each office and a glass wall, and two solid walls. I almost took a job w/ them as a sales engineer, but it was 100% travel. Back in '98 I interviewed at Object Space in Addison, Tx and never forget what one of the devs said to me..I asked him where are the cubicles--everyone was in offices--and he said it would be inhumane to put engineers in cubicles' or something like that...got an offer, didn't like what I saw of the Dallas area, too flat compared to Colorado.

I have thought about shopping for used office furniture and building a cubicle in my home office. I do have a name tag. (only semi-serious)

Always liked the C-pillar shape and rear quarter window shape on those...the 4dr did a good job of keeping the same roofline and pillar shape. There is a silver GTP coupe of that era I see at the grocery occasionally...paint is shiny, but lots of rust on the doors are rear quarters. Also see a rusty white early 90s GXP coupe at the same grocery occasionally also, wonder if it's the same person.

Some cube environments are better than others. Some people elaborately decorate their cubicles, make them a home away from home I guess. When I worked in a cube before, I kept mine minimal, never knew when I'd have to pack up in 30 seconds and run. (per one of my favorite movie quotes--"Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner" I hate the open plan style offices, where I sit in a row a foot from other people w/ no divider. I've had a few windows cubes in the past, some with a view of a parking lot and a couple that were up high (3rd and 8th floors) w/ mountain views. I did have a private office for a few months early in my career, that was nice..had a view of Pikes Peak.

I don’t miss the fluorescent lights and beige cloth covered walls. I do sometimes miss the team lunches and team happy hours. Working out of the house, a free-range software engineer, a man without a cube.

Virtual racing, becoming more and more wide spread. (maybe car makers can have virtual test drives and virtual track days)

I like the dash, though the screen seems an afterthought stuck on top of the dash. Odd steering wheel. i like the horizontal light pipes on the headlights and taillights...a distinctive detail. The profile is clean, the 6 window fastback reminiscent of the A7 and others..

Peri Peri Biltong (my favorite flavor and style of jerky-type product)

I went to my grocery to pick up my curbside order (did the proper social distancing and didn't get out of my Jeep, glad I have a power hatch)..very little traffic on the streets, but I did see a new C8..in red. First I'd seen on the road, looked great on a gloomy wintry looking spring day.

After almost 3 years of doing WFH full time, I'd find it difficult going back to cube life. At some point, though, I probably will, down the road..a cube somewhere out there...will be interesting to see how things in IT and office work in general evolve once things 'return to normal' in 6-18 months or whenever...

Today is such a Monday at work. Most of the people I work with in the Scottsdale and Tampa offices are WFH, but our data center in Miami had a major hardware failure and all our DEV/QA/PROD systems and servers are down--internal and external systems. Email, MS Teams, and the VPN and my VM are still working as they are in the Scottsdale office. Also the A/C is out in the Scottsdale office.

A great 80s pop song w/ an apocalyptic video..love this song.

My Dad was born in 1921, spent WWII in the US Army Air Corps stationed at Miami Army Airfield..spent the war there and in the Caribbean, stayed in until '46, then went to the U of Kentucky on the GI Bill for college and grad school. He worked in an airplane factory in Baltimore before the war (Martin?). Very handy guy, could do anything w/ tools it seemed....furnace installations, roofing, framing and sheetrock, etc. I learned how to dig and install septic tanks, paint a barn, remove an engine, bleed brakes... though I haven't had to use those skills because at an early age I really wanted to be an academic (which led to my long time in grad school and career in IT). I dug so many ditches as a kid...'family drainage projects'. And so much mowing (6 acres out of 150 were usually treated as lawn).

1960.

I've ridden the funiculars in Pittsburgh and this one from Como to Brunate in Italy.

Neat funicular. Couldn't imagine something like that in Iowa..

Had heavy rain last night and this morning.... windy, sunny and 70 now..sitting out on the patio...chillin'. Going to grille some steaks later. Have a glass of wine or a few. Pretend everything is normal...

38k for a 3cyl econobox. Insane times.

Time has a way of doing that. Some people look barely older after 30+ years, some unrecognizable. And looking at my yearbooks, those 80s hairstyles and fashions...

I miss my high school..it was a campus w/ about 10 single-story buildings in Marathon, Florida..had it's own beach on the Atlantic. I think the buildings dated from the 30s, no heat, no A/C, just jalousie windows open w/ the ocean breeze blowing through. In the 90s it was razed and replaced w/ a modern hurricane-proof monstrosity, all locked down w/ gates and looking like a prison rather than a school

I'm sure they hung around a long time..my elementary school dated from around 1900, had a lot of old furniture when I was there in the late 70s. Alas, it was torn down for building a new school in the early 00s. Alas, every school I went to from kindergarten through high school no longer exists..all been torn down and replaced with modern prison-style schools.

Now that the weather is getting springy, I'm doing a few projects around the house and outside. Installed kick plates on the lower part of the door leading to the basement (the dogs have eaten away large parts of the wood). A temporary fix until I replace the door w/ a steel one. The screen door on the side entrance to my garage opens very roughly, something wrong about the aluminum door frame and how it meets the door..too tight. Removed the frame side, redrilled the mounting holes to move it further from the opening by maybe 1/2 inch.need to reshape it or file some on the edge of the door so they don't bind when the door is shut tightly. Got some mulch, top soil, fertilizer and grass seed to work on building up a low spot in the yard and re-seed some bare spots...working on ideas for places to plant additional trees... If I could be 1/10th as good of a handyman my Dad was, I'd be happy..he was so good with all sorts of tools and had a lot of common sense and practical skills..he could bleed brakes, set timing, do bodywork, install bathrooms, rewire a house, bee keeping, planting orchards, etc all while being a school administrator. . working w/ tools and stuff is still pretty unnatural to me.

I remember using that style of desk in elementary school in the late 70s. Same details.

I have done that on occasion...let a professional do it, though.

My bald head is low maintenance...I run clippers over it periodically.