A friend's cousin is entry

A friend's cousin is entry #4 on this contest, to win $1,600 ring and propose to his girlfriend at a Rams game. So, if you've got a second, drop by this link and vote for #4.

I started my new job

I started my new job today, which means I didn't do much. I spent most of this morning meeting new people and setting up my fancy new 3.2Ghz Dell Optiplex GX270. It's fast, damned fast. This afternoon, I started setting up my Red Hat 9 box, but didn't get it finished before I had to go solve some problems at my "old" job that I'm still working quarter time. I'm also going to be getting a Sun Blade 100 workstation, on which I'll learn Solaris. So far, it's been smooth sailing, though I'm sure the real problems will start soon enough.

Not one, but TWO tiger

Not one, but TWO tiger mauling stories in the news in one day? Roy, as in Siegfriend & Roy, was mauled on stage in Vegas last night, and another man was mauled in Harlem, apparently by the 300-pound tiger he'd decided to raise in his apartment. Maybe people should just stick to owning cats of the domesticated variety.

My job posting is now

My job posting is now online. If anyone is looking for a good IT job in the academic world, here it is. I'm not on the search committee, so please, don't send your resume to me, follow the instructions on the link. Don't constitute this as an official statement, it's not, but I'm guessing the salary range for the position will be in the $35,000-$40,000 range (I wish they'd post that info with the job). So if you're looking for more money than that, don't bother applying. Also, if you don't have a 4 year degree, save a tree and keep your resume to yourself, they take those requirements seriously in academia. Ideally, in my opinion, the candidate should have an outgoing personality, knowledge of Windows servers and Microsoft Active Directory (especially Group Policy) and experience providing PC tech support. Also, some basic Netware knowledge is required, but really all you need to know how to do is install the client and connect to a shared printer, which is trivial to learn.

I found it appropriate that

I found it appropriate that this entry was on Roger Ebert's site today when I read it, since it's my last full-time day in this job:

Ebert's little movie glossary

Solo Cardboard Box Rule: When movie characters are fired or quit their jobs, they must walk out with all of their belongings stuffed into a single cardboard box, regardless of how long they've been working there. See Kevin Kline in "The Emperors Club" or Cuba Gooding Jr. in "The Fighting Temptations."

-Alex MacDoNnell, Toronto

Alas, all of my stuff doesn't fit in one box.