Feeling better about work

I'm feeling a lot better about zero1, now. Steve looks like he's getting his act together again. There are still a few "pie in the sky" moments in his longer range plans, but overall I think it'll work out. I just need to be patient. I'm still a little annoyed over his treatment of minions, but now that I understand his rationale (and just how cranky he was in general today!), I'm a bit more hopeful - and feeling less guilty!

Had an interesting fight with SQL Server today. Apparently, trying to drop 60,000+ items into a single, serialized transaction was really stupid. I knew that - but did it anyway, probably because I wasn't thinking straight. Oddly enough, SQL Server isn't exactly responsive when you do that to it! Still, the baseline Horizons billing code works without it - so I think all will be well for my meeting tomorrow. I hate meetings.
Mood: thankful
Music: New Model Army - No Pain

Sweet!

I happened upon something really cool, thanks to a side issue on Slashdot. I've been running Nvidia drivers on both my MythTV and main desktop system for a while, and they've been plenty fast enough for normal use... well, it turns out I wasn't even using their accelerated features, just the fact that they are fast cards. Adding the line option "RenderAccel" "true" to the Nvidia section of my XF86Config has made my system positively zoomy. Yay! MythTV is better for it, too.
Mood: happy
Music: Queen - Long Away

Ugh

August's campaign blackout has hurt Kerry. Following the Republican National Convention hoopla, my calculations show Bush winning by 1-3 states based on an average of polling data. Not good. Kerry needs to get out and really hit on the issues that he's strong on (and Bush is weak on): the economy, jobs, education. With record job-destruction, surely there are enough people upset at the current economic climate to think about that for an election?

As an aside, Nader isn't having as much of an effect this time... but his 1-2% is enough to lose Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin for Kerry. So, if you read my blog and were thinking of voting for Nader - DON'T, unless you want four more years of King George.

I happen to think that the US needs a third party, but the only way to achieve a credible third-party alternative is not to try and go straight for the "gold" of President. Build up a local base, win local elections. Then win state elections. Then win some congressional/senatorial seats. THEN think about the gold standard. Patience is a real virtue when it comes to the emergence of third parties. Just witness Labour in England, or the current liberals in Canada.
Mood: thoughtful
Music: New Model Army - You Weren't There