I finally got around to fiddling with some code today to get my old weblog content imported here. You can now read all of my posts back to March 2000 if you have nothing better to do. (I assure you, however, you do.)
In other news, today is Abigail’s 11th birthday! Be sure to lavish love, affection, and extravagant gifts upon her if you happen to cross paths.
The Patio Boys, the band with which I play, put on a show last night for the City of San Marcos. We were scheduled to be in the park, but weather forced us indoors and scared away a good portion of the crowd that usually attends these concerts. We had fun anyway, though, as lots of our regular fans showed up along with a pile of kids (23.7% of them mine) who were running, playing, doing handstands and dancing in the back of the room.
The newspaper published a nice article on us yesterday as well. I was, however, chagrined to note that they savaged my biography. Here’s the original I sent them:
Sean McMains was born in Tennessee, but got to Texas as quickly as he could. He grew up in San Antonio, and studied music in New York, for all the good it did him. He’s sung opera, played with Jazz bands, been a member of symphony orchestras, done church music, and participated in Barbershop quartets. He currently works for the University as a computer programmer when he’s not spending time with his wife and four delightful children. He likes piña coladas, getting caught in the rain, is not into yoga, and has half a brain.
If you missed us yesterday, we’re also playing at Cheatham Street Warehouse this Sunday at 4:00pm, so come on out!
We’re currently hiring another web developer for my team at Texas State University. If you’ve got some Java and web application skills, drop in an application! Here’s the Craig’s List ad:
Do you want a great, big salary with a corner window office, free meals and in-chair massages during your work day? Well, you won’t find any of that here at Texas State University — San Marcos. What you will find, however, is a great work/life balance and a creative and interesting work environment. Some of the things you can look forward to:
- A small, dynamic team of programmers who work closely together and love clean, beautiful code. (See the University home page for an example of the work we’re doing.)
- “20 percent time” — programmers have the option to spend 20% of their work time on programming projects of their own choosing.
- Biweekly Coder’s Cafes, technical information sharing sessions over lunch where you can show off your work and see what other folks are up to.
- State-mandated 40 hour/week average work time, with additional vacation and holiday time.
- Comprehensive benefits program.
- The beautiful campus of Texas State University. Take a swim in the river, paddle in a kayak, or walk through the woods at lunch.
- Work in the Alkek Library, a 313,000 square foot facility with excellent audio/visual, government archive, cartography and technical collections, plus a photo gallery with rotating exhibits, a special writer’s collection, and spectacular views of the surrounding city and hill country.
- 30 minutes/day of work time is available for fitness activities.
- Time off work and payment of fees for taking University classes.
- Discounts at the University Bookstore, local businesses, and University athletic and
cultural events.What we’re looking for is someone who knows Java and a scripting language or two, is familiar with web application development, can find her way around a Linux system, is comfortable with object-oriented design, and who has good communication skills.
To see the official job posting and apply for the job, go to Texas State’s job site and search for job posting number 2007405. The job title is Programmer Analyst II, the pay starts at $4,721/month, and the position is open until August 15. You can email me with questions about the job if you like, but don’t send your resume — that has to go to HR through the job site.
NOTE: For legal purposes, the above is a work of fiction. While I personally believe it to all be true, it does not reflect the official position of the University. Please refer to the job posting for that.
This is just a quick shill for Escape Pod, a Science Fiction/Fantasy podcast I recently stumbled across. It broadcasts well-read weekly stories along with a light sprinkling of discussion on top. The stories are of consistently high quality, and feature names such as David Brin, Robert Silverburg and Isaac Asimov which will be immediately familiar to anyone with a passing interest in the genre. New authors also appear, with a whole spate of Hugo Award nominees making a recent run.
If you have an interest in this sort of literature and listen to podcasts, it would be well worth your time to take Escape Pod for a test drive.
P.S. I don’t remember where I came across this podcast. If you tipped me off to it and I’m dissing you by not acknowledging that, let me know and I’ll remedy the oversight!
My boss just put a Red Swingline Stapler on my desk.
If you don’t understand the significance of this, please go watch Office Space immediately.
If you still don’t understand the significance of this, then move along. There’s nothing for you here.