A poem I’ve been working on:

I have a painting on my wall of a flaming bush.
Its leaves and branches sear the eye,
painted with the brightest titanium hues
in the artist’s palette.
A man stands nearby, shoes off,
a stricken look upon his worn face.
He has eyes for nothing but this smoldering shrub

which has sundered his life
of muted green and brown and rust.

On an aimless walk through my neighborhood,
I keep an eye on the foliage I pass,
on the off chance that it should suddenly erupt
into lucid light and give my walk direction.
Or perhaps a column of cloud will precede me,
or a post-rain puddle part
as I promenade around the suburbs,
hoping for transcendence,
but ultimately having to be content
with just a bit of exercise.

Later I sit and stare
at the painting again,
and I will the bush
to be something more than
brushstrokes and globs of paint,
to burst the two dimensions of the canvas,
and to manifest there in my living room,
igniting the carpet and maybe some furniture,
and thoroughly frightening the cat.
But a painting it stubbornly remains,
even though I double and triple-check
long after the kids have all gone to bed.

It’s the loveliest time of the year in central Texas. The Mountain Laurel and Redbud had burst into extravagant and fragrant bloom a few weeks back, rendering walks through the neighborhood full of delightful visual and olfactory surprises. Lady Bird Johnson’s legacy of highways seeded with wildflowers has again made itself evident, as the Black-Eyed Susans, Indian Paintbrushes, Indian Blankets, Verbenas, and (most of all) Bluebonnets adorn the hill country roadways. The weather is so wonderful that it feels criminal to be indoors for nearly any reason whatsoever. The prickly pear and magnolia are now presenting the grand blossoms that they have been patiently growing while the eager wildflowers spent their glory.

And I’m stuck inside preparing for tests. Figuring that this would be a great time to add some official credentials to my resume, I signed up for one of Sun’s Java certification exams for Tuesday. Then, somewhat to my surprise, I got another call from the University yesterday, and now have a Thursday interview with the staff there. Being a University, the interview also includes a written test. So, I’m doing my best to be prepared for both tests by digging into my Java and J2EE materials.

One of the positions for which I’m applying, that of a Technical Advisor for a law firm, requires a writing sample as part of the job application. Realizing that most of what I have written and posted on this site might not be directly germane to such a job, I’ve written up a short primer on mesh networking which I plan to submit for this purpose.

If any of you technical and/or writerly types are so inclined and have time, I’d welcome your feedback so that I can hone the piece a bit before submitting it.

So, I don’t really have any idea what this is about, but Jonathan has discovered a Fanta Shokata website, where you can caption groovy little foreign language movie clips. His first volley was this one, followed closely by this. I countered here. Have at you, Jonathan!

I got an email from Microsoft today indicating that they wouldn’t be extending me a job offer.

The Good: While the job looked like it would have for the most part provided a reasonable work/life balance, they do experience periods of “crunch” — a fairly common phenomena in the gaming industry where everyone works extraordinarily long hours, sometimes up to 100 a week, to meet a deadline. This aspect of the job gave me serious qualms, and in retrospect, it appears that I’ve been awfully fortunate to have pretty much avoided it during my time at Origin.

Microsoft also indicated that I interviewed well, and that they’d potentially be interested in me for other positions, though I don’t think they have many in Austin. In spite of being one of the more grueling interviews I’ve been through, they were also some of the best at keeping things friendly and comfortable and treating one as an individual, rather than a faceless supplicant — somewhat of a surprise at a company with that many people.

The Difficult: I have been fortunate/blessed during my career as a programmer to have almost never been through an interview that didn’t result in a job. To have now gone through two fairly extensive interview processes and been passed on for both of them during the past weeks is a humbling and difficult experience, even knowing that’s far more normative than what I’ve experienced in the past. I’ve located a few more positions that I think might be a good fit, but not very many that I’m actually excited about yet.

Fortunately, I’ve a good ways to go before my severance is exhausted, but I’m feeling more and more ready to be working again. While the leisure time is great, it would be easier to relax knowing that there’s a plan for its conclusion.

Though our camera was swiped while at the beach, Scott Wade, friend, drummer and Photoshop jockey, got some good shots of many of the sculptures from this past weekend’s competition. Here are a couple that give a good sense of the size and range of these amazing, ephemeral artworks.

This one for Chris:

Recent research suggests that surgeons who play video games complete their laparoscopic surgeries faster and more accurately than non-game-players. So, when choosing a surgeon, be sure to ask him for references, for his CV, and for his high score roster.

Last Tuesday we dropped by Texas State’s Firehouse Studio to do a bit more recording. From that session comes What She Sees In Me, another tune written by our friend Wilbon Davis. While there are a couple of things about the recording I’m not 100% happy with, it’s a solid job overall, and I’m really glad to have this, one of my favorite Wilbon songs, available for listening.

In order to help us keep a better handle on what the kids are exposed to, as well as to limit the temptation for us adults to plop down in front of something mindless, our TV is only connected to DVD and VHS players — no cable or broadcast television for us. We do enjoy movies a fair bit, however, and have been regular patrons of our local video store. There are two things about that solution, however, that have left us wanting: 1. There are always lots of mainstream titles, but more obscure documentaries or independent releases are tough to come by. 2. Late fees are the bane of our existence.

Enter Netflix. We subscribed with them for a while a couple of years ago, and were generally quite happy with them. Their subscription terms have changed a bit since we were last on board, so that we can only get three movies at a time, instead of four. However, they now have a service center in Austin, which means that turnaround time on movies is typically a day or two, rather than the three to four it used to be. Additionally, they’ve added the feature I most wanted: the ability to make a note of a movie that’s in theaters to be added to your queue when it becomes available on DVD.

So far, I’m quite liking the service, and am glad to have an option that allows us to get around to returning the movies whenever we feel like it. Thanks, Netflix!

This past weekend encompassed two wonderful events: Barry & Catherine‘s wedding, and Texas Sandfest 2004.

The former was held in San Antonio, and was rather remarkable. They had a tremendous number of people turn out to support them as they begin life together. That support was made very concrete during the course of the ceremony, as the officiating pastors opened up the microphone for anyone who cared to come up and speak in support of the couple. The reminisces, prayers, and well-wishing were a wonderful addition to the ceremony. We only got to speak to the couple briefly at the reception afterwards, but they seemed every bit as happy and excited as one would expect. (This may have had something to do with the fact that they’re getting to take a rather extended honeymoon in Thailand — one of the potential advantages of putting off marriage until one is a bit more firmly established in life!) It was also a treat for me to get to see many of the old guard from Trinity Baptist Church, the first institution of that sort I attended willingly. (“Daddy, you know everyone!” was the surprised reaction from my kids.)

Sandfest was even more fun than usual, as Meara came with us this year, both to get a dose of Texas coast life and to help out with the kiddos. We didn’t get to do much actual building this year, as by the time the wedding had (mostly) finished up and we were able to get down to Port Aransas, the awards for the amateur competition were already being distributed. (Our San Marcos Suns acquitted themselves handsomely, as usual.) The band played Saturday night, and we spent the day on Sunday playing in the ocean and building sand edifices at tide’s edge. Liam and Emily both did some body surfing for the first time, and we rented a boogie board on which the kids could perch while Kathy and I raced through the shallows towing them as fast as we could run. The only disappointing aspect of the trip was that our camera vanished while we were on the beach, leaving us bereft of photos for both the beach and the wedding.

Now we’re home and back about the business of schooling, job-hunting, and the raising of children.