Month: June 2004

  I couldn’t sleep last night, so around 2 AM I posted new pictures of the Barnson family. Figured you might get a kick out of seeing the whole clan. So there ya go.

We did the photo shoot in the Oquirrh mountains east of Tooele, UT. There are some beautiful spots within easy driving distance of our house; a pity we don’t visit them more often. These are a few samples; more good ones (including close-ups of the kids) are in the photo album.

The weather was clear and warm, with a light breeze. The principal concern of the children was that the very large termites, on the “log” shots, not get on them. They’re a bit squeamish about bugs — gotta work on that. Afterwards we bought barbecue pork and beef sandwiches from a new roadside stand on main street along with our photographer, Verlene Sedgewick. Verlene is an old friend of Christy’s, and an amateur photographer who does surprisingly fine work.

EDIT by matthew: Experiencing weirdness with my photo gallery software, fixed all photo links to just go to the album instead of individual photos.

Kander & Ebb once said, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere – it’s up to you, New York, New York.”

Well, I couldn’t make it there, so screw it, I’m going home. 🙂

On June 30th, Dani, Joey, and I will be moving back to Maryland. Dani’s been out of work for 3 months now (laid off), and her severance package is running out, and we decided to be proactive rather than wait until we start digging into savings.

We’ll be staying with my mother for a little while, in order to live rent-free and put a little money in the bank, and then we’ll start looking for a house, probably in the Howard County/Columbia area. I’m try to transfer to the DC office of my firm (luckily there’s a position available), and Dani’s got an interview today in Bethesda. With any luck, I’ll be able to get into Georgetown Law.

I feel like this is a really good decision for us. Since I stopped pursuing opera as a career, we’re in a position where we’re no longer tied to the New York area like we used to be. We’ve got more and better quality options for day care for Joey, and our money will go much farther towards a home down there. Plus, having a whole set of free babysitters nearby won’t hurt.

We’re looking forward to getting to know Maryland all over again, as adults. It’s been six years, and we’re ready. NYC, for all its excitement, can be a tiring, dirty city, and we’re looking forward to getting a break.

So, you’ll all know where to find me when it comes time for the Wayward Sun Reunion Tour. More details when they become available.

Although I’ve moved 11 times since 1991, I have never moved into a house as an owner.

Any suggestions for the move? Tips and advice from those that have something to share? Greatly appreciated.

Sam

So I’m facing unemployment again (my last day on my current contract is July 2). Anybody know of a place needing a good UNIX administrator?

We’re even considering relocation this time! Christy told me, “if it comes down to a choice of you taking a job out of state, or being unemployed for an extended period of time, I’d rather move than be unemployed.”

So, if you’re aware of anybody looking for a UNIX admin with light programming experience in Perl, shell, and Python, have them check out my resume on this site. I also do SANS, Windows (in moderation), and when it comes to Internet infrastructure, that’s one of my specialties. I particularly love work with Apache web server and acceleration/load-balancing techniques.

In fact, if any of you are game, I’d love snail-mails of newspaper clippings from want ads, or links to relevant online want ads in region-specific papers. For the first time in seven years, I bought a Sunday Deseret News yesterday to look at their diminutive Computer jobs column. Who knows what will come next?

Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban is good!

Okay.. thats what you wanted to hear.. here’s why – spoiler free.

I didn’t care much for the last Harry Potter movie, and I mildly liked the first.. but I thought they were both well, perfunctory.. like they were just casually going from scene to scene in the book with no sense of urgency, artistry, or emotion. Sure, they were fun, but not a lot of substance.

Of course, I also feel that about the first two Harry Potter books.

This movie, like the third book, is richer, more emotional, darker, more complex, more interesting, and just, well, leaps and bounds better than the last two movies.

Cinematography? Beautiful.. and we spend a good amount of time off the school campus and on the outlying grounds.. and it is shot beautifully.. but notably, the mood is set by a sort of permanent storminess that echoes the tone of the story.

Acting? Again, much better. I didn’t like Harry’s performance in the last movie, and really, really hated Malfoy’s performance.. they were both kind of wooden. This time around, all the performances are solid (including Malfoy and Harry), with exceptional performances by Hermione, and Michael Gambon (making his debut) as Dumbledore. Oh yeah.. Snape rules my world. (Thrreee Hunndred Ninnety Fooor)

Music.. better too, darker.. like John Williams has decided to channel Danny Elfman. Effects? Top notch, finally, I believe the quidditch match.. it doesn’t seem fake at all.

Screenplay – This is where the movie really shines. It takes slight cuts from the books, and instead makes you really care about Harry’s plight..

So, yeah.. if you’re a fan go see it right now before you do anything else.. if not, you might be a little confused.. but see it for the very cool cinematography and for Alan Rickman, who, again, rocks out.

I started to think about having kids last weekend. And I realized that the reason for having kids is basically to force them into a career track with high potential for earning a lot of money so that I can retire earlier than I would if the kid had failed in life by ending up a bum like me.

The NFL league minimum is $760,000.

My theory is to cut the umbilical cord, put Sammy G, Jr. behind a tee, and to start kicking field goals. How many kids grow up wanting to be a field goal kicker? Low competition, low injury rate, high pay. Gary Anderson has been in the league for over 20 years, still kicking field goals.

All my kid has to do is start practicing early in life, for at least an hour a day. Who else grows up wanting to be a field goal kicker? This is a position for which no one has to even be in shape. Slim competition to make it to the big leagues if you start them early enough. Walk on the field, kick the ball 50 yards straight, walk off the field, collect paycheck, give half of it to Dad.

What if we started a field goal kicker’s clinic? DUDE. We get Caleb, Joey and G Jr. to start working out at our own summer clinic. Show people the amazing results: here’s how your kid can become a wealthy dynamo and set you on your way to early retirement. What do you need to start a clinic anyway? Field, ball, goal posts, leg machine. Check.

Unless I’m missing other high wealth careers that would be easier to get kids into?

Get In Groove, Sammy G

Note: The articles linked below do not necessarily reflect my opinions, but they presented some interesting statistics for me to contemplate. If you, dear reader, regard the Bible as the moral basis of Western civilization, you may strongly disagree with the positions presented in the articles to which I’ve linked (and, in fact, may be offended at their content). However, I’d encourage you to correct inaccuracies if they exist, rather than shoot the messenger 🙂

I came across an interesting statistic regarding the numbers of various religious types in prison, and this statistic contrasted with the likelihood of an atheist being incarcerated.

The article suggests than an atheist is forty times less likely to be incarcerated than a Christian, but caveats:

We should not read too much into this large number, however, since it is influenced by many factors. One consideration is that atheism is positively correlated to such things as educational attainment, higher scores on intelligence and achievement tests, and higher income, while crime is negatively correlated with these things.

A follow-up article also shows how the statistic was derived:

The number 40 was calculated from the following data: 1) atheists make up 0.209% of the US prison population, and 2) atheists make up 8-16% of the general US population. (The referenced Holysmoke article did not say why there was such a large range for the percentage of atheists in the general population, but it probably has to do with how the question was asked. A survey that asks “Are you an atheist?” will give very different results from a survey that asks “Do you believe in a conscious being that created the universe and that listens to our prayers?”)

Using the lower figure of 8%, the fraction of atheists that are in prison is (0.00209 N)/(0.08 M), where N is the number of prisoners and M is the number of people in the general population. Similarly, the fraction of theists that are in prison is ((1-0.00209) N)/((1-0.08) M). The desired result is the ratio of these numbers, which is about 42. If we had used the mean value of 12% for the percentage of atheists in the general population, we would have found that theists are about 65 times more likely than atheists to end up in prison.

Do you think this relationship is just chance, a misreading of statistics, or possibly a misrepresentation? Or, could it be that education, intelligence, and higher income are a more sure indication of avoidance of a life of crime than any other factors — including religion?

Nancy Reagan is a famous and respected First Lady, who popularized the phrase “Just Say No” in speeches, television and radio commercials, and individual meetings with teenagers across the US. These days, the phrase has become a cliche, used for campaigns against Microsoft, environmental waste, and pretty much anything a group wants people to boycott. Prominent politicians in the US, and particularly in my state of Utah, are echoing this refrain in campaigns to focus on abstinence, rather than “safe sex”, in sex education in public schools across the nation.

A Swedish aid organization, attempting to quell that country’s rising incidence of sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy, has begun a campaign to distribute condoms cheaply, directly to the doors of amorous couples this summer. That’s right: a large van, replete with a giant condom-with-wings logo painted on the side, will drive to doorsteps on request to deliver prophylactics between 4 and 9 PM.

Do you think this has a chance of stemming the rise of STD’s and preventing teen preganancy in the three major cities where vans will be operating, or will the shame of having a large condom-decorated vehicle arrive at one’s house prevent usage of the service? Think it will have the intended effect, or be ignored?