mark.itpimps.com

thanks to the people at smashingmagazine.com, i’m now utilizing a new theme! it’s pretty nice and i’m trying to use some of the newer wordpress features, but there are some quirks. i do say though, i like being able to rotate themes every so often, so i’m glad there are a ton out there for wordpress.

so the DNC is this week and the RNC is next week, and i think i’m still a bit iffy on who i’ll vote for. no matter, as that’s not what i’m here to ponder.

we’re at a time in history when we as a nation can deviate from the status quo and make history: we can elect a non-caucasion male president. the democrats are presenting us an opportunity to do so. heck, they gave us 2! we could have seen the first woman president or the first black president!

now to be fair, we shouldn’t go electing them just to make history. you should make your own decision whether the democratic nominee or the republican nominee fits your views. heck, you might even want to write someone in! point is, i wouldn’t want Barack Obama elected solely on the basis of making history. i think it’s fair enough that either candidate should win based on what people believe they will stand up for.

in lieu of that, i also believe that this may be a very difficult and tumultuous election. i think there may still be enough people out there who are still uncomfortable with people of different ethnicities being a leader… there are still folks who were around when the country was still segregated, and so there may still be lingering attitudes about different ethnicities. at the same time, i think there are a lot of young people who think that instilling change in the presidential office means that they now have a voice that is not overshadowed by their parents’ generation. that requires, of course, for those of my generation to get off our lazy asses and vote (remember Paris Hilton not voting 4 years ago after pimping the Vote or Die campaign?).

and so it seems that this year’s election will mean many things to many people, and i hope to see some record number of voters. there is, however, that small thing called history that we have going against us: typically it’s the older generation that votes and the younger generation stays apathetic. but there is evidence to the contrary, and so i will do my part.

i haven’t decided who i wanted to vote for yet because neither candidate completely supports a few issues that are important to me. if i had my choice, it would’ve been Dr. Ron Paul and Mike Gravel running, but that’s just me. sucks that the GOP pulled that shadiness for the primaries in CA (having to register as Rep in order to vote in their primary), i honestly think there was a large sector of CA that would’ve swayed the majority of the delegate votes to Ron Paul (especially in Orange County and in the Silicon Valley). but, that’s long and gone and we’ll just go with what we got.

i hope the US is ready for change… i hope the young people vote and i hope something wonderful happens when the new pres get’s his act going.

here’s to a new presidential era!

-m

for some reason i keep thinking about stuff that i want to post, but i just never write down any notes or remember when i sit in front of my computer. maybe i should get a moleskine.

i know for sure the one thing i wanted to say was that i am so lucky, and so thankful, for being able to do the things that i can do. it took a lot of hard work, and of course some luck, to have been able to get to where i am in life and to have the kind of things that i do: the people, the job, the friends. the stuff, toys and extras, are kinda nice, but it’s really the deeper things that take the most work to achieve and earn.

every now and again i am reminded that i need to be sure to acknowledge people and the things that have conspired to get me here. thank you for everything!

i think far too often we forget to thank our lucky stars and take in what is around us in this world. most especially, we tend to take things for granted. i think everyone is susceptible to it, but i don’t think everyone recognizes that they do take things for granted until, as the saying goes, those things are gone.

so, please take some time to be thankful for what and who are in your life. remember to stop and acknowledge their presence and impact on your life, remind yourself to do so every once in a while.

thanks and love.

-m

i’m an avid reader of coding horror and the author, Jeff Atwood, is an advocate of programmers (and professionals in general i believe) to not only practice their art, but to write about it as well. so, i thought i’d share some stuff about being an interviewer. note: this is my view and pertains mostly to the IT field, so your mileage may vary

i guess i should preface this by saying that finding someone you want to interview is very tough in and of itself. for me, it seems like 80% of the work really. sifting thru resumes and cover letters and, often, emails with only attachments. i don’t know if there is some sort of predefined etiquette nowadays on applying for jobs thru email (how many jobs are applied for nowadays, especially if the job is posted on craigslist), but this is how i would like to see them:

first off there is the whole notion of cover letters. i believe it is acceptable for the actual content of the email to be your cover letter. if you don’t use it as your cover letter, then attach it, but say something in the email. many emails i received just had the position as the subject (perfectly acceptable), but just left their cover letter and resumes as attachment with no sort of greeting or introduction. just say: Hello Sir/Madam, my name is blah blah and I’m applying for your position. Attached is my cover letter and resume. Thank you.

now onto the cover letter… those are quite tricky really. the cover letter shouldn’t be too long, and it shouldn’t be too short. maybe 3 paragraphs are good enough, and it should be well written! no misspellings please! i would do the following: first paragraph - introduce yourself, say your name, the position you are applying for and maybe how you found the posting. second paragraph - say why you feel you are qualified for the position. reference some of your past experience (or schooling, if you’re new to the field). last paragraph - summarize! remind the reader that what you wrote shows that you fit the position. and for kicks, i would say that it’s a good idea to thank the reader for taking the time to read the cover letter AND consider the resume.

so now the good stuff: the resume. i’m not really going to say much here other than the following - do a google search on building and refining a resume. there should be more than enough information out there to help you get a decent-looking resume. have your peers look at it and give feedback. and for godssake, PLEASE NO TYPOS. typo = didn’t take enough time to carefully prepare it.

make sure that when you send your email, that you have your resume (and optionally your cover letter) attached, and note what format the resume is in.

no here’s the scenario: i’ve READ your email, LOOKED at your cover letter, and GLANCED at your resume. see what i’ve done? at each point i’m paying less and less attention, but still enough to notice your mistakes. please be careful with those things.

so let’s say i want to bring you in for an interview. great! some places have time to give you a phone call, i typically don’t so i’ll send an email. try and respond quickly, the same day if possible even if it’s later in the evening. make sure you have directions and a phone number to call just in case. show up 10-15 minutes early. and, make sure you know what you have applied for and are prepared to be asked questions pertaining to skills required for the position. make sure you have questions to ask. be nice, relax, be honest, and don’t BS. i much rather a person say “I don’t know” than try to fumble thru a question i’ve given.

ok, so that is my advice so far. now for some insight from the round of interviews we’ve done in the last few months.

it’s very different interviewing people for a programmer position than it is for a systems position. maybe it’s because i don’t really know the kind of questions to ask a systems person, as i’ve never interviewed for a systems position before. so it’s more difficult for me to figure out whether a person would be well-suited for the systems position than to figure out whether a person is good for the programming position.

kimmel holds this notion that you can tell if you’ll want a person within the first handful of seconds in the interview. i was skeptical at first, but after going through a good number, i think his notion does hold true, at least for us.

in our interviews i am usually the one asking the technical questions. i like to start off with a programming problem that’s pretty basic: a simple loop, some control statements (if/else), and some basic math. i don’t even require it to be in any specific language, and i usually give the option of pseudo-code or even just writing out the steps in an ordered list. this is usually the deal breaker for me because it’s an easy problem that should not baffle any decent programmer. i am often worried about how i phrase this question to candidates, and i’m not sure if the low passing rate on this problem is due to my inability to ask the question clearly, or the candidates inability to solve the problem. very few people ask any sort of question for clarification, so i tend to think the latter. additionally, very few people take the option to pseudo-code it.

if you haven’t gotten close to the answer, then i’ll usually just throw some other easy questions out for the heck of it. i try to give the benefit of the doubt and give another chance on the follow-up questions, but, usually, i’ve already decided i’ve had enough. i’ll then just run thru the normal set of questions i ask everyone, not trying to dig deeper. then we’ll end the interview soon after.

now, this has worked really well for interviewing the programmers. the systems folks, all i can really do is try to judge their skills by what they tell me they’ve done. i also like to ask them the programming question, as it shows me that that person can describe the steps to solving an issue we might have with the systems (or, alternatively, describing data flows in the network, interconnectivity with systems, etc). but still, interviewing systems people has been super tough regardless.

from there it’s pretty easy to make a decision on whether we want you or not. kimmel and i are usually pretty good about letting people know about our decisions, but some other companies aren’t so be aware.

i guess i didn’t really cover what i usually look for in a candidate huh? first off, they need to cover the requisites for the position. second, they have to show interest in the position and the company. third, both kimmel and i like to make sure the person will fit in with the team. we have a very eclectic team, and we all hold super high standards about each other, so it’s important we get someone who fits in well.

so that is my experience as an interviewer thus far. i’m sure this whole thing will get refined as i go further in my career, but for now this is how i see it. if anyone has questions, feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email.

-m

in last couple of weeks i’ve hung out with various friends from different parts of my life. a couple weekends ago iris and i were hanging out in hermosa with some of her friends from college. last weekend i spent some time with some friends from both high school and college. during these outings, i took a few moments to sit back and watch, see how everyone interacted with one another. and in my observances, i kept asking myself: do we inherently have different “levels” of friends? what qualifies a friend? is “someone you know” a friend? is an acquaintance a friend? and is it fair for us to categorize our friends?

i honestly think that we as humans find the need to classify things. it’s easy to see: biology class and our classification of living things. the periodic table. the menu at mcdonald’s. grocery aisles. we seem to be drawn to classifications. so, it wouldn’t strike me to think that people do classify their friends… high school friends, college friends, work friends, family friends. at what cost do we classify these people in our lives and what happens when people mix?

i may be using the incorrect word here. maybe i’m thinking about “labeling” our friends instead of classifying them. like our best friend. how does one earn that label “best friend”? and is there a “worst friend”? how do you earn (or give to someone) this “label”?

this ties in to the notion of “levels” of friends. if someone (or some people) are not your “best friend(s)”, then are they just “friends”? is there some sort of level or criteria that is somehow reached or fulfilled to be “best”? are there people who you might call a friend, but are at a level “lower” than “friend”?

it’s tough to answer any of these questions really, because it really makes you take a look at yourself both how you see you and how you are reflected in the friends that you have. i am a believer in the saying that “you are your friends,” and i think it takes a lot of observation and reflection to look at the people you consider friends and see that part of “you” in them. in contrast, maybe that is why we lose touch and stop being friends with people: maybe we grow or change and we no longer see that part that we “are” in that person anymore.

friendship is one of those concepts that people have struggled to understand and has been deeply philosophically examined through the centuries. i don’t think we’ll ever have a true definition of friendship and i think the struggle of who is and who is not a friend is part of discovering the meaning of life. so, while the modern dictionaries may call upon a group of people to agree on a meaning for the word “friend” (that’s typically how definitions are put in dictionaries if you didn’t know), the words of Aristotle have always been the closest definition for me:

what is a friend? a single soul dwelling in two bodies

thank you to all my friends!

-m

lately i’ve been going gaga over some really, really techy and nerdy stuff… mainly, stuff to do with powering all of my gadgets and keeping an eye on my power usage.

i have been waiting for the belkin conserve to come out ever since i saw it in Wired a few months back. i really want to be able to hook up all of the components at my desk and turn them all off when i turn off my computer… stuff like my speakers don’t have a power switch, and i don’t really want to reach down each time to power on/off my printer. that would be a helpful tool. (it comes out sometime this summer btw).

i also really want to get a belkin mini surge for traveling. the helpful thing is the usb port for charging my iPod and BlackBerry (or iPhone if i decide to upgrade!). it’s small, easy to carry, and is perfect for hotel rooms.

the last power-related item i’m looking for is the kill-a-watt. i’d like to see which of my gadgets is drawing the most juice so i could be more diligent in turning them off.

god, i can be such a geek sometimes. but i love it!

-m

p.s. my birthday is coming, so in case anyone wants to know what i’m looking for… haha!

if you want to see simplicity at work, look no further than muxtape. well done, easy to navigate, and very effective.

let’s keep it simple, stupid!

-m

bonus: check out their hip hop mixtape: hiphop.muxtape.com

…is merely the sign of a very healthy individual trying to do more in a shorter period of time than those lazy, obsessively tidy types who can think of nothing better to do than straighten objects in drawers and stuff like that which only feeds on their own egos and makes them think they’re better than those of us who are truly gifted.

My dad gave me a paper with that definition on it when i was like 10. i’ve believed in it ever since. thanks pop!

-m

finding a huge group of files in the current directory older than 30 days and sending them to a gzip’d tar file:
find . -type f -daystart -mtime +30 -name "file*" | tar -c --files-from=- | gzip > file.tar.gz

finding a group of files and deleting them (useful when you can’t do an rm * on a directory because there are a boatload of files in that dir):
find . -exec rm {} \;

helpful, so i thought i’d post them.

-m

so i wrote this on a server today hoping to kill off a bunch of duplicated processes that were locked up… as the title states, it worked the first time! i think this will work in most linux distros that have the -ef flag for the ps command:

ps -ef | grep -v grep | grep [runaway process]| awk ‘{print $2}’ | xargs kill -9

in a nutshell, it prints out the process id from the ps command and uses xargs to pipe it to the kill process.

whew! it saved me a ton of typing, so i thought i’d share.

-m

so it’s been a while and there were just a few things that i kept telling myself “dangit i need to write this down”… so here i go!

iris and i went to washington d.c. for the cherry blossom festival a few weeks ago… we toured the capital like most tourists, but we’ve been there a few times already, so we were really just catching up on stuff we hadn’t seen yet… there was a bit of a moment i had where, when we were walking thru the Roosevelt memorial, i said to myself: i wonder why we haven’t had presidents like these, who had convictions like these, in a long while?

unfortunately it doesn’t look like 2008 will bring us one, no matter who wins =/

i’ve finally gotten around to building a new computer… i was telling pip today that it’s been almost a decade since the last time i actually put one together myself. the reality of it is, building a computer hasn’t changed much really, but the amount of options that are out there is crazy… there are too many socket types and chipsets and ram types to keep track of nowadays, but a good guide like the ones that are published at ars technica can help… i used the hot rod guide, but with a few modifications to save on the final cost… it’s such a joy, i can’t believe how much fun i’m actually having building it! the sucky part is having to clean the desk to make room for the new comp, AND to back up my old data (most of which i probably will not even bother to use, so i’ll end up deleting anyway)…

finally, the second half of thrice’s the alchemy index came out this week, and i am enjoying it very much. the second half encompasses the elements air and earth. i still think that the first half, the fire and water albums, are a bit stronger, but as a whole the entire set is magnificent. in this set i have been enjoying the earth disc more, but air has some great tracks as well. their lyrics are very profound and i love how the last song is kind of macabre, yet hopeful and simulates someone (or something) being buried. if you listen to their entire discography, you can see their evolution as artists and it’s amazing. go check them out!

so that’s all for now really… pip and i are trying to work out a new schedule and format for 8bit Ideas, and we have a new logo in the works which is being designed by a great friend of mine at seeing spots. please check out their work!

-m