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Paul's Journal

paul
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10/15/2011 17:37 #55312

Matt and I In Photobooth
Category: photos
I found these cute pics of (e:matthew), the sugar glider and I from July of 2007. It was so tiny then. Maybe it was one of the babies.

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And then we went for the lenses
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lilho - 10/18/11 01:16
the first one is so scary. i like the way the last one captures our unique features.
metalpeter - 10/16/11 09:12
They where pretty cool but a bit freaky as well.... Hope they have a lot of space to glide through....
paul - 10/15/11 17:46
Matt found a woman to take them on craigslist.
tinypliny - 10/15/11 17:42
Who took the sugar gliders in the end? Did you donate them to the pet store?
tinypliny - 10/15/11 17:41
Whoa, the last one reminds me of that scene in the Incredible Hulk where Banner's blood drips on the Mr. Blue's split skull and he is grinning in a sort of maniacal glee. It's one of my favourite movies, but mainly because it has such a swell soundtrack. In fact each and every minute of the movie is covered in absolutely awesome music.

10/15/2011 17:04 #55311

Me With Blond Hair
Category: history
I can't belive I ever thought that was a good idea. The crazy part is that if I had stayed in Arizona, the expiration date of the license was 01/22/2037 which is when I turn 60. Can you imagine carrying around that picture until age 60. Thank god they have expirations here.

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lilho - 10/18/11 01:15
wow, your natural look is really way better.
metalpeter - 10/16/11 09:09
(e:tinypliny) should do the punk hair thing maybe shave the sides and dye them blonde then do something crazy like straighten the top and dye that some other color ......
tinypliny - 10/15/11 17:31
I kind of prefer electric blue though. blond is somewhat boring.
tinypliny - 10/15/11 17:30
80% of hair has gone grey in the past couple months. I might as well gather some tips in advance. m
paul - 10/15/11 17:15
I did it myself. It didn't take that long because it was so short. Why are you going to go blond?
tinypliny - 10/15/11 17:07
LOL How long did it take to bleach it out? Do you remember? Did you do it yourself?

10/15/2011 16:56 #55310

Language Learning Lab Continued
Category: history
Its also the place I met (e:terry). He would come in all the time and I thought he was so hot. I specifically remember admiring him in his sporty ,shimmer, basketball shorts. Then one day he came in and asked me out. "Hi, I am Terry Mickelson, would you like to go out with me" and shook my hand. I think he moved in with me shortly thereafter.

Here I am on the laptop that saved all of these docs. This pic is from the same week.
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And these too. He was so freakin cute.
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I miss arizona so much. It was so fun to climb on everything but I missed the green. This was a couple weeks earlier. I wish I had a blog then. Or maybe not because it would have probably gotten me in so much trouble.
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This picture was taken two years later but it was on the same disk.
We were so apple cute, lol. Its so funny how not mac I am now.
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metalpeter - 10/16/11 09:04
The Saying the entire name thing seems odd but it worked so.......... Also How on earth did you get a drum that color to match the laptop that is pretty cool.... If you would have had a blog back then If you include (e:strip) you might need two websites just to hold it all... That is like How I am with some stuff like Video tapes and art on my wall I might need to get another place just to hold it all.....
tinypliny - 10/15/11 17:32
The content matches the title so much better now.
paul - 10/15/11 17:11
I added some more pics of (e:terry) from that week.
tinypliny - 10/15/11 17:05
hmmm that furrowed forehead once again. Either you are a perennial worrier or you always had some residual eye/lens issues.
tinypliny - 10/15/11 17:04
Why did you fall out with the Apple brand?


All this is so entertaining. You should clean out every closet in that big house of yours.

10/15/2011 16:47 #55308

Language Learning Lab
Category: programming
Back in the late 90s, one of the first fun computer jobs I had was working in the foreign language learning lab at my school. Up until that point I was dead set on botany or german as a carrier. I had computer programmed and tinkered my whole life but never realized it could be a job for some reason.

While there I did so many different things, one of the most fun was a desktop app for mac that could check students in and out of the labs by swiping their id cards. I went to the cafeteria manager and asked him if we could borrow their card reader for testing and he let me, then when it worked I went to the professor I worked for and showed him and we got our own reader. The system really simplified and organized time tracking.

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The code is so inefficient and redundant looking back but it's interesting to still have it.
::READ PDF::

Check out the amazing referral I got for the year I worked there. I wonder if my current boss could match this despite my significantly upgraded skill and dedication to my current job.
::READ PDF::

Lab assistants typically had little technical know-how and experience with software in this area. This changed when Paul Visco was hired. Paul started the job as student assistant and finished it as technical manager and technical support analyst. Paul brought the most varied and extensive background to the job of any of the LLC assistants I ever had, including one who served from 1991 to 1996. More importantly, the few Macintosh hardware and software applications in this multimedia lab that Paul was not familiar with, he taught himself at an amazing speed, not stopping until he had in-depth knowledge of the equipment or program. For example, Paul had never worked with FileMaker Pro, the database development software. When took up the software in my lab, he started from scratch to develop a lab visitation database application that he integrated with an I.D. card reader to automate the registration and sign-in process for students. I should mention that he managed to interface a card reader model made for Windows only with an iMac due to his astute technical skills and relentless efforts in searching the WWW until he found a solution.

There are two important testaments that I would like to make in regard to Paul and with a view of the position for which he is applying. First, after eight years of being a Macintosh lab manager, and at the time after almost 15 years of experience with Macintosh applications including desktop publishing, digital video, courseware authoring, MIDI, and image editing, Paul was the first person I met who knew more about the Macintosh in some areas than I did. As a result, I entrusted him with administrative duties such as system software maintenance, equipment and software trouble-shooting, as well as software installations. This freed up valuable time for me to meet my teaching, research, and service obligations while I was assured that the job in the LLC would not only get done on time but also effectively.

Second, I was thrilled to have a student worker in my lab who was intrinsically motivated to do everything in his power to ensure smooth technical operation, to search for new ways to improve lab management, and to identify software that could get certain tasks done better than the one the LLC had at the time.

Paul's work for the lab went above the and beyond the call of duty. He always put in extra hours just to learn new software or solve a problem, taking responsibility for attending to essential administrative and technical tasks without having to be assigned. I am convinced that to a certain (healthy) degree Paul identified with his workplace, a type of involvement in the daily and special routines that I had never seen in a student assistant before.

Paul was very pleasant to work with. Due to his exceptional skills and reliability,our work relationship quickly turned into one of cooperation and trust. He was well liked for his friendly personality and much admired for his expertise by his fellow lab assistants. Students using the lab were thrilled to have a peer who knew every facet of the lab and could solve their technical problems on the spot. Faculty frequently commented that they appreciated Paul's hiring because when they needed help and could not meet up with me, they knew they could receive qualified support in the lab from Paul.

I give Paul my highest recommendation because his technical skills, his sincere curiosity about everything Macintosh, and his open and cooperative demeanor make him an ideal candidate for the position of Multimedia Specialist in an educational and Macintosh dominated workplace.


metalpeter - 10/16/11 08:58
That is pretty intense.... Wonder if the next person to read it believed it?
paul - 10/15/11 17:04
Ya, I never realized how good it was till I was reading it over today.
tinypliny - 10/15/11 16:54
wow, that is a beautiful recommendation letter. Whoever wrote it thought so coherently and wrote it so well. Even if you are appreciated just as much anywhere else, it takes a very special boss to put it across in written expression so very well. I am going to totally refer to this letter someday. Thanks so much for sharing!

10/15/2011 16:03 #55307

Old Documents
Category: history
Today, (e:Terry) and I are cleaning out the office and found all kinds old CDs with data going back into the late 90s. Its so interesting to see how much I documented and saved. I really don't do that at all anymore because every company has online services but back then I scanned and saved everything.

Here is a note from our old landlord saying I was a good tenant. I thought I would have needed it someday.

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Back in the day when (e:Terry) and I lived in Germany we had to hike to a castle for class project. We had a long journey and this was before mobile internet. I carried a pad and paper with me and we decided to try and come up with a comprehensive list of all of the television shows we remembered. When we got back I typed it up on my blueberry ibook.

[txt]1011/Sitcoms_List_158.txt[/txt]

Wow, (e:terry) just found the originals.

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Back in the day my email was pav2@dana.ucc.nau.edu - when is the last time you saw an email with so many subdomains.

My old phone bills from Germany, you know, just in case.
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At that same time I downloaded so much crap from the internet via hotline. It was an irc/warez/ftp software so downloading before torrents. Its amazing how much crap I collected including everything that I considered secret or underground like making bombs, stealing cable, hacking software and phones, etc. Clearly I did not make bombs and I never stole cable but I think I downloaded it all just because the internet was new to me and I thought the information would go away once the government cracked down on it. Really that never happend but I was a paranoid person.

[txt]1011/hotline_hacker's_handbook.txt[/txt]

An email from (e:terry) to our friend Jörg after we got back to Ameria.
[txt]1011/Jörg.txt[/txt]

One of the first website I made was for a group called Parents Anonymous.
I can't believe how ugly this was. It was when I first discovered the web as it was for community service for a scholarship that I made it.
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mike - 10/15/11 20:00
I love lists of random things~
tinypliny - 10/15/11 17:38
Did you actually see all those TV series??
tinypliny - 10/15/11 17:37
My former landlady wrote a 2 page referral to my present building management. All they were really interested in, however, was my credit rating.
tinypliny - 10/15/11 17:28
I was an IRC admin for a metal channel for a while, back in the day. We swapped a ton of Spanish/Latin American metal. But IRC administration is too much politics and I backed out after a while.
tinypliny - 10/15/11 17:25
Oh. Cable TV.

All I could think about was the copper cable that you now have.
paul - 10/15/11 17:14
They all came from NirvanaNet :::link:::


DAMAGE DAMAGE DAMAGE DAMAGE DAMAGE DAMAGE DAMAGE DAMAGE DAMAGE DAMAGE
  • 8
If you live in an apartment and you want to steal cable TV here is
the information you may need.
  • 8

Before stealing cable, look in some cable outlet boxes where you and
your neighbors are hooked up and get a good idea of what everything
looks like. Read the following very carefully so you know what you're
talking about. Most cable theft requires speed and experience, because
you are required to interrupt others service during your Splice Job if
splicing is required.....
tinypliny - 10/15/11 16:59
Someone actually wrote directions for stealing cable?? What was the ouline? Dig deep and pull them out?
tinypliny - 10/15/11 16:58
Making bombs? Stealing cables? Were you a morbid fan of zombie science fiction or something?
tinypliny - 10/15/11 16:57
That ugly background comes very close to the uber-hip 1st Matrix movie background. lol