I'm tired of the instability in software engineering.  I'm tired of worrying about my job on a regular basis.  I'm tired of layoffs and budget cuts and mergers and acquisitions.

I love what I do.  I enjoy software engineering.  I like taking a problem, breaking it down into its constituent parts, and then making the computer do what I want it to do.  I (generally) work with intelligent people.  I really enjoy the type of people I work with.

But I'm weary of the instability and I'm ready to make a career change.

I'm not going to make a change today.  It's going to take a lot longer than that.  But I've already started putting my career change plans in motion.

I bought a Calculus book a couple of weeks ago and I'm reviewing Calculus I and II.  I'm enrolled in Calculus III at Utah Valley State College this fall.  I have somewhere around 5 classes and a GRE exam to take to prepare for a masters degree in math.

And what am I going to do with this masters degree?  I'm going to teach!  I'm going for a tenure track position at UVSC.  Then, once I have tenure, I'll have the stability that has thus far eluded me in my career.

I also contacted the developmental math department at UVSC.  They're hiring adjunct faculty for this fall and want to know more about my qualifications.  I can't think of anything better to prepare me to "retire" to teaching math than teaching math!  I'm extremely interested in developmental math because I believe I have a knack for being able to explain things well.  If one approach at an explanation doesn't work, I can try different approaches until something works.

I'll probably end up taking quite a big cut in pay, but by the time I get my masters degree, we'll be closer to having our house paid off.  I'll also continue doing what I love (programming) as a consultant.  That way, I'll be able to do it on MY terms, which will also give me more of the stability that I crave.

Wish me luck.  I'm jumping in!

Back at the end of march as you may recall, we had to buy a new range. It was at the insistence of the friendly folks at Pleasant Grove City who wouldn't issue an occupancy permit for my basement until the range and dishwasher were installed.

I bought the new range from Sears, mostly because this particular model was so highly rated by Consumer Reports. As an added bonus, I bought it online (not having to go to a retail store at all) AND I happened to hit a "free shipping" special. Of course, it's never really free. I had to submit my purchase to the Sears Rebate Center and they would reimburse the $60 shipping charge.

This week, we received a rejection notice from Sears. They said that the "purchase was made outside of the qualifying date range." WHAT??

I looked at everything. I purchased the range on 31 March. The particular rebate was good for items purchased between the 25th and the 31st of March. So I called the Sears rebate center to ask what the problem was.

They pointed out something that I hadn't seen. The "Order Placed" date on my receipt (I bought it online, so the receipt was via email) was 3/31/07. The "Purchase Date" was 3/31/07. But the "Sale Date" was 4/1/07. WHAT??

I tried to reason with the woman at the rebate center. She was immovable. I stayed calm and rational. She got more and more upset at me. She all but swore at me when I asked to speak with her supervisor.

Dave, the supervisor, listened to my story, but then reassured me that they could re-submit the rebate again and again, but it would be rejected again and again. Again, I remained calm and rational. He got flustered with me. I asked how else I could escalate this. He gave me the toll-free number of Sears National Customer Relations.

I called and talked with a very nice and (finally) patient woman, Andrea (pronounced Ahn-DRAY-uh) who went into the sales order and changed the purchase date. FINALLY someone who could help me! The process took almost 40 minutes, but my rebate request has been re-submitted and if they want to reject it, they have to speak with Andrea first. This is good.

Maybe I'm a cheapskate, but sixty bucks is sixty bucks!

I could have gotten angry. I could have ranted a bit. I might have yelled. But the truth is that the person on the other end of the phone (especially in the rebate center) is probably someone that is getting paid $10/hour or less to answer phone calls. They honestly don't care about my problem. They care about getting me off the phone and off their back. But by staying calm and rational, I ended up finding the person who could actually take care of my problem. The fact that Sears actually employs such a person is the reason I will keep doing business with them in the future...

...provided that I get the rebate.

No Time For Sergeants is over.

The last bows have been taken, the set pieces have been put away and the costumes are all haning on racks, waiting to be cleaned and put away in the archives.

As usual, I'm having mixed feelings. It's so much fun to be on stage night after night, but it's so hard to be away from my family night after night.

I took a couple of pictures in the green room last night. Chances are, this is the last show I'll be doing at the current Hale Center Theater in Orem, because they're currently in the process of building a new, much nicer theater. So I wanted to capture my handprint.

Each actor that does a show there gets to put their handprint on the wall in the green room. It's a fun tradition that has been going on for many years now. By the time I did a show there, the green room was mostly full. The handprints now spill into the dressing rooms. It's fun to look at the many handprints and see how many of the actors I've been in shows with. It's fun to walk back through the memories of years and years of shows there.

I'm going to miss that place.   Sure, I'll be back once every couple of months or so to see a show, but it's not the same.  And chances are, by the time I'm cast again, it'll be at the new theater.

It's strange to me to think that I have a teenager.

A TEENAGER!!

My oldest son turned thirteen years old on Saturday. I remember being thirteen years old. I remember becoming a teenager. I remember how old and grown-up I felt at the time, yet how young and vulnerable I felt at the same time.

My early teenage years sucked. My family moved on my 12th birthday. It was a much nicer home in a MUCH nicer neighborhood. It meant going to a new grade school for sixth grade. On my first day at the new school, one of the sixth grade teachers at the new school made fun of my name in front of his class. That set the tone of sixth grade. I hated going to school. I hated interacting with people. I hated life.

The teasing and taunting that I had to endure in sixth grade intensified during seventh grade. One fellow student made up a song, Toughskin Fever, (to the tune of Pac Man Fever) that made fun of my fashion sense, or lack thereof. I couldn't help it if we didn't have the money for designer clothing. There was really nothing I could do about that.

Life got worse as a bully found that I was an easy target and that I would not defend myself. He sat directly behind me in English class and made me lean far enough to the side during tests so he could copy my answers. During one test, I deliberately answered every question wrong, but put a key on the bottom corner of the test: a=b, b=c, c=d, and d=a. I got a 98% on the test. He got a 2%. I got pounded for that one.

I had very few friends and I didn't know how to find or make friends. I withdrew from pretty much every personal relationship in my life, because most of them caused emotional pain. I didn't like people. I didn't want to get to know them. It wasn't worth the pain.

Somehow, between Junior High School and High School, things changed. I grew 11 inches, got a job, bought nicer clothes and contact lenses, and left behind any people I knew from Junior High. I started making new friends (mostly through band). I FINALLY began to figure things out socially. Somehow, I became a people person and have been one ever since.

Things could not be more different for my teenage son. He started out his Junior High experience knowing VERY few people, and because he was in the advanced orchestra, he had lunch with almost all eighth and ninth graders. But a couple of weeks into his Junior High experience, a group of girls came and sat with him at his lunch table and included him in their group. That experience did as much for him in a positive way as the sixth grade teacher did for me in a negative way. He began to look forward to going to school and he began to develop socially.

He's a really good son. He's smart and is nearly getting straight A's. He is thriving socially. This morning, I had to track him down in his school cafeteria and he was sitting with a group of boys, completely included in their conversation. I stood and watched him for a minute or two, talking and laughing. My heart leapt with joy as I saw him in a situation I wouldn't have imagined being in when I was his age--talking and joking with friends. He is extremely talented, playing the violin VERY well. He has a gift that I sometimes envy: perfect pitch. He's very witty. He makes me laugh and he gets my jokes, even if they sometimes are too geeky or too punny for his taste. He's growing spiritually as well as he searches for and recognizes the influence of the Holy Ghost in his life.

Yet I know that there are some difficult times ahead. Even though I was the child that a friend of our family said my dad "couldn't mess up if he tried," few knew of the inner struggles I had as I tried to find myself. He's headed into those kinds of struggles too quickly. He's probably more ready for the roller coaster ride of teenager-hood than I am for him to go through it. But comforting to me is the fact that we usually get along with each other. We have a good relationship. I'm always hoping and praying that this relationship continues to be good and that I can help him through the rough road ahead and that I can rejoice with him in his triumphs and achievements.

Most of all, I love him. I always will, no matter what.

It never ceases to amaze me how inconsiderate some people can be.

I'm about halfway through the run of the play No Time For Sergeants at the Hale Center Theater in Orem. Before every performance, the stage manager announces that people should stay in their seats during the performance and that people should turn off any cellular phones, PDA's, and other noisemaking/glowing devices.

There are REASONS behind those announcements. The Hale is a theater in the round. All of the entrances and exits for patrons are also entrances and exits for actors. Thus, someone getting up to go to the bathroom during the middle of a performance may find themselves getting stepped on or otherwise injured by actors that have to make hasty entrances and exits.

But leaving a cellular phone on is very VERY inconsiderate. Even when it only vibrates, it still makes an annoying noise and can possibly interfere with the sound system in the theater. People pay around $15 per ticket to see the play, and when a ringing (or vibrating) cellular phone interrupts the performace, it shows that someone thinks that they're more important than anyone else in the theater. If you're a doctor and you're on call, find another night to attend the theater. People used to go to the theater before there were cellular phones.

On Broadway, the chirping and beeping of cellular phones has become such a nuisance that more than four years ago, the New York City Council passed an ordinance that makes it illegal to use a mobile telephone in a place where a public performance (live or film) or a public lecture is taking place. Unfortunately, it's notoriously hard to enforce such a law, and the pitiful fine of $50 is likely much less than the price of the ticket to the performance the cellular phone user is interrupting.

In France, they have taken it a step further by passing a law that allows active jamming of cellular phone signals in theaters, cinemas, and concert halls. The only proviso is that they have to allow emergency calls through. They're currently working on perfecting the jamming technology to make this a reality.

FCC regulations in the United States make any such jamming device illegal, though there are stories of producers smuggling jamming devices into theaters. Passive jamming (putting metal plates in the walls, for example) is NOT illegal, but because so many theaters on Broadway are landmarks, architectural changes are difficult, if not impossible. New paints and wallpapers exist that can at least partially block cellular signals and are a viable alternative for broadway houses.

But for now, the best we can do is ask people to turn their noisemaking devices off. The plea will be ignored by those who are so self-important that they think they are the exception to every rule. Hopefully, they'll listen closer when "Sergeant King" yells at them, telling them to turn that noisemaker off before he rips their arms off and beats them senseless with them.

It's inconsiderate, not only to other theater patrons, but even more so to the actors on stage who are trying to create an alternate reality through which their audience can temporarily escape their cares and spend an evening laughing and being entertained. The harsh ring of a cellular phone can cause this alternate reality to dissolve, bringing back all of the cares and woes that other audience members might be trying to escape.

So please, when you go to the theatre, TURN YOUR CELL PHONE OFF!

For Mothers Day yesterday, my wife decided that she wanted grilled steak, some sort of potatoes, and apple crisp for dessert.

I cooked it all outdoors.

I love cooking in dutch ovens. The more I cook with them, the more I'm convinced that if you can cook it indoors, I can cook it better outdoors. I made potatoes with bacon and onions and cheese. They turned out perfectly, which was a happy surprise, because every time I've ever had someone else cook this particular side dish for me, some of the potatoes were overcooked.

The apple crisp was excellent! The top was brown and crunchy and the apples were soft and spiced perfectly. I believe that it's better in a dutch oven because there's too much air in a regular oven and the crumbly topping dries out too much. We topped the apple crisp with homemade vanilla ice cream. Delicious!

And of course, the steak was grilled to perfection. It was a good cut of ribeye, so it was tender and juicy.

All-in-all, it was a perfect meal, and the house stayed cool because I didn't need to turn on a single cooking appliance.

Fortunately, there are plenty of leftovers!

I'm re-reading Douglas Adams' book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. In the book, Adams explains my job in an interesting way:

"...If you really want to understand something, the best way is to try and explain it to someone else. That forces you to sort it out in your own mind. And the more slow and dim-witted your pupil, the more you have to break things down into more and more simple ideas. And that's really the essence of programming. By the time you've sorted out a complicated idea into little steps that even a stupid machine can deal with, you've certainly learned something about it yourself."

That's a pretty good description of what I do. Maybe that's why I like both programming and teaching so much.

I've volunteered to create a web site for some of my wife's extended family. I know, it's probably not the smartest move on my part. I'll become the de facto tech support representative when uncle whasshisname can't log in to something. But sometimes you look at the bigger picture and realize that you're doing something for the greater good.

Ha ha ha! The greater good. I kill me! Actually, my wife volunteered my services, but that's what wives are for, right? I mean, that's what a wife is for, right? (I wouldn't want polygamist misunderstandings.)

The family name is packer. Of course, thedomain name I wanted to register is packerfamily.somthing. So I checked into it.

• packerfamily.org - taken
• packerfamily.net - taken
• packerfamily.com - "This domain is for sale" site.

Since packerfamily.com is for sale, I thought I'd find out what the going rate is for domain names like packerfamily.com. I filled out the form and waited for a response from the seller, namegiant.com. Today, I received a response. Here it is in its entirety:

Hi Mr. Me,

Thank you for your enquiry.

A search for "packer family" shows approximately over 26,400 results from
Google.

Names such as packerfamily.com are very much in demand especially as
there are more than 60 MILLION domain names currently registered.

If you consider that just recently Fish.com sold for $1,020,000,
MyPremierCard.com for $135,250, JMM.com for $55,000 and
HorseSupplies.com $52,500 etc there have been many other
5 figure sales - I'm sure that our asking price could be considered
an investment for a domain of this quality.

The price of this domain is £? Great British Pounds or US$?
(close offers may be considered).
This is a one off payment for the rights to the domain, however you
will be responsible for paying the yearly registration (approx $30).

For a currency converter for other currencies please see

http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html

Please note:

Transactions are extremely straightforward, totally secure, and can
be completed within 24 hours from start to finish.

The sale of the name can take place in one of the following ways,

ESCROW
Escrow act as a 3rd party by holding funds until the transfer is
complete and YOU approve. You may pay Escrow by Credit Card,
Cheque, Wire transfer or whatever method is most convenient for you.
Escrow usually take around 24/36 hours to clear your payment.
(Due to a recent change in Escrow's policy, we can now only accept
US$ payments via Escrow).

Escrow charge a 6% fee which the buyer will need to pay.

PAYPAL
Registration with PayPal takes a couple of minutes and you could
then make payment using any credit card or online cheque. This
would usually be the quickest method and you could be using your
new domain literally within minutes.

It is free to register with Paypal and you will not have to pay any
transactions fees!

Please use info@namegiant.com to set up any of the above
transactions.

Payment can also be made via wire transfer or a UK cheque.
Once payment has been made, we send you the current domain
passwords and you then access your domain, set up details and set
new passwords of your choice thus taking complete control of your
domain.
Alternatively, you are welcome to transfer the domain to any registrar
of your choice.

If you wish to secure this domain or have any further questions,
please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind Regards,

First of all... Enquiry?? What the heck is an enquiry?

I'm sure that you noticed that in order to preserve some suspense, I've replaced the coffee they normally drink with Folgers Crystals. Let's see if they notice.

Ha ha ha! Folgers Crystals. I kill me! I actually replaced the amounts referenced in the email with red question marks because I want you to guess how much they might want to charge for the domain name packerfamily.com.

Is it more than one million dollars like fish.com? Of course not. Is it more than a hundred thirty five thousand dollars? Nope. It's not a hundred thousand dollars, not fifty thousand dollars. It's not thirty thousand dollars or even twenty thousand dollars. This domain name can be yours for seven easy payments of only...

Ha ha ha! Seven easy payments. I KILL me! But not as bad as these dumb domain squatters kill me. They want to charge seven thousand Great British Pounds. That's $13,930 in real money.

Seriously, they want me to pay almost fourteen THOUSAND dollars for a domain name.

Here's my reply in its entirety:

Hey bozo,

NO WAY! You can keep your stupid domain name. I'm going home to play with my OWN toys.

Signed,

Mister Me.

Ha ha ha! Hey bozo. I KILL ME!! Here's the REAL response:

This is a joke, right?

Seriously, US$13,930 for a domain name for which I can see no commercial use?? Look at the domain name again: packerFAMILY.com. If it were something like rockefellerfamily.com or trumpfamily.com, I could see asking such a ridiculous amount, but packerfamily.com?

How about $50?

DeShawn

I doubt they'll respond. I'm already planning on registering an alternate domain name which is available right now for the low, low price of NOTHING.

Stoopid dumb domain squatters.

I've gotten several emails in recent days telling me not to buy gas next Tuesday. Here's an example:

NO GAS...On May 15th 2007

Don't pump gas on may 15th

In April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.

On May 15th 2007, all internet users are to not go to a gas station in protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00 a gallon in most places.

There are 73,000,000+ American members currently on the internet network, and the average car takes about 30 to 50 dollars to fill up.

If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000.00 (that's almost 3 BILLION) out of the oil companies pockets for just one day, so please do not go to the gas station on May 15th and let's try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one day.

If you agree (which I can't see why you wouldn't) resend this to all your contact list. With it saying, "Don't pump gas on May 15th"

Let's pick apart the statistics first:

There was no "Gas Out" in April, 1997. I researched and found a similar email campaign telling people to buy no gasoline on April 30, 1999. According to the United States Department of Energy, the average price of gasoline (Regular unleaded gasoline, retail price) in the Rocky Mountain Region on 26 April, 1999 was $1.192/gallon. The average price of the same gasoline in the same region on May 3, 1999 was $1.196/gallon. If there WAS an overnight drop of 30 cents per gallon, there was a quick spike of 30 cents per gallon soon thereafter. So much for the big boycott of 1999.

The letter says that there are 73,000,000+ Internet users in the United States. This is apparently another statistic that was pulled out of... um... nowhere. The "+" is really really big, because according to nielsen-netratings.com, 69.6% of the population of the United States uses the Internet, meaning that there are more than 210,000,000 Internet users in the United States.

I couldn't find statistics on how much gasoline is sold each day in the United States, but I'm betting that it's less than the $2.292 billion (closer to two billion than three billion) that would supposedly come out of the gas companies' pockets. Such trustworthy statistics here!

But the real issue is the idea of a one-day boycott. In the outside chance that 200 million people decided not to fill their tanks on May 15, they would still be driving their gas guzzling SUV's to work, dropping their kids off at school, and going to baseball games and other activities. If their tanks were low on the 14th they would fill up then. If their tanks were low on the 15th, they'd wait until the 16th to fill up. The net result is ABSOLUTELY NO CHANGE IN THE AMOUNT OF GASOLINE PUMPED.

In order to make a REAL difference, these 210 million Americans would need to find ways to drive less, and not just for one day. They would need to park the big urban assault vehicles and drive smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, and not just for one day. The thing that would make a real difference would be to consistently use less gasoline over a long period of time. Judging from the number of large vehicles filling up when I paid more than $30 for a tank of gas for my Saturn this week, these prices over $3/gallon aren't yet painful enough for Americans to change their driving habits.

I'm going to fill up my gas tank on 15 May whether it's empty or not.

I'm playing with a Wordpress theme generator that allows you to create a Wordpress theme without having to muck about with all of the different files. You simply pick your colors and fonts and everything and it generates all of the files for you. It's quite a handy tool.

When I'm done, I'll probably go back to the one I was using before. But this is a good way of testing different color schemes and seeing if they REALLY work before I actually invest too much time in designing a web site with the color scheme. Sometimes seeing something on a virtual swatch card is very different from seeing those same colors in a web site.

So for now, please ignore my theme. This is only a test. If it were a real theme that I had created on my own, airsickness bags would have been provided.