Today’s Garfield Minus Garfield strip – a web comic strip featuring Garfield comics with the titular character Photoshopped out – explains why the cool kids play accordion:
Thanks to Guillaume for the heads-up!
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My Half-a-versary
This article also appears in Global Nerdy.
That’s half-a-versary as in the celebration of something that took place half a year ago. It’s been half a year since I joined this organization:
…and I have to tell you, it’s been quite good.
The two things I value most about my job as Developer Evangelist for The Empire are the freedom and the ability to make a splash. The only working situation where I’ve had even more freedom and control of my destiny was back in the late 1990s at a consultancy that was just me and one other guy, and I’ve never had the reach nor the opportunities that I now enjoy as a Sith Lord.
As a mobile worker, they cover my transportation costs too.
They’ve been pretty cool with my wacky ideas, from my re-appropriation of their image as “The Empire” to the stunt at Richard Stallman’s GNU auction at CUSEC to starting Coffee and Code, a weekly happening that most companies might dismiss as an attempt to loaf on company time.
I’ve been free to inject my offbeat, earthy sense of humour into my work, from celebrating InPrivate Browsing in Internet Explorer 8 to the time I made Bob Muglia – then a Senior VP, now President of the Server and Tools division — run away from me at a Los Angeles rooftop party when I serenaded him on accordion with a song about InPrivate Browsing, sung to the tune of Tina Turner’s Private Dancer:
I’m your private browser
A browser for po-orn
One-handed surfing for you…
And maybe, just maybe, I’ve either helped a software developer get some piece of information or consider using some Microsoft tool or technology. Maybe.
I’ve enjoyed my return to using Microsoft tools and tech, and there sure is plenty of that! It may take me another six months just to be able to say I’ve done a reasonable review of the stuff that I’m supposed to specialize in – the web and mobile spheres — and that’s just a piece of a much larger pie.
I relish the challenges of being an evangelist for The Empire. It’s easy to fling poop at Microsoft, and there are cases where the poop-flinging is warranted. It’s often harder to see that Microsoft is also behind some solid tech that drives our industry and is undergoing an interesting “sea change” in both its tech and its approach.
And most importantly, I enjoy the opportunities to make connections with people, both inside and outside Microsoft, from the students I met at CUSEC to developers I’ve met a various conferences and gatherings to my manager John Oxley and VP Mark Relph and especially with the Developer Evangelism team to which I belong, from:
- Christian Beauclair (who, if we were the A-Team, would make an excellent Hannibal) to
- Qixing Zheng (Face) to
- John Bristowe (oh yeah, dude, you are soooo B.A. Baracus)
…I’m very honoured to be “Howling Mad Murdock” for this A-Team.
Categories
Chill, Nicolas!
The founding editor of the what’s-up-inside-the-Beltway blog Wonkette makes the suggestion in The Washington Post:
Name a major political story broken by a White House correspondent. A thorough debunking of the Bush case for Iraqi WMD? McClatchy Newspapers’ State Department and national security correspondents. Bush’s abuse of signing statements? The Boston Globe’s legal affairs correspondent. Even Watergate came off The Washington Post’s Metro desk.
Here are some stories that reporters working the White House beat have produced in the past few months: Pocket squares are back! The president is popular in Europe. Vegetable garden! Joe Biden occasionally says things he probably regrets. Puppy!
It’s not that the reporters covering the president are bad at their jobs. Most are experienced journalists at the top of their game — and they’re wasted at the White House, where scoops are doled out, not uncovered. The day of a typical White House correspondent consists, literally, of waiting to be told things. Legitimate security concerns and a tightly scripted political world keep the presidential press corps physically corralled and informationally hostage.
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Perspective
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Amusing Blogs of the Moment
Eye on Springfield features stills from seasons one through nine of The Simpsons, “when it was still funny”.
Look at this Fucking Hipster features reader-submitted photos of…well, you know.
Hey, skinny liberal arts major on the moped in the skinny yellow pants on Spadina just north of Queen on Friday around 6 p.m.: if Lee Dale’s picture of you came out all right, you’re so getting into this blog!
If you’re a musician, singer or dancer interested in learning about the Afro-Cuban folk music of Matanzas — a city and province considered by many to be the folkloric cradle of Cuba — you’ll want to catch the Bomba troupe’s workshop taking place at the Lula Lounge on Tuesday, May 5th from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m..
(Yes, I know that bomba means “nekkid” in Tagalog. We’re talking bomba as in “bomb” or the town of Bomba in the province of Matanzas, Cuba.)
The workshop is designed for musicians, singers and dancers — anyone with an interest in learning more about this music is welcome. Group participation is expected, and some instruments will be provided.
Here are the bios of the Bomba musicians:
Mario Allende
Born in Chile and raised in Canada, Mario is the driving force in Bomba! He mixes the drum kit, timbales, congas and myriad percussion instruments as effortlessly as he incorporates the traditional and contemporary styles that give the band their unique sound. A studied yet emotional player, Mario is restlessly creative and performs with the spirit this music demands.
Israel "Toto" Berriel
Toto wasborn in Matanzas and began his career at age 16. He joined Afrocuba in 1988,and in 1991, began singing with Los Muñequitos de Matanzas with whom he toured internationally. Toto and Los Muñequitos were part of the Grammy winning recording La Rumba Soy Yo in 2006. Residing in Canada since 2001, Toto continues to perform with Bomba and teach traditional, popular, and folkloric music in Canada and abroad.
Luis Orbegoso
Born in Lima, Peru, Luis has become an established name in Toronto’s music scene. Known for his percussion and vocal talents, "Luisito" draws from diverse styles including Cuban and his native Peruvian. Luis appeared on Bomba’s third recording, Entre Sol y Luz as featured vocalist and now he lends vocals once again on Cuatro Caminos. Luis has toured Canada and the UK with Bomba.
Want to find out more? Call (416) 972-0295 or email info@tridha.org.
This workshop is part of a larger event: the LulaWorld 2009 festival, a celebration of African, Latin and Indian music.