Jeff Luszcz’s Web Log

Left my good mouse at home today, so I’m stuck w/ the trackpad. It’s funny how much of what we do each day is automatic. My hand reaches out to move the mouse, or to click a button, but there is nothing there. My brain expects it to be there (since it’s been there pretty much every day for the last 10 years)

Having a good week, pretty busy with meetings and coding as usually. Next week is looking more mellow, at least in terms of context swtiches. Then it all starts up again. The new cat has fit right in to the happy family. No nipping or scratching, even with the things we have to do to him. The strangest is the “gum massage” the vet requesting we do to help out his teeth. Since he’s an older cat he has gingavistus so we need to rub our finger on his gumline to promote blood flow. He seems to love it. How strange…..

I missed the Guerrero Street demonstration on Monday due to a work event, but I heard it went great. Over 100 people and 2 city supervisors. Good job to the people who put it on.

I am now offically a blogger since I will now talk about my cat.

Went to the San Francisco SPCA yesterday.

The Sf SPCA is the BEST animal shelter I have ever seen. The cats are 1 or 2 to a small glass walled room about the size of a medium sized bathroom (smaller than a small single dorm room for example). The had a climbing tree, stuffed animal toys, some had a 9″ TV playing bird and squirell porn and a small bed for each. You really got a feeling for what their personality would be like at home since they weren’t terrified in a small cage in a big pile against a wall. San Francisco is very lucky to have an orginization such as them to help manage the cat and dog population. They are a no-kill shelter also which is a big plus.

We ended up with a six year old guy with a single eye. His other eye had a problem when he was younger. He’s very friendly (and kept us up all night with his attention) Today he is sleeping in the sun. I need to wake him up to get him on our schedule. We wanted to adopt an older cat, one with perhaps some issues that might make it harder for him to get adopted. I’ve had cats who have sick(fiv+) or had other issues(eyelid defects, meow) in the past so I knew we could handle some extra needs if they came up. Our new cat may need some eye ointments in the future but for now is healthly. He let us brush him and pick him up almost immediately, only 30 minutes of deep-cover under the claw tub.

Some cats I saw there that I could have taken home if I wanted to end up like a cat-lady. Which I now really have an understanding how you could become.

Luke is a sweetie. I really wanted to take him home. He was very playful when we saw him. Manx, with a little stub of a tail.

Rusty was also sweet. Cute.

Camile was on the short list. Very cute, beautiful cat face which interesting orange/brown/grey face. Tiny. We knew someone else would love to take her home.

TERRENCE is a BIG cat. 21 pounds. Walks like a lion. Very sweet.

This is going to be a short/long/busy weekend. Lots of stuff to do around the house. All signs point to getting a cat this weekend from the SPCA, this means we need to go top to bottom in the house and find kitty death traps and defuse them. The hole in the wall behind the kitchen sink gets fixed first. Last thing we need is to hear kitty noises coming from under the floor boards.

Lots of work at Palamida as always, of course startups are always like that. Interesting stuff this time around though. Open source license issues, large databases, integration as well as business meetings. The mix is good so far.

Working on some new code for the August release, its in my head but needs to get out.

I’ve been pretty busy the past couple of weeks. Between Palamida and other things, my time has been filled with no mellow time. That’s not that bad though. Last week was JavaOne, for the first time in a while I didn’t get a chance to go to the full conference. I managed to get a one day pass through the NetBean’s exhibit pass program. Did a quick run through the floor, smaller than the past, much smaller than when my previous company had a booth.

Works been work. Always some new thing to do or learn. I’ve been splitting my time between engineering and, for want of a better term, Marketing/Sales. I’ve been doing more of that lately which means I need to get more shirts!

This past weekend, the weekend of the Fourth (the software guy in me always wants to write Forth) was pretty good, though the San Francisco weather did not cooperate. We ended up near Ocean Beach in the fog, though it wasn’t super cold. Only super dreary. The sad part was that we biked from the sunny Mission in shorts and t-shirts.