Sometimes I wonder how certain people get employed… really! I usually get drilled with a bunch of technical questions in every job interview I’ve gone to (with the exception of a couple where the hiring manager had absolutely no clue about IT… this re-enforces me original point!) and feel that I really have to show “what I’m made of.” In the meantime, some people get hired and surprisingly manage to keep their jobs whilst they lack (IMNSHO) the knowledge and skills.

This is just too funny!!! Not sure if it really happened or not but my professional experience has proven me wrong many times before! Hehehe… Read on… Something nice I read on www.stophiphop.de (got pointed there by a comment on www.macguardians.de) is this nice story of a hacker: `http://www.beast.mos-worlds.de/modules/new…php?storyid=184 <http://www.beast.mos-worlds.de/modules/new...php?storyid=184>`__`www.stophiphop.de <http://www.stophiphop.de>`__ (got pointed there by a comment on `www.macguardians.de <http://www.macguardians.de>`__) is this nice story of a hacker: http://www.beast.mos-worlds.de/modules/new...php?storyid=184 (site might be down, quite a lot of people are reading this).

Added these books to my personal collection… These are used and even though I feel that I know some of it already, I figured they could be usefull. Should arrive by the end of the week… Expert C# Business Objects Beginning ASP.Net 1.1 in C#:: From Novice To Professional Pro ASP.NET 1.1 in C#: From Professional to Expert Beginning VB .NET 1.1 Databases: From Novice to Professional Beginning C# Objects: From Concepts to Code

Interesting... "But the best thing was the chef Nat had hired for the week, who cooked delicious crepes every morning. He even cooked, after seeing there was a Spanish guy in the crowd, some Spanish omelettes." Once again I have solid proof that there are better ways of “team building” than what I’ve experienced so far in my short career as a developer. It used to be that the IT group of any organization ruled, getting a lot of respect and perks along the way.

Ever since MeetUp announced they would start charging groups money to use their free service, I started thinking of possible alternatives to keep the Northern NJ Linux Meetup group alive. I understand that everyone is entitled to make a living but I don’t agree with their decision of making this drastic change of heart without any warnings. I have spoken to some people and read some posts/comments online and came to the conclusion that the smaller groups will most likely vanish in the turmoil.

Wow!!! It is amazing how great this whole week has been for me so far at work! Been churning out code for my very simple data to xml application and sometimes (the horror) I don’t even want to go home so I won’t interrupt the grooviness! Tomorrow I’m scheduled to give a live demo to the rest of the group! I’m ready to blow them off their socks! For such a simple and small program, I think I’ve done a pretty good job at making it usefull and stable!

Yesterday our recently elected CIO paid us a little visit for the first time. The entire IT team attended the hour long meeting where the CIO very eloquently explained his plan for the entire IT organization (which is actually made up of several smaller IT groups throughout the Board of Education). In the end he “opened up the floor” for questions and/or comments. For a grueling 10 seconds nobody uttered a word.