The caveats of phone conversations

So I was having a chat with someone about PHP over the phone the other day and they ask me to explain the "Foreesh" pattern in PHP. To which I am saying to myself "Is there a 'foreesh' pattern, I've never heard of it." but respond with "I'm sorry, can you say that one more time?". The person I am talking to tries to spell it out "F-O-R-E-S-E-H" at which point I am more confused than ever.

This is one of the biggest problems with talking to people over the phone (especially with people that have a different accent than you), you are just very limited in ways of communication. When you are chatting with someone in person, there is body language, you can watch the way their mouth moves, hand gestures, and even writing or drawing things out on a piece of paper. I have heard that video chats work better but then you are stuck with slow imitation of the real thing.

BTW, I think the person I was talking with meant foreach.

This just in...Michael Jackson is dead

I don't know if you guys have heard or not because not many places are reporting this, but Michael Jackson died. I mean it's like no one even cares about him.

Okay, really, he was great for pop back in the 80's and 90's, but recently he hasn't even done anything notable. I think this just goes to show the sad state of America where we care more about one person two weeks after his death than the state of our Nation.

I got some swag, contest announcement

Yesterday I got some cool new decals from Tracy Arakaki of PunishUM Motorsports. It is so cool to have these and I thought about putting them on my car, but I don't know if that would do them justice. I have an 1986 RX-7 that is rusting; just not in good shape. Anyway, I put a picture of the decals below.

Speaking of decals, PunishUM is starting to have monthly giveaways just for being a member of their site. This months giveaway is a commemorative final Drift event shirt from the stadium and a limited edition PunishUM window decal.

Always be learning

Today is a wonderful day. Not only is it Friday (casual day at my work) but I got in to work and found an inspirational post by Seth Godin. It was inspirational because it reminds me what I usually think, and that is to try to know as much as possible so that I can make informed decisions. Here is an exerpt:

The second approach is to write it down and not go to bed that night until you know the topic better than the person who brought it up. How else, precisely, are you going to become one of the smart people?

Really, shouldn't everyone try to be smart? That is how we go about advancing our careers. And doesn't it just feel good to know things? I know it does for me.

Mmm....Pepsi

I found this over at Business Pundit and couldn't help but repost it.

Reprint: Speed Safely by Tracy Arakaki

I just wanted to reprint this article from around hawaii. It was written by my friend Tracy Arakaki who has experienced first hand the effects of speeding. If you want to see more of the work he does, you can see his site at punishum.com.

2001 was a year to forget in regards to tragedy caused due to illegal street racing. Young Logan Fujimoto lost his life after he flew off the freeway and landed in a service station parking lot near Kahala Mall. A month later school teacher Elizabeth Kekoa was killed just a few miles from where young Logan lost his life. The driver Nicolas Tudisco is sitting in a prison cell serving 10 years for his poor decision.

Since January 1st of this year there has been 15 fatal crashes resulting in 17 deaths. 60% or 9 of these fatal accidents were due to excessive speeding. In 2008 Honolulu Police gave out over 58,800 citations for speeding. On a recent Friday evening I was listening to a police frequency for a single district and within 30 minutes there were 6 calls to officers on the beat of racing or speeding vehicles.

In 2001 with the help of import drag racer Shaun Carlson PunishUM Motorsports produced a 30 second Public Service Announcement with the help of a well known marketing firm. This PSA had gotten air time on all the network stations during the 2001 holiday season.

This year with the help of Lieutenant Governor Duke Aiona PunishUM Motorsports is producing 3 Public Service Announcements and a half hour television special addressing illegal "Street Racing" or just plain "SPEEDING" and its consequences. Featured on the show is Prosecutor Peter Carlisle, Representative Glenn Wakai and others inform viewers that Speeding can lead to jail time or worse, Death.

Just a few days ago 3 young adults were killed again due to excessive speeding. A tragic loss due to really, there is no other word for it but being plain "STUPID".

The only place is a racetrack and "NOT" the streets.

If you would like more information in regards to this "Speed Safely" campaign you can log onto punishum.com.

Seth Godin is the luckiest guy

In a new post, Seth's Blog: Luckiest guy, Seth Godin racked up his 3000th post. Well that certainly is a milestone and I just have to say congratulations. My blog which is just spewing nonsense and randomness, has less than 50 posts. I guess our goals are very different as he is a "marketing guy" and I am just an IT guy with no real goal, just to share my ideas and leave a few notes for myself to read.

Again, congratulations Seth Godin.

P.S. Posted with ScribeFire and hopefully no tracking bug :)

Got my book in the mail

Just wanted to let everyone know that I got my book in the mail this past Friday. I just browsed through it so far but it does seem to have some very good tips on beginning a job as a freelancer or contractor. One of the most interesting things I've seen so far was a link to the Freelanceswitch.com rate calculator. It basically adds up some figures based on expenses, investments, and hours worked to come up with a rate that you should be charging. Of course it leaves out some basics such as taxes and such, but that is very difficult to deal with when you have a calculator that calculates internationally. Some other good mentions are certifications. Of course, coming from Php|architect, there would be.

I think the best part of the book is that it could be used across different languages. Most of the focus is not on php, but on the aspect of finding a job or running a business. I'd deffinetly recommend this book for anyone looking to get into the business.

I won a book, I think

It looks as though I won a book from Dave Marshall. He held a contest whereby you could sign up for the feed for his php jobs site and win the Php|architect's PHP Job Hunter's Handbook.

I know it's stupid but I didn't realize his site was based in the UK and not in the US where I am. But looking at what he's doing with his site got me interested in making my own phppositions site. What it is is a learning process for him to learn the Zend Framework. That works out for me because I am interested in learning about the Zend Framework as well. We'll just have to see if I decide to go through with it.

And thanks to Dave Marshall.

Swagbucks search and win?

Today my wife found a site that you can supposedly search and win prizes. It's called Swagbucks. There are actually some good prizes on the site but I am not sure yet how many points you can get every day. One of the tips is to search as you would normally search.

So far we've only gotten 8 swagbucks (including the 3 that registering gives you) and a $5 amazon gift certificate is 45. If you want to sign up, click the banner and you can sign up using my wife as the referrer. I guess we get a swagbuck for everyone who signs up.