Category Archives: Uncategorized

“The No A$$hole Rule”

Posted on 2008-04-30 by Jim Vanderveen

A few days ago I finished a book by Robert I. Sutton PhD, [The No Asshole Rule][]. The title may be a little off-putting for some folks, but as the author explained in an interview, there really isn’t a polite … Continue reading →

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One week ’til final inspection!

Posted on 2008-04-30 by Jim Vanderveen

We have about one week left before our “final” inspection. (Final in quotes because I haven’t heard of many people who pass their first “final” inspection.) Our [punch list][] is still fairly long, but many of those items aren’t required … Continue reading →

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2008 exchange student

Posted on 2008-04-29 by Jim Vanderveen

[Claire]: http://sonicchicken.net/blog/wordpress/2007/08/31/claires-visit/ [Marseille]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marseille%2C_France [Caroline]: http://carolyn-b.skyrock.com/ [mbaqu]: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/ [SF advice]: http://sonicchicken.net/blog/wordpress/20070901/sf-tour-ideas/ [Jelly Belly tour]: http://jellybelly.com/Cultures/en-US/NewsEvents/Stores/Jelly+Belly+Visitor+Center+-+Fairfield.htm [Music Circus]: http://www.sacramentomusiccircus.com/ [world clock]: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/personal.html?cities=330,1440,217 “Clock showing times in Marseille, Sacramento, and UTC” We hosted a French foreign exchange student, [Claire][], last summer. It … Continue reading →

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Life, the Remodel, and Everything…

Posted on 2008-04-25 by Jim Vanderveen

We’ve had a couple of relatively minor setbacks over the last two months. Back at the beginning of March we went to pick up some stuff from our storage unit in Galt (about 30 minutes south of Sacramento). I noticed … Continue reading →

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Remodel update

Posted on 2008-03-07 by Jim Vanderveen

I’ve been pretty busy at work *and* home since Christmas, and I can’t find the USB cable for our camera. Both things have kept me from blogging as much as I would like, especially regarding our remodel. But a few … Continue reading →

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Phone banking for Obama

Posted on 2008-02-23 by Jim Vanderveen

We’re gonna have our first “political party” next weekend at the not-quite-finished house. We’ll be hosting a [phone-banking party][party] aimed at getting out the progressive vote for Senator Obama during the [Texas primary/caucus][texas-primary]. I figure we can get about 20 … Continue reading →

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Bathroom plumbing, again

Posted on 2008-02-22 by Jim Vanderveen

Our plumber *finally* made it back out to our project today. (The last time he was on-site was before Christmas.) Unfortunately it’s been raining here for several days, and there’s a pretty big puddle in the crawlspace right where the … Continue reading →

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Oatmeal

Posted on 2008-02-06 by Jim Vanderveen

I’ve been battling a cold since the weekend, and last night was the worst of it (I hope)! I slept poorly (if at all), so I was feeling exceptionally miserable this morning. This calls for the ultimate “comfort food” breakfast–oatmeal! … Continue reading →

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Doh!

Posted on 2008-02-03 by Jim Vanderveen

I am *so* screwed… I ran the [portupgrade][] utility on one of our [FreeBSD][] servers at work. This was a production system that we used for printing certificates for our students, preparing address labels for [USPS][] shipments, and several other … Continue reading →

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Goodbye, January!

Posted on 2008-01-31 by Jim Vanderveen

Well, here it is the end of January and I haven’t posted *anything* since before Christmas. We spent a lot of our holiday break enjoying our not-quite-finished kitchen, and since then I’ve been swamped at work. Still, I’ve managed to … Continue reading →

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