People’s creativity is amazing. Also: didn’t expect to get rickrolled!

As goofy as it looks, I’ve come to really like the hat I’m wearing here, a “smoking cap” popular in the 1800s. $50 via Amazon.com. I’ve been wearing it in my home office this winter. Since I’ve been getting a mohawk, the top most part of my head is okay, but the sides get cold.

After spending three weeks in Australia where I developed a taste for Vegemite, I now occasionally use it or Marmite on cheese sandwiches. True, it’s an acquired taste. But I like it. Get good deli cheese, and really good whole grainy bread.

This happens to me maybe once or twice a year: some young guy (almost inevitably a guy) sits down and asks me “How do I learn to do what you do?” I have learned what they really mean is “How do I make as much money as you make?” They never like the answer.

Mrs. Overclock and I go to Vegas nearly every year around our anniversary... which, conveniently, is in February, during which Vegas had typically ideal weather (don’t plan pool time, too cool, and sometimes it actually rains). And we almost always stay in NY-NY. It’s changed over the years, but we still love it, and…

Mrs. Overclock and I had been dedicated Oreo consumers for decades. But a package we had a couple of years ago was so bad, we couldn’t finish them. You know it’s a bad cookie when you throw the rest of the package away. So we switched to Hydrox. No question, they were good. Then we switched to Newman’s Own. And we’re…

Second the Oyster Pass. Greatest thing since sliced bread. Makes traveling around London nearly effortless.

Watched the movie. Yep. Years later, still have a crush on Chief Vick.

I’ve flown on a private corporate jet a couple of times, as an engineer testing some new piece of electronic aircraft kit. Which means I spent a part of my time sitting in a broad leather reclining swivel chair nicer that the easy chair in my family room at home... but most of my time crawling around in the equipment…

Mrs. Overclock gave both of us Global Entry membership for Christmas a few years ago. True, we mostly take advantage of TSA-Pre - which is the greatest thing since sliced bread - but Global Entry is a small incremental cost, and we use it once every year or two. We might have had some qualms about signing our rights…

In the summer of 1995 I worked for a national lab in Boulder Colorado and was a scientific visitor to the People’s Republic of China for a month. Before I left, I cleverly set up the mail utility on the Sun workstation on my office desk (this was 1995, remember) to reply to all my messages with a note about when I…

I live in a suburb of Denver (between Arvada and Golden, for your locals). I used to drive downtown to the Five Points neighborhood to go to a men’s clothing store there I really liked. Nice stuff. Great selection. Friendly owner.

When I bought a WRX last year, I took the advice of a colleague of mine who commutes to work in a Porsche. I bought a set of aftermarket wheels and had Blizzak snow tires mount on them. Switch back and forth around the end of October and the end of April (spring being the snowiest season here in Denver Colorado). That…

Okay, MORE PIE FOR ME!

I needed a second Linux system to use as a development box and the NUC running Ubuntu has worked great for that. Most of the work I do is low level stuff, and for the most part the Linux system is just a build server. I run it headless, and either SSH into it or export windows via X to my desktop Mac with the big…

I needed a second Linux system to use as a development box and the NUC running Ubuntu has worked great for that.…

(The cynic in me says that office events after work are just another way for your employers to take part of your personal time away from you. Same as when they cater lunch for a noon meeting. It many ways, it’s a kind of pay cut, since you’re working more hours for the same salary.)

(If I don’t have to drive, I’ll gladly have a beer or even a martini or G&T when with friends, or even better with Mrs. Overclock, who can take advantage of my inhibitions being lowered.)

I’m an introvert, but I actually enjoy office happy hour events. However - not to pull a Mike Pence or anything - I have a policy of not drinking alcohol at such events. Partly it’s my forty minute commute driving home. But part of it is I don’t want my inhibitions lowered. For lots of reasons. Just not a good idea.

Mrs. Overclock and I both have Global Entry, which includes TSA-Pre. The conspiracy theorist in me says that it’s a way for the U. S. federal government to get private citizens to volunteer to get a fairly deep background check and pay for it to boot. However, that ship sailed for both the Mrs. and me thanks to jobs…

I liked it okay. Mostly it suffers in comparison to the original JURASSIC PARK, which was a wonder to behold (and it had what may be my all time favorite John Williams score). It was hard not to like Chris Pratt’s character and his portrayal of the “alpha velociraptor” in the pack. Also: guns and motorcycles, two of…