We were making great time until we tried to get to L’Enfant Plaza. Even though we caught the first train that showed up, we spent over 20 minutes waiting in the tunnel because of another train.
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On the train to downtown
We got on the train at Wheaton around 6:40am. There was a bit of a crowd on the platform, but we all got on the train with no problem. Once we got to Silver Spring Station, the train was packed (even with 8 cars).
By 7:06, we got to New York Avenue Station, the last time I could post before we went underground (and out of reach of the AT & T network).
Headed downtown
Of course it’s crazy for me to brave the cold and the crowds to see Obama’s inauguration on a jumbrotron far from the actual swearing-in–but I’m still going to do it. He’s the first (and only) candidate I ever donated money to, so I’ve got to be at least somewhere in the vicinity. I’ve got my route picked out, my wake-up time, cold-weather gear, pocket-friendly food, and enough memory cards for the camera to last all day.
World of Goo
For years I’ve been more of a console gamer (XBox 360) than a computer gamer, but World of Goo is trying very hard to change that. I don’t normally like puzzle games, but World of Goo tricked me by hiding the puzzle/construction/physics inside a hilarious cartoon. In addition to being fun, simple to control, and great-looking, it’s just $20. So far, it’s available for the PC, Mac, and Wii.
Another use for RSS feeds
Caphyon, the vendor of Advanced Installer, has a feed for updates of the software. A brief look at the feed shows a pretty regular schedule of updates. Each entry in the feed contains the release notes, with new features, enhancements, and bug fixes.
Quick thanks to my friend Dave, who sent me a tweet about this product. Now we’ll see how it stacks up against InstallShield.
Finally joined Twitter
Being part of The Borg Facebook wasn’t enough–I joined Twitter a couple of weeks ago. At least so far, it has succeeded in connecting me with the few friends of mine I haven’t found on Facebook yet. I don’t use it from my iPhone that much yet, but fring seems to be a good enough client.
It’s morning again in America
The U.S. is certainly a different place today than it was yesterday. The commentary I’ve seen that sums up best just how different things are is this Tom Toles cartoon of Obama walking into the White House beneath these words:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
Yesterday, America proved that we really believe this.
Election Day
I got in line a little over 30 minutes after the polls opened. According to the poll worker who came out to see how everyone is doing, the line was out the door by 6 am (1 hour before the polls officially opened).
My first clue as to how long this would take was the amount of cars parked everywhere. Every spot that isn’t marked handicapped is full. Every curb is full. People are double-parked. The loading dock on the side of the school even has cars and SUVs in it.
Update: Around 90 minutes after I got in line, I finally got to vote. The line was still outside of the school when I left.
Why Performance Reviews Don’t Work
This morning, I came across this interesting post about why performance reviews don’t work. The alternative that stood out was weekly one-on-one meetings with direct reports. It’s a recommendation I first heard nearly two years ago on the Manager Tools podcast. I’ve managed employees in the past, and when I followed the advice about weekly one-on-one meetings, virtually every relationship improved. It is more meetings, but the results are worth it.
While I don’t have a manager title in my current job, I’m still in fairly regular touch with the employees I used to manage. Were it not for those regular meetings, I doubt I’d have the same relationship with my former co-workers that I do today.
Grand Canyon, North Rim
After the Antelope Canyon tour, we pushed on to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The north rim doesn’t get the kind of attention that the south rim does, but it was well worth the visit. The views from the overlooks we visited were amazing.