entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

Two weekends ago, Kim and i ran away to Calistoga for restoration via mud bath and massage at Golden Haven Hot Springs.  On our way there, we stopped at our favorite wineries, Summers and Ehlers Estate; on the way back, we stopped at Heitz, whose Grignolino wine and port i've admired for some time.

Last weekend, i nerded it up, as ever, at DunDraCon, but i did not neglect my sweet Kimmy on Valentine's Day, and brought her flowers and a card, and then took her out to sushi. DDC was fun as always; although i missed seeing some of the usual suspects, i did get to see vanmojo and dr_strych9, albeit in passing through the LARP in which they were participating (not judging you, guys... well, not too much).

Tonight, Kim and i drove to San Francisco to spend a little time with old Macromedia coworkers.  It's obvious that we're a bunch of nostalgic romantics, and that's fine with me.  I wish we'd've been able to get there earlier and stay later, but an hour-long drive home is always rough.

During one of my cleaning binges, i emptied out the box that contained all the stuff from my Macromedia cubicle.  In addition to an ApacheCon spiral notebook that contained notes to a talk by fanf, i found my old nameplate.  So i updated it and stuck it on the window next to my office door.

Yes, that's the now-famous "Make me a sandwich" cartoon by xkcd.

Wednesday evening, i caught up with old Macromedia friends at Mars and, god, we had a blast.  I missed those people a lot.  I picked up a bottle of Cooper-Garrod 2002 Cabernet Franc (C-G's cab franc is one of my standards) at K&L for $22 plus tax, and i ended up splitting that with Brian, which ameliorated our booze bill (and Ivan picked up the corkage fee, ha ha).  After that, the remaining few of us went to the Mission for late night vittles at Pancho Villa.

Thursday evening, Centavo lost a heartbreaker against KOSOC, 6-5, in our final Session 70 game.  It was a really tight game, and the game was tied until about a minute left when a KOSOC player uncorked a shot from outside; i was partly screened, but i was already moving to my right, and i got a hand on the ball as i dove, but it wasn't enough.  I had a pretty solid game; the few times my defense let me down cost us, but overall the whole team played well.  We almost tied in the end but a tap-in shot was shanked.  I'll miss our first game of Session 71 while i'm in Bengalūru, unfortunately.  I'm leaving in less than four hours... ack.  Off to pack.

On the way to work today, i heard David Bowie singing "Wake Up" with The Arcade Fire.  Very damn cool.  Ah, it's from an iTunes Store exclusive release for Hurricane Katrina relief.

Interrobang Cartel fans might be amused by Psychostick.

Also: yesterday was my last day as an Adobe employee.  IN YOUR FACE, BRUCE CHIZEN!

... needs a senior UNIX sysadmin.

Fortune has released their 2006 list of their 100 Best Companies to Work For.  Notably absent?  Lucky #13 last year: Adobe.

FOOL ME ONCE?  SHAME ON YOU, MOTHERFUCKERS.

Those of us who are leaving are consoling the people who are stuck here.

Oh, well, at least they set the vending machines to dispense sodas and junk food for free.  Bread and fucking circuses.

Dear Ronny,

As a result of Adobe Systems Incorporated's acquisition of Macromedia, Inc., we regret to inform you that your employment will terminate because we simply don't have a clue as to how to integrate a company your size; therefore, we would rather move on with as few employees as possible to give each of them a vibrant new opportunity to work 70 hours a week, and thus give those of you we're laying off the chance to laugh at our ingenuousness.  I mean, ingenuity.

There will be no bumping rights in connection with this reduction in force.

OK, so i'm on my fourth beer and it was the last, lonely Red Hook ESB in the fridge, and nobody else spotted it, so that's cool.  And, um.  Yeah.  I have iTunes blasting music and people are milling around drinking beer and shooting the shit and climbing cubicle walls (not me, honest).  There's a vibe of nervous release floating about, and it's simultaneously exciting and enervating.  Maybe it's just the collective adrenaline wearing off.

That's all.  WOOOOO!!!!!  PARTAY!!!!

From:    CFO
Sent:    Thu Dec 01 16:36:07 2005
To:      [a bunch of people]
Subject: Godot is here

The official press release crossed the wire just a few minutes ago announcing our intent to close as planned on December 3, 2005.

Integration teams - buckle up! It's gonna be a challenging next week or so, but I know that everyone is ready and eager to get on with it.

[CFO]

I have two things to say: 1) "as planned", my ass; 2) "next week or so" is the biggest understatement of the year.