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I'm working on a USB video driver. The way it works is quite complex so I ported from Linux rather than writing from scratch:
#define spin_lock_t IOSimpleLock *
Some things didn't have such simple ports, so I guarded them with #ifdefs. Then my coworker removed all the Linux-specific code as well as the ifdefs. Sucks to be him when it's maintenance time.
I get a big check when it goes to beta. I'm going to donate a good chunk of money to homeless shelters, soup kitchens and rescue missions.
And I'm going to buy a car.
The car won't help much with getting to work - because of the all-day rush our here in Portland, I'll stick to the light rail. But it might be worthwhile to drive instead of taking two busses to get from home to the North Portland light rail station. I expect that will cut my commute from two hours to ninety minutes.
More important to me in the short term is that I can go places where the busses don't go. Like the beach, the desert and the mountains.
I like to camp in the desert.
Say that ---^ in Reno and you get a 10-day involuntary hold for being a danger to yourself. That's because "camping in the desert" is a local euphemism for "committing suicide".
"But I'm not from Reno! I really _do_ like to camp in the desert." My pleas fell on deaf ears.
A good chunk of Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon and Northeast California is a desert.
I get another big check when we ship. There will be quite a lot of work between beta and shipping; I have to support multiple dongles, as well as harmony with the competitor's dongle, as well as some other featureful things.
I'm going to get my stuff out of storage in Canada. I don't know yet how much that will cost but I'm guessing three grand.
I'll get my piano back. I mean like a real piano, with wires and wood.
It was way out of tune when I recorded this. I later had it tuned, but I wanted to record its memory in case tuning it broke some of the strings. While they could be replaced, the new wires would spoil the distinctive voice of the piano that I had lived with since I was a toddler.
In my experience, if you enjoy my recordings, you're not right in the head. One of my two biggest fans has Borderline Personality Disorder - I met her by playing a piano in a nuthouse - and Schizotypal Personality Disorder.
I also have a Fatar controller in storage. It doesn't make sound, I have to use a MIDI Sound Module for that. But it has a hammer-action mechanism that makes it feel like a real concert grand.
I also - presently - have an M-Audio ProKeys 88sx Lightweight Stage Piano. I bought it for playing open mics.
The Hell am I going to do with three pianos? My apartment is tiny! But I cannot bear to part with any of them.
Lately I've been writing down my favorite artists when they're played on Radio Paradise. Then ever couple of weeks I go to a real good record store and buy a half-dozen CDs. I've got over a hundred artists in my list, I'm going to be enjoying lots of new music, with the approval of the MAFIAA.
Ah! The privileged life: a couple weeks ago I bought parmesan cheese for my spaghetti.
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Friday September 01 2017, @08:47PM (1 child)
Congratulations!
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday September 01 2017, @09:10PM
I'm even paying a little bit of my rent.
I haven't made much money yet this year as my first project took a lot longer than I expected. That was due to my having been unemployed for six years: when I started, I didn't have a clue.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 01 2017, @09:35PM
Try to keep it under 10% and save the rest. Focus on securing your success first so that you can continue to give back.
You should probably avoid any financing options and go with a less expensive car.
As for your storage:
Try to think of the opportunity cost and be aware of irrational biases such as loss aversion - are the belongings really worth the money (initial costs, transportation, maintenance, space, future moving costs, etc.). What else could you buy with the money that would have more actual value?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 02 2017, @06:22AM (4 children)
Do you mean that, when you drive it away, you will be the owner of the car?
...or would it be more accurate to say that you will start making payments on a car?
(I've never in my life made a car payment.)
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday September 02 2017, @09:55AM
I'm with the pinko on this one. Get the most reliable thing you can find for what you can afford, regardless of what it looks like. And pay cash in full. Also, remember that there's a fair chance you may need to pay sales tax to the state on the purchase. Plus the cost of insurance and tags and whatever inspections you may or may not have to go through.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday September 05 2017, @06:51PM (2 children)
I once bought quite a nice Chevy Prism - the Chevy branding of the Toyota Corolla - for $4k.
So my budget for the new car will be $4k. No financing.
In any case, my credit report is a smoking radioactive crater: lots of unpaid ambulance, emergency room and nuthouse debt. I could have declared bankruptcy, but instead I moved without filing a Change Of Address card, and changed my phone number as well.
I didn't want to declare bankruptcy as rental applications often ask about it. I can truthfully say that I've never declared bankruptcy.
I'll be off the hook when the Statute Of Limitations expires - that will be the summer of 2019.
The only real reason I kept my credit card as long as I possibly could, as that as a consultant I often have to fly on an airplane to visit clients. One needs a credit car to rent a car.
I finally figured I'd do better if I just called a taxi.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 06 2017, @11:14AM (1 child)
Yeah. I call those a new-to-me car. 8-)
I'd do better if I just called a taxi
Until you said camp in the desert, I was thinking "Uber".
...then there was places where the [buses] don't go.
With the internet and wireless data terminals that fit in a pocket plus gig economy drivers or even driverless vehicles, I wonder how long it will be before traditional public transit won't even be a thing.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday September 07 2017, @11:42PM
... said you should ride Uber to work everyday.
I could see some Uber drivers going postal in Portland's all-day rush hour.
Me? I take the bus and the MAX light rail as it zooms past all the cars on the highway.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Saturday September 02 2017, @03:57PM (1 child)
Glad things are going well for you MDC.
Honestly, I wish I knew why programmers do things like this. A lot of them seem to be obsessed with keeping code (and output) looking minimalist, at the expense of, well everything else really: ease of understanding, stability, performance, backwards compatibility, portability! Code comments, #ifdefs, commented out code blocks, are rarely used and as you've found out, even actively removed.
I've also noticed they hate using temporary local variables so will copy and paste the same method call many times in preference to it.
Well maintained, portable code is seen as ugly and untidy. These are the same people that think that a product that took years of development to refine and perfect can be rewritten from scratch in a few months.
</RANT>
No fuc|<s given.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday September 05 2017, @06:47PM
I could still get by OK without the stuff from storage, but some of the stuff means quite a lot to me. For example, a girlfriend gave me an origami piano. She fell in love with me as a result of my playing a real piano in her presence.
There's also my grandfather's piano. I've lived with its sound since I was an infant.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 02 2017, @07:50PM (3 children)
When one is out of work, the full time job becomes Looking For Work. When one spends 50 hours per week on the job search, it is a full time job. It is not going well.
For the first few years, they all complimented me on my stellar resume, my educated background, and my wide variety of skills. They told me there were plenty of jobs available, if only I would just go away and apply elsewhere. Some had very specific suggestions about where elsewhere should be. A few literally referred me to each other. Never mind that they were not hiring at all and the successful candidates were internally promoted. Outsiders who applied off the street were wasting their time.
A wide variety of skills is bad to have. It gives an excuse to focus on that one skill the successful candidate will not need professionally in the role and tell the applicant to go seek a role with that skill requirement. Just go look on Monster, they say, find something else. Never mind the job boards are full of fake jobs which are reposted every week or every month and which are never ever filled. Fake jobs keep HR busy posting fake jobs. Fake jobs create excuses to hire H1Bs when no applicant has the exact skillset required. Fake jobs make work for recruiters who keep soliciting applicants for jobs which have already been filled. Whatever the reason, fake jobs are everywhere.
Small businesses arguably could use a variety of skills since small businesses cannot afford many employees, and the employees would need to perform a variety of tasks. It is a purely hypothetical argument because small businesses have been going out of business for the past decade. Nobody is hiring, and storefronts lie vacant for years. Those businesses which are barely surviving have already shed staff to the point that the owners themselves are doing all their own work. There is an economic depression on, despite how much the few successful people vehemently try to deny it.
For a few years, they ignored me entirely. Apply, no acknowledgement, no rejection, nothing. I was not needed on the fake jobs scene, not even for the charade of keeping up appearances to make the fake jobs look real.
This year, things are looking down. I am in demand again. Recruiters call me almost every day now. I have interviews every other week. Yet everybody always asks the same question.
"But why aren't you working?"
Hobby projects to hone skills are not real work, which is why one does not get paid. If only Looking For Work counted as paid work, I would have been working for pay. I should have gotten paid to be the designated loser in every interview for a position which was filled by internal promotion. I should have gotten paid to be a perpetually unsuccessful applicant who helped to grease the wheels of the fake jobs scene. Then my life and career would be great.
How much time am I wasting on this comment? Too much. I might have no income, but even I have other plans for this day. My time is worth nothing, and still you people are not worth my time.
I know, I think I will take the advice of The Mighty Buzzard: find a cock which is not being sucked, [soylentnews.org] and suck that fucking cock with confidence! [soylentnews.org]
Signing off now.
Fuck MDC.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @12:26AM
Your a asshole.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday September 05 2017, @06:55PM
The Global Computer Index [soggywizards.com].
Tell me where you're looking for work and I'll dig up some open positions there.
"Where" might include relocating. Among the reasons I was homeless for so long was that I was unwilling to relocate for a job.
Also consider starting your own business. Some people do quite well by publishing a $0.99 iPhone or Android App. You get more users if you make it available free - but put In-App Purchasing to unlock some cool features.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday September 05 2017, @06:58PM
The Labor Force Participation Rate is at its lowest since the 70s.
The stock market and GDP are booming because the rich motherfuckers get most of the money. There are lots of jobs for people who earn 200 grand per year.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]