Not What I Expected

Hey Bill--here's where your future BSCS students went!

The University of Illinois (remember NCSA Mosaic? remember NCSA anything?) has so many applicants to their undergrad business school that they can pick and choose among the best.

UI isn't the only school that has had their business school applications trend upwards. And why not? That business degree is likely going to command a better starting salary, fewer work hours, and a much smaller chance that a pink slip and offshoring of their job is going to be the reward for their work.

These are the bright students. remember?

Frozen as a heart betray'd

Okay, maybe I tempted the weather gods way too much when I kept complaining that I had a bunch of clothes from my "mid-winter in Seattle" wardrobe that I hadn't been able to wear for a year. It can stop being cold now. And it can certainly stop sleeting now.

And yes, sleet has a different crystalline structure from snow, but when an inch of that drops on downtown San Jose in just over an hour, it just doesn't matter that much.

And speaking of a return to winter, I suggested to a friend of mine who needed to do some some set-up work for the coming eclipse that he visit Arizona. And so off he went last weekend. A couple of the locals commented that if he waited a week, the weather would be better. He told them that I had said, nope, the rain was coming in. They laughed, and pointed out it hadn't rained for close to six months.

Yesterday, it started raining in Arizona. In fact, at one point, every county in Arizona had some sort of weather warning, whether it was a flood warning or a snow warning. In fact, a good chunk of the low desert area ended up getting record precipitation for a 24 hour period.

Chuq said this is all due to my not attending Spring Training this year. Me, I think I'll lay low on my next trip to Arizona. I figure they might have a couple of questions for that woman from California who can tell them what their weather's going to be a week in advance.

(technorati tags: weather, snow,rain)

Seattle--I'm worried about you

I used to spend a good chunk of time up in Seattle. I hope to again. I follow the Seattle news pretty religiously--in fact it was a bit of a joke that I knew better what was going on in the area than some of the residents.

I find the Summer Nights series being cancelled disturbing. I find the quote from one of the people who was able to get it cancelled even mroe disturbing--"We won! We are really excited."--Cheryl Trivison (check at the bottom of the article). Um, they are excitied. And they seem to be looking forward to more lawsuits to get what *they* want at the local parks. Nice attitude--do it their way, or risk getting your ass sued into oblivion.

Has anyone checked the last port of call for the people who were yelling the loudest? Because they sure sound like some of the SF Bay Area residents who repeatedly have screwed things over for a lot of people because of their rampant NIMBYism.

Look, one of the things that I liked about Seattle is that they had a lot of events going on, and there was a lot of cooperation and negotation and compromise, and ultimately working things out. And that Seattle hadn't gotten itself to the same place that the SF Bay Area has, where if you want to do anything, you have to get the buy-in from everyone including the Left-handed Albanian Alligator Wrestlers for Buddha, or else you'd find yourself up to your neck with lawsuits and pickets.

And that Seattle hadn't had a bunch of people move in because they "loved the whole Seattle thing", and them immediately turn around and try to get rid of all the things that attracted them in the first place.

Oh, and in case anyone wants to start accusing me of not having walked the walk, I live close enough to the Santa Clara International Swim Center that my street is clogged about a dozen weekends a year with SUVs full of swimmers. And since that Center is also where the main park is, on other weekends when there is a festival, once again the streets are full of people parking to get to the event.

But you know what? I have a really nice park within walking distance, and I can walk to all those events. Sort of works out, you know?

It's called community. And that's what Seattle stands to lose.

(technorati tags: business, Seattle, community)