Dan Bothwell, Sprinkler Designer

I am now beginning my third full job as a sprinkler designer. I have collaborated with several others over the past four or five months, but this will be the third with my name on it. I'm very proud of myself, and of all the cool things I'm learning to do. I can even talk about sprinklers to my wife and my friends and make it interesting for them. Several weeks ago, a friend of mine who's an electrician at a hospital in Tacoma, asked me how much water per minute a sprinkler head puts out, but couldn't tell me why he needed to know (hospital nondisclosure rules). We had a fascinating conversation in which we each taught the other something. This sort of thing happens to me once in a while. Anyway, I just wanted to post something with my job title in it so I can tell people to search for myself.

Really? Is it that hard to make a decent Freecell game?

The one thing I sorely miss now that I'm on Vista is that ubiquitous game of freecell that used to be available. So now I have an iGoogle account, complete with widgets--hey, I know, I'll search for a Freecell widget! Oh boy, lots to choose from. I chose one, add it to my screen, start playing--the window is too narrow to see the entire game, and no way to resize. Frustrated, I delete it and search again. The second game I try doesn't work at all. The third game is again too narrow--plus it makes me sit through a commercial for Febreze or something like that before I can play-- are you kidding me? Maybe I'll try again later.

Throwback

My wife and I got a nice surprise yesterday as we were selecting drinks and snacks for our upcoming road trip. It seems that real sugar is finding it's way back into soft drinks, for the first time in years. I didn't realize this, but pops like Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and others had been using corn syrup in their recipes instead of sugar. For a variety of reasons, they're now all switching back to sugar, which tastes better and is healthier anyway. They're calling these "new" flavors "Throwback". We got a couple and tried them, and I can't believe how good they taste. I didn't think I liked cola; now I know better. I hope this trend is permanent and not just a short-term marketing thing; if that's the case we may have to stock up on the good stuff.

Extra work day

There's a growing concensus around my office that today, Wednesday, feels more like Thursday. I've been noticing that for the last several weeks, Thursdays have been feeling more like Fridays. I think it's clear what's going on here: somehow, all of us have worked an extra day and didn't realize it. I say we make that right immediately.

Googlejuice library

I contend that the public library provides a primitive form of
Googlejuice (if you don't know what Googlejuice is, I recommend
reading the excellent book, "What Would Google Do?" by Jeff Jarvis).
They exist to promote books and information, as much information as
you can handle, all completely free. To an avid reader like myself,
this provides the perfect platform for finding and previewing new
books and then deciding which ones to buy and add to my own library.
The majority of my favorite books that I've purchased for myself are
ones I found at the library. Indeed, I would never have found "What
Would Google Do?" if it hadn't been sitting there in the Business
books section, with it's thought-provoking title and eye-catching
cover. Some authors and publishers might argue that giving away books for free takes away from their sales and profit, but I say it adds to it. This is the essence of Googlejuice, and I think Jarvis would agree with me.

Second Post

I guess I am now an official blogger, I never thought I'd do this but I guess everyone needs an online voice.  Normally I would have made this introduction of myself in my first post, but I wanted that first post to be about something I've been thinking a lot about.  There's much more to come, I'm just getting started here.  Thanks for reading.

Apple vs. PC

I always love it when I hear people complaining about Macs when they haven't used one in years and years.  I always want to say, "Have you not been paying attention?"  In the olden days, yeah, Macs were kind of wimpy computers-- but that's more a question of style then of actual performance.  It's not that they're worse or better, it's that they're different.  A friend once commented that Macs were kind of like European cars versus American cars, and I would agree with that.  When Apple Computer first started, they were billed as the Volkswagon of personal computers.  Nowadays, however, I would say they're more like the Jaquar of personal computers.  And, if I can afford it, I'd rather be driving a Jaguar than a Toyota Camry.