The IT Crowd - Series 3

I don't watch a lot of TV, but I love the delightful The IT Crowd show put out by Britain's Channel 4. There're aren't a lot of episodes yet, but today that is going to change. The first episode of the new 3rd series is going to air tonight. Those of us in the US will need to wait a while longer, but I'm excited nonetheless. If you're already a fan then you know there's more geek madness in store. And if you're not, you should track down series 1 and 2 and see what you're missing...

A Bad Week to Travel

I'm on the road this week, in Seattle for the PASS Community Summit conference and in Redmond for meetings and such. Normally I love this trip, because the food is great[1], it's a beautiful area and it's a chance for me to get face-to-face time with more members of my team.

But this week I really wish I were at home, and the reason may not be obvious. It's because I'm going to miss the rollout of the New Xbox Experience. Yeah, I know that's geeky[2] but I've been looking forward to this major overhaul of the Xbox platform ever since it was announced a few months back. Not only does the Xbox UI get a complete makeover, but I will also be able to stream Netflix content directly to my Xbox 360 for instant video gratification.

And it's going to be released this Wednesday, November 19th. And I'm going to miss it until I get home Friday night. And yes, I've been looking forward to it enough to resent those two days enough to blog about it.

Is it Friday yet?

[1] Yes, I'm going back to Elemental@Gasworks this week ;-)

[2] And not like "developer geek" but more like "end user geek" which is a lot less cool-sounding

Vote Early!

For those of us in the US, today is Election Day. After months of campaigning (I wanted to say "heated debate" but we didn't really get months of that, id we?) it's time to vote, and select a new president.

I live in a quiet little neighborhood, and typically get up early to vote as soon as the polls open. There have never been more than five or ten people in line in front of me, and it's always been a quick in-and-out[1] procedure.

But today was a little different.

Today, when I arrived a few minutes after the polls opened (6:00 AM, still dark outside) the parking lot was nearly full. There were 60 or 70 people already in line in front of me; it took me almost half an hour to get in, vote, and get back out again. And when I left the line was noticeably longer than it had been when I arrived.

Never before have I seen a voter turnout like this one. For some reason, people must feel that this particular election is very important.

So if you're thinking about waiting until after work today to vote, please let me urge you to not delay. If the massive[2] voter turnout that I experienced this morning is at all indicative of what the day will look like at polls around the nation, you will probably want to ensure that you take into account longer lines and longer delays at the polls.

So go vote!

[1] And if you now for some reason feel the urge to go watch A Clockwork Orange then my work here is done. ;-)

[2] Ok, so 60 or 70 people isn't "massive" on a global scale, but please work with me here...