Getting up in the morning

I accomplished several things today.

First, I woke up a little earlier than usual: 6:00 sharp! I've been slacking a bit, getting up at 7:00 or maybe 7:15. I want to stick with my normal routine, so that when I get the job I will be ready. Being late on the first day is not good.

I read a bit about Matlab. It is an interesting language, and very capable. It can perform many different mathematical operations (lots on matrices, explaining the name) and plot graphs of the results. I'm not sure that I can use it for my normal work, which tends to be text-based and not mathematical.

I examined the OOXML format for Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. My intent is to create routines that can convert plain text (such as a text stream from "regular" tools like sed and awk) into a readable .xlsx file. I also added the 'options' module to my 'interpret' program, which is one step in the bigger process. Now 'interpret' can parse options on the command line.

I lunched with Julie and Derek, two former co-workers. We had a too-short lunch at the local Qdoba.

I joined the LinkedIn group 'Baltimore Connections', for people looking for contacts in the area.

I signed up for the Central PA Open Source Conference. It's a one-day show, with an admission fee of $35. They have some interesting sessions, but I am more interested in making contacts for job opportunities.

The folks at Omnyx decided to pass on me as a new employee. The reason they gave was that I didn't know the 'Dispose' pattern and could speak only superficially about the differences between multi-threaded and multi-process applications. Both true, but I suspect that the real reason is just not "clicking" on the phone interview. When interviewing people, I wouldn't flag them on a few technical items -- but if I didn't have a good feel for them, I would use a few technical items as an excuse.

An odd day, at the end. I feel that I did little. Yet looking at the list, I did quite a few things.