Mike Ball » General

What I’m doing with this blog

Mike — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:15:07 +0000

When I retired it seemed that a large part of the reason for having a blog disappeared. Also, my blog was besieged by spam, and whenever I tried to update it something went wrong. I’ve been accumulating lots of photos from family events and travel, and I know that some people would like to see them, [...]

Some great work on music

Mike — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:50:29 +0000

I know I should have been keeping this up to date, and there really is lots to report on (we now own a house in Oregon), but I’ve just seen a talk and demonstration that really inspired me. Tod Machover at the MIT Media Lab has been experimenting with new ways to play music, and closes [...]

Idealism Wins One

Mike — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:16:04 +0000

I just saw a wonderful talk by a fellow named Dave Eggers. He’s set up projects to get successful adults working one on one with school kids. Check out the talk or his website. It’s well worth [...]

Quick correction

Mike — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:47:21 +0000

In the last post there was a line “A lot of people I didn’t like”. This was the exact opposite of my intent. The “didn’t” was an edit error from the next sentence. It crept in when I was inserting the sentence in question.

My sincere apologies to anyone who read this before I [...]

I Quit

Mike — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 05:21:04 +0000

As of tomorrow, I have retired from Microsoft. I haven’t changed jobs, I’ve retired. For at least the next couple of months I plan to do very little. I’ve been catching up on my reading, we are planning a trip to Ashland in the next couple of weeks to see what it’s like in the winter, [...]

A Sign of the Times

Mike — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:14:30 +0000

I’m writing this while sitting in the waiting area of the Auto dealer. They have a work area with a long desk divided into cubicles, and a fast internet connection for customers. They also schedule appointments, so that I can bring the car in and wait for it to be done. In the mean time, I [...]

Once more into the breach…..

Mike — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:11:20 +0000

We just took a trip to Ashland for the Shakespeare Festival, so I’m feeling mildly Shakespearean.

You may have noticed that I didn’t start writing again after that last post. Well, I came home from work mad enough to chew up an anvil and spit nails, and I just don’t like writing when I’m grumpy. Partly, I don’t [...]

The System Still Works

Mike — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 06:22:16 +0000

I was very glad to see that our political system is still working, and can catch the country before it goes too far wrong. In my opinion, that’s the great strength of democracy. It has all sorts of faults, but it usually catches us before we get too far out on a limb. That’s more than [...]

Reading blogs

Mike — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 05:42:06 +0000

Blogs are a fascinating phenomenon. I indulge very lightly compared to many, but there are still more than I can keep up with. I list some of them in the sidebar. I was reading a post in presentsimple (she has problems keeping up too), but I was struck by her mention of culture. Can you say [...]

Getting to a new normal

Mike — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 05:26:59 +0000

I’d say that things were getting back to normal, but everything is different, so it’s really getting to a new normal. Oh, did I mention that while I was gone to Washington, they moved my office? I have a nice window, looking out at the parking lot and the freeway. It’s actually not bad. The parking [...]