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Jonathan Coulton’s “Code Monkey” is a niche song about software engineers. It describes the feeling you get from time to time as a developer. I have to admit that I use to get these feelings quite a bit, but since I’ve changed jobs I don’t feel this way nearly as often. Sometimes you still just have to say:

Code Monkey get up get coffee
Code Monkey go to job
have boring meeting with boring manager Rob
Rob say Code Monkey very diligent
but his output stink
his code not functional or elegant
what do Code Monkey think
Code Monkey think maybe manager oughta write goddamn login page himself
Code Monkey not say it out loud
Code Monkey not crazy just proud

Here is the full song

Last Month I was on call for county jury duty. This was the first time I had to do jury duty, and it really showed me how inefficient the system is.

• The original form I was sent to fill out for jury duty asked me to list all appointments, meetings, etc.. I had for the month. However, there was no place on the form to place the information.
• The form said I had to call in between Friday after 5:00 PM and Monday before 8:00 AM. I ended up having to call in every other day to see if I was needed for the next day.
• For the one trial I was called for there were at least 40 people in the jury duty select. Only the first 16 were ever needed, which I was not one of.
• The other 2 times I had to go in the jury was never needed and so we were dismissed.

Talk about a huge waste of time and resources. Since this was just for county duty I don’t know if the federal process is the same, but it really illustrates what is wrong with our judicial system.

I’ve been trying to post a video from YouTube onto this blog. I’ve tried three different times, and each time I get the message that the video will be posted shortly. The videos have never appeared. First why can’t youtube do this more interactively instead of in batch later in the day. Second, if there is a problem, let me know about it. Do not just fail silently!

I’m ready to move to a red state. Let me preface this rant by saying that I view myself as a libertarian, although I tend to have more Republican leaning views than Democratic. I also want to note there is some sarcasm in this post, so be on the look out.

For the first time in more than 40 years the Democratic Party controls Iowa’s Governor’s office, Senate, and House. To commemorate this achievement the government raised taxes.

Taxes on cigarettes were raised a dollar a pack. This raise was said to be for health care related to cigarette smoking. They then tried to use the money for “universal health care”. I’m absolutely for helping insure the uninsured. I just don’t like the way the money was appropriated for one cause, and then people tried to use it for another. This is our government at work, folks.

This is just one example of how the democratic legislation raised taxes this year. They also created a one-time tax amnesty. Just like the one-time tax amnesty of 1985. They also tried to tax digital downloads. Because taxing the Internet is how you entice kids to stay in this state. There is also a vote in July to raise the local option sales tax. So what do we get for all these tax increases? We received a 10% increase of spending over last years budget. woohoo.

I’ve decided to start posting a regular feature about things that drive me crazy. I’ve categorized them as rants if you want to see them all. This weeks rant is on the father (dad) section of parenting magazines. I swear these have to be written by moms. They are almost always about how you can support your wife in parenting your children. They are never about how to be an involved father. Never about the interaction between fathers and their children.