Thursday, September 28, 2006

My legacy

I've put a lot of thought into my clothes for Monday, my last day at the Packet.

The way I see it, I have two choices.

In one, I dress in my usual tasteful business casual on Monday, and three years from now, this conversation will occur:

Packet staffer #1: You remember Brian Dearth?

Packet staffer #2: No.

The second scenario, also three years into the future, shapes up as such:

Packet staffer #1: You remember Brian Dearth?

Packet staffer #2: Hell yeah... he was the Web guy who wore nothing but a sportcoat and a towel on his last day. He set the bar pretty high, and even though many have tried, no one's topped him yet.

Although I did decide against following a certain IT drone's advice to respond to all reader questions by directing all of them to the same Web site. I thought maybe that might come back to haunt me.

• Posted by Brian at 7:35 PM
• Comments (4)
• Category: Random

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Wakeup calls

Just a little tip for those of you who peruse the classifieds in your local paper for discount prices on goods and services... don't call at 7:45 a.m. on a Saturday. Please. Not everyone chooses to greet the weekend with a big smile and hearty hello. Some like to sleep later than they do on weekdays.

When the phone rings -- twice -- and wakes people up -- twice -- before any eights are on the board, it annoys the almighty crap out of some people -- twice.

This message was brought to you by the numbers 10 and 11 (hint, hint). Thank you.

• Posted by Brian at 11:12 AM
• Comments (0)
• Category: Random

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Goodbye 843, hello 760

As in our new area code, once we're settled in to our new digs in Palm Springs, California. We're moving from one tourist area known for its old people and golf to another tourist area across the country known for its old people and golf. I wish I liked golf.

I have accepted a job as the Digital Editor at The Desert Sun in Palm Springs. I start in mid-October, and I'm pretty excited about it. I'm even more excited about moving to a new city in a new state. And this might surprise a lot of people, but California is generally considered to be a shade more progressive than South Carolina. Especially areas of S.C. that start with "B" and end in "luffton."

We've always known that we wouldn't settle down for good here, and now that we're headed toward marriage, Deborah and I decided to focus elsewhere.

The one thing that sucks is that Debz and I have made a lot of good friends here in the (s)Lowcountry. (We even befriended a few poor souls who don't have web sites!) I had a great experience working at the Packet and the Gazette, but after almost 6 years here, it's time to try something new.

• Posted by Brian at 9:26 PM
• Comments (3)
• Category: Travel

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Exercise in boredom

Because I hadn't done it in a good long while, I Googled myself. This site popped up first. Of course. But to my utter disbelief, there were several other entries following it affiliated with imposters who claim my name, but yet clearly aren't me.

So I Alta Vista'ed, Dogpiled, Switchboarded, and Yahooed myself as well. I came up with a fairly large number of individuals faking their way through life with my name.

• The most frequent interloper is a partner with B2B, which "is a consultancy providing strategic and tactical advice and services to cutting edge new media companies." Sounds like a load of value-added Web 2.0 synergy to me.

• The same dude also is the CEO of Hollywood Stock Exchange. Or was. The press release is from February 2001.

• There's a Brian D. Dearth of Huntington Beach, Calif., whose grandmother (Mary L. Dearth of The Plains, Ga.) passed away in May 2005. It's probably this same kid who's pretty decent in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

• A six-year-old with a Thomas the Train fetish lives in Utah.

• Belated congratulations to Salt Lake City's Brian Dearth, who was promoted to Terminal Manager at the Saia Salt Lake City location (see top of page 4). Perhaps he's the father or uncle or much-older cousin of the previous lad.

• Another took second place in the Rookie Division of the 2006 Ohio State Invitational Trapshooting Tournament. Keep practicing; second place is the first loser, and that's not gonna fly if you want to keep that name.

• A freshman at Timberlane Regional High School in New Hampshire made 1st Quarter honors in the 2005-06 school year. He's reachin' for the stars.

• There's a fellow with a familiar name who won Best of Show in the 2003 Allen County Fair Demolition Derby.

• The Ohio EPA Central Office appears to be ably staffed, especially in the Division of Solid and Infectious Waste Management (also known around the office as Sector 7G).

• The 2006 California Southern Section Spring Baseball League was dominated by a Temple City pitcher with my name. Third in the league in ERA. Not bad at all.

• There's an electrician in Bowling Green, Ohio, who's married to Heather.

• AgiForce's network systems guy has his MCSE. Although I can't imagine why he'd ever leave BigFatWow, Inc.

• Brian R. Dearth was inducted into Alpha Pi Gamma at Austin Community College in May 2003 along with a crapload of other non-Brian Dearths.

These people all have one thing in common (well, two if you count the name thing): They all fall below me in the Google search hierarchy. Even the CEO. I rule this name.

• Posted by Brian at 10:42 PM
• Comments (2)
• Category: Tech/Geek