New Contract, Buy Back LJ, Games for Sale

[tcpip]

I applied for a sysadmin position at Victorian Partnership for Advanced Computing late last week. Wednesday was the interview. They asked me about my rather diverse academic background (Politics, Philosophy, Sociology, Business Studies, Network Administration). Apart from the obvious technical questions (three-way handshake, Cisco IOS, MTUs, preferred scripting language and the like) they seemed a little surprised when that I had used Fortran (readily admitting it was about twenty years ago), and even more surprised when I correctly answered their joke question: "What is the capital of Upper Volta?". About two hours later they 'phoned me and offered the job. It's a twelve month contract, good pay plus super... and heck, it's VPAC, goddamit. I mean, look at those computers. Phwoar.

I've started a new community for Livejournal; ljbuyback: With the introduction of unwanted advertising (even on paid accounts), witchhunts on fan-fiction writers, tracking the activities of users, and even rumours that it will be sold to News Corp, many people are unhappy with the service provided by Six Apart. Thus, it is necessary for actual users to buy back Livejournal and establish a new organisation which will not make any such decisions before consulting with the users. It is the users that make the communities, not the body which owns the technology. Join up and pass this information on to others.

Finally, with the realisation that I own more simulation and roleplaying games than most of the gaming stores in Melbourne, I've finally started some culling. Every day I'll put a few items up here. If you want to know whether I have anything special (e.g., a rare copy of the 1976 edition of Metamorphosis Alpha) feel free to ask.

Comments

Re: Thanks!

[cptjohnc.livejournal.com]

I actually knew that one (I once dated a girl who had lived there :-))

Re: Thanks!

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

(I once dated a girl who had lived there :-))

OK, now that's impressive!

Re: Thanks!

[cptjohnc.livejournal.com]

not so impressive -- her dad was a mid level US diplomat. Growing up in and around Washington DC definitely gives one some unusual opportunities.

My favorite 'near brush with fame' is that I was driving the car while soon-to-be-justice Scalia's oldest (?) daughter was making out in the back seat. It still makes me smile when I think about it, though at the time it was somewhat uncomfortable...