michael@hollinger.net
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OpenTable vs the Maître d’
Sep 22nd
Austin Restaurant Week is on until September 29th, and offers a great way to sample great, upscale restaurants around town for a fixed $25 or $35 price. The menus are prix fixe, must offer three courses including dessert, and (to my knowledge) aren’t allowed to skimp on portion sizes or service. 
Last night for my birthday I made some plans to head to NoRTH on a whim, walked in, and was immediately deflated by the Maître d’ who informed me that the restaurant was completely booked. 
Despondent, I hopped on The Domain’s free wifi and started looking through the Restaurant Week menus for some of the other places within walking distance, and noticed that the ARW website offers reservations online. Since ARW hooks in to OpenTable, which (appears) to be some sort of cloud-based offering for reservation management, I was able to bypass the smarminess and find out the truth. After a few taps on my phone, I had a confirmed dinner reservation later that evening at the supposedly 100% booked restaurant.
Twenty minutes later we stepped back into the restaurant, and asked the same woman for our reserved table. I think she mis-heard me, since she reaffirmed that they were completely booked, and that I once again couldn’t make a reservation. I asked her to check her list for my name, and five minutes later, we were seated at our supposedly impossible-to-get table.
I guess this is the equivalent to penciling in your name on a reservation book when no one’s looking.
I love technology. 
NoRTH, by the way, was excellent. I’ve been here once before just after they opened, and was completely turned off by the pretentiousness of the staff, and the deconstructed chicken lasagna that I ordered. I realize now that this place is absolutely stellar. Check out their Bruschetta, which is served with creamy crescenza cheese, lightly-caramelized grilled asparagus, super-thin prosciutto, and a drizzle of truffle oil. It’s decadence on a plate.
etta with creamy crescenza cheese, lightly-caramelized grilled asparagus, super-thin prosciutto, and a drizzle of truffle oil. Decadence on a plate.
Blog Updates
Aug 29th
I’ve migrated off of Blogger, and onto WordPress. One of the benefits of running your own site, with your own domain, on your own hosting provider is that you’re given flexibility when various vendors come and go, or remove services. Content from my old 2004 to 2009 blog is imported into WordPress. If something’s broken, though, feel free to click over to the old site.
Active Energy Manager & POWER6
May 16th
My friend and coworker Anirban Chatterjee (click the link to go look at one of his demos!) in IBM’s Austin, TX Executive Briefing Center asked if I wanted to help create a short video explaining how EnergyScale and Active Energy Manager are married together to create more efficient servers. The video below is the output. AC’s the first speaker. I’m the 2nd speaker. 
For more detailed information on how to implement Active Energy Manager on POWER6-based systems, take a look at our whitepaper on IBM.com.
Because someone, somewhere needs 17.4 ft of car for one person
Apr 26th
The Geely GE is a Chinese “interpretation” of the Rolls-Royce Phantom.
The car has a super-long wheel base, and sports a single seat in the back for the passenger / head-of-state / megalomaniac who owns it.
Really?
My car’s just shy of 4 years old (purchased April 30, 2005 w/ 6 miles on it!). I still have a year left on the loan, and assuming all goes well, I’ll keep it about a year or two after that. So in 2011 or 2012, I might be in the market for such a fine knock-off as the one above. Or maybe I’ll just stick with Japanese cars…
dorkbot @ SXSWi
Mar 15th
Major Props to Nick Pietraniec for organizing and pulling off dorkbot’s 2009 show at SXSW Interactive!
I got there a little late, but made it just in time to see the “singing tesla coils” from Arc Attack, and see Nick’s interview with the BBC! Check out the article on the BBC’s dot.life blog.
– BBC’s Interview with Nick P.
Crazy Amounts of Work
Feb 3rd
I’ve averaged at least 70 hours a week over the course of January. I actually got home at about 12:30AM Tuesday morning, after getting into work at 8:20AM Monday. Things are OK, however I’m focused on finishing some deliverables for our team. We’ve run into random problems throughout the last couple of days, so there’s always something to debug. Work, overall, is going well. I’ve stepped up a bit, and am now coordinating efforts of multiple colleagues. I’m relying heavily on each of them to work independently, and deliver quality software on-time. So far, with one exception, that’s worked out well. I’m also relying on my management team to keep me moving in the right direction, as this is the first time I’m responsible for more than just my own individual contributions.
Although I’ve probably had dinner in my own house maybe once per week in the past week, management at work has been buying us dinner, and usually gives us at least one healthy option. Woo. Sort of.
If only I got overtime. This new position is certainly a “growth experience.”
Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays!
Dec 15th
Tux the Linux Penguin
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! Some of us are doing our own thing this time of the year; some are with our families, and some are enjoying just another day.
I’ve had a remarkable year that’s flown by, with successes and failures, ups and downs. I’m glad that I have the friends I have through all of that. Work has been fulfilling, and some of my efforts are starting to pay off.
The house is still standing, though at dinner last night, someone did manage to bend the sliding screen door on my back porch. It’s all good though. Aside from that rather humorous moment, it was a great evening.
Have a great holiday, no matter which one you’re celebrating!
Birthday. Woo. :-)
Sep 21st
Happy Birthday to Me!
Happy Birthday to Me!
Happy Birthday to Me-eee…
Happy Birthday to Me!
As of this morning, I’m 26. The last few weeks have been hectic, thanks to some impending checkpoints at work, and additional responsibilities I’ve picked up. On top of my “day job” I was accepted into what is essentially an apprenticeship under one of our Distinguished Engineers (essentially a VP of Engineering, the second-highest technical rank at IBM). Part of the deal with this opportunity was that I would still meet all my prior commitments and deliverables, so essentially I volunteered to work an extra four or six hours a week. In addition, I just returned from a recruiting trip to OU, so I’ve got a few days’ worth of catch-up work to do between now and Monday.
So I’m off to work (remotely) for the morning, and will go see a movie with some friends this afternoon.
On a completely unrelated note, I found this graph a bit amusing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Itanium_Sales_Forecasts_edit.png . Itanium launched nearly ten years ago, and was supposed to take the enterprise server market by storm. The plot shows the sales predictions for the Itanium year-by-year. Notice how the slopes trail off as the years go by…
SeatGuru.com – The power of "we"
Aug 29th
As most of my friends from OU recall, I used to fly fairly often (and still do to a limited extent). Through most of my life I’ve flown Northwest, and gotten to know the quirks on various aircraft. For example, seat “6D” in the first full row of coach on a DC-9 gets four feet of leg room, since the airplane goes from 2-2 seating in first class to 2-3 seating at this point. In other aircraft, the emergency row may give you extra leg room, but the seats are stiffer, and they may not recline.
SeatGuru.com has tips like this for many of the major carriers. The site shows interactive maps of each aircraft’s cabin, along with tips on which seats are most desirable, and which seats should be avoided if possible. Take a look next time you book your tickets, or check in and are given an option to change your seat location.
This site is yet another example of the power of “crowd sourcing.” By consolidating the knowledge of the masses of frequent fliers into a single, easy-to-use resource, each of us can make more intelligent decisions.
Time for me to fly home for the weekend. Unfortunately the CRJ I’m flying on has no “good” seats… just seats to stay away from. Adios!
Half a year’s worth of updates
Jul 8th
Oops. I’ve been busy recently between work, the house, and actively Doing Nothing, so here’s a summary of the last six months.
I’ve picked up some additional responsibilities at work, which mean that I get to see the systems I’m working on at a system level, as opposed to focusing on one or two very small pieces of the overall picture. It’s fascinating to see how everything fits together at a high level, and also map that into what we, the developers, actually implement. Since my last update, Power 520, Power 550, Power 575, and Power 595 have shipped. Check this video tour of the 595 (I know Pat!) and the Power 575 Supercomputer PR Video. I had the pleasure of contributing in some way to each product. Now I’m back out of the lab and focusing on design work for the future systems.
In other work news, I got a promotion last October, was awarded an “Outstanding Innovation Achievement Award” for my contributions to IBM’s EnergyScale technology this Spring, filed seven more patent as of June, and was rewarded with a trip to the National Society of Black Engineers Conference in Orlando in March.
While in Florida at the NSBE conference, a friend from work told me about Warbird Adventures. When I had a free hour Saturday, I got to fly a World War II T6 “Texan” aircraft, complete with acrobatic stunts! I’ll post a video as soon as I edit the 30 minute flight down to a good 2-minute video.
The house is great, and it’s been about a year since I moved in. I’ve gotten to know a couple of my neighbors, and like the area. The back garden is a lost cause until October, when I can clear it (again) and replant it. I’m annoyed with my home warranty folks, but I’m waiting until the warranty period is over before I write an entry about them.
By the way, Rodrigo y Gabriela are amazing. Next time they’re in Austin I’m definitely going.
