No-wax, easy maintenance, bacteriostatic, and anti-slip.
The Little Jaunty Players
– Proudly Present –
– Your Best Mates –
– Selflessly Helping A Fellow Out –
– Without Any Thought Of Personal Reward –
It’s Two Sentences From A Book!
I was obviously elected to divert his girlfriend’s mate, who wasn’t the most beautiful girl in the world. I wasn’t interested in her at all, but I was very horny, and although I wouldn’t kiss her, I did try to get my hands on her upper torso.
Spoilers: She was not amused.
Friends,
I’ve been spending a lot of time at lower elevations lately, since the new gig is in a tilt-up concrete architectural afterthought near the Pacific Ocean. That means that Lola gets to spend quality time in the tiny back yard at a sweet girl’s house.
Lola likes to have a job and up in my piney paradise, she kept squirrels away while also fending off incursions by attackers disguised as joggers and hikers. I just assumed that her new vocation involved a coordinated attack on the grass to eliminate gophers.
Actually, she’s been mining for Hot Wheels cars. And it turns out that she has impeccable taste. A Hot Wheels #167 Austin Healy is worth some decent cash when they’re in good condition.
They might be worth a tiny bit less in this condition…
It’s a good start though. What a good girl!
Your pal,
– bob
Friends,
Just a housekeeping note. If you’ve tried to leave a comment, which I appreciate immensely, it may not have shown up for a very long time. The reason for this is two-fold. Even though the comments are moderated by me, I don’t have a mechanism to notify me if something’s awaiting my approval and because of the limitations of the platform, I never will. Second, on top of my lack of diligence in writing things here lately, I also have a less than stellar record of maintaining this joint—including moderating comments.
It’ll get better as I get back into the swing of regular updates. Thanks for your patience and continued readership.
Your pal,
– bob
A few months ago, I was reading Advertising Age or Webdesigner Depot or something along those lines, and fell prey to a listicle showing fun 404 pages across the internet. In case you don’t know what a 404 page is, here’s Codeacademy to help explain…
Sometimes you’ll see a 404 error if you incorrectly type the URL to a web page you want to visit, and instead of being taken there, you’re rerouted to a page that reads something like, “404 Error – File Not Found.” The 404 error is telling you that the request you sent did in fact make it to the server, but the server could not find the specific file you were requesting.
This started me thinking about building a custom 404 page for bobtherieau.com. It’s not really that hard, but what should be the theme? All the clever error pages, pages that nobody would normally ever see, have a theme. But what should I choose for my nature photo-heavy portfolio site?
Then it became obvious…
And it still makes me laugh whenever I see it.
Your pal,
– bob
P.S. If you’re a big fan of error pages, I have server error and unauthorized access pages too!
Friends,
I’ve got a bone to pick with a copywriting trend I’m seeing lately. It’s popping up in press releases, news articles, think pieces and op-eds with alarming frequency and I’m already tired of it.
This trend is really a writing style and it goes like this…
It’s lazy (and I’ve done it myself) and not new in itself. What’s new is that articles are explicitly telling you what they’re doing. Here’s an example…
Everyone likes to tell stories – it’s something we’ve done since we were kids. These days storytelling is an inherent part of our daily lives on social media, whether it’s sharing family photos or promoting a product, company, or cause.
For a long time, the tools that let us creatively express ourselves and tell our stories were there for the select few who knew how to use them. But times have changed. A high-definition camera is just a swipe away. You can carry an orchestra in your pocket and a digital publishing studio in your bag. We already know how to share with the world—but how do we actually stand out by telling our stories with impact?
Today we’re announcing Adobe Spark – a new way to create powerful visual stories…
Sure, Executive Vice Presidents write this way, but you shouldn’t. You’re better than that.
Your best pal in the whole world,
– bob
Friends,
It’s been six weeks, so I suppose I should finally spill the beans: I decided to take a job off the hill and away from my lovely forest. The decision was easy to make since I was as broke as a joke, but it’s been a tough transition and doesn’t seem to be getting easier.
Waking up at 3:30 every morning is beating me up. I don’t know how people do it. The new coworkers in the new office in the new town at the new job are nice enough, but I’m so sleepy that I don’t feel I’m holding up my end of the bargain. Yeah, you read that right. Three-effing-thirty.
Thankfully, a sweet girl I know has been more than generous in playing along with this absurd schedule shift. She’s been a good sport, but she surely must be growing weary of my alarm going off in the middle of the night.
However, I have a plan…
Your best pal,
– bob
Friends,
You may recall the sad saga of Boaty McBoatface, which I won’t retell here, but now Google has released their artificial intelligence engine to open source. The natural English language parser?
My Friday is made.
Your best pal in the whole world,
– bob
Friends,
I’m sorry to report this morning that a) Southern California Edison is not very good at the whole consistently providing electricity thing and that b) the trusty old Power Macintosh that provides images for the Jaunty Little Webcam did not survive the last extended outage. The good news is that I think the problem with the Mac is its geriatric clock battery which is no longer charging and not keeping the clock alive. Wake On LAN and Restart After Power Outage? Yeah, they’re handled by the clock.
The good news is that replacement batteries are cheap. The bad news is they won’t show up until the end of the week, so we’re sunk until then. Save a good thought for the old Macintosh that she’ll live to see another day, won’t you?
Your pal,
– bob
It’s been a little while since I’ve posted an update, but what a little while it’s been. Since I last wrote some words here and you’ve read them, I’ve taken a position working for the company that contracts to the company that provides Tier III tech support to an enormous multinational publishing company. The office I’m working in near some flower fields and a small regional airport is staffed with good folks who seem to like each other, which is a wild departure from my last office gig. What is not a departure is that the executives do not seem to know what happens in this office. It’s all a laugh though and I’m enjoying my time there.
This means that I don’t get to see my chunk of forest in person very often, so I’m with you having to make due with the webcam images. All of this could change at any time, of course. The people at the new gig could label me a fraud and a sham, sending me packing. A new company could call and offer me uncountable wealth for agreeing to share small pearls of wisdom with them. A large meteor could strike tiny Aguanga, California rendering the roads impassible (like they need any more grief. – ed It’s just an example.). These are things that could potentially happen, but will they? Probably not, don’t count on it, and surely not.
What I do know for sure is that recruiters keep calling and I keep picking up. At this point, though force of habit. They might have something else for me to do soon, but in the meanwhile, I’m happy to spend my day taking apart Dell laptops and resetting passwords.
Your pal,
– bob
Friends,
As you may have heard, we’re in the middle of the Spring Hiring Season. What this means as far as I know is that companies have finally shaken off last summer’s hiring doldrums, last autumn’s hiring malaise and last winter’s hiring freeze. It’s a rebirth, if you will (and won’t you please?).
I’ve tried to weather all of those various seasonal shutouts, but the job climate now is very different. Offers have been pouring in over the last several weeks and it’s been hard to keep them straight. One is barreling ahead at full speed, but the one I’ve been hoping for over a bunch of months looks like it might also work out. All I have to do is be patient for another week.
Another. Week.
Surely I can hold on for another week, right?
Right?
Your pal,
– bob
Friends,
I’ve been lax about updating this thing lately, but not for lack of something to say. You can see some nonsense from me on Twitter, mostly about politics and pretending to be friends with people I’ve never met. I also spend a certain amount of time feigning outrage about stuff. It’s not healthy to be a part of the Internet Outrage Machine, of course. The more you feed it, the more insatiable it becomes. You’d think that would be unsustainable, but Twitter is selling ads against the furor, so somebody has figured it out.
This leads me nicely (if you do say so yourself. -ed) to why I haven’t been posting lately. The job market has been particularly prickly and as I read the piles of rejection notes clogging my inbox, it’s been tough to build up the will to write. You can only read that you’re no good for so long before you start believing it yourself. “They don’t realize what they’re missing,” and “Maybe it wasn’t the right fit” still don’t pay the bills. You will not find that surprising.
I still think that writing can pay the bills, so here’s a start. There will be much more to come, including a new project that I can’t talk about yet. Thanks for stopping by. I’m excited to get back behind the keyboard.
Your pal,
– bob
Friends,
We get a lot of interesting email here at the Secret Alpine Laboratory, and frankly, a lot of the unsolicited email seems a bit off the mark. I’m sure you’ve seen all manner of come-ons from deposed African princes, for herbal remedies and gadgets claiming to cure all sorts of ailments. This note, however, seems to know all about me—based on exhaustive research!
Dear bob@bobtherieau.com,
I am pleased to inform you that based on your professional background, you have been selected to apply for inclusion into the Worldwide Association of Female Professionals. Our research department nominates a handful of potential candidates based on factors such as your current professional standing, recent accomplishments, honors/awards, published articles, as well as information present on authoritative media outlets, social networks, and professional directories. Based on this, I feel that you would make a fitting addition to our elite network of professional women…
What a lovely honor!
Your pal,
– bob
There is every possibility (not every. infinity’s a big place. – ed), or to be more precise, a very promising possibility that I will receive good news about a new job today. This will allow me to purchase a new commuting vehicle, a picture of which I’ve posted above from the manufacturer’s brochure.
The only difference is that I’m ordering the heated seats.
Your pal,
– bob
Friends,
I’m not going to sugar-coat it; this year has not been great. Business has been slow and some promising opportunities have fizzled or flaked. Despite that, I’ve had the good fortune to meet new people and branch out a bit.
If I’ve learned anything this year, it’s that starting and maintaining a new business is harder than I thought. The work itself isn’t the tough part [maybe you should take a moment out of this holiday message that seems to have veered wildly off course and tell the people what it is you do. – ed Not now, I’m on a roll.]. Fixing computers, installing networks, and building websites are the jobs I’m landing most often which is fine and not terribly difficult. The problem is marketing myself. I can easily develop slick marketing plans for other people, but I’ve always had a issue with selling myself. If I overcome that, I’d be in much better shape.
So there’s my wish for the new year—to get some more business. My wish for you is that you enjoy a healthy and happy 2016.
Totally doable.
Your best pal in the whole wide world,
– bob
Friends,
The good folks at Mahindra may be getting some press for their purchase of Italian styling house Pininfarina, but what you’re missing is that they’ve revamped the Thar.
What’s a Thar? It should look very familiar to you. Think Jeep CJ-7 with a CJ-3A windshield and a diesel engine and you’re most of the way there.
Or, Thar.
You’re welcome,
– bob
P.S. FCA, the parent of Chrysler and Jeep should hire Mahindra’s agency and fire whoever it is they hired to make this. The video above actually spends time showing what the Thar can do in a pretty straightforward way. I know, it’s weird.