I took a look at this one today: 1985 Endeavour 33

My "too good to be true" alarm is going off, but I can't find a real reason. The owner said he would take $5000.00 for it!

The problems I saw were:
rot around the chainplate, not good, but can be fixed
a soft spot on the cabin roof near the mast
some leaky ports
lots of barnacles on the bottom
general neglect

The owner said he "guaranteed" that the engine would start and the sale would be contingent on that, but right now the battery is dead and the fuel is old.

He demonstrated the electronics, the refrigerator, the lights. It has a mainsail in a bag and a headsail on the furler. I don't know how good they are, but my goal is to have something to get started with and learn on. I don't mind some projects, I just want to be reasonably sure that it's safe.

Anybody with boating experience have any thoughts?

So I went and looked at a sailboat to buy on Saturday.

Click on the photo for more pictures.

Now I'm really conflicted, part of me thinks a boat would be a way to learn something and get more out of life. The other part says it would be a stupid waste of money. Around and around go those thoughts along with other thoughts questioning my ability to deal with a boat and my general sanity.

( more rambling below )

The list of TV shows that I bother to watch is rapidly dwindling. Some are getting canceled, others I've just lost interest in. Stargate Atlantis was the last of the real "starships and aliens" type of scifi show which I really favor. Lately I've been downloading all the old 60's/70's shows that I've missed, but there aren't too many of those left.

So I'm just wondering if anyone knows of anything I'm missing right now. Here's my "worth watching" list:

The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Pushing Daisies (canceled)
Sanctuary (mostly because I really like Amanda Tapping, and it's cool that it went from a web series to a real series)
Smallville
Reaper (canceled?)
Burn Notice (not scifi, but shot in FL, costarring Bruce Campbell)
Lost (I can take or leave)
Eureka (canceled? Silly, but fun)
Doctor Who

Others that I know of but don't watch:
Heroes (just couldn't get into this season)
Battlestar Galactic (could never get past the stupid premise of undetectable cylon clones, bad direction and no characters to like)
Knight Rider (canceled. shocking!)
True Blood
Fringe

I'll probably give Dollhouse a chance, but it looks more like a spy show from what I've seen.

Till then, I'll keep watching "Star Maidens" from from the mid-70's when the future was made of lucite :-)

I no longer feel embarrassed by the President of the United States. What an odd feeling after 8 years.

My friends and family got together and got me the best birthday surprise I can remember. It is a Neo Freerunner cell phone.
Freerunner specs

It runs linux and is completely hackable. I've loaded 3 different software distributions on it so far. It has most of the capabilities of the iPhone, with twice the screen resolution and none of the vendor lock-in. It worked without a hitch with my T-Mobile GSM Sim card.
It looks better in person than in the pics. Kind-of like Darth Vader's cell phone, so I'm happy with that. Some of the software has a long way to go, but that's part of the fun.

Thank you to everyone who chipped in and/or came to the party.

We got home around 2pm today and are exhausted and possibly infected with the dreaded con crud.

High point was roaming the Hyatt and Mariott with our largest Stonecutter group yet (14). People were amused by our loud, off-key singing. Eventually we even remembered all the words. One of the people who saw us and appreciated our costumes was Don Payne, a Writer and Co-Executive producer for the Simpsons. I begged him for a job, but he said kissing Matt Groening feet was already his job. I've found one youtube video of us so far, but not of us singing.

Second cool thing was that Rainbow Sun Franks took a picture of me in my mad scientist costume.

Third really cool thing was that Jewel Staite stopped to have *her* picture taken with Dre in his Hurley costume.

I'm so Jealous, this guy has not one, but 2 Deloreans, and he has converted one to electric power. That's my ideal car! I've always wanted a Delorean since I first read about it in Popular Science in 1980. Lately I've been reading a lot about electric car conversions, because it sounds like a crazy-fun challenge that I could actually use if I succeeded. Now all I need is for someone to donate all the parts!

http://www.electricdelorean.com

And the oscar for best soporific goes to...

WTF, seriously? Some beautiful shots of landscapes, no music. Tommy Lee, could you act old and crusty? Yeah that's great, such a stretch for you. And Javier Bardem just bring any acting you're trying to do down so far that we can't tell you from the pointless string of corpses you're creating. I think the Cohens have been taking directing lessons from Lucas!

What happened to the crazy idea of a story where you cared about the characters? or even hate the bad guy? I just didn't care about anyone in this. Ok, maybe a touch of sympathy for the sheriff, but that was it.

I seem to have a knack for doing the "right" thing and having it go badly wrong. The company I've been working for for over 3 years has never been successful. They've limped along with 3-4 employees, surviving thanks to a series of misguided investors. I've been expecting them to fold for the past 2 years. So in January, when a friend had an offer for part time work at a different company, it seemed like a good opportunity to diversify my income. I made arrangements to work half time for the new and old place, and the old place hired a new programmer to basically be my replacement. The goal was to transition to full time at the new place after 3-6 months.

Well, last week, I found out that the new company was broke, due to some embezzlement/internal melt down. As a result, the project both my friend and I were working on got cancelled, and I may never get the money I've already billed them for. On top of that, my boss at the old company is so incompetent that he didn't budget correctly to pay for me and my replacement during the overlap time, so I can't even work half-time for him right now.

So, I'm looking for a job. Linux/C programming preferably. Something with Robotics would be a dream job. User interface stuff could be cool. I can do web/database stuff, but am really sick of that. I'd love to work on a product that actually got used, or at company that was successful. The last company I worked for went bankrupt. I'm amused that the company that bought their assets and hired several of their employees *also* went bankrupt, and *that* company's assets got bought by someone else who appears to be trying the same failed product.

Anyway, I signed up for linkedin.com since it was recommended in the Sunday paper, anyone find it useful?

If you have any suggestions on where to look for programming jobs, let me know. I'm looking at monster, dice and careerguide, but most positions seem to be head hunters and I can't even tell what the hell the job might be or if I'm qualified.