Tablet UML News


News and commentary (and whatever else catches my eye)
from Martin L. Shoemaker, author of Tablet UML
and UML and Tablet PC instructor for The Richard Hale Shaw Group

Wednesday, August 9, 2006

My speaking and other travel schedule (Revised August 9, 2006)
UPDATE: To make it easier to find this entry, I've added a link to it in the right sidebar, right under the links for my books and my classes.

West Michigan .NET User Group in Grand Rapids MI. September 12. Topic: Ink in 60 Seconds.

SD Best Practices in Boston MA. September 14. Topic: Requirements Patterns and AntiPatterns
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Wednesday, August 2, 2006

Something a little out of joint here...
So I pulled into Pinckney pretty late. I knew my buddy Tom Lavey (of L & M Precision Machine) would be asleep already. So I pulled into Busch's (a popular local grocery chain) to get some dinner. Yes, it was almost midnight; but I've shopped at Busch's at all hours. They're a 24-hour place. Only not, apparently, at some of the more rural locations. This one was closing.

Since I was still hungry, I crossed the street to McDonald's. I really wanted something lighter, but I had missed that chance.

Well, it turns out that the Pinckney McD's is also not 24 hour. Oh, I should've been tipped off by all the McD's workers leaving; but the drive-through menu was still lit up. That's pretty much the universal symbol: "Drive through is still open." So I waited for somebody to take my order. But after last night, I wasn't in a mood to wait very long. I pulled around the building; and mine was the last car in the lot.

Still hungry, and knowing from experience that there would be no food at Tom's, I could only think of one place nearby to get food. I drove out to US-23, where I knew the Shell station would be open. It's not the cheapest place to buy groceries, but it was open. And there across the street was another McDonald's, all lit up and with cars in drive-through. So I pulled over there, and into the drive-through lane. Only there, I saw the opposite universal symbol: the drive-through menu was dark. That means, "You still here? It's over. Go home." But darn, there were cars in the line. So I pulled up; and almost immediately, a guy came on the speaker and took my order. When I got to the window, I asked if they knew the light was out. He said yep, it was burned out.

Somehow, something's just not right tonight...