Dear Andrew, I’d like an RMA to return the microphone stand purchased on order #L23298760, invoice #6098612. The reason for the return is that the metal boom of the stand, when delivered, had two stickers on it, put there by the manufacturer. One was a white paper UPC bar code sticker. The other was a […]
July 26, 2006
A Version of Me
The strangest thing about selling my car was the feeling I had today when the buyer drove it away down the driveway. Suddenly, exhausted. About to fall asleep right now exhausted. So at 3:30 in the afternoon I walked into the living room, lay down on the couch, and fell asleep. I woke up at […]
July 25, 2006
Cogitating Is Doing
In software engineering it’s common to spend much more time understanding and characterizing something than actually implementing a feature or fix. For example, we just spent almost two hours pair programming to figure out 1) if the observed behavior is correct by design (yes); 2) why the error message is wrong (null set); 3) finding […]
July 24, 2006
What Matters
Falling asleep last night it occurred to me that in the past few days I have * Really gotten motivated playing guitar, reminding me how much I loved playing when I was young. It’s hard to remember that in the mid-1970s I was the best guitar player in my school district, and I just walked […]
July 23, 2006
Weekend Snapshot
After seven hours of financial straightening (I’m probably one-third through the project) I offer 15 minutes of guitar snapshots. Detective Mystery.mp3 (2:01) Swimming.mp3 (4:19) Dee Vee.mp3 (1:48) Simple Chords.mp3 (2:01) Big Noise.mp3 (3:58) Are You Fire.mp3 (2:36) Now it’s all about dexterity and stamina (ain’t that always the way) until I start to work out […]
July 22, 2006
Rainy Ghost of the Golden Age
An impromptu music video I shot this afternoon…. Rainy Ghost of the Golden Age (YouTube, 4:35) A mood hit and I grabbed the camera and restarted the song. The video compression makes it hard to tell how hard it was raining, and hard to see the ghost. But watch carefully and pay attention, and you […]
July 22, 2006
Guitaring
On Thursday I picked up the guitar for the first time since at least January. The last time I had callouses on my fingertips was at least a year ago. Around that time I had wanted to build a positive feedback loop with my playing, and rented a gadget that connected to the computer to […]
July 20, 2006
cmd-tab
Trivial Mac tip: I just figured out cmd-tab for application switching. It’s great. The default selection is the last app you used, so it’s easy to switch back and forth between two apps. You can arrow between any open apps, but the UI design to order them based on recency is brilliant.
July 19, 2006
Modern Business Realities
Lunchtime banter: You can buy better but you can’t pay more. This [$300] pen works as well as the cheap ones. We’re not happy until you’re not happy. The food was bad and the portions were much too small.
July 19, 2006
Hope and Joy
I’m in Boston again, ninth or tenth time this year. This morning’s check-in question was, “How are we experiencing hope and joy in our lives?” It took 14 people an hour and fifteen minutes to go around the circle. Two interesting thoughts came up: 1) Love is the only emotion that contributes to intelligence. (Fear, […]
July 17, 2006
Three Hours Later
Three hours after posting the bit below on Korzybski and E-Prime, I suddenly found it amusing that given everything going on in my life I should now have an interest in General Semantics. As if I don’t have enough other intellectual hobbies…. I think this is one I can let go, but I’m still going […]
July 16, 2006
The Adventures of Anybody
Lately I have a renewed interest in Neuro-Lingustic Programming (NLP), about which I’m sure there will be future blog posts. I read most of the core material available in the early ’80s, and paid a bit of attention in the ’90s but I didn’t pursue it much. As I looked through the books I own […]
July 13, 2006
More Philling Photos
Executive summary: Wednesday July 12 at the Champlain Valley Expo near Burlington, VT. Live music mid-week and the guilty irresponsible feeling that comes with. Pouring rain all day and night. Dancing in the mud. Crowded covered grandstand. Happy happy people. The Benevento/Russo Duo opened the show at 4:00. This was the scene during the middle […]
July 11, 2006
That Sinking Feeling
The seashells are next to the soap. Yes, that’s true. Don’t you want the seashells on the other side of the sink? Or move the soap to the other side? No, not that I’m aware of. When you use the soap you have wet hands. So water splashes around the soap. The seashells might get […]
July 11, 2006
Examples of Categories
Art: Leonard Cohen and Sonny Rollins on live TV. (Thanks Jon.) Commerce: Do Patents Encourage or Stifle Innovation? Culture: On media elitism and the “derivative” myth Technology: On playing with my Holux GPS unit… Cool: Velcro Being Pulled Apart
July 10, 2006
Wishing for Skirts
After wearing shorts for nine full days, wearing slacks to work today feels so constraining. Oh, if only men could wear skirts in the summer.
July 9, 2006
Activity Recommendation: Vacation
A couple of weeks ago, when I was laid low with the flu, under deadline stress, and finally hitting my limit of multi-tasking, I decided I better take a week off before I burned out. I looked at my calendar for the week of the 3rd, already a short week with the holiday, and with […]
July 8, 2006
Paul Simon’s Live Surprise
Vacation, Friday night. There must be some live music around here. Oh, Paul Simon in Burlington. That sounds good. Bought a single ticket the night before the show and got dead center last row before the soundboard. A perfect seat for this event. Although most of the audience was sitting down the whole night, I […]
July 8, 2006
Dishonest Could Still = Nice?
Heard last night: “Joe’s a nice guy, but he’s not honest.” Hearing this I noted my current understanding of nice already included honest. But apparently that’s not true for everyone….