| new nicknames |
[21 Jul 2009|10:59pm] |
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I have been nicknamed spin and exception at work. Spin I like because it's a verb, and definitely how Betty sees me, I totally spin in my chair. Exception implies an odd respect.. apparently I have qualities that would ordinarily be associated with being less than smart, and am therefore an exception.
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| on thinking |
[04 Jul 2009|11:29pm] |
I'm trying to sort some thoughts out, and am using this as a bit of a whiteboard. Unless there are comments, the entry may be edited or deleted.
First - all of our thinking patterns are essentially sloppy, mostly uncommented code. Much of it we write on the fly, as we realize that in this situation, it would be better to have a response than to say um, and follow the herd politely.
Following the herd and being polite are both darned useful default behaviors to put in early. It is generally better to have a more optimized behavior, but the ability to just laugh with everyone else, get in line for necessities with everyone else, stay in the herd to find a relatively safe place ..
lazy is a very vital setting for human functioning. Our bodies aren't perfect, nor are our minds, going all the time wastes precious resources, and we haven't survived till now doing that. You have to have it, and you have to have ways of overcoming it appropriately. Some can overcome with motivations, such as money, family, self preservation, ethics of getting a job done right, or whatever it is for them..
last thought before sleepy.
we edit our code-base regulatory, working on it with people is like bringing in an experienced developer briefly.
Culture is a common codebase we can each work from till we write something we like better.
too asleep, ttys.
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| Games weekend in Ithaca |
[07 Jun 2009|11:01pm] |
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Games weekend was, as always, interesting and fun. Wil and Jon have a gift for lovely airy homes with good country and good people nearby. We got the chance to spend a lot of time with Jim, who provided some education on the social art of low stress success in geek fields, and talked about reputation, finding a manager, and the fairly interesting extreme programming.
I tagged along when dad helped Rose get her laptop up and running too, and mocha ended up on my lap most of the way back from the city, which was pleasant in that sweet dog way, and pesky in that restless creature with pointy toes way.
B and I talked both ways, which is always satisfying.
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| Two captains |
[17 May 2009|10:50pm] |
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I grew up in the days when Picard greeted known space with quiet respect and gentleness. His diplomacy and knowledge helped him to greet aliens great and small on equal footing, secure peace treaties large and small, find and preserve remnants of galactic history, and even the great secrets within our dna itself. He was brave, but never thoughtless. His caution often averted bloodshed.
Kirk.. is more impish and interesting than I expected. He'll readily admit that his boldness is backed up by talent, and skill... he rarely shows that his mind has more than speed on its side, but it seems that he studies people because they're one of the few topics to give him some challenge. I'm starting to wonder if he chooses his crew on that basis.
That may be the difference between Picard's crew, and Kirk's crew. Picard is discerning, and chooses well, and carefully. Each of his crew was individually the finest available, the unusual jewels of starfleet. An engineer who had not just the right skills but the perfect eyes for the job, and a science officer who literally recalls every fact he ever encountered...
Actually, Data is the best example of Picard's choices. He's amazing for the job, can tell them anything.. but cannot talk with them. While he was my favorite character, and the best for the job, he and Picard had no chemistry, and learned little from each other.
Kirk instead chooses Spock, and creates a relationship that will forever challenge and change them both, and smash two cultures against each other in an interesting tangle of teamwork and battling wits. It's fascinating.
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[16 Apr 2009|07:56pm] |
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chipper |
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Had a couple of good conversations with B lately. He found some neat quicken alternative software.
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[15 Mar 2009|04:08pm] |
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Game last night was quite fun, it's creeping up by a couple of people at a time, so we all can easily get our fingers into some plot, and slowly explore who makes a good coterie. Went out for pie afterwards, pretty good key lime, though technically it was 3 15 not 3 14 at that point...
Stayed in this morning, so comfy. Whee!
Little compliments mean a lot... somehow, my husband manages to find perfect things to say.
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[13 Mar 2009|10:17am] |
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Good week, put a lot into work, got a lot out of it.. this evening, my husband was wise enough to point out that we didn't have to do anything, or go anywhere, not even downstairs. Just relaxed, bit of a flashback to being simply happy to cuddle for hours almost every day. Woke up in time for a very yummy dinner, a good episode of House, and tv with aaron. Tomorrow, he may be a bit busy prepping for game, and I'm trying not to be curious about it, so much more fun to learn the secrets the hard way. I might go hunting for a park while the weather warms up.
The seedlings are in, and I have lots of extra seed for small carrots, roma tomatoes, spinach, and sweet corn if anyone would like.
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[08 Mar 2009|04:08pm] |
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This has been a weekend of unexpectedly bold artistry.
Watchman is astounding, partially the movie, partially the book, they are substantially enough each on their own. Fun to debate, fun to watch, interesting to debate who to root for, characters all too human in the end, and beautiful for it. You may squirm now and then, these people are largely true to their own ways, and Dr. Manhattan's distant view is reflected in his appearance, and belied by his terrifying tenderness.
Garrison Keiler's people are away, in the darkened halls, he drew awkward and beautiful things from the archives. It was amusing to hear a show of old draft dodgers suddenly turn to abashed teens again at the visit of a four star general. He is paid for his openheartedness, so perhaps this isn't a surprise, but as he welcomes a poet laurelate with grace, knowing we'll want to listen, because the poems are even more compelling, compact beauties that unlike garrison's stories, are trimmed carefully, like bonzai built of nouns.
Fiona Richie for once hit the mood just right. She offered a string of almost perfect music for treasuring an hour with my husband, drums and shouting, and sweetness and mandolins.
Mountain stage as usual is the hardest to fit into my day, and the best. I used to worry it'd be country, but it almost never is... their guests often display a touch of bluegrass, or classical, or a great fiddle, but it's the type of thing you might expect if you went to every coffee shop in new york, and found real musicians, playing for their friends. Currently I'm listening to Vienna Tang's landscape draw itself large. The violin draws high blue skies, and the piano provide steps of solid granite to climb. http://viennateng.com/
I'm looking for a song she did on mountain stage with her ?producer?, who might be larry klein, and the song might be brooklyn blues.
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| homemade dinner and a hot cookie |
[23 Feb 2009|08:28pm] |
Ok, life is good.
Brian made porcupine balls, which are best eaten as meatballs with a bit of crunch in a hot toureen of tomato soup. Surprisingly fast, for a good, warm dinner.
I followed suit with chocolate chunk cookies. Of course, we both ate a melting one fresh from the oven as soon as it would pry away.
Out there it is dark and knife's edge cold. In here, we are well fed, with warm bellies and even... indulged.
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[14 Feb 2009|03:39pm] |
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Went out to Coraline with B last night, had a wonderful time. It was a bit frightening, a bit sad, and nimbly dodged sticky-sweet with all the agility of a fast child dodging offers of 20 year old taffy.
Afterwards, adventured a bit in the darkness west and north of the city, halfway lost, saw the stars above the great freshwater swamps, and a night so cold it crept in through the floorboards. Eventually found ourselves, but weren't the least bit ready to go home.
Friendlies is open to quite an hour, so I claimed both their hot and cold chocolate, while he had a shake too thick for his straw. Later, discussed some interesting writing, and watched Joss Whedon's new show, dollhouse, which is interesting, he's gotten further into the places where ideals and moral ambiguity meet, but he hasn't forgotten anything about chases and shootouts.
On a completely different note, cosplay and comic fans must see the inspiring Ruby Rocket:
http://www.rocketsagogo.com/photos.html
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| Valentines with the monkeys? |
[01 Feb 2009|01:26pm] |
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The household went out for brunch at leaf & bean today.. now, we're relaxing around the house, and the cats are playing their game of 3d go, staking out positions with visibility, and easy reach to the nearest attention giver, occasionally strolling across a lap, or blinking happily at us when they find a good spot. I love leisurely Sundays.
http://www.senecaparkzoo.org/content.php?cat=59&content_id=461
Enjoy lunch or dinner at the Zoo while learning more about the animal world in this brand new adult program. Join us for an in-depth look into the lives of primates, cats and/or birds of prey and experience an up-close and personal encounter with one or more of our animal ambassadors
Our Primate Cousins:
6:30 to 8 p.m. Feb. 11. The dinner options this night are:
*Option 1: Chicken Cordon Bleu w/supreme sauce w/roasted rosemary potatoes
*Option 2: 8oz. Delmonico w/roasted rosemary potatoes
*Option 3: Vegetarian Delight (Sautéed Vegetables in a parmesan wine sauce) o/linguine
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[18 Jan 2009|01:45pm] |
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peaceful morning, quiet company, and words of pleasures.
The night before, another chapter of deep economy, explaining how food grown with greater care nearby can make us all happier. Stayed up late for a while with B while he coded.
First, slept in a couple of hours with B, though I'm not sure whether I actually got more than 8 hours. Did wake up feeling pretty ready to go by 10:30, which isn't so bad at all. Poked the computer after a quick shower, and kept it under 5 minutes.
Next, a bowl of crunchy cinnamony kashi, rich and filling. To add to the satisfaction, I surrounded my own breakfast with petting of eager cats, feeding of fish, and watering of plants. Tidied my own nest a bit too.
Went back to devouring a book of the gentlest ways to cook a bit of healthy into yummy foods, with extravagant photographs (ooh, rich golden mac, layers of red lasagna, cocoa chocolate chip pancakes) and names I simply desire.
Let Castor claim my lap after casually picking up the history of the kamasutra. I'd intended to only look at it for a minute, and get back to cleaning up to cook.. but he made such a good point of sharing the joy of pleasant companionship.
He purred, curled up, and eventually consented to more petting. I spent nearly an hour reading about ancient indian society, and their quests to re-assemble the books of knowledge written on all the important parts of life. 1) Dharma: Virtuous living. 2). Artha: Material prosperity. 3). Kama: Aesthetic and erotic pleasure.[ 4). Moksha: Liberation.
Kama, the urge for pleasure, companionship and the sexual impulse of creation seems to be the least trusted of them all, and most mocked by the scholarly of the day. Oddly enough, the cosmopolitan, kama loving society that Vātsyāyana explains, tutors and celebrates has a surprising amount in common with our own today.
Came up to wake up B, and made it as pleasant as possible. Seeing his work now, he got some good code done last night!
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| Where the time goes online |
[17 Jan 2009|03:22pm] |
I'm amused about being darned split minded, but thinking it might not be such a good thing for me.
Reading a book
leads to wanting to take/share notes on facebook
leads to checking travian,
leads to noticing that I got stuck trying to log into their forums, trying to recover the password
leads to looking at email - I avoid a sidetrack on several emailed sales, but it still
leads to saying hello to a long lost friend on facebook...
and I still haven't taken the new pictures for ebay, ordered the raw honey for the skin treatment I saw online or done outside chores...
this I think is why I'm resisting spending as much time on my computer, and why it can make me a bit grumpy instead of being consistently fun. A bit of self control can keep me from expanding the to do list.. keeping this in mind, next time I may skip the forum.
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[11 Jan 2009|01:44am] |
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Saw Milk with Biggs and Phipps.. amazing. I'm surprised I hadn't seen more of the opera references in the reviews. Joyful, sad, occasional surprises of naughtiness (wait, they're kissing, just like that?) definite boldness.. I love that the filmmakers didn't attempt to make him a saint, and was interested in his drive to reach out to other groups he saw as possibly ignored, building a coalition with the unions and elderly.
After the movie, tried the distillery's football season wait.. and climbed the snowy embankment to Applebees. This wouldn't normally be a challenge, but the weather made it pesky. Luckily, I can still take a tumble or two in the snow with with great ease.
Watched snatch with Jim, very amusing. got home late, woke up on the couch with cuddly B and a kitty. Castor misses awc, he's occasionally prickly when he wants attention. Working on selling the cuddly cat soaps.
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[01 Jan 2009|07:55pm] |
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New years was simple and mellow with a few friends at home, and a slight indulgence of extra time with B first. As moderation was practiced, no one felt the need for incredibly deep conversations, we started a couple of games till the conversation got more amusing, enjoyed the slightly incredible burn of the gold, turned on the tv just as the ball hit the top, and settled down downstairs.
I've discovered pinks which are small tastes of wegman's incredibly pink topped with a wee drop of raspberry. Can't wait to see pics of k's plantation wedding, despite it being 2 years away, curious what j&c might do someday.
Resolution for Dec31st: wear something that simply delighted me. Comfort and the thoughts of others weighed lightly into the equation, this was a day for fun and nifty. Brand new nubbly purple thigh high socks arrived just in time, and oddly matched dad's burgundy vest from tibet. I was warm and very comfy.
Mom came up this afternoon, bringing so many gifts it was nearly exhausting, lovely jewelry, interesting books, a sign that I was tempted to put up right away, mugs that headed right for the cabinet, a teapot only my auntie would have found, good warm cute clothes..
B's pretty sick again, I thought the cold was going away. We took the morning off, slept in, then I cuddled up to him with my book. When mom & john first came in, I brought them out for chinese for lunch, before presents, and we brought him home wonton soup. After presents, mom & I had a bit of a project. One of the laundry room closets has shelves now, all the boxes are easily accessible. We did it in about 20 minutes.. it's really amazing what a pair of energetic chicks can do with a project. After she headed out, I
finished Snow Crash which has me thinking of the nature of viruses and chain stores, and whether a terra-cotta blazer would make for a good character. I haven't been much in the mood for simming online games. The game boy and knitting have been alternating in my shorter bursts of idle time this week, but they're too easy for now.
Watching this really did help with the new years resolution. I could use a few minutes of downtime each day, with no distractions, just to focus on something or enjoy a bit of silence. Time with B might count ;^D
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[28 Dec 2008|03:08pm] |
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http://www.taylorgifts.com/prodetail~itemNo~28572.asp
I'm looking at solar lights for outside our basement windows, and possibly the front porch. Blue-white leds are slightly non-optimal, as is flickering. Suggestions are welcome.
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