I feel more guilty for liking things now: http://girlsaregeek...c-four-chord-song/ (girlsaregeeks.com)
Man, my impulse buying has been out of control this work trip. Amazon had a bunch of mp3 albums for $1.99 today. I only bought three, but, Josh, one was for you - Tegan and Sara's newest. I figured I needed to listen to the band that I constantly give you shit about. So now I am.
...it's not so bad, I suppose. I also bought Passion Pit. Fun times.
Their newest didn't really sell me, but a lot of the music I listen to frequently is sort of a slow burn (I didn't even start liking the latest Jonathan Coulton album until it's 3rd or 4th listen-through).
Mike turned me on to Alt-J. It's like Fleet Foxes and Band of Horses made a band, broke up, faded into the shadows, and then were re-discovered by an all-hobo cover band 15 years later. Pretty enjoyable.
A guy once told me that he didn't think he could date anyone who disliked Alt-J. I should have acknowledged the writing on the wall then. To this day, I can't hear an Alt-J song without thinking "Wow, I wish this was over." and "Man, that dude picked shitty restaurants."
Regardless, it did give me the idea to develop my list of bands that would have to be mutually agreeable for me to date someone. After careful consideration, I decided food allergies and the quality of the "bang times" was more important.
So, I'm fairly sure I was dreaming that I was taking part of a live reenactment of The Secret of Monkey Island. It was... fucking awesome.
I'm fairly certain that the persons who ought to know about this have already in fact heard, but just in case:
http://www.fandango...mes?date=4/25/2013 (www.fandango.com)
I wish I could force friends to fly down to Seatown for something so silly, so that we could attend in mass.
SPDCA: Avatar - The Last Airbender
I woke up yesterday to it sleeting against my window. I resolved that I was going to try to take care of things around the house. I spent yesterday cleaning my bathroom and watching the last season of Avatar - The Last Airbender. And either by way of the fumes from the cleaning supplies or the show being great, I made the day of it, and ended up being very impressed, and very touched (and ended up being awake until 3am last night thinking about the show).
The show is, ultimately, about growing up. Which is a hard thing to remember as an adult, and a hard thing to deal with as a kid. As children, we're aware of the adult world in which we inhabit but we lack the experience or the practice to be able to deal with things adequately. We're thrown into an already adult world, expected to pick up the right things to do from context clues, and to hope that others will forgive us for our mistakes when we inevitably make them. We learn from our parents and our peers, but learn that they are all ultimately as flawed and as prone to misstep as we are.
The show captures this absolutely perfectly. And does so in an interesting, beautiful, consistent world. Reading on it afterwards, many of the themes and magical systems are based on the tenets of Hinduism and Taoism, but the religious undertones are never overt. The subjects covered in the show deal with many schools of thought, and are often given considerable deliberation on the part of the characters and the show at large. Questions about loyalty, non-violence. personal responsibility, guilt, and forgiveness are throughout, and are handled with multiple degrees of subtlety and personal depth.
The show has its protagonist, 12 year old Aang, the reincarnation of the "Avatar," a powerful magical figure meant to bring balance to a world in need of balancing. However, he only appears in the show long after he was "needed," having been in suspended animation for 100 years and awaking as a child in a world devastated by a war that he must find a way to resolve.
This sounds threatening, and scary, and it is, but the way the show slowly works in this overall arch is, well, from the eyes of a child. Aang, when first introduced, wants to play, and to forget his obligations, and to run away. It is only through his own journey of personal discovery and development of his friendships does he gain the power and the confidence to take on the world.
My niece watched this show, almost all the way through (and almost in one sitting), and absolutely loved it. Its messages are communicated on many levels, which while seemingly simplistic at first, shouldn't be mistaken for being simple. They are just conveyed in such a way that aren't laden with the obfuscation and context-heavy notions of the adult world. As such, this is a great children's show, as well as a great show for adults, or parents.
For those with children, or those about to have children, I can't stress enough that this is something you and your kids should watch. For those without, it is still a compelling show, bereft of the dirt and grime of a world obsessed with sex and drugs and the wreckage of souls.
I feel it is important. I hope you do, too.
SPDCA: Legend of Korra
SPOILERS FOR AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER
Looking at my email records, I found something interesting. Apparently, I started watching Legend of Korra before I started watching A:TLA. (intersectionthereof.com) I wouldn't have thought that was the case, but the record disagrees with me. It usually does.
But if that's the case, then I watched a couple of episodes of LoK, and then decided to watch the original A:TLA series in its entirety before continuing. As evident by my weirdly emotional response to the original series, I enjoyed it, and was pretty affected by it. And to the same degree and fashion, I was affected by LoK as well. I guess I'm a sucker for coming of age tales. Comes with gettin' old.
For those that haven't heard or seen, the LoK series starts 70 years after A:TLA, where most of the main characters from the previous series are gone, and those that remain are well into their 70's and 80's. However, none are forgotten, as the events in A:TLA, and the rest of the characters' lives deeply influence the world to come. Avatar Aang marries Katara, has a family, and tries to restart the Air Nation. He also founds Republic City, a metropolis jointly-owned by all of the Nations in the interest of keeping peace between them. As Avatar Aang passes away, the Avatar cycle continues, bringing Korra as the next Avatar in the cycle. Thus begins an intriguing, stylish new tale in the Avatar universe.
And this afternoon, over my lunch hour, I watched its final episode. Which was sad. And intense. And happy. And weird. It buttoned up a lot of important things, and opened up a couple more (michaeldantedimartino.tumblr.com) (DO NOT CLICK ON THAT UNLESS YOU WANT IT SPOILED LIKE IT WAS SPOILED FOR ME). As a show, it did a good job of distancing itself from the original without pandering too much or too little. While a lot of my initial complaints about the show (in terms of worldbuilding, scale, and focus) never really resolved, they warmed up to me quite a bit more with their character development and willingness to pursue darker, more serious topics in the show. (There is an entire subplot about PTSD, folks. TV-Y7, says the rating). Then again, they had a ton of sappy teen romance, but so it goes.
Each book/season of the show has a thesis that is analyzed through the plot of the season ("Air," "Spirits," "Change," "Balance"). In that, the show is surprisingly effective. You see the life of a 17 year old girl over the course of six years of her life, and how she struggles with each thesis. It's plain, it's simple, and it's effective. And the final season is by far the best handled in terms of how it addresses the overall theme of the show, as well as its thesis. As always, the Avatar is a tool for balance, and Korra's struggle for balance is constant, and wearying, and seemingly endless. The show ends with Korra finding balance in her life, and as such, is able to bring balance to her world.
This show is pretty interesting to me, as a few months after I started watching it, I started trying to write a story as well. The amount of work is incredible, and constant, and wearying, and seemingless endless. In two years, the writers of this show put out four seasons, during which I'm pretty sure more than half of the time they were threatened with cancellation. At the end, even, I think the show was relegated entirely to online episodes (the way of the future, I feel, but it still felt like a slap in the face). This is odd, given that the production value of this show, possibly with its visuals alone, make this incredible to watch. Nickelodeon is a weird network.
I can't imagine what the writers of the show went through in order to accomplish what they did. Maybe I'll know some day. Maybe I won't. But even if the result wasn't ideal, or perfect, or filled with the same kind of magic that the original A:TLA had, the show managed to forge its own path. And now I already miss their characters, in much the same way that I miss the characters from the original.
I tried to do things "right" this time. That is: don't watch the series finale of something on a Sunday, or really, on any day that I have to get up the next day for anything. I waited until today, at work, at lunch, where I would have plenty of distraction. However, I was up until 2:30am last night anyways, feeling the same raw nerves dragged over the coals of time unaccounted-for. I can't stand that feeling. I can't stand being forced to feel it. But I did enjoy getting here.
I'm hoping I can sleep tonight.
Here's a great article on The Awl (which all of you probably don't read but you should because it is an awesome mix of gossip, intellectualism, and humor) about Star Trek TNG. It is basically my relationship with ST:TNG including reading Imzadi as an impressionable hormonal preteen (I was 12 or 13).
http://www.theawl.com/2013/02/you-me-and-star-trek-the-next-generation (www.theawl.com)
Only substitute "math team" for newspaper and academic decathlon and the girl I bonded over Start Trek with went to the same church as me and we never mentioned our fandom at our respective (different) schools.
And now I'll just quote the article:
When you love a show as a young person, it can manifest in all manner of ways. Some start swearing in Klingon, some read fanfic erotica. Some buy the technical manual and figure out how to craft a make-shift phasor. Some just learn codes of behavior, adopt understandings of tolerance and commitment and duty. Most, once grown, do not outwardly manifest the signs of their childhood devotion. Yet in certain situations, the evidence emerges, like so many bubbles striving for the surface.
Today, you could name dozens of people, from all paths of life, with whom you've breathlessly, earnestly, gigglingly exchanged "Next Gen" stories. Because there's no such thing as a casual "Next Generation" fan: you either understand wholly or not at all. Upon encountering another, details begin to babble out—slowly at first, then a flood: COLM MEANEY! His WIFE KEIKO! Data acquires EMOTIONS!
It's unclear whether these moments are meant as confession or catharsis, but the result remains the same. You are bonded to that person, and that person to you. How you dealt with your "Star Trek" consumption—how you hid it, or chose not to hide it—becomes as a crucial a personal narrative as the story of how you lost your virginity.
I happened across this via another Trekkie and I enjoyed it quite a bit, however much my experience diverges. I was the kid walking around with my hands folded behind my back in fourth grade because that's how Spock walked. Had I known Klingon, I would perhaps have expressed my anger as such.
Star Trek was just one of many forms of media I consumed and loved. And hiding that fact wasn't an option. Nor was the choice on whether to revisit it as an adult. I couldn't not.
Also, while I'm catching up a week's worth of Internet https://www.youtub...watch?v=T4rfHAqs9EI (www.youtube.com)
SPDCA:
I have a new project. It's called Giterary. It's nearing completion. I've been coding for about the last 6 months on it. I need to hear your thoughts on it.
It is a novel writing tool that makes use of the cool programming tools I use to keep track of my programming projects, both personally and professionally. It puts them in a wiki web application that helps to get the content for your novel into a good place, and tries to help along the way.
It has piqued my interest for this long partly because I want to write a book someday, and partly because the tools that exist right now suck due to the following:
The main site is here: http://giterary.com (giterary.com)
The demo/example site is here: http://giterary.com/playground (giterary.com)
I have about 17K words worth of documentation between the user manual, install guide, and other assorted documents, so I won't go into too much more detail here.
What I will ask, though, is for your time, if you happen to have it. Very few people have viewed the application, but the few times that I have demoed it the feedback was pretty valuable (if soul-crushing at times). I'm getting ready to release Giterary "into the wild," so to speak, and fairly soon, publishing it as a free open source application that anybody can download (because honestly nobody would pay for it).
The thing is, I've been staring at the thing for too long, so everything is old and tried and familiar to me. I don't know what new users see anymore.
What I would ask is that you log in to the "Playground" and roam around. Create things, change things, move things, delete things, whatever you like. You cannot break anything, and the entire Playground resets itself at the top of every hour. I would also ask that you look over the documentation to see if it can answer any questions you have (and let me know if it does not).
I'm exposing this to idkfa so that I hear it from people I know and respect, and not the assholes on the Internet. Any pain you can save me at the mercy of the uncaring trolls would be a kindness.
Thanks for your time.
two things i broke while trying to be ridiculous with Costco the Musical
1. I accidentally clicked outside the edit box and clicked delete (i intended to delete text) and went backwards a page, as one does. I lost the edits I had made because I hadn't clicked through the "preview-commit&edit" process. Since I was writing ridiculousness, no skin off my teeth, but I imagine if you lost actual important things, there would be much gnashing of teeth.
2. annotate text doesn't recursivize, but why would it need to?
3. I tried a bunch of different qualifiers to try to italicize or bold or otherwise format text. It could be because I didn't spend enough time trying to learn, since I was only trying to break.
First of all, this is brilliant. Like, truly.
Second, I don't understand it at all. I like to think that I am generally computer savvy, and I write from time to time, and I don't understand what the hell this is, nor how to use it.
I can tell there is a powerful tool here, but I don't know if a target demographic exists for this. Writers are, by and large, stupid, and computer people are, by and large, not concerned with literary aims. I can see this being a tool for editors, but as it exists currently it requires substantial technological knowledge on the part of the writer too, and the odds of both parties having this knowledge seem slim.
Despite this, I'll also challenge another of your assumptions; I think the right person would pay handsomely for this technology. Just because all the pieces are pre-existing and open source doesn't make the stitching together of them any less valuable.
I propose one of two approaches:
1) Develop a user-friendly interface which makes this accessible to a much wider segment of the population.
2) Specifically tailor and market this to a narrow niche that would appreciate it.
Have you read The 4-Hour Work Week? Tim Ferriss? Worth the read anyway, but this is your "muse," as he calls it. A potentially self-sustaining and automated cash flow which allows you to pursue other interests with less concern about how you are going to fund those pursuits.
Although I guess keeping it free and open source is a part of the whole mission for you. Whatever.
Anyway, I don't get it, but good job!
I appreciate your honesty, but I'll have to ask: what pieces aren't immediately apparent? If I can't communicate the basic function of the application through a few blurbs or intuiting it from the interface, I have a major failing. If nothing else, please let me know what documents you read or what steps you performed that left you confused.
The target demographic (if there was one I was aiming for) is the one for creative writers who don't like their current toolset and its constraints, who don't particularly care for an email-distributed editing process, or understand services like Github (github.com) or Bitbucket (bitbucket.org) for version control but don't care for their generic nature or social nature.
It's... probably a pretty small demographic. And that demographic is happy enough already paying $20 for Scrivener or whatever it costs for a Microsoft Office license P(or just downloading OpenOffice/LibreOffice). Paying for another, untrusted tool is hard to justify. However, as is, Giterary is a pain in the ass to set up and host. Having people pay me a monthly fee to configure and host for them wouldn't be unreasonable.
Eh, I've got work to do. More later, maybe.
Well, first of all, when I was playing around trying to edit a text field I couldn't delete text but could space over it and I got confused and gave up.
Also, I don't know what Git is. I mean, I read about it, so now I do, but just barely.
Also, I am literally that guy who writes an entire novel in one uninterrupted open office document, so maybe this isn't meant for me anyway.
But I'm also not concerned with formatting when I write. That's what an editor is for. But if you repackage this as a self-publishing tool for friends and peers and editors and groups to write and edit work, and make a UI that is a little more friendly, then I can see this being a marketable tool for people at large.
Yeah, per Dave's request, I sort of uber-fixed the backspacing to where it was disabled completely (not just when you're outside of a text element and trying to keep the using from losing work). I dialed that back, though... I sort of like the idea: don't look back, just write. Maybe a future UI mod. :)
As for git, it's nice to have some familiarity with it, but it isn't absolutely required. If you just considered it the versioning database behind Giterary, you'd be 99% accurate. That it lets you do synchronization to and from the application using external tools is a killer feature (not done particularly well in Mediawiki and others), but not a required one. I'll put some more links and things to explain git.
For the unwieldy, monolithic document enthusiasts, and for those that don't particularly care for formatting, there are two nice things:
I get told frequently at work that my stuff is nice, but my UI needs work. I ask them what they want changed, and they can rarely tell me. As such, I tend to ignore the request and work on something else important.
For those keeping track at home, a few things added over the weekend:
I have another feature I want to add that will enable "quick jumping" between files, based on similar functionality in SublimeText.
So, I'm still working on this. And will continue to work on it. The following are features I've added since the announcement.
I'm admittedly peeking over the shoulders of a few other writing and wiki products (MoinMoin (moinmo.in)and Liquid Story Binder (www.blackobelisksoftware.com), specifically, with a brief glance at Hiveword (hiveword.com)). However, the features above are ones that I've wanted for a while, and simply didn't have case to spend time to implement them. Seeing how those products treat certain concepts, and how they falter at some points, gives me inspiration in where to take this project.
SPDCA: Page Associations
In the weird, elitist, math-y world of computer science, it's rare that a thing is called elegant. Elegant,used in such a context, has a somewhat different meaning than the common understanding (in the same way that "theory" means something different within the scientific realm than it does outside). Elegance is a quality assigned to something that has simple rules, but vast and interesting consequences. An elegant solution for a problem solves it in an interesting and subtle way, usually in a way that is otherwise tedious or impossible to do otherwise.
My sense of elegance is probably a little warped, as my appreciation for algorithmic design and mathematical proofs is pretty much zero in the face of practicality and work deadlines. Elegance to a true computer scientist is being able to perform all iteration through functional recursion. Elegance to me is something that works surprisingly well, and fits the size of the problem at hand without overstepping boundaries or introducing unneeded dependency or complexity.
Finding new elegant things is rare. Often, they are subtle, and hard to recognize unless I have to implement them myself. When I do find them, I feel giddy at their discovery, and afterwards the buzz is diminished by the fact that what makes a solution elegantis the problem it is solving, not how well I can apply it elsewhere. Like finding the perfect millimeter wrench, and then realizing you will probably never find a bolt that size again (Murrica!).
Working within Giterary, I found something interesting, and in my limited definition, elegant.
The problem was this: Mediawiki, MoinMoin, and Liquid Story Binder all have the concept of document "association." That is, for a given document, based on its contents, the applications can tell you what implied and explicit links between two documents that an author has drawn. Mediawiki and MoinMoin support associations between documents based on what wikilinks exist between the documents. Liquid Story Binder simply associates commonly named files together into arbitrary containers.
Mediawiki and MoinMoin both support a "What Links Here" feature, where you can ask their databases "What pages link here?"Rather than searching the entirety of the page contents, both can access a specialized database (MySQL for Mediawiki, and a custom database for MoinMoin) that is maintained in the background which can tell them very quickly which pages have the current one as its target.
Mediawiki and MoinMoin also both support the concept of "Orphaned" pages and "Wanted" pages. Orphan pages are pages that are targeted by no other documents (accessible only by searching). Wanted pages are those that, while targeted from another document, do not actually exist anywhere in the wiki. Having the ability to see orphans is valuable if you're trying to maintain an inclusive structure ("I want to be able to navigate to all pages somehow...") while wanted pages are useful to track work by allowing you to ask "What holes can I fill in?"
Of course, I wanted these features. But with Giterary, there is no "special database" to use in this way, and adding something like it would violate a number of the design principles I started with ("At the end of the day, everything in Giterary is just files," "Everything within reason should be editable with a text editor," "Don't use proprietary or closed-source storage formats"). The Git repository database doesn't store much more than directory state, and while that is sufficient to solve the problem, you would have to search the entire directory every time you ask for Orphaned or Wanted pages. It would also introduce complexity in what it would take to install the software, and introduce a dependency on something that was completely optional.
The more critical reason for not using an external database, though, is that performing a Git synchronization would lose all associative information. If you spend a ton of time architecting a story and file structure, you shouldn't be expected to abandon it. Your data should be portable, and persistent.
One solution would be to have a single, binary database (like SQLite, or BerkleyDB) that would live alongside the repository. SQLite and BDB are fairly easy to deal with, and are well supported by PHP. However, for limited or locked-down installations of PHP, the libraries for SQLite and BDB are not installed, and additionally, require the installation of SQLite and BDB external libraries. If you're using an shared hosting solution (like idkfa is, and many frugal web developers are), you don't always have control over your system. While simpler, you would still be introducing dependency and difficulty for someone trying to get Giterary installed. It would also mean that you would have files within your database that you would need the SQLite or BDB tools to query, if you ever wanted to do so.
Another solution would be to create a human-readable database file that could be "queried" upon user request. While this would work, it would not scale well. As you added more and more files, with more links between them, you would have to read the file in its entirety (into memory), perform your query/operation on the file, and if necessary, write the file back. Only one person could do this at a time, which for a web application is an unacceptable design choice ("Your web application can only have 1 person saving a file at a time? What?"). Additionally, the larger the file got, the more memory it would take to perform functions on it, and the more likely a shared web host would kill your process for trying to use too much.
So:
Also, another requirement is that you're a programmer, and it isn't enough to borrow features from your competitors: you have to make them better. Why should your associations be limited to just the links between? What if you're using templates, or other special "associations" that aren't just hyperlinks? What if you want to make up your own associations, given them their own names, etc.?
The solution? ...Your files and directories are a type of database. A very specialized one, but given the right organization, can store interesting information.
Here's what you do:
Associations/A, Associations/B,etc.)Associations/A.dir, Associations/B.dir,etc.).Associations/A.dir/B, Associations/B.dir/C, etc.).Associations/A) and its directory counterpart (Associations/A.dir).Associations/A) and its directory counterpart (Associations/A.dir), and then rebuild the source at its new destination (Associations/D,Associations/D.dir,Associations/D.dir/B, etc.).This abuses the semantics of files/folders such that you can ask questions like:
Associations/*/*), show those that do not have sources (Associations/*) (Wanted pages query)Associations/*), show those that are not targeted (Associations/*/*) (Orphaned pages query)Associations/A), who do I link to (Associations/A.dir/*)? (All page targets query)Associations/A), who links to me (Associations/*/A)? (What links here query)This solves the basic problems (Wanted Pages, Orphaned pages, source/target associations), but still leaves a few questions:
The file naming problem can be solved by finding a way to translate a full path (regardless of the characters within it) to a "normal" file name. In this case, you can use a hash like MD5 on a file name/path or Base64 encoding, and use that instead of A or B. In the case of MD5s, you can store the "original" path in the source and target directories within the files themselves.
The association type problem can be solved by adding another directory layer in between the sources and their targets:
Associations/A.dir/link/B
Associations/A.dir/template/C
Associations/A.dir/list/D
Associations/A.dir/table/D
This means you can ask questions like:
tables for a given document?template?There are also a few nice things that are as a result of this storage mechanism:
I'll admit that there are a few cons:
The repository contains files that the author doesn't maintain directly. Thankfully, every association can be tucked away in the special "Associations" folder, but it is ugly that you have a few hundred tiny files in your repository for which you have no direct involvement with.
If using the MD5 hashes to determine unique, non-colliding filenames, it's not super apparent what is being edited, or whose associations are being modified.
For each edit, you have to rebuild your associations. This would have to happen either way, but you also have to commit your association changes. This leaves you with two options:
Include your association changes with the edit commits, such that you see at 1 file change for the file in question, and 0 or more changes with the original change depending on whether associations changed.
Perform your association changes in a separate commit.
For my particular solution, I opted to use a separate commit so that I could easily try to separate the "association" commits from the "real" commits. The interface I have set up currently by default hides the "associative" commits.
So, there you have it. Taking a file structure, and building another file structure alongside it to model the relationships between the original file structure.
This is something I consider elegant, as it solves the problem at hand, is practical, efficient, and consistent within the technical limitations/specifications of the project.
Just. Wow (www.youtube.com).
Also, Joss Whedon co-wrote Toy Story???!?!? How the fuck did I not know that until now???
Huh, I hadn't heard that, though, it only justifies my tithing to the Church of Whedon.
Though, the way I understand how they do writing in Hollywood is that any number of writers can look at a script/screenplay, tweak a few words, and get credit (provided they use a portion that they worked on). There's a Kevin Smith video somewhere where he's talking about work he did for a failed Superman movie script (that I can't very well track down at work) that sort of reflects this process (and how it is pretty messed up).
I believe it was on his first Q&A DVD, An Evening with Kevin Smith (where he also related a hilarious story about filming a bio documentary for Prince). Anyway, the writing process sounds like a convoluted mess: famous ghostwriters who don't want their names associated with shitty script rewrites, people changing a paragraph of dialogue for a writer's credit, third/ fourth/fifth sets of authors on rewrites (ala Superman), etc.
In short: the writing community in Hollywood sounds like a redneck community in Arkansas - everyone is fucking everyone else and no one wants to know or talk about it.
Couldn't figure out if I should post this here or in Cognitive Surplus. Either would be applicable:
http://what-if.xkcd.com/29/ (what-if.xkcd.com)
In other words - SCIENCE!
Heeeeey errybody! We forgot this this year!
actually i was just looking for a thinking break from work
1. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?
Proposed to a woman! Bought a house!
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
who makes these, seriously
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
yes!
4. Did anyone close to you die?
yes.
5. What countries did you visit?
MURRICA
6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
A marriage license.
7. What date from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Cinco De Mayo! I got elizabeth to say yes!
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
it's either the proposal, the buying of the house, or the fact that i'm now a PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER
9. What was your biggest failure?
PE exam round 1
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
nope
11. What was the best thing you bought?
A HOUSE
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Elizabeth's, she said yes!
13. Whose behavior made you appalled?
Boehner
14. Where did most of your money go?
HOUSE
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
iPhone 5. Then got let down.
16. What song will always remind you of 2012?
Queen Youre My Best Friend
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
- i. happier or sadder?
Happier
- ii. thinner or fatter?
Fatter
- iii. richer or poorer?
richer?
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
playing soccer
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
working
20. How did you spend Christmas?
with family!
22. Did you fall in love in 2012?
i had already fallen in love but i've been falling in love again with her!
23. How many one-night stands?
;)
24. What was your favorite TV program?
Newsroom
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Can't think of anything
26. What was the best book you read?
Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual For the PE Exam by Michael Lindeburg, PE.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Mumford & Sons
28. What did you want and get?
50 years of Bond! a Springfield XD45!
29. What did you want and not get?
a MacBook Air
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
DARK KNIGHT RISES
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
turned 28, hung out with family & friends
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
John Boehner losing re-election
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
clothed
34. What kept you sane?
elizabeth and video games
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Anne Hathaway and Scarlett Johanssen
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
47%
37. Who did you miss?
my baby sister who is off at college
38. Who was the best new person you met?
elizabeth's dad?
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012:
when you need to secure your family's future, you can cook meth
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Is this the real life, or is this just fantasy?
1. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?
Visited Europe.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I'm not sure I made any resolutions last year.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Not close, no.
5. What countries did you visit?
Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Monaco. Canada and Germany, technically, but only in the airports.
6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
Perhaps a trip to the cabin.
7. What date from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Kicking a few feet of snow off of my roof.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Returning home from Europe after nearly missing our return flight due to a comedy of errors and misconceptions of international travel. Also, succeeding at finding a better job.
9. What was your biggest failure?
I backed out of a blind date. Also, backed out of writing a book. Also, had a couple of programming projects fizzle.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Stomach flu, but only for a day. Also, lost a piece of a tooth. That was unpleasant.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
2TB NAS hard drives, or my Netbook SSD.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Gabe Newell.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled?
Steve Ballmer.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Mortgage payments.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Developing a magic system for a book. Also, PAX 2012.
16. What song will always remind you of 2012?
The World Belongs to You (www.jonathancoulton.com) - Jonathan Coutlon
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
- i. happier or sadder?
Zero sum.
- ii. thinner or fatter?
Fatter, likely.
- iii. richer or poorer?
Richer.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Biking.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Not cleaning my house.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
With family, between Arizona for friends and relatives and Calfornia for Disneyland.
22. Did you fall in love in 2012?
I am a robot. This question hurts my feelings emulator.
23. How many one-night stands?
No nightstands.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
Legend of Korra, probably.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Hate is a strong word. Disagree with strongly might be more accurate.
26. What was the best book you read?
A Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Tough call between Florence and the Machine and MC Frontalot.
28. What did you want and get?
To see the old world before it collapsed into economic ruin.
29. What did you want and not get?
Time. Time enough for it all.
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Perks of Being a Wallflower or Cabin in the Woods.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Year 27. Spent playing flip-cup on my back deck with friends, new and old.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Centralized logging. Better backups.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?
Sweaters. Sweaters everywhere.
34. What kept you sane?
Automation, and SSH tunneling.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I got nothin'.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
SOPA.
37. Who did you miss?
All of a sudden, I miss everyone.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
There were a number.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012:
Arrive two hours before any international flight.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"But with all my education,
I can't seem to commend it,
And the words are all escaping me,
And coming back all damaged,
And I would put them back in poetry,
If I only knew how,
I can't seem to understand it..."
1. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?
Led a climbing expedition of 3 other people. Rode an actual century ride.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Made none, kept none.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, their first and it sounded like a really hard time gettin that baby out.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Sort of, the father of some very good friends who I met this summer. A very interesting man with a lot of stories who I know will be missed.
5. What countries did you visit?
Made it back up to Canadia for a visit.
6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
An idea of what my future will be next year.
7. What date from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
December 27th, the day my dental school application was rejected.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Summiting Mt. Rainier a second time leading a group of three other climbers, plus riding over 200 miles the previous weekend from Seattle to Vancouver BC.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Getting into dental school
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Stayed mostly healthy, though I kept getting stomach bugs in the spring which made me bail on climbing Mt Hood in February and kept me home on Bike to Work day (one of my favorite days of the who year)
11. What was the best thing you bought?
New AT ski boots
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Oddly enough Aaron Hughes, yes I know we all joke about how trashed he was at his own wedding. But I’ve definitely seen him become a more responsible man this year, he is growing up bit by bit.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled?
I’ll judge myself here, no matter how much I think I want something my own lack of drive keeps holding me back.
14. Where did most of your money go?
REI. Kids take a lot of money as well, but I do spend a lot of money at REI. Oh and house payments, but since I like living not with parents I don’t see this as an expense so much as a given.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The prospect of getting accepted to dental school.
16. What song will always remind you of 2012?
No song will ever stand out in my mind as being special to 2012, nothing that will stand the test of time anyway. I don’t pay that much attention to music.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
- i. happier or sadder?
As of this writing, sadder.
- ii. thinner or fatter?
Probably about the same, maybe a bit better.
- iii. richer or poorer?
Maybe a hair richer.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Outdoor activity and adventures, both with and without my oldest son.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Sitting around wishing I could be out climbing mountains instead of figuring out and scheduling actually doing it.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
Running between 5 different houses trying to make family happy.
22. Did you fall in love in 2012?
Only the every day kind of falling in love. I’m probably happier in this 9th year of marriage than I’ve been in any other.
23. How many one-night stands?
I stand every night, and they only come one at a time anyway.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
Made it through the whole year without a single fuck given to TV.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No.
26. What was the best book you read?
I actually did more reading this year than in the last several combined. The best probably was the Hunger Games trilogy. Moby Dick was not what I expected, and while I love re-reading the Silmarillion I feel this is best answered by a new book from 2012.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
New albums by old favorites, nothing radical this year.
28. What did you want and get?
New AT ski boots that don’t leave giant blisters all over my feet when touring.
29. What did you want and not get?
Did not get accepted to school.
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I think the only new movie I saw this year that I can answer this question with was the Avengers, it was fun.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Turned 27, got a bit drunk then alienated some friends so badly that the entire party pretty much died and everyone left early. Some people really can’t handle small penis jokes.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Acceptance
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?
Tried to not wear pants with holes worn in the crotch.
34. What kept you sane?
An easy going temperment.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
none
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
none really
37. Who did you miss?
Everyone, all my friends in Anchorage, Aaron down in California.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
This cool dentist I’ve been shadowing the last month or so.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012:
Shit happens, sometimes the shit that happened years ago still has a huge effect on your life and there’s little you can do about it but try harder and not be a shit and slip into the feeling where everyone is against you or the system is against you.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Tonight we ride on clouds of Fire.
I did it! Thanks Dave :)
1. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?
Ran my first race: half marathon.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No and no.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, my best friend Leah.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes, some extended family members. And an awesome Aunt.
5. What countries did you visit?
Nowhere outside of the US.
6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
More happiness.
7. What date from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May. It wasn't a good month.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Losing twenty pounds?
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not realizing i had over twenty pounds to lose sooner.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I had strep, and a horrible skin thing from being outside a lot. and this shoulder thing.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Mandolin? New car?
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Sarah!
13. Whose behavior made you appalled?
Some friends of friends-but no one i choose to surround myself with!
14. Where did most of your money go?
Mortgage payments, losing ten pounds, buying new clothes, losing ten more pounds, more clothes buying. GAHHH.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Seeing my nephew in November.
16. What song will always remind you of 2012?
Holocene
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
- i. happier or sadder?
Sadder.
- ii. thinner or fatter?
Thinner.
- iii. richer or poorer?
Make more money, but have more debts. I sure feel poorer.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Going outside.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Crying.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
Lez Mis, xc skiing, family, and soup.
22. Did you fall in love in 2012?
Nope.
23. How many one-night stands?
None, hopefully.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
Homeland.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Still hate the same people i did last year!
26. What was the best book you read?
I read a lot of crappy books. Night Circus wasn't horrible.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Bon Iver.
28. What did you want and get?
Promotion at work.
29. What did you want and not get?
Plenty.
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I don't see movies a lot. I saw Les Miserables; I like that one.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 26 and i went to Palm Springs with my whole family. It snowed.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More snow this winter.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?
The incredible shrinking woman! Seriously, size 4 pants look way nicer than size 12. And, fake eyelashes.
34. What kept you sane?
Consistency.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Newt Gingrich's wife.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
I had a lot of fun following local politics this year, and being part of the political process at the RNC.
37. Who did you miss?
My best friends-Leah and Nathan-and my extended family.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
Brittany Hales!
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012:
The secret to life is striking a balance between not caring about most things and caring immensely about some.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"And i could see for miles and miles and miles..."
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What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?
Became homeless! Moved multiple times! Went on a cruise! Went to Mexico! Went to a huge NYE gathering! Other things!
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I made a couple, was fairly successful (except for guitar, total fail). I'm not making any explicit resolutions for this year, just going for overall awesome.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Indeed. And more to come.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nada. Es bien.
5. What countries did you visit?
A good many. Italy, Greece, Turkey, Monaco, Spain, Mexico, RMI. And I want there to be even more in 2013.
6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
A plan.
7. What date from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
The year was pretty insane in general. No dates in general stick out.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Passed the FE, which was good.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Lack of passion
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
FUCK YOU KNEE
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Music. Plane tix.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
The peoples of Washington, Colorado.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled?
All of Congress. Term limits and no fucking corporate campaign contributions. Fuck those asshats. Also the NRA. Also religions.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Anecdotes
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Cruise! Vegas!
16. What song will always remind you of 2012?
Ugh. Fucking Gangnum Style.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
- i. happier or sadder?
About the same.
- ii. thinner or fatter?
Fatter.
- iii. richer or poorer?
About the same.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Costume parties. Guitar.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Dwelling.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
With family and friends. Good times!
22. Did you fall in love in 2012?
Nopers.
23. How many one-night stands?
Not enough!
24. What was your favorite TV program?
Star Trek. Game of Thrones. NERD ME
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I try not to hate.
26. What was the best book you read?
Probably The Forever War.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I listen to too much music.
28. What did you want and get?
Some command over others (http://www.youtube...Ud4Cbc49mg#t=3m13s) (www.youtube.com). But more career development would be better.
29. What did you want and not get?
Moar bang-time.
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Safety Not Guaranteed or Django Unchained. Probably should have seen Argo and Silver Linings Playbook.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Had a belated birthday with Josh, got TRASHED, turned 28 ;)
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A duvet cover.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Gay.
34. What kept you sane?
Booze and smiles.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
All dem hott bitches
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Gay marriage/MJ legality
37. Who did you miss?
My CONUS buddies.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
T MONEY
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012:
Stay billable.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
We're here 'cause we're here.
No not really that at all. I got my rejection letter, the first time on the 27th in which they funnily addressed me as Ms. Laurance. I appealed it and was given a second review, which was rejected yesterday.
In talking to the director of the dental program for the Southcentral foundation of AK, I found out that UW places a huge importance on GPA. Pretty much without a higher GPA I'm boned, functionally they won't accept anyone with less than a 3.3. And they don't take replacement grades only average the new class grades into the total GPA, which means I'd have to get a 4.0 in roughly 20 credits or so to boost it up to their level.
Pretty much no amount of work experience, life experience, or shadowing can make up for it unless I'm really really lucky. Granted this was just one person's point of view so maybe I will have a chance next time around.
Sometimes, I'm really disappointed (www.youtube.com) in the way the system works. UW is a pretty tough school for those types of programs, so chin up! You're awesome. Apply somewhere less pretentious and knock it out!
By the way thanks for the contact Dave. Because of you and your Aunt I was able to get in touch with this guy who is probably the best person in the state to have on my side next time I apply.
Not only is he the director of the largest group of dentists in the state but is also on the board of dental examiners for the state of AK and on the regional board for the pacific NW.
He also dislikes the UW school intensely for being as he put it "pretentious jerks who care more about GPA then putting out good dentists". I am not making that up. That and the guy called me while on vacation in Mexico, so yeah. I think this dude would be one hell of an ally next time around.
For Josh, for his hypothetical future, "I raised my kids on the command line"
http://lifehacker.com/5974087/i-raised-my-kids-on-the-command-lineand-they-love-it (lifehacker.com)
Though I would hesitate to say at age 5 he can use the past tense "raised", perhaps "I am raising my child to view the command line as the primary means of navigating computers." However, I am a bit surprised at their ability to spell and use all these commands, I suspect the author is glossing over the amount of help the require. Perhaps he is sitting behind them spelling out commands for them? It's a very high level of literacy, not impossible in a 5 year-old, very impobable in a 4 or 5 year old though. This why toddlers and preschoolers do so well with GUIs like the OS on most tablets and smartphones (as mentioned in a previous post) because it is image rather than text based.
In my experience an average-bright child at around age 6, mid-first grade, will move past "reading" for the point of skill development to the point where they have that skill firmly established enough that they can read for learning and other purposes. A very-bright child will get there sooner. But there is a definite point in which the child passes the "reading is the challenge" to "reading is the tool I use to get to the next challenge" level.
I want to say I've heard of this guy before, or at least, read of other geek dads introducing their children to less GUI-fied interface while teaching them about computers. I love the concept, but, I have some serious internal conflict when I try to come down on whether I like this idea or not.
Before I go further, yeah, you're totally right. My three year old nephew has zero patience for anything computer-y that isn't an iPad. He carries his sister's vTech laptop by the mouse, dragging it behind him as he runs around, screaming in jealous echolalia of his older sibling. I tried to demonstrate to him that every time you hit a letter, it says a word and displays the word/object on the screen that starts with the letter you press. He proceeded to just bang on the keyboard to see how fast he could get it to switch between responses. He's not much better with the iPad, but he knows damn well that he better treat it nice or Grandpa gets very, very angry. He still gets frustrated with Fruit Ninja occasionally and starts hitting it, but just the occasional slap, nothing like throwing the tablet. (He did figure out the "app deletion" hold-and-hit-the-wiggling-red-X feature of the iOS desktop. My sister came back to all of her apps deleted one day. There's hope yet.)
My 6-year-old niece is a bit of a different story. Her reading comprehension is great, and she's velociraptor-smart when it comes to figuring out UIs, but she doesn't have the patience for some of the things. Kids, however, have the advantage that they'll click on anything, and their memory for "what they want" and "what they don't want" is brutally efficient. She knows not to hit the "buy" buttons when the advertisements come up on the screen, and has memorized all of the cancel and "x" buttons and will hover above where they will appear while the advertisements play. She knows that there's an "Internet" thing that has to be connected for Elf Yourself to work right. She also knows how long it takes her to do certain tasks, or whether certain tasks are "perpetual," and can manipulate her brother into waiting patiently (i.e., forever) while she finishes a drawing or whatever ("The program has to finish, Khalil, you can play after that").
That said, it would be an immense feat for either of the 3 or 6-year-olds I know to take on the command line, particularly when they have tasted of vTech and iOS computers. Despite my love for it (it's like hugging your data!), it's notorious for being unforgiving, counter-intuitive, and limiting for seemingly simple things compared to other GUI devices. It teaches you the absolute full extent of the complexity of some of the services we take for granted, but children don't really have an appreciation for things at that level. For younger kids, or anyone who can't pull at least ~30 WPM, it is a punishing experience until either a) you become a faster or more accurate typist, or b) learn tricks to reduce the number of required keystrokes.
When I was 6 or 7, I knew that I had to type "menu" in order to get to a more graphical menu application my Dad has set up in DOS to let me browse through my games. That was the extent of my command line experience, and I saw it as a hurdle, not as a thing I wanted to learn more about. However, I knew that once I'd booted Command Keen, I had to use the arrow keys and the space bar to jump, and I got really good at the arrow keys and the space bar. This skills applied later to Oregon Trail and Number Munchers, but despite my hours in computer lab hacking Mavis Beacon to show that I'd finished my exercises, what I was really going for was getting at least 10 minutes in playing Dinopark Tycoon. It wasn't until maybe 7th or 8th grade that I got on AIM/MSN/ICQ that I discovered that in order to keep up with IM conversations I had to become a much, much better typist. It wasn't until I wanted to play multiplayer games with my friends that I learned about networking. Web pages? I wanted to have games for my friends on my website. Programming? I wanted a counter to increment every time somebody visited my website.
Much as I'd like to argue that kids would learn more valuable lessons about computing and computer basics by starting on the command line, you have to have an absolute need and an interest for something you're learning, otherwise nothing sticks. The kids that would tolerate a CLI to get basic things done might learn by rote ("I must type 'mailx' if I want to access my email, I must type 'finch' if I want to access my instance messaging client..."), but that wouldn't be helping them learn a whole lot, and certainly wouldn't give them a leg up on their peers who have a list of apps on their tablet that give them access to such things. I certainly wouldn't punish them by forcing them to write an essay without a word processor when the rest of their classmates have one.
As a CLI/programming/automation evangelist, it's hard for me to convince adults, no less children, why computers are infinitely fascinating, and therefore, are worthy of your time and patience and mental real estate. Technology consistently outpaces our understanding of it, which makes my hope of inspiring lifelong interest in young people a hard thing to communicate. Computing of tomorrow will barely resemble my understanding of it, and my excited, wildly gesticulating orations probably already seem dated to the next generation. I can't simply tell my niece and nephew that there's a secret world, in which anything is possible, and is limited only by your imagination and your willingness to learn. They have to discover that for themselves. And they have to be excited about it themselves. And they have to be comfortable, and feel like they aren't being punished.
That said, unless something absolutely requires it, I'll probably never give a child or a relative of mine something that runs Windows. Mac OS, maybe, but Linux would be my first choice. The amount of software available, the open environment, and the sheer potential for learning is too great to pass up. Plus, all the things I've written, or the programming tools I'm familiar with, will be absolutely available, without question or hindrance.
Operating system aside, though: there's no way that my kids would have unrestricted, or at the very least, unobserved access to their computer, or the Internet. They can learn about tunneling, proxying, and spoofing MAC addresses if they want access to something without dad knowing about it. I say this because the Internet is a scary fucking place. I can say this because I grew up there. I would rather them fight tooth and nail to earn their privacy, learning to protect themselves from someone like me. Because that's what they should be doing. That's what everybody should be doing.
They'll stick around for a while yet. But they'll eventually be thought of as "old" or "bulky" or "only for work stuff."
I have a feeling the notion of "clicking" on something will eventually lose its meaning. Touch devices don't make a "clicking" sound, nor do they have a concept of a pointer or a reticle with which to focus what one is "clicking" upon.
https://www.youtub...watch?v=RtlYi1yLTVQ (www.youtube.com)
This guy makes instructional videos on electrical safety. His deadpan humor resonates with me.
What. The. Fuck. (www.inquisitr.com)
Seriously. How did I miss this before Xmas was over?? Truly one of the strangest things to come out... ever.
EDIT:
AND THAT'S NOT ALL. Christopher Lee... 90 year old metal singer. Oh and he's been in almost 300 movies or whatever.
After watching my (spoiled, first-world problems) niece and nephew fight tooth and nail over their iPads and vTech laptops just so they could play Fruit Ninja while the other couldn't, this gives me some hope: http://dvice.com/ar...ethiopian-kids.php (dvice.com)
Yeah, I don't understand it spoiled nieces and nephews either. Mine are generally well behaved, but getting a 12-year old an iphone5 for xmas is overkill in my opinion. I guess the world is just different now. Or maybe when I have kids I will spoil them in exactly the same manner. Except for with legos.
If I don't have kids, I will still buy the legos. For myself ;)
Admittedly, the touch interface for phones and tablets is more intuitive for children, and the caliber of games available, both educational and otherwise, are fairly impressive. Anything that gets them more familiar with the "flow" of technology is alright by me, even if I have an old man "get off my lawn" bias towards them.
I still worry, though, about other basic computer skills. It's one thing to be able to manipulate a touch interface and punch an iPad as hard as an oddly-strong three-year-old can. It's another thing to perform work tasks, or have basic understandings of the pieces at work. I understand those can be learned when much older (as was the case with us), but concepts like files, folders, and networks are hard to conceptualize when devices make efforts to hide their presence.
Oh well. Still plenty of years to work on 'em.
Not all bachelor behaviors need correcting. However in exchange for cooking delicous homemade food on a very regular basis, all I ask is no socks on the floor and a small standard of cleanliness. Seems like a fair trade to me. The guys know what they're signing up for.
I would posit that if straight women could marry gay men we would, but as it is we make exchanges. For example I have completely relinquished even pretending to care about car maintenance. (Yep, we're not breaking any gender stereotypes here.)
My mom got a new MacBook Pro on Saturday this past week. I spent a good portion of New Year's Day setting it up, along with the new 4th gen iPad she got for Christmas.
It was a bit frustrating changing around the settings on her phone so that they'd play nicely with iCloud and the rest of the Apple suite of devices, but after getting it all set up, I'm totally jealous. I'd love to have an Apple laptop, and since I got everything to the point where it seamlessly talks to each other like Apple intends, it's pretty sweet. I'd never set up an Apple laptop like that, or set up a phone and iPad to work with a laptop like that, and seeing what I've been missing is what's made me jealous.
But I'm holding out for a 13" macbook air with retina screen, or something to that effect.
Well, I should also mention my dad got the new 21" desktop Mac, and since he just presses whatever button makes screens progress to make it work, he totally shit all over the process and it'd take even longer to undo everything he did and set up his phone and iPad to do the same thing it took me all day to make my mom's do.
I love to watch users like that. Mostly just to marvel at how forgiving the computer is despite the barrage of abusive blows. It's like watching the underdog win the big fight.
I should qualify: I love to watch users like that, but only when I don't have to clean up after, and if I'm sipping coffee as pretentiously as possible.
Disneyland Synopsis, Christmas 2012
My family took a trip over Christmas this year, first flying to Arizona, then driving to Anaheim, and visiting Disneyland and Calfornia Adventures over the course of three days. Here are my findings.
We Need a Good Plague
I remember the first time I went to Disneyland we got a special pass that let us get into the park an hour before opening. We took that opportunity to hit Indiana Jones three times in a row, seeing all three alternate tracks. It was awesome. Yet, I didn't understand why there was such a huge line that I had to run through in order to get back from the entrance to the start of the ride. I couldn't imagine there ever being a time where there would be that many people.
This time, apparently, we decided to visit at a time of predicted high park attendance. And, as predicted, it was insane. If you can avoid it, avoid peak seasons. Or holidays. Or really any time you can guess somebody else might want to also go to the park. I overheard a cheerful Disneyland Castmember, rolling a trashcart through a throng, say to somebody "Come in February. February is better. Nothing happens in February."
I say this not out of my own dislike of crowds, or people, but out of consideration for return on investment. At peak times, ride waits are upwards of 2 hours (not including breakdowns), which means that despite the park being open from 8am to 11pm, if you only chose to wait in line, took no bathroom or food breaks, and were able to travel from ride to ride instantaneously, you'd only be able to ride ~7 rides/day. You can, of course, prioritize to only hit main attractions, but in the course of three days, with stops for food, bathroom breaks, and kid-related catastrophes, we were barely able to hit all of the big ones.
A lot changes in... oh man... 18 years?
Last time we went, we think it was 1995. A number of things have changed. Notably: Fast Passes.
Fast Passes are an ingenious mechanism. They help to schedule your day a bit, but also demonstrate that Disney isn't looking to really help you to ride all of your rides, but rather to keep you in the park and spend more money. They let you schedule a "Fast Pass Return Time," which lets you enter a shorter line with priority over the longer, "normal" line.
However, you cannot simply collect a number of Fast Passes and have your day ahead of you, instead, you have a "cool down" period, during which you cannot request any more fast passes from machines. You can spend this in one of the "normal" lines, or you can shop/eat/whatever in the park, and not have to worry about your place in the Fast Pass line.
There is also a MouseTime phone application, which is invaluable in determining wait times for rides, and whether rides are down, without having to walk the length of the park to see them. This helped us figure out our daily schedules far better than anything else.
Additionally, there's a whole new park, California Adventures, right next to Disneyland. Our passes were able to "park-hop," which meant that we could go back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventures. It's a bit weird that there's a park, in California, that is celebrating California, when you could theoretically be seeing those things yourself while in California, but it has the same Disney look-and-feel, so it still works. I have a theory that it was a tax write-off.
Also, lines are sort of a different animal as well. While lots of work went into hiding the lines, making them interesting to spend time in, it was much more bearable having a phone available. However, this didn't really help my niece/nephew, who were bored out of their minds, and needed constant entertainment. It made me wish that some of the army of Disney employees could be dedicated to "line entertainment," much the way that the enforcers would entertain people in lines for PAX.
Being an adult is lame
There are a few things I don't miss from childhood: poor bladder/bowel control, the inability to drive, and the relative height disparity. However, as made apparent by my recent visit, I do miss some of the things I left behind with childhood: appreciation of whimsy, a love of all things animated, and the inability to understand wry, adult humor.
Going along with my parents, my sister, my sister's children, and my effective godparents, it was an interesting study in how people of different ages engage with Disney things. My niece and nephew, aged 6 and 3 years, respectively, probably saw an entirely different park than we did, full of things they recognized and understood on their own level. See somebody dressed up as Minnie walking through Toontown? Sure, you can give Minnie a hug. See somebody dressed up as Minnie walking through any other given city's downtown? Ah... no, no, child... that's not really Minnie, no hugs...
Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun. I'm just saying that having viewed Disneyland once as a 5th grader, then as a shitty teenager, and now as an adult, I now see it fully from my parents' perspective. I could now laugh with them at the ridiculous name of the "Astroblasters" ride, or share a "kill me" look with a dead-eyed park employee, or cringe when I pay $10.99+tax for a burrito.
Also, in my old age, I've developed a habit of pondering on the "scale" of things, particularly in large groups of people. I do this because human beings are largely disgusting, selfish, violent animals, and more so when in large packs. I wonder at things like this because I wonder what happens when 70,000 people visit the bathroom. Or if somebody gets hurt. Or if there's a fire. Or what have you. I wonder at the scale of the Disneyland operation as a machine that takes in money and humans and outputs happy humans. I would love to have seen a "behind the scenes" tour to show the scale at which things are operating on the backend.
And then I go on Space Mountain, and it all sort of just washes away.
Anywho, I should get back to work.
Funny and slightly related story (re not hugging Minnie Mouse). I may have told this before, it is one of my favorite library stories.
When I was a teenager, I was a "page" (shelver) in my hometown library. About once a week, usually on Wednesday evenings, a man in a bee mascot-style costume that completely covered his face would come in and wander around the library spending most of his time in the children's section. Kids would hug him, parents would comment on the nice reading bee, he would never say a word.
I was officially tasked with following him around, keeping kids from hugging him, and telling parents he was not an official library mascot. After about a year of this, his handler came in to get him. He was a severely autistic man who used the suit as his way of coping with the world (apparently it deadened the noise and lights, I've worn one it's true) and not having to interact with people. She (the paid caregiver) had been dropping him off to use the library by himself while she took her dinner break every Wednesday. Probably the best way that story could have ended.
I last went to Disney as a teen. I'm good until I have my own children to take. My mother hated Disney and only took us there because her company paid for most of it. She raised us in a fairly anti-Disney household. The last librarian conference I attended was in Anaheim, literally across the street from California Adventure (could see the rides from my hotel room) and I went to one party in Downtown Disney (it was awful, if you walk too slowly through what is basically a glorified strip mall you get glitter bombed). I was surprised at how many librarians had extended their trip to go to Disney. A librarian filled Disney would hav been amusing.
She (the paid caregiver) had been dropping him off to use the library by himself while she took her dinner break every Wednesday
The job description of "paid caregiver" seems to preclude the notion of dropping off somebody at a library so one can swing by for a meef quesarito. (unrelated) Glad he was a friendly bee.
A librarian filled Disney would have been amusing.
I could have tolerated some more orderly lines, and maybe some rational compassion for strangers. I couldn't get to sleep last night because I was reliving a moment in the fast pass line where, in trying to help out some confused foreigners, I inadvertently invited them to cut in line in front of me (thinking that it was less than a minute wait, and the line had just rearranged itself around them). The guy behind me asked, "Hey, you know you just let them cut?" to which I responded, "We're all going to the same place," to which he responded, "Yeah, but not as fast." I shrugged, and he proceeded to heat the back of my head with hate rays for the rest of the 45 seconds we shared personal space. I fell asleep trying to calculate the approximate inconvenience of the ~12 or so people behind me to the slight help I gave to strangers. Then I remembered it was the fucking fast pass line, and went to sleep.
Yeah, the magic seems to go away once you grow up. And then you want things like incest and infanticide in your fantasy worlds. Or just a ton of sex. Or extreme complexity. Disneyland is none of these things. I think if the kids had to pay, they would understand a bit better. Good synopsis in any case... but do you have any resolutions??
Or booze. It makes those negative feelings just go away. I'm pretty sure it's why Vegas is such a popular vacation spot... and I still don't understand why people would bring children there.
I spent my whole childhood in Alaska and my first trip to Disneyland was as a early teen, which is a shitty time to do anything as a family really. More so when your family is poor and you cant spend any money at all while in the park.
By comparison going to Disney World and then Disneyland again as an adult, when you never had good childhood experiences in theme parks, has been great. Sure John had fun this last trip, but deep down I still feel like I had the most fun of everyone. So screw you guys and you grown up negativity, I don't need magic to enjoy the hell out of rides. I never knew what the magic was anyway. Also I'm cool with waiting in lines so maybe that helps a bit in the end.
