Harry's Ruminations

I've come to understand my limits: 2 meetings. Looking back on it, it's hard to comprehend a day where I had 7 1-hour meetings in a single day, because as it stands today, I've had 3 meetings and my mind is tapioca.  Actually, you might say I've had 4, but I'll get to that. Running down the list: 10:30am Team standup.  Daily coordination face-to-face activities.  Absolutely essential.   Still counts against the quota! 2pm.  Steering committee meeting for something rather important. 3pm. Emergency coordination meeting because our team discerned we were blocked on all our upcoming work and needed to pull in some other work. Now amid all that, was a sit-down I had around 11:15 with another developer on a point-of-interest. Note the timing, too: 10:30 --> Right in the middle of the morning.   2-3pm --> Right in the middle of the afternoon. I remember fondly a team I was on where all meetings were before 10 or after 4, and the middle...

Imagine yourself trapped in a cylinder filling with water.  The water comes in at an uneven rate: Sometimes it dribbles, sometimes it gushes.  You can't get out of the cylinder, and once the water reaches your head you'll drown. "Okay, that's torture." Yes, it is. Now, let's imagine the cylinder were bigger, maybe the size of one of those nuclear storage tanks, but still only 7 or so feet tall.  You can have things in there with you to distract you, but the water's still coming in and once it gets to the top, you drown. "Still torture ." Yep, it is. Let's imagine the water was coming in at an unbelievably slow rate...maybe it might take years to get all the way to the top, and let's imagine the tank was even bigger, with a transparent top so you could see the sun.  There's always the risk that someone will open the flood valve and fill the tank at any moment. Still...torture?  Maybe by now you see where this is going.  Y...

It's quiet and loud, busy and peaceful as I sit outside Starbucks this afternoon.  Caffeine from the Clover-brewed Ethiopian Yirgacheffe courses through me as the clock turns 6. I'm reeling having watched The One I Love .  Like, back on my heels reeling.  Watched that at the Kentucky Theatre with a small matinee crowd, attempting to shut-down a few brain cells to prepare for crunch time ahead--crunch time at home, at work, etc.  I wasn't successful, the movie's a mind-f@#%.  Like, your mind rejects it, refusing to suspend disbelief, right as the main characters...have to suspend their disbelief. Anyway, Chevy Chase area, Lexington Kentucky.  This is exactly where I always wanted to live, some place like this, or the Bardstown road area of Louisville:  Urban, but green, old but renewed.  Cars exist here, but they're optional...it's very walkable, and people seem fit, especially on a glorious no-humidity day with Fall in the air. Mostly, I jus...

Dynamics?  Yes, dynamics. In  music ,  dynamics  normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic (staccato, legato etc.) or functional (velocity). The term is also applied to the written or printed  musical  notation used to indicate dynamics .  I've read Peter Egan obsessively for years:  I have dead-tree copies of 2 of 3 Side Glances compilations, and one edition of Leanings that stoked a motorcycle obsession I've had since 2008.  Prior to that, I'd pick up copies of Road & Track  in the Winn-Dixie in my hometown, read the Egan article and then place it back on the shelf above the sign, "IF YOU READ THEM BUY THEM. THIS AIN'T A LIBRARY [ sic ]." Indeed:  Libraries don't smell like cigarettes and rotting meat. Thirty years on, Gearheads venerate Peter Egan, but I think that limits too much to our particular obsession.  R...

SPOILERS!! Dinosaurs in London. Well, that was awkward.  Capaldi off to a poor start, but honestly, so was Tennant in "Christmas Invasion" New Opening looks like the opening to Amazing Stories in 1985... "People are apes.  MEN are monkeys."  Nice, Mdm Vastra Clara dealing with the change.  Not well.  Metaphor for all relationships--people change.  Are we big enough to see through the veil? Parallels: Doctor and the Dinosaur, "I am alone..." Strax is a joy, per usual, "May I take your clothes?" And...there's the cyborg "He looked young, you might as well flirt with a mountain range."  Nice interlude to explain Peter Capaldi is...you know...old. "My Time Machine was stuck in your throat...that's mostly how I meet girls." "Planet of the pudding brains..." Strax: "...and we will melt him with acid.  The Times shall I send it up?"  WHACK! Ah, JLC in Victorian Garb.  Holds her ow...

I try to pause every so often and record what my toolchain looks like.   Sort of like people posting on Everyday Carry, but for what I use every day in development. Development machine : 13" MacBook Pro Retina, 2.8GHz Core i7, 8GB RAM, 250GB SSD.  I love this machine.  My wife calls it my woobie.  She's not far from right. OS : Mac OS 10.9.4.  Unix when I want it to be, polished Consumer OS when I just don't care.   It's been 3 years since I ran a windows box as a development machine and with virtualization I can't see running windows as a primary OS ever again. Physical Setup : Thunderbolt Gigabit ethernet, Thunderbolt-to-DVI single 23" monitor, Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000.   I've dabbled in multi-monitors and buckling spring keyboards, but this setup keeps my attention focused and my repetitive strain to a minimum.  I'll eventually wear out this keyboard and probably buy another one just like it. Note taking tool : Evernote...

There aren't really pics to go with this.  Sorry about that. It began simply enough:  A dog days Saturday that promised mild temps and good weather.  Car parts in two separate boxes in my garage.  "I'll probably have this done before you guys get back from the hair place, " I said. I set myself two tasks:  Kill the Check Engine light in the Camry that'd been on for two years and 5 days , and give my 1995 truck a tuneup--plugs, wires, rotor, distributor cap.  I had all the parts, and plenty of hand tools. Simple enough.... In Which Your Author Hugs a Camry I knew the problem with my Camry was the Vacuum Switching Valve.  It was throwing trouble code P0401, which meant a problem with the EGR system .  Cars are so polite these days, telling you these things.  Back in the day, one had to diagnose from symptoms, now the sensors throughout the system tell you your car that's otherwise running fine needs help.  Okay, so it didn't nee...