June 2002

Bagels & Lox

Today started with an early morning breakfast with my friend Steve E. at local deli D.Z. Akins. We talked of course about my current state of affairs, the separation, work, the web, search engines, the list. D.Z.A. is a great deli. Now, it’s not a Cantor’s or Carnegie Deli, but for San Diego, it rocks. I had something I’ve not had in a long time—a bagels and lox platter. What a sublime invention – this erector set of a breakfast. Assemble fat slices of fresh tomato, red onion, cream cheese, and of course the smoked salmon itself, all piled onto a bagel, and that is some great eating. Now, mind you, my appetite since this all started has been shot to hell. I’m continuing to lose weight too, less eating, more walking and exercise—feels good. But breakfast was inspiring.

Combine good food with good company—wonderful. Steve I met at a local user group some years ago at the Digital Design SIG —and it was he who sent me the Frank Zappa/Mothers ticket stub on my Zappa fan piece. We talked more about migrating the list off of yahoogroups. It’s going to be work, but I think it’s probably necessary. This summer, I keep seeing. When I can focus some attention on it, I need to figure out what features I’m using on yahoogroups and then begin to migrate.

After that, I went to racquetball. The problem is that the joint where I usually play was closed. So instead, my Aunt and I got our cars detailed. Banal, but my car looks great! For a 14 year old car that’s been cross-country twice and all over, it looks rejuvinated.

The next cancellation was the Barbecue I was supposed to go to today. The hostess got sick, so no party. So instead of making macaroni salad, I went to a thrift store and a comic book store.

Jenny called, left a message. She needs to come over and pick up some stray mail and clothes. Sometime in the next few days probably. We’ll see.

Tomorrow I should probably do laundry.

I think I’m through the crushing shock part of separation. Now I’m in the living part of it. I’m just trying to have a life, and be myself. It’s not impossible. I bet if you asked me that one month ago I’d have something entirely different to say. But life goes on.

Onward.

More Archaeology
The poetry of the 22-23 year old me. Pining for someone I could not have anymore. When I write my memoirs, that will be an interesting chapter. Until then, look on my works ye mighty and despair!

Well, actually, I’m going through old papers, and getting rid of lots of stuff. When something is interesting enough, I save it for a paper scrapbook. When it feels like it needs to go on the website, well, here it is.

Things are good. The cat actually just came into the office here and meowed at me—I think to come to bed. So off to bed.

I must have no shame. Old love poetry? Yeesh.

From The Dead Letter Department

I’m getting rid of lots of paper. Where I can, I put the nuggets of wisdom online. These minimal notes are from the two-day seminar given by Philip Greenspun at Caltech several years ago.

He used the WimpyPoint system to do the slides. Looks like his slideshow is protected, so I can’t provide the real url.

And Now, Assorted Notes:

One so-funny it’s sad thing was his mention of a tenured professor in Computer Science who in conversation asked him “what’s Oracle” and “what’s an RDBMS”

“No matter how good your user interface is, it’s better to have LESS of it”

“Q: Why is the war between Linux and BSD so intense?”
“Because there’s so little at stake.”

He dismissed graphic design almost entirely, at one point saying “Add a look and feel if necessary.”

On documentation manuals, and on why systems have to be made plainly learnable in and of themselves, he asks: “How much did you pay for your car? Have you read the owner’s manual?”

“The war (to build database-backed websites/communities) is won or lost on developing a data model, and specifying legal transactions.”

The standard SQL thing of ACID:
A – atomicity
C – consistency
I – isolation
D – durability

In building websites, the eternal tension is: “The wisdom of 50 years of software engineering” vs. “The Schedule”

The value of a toolkit (such as ACS) is that it requires less customization. It’s going to be better than a roll-your-own solution madly hacked in anticipation of an impossible rollout deadline.

At the time I thought this was interesting, but now I have a lot more respect for this statement… “SQL is actually very subtle.”

And lastly, on the myriad technologies available to the aspiring webhead: “Not everything you can learn is worth learning.”

Biometrics: Just as hackable as other authentication
Body Check: Biometric Access Protection Devices and their Programs Put to the Test, from the German c’t magazine.

A Typography Blog—worth a look.

More Archeology. A Baby Picture.
The expression fits just as well today.

Early to bed, early to rise? /or/ Decisions
I’ve always been a night person. Some of the best work I’ve done has been late at night or on overnight code and design sessions. So what can it mean that I went to bed at about 10pm last night? Or that I woke up at around 5am this morning?

I think I’m going to go with the explanation that I’m still on East Coast time, from my trip. But perhaps it’s time to discover my “inner farmer” – but there are no chickens to feed, no cows to milk.

I’m re-evaluating everything in my life, right? Might as well reconsider my sleep habits as well.

Meanwhile, I’m catching up on email, fed the cat, did bills. The mundanities that make up our lives, I suppose. Perhaps I’ll make up some of the Soyrizo I bought at Henry’s Marketplace this weekend. That might be good. So many choices. So many decisions. It’s coming a bit easier now.

Onward.

Matt “Mr. Community” Haughey is profiled in the latest pixelview.

May pal Ewon sent me this link, which is indeed pretty funny—LipstickLibrarian.com. Worth a gander.

Comics Retailing Contender?
In response to my post about comic book stores, Sassy the Comic Book Geek writes:

You gotta visit Forbidden Planet in NYC: three floors of pure nerdly goodness!

To which I reply: Yes, yes I do.