Objectification
I’m tired of objectivity. Don’t get me wrong: I believe in objective reality. I’m tired of people speaking and acting in objective terms. “That was terrible.” “That was a really good movie.” “This is a complete and epic fail.” Every word is subjective. And no, I’m not asking people to preface every sentence with “I think.” I’m saying that those phrasings are lazy. “I loved that movie.” “I hated […]
Beautiful
“The world is not a prison house, but a kind of spiritual kindergarten where bewildered infants are trying to spell God with the wrong blocks.” — Edwin Arlington Robinson, poet
And what is stress, anyway?
I have the best job in the world. Yesterday, I walked through a NASA building, looking at mockups and presentations about the Curiosity rover. I snapped pictures of the actual SAM module that will sit on Mars a year from now. I returned to my office just in time for a teleconference with a large consumer electronics firm about a Goddard technology that they want to license. Just another day at the office. Ironically, at lunch I attended a brown-bag session held by my company […]
StreamSuki
Yesterday, I launched StreamSuki, an index of free, legal, English-language streams of Japanese animation. I spent many long hours building it, and I’m not sure why. I was downright obsessed with the technical implementation. I wanted to get it right, and to launch it. I did so at the expense of other, more pressing matters (like, er, keeping my house clean). It turned into a pretty big project. It automatically indexes 9 different […]
Tired
As I mentioned on Twitter, I’m pushing through a punishing schedule. I teach on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings, and I was out supporting a conference for work last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Combine this with a few social obligations, and for the past week I’ve been home almost exclusively to sleep. I leave the house at 7:00am and return at 9:00pm. One perverse advantage: the dishes don’t pile up, because I never eat at home. Granted, I signed up for all […]
Autumn Depth
Autumn is finally here! Much as I’ve enjoyed the Indian Summer, I wondered how long it would last. Now, we have brisk days, a low sun, and beautiful fall colors. I listened to Career Tools (a podcast about professional behavior) as I drove in to work this morning; I’ve been catching up on early episodes I either missed or skimmed. This morning’s episode focused on early layoff advice–what to do when you […]
Status
Well. I’m back from South Africa, and my finances are my new worry. I’m tapped out. There’s simply no way I can afford a new home, even with a minimal down payment or closing costs. I’ve decided to wait for a while, despite having found the (almost) perfect house. It’s just immature to put myself into more debt right now. But it’s all right. My Halloween party will […]
South Africa, Day Five: Safari
This is the sixth in a series of blog posts about my recent trip to South Africa. I’m posting them a week after they happen. For all 825 photos from my trip, see my Flickr photo set. This was my full day of safaris. The itinerary: 5:00am Wake-up call 5:30am Gather in the dining area for snacks (hot coffee, iced coffee, hot tea, iced tea, water, milk, cake, scones, etc.) 5:45am […]
South Africa, Day Four: The Leopard
This is the fifth in a series of blog posts about my recent trip to South Africa. I’m posting them a week after they happen. For all 825 photos from my trip, see my Flickr photo set. My tour van picked me up at 7:30am, meaning I had to get up at 6:30 to finish drying my clothes. My shirts were dry, but not my jeans, drat the luck. I dried them as best I could and stuffed them into […]
South Africa, Day Three: Vacation Within a Vacation
This is the fourth in a series of blog posts about my recent trip to South Africa. I’m posting them a week after they happen. For all 825 photos from my trip, see my Flickr photo set. As planned, I never left my hotel today. Some may cry “Madness!” at this. But I was exhausted, and one of the goals of any vacation is to relax. So I relaxed. Fortunately, it was a rainy day in Cape Town, so […]