Sadrazam

Enter Nostalgia

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:04:07 GMT

This evening, my landlady was showing my apartment to a prospective tenant, so I decided to make myself scarce by hanging out at work instead. I started out reasonably enough, checking my personal email and such, but in the end somehow wound up spending well over an hour reading through my own livejournal's archives. Which was entertaining enough in its way, although I kind of can't believe how many entries I've dedicated to bemoaning my own lack of focus and work ethic over the years. (Given how much anguish that particular personality flaw seems to have caused me over the years, you'd think I'd have gotten around to fixing it by now.) At any rate, embarrassing as some of those old entries can be, I find I really do like knowing that I've got some sort of record of the last 6+ years, no matter how patchy and indifferently written.

That's not the only nostalgia kick I've been on lately, though. Playing the Miles Edgeworth DS game demo has done a fantastic job of reigniting my irrational fascination with the Phoenix Wright series of games. Which has actually been kind of frustrating since I happen to have no access to said games at the moment, and there's surprisingly little interesting fan work available online, at least that I can locate. (Although the fan video set to 'Schadenfreude' is pretty good if you know the characters.)

I've also found myself doodling MAIOS, my D&D character from earlier this year, despite the fact that I haven't played it since the group decided to shake things up by starting a d20 modern campaign several months ago. While the shaking up was (and continues to be) good, I do kind of hope that we manage to get back to that original campaign at some point. I might not actually be all that good at playing MAIOS, but I've rarely had so much fun inventing a backstory, psychological profile, and physical appearance for a D&D character.

In less pathetically geeky news, the relationship thing is going well. The dude, let's call him MB, is incredibly sweet and earnest and makes my hormones go 'ping!'. I worry sometimes that it's not going to last, and that the longer the relationship goes on the more painful it will be for both of us when it eventually runs aground on some rocky shoal or other, but for the moment at least I'm enjoying it all too much to care.

On the escalating price of progress

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:47:33 GMT

I just recently finished reading a very depressing book, "A Short History of Progress", which is essentially an account of the many, many historical examples of human civilisations which degraded and over-exploited their environments to the point where they could no longer support their populations. Chilling stuff, especially in light of the current global warming crisis. All in all, I'd definitely recommend the book; it's an excellent reminder that civilisation has always been a rather precarious business and that Malthus hasn't necessarily been proved wrong yet.

Jot noted

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:15:27 GMT

Things that have happened lately:

I cut my hair to less than half its former length.

I confirmed that I will indeed be moving into that apartment I wanted.

I got assigned to be primary contact for yet another development team, bringing the total to three.

I got asked out on a date by someone I might actually have some chemistry with.

I (very unrealistically) signed up for another round of NaNoWriMo.

I decided that my life, at the moment, is pretty darned great.

Success!

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:25:21 GMT

I think I have an apartment! And it's pretty great. It's on a major bus route and a major bike trail. It's across the street from some quite tasty restaurants, a pharmacy, and miscellaneous shops. It's large (2 bedrooms!), and kind of eccentric, with interesting detailing and hardwood floors. It even costs less than my current apartment.

The only major downsides that I'm aware of are that it's on the 4th floor of a building with no elevator and that it doesn't have its own washer and dryer. Other than that. Which are not small things, but are not dealbreakers either, under the circumstances. What can I say? I'm stoked. I am really, truly stoked.

They're classics for a reason

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:49:01 GMT

And now Paul Krugman is making semi-self-depreciating Cato referances. How can I not adore that man?

Update: Oh, HTML fail. Can you tell I'm drunk? And trying to write HTML into the BlackBerry browser?

Countdown to Metric

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:13:48 GMT

My dreams have now started having their own internal dream sequences. This cannot end well.

In other news, I am going to see Metric tonight. Huzzah! Also, I people are meeting up at my place before the show. Which is a little scary, since I really haven't got enough chairs for everybody and the apartment is still a bit of a mess and also I've got very little in the way of snack food or drinks. But, eh. At my core I'm still feeling pretty mellow about the whole thing, somehow. My apartment is only going to be a pit stop on the way to Metric, after all. So. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.

*worries*

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:09:27 GMT

Boy do I ever not enjoy interviewing job applicants. It's a useful skill, so I'm opting not to try to weasel out of the interviews, but it's also a skill I'd rather not have to develop ever. Judging people is not fun. (Although it is, at least, somewhat more fun than being judged.)

Addendum

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:55:27 GMT

You know, I think I can sort of understand how people can become workaholics. There's a kind of euphoric feeling that comes from working really hard and getting a bunch of stuff done. These last couple of nights, riding the bus home after working stupidly long hours, I've been finding myself thinking about how much I absolutely love my job and how it's the best job for me ever. Maybe it's a Stockholm syndrome thing, I don't know. But it is strangely compelling. And also not at all worth giving up all my free time for. Really.

Five down.

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:31:59 GMT

Another late night, but I managed to finish up another Feature Spec. Someone asked me why I was staying so late -- what doc could be so important? -- and I didn't give a very good answer. Really, though, it is kind of complex. I guess the main reasons are these:

I said I'd get these specs done by Friday. So I'm going to get them done by Friday.

I've been a bit distracted at work lately, and I'm hoping to make up for my less than stellar focus by working some extra hours.

I'm also hoping that maybe if I force myself to stay and work for as long as it takes to finish my projects, I can somehow teach myself to be more focused during regular working hours.

I kind of enjoy the thrill of pushing myself to work longer, harder, better. It's like being in school again, except that this time around the coffee is free!

There are other reasons too, I'm sure, swimming in the murky waters of my subconscious and semi-conscious. (But honestly, I don't think I can bear to peck out any more HTML on this itty bitty keyboard. Not that that's a good reason to stop here. But, really, it's all the reason I need.)

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:28:45 GMT

It is 8:23 and I am just leaving work. This has not very much to do with me being a dedicated employee, and a whole lot to do with me being really outrageously bad at estimating how long it will take me to complete projects. Sigh. Tomorrow night will likely be more of the same. If I can just get these blasted feature specs done, though, it will all be worth it.

It is also worth noting that I was not the last regular employee to leave the building. Not nearly. Clearly, I am surrounded by workaholics.

Yay, but...

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:21:03 GMT

Normally, my social life is pretty slow. But not today. Today I have more social options than I know what to do with. Do I go drinking with friends at a new pub in Kitchener? Do I go see a movie with other friends? Do I catch up with folks from Seneca at the local STC grammar seminar? I can't decide, and in fact I think what I might really like to do is go home and sleep. And what I really SHOULD do is stick around work and finish up this feature spec I said I'd get done. Oh, choices! You'll destroy me yet.

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:07:19 GMT

It turns out the immensely frustrating DVD burning problems I was having were due to the crappy DVDs I bought, not to my computer. Which is, needless to say, a relief. Ladythana, there will be some shiny, shiny discs of video delight heading your way as soon as I can make it to an operating post office.

However, while things may be looking up on the computer and disc front, on the housing front they remain stalled. I spent a big chunk of today looking at/for apartments, and none of them were at all the sort of place I wanted. Ah well, at least I've got plenty of leads left to follow.

House prices and animal spirits

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:17:11 GMT

Somehow Beth's got me watching economic lectures on the computer. How did this happen? I don't even like economics!

Perhaps this is proof that the surest way to gain an interest in a subject is to spend a little time studying it. Or perhaps it's only proof that I'm a total pushover.

Positive reinforcement

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:18:44 GMT

I'm on the bus right now and the graffiti on the seat in front of me says "GREAT JOB!". The one beside it says "KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!". I am finding this oddly uplifting.

Or like a neurochip's insidious black tendrils...

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:35:01 GMT

Obviously, I've been not so good about updating this thing lately. That's partly because I've been busy (really, I have!) and partly because the TV show Farscape has taken over my brain like some kind of wonderful, terrifying television brain fever. It's not that it's a particularly good show, as such, but it might as well have been designed specifically to jack into my every dormant fannish impulse. It's a sprawling space opera with a stong ensemble cast, more crazy ideas than it knows what to do with, lots of interesting gaps and hanging plot threads to be rationalized, and not one but three distinct evil empires. I tell you, I didn't stood a chance.

It's fortunate for me, I think, that Farscape fandom has been so depleted by time. Otherwise, I would be very tempted to engage with it, and I really am too busy with other things for that to be a good idea.

(Still... if I could find some more current something to obsess over, that could be fun. Dangerous, but fun. However, most of the current crop of shows seem to be, ironically, too tightly put together to spark that kind of interest. Good TV is definitely not always good cult TV.)

Big damn day

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:49:27 GMT

Today I pack up my things, check out of the hotel, go to work, fly back to Toronto, attend a U2 concert (thanks to free tickets provided by RIM), bus home, and then, presumably, collapse. I think it'll be fun.

Speaking of collapse, that's the name of the book I bought yesterday to read while travelling. The book's by Jared Diamond, of "Guns, Germs and Steel" fame, and it's one I've been meaning to read pretty much since it came out. The book's got a subtitle pretty much designed to stir controversy ("How societies choose to fail or succeed") but so far the book itself seems as level-headed and well-researched as anything in Guns, Germs, and Steel.

I'm not sure how far I'll get in it today, though. I've also been itching to write some really silly fiction based on playing cards and their nick names. We shall see. If the trip back to Waterloo turns out to be anything like last week's trip from Waterloo (e.g., ten hours), I should have plenty of time to do both.

Also there was chowder

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:30:34 GMT

It was a busy sort of weekend, in a lazy sort of way. I spent most of Saturday just wandering the streets of Boston, looking at things and sometimes taking pictures when it wasn't raining too hard. Sunday I spent in the Museum of Fine Arts. I intended to make the museum only stop one on a lengthy itinerary, but accidentally ended up staying until the museum closed and the guards kicked me out. My only regret is that my failure to make it to the Harvard Coop in time left me sadly bookless. I tried to rectify the situation by picking up a copy of the graphic novel Fray from Newbury Comics, but ended up finishing it on the train ride home. So I am bookless once again. Woe.

I was going to try to get some work done this evening, but my computer seems to have decided it is no longer capable of running Windows. This is problematic, obviously, though exactly how problematic remains to be seen. If I'm just prevented from working tonight, that's annoying but not critical. If I've lost all the data on that hard drive... that could be a somewhat bigger problem.

On hotel living

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:09:47 GMT

Man, tipping makes me crazy. I mean, you're not normally supposed to tip for a breakfast buffet, right? But they did pour me orange juice and water and were very friendly in pointing a rather lost, befuddled me to a table. I guess I probably should have. Ah, well. Ah, well. There will be other breakfasts, I suppose. And given the rather outrageous price I paid for a bagel, a couple slices each of melon and pineapple, a glass of orange juice, and half a muffin, I the employees here had better be getting paid well.

Second thing. I think I may have to stop making lame half-jokes to the staff here. They always laugh, but the laugh always sounds forced and dutiful. It's kind of creeping me out.

collapses

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:42:01 GMT

Finally finally finally reached the hotel. Now must sleep so can get up early to review documents tomorrow morning and maybe even eat.

Boston ho!

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:45:53 GMT

So I am currently riding in the shuttlebus from KW to Toronto International Airport, and still I don't think it's really sunk in yet that as of 7:33 PM today I will really, actually, truly be in Boston. I still have so much work to do! I need to review a whole whack of feature specs and review the relevant bits of the device architecture and start memorizing people's names and GAH! Truly, I am overwhelmed.

However, overwhelmed as I may be, I've also got more energy than I've had in quite a long time. Adrenaline is a beautiful thing, I guess. Adrenaline and a break from routine, and actually I suspect the latter is more to the point.

Anyhow, I'll try to keep posting throughout the week, with pictures if possible. I just got my hands on a new device with a super-sweet keyboard, and I'm pretty much looking for any excuse I can find to use the thing. So. Watch this space, I guess.

Farmer's Market (for lack of anything better to post about)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:57:10 GMT

I'm not convinced that the produce at the local farmer's market is any better quality than what I might buy at a grocery store, but some of the bakery goods are really superb. I got a blueberry strudel and poppyseed roll when I was there yesterday and... om nom nom, as they say in the vernacular.

I've seen some surprisingly talented buskers there, too, mostly of the violin and cello playing persuasions. Some of whom looked like they'd just walked off the set of Napoleon Dynamite, and some of whom were cute and dreadlocked young neo-hippies. Even if the food were no good at all, I think it might be worth going to the market just for the experience of it. And for the walk, which is quite pleasant, at least this time of year. Really, I don't know whether to wish I could shop there every day of the week or whether I enjoy it all the more because it's a special, once-a-week occasion.

Good News, Bad News

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:30:46 GMT

Good News: You find out that your otherwise sleepy little city is secretly home to an internationally renowned indy comic book artist.

Bad News: That comic book artist is Dave Sim (of Cerebus fame).

So close, Kitchener, and yet so far...

Not gone, just busy

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:31:48 GMT

Things have been pretty non-stop, lately. After a great weekend in Nova Scotia with one sister, I returned home on the same day as my other sister, who has been camping out at my place ever since. Madness! But fun madness, even if it has kept me away from my darling computer of late.

Speaking of computers, I ordered myself a used netbook from eBay last week. I'm not quite sure whether this is reckless self-indulgence or actual responsible need-filling, but I'm really looking forward to getting to use it all the same. My desktop computer is great and powerful and useful, but it's not a very... cosy computer. And it's definitely not portable. I think I'm going to enjoy having a tiny notebook I can curl up with or take with me to exciting new locales like maybe the library. Who knows, maybe it'll even help me get some writing done! That would definitely be a positive thing.

(Also, have I mentioned how much I love the new 'netbook' category of computer, yet? It seems like kind of a scary business for the people selling them -- the margins have got to be razor thin -- but as a consumer it's absolutely delightful to get so much computer for so little money. It's especially thrilling since I've been a computer geek for long enough to remember when the sort of specs you'd get on a typical $200 netbook would have been revolutionary on the highest-end desktop computer.)

(Second parenthetical remark: diamondbark, I think it might be the same kind you've got, or at least it's also an HP device. A 1035nr, to be precise.)

Other things... ooh, I'm going to be going to Boston! For work! At some point! I still have to get my passport in order, which will take another couple weeks, but after that... Boston! I will be helping out the dev team there with their documentation, as I do, since they haven't got any technical writers of their own there. I am pretty psyched, obviously, both because travel is fun and because Boston is a city I'm quite fond of. Back when I was looking for work, I seriously considered just choosing a city to live in for the foreseeable future, and then looking for jobs only in that city. The rationale was that while jobs may be transitory, once you're settled in a city it can be very hard to leave, so it's more important to choose a good city than a good job. Anyhow, it pretty much came down to a competition between Toronto, Seattle, and Boston... which KW somehow won despite not even being a contender. Anyhow, this is just a really dull and roundabout way of saying that I think Boston is a pretty cool city and a place I wouldn't mind living in at all.

(Though, for the record, now I'm settled in KW, that's where I'd most like to stay. It may be kind of ugly, as cities go, but the people are great, and besides I have to stick around and see whether the city's attempts to revitalize downtown Kitchener are going to work. It's like a slow-motion urban planning soap opera! Or maybe a reality TV show -- Which businesses will survive, and which will go bankrupt, leaving behind nothing but ugly, boarded up windows and commerce-suppressing empty buildings? It's up to you, the consumer, to decide!)

Stalled

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:08:28 GMT

I'm a little worried. Mostly I feel that I'm pretty good at my job, even if I still have lots to learn, but when it comes to reviewing and heavily revising long documents I seem to have a serious problem. It's like a mental block -- after the first two or three weeks I spend on a document, my productivity seems to drop drastically. I develop a powerful aversion to the document I'm working on and find it painfully difficult to read, even when it's right in front of me and I have nothing else at all to do.

I imagine it's probably just a bog standard failure of willpower, but it's kind of weird that it applies so very strongly in this one specific case. At any rate, I've tried various tricks to try to reengage with the document, like printing sections of it out on actual physical paper, starting at the end of the document and working backwards, setting myself ambitious deadlines to meet, combining it with other activities I enjoy more, and so forth, but none of it seems to help much. I guess the answer is just to sit down and concentrate and do my damn work already, but that's a lot harder to do than it sounds.

At any rate, this is not just complaining for the sake of complaining. Or, well, I guess it is that too. But if anyone has any suggestions for how to break down whatever mental wall is standing between me and my ability to focus on this godforsaken document, I would dearly like to hear them.

Special effects extravaganza done so, so right

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:57:18 GMT

I just got back from seeing the latest Harry Potter film and my god what a pretty movie. I suppose I should really have more coherent things to say about plot and characters and acting and pacing and so forth, all of which mostly exceeded my expectations, but the sheer visual pleasure of the thing seems to me to be the movie's strongest selling point.

Once the last movie is out -- both parts -- I think I may have to have a Harry Potter marathon of some sort. Or at least I'll have to find some excuse to rewatch this film. It's only a pity that I probably won't end up seeing it on the big screen again. Unless... hey, diamondbark? Interested in seeing some Harry Potter with me while I'm in Nova Scotia?