More musings

[fallenpegasus]

(written yesterday, Oct 29, while in the air)

On my way to Atlanta for No:SQL(East). We really need a better name than "NoSQL" for the emerging implementations of scalable key/value stores and caches, but nobody yet has come up with one that has stuck. Which is maybe a good thing, since a "good" name constrains wide thinking (which is both a good thing and a trap), and right now this space of development is still exploring what "works" for APIs, usability, implementation, performance, and scalability. We dont want it nailed down yet.

There are, of course, a whole array of existing and soon-to-exist vendors who are commercialize some approach (fair disclaimer: I work for one of them), and then start pouring marketing muscle into nailing down people's thought patterns towards thinking of Product X or Approach Y as "THE solution to your problem". That will come, soon, for good and ill. I don't think anyone has jumped the gun just yet.


This is not the most comfortable flight I've been on. I'm in the back, I can smell the lav, the seat is hard, and in the row in front of me there is a wiggly little boy and also in infant who expresses the slightlest bit of frustration, bordom, tiredness, or being poked at by said wiggly little boy by howling. (She just feel asleep, thank prime. Hopefully for the rest of the flight.) This happens sometimes when travelling, and has to be lived with, sort of like the occational dead run though ORD. Crap, she just woke back up, mainly because her brother got bored and poked at her to see what would happen.


I am still undecided about my growing hair. It's been a year now since the last major cut. Fortunately, I dont seem to be suseptible to the "frizzy fringe of split ends" that many longer haired male geeks are. The length is now to where it touches my below my neck, a sensation I'm not yet used to. I can tie it back, barely, but I don't yet have the habit of stocking hair ties. I had a couple of them knocking around my room that had accumulated over the years, but I've since now lost them all. I finally figured out where they get stocked in the local supermarkets, but I went to each of them, and they were all sold out. What, was there some kind of recent super demand for hair ties?


SteamCon I, this past weekend, was fun. I really enjoyed looking at all the clothes and costumes. People should dress up more, with more colors, patterns, and things that swirl. We have the social and technological infrastructure to make attractive and comfortable clothes for relatively cheap, and yet most people dress so poorly.

Of course, I am one to talk, often being head to toe in black. My original and continuing reasons for doing so are complex and sometimes hard to articulate. There are elements of wanting to stand out, wanting to disappear, not wanting to have to worry about matching colors, having components that are easily replaced as they wear out, and having less stuff.

I did get a new vest and shirt and hat for the con, and picked up some jewelry while I was there, and they will get worn again.


I have taken to working from Metrix Create Space on Broadway when I am working, instead of a local cafe. They have tables I can spread a workspace out on, they have power outlets, they have ripping fast and dependable internet, interesting people come in to hack on interesting things and having interesting conversations

And something that is really nice is that they keep the background music low, and play classical chamber music and/or jazz. I know that some people claim they can work only when the music is cranked. I'm not one of them. And I really don't like the inclination that many places have, as described in the They Might Be Giants song "Man, It's Loud In Here!", to turn every place of social commerce (cafe, restaurant, bar, gym, clothing store, etc) into a place of loud music. Earbuds were invented for a reason.


I noticed today someone had muted all the TVs at SeaTac, at least in the terminal I was in this morning. They were instead running the closed captioning. I strongly Approve, and hope this is a trend that is spreading.


I tweaked my right arm at Burning Man, probably while tying down a piece of webbing while a windstorm was trying to tear off the back of the shade structure. It has been healing, slowly. But I've discovered the hard way to avoid both climbing and doing pushups, both of those retweak it. I had sierrafaye dig into it during my appointment with her yesterday, and that was a high intensity sensation that helped a great deal. I kick myself a little that I didn't think to have her dig into it earlier.

Comments

[loganb.livejournal.com]

I grew my hair out for the first time over the last few years. I HIGHLY recommend only wetting/shampooing your hair only 2-3 times a week and finding yourself a good conditioner and leave-in conditioner.