Random Thoughts

My machine at work is named Haste (in keeping with my Berkeley Street Names Theme). That means that while I'm waiting for a webpage to load from my machine, the status bar says "Waiting for haste...". That could be an observation about life, and the futility and counterproductivity of hurrying. But mostly it's a neat coincidence.

--

Webolution: However tempting it might be, with the Web 2.0 doing much what the initial Dot Com Boom hoped for, let's not bring back this word. It reeks of the Dot Com Bust. It's the kind of word that screams, We're going to get overenthused about something and fail spectacularly, trying to force technologies and services on people who don't want them, don't trust you, and don't understand, and piss away many billions of dollars in the process.

--

Sometimes, it doesn't take much to make you feel clever. Today I realized I could eat carrots in my office.

Okay, maybe that doesn't sound like much, but consider the problem: I try to set everything up so that I can focus on work with as little maintenance as possible. For this purpose, I'm kind of high-maintenance, in the sense that I need to eat frequently, and I strongly prefer real food (where real implies the largest reasonably attainable subset of {local, organic, unprocessed, nutritious}). I also get distracted by things like people walking in the hall outside my office. For the former, I got a mini fridge, and I need foods that I don't have to think much or do much to eat. Carrots? Perfect! No cooking, no portion commitment, no extra container or utensil. Just type and munch. For the latter problem... I spend a fair amount of time seeking out good background music, which is mostly techno/trance plus a little choir music. Something I don't need to pay attention to; it just has to be pleasant and keep me from needing to be aware of anything besides my screens. My precious, precious screens.