Blind, not dumb.

Aruba – Take 2

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:36:23 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

Just (well, a week ago, but work was blazing white hot upon my return, so no time to write got back from a week in Aruba, and my experience this time around was completely different…

Greetings From Aruba!

This time, we rented a time share my wife’s boss graciously allowed us to occupy at well below market rates.

It was positively awesome. We were at the Playa Linda time share, sandwiched between some of the better hotels along the beach (We had the Westin on one side, and the Hyatt, Radison, Occidental and finally the Taj/Ritz on the other.).

I had always been rather down on time sharing – who wants to go to the same place every year? Well, my eyes have been opened. We’re not about to go running to buy one (We still want to visit a bunch more places first) but I can now absolutely see settling down someplace that you love to come back to every year.

The unit we rented was very nice. You get a separate sleeping area, a nice little living room with 2 couches (one fold out in case you have guests) and a decent size LCD TV. The kitchenette is equipped with everything you’d need to keep house for a week – pots, pans, dishes, silverware, etc.

We had amazing weather while we were there, it was in the 90’s most of the time, but with those trade marked Aruban trade winds, it didn’t feel opressively hot at all (Though you really have to watch out for the tropical sun, it can kick your butt .

The beach where we were sat in between two piers, so there’s no terrible rip tide threatening to pull you out to sea. The sand is coral, rather than granite based like the beaches in NH around here, so it’s silky smooth.

We spent our days going from pool to beach, seeing the sights on the island and having dinner either with our hosts (who graciously cooked two amazing meals for us while we were there) or taking advantage of some of the excellent restaurants on the island like Madame Jeanette’s – it’s a uniquely Caribbean restaurant in that the seating is largely outdoors. If you visit the island, that’s definitely one not to miss.

I wish I’d taken a camera other than my iPhone along with us (I kept it in the room most of the time for fear it would melt there was wildlife everythere. Sand Pipers, Turns, and Iguanas were all sharing the pool and beach with us, which my wife and I enjoyed immensely (Some other guests not so much, people get freaked out by lizards for some reaosn

Anyway, it was a week of utter fun and relaxation in the sun, and we’ll definitely be back.

Twitter is not Facebook, let’s keep it that way.

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:38:52 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

I’ve been enjoying Twitter for quite a while now.

Despite all the blather out there about it being a self indulgent waste of time, I think it’s become pretty clear to anyone open minded enough to actually wake up and smell the coffee that it’s a communications medium like any other, but one that lends itself to the dynamic, fast paced nature of the modern world we live in. I personally find Twitter useful on a number of levels, but first and foremost as a tool for the dispersal of technical information to interested parties.

For instance I follow Guillaume Laforge, one of the designers of the Groovy programming language to see what’s up with new releases of his software, what he’s up to, etc. I’m also following a number of members of the Windows PowerShell development team at Microsoft to get the inside scoop on that awesome tool.

I also follow Amanda Palmer, lead vocalist for The Dresden Dolls, several authors, and a smattering of friends who’ve also been turned on to Twitter, as well as some feeds around hobbies and interests of mine - the Corel Painter community has an incredibly vibrant Twitter presence.

My point here is that Twitter may have originally been about what people are eating for lunch today, or that the train is late in coming and they’re stuck next to a guy who smells on the platform, but like most things it has evolved and become something much more than the designers originally intended.

There is this rather useful convention in the Twitter world called hash tags - things like #powershell or #groovy or #redsox - these let people with particular interests ‘tune in’ on related tweets whether or not they’re already following a person.

In the last week however I’ve begun to see a trend I really do not like. Tags like #spymaster are being used by people playing games that use Twitter and your followers as the medium.

This clutters up my Twitter feed, but more to the point, makes Twitter much less usable and interesting for those who don’t have and/or don’t want to need fancy clients that can filter out certain tags so they won’t be bothered by them.

I like Facebook, it’s been a fantastic way for me to get back in touch with a bunch of people I am really psyched to be in contact with again, but as anyone with a lot of Facebook friends and not a lot of time knows, the silly games and apps can get quite chatty and really annoying awfully quick.

I’m not saying anyone’s doing anything wrong here - some of the apps are fun and a couple are even useful or enlightening, but when you log in and see 120 Little Green Plant requests, 50 Snowball requests, 40 Mixed Drink requests, and 300 ‘Other’ requests, it gets real old, real fast

So that’s my take on the matter. Let’s keep Twitter as much signal as we can, lest the noise overtake us and leave us drowning in its wake.

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So, I landed in China Town!

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:15:17 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

It has been forever and a day since I posted here. I apologize for the fade, my 4 or 5 readers must be thinking I’d joined the silent masses of bloggers who can’t overcome the inertia and fail to post ever again…

As I described in my last post, January was not the best of months for me, and neither was February for that matter. After the layoff, I launched into the job search with zeal and quickly remembered (It’s like riding the bike the familiar rhythms of the horse and pony show that is any job search.

There was definitely work to be had out there, but much of it was well outside the city, only barely accessible via a bus line that dropped me into the middle of a very pedestrian unfriendly industrial park. Eek. I interviewed a lot, and even had a close call at MIT but in the end analysis they had further cuts and couldn’t hire for the job for another month or so which put me out of the running - I have a hungry mortgage to feed after all

In the end, a recruiter from a company I’d never heard of before - The Trizetto Group called and said they were very interested.

They’re a Windows shop, which initially made me shy away from the idea, but they do a LOT of Perl for their core process automation stuff which I’m reasonably fluent in, and it would be an opportunity for a total technology reboot - not something one gets a lot of chances to do in one’s career. So I interviewed there a couple of times and it worked out.

In a lot of ways, it’s been really great. They’re right across from the Chinatown gate in the picture above, so I can just hop on the bus outside my door for a short ride to Sullivan Station T, then another reasonably short subway ride to the Chinatown stop on the Orange Line. I’ve been enjoying the chance to explore Chinatown more fully. Where else can you stop off at the market next door before work and grab a can of white fungus drink, or some dried cuttlefish snack? (Why you would want to is a different matter altogether, though I do enjoy the cuttlefish

The work has been exciting and challenging as well. I was really, REALLY out of touch with the modern Windows environment. My last real experience working in depth with it was back in the Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98 era and it has come a long, LONG way since then.

The hours have been long at times (I joined toward the end of a release cycle and it’s a major crunch) but I’ve been learning a ton about Installshield, .Net, ASP.Net, Powershell, the registry, and in general the vagaries of working in the Windows environment.

I’m not suggesting that everyone should ditch the comfort of their Linux or Mac environments. Heck, if I had my druthers I’d be hacking on one of those for a living.

In my opinion, many geeks (and I was very much guilty of this) have institutionalized the hatred of all things Microsoft, and in so doing have had their heads in the sand for so long that they’ve failed to notice a truly powerful environment evolving out of the muck.

I’ll get off my soapbox now. I guess that’s about it - life is generally pretty good. There are times when I wish I could be spending time with my lovely wife or my friends, but I’d rather deal with that than the alternative!

Hopefully I’ll have something of substance to say again soon. Stay tuned!

A Short, Sharp Shock

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:20:16 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

One morning a few weeks back I was told to get in early to meet about an upcoming release that was happening…

Unfortunately, we were in for a big surprise.

Three of my co-workers and I were laid off that morning, along with 23 other unlucky souls from different parts of the lab.

In some sense I can understand the necessity for this kind of overt deception - there are certainly a non trivial number of people who would not react well to “Hey, be sure to be in by X time, because we’re doing lay offs and we don’t want your tardiness to clog up the gears!”, but I can’t help but feel there has to be a better way.

For some reason this one was a bit harder than most for me to accept, because I loved working at the Broad and had no desire to leave. I don’t harbor any ill will against anyone over it - everyone was just doing their jobs, and in truth save for my misgivings about leading lambs to the slaughter like that, I think everyone handled the whole process with a great deal of professionalism, which is all anyone can ask.

I had the pleasure of working with a bunch of incredibly bright, talented, friendly people for 4 years. In high tech that’s a pretty good run actually!

So, I’m doing the job search thing again. I chose to eschew the job placement seminars and such they’d set up for us - I know how to polish my resume and how to interview, and to my mind that 2 or three days was much better spent trying to find a soft place for myself to land while the incredible shrinking job market vaporized before my eyes.

I’ve been very lucky, things are actually going very well thus far - I’ve had 2 first round interviews and one 2nd round, with another set for today, and two more first round interviews set for tomorrow.

So, we’ll see where all of this leads me.

I can’t say enough about how amazing my wife has been through all of this - I’m a very lucky guy indeed

FEAR THE IMPENDING SNOW-POCALYPSE!

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:16:29 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

I am being amused watching people run around panicking over the coming snow.

THIS IS NEW ENGLAND PEOPLE. IT SNOWS HERE! GET USED TO IT!

Actually, I’m looking forward to this storm. Unlike the freezing rain and ice issues we’ve had of late, you can actually frolic and play in the white fluffy stuff and not get yourself killed

Rock Band 2 Special Edition Box - Awesome :)

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:15:28 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

My wife was kind enough to indulge my penchant for video games this evening by helping me unpack and set up the Rock Band 2 Special Edition box.

It’s quite a production! Lots of parts and a bit of part a slot b assembly, but the totally picture based instructions were clear and the instruments were very well constructed. Each part that needed to be inserted into another gave a satisfying click when it was seated properly, and everything had a very rugged feel - no chintzy plastic pieces or flimsy parts.

The tutorials are excellent and get the player up to speed with his/her instrument very quickly.

I quickly settled into playing the bass track with the guitar - there were many fewer notes so the songs were much easier to handle.

My wife tried the drum set, and looking at her track as we played the songs I was struck by how much harder her end of things was. She also mentioned a couple of times how sensitive the drums were to being hit exactly on center.

So next time I’ll try the drums and she’ll give the bass guitar a shot
Anyway, I am very very impressed. As a fan of Harmoinix from way back (I own Frequency for the PS2) it’s a lot of fun to watch them evolve the genre.

Looking forward to having some time to practice some more, and maybe try out the microphone!

INSUFFERABLE CUTENESS!

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:48:06 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

[ Note: Adorable Golden retriever picture behind the cut. ]

We are dog sitting for one of my wife’s co-workers this weekend. He’s a big lovable Golden named Buddy, and I am totally smitten

As anyone who knows me can attest, I was owned by a Golden for years back in my pre college days, and I’ve been wanting another one ever since.

Happily, my wife is also an easy mark for such a big adorable fluff ball, so I might have a shot at it
Time to go take our after dinner walk.

Quite a whirlwind couple of weeks.

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:03:12 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

I guess the big news in my life of late is that I turned 40 last week!

My wife and friends put on a really incredible party. They went over the top decorating our house - it was beautiful. Everyone who came seemed to have a wonderful time, and I enjoyed myself tremendously.

Party aside though, it’s interesting how (for me anyway, other people differ I’m sure) birthdays that end in zero inevitably engender a kind of check pointing. An opportunity to step back, try to take an objective look at things, and say to ones self “Am I where I want to be, and if not, how can I get there?”.

There are definitely a bunch of personal challenges I intend to take on over the next decade (Around things like self discipline and career direction) but on the whole I am exactly where I wanted to be.

It amazes me that 10 years have flown by since I turned 30.

Thinking back, I was much less happy and well adjusted at that point, and there were many things in my life I wanted and needed to change.

I was beginning to see foreshadows of certain decisions I had made and paths I was treading down, but didn’t have enough confidence in my own instincts and intuition to take evasive action before it was too late.

It took a few years for things to spiral down to (for me) rock bottom and then, once I made the tough changes that needed making, another couple of years to enjoy the healthy bachelor life and truly recover, but by thirty seven / thirty eight I had met my wife, and things have gotten steadily (and dramatically!) better since then.

So as I look back across the last decade, I can’t help but be reminded of how lucky I am. I have enjoyed the support of friends and acquaintances near and far. Each of them has contributed in some meaningful way to who I am today, Thanks, everybody! It’s been quite a trip.

On to the next decade!

DEAD is dead!

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:47:53 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

I had a rather ‘meta’ moment today after reading another article bemoaning the death of the PC as a gaming platform (An assertion of at best dubious nature).

Taking a step back, I realized that just about every single instance of someone wailing “X is DEAD!” turned out to either be patently untrue or at least a severely twisted view of the facts at hand.

“The desktop is dead. The web *IS* the platform!”
“PC gaming is dead. Next gen consoles rule supreme!”
“Disco is dead!”
“God is dead!”
“Paul is (a) dead(man)!”
“Table top role playing is dead!”

You get the idea. Clearly, we need to re-examine our conceptions around exactly what it means for something to be dead.

“This blog is DEAD!”

Ahem. Maybe not

Yeah yeah, so I know it’s the oldest past time outside of prostitution but…

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:51:20 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

I’ve just gotta say that the constant thunder, lightning, and torrential rain storms can stop any time now. Really, we are in zero danger of droubt, and the summer is trickling away.

I go on vacation starting tomorrow evening, so I will be praying to any deity I think will listen for a break in this weather and a return to the sunny summer currently (not!) in progress

I know, like you all are just thrilled to be listening to me kvetch. I’ll stop now.

(Yay, impending vacation - no matter what the weather it will be fun!)

The Xbox 360 has landed!

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:13:04 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

I have suffered as much pain and heaped as much hatred in Redmond’s general direction as the next battle hardened veteran geek, but man, this console is home entertainment done right.

Out of box hook up couldn’t possibly be any easier. Plug the power brick into the wall and the Xbox360, plug the HDMI cable into your TV, plug the ethernet cable into your network and away you go. It’s that simple.

Network setup was beyond trivial - the unit set itself up properly despite my somewhat complex home network configuration (I have a Linksys and a Buffalo wifi router both running WDS, one doing NAT duties for the house) and was talking to Xbox Live and downloading updates immediately.

I bought the Elite model, with the 120GB HD, so it comes with ‘auto download’ turned on. I rather like this (Some would find it annoying I’m sure) as it means that my console is pre-seeded with all the latest demos so I can play all the hot new games to get an idea of what they’re like before buying.

And wow, the picture quality with this thing and a nice HD set is impressive. I’m finding that video from the XB360 looks much better than HD video from cable (I’m guessing this is a result of the compression I keep hearing that cable companies like Comcast use.). I only have Bioshock and Mass Effect thus far, and that they look amazing probably goes without saying given the hype around them before and after their release.

Another aspect of the XB360 experience I’m rather fond of are ‘zones’ - your choices are Recreational, Family, Pro, and Underground. This means that folks like me who are exceedingly unlikely to spend 22 hours straight playing Halo to hone their attack skills aren’t pitted against people who haven’t seen the sun in the last few years.

I was also surprised to see the depth and breadth of decidedly casual games in the ‘arcade’ section, for people who eschew shooters and the ‘temple of twitch’ style of gaming. Old board gaming standards like Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and Lost Cities are notable in their presence, as well as a bunch of arcade classics I was pleased to see being introduced to new generations of gamers (Like Gauntlet and Joust. Blue Valkyrie needs food badly!

Anyway, my gamer tag is ‘forthewyn’ in case anyone else out there has an Xbox and cares to add me to their friend list.

With all this rain we’ve been getting…

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:48:57 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

Staring out the window just now at the torrential rains, I had a very vivid memory of a really pleasant day many years ago…

I was in High School I think, and a friend of mine (He was my ‘Big Brother’ actually, a program I was in for kids whose fathers weren’t around so we
could get some sense of what it’s like to be a man - I think it only partially worked ) and I were canoeing around Lake Dennison in Templeton, MA.

There had been a lot of rain that year too, a LOT of rain, and the lake’s water level was threatening to swell over the top and flood the beach entirely.
This made for some beautiful canoeing, since it allowed us to row down a series of inlets which would normally have been almost totally inaccessible
by foot because of the dense brush. It was just gorgeous out there, the air smelled incredibly lush and green, and there were flowers and small wild
life all around - we managed to get within perfect viewing distance of a doe and her fawn before they pranced away, and we’re pretty sure we disturbed
the work of a beaver or two that wasn’t at all used to the intrusion.

It’s funny how when you get older (and I don’t even mean ancient either, just middle aged) memories can take on not just the rosy glow of years long
past but a strange intensity all their own.

I stink at canoeing, but I do hope I can go out rowing even on a row boat or something again someday. I miss those quiet moments on the lake

Breaking the silence - Ireland.

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:31:40 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

Over a month ago now, my wife and I went on vacation with her boss and friend and another friend of hers to Ireland…

We took the CIE ‘A Taste of Ireland” bus tour, and had an amazing time. This was my first trip to Europe, and unsurprisingly, I found it amazing.

Ireland is definitely a party country, if there could be said to be such a thing It seemed like there were Guinness taps everywhere. Being
rather a fan, this could hardly be considered a problem for me
Speaking of Guinness, on our first day we visited the Guinness brewery in St. James Gate. The initial ‘tour’ is kind of neat, although mostly just
multimedia presentations and the like about how it’s made. The real bonanza however, and the reason that I feel no Guinness fan should miss a visit,
is the ‘Gravity Bar’ on the top floor of the brewery. You only get 1 pint of Guinness (probably to cut down on loitering and move people through) but
I have to say it’s the best pint I’ve ever tasted. Most of the other pubs we visited had fine Guinness, but really it wasn’t particularly any more
tasty than a pint drawn at a really good pub here in the US that knows how to handle its Guinness.

The bus tour itself was incredible, but a bit grueling. A typical day involved getting up at 6:30 to get to breakfast at 7:30 so we could pile onto
the bus for 8:00. After that, it was a dizzying whirl wind of destinations and picture taking, and usually around 5:30 in the evening they’d dump
us at our destination where we’d be staying for the night, and we’d all crawl away to freshen up and try to recover enough to enjoy the evening’s
festivities In addition to the sheer endurance required for the trip, we definitely experienced the expected feeling that in a number of cases,
we would have *REALLY* liked to have more time to explore (For instance we never kissed the Blarney Stone because we had exactly 2.5 hours to
have lunch, explore the Blarney Woolen Mills, and visit Castle Blarney!).

I won’t detail everything we saw, it would get boring for both of us and there’s no point - consult a good travel guide and you’ll get better
writing than I can muster anyway. A couple of tidbits I particularly enjoyed were seeing Trinity College and the Book of Kells, a stop we made
at a working sheep farm (You have no idea what it actually sounds like to have 1,000 sheep being herded ), and a buggy ride through Kilarney
National Park with a stop at Castle Ross, whose ruins are still in remarkably good shape allowing you to wander around, climb the ramparts, and
generally get up close and personal in the kind of relaxed way I most enjoy exploring a place.

My talented wife took about a billion pictures - I took a few as well but if you see the angle skewed oddly it’s probably mine - she has a real
eye for composition! You can look at them on Flickr
if you like.

Maybe we’ll go to Italy next year, if I don’t convince her that a nice relaxing sunny beach vacation on an island somewhere is the way to go

Ireland trip, work business, general update stuff.

Thu, 08 May 2008 14:33:36 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

This is one of those rare occasions when I have nothing more to say than a brief status update…

Life has been good, but busy.

At work, the Maven 2 transition is slated to happen this weekend. If we can carry it off successfully, I will be able to trundle off across the pond with a giant weight lifted from my shoulders as we’ve been working towards this for months.

Speaking of trundling off across the pond - We’re headed to Ireland next week. We’re in that frenzied pre vacation phase where we’re trying to ensure that we take everything we need while still traveling (comparatively) light. This is all very exciting for me, as it’ll be my first trip to Europe, and also my first international vacation as a married man
It is a tour, which honestly I was not entirely thrilled at the prospect of at first (I tend to like to identify my own points of interest and see them at my own pace) but I’m comforted by the idea that we’ll be spending a full two days at each destination so at least I don’t have to worry about being whisked from place to place in rapid fire succession (I HATE that!).

Anyway, that’s all for now. More when I return Hope this note finds everyone well!

Another whirlwind weekend in Manhattan

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:14:52 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

This was first and foremost a visit to spend time with my wife’s family…

… But as always we managed to sneak some fun in between the cracks.

We had brunch at Vynl. This place is downright fun, from the records decorating the walls to the album jacket menus to the bathrooms each with their own unique theme - The Beatles, Madonna, etc. Happily, the brunch food is actually quite good. We had and can enthusiastically recommend the banana pecan pancakes, the brioche french toast, and the make your own omelette option. The large glasses of tasty fresh squeezed orange juice are also a nice touch.

A quick stop at the Manhattan Apple Store on Fifth Avenue and were amazed at the multi-national throng as we jostled our way in only to decide that the shopping we’d hoped to do for a relative was impossible, and found our way out again (The place was packed - hundreds of people at least).

Later in the day while trolling around for something to fill a couple of idle hours, we ended up at the King Cole Lounge at the gorgeous and elegant St. Regis Hotel. If you’re lucky enough to get a table (We only scored one due to the generosity of a couple whose party unexpectedly shrank due to the departure of some friends) you’ll be treated to a viewing of a beautiful Maxfield Parrish mural depicting King Cole looking on bemusedly at the festivities. The drinks are stiff, well made and very tasty, and the bar snacks are unusually good. I had a Big Apple Manhattan and the ladies got Pomegranate martinis which both got rave reviews. Apparently, the Red Snapper cocktail they serve here is the ancestor to the modern Bloody Mary.

Having wiled away the aforementioned time in tipsy elegance, we made our way over to
Shun Li Palace where we met up with some other family for dinner. This is perhaps not the most authentic Chinese food I’ve ever encountered, but wow is it tasty. Also, the atmosphere is decidedly upscale. There is a significant wine list, and the staff are decked out in full suit attire.

Between too many bar snacks and a lovely dinner, we waddled back to our hotel (Yay Priceline. We’d never have stayed there otherwise) and passed out in a happy blissful drink and dinner induced haze

You fought the good fight, Hillary, now it’s time to hang up the skates.

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:19:47 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

I heard on the news this morning that Hillary only has between a 5 and 10 percent chance of winning the nomination at this point…

And the question I keep asking myself is: Why is she still in the race? What does she hope to gain? Is she so selfishly myopic that she’s willing to tank the democratic party’s chances for winning this election?

My respect for her and those around her is dwindling rapidly.

Come on Hillary, wake up and smell the coffee. It’s time you started thinking more about the nation you claim to care about and less about the bruised ego you’ll have to endure if you lose.

I hope Obama continues to run a classy campaign - I realize that some retaliation is necessary in order to be seen as a tenacious and forceful candidate, but people grow fickle and cynical very quickly, especially with many on both sides of the party line feeling like McCain is a lesser evil (I don’t agree with this, but it is a commonly held opinion right now.)

With 300 days until Bush leaves office, I want to be doing the touch down dance at election time along with hundreds and thousands of other Americans who feel like we’ve been misled and mismanaged for too many years.

Dear Mayor Menino

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:40:23 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

If you think banning violent video game sales to minors will reduce the murder rate…

You are deluding yourself.

What I find really troubling here is not the actual ban itself (I can’t think of the last time I bought a video game, much less a violent / gory video game, inside Boston city limits) but instead another step in the direction of absolving parents of the responsibility of raising their children.

All one has to do is simply look around at the scads of minors smoking tobacco - a clear and present danger to anyone’s health - to see that government regulation is not the answer to what is in reality a social problem.

The media has been making allusions about this being an attempt to mitigate the recent rise in murders in the Boston area. I see this as a cop out on the part of the mayor’s office. Rather than attacking the actual social problems at the root of this trend, they stand on the highest mountain top and make a lot of noise while slapping an utterly ineffective band aid over a sucking chest wound.

Genes, lifestyle, and longevity

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:15:05 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

So I spent the weekend with my lovely wife and her family celebrating…

her Nanna’s 90th birthday. She had another uncle present who is 94 years old and seems more spry and active than some thirty somethings I know.

This led me to reflect a little bit on the fact that nobody in my family lives into their nineties, and damn few live into their eighties (Or have thus far).

There are a number of factors that could readily explain this without too much digging. My family has traditionally been lower middle class, blue collar workers. As I’ve mentioned here before, my mom and dad meet during WWII while working as mechanics repairing amphibious vehicles (My dad was her foreman :). My uncles and cousins mostly worked in plastic factories and the like, and all but the most recent generation smoked all their (comparatively short) lives.

If longevity could be thought of as a graph with lifestyle, age and genetics all expressed as axes, I wonder what our two families would look like? Add in recent developments in the understanding of how epigenetics effects longevity and by extension how the environment and lifestyle of an organism can effects its offspring one, two or even three or more generations down the line, and you wind up with a dizzying multi-dimensional data structure whose representation I can’t even fathom.

Kinda leaves me feeling grateful that we’re not planning on having children any time soon
This rant (meander? pile of babble? I dunno) has no conclusion per se. Just a bunch of thoughts that have been rolling around in my head for a bit.

Where but for the grace of god go I.

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:04:00 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

I don’t usually throw around Catholic / Christian memes like this.

… But in this case I can’t think of an expression that captures the feeling more accurately.

Lately, I’ve been really busy at work. We’re finally making the cut to a new build system (geeky details elided for now and will appear in a later, blog only post).

That has been sucking up a big chunk of my waking hours and more of my consciousness than I’d like, but that will change shortly and I love my job so c’est la vis.

However, when I’m not working, or spending time with my lovely wife, I’ve been reading.

Lately I’ve been obsessed with Alan Furst novels. They’re set before and/or during the WWII era and range all over Europe.

The last two novels in particular focus on life in the pre war Russian secret service - the NKVD.

First of all, I just want to take a minute to gush. I didn’t realize how much I could enjoy historical fiction until I encountered this author. I have yet to read another author’s work that compares to the kind of lush historical and cultural detail Furst expertly weaves into the story in these books. He has taken the time to research all the little things (idioms of speech, modes of dress, customs and folkways) that run together to create an incredibly rich tapestry that forms the backdrop for the events large and small, personal and impersonal that make these stories shine.

It’s one thing to learn in history class about the fact that there were massive purges during this era and that millions of eastern europeans died, it’s another all together to see it through one man’s eyes.

Both novels protagonists ended up on the wrong kind of lists (A likely fate for an NKVD spy of any rank, because in the pre-war era Stalin purged just about the entire Soviet intelligence community, as well as most ranking officers of the army) and defecting, trying to find a new life among the refugees safe from the assassin’s bullet.

I am ceaselessly amazed by the potential and even the penchant that mankind has for eradicating itself. I realize this is human nature, but it just doesn’t make sense at such a deep level of my psyche that I find myself shaking my head at it when I encounter it as if each time were the first.

The moral of this story is quite simple: It’s very easy to become mired in the day to day travails of our lives and careers, but it’s definitely worth standing back for a moment and taking stock of just how good we all have it.

None of us (I should hope anyway!) has to wake up every morning thinking: “Is today my day? Do I get a bullet or a paycheck?” and that’s saying something.

Oh yeah! Laurie Anderson is coming to Boston!

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:59:43 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

Years ago, when I first came to the Boston area, Laurie Anderson held a concert at MIT…

At the time I thought nothing of it. Laurie Anderson was just a wacky artist whose music friends of mine adored in college, but I never really understood the appeal of.

Fast forward several years and a whole lot of living, and zoom in on me buying the “Wired Magazine Presents: Music Futurists” CD. It was a collection of all manner of forward thinking artists - names like Brian Eno, Devo, Beck, Thomas Dolby, and of course, Laurie Anderson.

Of all the music on that CD, Laurie Anderson’s _O Superman: Massonet_ really resonated with a lot I was thinking and feeling at the time. I was both impressed and intrigued, and decided it was time to revisit my now many years stale distaste for her work.

So I went out and bought one of her more seminal albums, _Big Science_ and was promptly blown away.

Laurie Anderson stands apart from the pack because she makes music that makes you think. I’m not saying she’s the only artist that embodies that characteristic, but she’s definitely the poster child.

And now, she’s coming to Boston on Saturday, March 29th to the Opera House - an incredible venue if you’ve never been. The acoustics are amazing, the environs are opulent and richly detailed in that way only old music and art houses can be, and I can’t think of an artist in the modern musical field who might use them to better advantage.

My ever supportive wife (She’s yet to hear any Laurie Anderson - I’m thinking I’ll let her be surprised and see how she reacts and I are going, and I am psyched!

Let me know if any of my readers are planning on being there, it would be neat to compare notes.

When love is gone, there’s always justice. And when justice is gone, there’s always force. And when force is gone, there’s always Mom. Hi, Mom!
–Laurie Anderson</p>

People are really suffering these days. There’s a lot of corporate triumph and a lot of personal despair as they wonder what are they working for.
–Laurie Anderson

Usage peeves I have no business having

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:25:45 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

I am at best a poor writer. Even so, certain things get under my skin…

If I never hear or see the word “the” intentionally misspelled as “teh” again, I will be a happy man.
3lyt3 5p3ak can just GO AWAY too, really.
Just sayin’. This may have been effective about 20 years ago when the first person who propagated this meme, but now it’s tired. So very tired.
ebonics - I like rap. A good friend many years ago in college walked up to me one day when I was ranting at some friends about how I thought rap was just chaotic noise and nothing else, and said “Rap is one of the most politically active forms of music on the planet, and that’s a fact.”. He was right. All that’s beside the point though, ebonics are seeping their way into main stream speech in ways I find most unfortunate. It can stop any time now.
Wassssssuupppppp!!! - the original Bud marketing campaign was brilliant, and even funny in spots (I still enjoy the sushi bar version - Wasabii!!!) but this meme is so tired it needs to be taken out back and shot - a mercy kill at that.
Calling everyone “Kid” whether they be 18 or 80 - Maybe the denizens of Southie can get grand fathered in on this one, I dunno, but the rest of you should really stop watching those Martin Scorsese.

As I said above, I realize that in truth I have no business at all airing my English usage peeves, because in truth I am a sloppy writer and a downright poor grammarian. But anyway, I feel better having gotten them off my chest :).

This just makes me laugh, and yet it’s a damn fine idea.

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:27:30 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

Using hip hop as a teaching tool for English.

Go take a look at Flocabulary

The piece that actually left me chuckling on this snowy wet morning was this. A Hip hopped up Cliffs Notes version of Romeo and Juliet.

I love the idea - speaking to kids using a medium they’re comfortable with. In no way do I think this should replace a full and careful reading with explanations by the teacher, but for some children there’s a lot of ground to cover before they’re able or ready to be successful in such an endeavor.

Kudos to The Mighty Red Pen for coming up with this. For those who don’t read it, I highly recommend it. It’s funny and educational - it doesn’t get much better than that!

Semi obscure music question

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:50:44 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

Read no further if you think Phish is just a misspelling of those things with fins and scales……

Does anyone know which Phish album and song contains an A Cappella version of the mourner’s kaddish?

I know it’s out there somewhere because I’ve heard it multiple times, I just can’t for the life of me remember which album it’s on.

Update

The answer is that it’s not the mourner’s kaddish, but is instead a Jewish funerary song called “Jerusalem, City of Gold” and is included at the end of the song “Demand” on Phish’s “Hoist” album. View most of the details over here.

Ah, a real New England Winter. Now if only people could cope.

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:18:24 GMT

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

Every year, when the first real snow storm hits, people allow the media to whip them into a fine frothy frenzy…

I never cease to be amazed at this phenomenon. You would think that the hundreds of thousands of people who live here year in year out would get the hint, see the pattern, clue in, or something!

In addition to the usual rounds of closures, hubbub and horrendous traffic jams (Induced by said closures and media frency) people also somehow managge to forget, ignore, or otherwise avoid the simple expedient of shoveling their side walks.

The problem is exacerbated by absentee land lords who write clauses like “Tenant is in charge of snow removal” into their lease (Which I’m told is of questionable legality to begin with, but I’m hardly a lawyer so I dunno). Your average college kid simply isn’t going to feel motivated by a sense of civic duty enough to get his/her butt out there on a winter’s day and start shoveling.

I am told that there was a time when, if you didn’t shovel your walk, you would be fined by the city. I whole heartedly approve of this practice and wish they’d bring it back. If you are elderly, infirm, or otherwise unable to shovel your walk, you should hire someone to do so.

If you can’t afford it, I would question whether or not you should be owning property. This is somewhat harsh, but the truth is that when you own a house in the city, you are sharing space with the rest of us, and some responsibilities to the community come with that. Elder care and charity should help pitch in for those truly needy cases.

Anyway, on a positive note - aside from the impassable, icy sidewalks, I am actually very much enjoying this winter. It’s almost a relief in a weird sort of way to see the kind of snow I’m used to seeing having grown up here in New England (An hour away actually, we get even more snow there.).

Enough with the rant. Have a good day everyone!

Arr! Happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:56:59 GMT

It's almost a tradition at this point...

Every year, I forget to wear the "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" button my friend gave me a few years back.

You'd think I'd remember, because International Talk Like a Pirate Day also happens to be my birthday :)

My wife is taking me out to Dante this evening for dinner, so here I sit at work, all dressed up, eagerly anticipating the end of the day.

Oh yeah and - Arrrr! :)