I've been considering lately what I'm all about -- what makes me unique among humans in general, and peers in specific. I've established a sort of test in my head for what would qualify.
I would like it to be possible to succinctly define me (even if obviously an incomplete definition) using 3-5 activities I am known to participate in that make me relatively unique among peers.
I saw the new Hobbit movie recently (what is the actual title of that multi-part film?) and something interesting struck me. I've known the opening words to The Hobbit well enough that I'd recognize them if someone spoke them, and the words in the film are (at least in part) some of those. What I didn't expect was hearing them spoken differently than how I read them in my head.
Particularly, when Gandalf remind Bilbo who he is, he says the line, "I am Gandalf, and Gandalf means me!" When Ian McKellen says the words, there is a discernible pause between "means" and "me", such that the audience is led to a particular conclusion about the spoken words. When I read the book, I hear Gandalf proclaiming that Gandalf is his name and everyone should know it, by golly! When I watch the movie, I get the impression that Gandalf is perplexed that Bilbo should have any other impression of what Gandalf means. The difference is subtle, surprising, and caused by a mere pause in the narration.
On Saturday, Riley participated in the culminating event of our last week of creative effort, the Raingutter Regatta. The Regatta is an event for cub scouts that involves using a boat-shaped block of balsa wood, a dowel mast, a plastic sheet for a sail, and a few extra plastic and metal pieces to build a breath-powered boat that can be propelled down the length of a rain gutter filled with water.
The race itself consists of two gutters placed side-by-side, filled half-way with water. Two competitors' boats are placed at one end of the raceway. When the signal is given, each competitor blows on his boat's sail in an attempt to push it toward the finish line. Each scout must use only his breath to push the boat, unless the boat is capsized or stuck, in which case the scout may right or unstick the boat without moving it down the track with his hands. The first boat to arrive at the end of the track wins the heat.
After reading an article on Hacker News I found myself once again perplexed by self-proclaimed "programmers" who insist upon a minimal toolset to accomplish their work.
Jeremy Morgan, the guy who wrote the original article about the tools he uses, is clearly a Windows programmer. His tools indicate not only that he runs Windows, but that he writes code that is intended to be deployed on Windows. For Windows developers, some tools are necessary for the trade. Specifically, a compiler that will produce a Windows binary application is a tool that must be in the box to accomplish your job. But beyond what's required for producing working code/applications for different platforms, there seems to be a trend among vocal "coders" to use the least invasive tools for the job.
For Riley's birthday we wanted to fix up his desktop computer, so I grabbed a reluctant Abby and drove to Best Buy to look for a monitor. Prior to our outing, I checked their web site for prices, and found what I wanted, also noting that they had them in stock at our Downingtown location. Knowing that Riley's birthday was the following day and shipping would likely not work, we set out to fetch a monitor.
Abby and I looked for the monitor shelf and found the display model of the monitor we were looking for, but we could not find the monitor in a box on the shelf. Usually I am accosted by 50 blue-shirts while I peruse Best Buy, but for some reason I was not this time. So without any associates to help me, I simply used my phone to order and pay for the monitor online, and schedule it for in-store pickup at the store I was standing in. Abby and I continued looking around the store, playing games, checking out movies and cameras and TVs, and finally after about 45 minutes of goofing around, we headed for the customer service desk to pick up the monitor that I had ordered.