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In the Words of Natalie, our Secretary of Artistic Propaganda:
You can never have too many squirrels. Or was that lizards? Maybe I’m thinking of giant syringes. I forget.
Anyway, if you like squirrels and/or lizards and/or giant syringes you should check out the latest The Secret Lair comic.
One of the things that greatly reduced my satisfaction in writing code for a living was the realization that I could not share it.
Coding is one of those things that can be terribly interesting to a very specific portion of the population, and to everyone else, it is arcane knowledge either from On High or from The Pits of Hell, depending on the listeners’ outlook1. Early in our marriage my wife learned the fine art of smiling and nodding encouragingly especially when she had no idea what I was talking about. It was impossible for me to really share what I was doing because the set of people who could appreciate it and the set of people I spend time with has little or no intersection.
I like to share my joys with people. Ask anyone who has had to suffer through my skimming thru an iPod while I play music for them2, or who has come by after a trip to the book- or game store. I like to to share the shiny stuff I find, and like a small child, I hope that they like it as much as I do.
This has been one of the reasons what I’ve pulled away from writing code during non-work hours: I want to focus on creating things which can be shared. It might be working up some ice cream with the new ice cream maker we received as a housewarming gift. It might be brewing beer or cooking a meal for my family. It might be gaming with friends…sharing time with likeminded folks can be the best sharing of all. Code does not do this for me. Even podcasting does not do this for me. Social networking is a pale substitute3…I prefer the physical world to the Internet any day of the week.
What is it in life that brings you the most satisfaction? Is it something you like to share, or do you keep it to your self?
Jul.26,2010
This past weekend, my brother brought over a box of old toys that migrated from my parents’ house to my other brother’s house and now to his. We unpacked the box and there was a great deal of Ooohing and Ahhhing from my kids who had never seen anything quite like the toys we were unpacking.
The biggest hit was the Star Wars Death Star playset, which, despite needing to be cleaned and having a few pieces missing, was still in pretty good shape. My brother generously allowed us to keep it along with a number of action figures and the next day my kids could not get enough of playing with it. It’s been nearly a week and it’s still in the living room; they are still enjoying it.
The Death Star set has no electronics. Nothing beeps, talks, or fires at you. Everything is manual. No batteries needed. All my kids had was the setting (The Death Star) and the characters (the Action Figures1). They played there for hours.
This was a reminder of two things to me:
At the risk of being repetitive, here’s who we had over for coffee and birdseed this weekend.
And, that greatest of midwestern traditions, the Garage Sale. We’re finally rid of all our old stuff. Thanks go out to James and Heather, who were our erstwhile and exhausted partners in the little venture.
Happy Monday, people. Let’s be careful out there.
Welcome back to Unquiet Desperation. This is Chris Miller, your host.
This is the view from my new backyard this morning. A deer and her two does, grazing on the weeds at the back of the yard. While it means gardening will be a challenge, it was still an enchanting sight this morning as I drank my coffee on the back porch.
Shiny Trinkets The Secret Lair
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