Shipped a major refactor/rewrite of our application this week, with a lot of help and a lot of long days. There are still some rough spots but this was a huge win for sanity and future velocity. I also accepted a full time offer this week (or was it the end of last week?), so that’s official. Will be updating all the pertinent socnets as I get around to it.
A world all my own
I haven’t any time to ride during the week for the last two weeks save for a few bike commutes, but really late at night after I can’t code anymore I’ll play Minecraft for an hour give or take and slowly accomplish objectives in the game.
My valley of relative safety. Over the last few days I’ve been nurturing a sugarcane farm, from which I made paper (yeah, I don’t know either). Tonight I braved the depths of an empty mine I discovered and found some red stone (think magic uranium), I made it back to the surface, crafted a compass and then, combined with my paper, a map. I must say, I felt a great sense of accomplishment.
Last Friday was a 10 (billable1) hour day after a 4 hours of sleep night. That (Friday) night was in the top three most difficult nights of my (brief, I’ll admit) sobriety.
But we shipped. And shipping is always good, if always a bit disappointing. There are always bugs that wait until after you’ve shipped to reveal themselves. This is particularly true when there isn’t a QA process in place but I think it’s true regardless.
So I made due with some NA beer and a cigar.
Lucy
I’m just so into this girl it’s insane. She calls me “dada” now (and Carissa “mama”). She is learning new things every day. The other day she learned how to say “sauce”, which is her best-pronounced word so far.
From the podcast
Most of you still don’t know I have a podcast (which is really just selections from other’s podcasts, with a few mashups thrown in for good measure) because I only mention it sporadically and don’t link to it anywhere else. I am also bad about updating it. Trying to fix that tonight.
Pete Rollins on “Religion for Life” podcast
What seemed like an innocent and probably blasé interview of thinker and friend Peter Rollins by who I assumed was a mainstream Christian podcaster turned into not only a really succinct primer on Peter’s most current ideas but also an almost hauntingly poignant discussion of a topic that hits very close to home.
“This album really looks at all the different aspects of the self that need to be healed up in order to facilitate the process of stepping aside and allowing love to speak for our life rather than our wounds,” lead singer Craig Minowa says.
The songs Minowa writes for his band can have the feel and hushed tones of a lullaby, and the emotion comes from a tragedy that’s all too real. One night back in 2002, Minowa and his wife put their 2-year-old son, Kaidin, to bed. Their beloved boy did not wake up.
Doctors could not explain why Kaidin died in his sleep, leaving Minowa to channel all that sadness and uncertainty into his work.
“…Everything that we did together, every moment that we had together, everything that he felt and everything that I felt for him still resonates out there in the universe. And I refuse to believe anything less than the idea that I’ll somehow be with my son again.”
From months ago, but always relevant
To visit my oldest daughter I have to go to the cemetery. And then I think, “You know, f**k you. I’m living how I’m going to live, because you have no f**king idea what this is like. You can give me no advice or impose your expectations on me.” And I sit here in front if her grave until my feet are asleep and the ants are crawling all over my legs and I look at pictures of her and I wonder WHYyet again and I write this. But mostly I miss her. I miss both who she was and I miss who she didn’t get to be.
The record
Has stagnated for a lot of reasons. It is hard to keep momentum when there are so many other things going on. The smallest hiccup in the process can become seemingly insurmountable. But there is a Facebook page for it, so go like it if you haven’t already.
Those of you who have had to bill to the minute will know how long a day that _really_ is. ↩
The evening of the 24th we had a guest for dinner and Carissa made salt-encrusted whole fish that was pretty much the best fish I’ve ever had. Monday (my actual birthday) she took me to Stephen Pyles for lunch. We indulged in the “Heaven and Hell” cake, which was big enough for four. We had it for dessert that night as well. That night I opened my present from my parents, the Rapha merino boxes which I have since worn them on my bicycle commute and they are as advertised, even if I don’t look as good as the guy in the promotional photographs. They’ll be great for mountain biking as well.
Yesterday Carissa planned a birthday bike ride for me and so friends came over for coffee and scones and then we set about around town. I also received some locally-roasted coffee (our house can never have too much) and a rad 1983 Coors Classic bicycling cap to add to my collection. First stop was the bike shop where I received Carissa’s present of a new truing stand. Then (more) coffee, tacos and a brisk lap of White Rock Lake.
Lucy is happy, healthy, delightful and as of this week officially walks! Her presence in our lives is the best gift of them all and I am constantly in awe of her and grateful for her life.
This week Carissa is featured in D Moms magazine. Looks like the online version is a little bit different than what will be in print on Thursday, so be sure to give it a look if you see a copy while you’re out and about the town.
With Google Reader being shut down I wasted no time searching for another RSS reader (having not much love for Google Reader in the first place but not enough discontent to move away from it…until forced to). I’ve ended up at NetNewsWire, the first one I thought about due to its longstanding good reputation in the Mac world.
The interesting thing is that lately I’ve been feeling a need to get back to the pre-Web-2.0 days of owning my own content. And importing all my blog subscriptions was incredibly telling in regards to those of you who have let your blogs languish. My favorite evidence of this was my friend Erica’s last post, from 2010, promising to write more on her already-by-then long-neglected blog.
Now I just need a script to throw all my starred items into Instapaper, or somesuch. And those of you on Blogger, you might should be looking over your shoulder. Remember when the people working on these products seemed so glamorous?
Lucy turned 15 months 10 days ago, which means it’s about time for her 14 month photos to hit the internet. Momma is a busy photographer, besides which, Lucy is a demanding little red bear. So in case you missed it, here is the set and here is Carissa’s post. These two are my favs:
I love her eyes in the second one. It’s like seeing the future.
