Koyaanisqati

I worked out today that my current boss was the music editor for the Francis Ford Coppola film Koyaanisqati.

That is so fucking cool.

Now i just want to sit down with him and find out what is was like to work with Coppola and Glass, mostly Glass. It's very rare that i find myself wishing i was in California. Despite what i might say about the life sucking vacuousness of the "Valley", there are some really interesting people there... anyway, he's in Hong Kong this week. So there.

And, it makes you wonder

Yesterday we put out the first public draft of the spec i've been working on for the last year. It has caused quite a stir.

It's fantastic the way some people can characterize the most benign efforts to illicit community input as an attempt to... well, i'm not quite sure what they imagine we are attempting to do. The picture painted here is of marauding web services zealots storming the hallowed walls of the XML stronghold. If only they knew...

No doubt i'll spend the next week stressing about how to do the right thing by the people i've already been trying to do the right thing by. All because of one self righteous... never mind.

The ultimate irony is that the very thing that "Dear Elliotte" is whining about is the thing that we went out of our way to make explicit. The theory being that if we spell it out, it will be understood and commented on.

So it goes, you can't please all the people, etc.

Founding Day

Tuesday is a national holiday (founding day) so i'm taking off monday. We're off out into the wilds of Gunma. It doesn't look too wild.

Why would anyone make a tuesday a national holiday? Knowing japan (ha ha ha!), it's probably on purpose to encourage people to take a day off...

Finished the bull fighting book. It was interesting, in a 'Scottish-girl-takes-an-interest-in-the-world-of-bull-fighting-and-has-mixed-feelings-about-what-she-sees' sort of way. Good to have finally got round to reading it.

The bullet has been bitten. Last night i picked up the first volume of the Orwell letters and essays. It'll be good for me. It has been difficult of late to take an interest in the tawdry goings on in england, perhaps this will provide a little perspective on the rise and decline of empires.

If you're lucky, reading Orwell might even improve my ability to write proper english... Nah, i doubt it too.

Argh! What a week.

It has been grim. Now it is over.

It's not just me. Nothing will stop monkey boy!

I have to admit i'm nervous about writing my review of 'Dreamer of the Day'. It's going to be ugly an it's all down hill from here...

Everyday banality

Had one of those scary days where i got a lot done but at the end of the day nothing has really changed. It was all rather international too. Got up early for my weekly staff meeting (which was cancelled), went into work for a meeting with a team in India, came home and chatted with a co-worker in Ireland. I even wrote some code this afternoon. Much fun was had.

Spoke with Ray this afternoon about this blogging crap. I'm getting a bit frustrated with it all. It's alright that very few people read anything i write here. The thing that bothers me is that periodically i really feel like throwing out a truely vitriolic screed but end up holding back because... because, well i don't want everyone to read it. The choices are a) stop caring and vent b) start password protecting stuff c) stop.

For the record. I'm less concerned with upsetting people than i am with having to listen to the (probably endless) whining and complaining that a good vitriolic screed will likely provoke.

Yes Mason, that disclaimer was for you.

Should have stayed in bed...

...not that it would have helped.

Every now and then things happen that really make me wonder why i bother. Today was one of those days.

Human nature. Ugly stuff.

WFH

Did a little work from home today. It's really hard to go into the office when the phone is my alarm clock. By the time i've lain though a couple of hours of meetings... i don't have a good excuse. It's just hard to get up and go to work after early morning meetings.

Anyway, i had a good day of spec updating. I'm starting to get the comfortable feeling about getting this thing out and it being 'The Right Thing?'. Bitchin'.

In other news, the family now has a domain name. In a few days when the setup gets fixed i'll have an address that will never have to change. No, i'm not going to tell you what it is. The one i wish i'd thought of earlier involves the iceland top level domain. Too late now.

Arrrrggghhhh! The pain.

I'll say this of this web services crap, it may be crap and a miserable experience *but* it's has the potential to keep an entire industry busy for years!

Web services; the software industry's version of pork.

Arrrrggghhhh! The pain.

I'll say this of this web services crap, it may be crap and a miserable experience *but* it's has the potential to keep an entire industry busy for years!

Web services; the software industry's version of pork.

Bye bye

Both Jun and Naomi are leaving at the end of this year.

Jun is moving to the U.S. to try his hand at weight gain. He's not really leaving Sun, just going to work in Santa Clara.

Naomi has just had enough and is leaving to do something else. She's probably going to become a russian cartoon character. It's a natural progression for her...

Pictures of both of them, drunk and disorderly, will follow later in the month.

Bye bye

Both Jun and Naomi are leaving at the end of this year.

Jun is moving to the U.S. to try his hand at weight gain. He's not really leaving Sun, just going to work in Santa Clara.

Naomi has just had enough and is leaving to do something else. She's probably going to become a russian cartoon character. It's a natural progression for her...

Pictures of both of them, drunk and disorderly, will follow later in the month.

Back at it

Last week was tough. Coming back after my first break since March/April was not easy. Things weren't made any better by most people being away for Thanksgiving - far to easy to spend a day staring into the middle distance.

Back into the swing of things this week. Have a bunch of edits to apply to the web service spec. Need to get at least one more draft cranked out before the end of the year.

Feels odd to be talking about the end of the year already. Can't really say that it's gone by quickly, parts have really dragged. Still, surprised is December. People talk about time being like a stream, mine just happens to have dead pools and falls along it's course.

Back at it

Last week was tough. Coming back after my first break since March/April was not easy. Things weren't made any better by most people being away for Thanksgiving - far to easy to spend a day staring into the middle distance.

Back into the swing of things this week. Have a bunch of edits to apply to the web service spec. Need to get at least one more draft cranked out before the end of the year.

Feels odd to be talking about the end of the year already. Can't really say that it's gone by quickly, parts have really dragged. Still, surprised is December. People talk about time being like a stream, mine just happens to have dead pools and falls along it's course.

Back to work

Looks like being a quiet week. From here until the start of January amerika is on "vacation." You'll have to (yes, have to) excuse my bad attitude - i'm more than a little pissed about Bush's "pollute more, care less" plan. It wouldn't be so bad if i just had him to hate but judging by the recent elections people actually approve of what he's doing. No excuse. Rant over.

Went to see my back sensei this evening. Nothing cheers me up like having someone try to push their elbow through my spine. He sent me away with some koshi no kanbai. If it wasn't so expensive it could easlity become my tipple of choice. I'll stick to meths for now.

Back to work

Looks like being a quiet week. From here until the start of January amerika is on "vacation." You'll have to (yes, have to) excuse my bad attitude - i'm more than a little pissed about Bush's "pollute more, care less" plan. It wouldn't be so bad if i just had him to hate but judging by the recent elections people actually approve of what he's doing. No excuse. Rant over.

Went to see my back sensei this evening. Nothing cheers me up like having someone try to push their elbow through my spine. He sent me away with some koshi no kanbai. If it wasn't so expensive it could easlity become my tipple of choice. I'll stick to meths for now.