Tag Archives: random

Minority Report

I see very few movies when they come out and everyone else is raving about them. In fact, the movies that I see in the theater fall into two categories. First, there’s the kids movies that my daughter wants to see. Then, there’s the absolutely-can’t-miss movies that happen, maybe, once or twice a year. Narnia falls into that category, and lived up to it. The various Star Wars movies were also in that category, and didn’t. YMMV.

Anyways, I finally saw Minority Report last night, and I see that it would have been in the latter category if I had been paying attention. As a gee-whiz special effects movie it was pretty good. As a movie about constitutional liberties, it was fascinating, because I just know that given the opportunity, today’s US population would gladly give up their rights, and even the right to humanity of a few people, if in exchange there was a drop in the murder rate.

I was particularly captivated by the very brief scene in which robotic search agents (“spiders”) are searching an apartment building, and the citizens unthinkingly stopped what they were doing to have their retinas scanned, and then went back to whatever it was as though there had been no interruption. The only thing we lack is the technology. I have no doubt that we would welcome such an “innovation” without flinching.

San Diego, tomorrow, and other random catching up

I’m leaving for San Diego tomorrow for ApacheCon. There are so many other things going on, that it really seems to have snuck up on me. I don’t feel very ready. I’m not packed, for starters.

Apache 2.2 just released, rendering my authentication talk almost completely wrong, so I’ll have a brand shiny new authentication talk. Fortunately, that’s not until Tuesday, so I still have a couple days to get that in presentable order. I’ll probably take that opportunity to move the talk from Perlpoint/HTML format to Keynote.

The only downside to using Keynote is that it’s a lot harder to keep it in revision control, so I’ve ended up with all of my presentations in binary format, and not backed up on the server anywhere. So it’s really the fact that there are no backups, not that it’s not in revision control, that is the big problem. I suppose I should start rsync’ing my home directory to the server, or something. But I digress.

If you’re not registered for ApacheCon yet, there’s still time. You really should come. It’s a lot of fun. And there are some really great talks scheduled this year. And I’m speaking a few times, in addition to those great talks. 😉

I’m doing final (I hope) copy edits on my book. I’m at that stage in the book where I just want to get it done with. It would be so much faster if I didn’t care whether my examples worked …

Insufficient tuits

In the last few months that I’ve been working on The Book (have you preordered your copy yet?) I’ve been putting off a number of other things due to insufficient tuits. Now that I have more tuits (round ones, that is) I am having trouble choosing which thing to work on. There’s 3 (or maybe 4) different books that I’d like to write. There’s my new-found interest in podcasting. There’s some geocaching that I need to catch up on. And there are always numerous to fix, build, repair, or gadgetize around the house. I’ve started pecking away at one of the books, but it’s still a bit of a secret.

And I’m pondering whether I should get an iPod so that I can do more of the nifty podcasting stuff. I almost ordered one last night, but I’m still suffering a little bit of sticker shock. In addition to the podcasting I’ve done on this site, I’m actually doing some podcasting on two other sites that are still at least somewhat secret.

Unfortunately, I find that I’m no longer able to stay up past about 10 and have a coherent thought. Gone are the days of working until 1 or 2 and still producing reasonable output. By around 9, I spend more time staring blankly, and less time writing, or whatever else it is that I was doing.

Anyways, perhaps I’ll get useful things done today. We’ll see.

Penguins

At a hearty recommendation from my father, Sarah and I went to the Kentucky Theater to see “March of the Penguins.”

Oh. My. Word.

I have never seen a movie quit so tedious. The penguins walk. They stand. They walk. They stand some more. They walk some more.

There’s a brief, shining moment near the middle where the predators show up, and I found myself cheering for them. But then the penguins stand around some more.

I endured it, because Sarah liked it. I can usually persuade myself to enjoy a movie that Sarah is enjoying, but this was beyond that threshold.

Little fishies

It’s starting to feel a lot more like home. There are still a lot of boxes strewn around, but it’s getting better.

Much like parking in the garage was a big milestone, there have been two more.

Last night I got some fishies, who are now happily swimming about and being cute. Fishies are much better than watching TV. Much more soothing, and less predictable.

Then, this morning, I sat out on the deck and drank my morning coffee. A small thing, really, but I’ve been missing this lo these many years. When Sarah was just a teensy thing, she and I used to sit out on the porch and drink hot chocolate together. Well, I would drink, and she would dip her fingers in it and taste.

I really really like my deck. You should come sip coffee with me out there some day.

I hate Atlanta

For the second time in 4 days, I’m in a hotel in Atlanta because of Delta. Twice last evening, I was booked on a flight with just enough time to arrive, panting, at the gate, as the plane pulled away. Once at 11:50, and once at 12:25. Then, with the efficiency of the “service” desk, I finally ended up arriving at the hotel at 2am. Now, I’m on the way back to the airport after about 4 hours of sleep, in the same clothes I wore yesterday. I’m tired, grumpy, and very fed up with Delta.