"It should just work."
Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 12:45 on 22 June 2015"That never happens."
Well, I'm looking at it happening right now.
"It should just work."
Well, it doesn't.
"It doesn't do that."
Well, it's doing it right now.
I have a coworker whose reaction to something that doesn't fit his view of the world is to deny it. He doesn't ask for more details. He doesn't ask for clarification of the problem at hand. He doesn't help the person asking for help, he just tells them they are wrong.
The company is big enough that I don't actually know where this guy is in the organizational structure. I do know that I seriously hope he isn't in any support or development role. This company writes software, and any sufficiently complex software has bugs. To categorically deny what other developers are seeing, likely developers who are nose-deep in the code and seeing something odd RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT, makes this guy an ass. In every interaction I have had directly with this guy, he has been wrong. In every interaction I have witnessed this guy in, he has been wrong.
If you're that ass, stop it. Stop assuming your viewpoint is correct and start asking questions to better understand what is going on.
If you're not that ass, good. Keep asking questions, keep working to understand what the other person is seeing. You're doing it right.
I don't know.
Blog kitt decided around 06:56 on 22 June 2015 to publish this:"Why can't I be the person I want to be?"
"I don't know. Why can't I?"
"I don't know."
Carrying a book everywhere
Blog kitt decided around 18:16 on 20 June 2015 to publish this:This is going to be a rambling, round about, nothing in particular conversation between me and my future self, looking back. I do this every once in a while. You're invited to listen in. Hi, Kitt!
So, I've been working on my life goals this year. In particular, moving them from vague, hand-wavy goals like "read more" and "travel more" and "be successful" into concrete, measurable goals like "read 52 books in a year", and "establish a baseline of how much I travel so that I can measure 'more'," and "dump stuff on the website at least twice a week." So far, having them measurable means I'm moving towards them, which is great.
As part of "reading more," I have returned to carrying a book around with me everywhere, because you never know when you'll have a few minutes to read (and you can't read if you don't have a book). Of course, I do have my phone that I can read on, I have a number of books on the phone, ready for reading. Yes, I read physical books if I have the chance. I LIKE physical books. I like paper. I like the feel of them, the touch of them, the clarity of them. It's a different mental space reading from a dead tree than from an electron being shot into my eyeball. So, yeah, I carry books around with me when I can:
To my surprise, when I thought about mentioning how I've reverted back to my habit of carrying a book with me everywhere, I searched for the post I was certain I had written, about my college interview. I had walked into the counsellor's office where the interviews were being held, book in hand, and sat down to wait. When the guy interviewing me opened the door and saw me, he laughed. I asked why. He told me that Mr. Dukerich had told him I'd arrive at the interview with a book in hand, I always had a book in hand everywhere I went. Sure enough, I had the book in hand. I vaguely recall it being Atlas Shrugged, but I could be mis-remembering that detail.
Turns out, I hadn't written that post. Go fig. A memory I hadn't talked about yet. Either that, or my search engine on this site sucks. Or maybe I didn't mention Caltech in the post, so I looked for the wrong terms. Whatever the reason is, yeah, here's the memory to write about written. Go me.
Contributing heavily to my newly-returned book-in-hand habit is work's lending library, where employees are allowed to take books from the library to read, and later return the book if they don't want to keep it, or keep the book if they want to keep it. I love this idea. Many of the books are business books, some are inspirational books. It's a great idea for a library, and encourages coworkers to read the books that someone has found inspirational or informative in some way. I'm not yet sure if I'll be able to pick a book for said library, but I'm hoping I will be able to do soon.
My backpack is a little heavier with the extra book in it, which is problematic on days I need to walk somewhere other than the bus stop. My backpack is still too heavy with two laptops, a kabillion notebooks and enough cords and "just in case" items to choke an elephant six times over. I swear, I'm going to have crushed vertebrae discs because of my backpack weight, instead of the amazingly strong back that I think I'm keeping by lugging all this stuff around. If my next book is an ebook, I'll stick to the phone.
Otherwise, book in hand.
Brass Verdict
Book Notes Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 17:23 on 20 June 2015
Okay, this wasn't REALLY a Harry Bosch book. It was a Mickey Haller book, I think book three of that particular series, maybe book two. I don't know. While the book itself was entertaining, and there's enough background to understand some of the Mickey Haller series, I was reading this book because it was a Bosch book. It wasn't really a Bosch book. Bosch is a secondary character to Haller, only part of the plot.
For the book itself, even though it wasn't what I was expecting, it was entertaining enough. There were a number of plot twists and quite a few, "And I figured it out for myself" Haller moments to get the gist of the Haller character. The book is written in the first person, which was great for explaining the actions and interpretations of Haller, as the main character. First person books done right are great reads. This was a fun read about how a courtroom might actually work. Having not been in a courtroom for anything more than a parking ticket, I can't say that it is or isn't an accurate portrayal of reality.
There's one big twist at the end of the book that I didn't see coming. I liked it.
I'll read the next Bosch book, even knowing that Haller comes back in two books, and that I probably should just stop reading this series. Still trying to get to book 19.
While this wasn't a Bosch book, per-se, it's on the Bosch list, and listed as book 14. There was only one mention of a tunnel, and hey, maybe a bad cop didn't do it, so maybe, just maybe, this isn't a Bosch book for-realz.
If you're reading the series, keep going. If you're not, start with books 1-3 to see if you like them enough to keep going. They're all pretty much the same book.
52 books read so far!
Blog kitt decided around 20:47 on 18 June 2015 to publish this:Fuck yeah, 52 books read this year!
And it's only the middle of June.
Go me! Crushing that "read more" goal! Now to crush another one...