Goodbye, SuperLoo. You are sadly missed 🙁
Category: Life
Categories
The Line Between Games and Lies
We often jest (or at least i do) with scenarios that, technically, can be considered lies. For example (really arb):
My wife wants to know where the car keys are, and i’m hiding them in my jeans pocket.
Wife: “Have you seen the keys?”
Me: “Keys? Car keys? Nope. Haven’t seen them.” (Sneaky smile optional depending on how far i want to take the “joke” 🙂
Technically, i lied. But, yet, in context, i didn’t. The tricky bit is, how do you teach a child the difference?
‘Cos i can see that being quite confusing. And they catch on sooner or later and play the same game right back at ya, but then there’s lieing.
It’s almost like you don’t need to worry about it, they learn, but… is teaching that “lieing” is ok as long as it’s a game, ok?
Or do you call it something else, but then what’s the difference between a lie and not telling the truth for the sake of a prank?
Categories
Marking Time
Jessie turned 6 months today. In the bigger scheme of things, it might not be all that significant; for “new-born parents” 😉 it’s quite a milestone!
But beyond reaching milestones, without actually even reaching/trying, it occurred to me today that there’s nothing we can do to recapture/relive these last 6 months. They’re gone. Whatever joys and discoveries we shared these last 6 months, they’ve come and gone and making way for new ones. Freaky awesome 🙂
Yet i can’t help but reflect that time passed, is, well, time passed and it only lives on in memory, yet at the same time, just how absolutely precious this time gone by has been. And then i got to thinking about our own rat race. When 6 months go by we don’t even blink or bat an eyelid. Maybe at the end of the year we spare a moment, pause as it were. Even then, we’re too busy planning 2008, 9 and 10 to really indulge the road travelled…
Yip, we plan ahead (and we need to) but not at the sacrifice of today.
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Common Sense
there’s nothing common about “common” sense…
Categories
Like A Simile
We use similes and metaphors quite frequently, particularly in software. Everything is so figurative and you spend all day coming up with names for things that are “like” real world objects. Of course, that’s not counting those things which are not like anything else other than what they are in software. This is not about them. And this figurative language we carry over into customer engagements too, explaining to our dear customer why the original quote does not hold since they subsequently added the kitchen sink and “tinted windows” 🙂 Not to mention explaining why that takes an extra ‘x’ weeks.
During one such session, it suddenly dawned on me halfway through the metaphor, that the client started extending the metaphor and the proceeded to re-apply it back to the software project, taking it too literally, and ended up explaining to me how software works based on the metaphor at hand. Doh! And all i was trying to do was help educate and understand…
I think IT, in general, has come under heavy pressure to talk the language of the client- and indeed, we are encouraged to keep getting better at this. Make it more accessible so that they understand… Why?
I don’t understand that thing my dentist uses to fill a tooth; nor do i care about the gadget the plumber used to seal the pipes with; and yay for the structural engineer who … well, i really don’t know what he did. But i still use and pay for their services. Did they go to great lengths to explain the intricacies of their tasks? Nope. Did it matter. Not really. I engaged them- they told me how much and how long- i paid, they did it. Moving right along.
I think the more we “passively force” non-programmers to understand what we’re doing, the more confusion we sow. Particularly when the metaphor we use is so accessible, we have no idea how their experiences, assumptions and understandings will impact on the point we’re trying to convey.
As programmers, we owe it to ourselves to forge the language (jargon) we have created, not with the purposes of creating a divide, but so that we can just get on with the job, efficiently. Without the extra fluff. Of course, that’s not to say don’t make an effort to help a client understand, if they want to understand on technical terms. Dumbing it down doesn’t really help, except maybe in polite social discussions 😉
A good working environment is essential to ensure productivity in any project, even more so in an agile environment where the pace can often be quite steady, without reaching burnout. A couple of tips…
1. A spacious desk. You can’t have too much clutter or you will get distracted.
2. A gym ball instead of a chair. I’ve used one for many years now and much prefer it. It also helps avoid the programmer’s hunch.
3. Dual monitors. A luxury, i must confess, i’m still trying to get used to.
4. Stationery! No desk would be complete without much needed pens, markers and post-it notes but an arm’s stretch away.
5. Trash can. Not the virtual kind, but the real kind. Those post-it (and outdated technical specs) notes need to go somewhere, eventually.
6. And last but not least, the PC. Tucked away and out the way.
And that’s it. Oh, and one word of warning. If you ever have the urge to sneak hand-cream onto the ear piece of any of your colleagues’ phones… embrace the revenge 😀
Guys, you know who you are… outstanding job! Seriously. This is going to be a hard act to follow, but i relish the scheming 😉
Categories
Mother City Riots
Rated as one of the places to visit, Cape Town has just about everything to offer the resident and tourist alike. And all kinds of residents and tourists are catered for; from the dodgy back-alley fix to the deserted beach moonlight stroll, Cape Town offers it all. But that in itself does not make the Mother City special. Just about every international destination has its fair share of glamour and sham. What does make Cape Town beautiful, is “tha mountehn”.
Aaahhh, tha mountehn. No doubt about it, there’s something about that piece of rock which takes the edge off of life and slows the city down to village trot. From sandboarding to surfing, sunsets to riots- Cape Town has it all.
Wait a minute?! Riots?! Yes. Riots. Now, for those who live in Cape Town or have been following its news, the current “Security Strike” has been going on for close to 8 weeks now. The fruit of the last 8 weeks of discussions has been summarised as a “deadlock”. In the meantime, those who choose not to strike get murdered or beaten. Further, while security is not available, gangsters and thugs take advantage of the situation to help themselves. Those who have the ability to put an end to the strike claim helplessness and all the while, they fuel the frustrations and anger which boil and burns until one day…..
No, this is NOT a picture taken during an apartheid South Africa. This is 16 May 2006, 12 years into building a democratic rainbow nation. On one hand:
“Our right to protest is an essential right. Our right to strike is guarenteed in the constitution.”
But does that include the right to murder, set busses on fire, vandalize the city and loot? But make no mistake, those on strike have a legitimate concern which is not being addressed. Their wages have not increased in 12 years?! Although not condoned, is this not just a case of “going postal” on a wide scale? How many of us have felt the frustration of not being heard by INSERT CORPORATION HERE and have wanted to scream, shout and throw a hissy- maybe even beat someone up. Some actually do, but they pay the price for their anti-social behaviour.
However the mayhem and chaos closes, better it stops soon. Unlikely though when the negotiations are conducted in the spirit of power and domination; no real sacrifices and flowering with taunts and poisoned with emotive appeal. An interesting piece of fuel in this fire is demonstrated by some of the placards carried by strikers: “US and EU are anti-poor” and “Down with imperialism”. But that’s another discussion…
Aaahhh, tha mountehn!
Some more riot photos below that were circulating on email. Warning! These are, IMHO, controversial photos and probably best not viewed if you’re a little queasy or are very sensitive to harsh images. Also, i don’t know the context of these photos so don’t even pretend to judge the photos and the incidents or me by these images.
I just find them fascinating from a politically-photographic perspective ‘cos they carry so much power to potentially skew the truth… there are more incriminating photos which i’ve decided to leave out ‘cos they’re just too hectic for this blog…
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