Personal

Big Words Don’t Belong in Tech

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Some of you are pretty smart. So you understand the difference between simple and complicated, right? So why complicate things for the sake of complication?
just say no to big words

My Dad used to say that habit is a five-letter word that can dictate your life. Indeed, it does — especially in technical professions. It’s why most things are almost impossible to describe to the layman. Poor layman, nobody remembers to fill him in. Or is it a layperson? You get the point.

Imagine spending 50+ hours a week speaking in latin medical terms, Java acronyms or Linux system jargon. Now imagine turning around and telling a 5th grader what you did at work that week. Not so easy, is it?

You’re used to your dialect. It’s burned into your head. But that doesn’t mean you can’t escape it in order to reach the middle ground with people who aren’t up to their necks in the same sort of shit you always find yourself in.

Pull yourself out of the muck for a while and remember how to speak like a normal person. Leave out the big words, particularly in technical discussions that don’t have room for a thesaurus or world almanac. Use simple metaphors. Explain things using real-world examples.

People don’t need to hear your completely misplaced word-of-the-day exercises in order to understand your point. And if you can’t explain it in simple terms, then maybe you don’t understand what you’re trying to explain after all?

Eschew obfuscation, assface.

Instant Coldplay: Just Add Yo-Yo

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So we didn’t have tickets. Aside from some funny comments about his Coldplay “I’m standing on a log in a stream!” photo, Polvi’s Craigs’ List posting did not generate any possible leads, and showtime was approaching. So we did what any sensible bored person would do – we winged it.

a crowd

We parked near the Google campus, passed a herd of wild black squirrels, and made the hike to the Shoreline Amphitheatre. There were lines of people,all of them looked at Polvi’s sign and snickered. It read, “Yo-Yo Trix 4 Coldplay Tix!”

The lines were long. Everyone had “planner” faces that sarcastically whispered, “What, don’t have tickets? Awww, tough shit.” Things were looking pretty grim. As we worked our way backwards towards the public parking lot, we could not get more than a laugh out of concert-goers, and some cheers from other people trying to find tickets.

Finally, we had worked our way all the way back to the parking lot, where the scalpers hovered like vultures, trying to get a cut. Personally, I would have paid the extra money for the tickets, but Polvi waited a bit longer and we ended up getting a couple of tickets for a lot cheaper from someone who wasn’t a scalper. I guess I am growing impatient in my old age — but who cares! We had tickets!

Sure enough, we eventually find ourselves sitting in the middle of tens of thousands of Coldplay fans, on the lawn in the second deck of the theatre. The theatre itself reminded me a lot of the one in Washington where I saw Lollapalooza 2004.

The concert was great. To my surprise, I actually knew all of the songs, and got a kick out of some of the jokes the lead singer had for us. We could hardly see anything, but it was fun to just get outside and hear some good music. It was worth the risk of not getting tickets.

During the concert I sat back and appreciated the musical effect. You could see thousands of faces — all gripped by the music and touched in some way by the notes and words. It really was something.

After the concert we hiked back to the car and grabbed some Inn & Out burgers. It was a fun day in Mountain View.

$7.50 is way too much for a beer.

Nerds are Regular People

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Wake up, eat breakfast, ride the MAX. Convention buzz; free stuff, lights, displays, vendors and myriad sessions to attend. After-parties; free booze, free food, mingling. Sleep for a few hours. Repeat.

OSCON was something different for everyone. I’ve read through countless blogs about language wars, what’s hot or not, great epiphanies or laughing stocks. I didn’t find anything so life-altering that I feel the need to strap on my asshat and preach about this or that from my small little soapbox.

I will say that seeing everyone pulled together was very interesting. I couldn’t help but be amazed by the community — the people, not the booths. The faces and ideas were far brighter than the lamps in the exhibition hall.

Having never been to a conference like this before, I was pretty excited. I had never seen so many people with similar interests gathered in the same place. It was my first chance to meet a community I have known for so long but had never met in person.

After my first day, I asked myself what did I learn today? And most of what I learned had nothing to do with code but more to do with people:

  • Many of the people I met weren’t from the US
  • Almost everyone was very open and respectful
  • Nobody forgot to have fun
  • No dress code!
  • Even “famous” nerds were just regular people solving regular problems

Having been there, I now have this positive feeling of some sort of global/communal pride. The open source community is full of problem solvers. They find solutions to real-world problems everyday. They bang their heads on bugs, drink lots of caffeine, lose sleep over things and drink beer when they can. And the whole time they have fun doing it. Sounds a lot like what I do.

So I felt like I was a part of something. As corny as it sounds, that was the biggest impression OSCON made on me. We are the firefighters of the digital world, the construction workers of the IT industry, and the police of the internets. We all have our roles, we all contribute in some way, and every once in a while we come together at some convention like OSCON and celebrate it.

OSCON was a little like a family reunion. There were mothers, fathers, and the estranged cousin nobody likes.

An End

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Mouse wheel down, one click. Before me lies a view of a southwestern horizon. On the left, green hills overshadowed by ominous black clouds. They slowly fade into the fire of the sun, vanquished by the light.

The water is deep blue – almost black. It steals sunshine, but remembers to share at least a glimmer.

In the middle of the ocean, an orange sphere sinks; bright, resolute and constant. It shines despite the clouds, the deep ocean and the sharp cliffs. The sun sets, but I know it will shine bright another day.

Yea, it’s dark in here, but it will help you grow.

Architecture in Helsinki

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Trying to surpass The Snuggleups and a band singing about putting your head in icewater for almost too long is a tough job. Architecture in Helsinki did a pretty good job (although they get -6 points for an obnoxious website).

Speaking of obnoxious, here are some new pictures! Yay!

Mike vs. Tim

The Doug Fir was a pretty impressive club. Think 70s lumberjack meets 70s street pimp with a dash of hippies. It was refreshing. Mostly I enjoyed the backlit floor tiles— they blew my mind.

The weekend on the whole was pretty chaotic. I came to the conclusion that I am not good at multi-tasking different plans with different people on the same day. It’s probably better to do things with 1-2 friends at a time — anything more gets too complicated (for me) and eventually things will get messed up. I think I enjoy quality time more anyway, and that’s hard to do in a semi-large group, especially if they don’t know each other as well as you know them.

So from now on I think I will try to be better about planning things on a per-person basis instead of trying to get everyone in on the same thing. And even then, if I do try to get lots of people together, I will try to do a better job of keeping people informed.

But not all was lost. Great music and great friends at the Doug Fir, good times on the Willamette (I actually crossed the wake this time), and some dinner at Who Song and Larry’s. It was a good weekend despite the chaos. It was a fitting end to an even crazier week.

I’m not good at multi-tasking in Portland.

Novacaine for the Soul

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So blogging is this huge deal now. Syndication, devblogs, company blogs, people getting fired for blogs, people making money off of blogs, bloggers invading cable news, the slashdot effect (hey, it counts!) …

lots of bullshit has come from my keyboard

I enjoy reading blogs where people lay it all out on the line. I typically see these coming from younger people who are more energetic and maybe a little wreckless. I used to have an “it’s what I think so it’s okay to speak my mind” philosophy. But you know — not everything in your head is for sharing. In fact, most of it is pretty unfit for publication.

I’m not promoting censorship — say whatever the hell you want. Just say it well. Be clear, be understood, be expressive and powerful. It’s the difference between saying, “McDonald’s is a stupid whore!” and making a documentary like Super Size Me! — one thing is just brain vomit while the other is organized and thoughtful.

I’ve learned a few things about blogging:

  • The more you put into it, the more you get out
  • Careful what you say, it doesn’t come back
  • What you write is frozen in time
  • It all adds up, and if you don’t do it you’ll wish you did in a few years
  • More people read your blog than you think

Since I’m obsessed with myself, I went back and read some of my old blogs. Turns out I’ve been blogging since this post, written Febuary 3rd, 2002:

it’s been a while since i’ve had the energy to update my site. given some of the current projects i’ve been working on, it’s understandable that i’ve rekindled my love for making silly little webpages.

what is so interesting about webpages to me is the mixture of logic and creativity involved. there is a curious balance between the two when a person makes a website. any webpage represents the symbiotic relationship between the two hemispheres of our brain. in some cases, logic wins, and a page will be 100% functional while looking like shit. in others, pages can be beautiful, but lack functionality, or any semblance of structure.

i figured that i’d take a crack at it. granted, i don’t run an ebiz, or anything like that. but it doesn’t hurt to try new things and see what happens.

Safe to say, I’ve written some pretty terrible shit over the years. A lot of what I read tonight I wasn’t very proud of, but that’s life. You mess up, you get better, repeat. Some of it was surprisingly good — mostly the things I didn’t write in haste or anger.

So here I find myself, blogging in the middle of the night again, breaking myself into pieces small enough to fill this little window of time. To be continued, I guess.

I’m blogging this.

Finding your Rob Gordon

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At some point you stop and look back at all the shit you went through and the pure volume of past drama is staggering. To think, I did all that, and not in a shy way…

When you’re in the thick of it, it’s easy to think that you’ll never make it. Yet time and again we all somehow find our way. After time clots our wounds and the scar fades, we finally get a chance to make sense of it all — if it’s even possible.

High Fidelity was an interesting look back at the life of John Cusack’s character, Rob Gordon. It was a unique narrative, taking you through the failed relationships of a used record store owner.

What can we learn from Rob Gordon? Well, for one, we aren’t anywhere near perfect either. We are assholes. We play for our team only, we are selfish, we are liars, we cheat, and sometimes we cut corners. We do it without really thinking. Well, maybe you’re a lot nicer than I am, but you have some Rob Gordon in you — might as well accept it.

So what happens to all of this crust? It is a part of our relationships. It’s the dirt on the windshield, the birdshit on a clean car, the piece of furniture that doesn’t match. And it’s not going anywhere.

But sooner or later we at least realize it’s there. We sit up and say, “Holy shit, I was an asshole!” And like Rob did we look back and think of all the things we could have done differently. Was it our fault? Did I fuck things up? Was she the one but I failed to realize it?

And after hours of recounts and retallying, there is a bucket full of maybes and a handful of what-ifs. They can’t save you from yourself. They can’t change the past. But it’s fun to dream about, and you can at least do some things to save the present and future.

We are left with this delicate balance between the crust of ourselves and the sunny side. I think that once you can at least partially understand yourself — identify your strengths and maintain some level of damage control when it comes to your weaknesses, you are ready to find a person who understands them just as well as you.

For some, it takes a lifetime. But if we are lucky we see things clearer while there is still time to set things straight. Then, when the times comes, we can be ready to give ourselves up and be vulnerable when we should. Of course, until then, things will be a fucking mess. But hey, it’s a damn beautiful mess.

I miss her smell. And the way she tastes. It’s a mystery of human chemistry and I dont understand it. Some people, as far as your senses are concerned, just feel like home.