Scala, Java, Unix, MacOS tutorials (page 166)

In daily life, each of us is a vehicle for something. Our choices of values determine the kinds of vehicles we are, the way we move in the world and relate to each other. All individuals (and organizations) are free to choose values that they feel are important, that express their vision.

(A quote from the book, Zen at Work.)

My oldest sister is five years older than I am, and when she was in high school she was involved in activities outside of school, like the foreign student exchange program. I was an extreme introvert and could never imagine myself doing those things, but she was very involved in making our community a better place, and I was proud of her.

Back then I didn’t know that I was free to choose my own vision ... the mental weight of being an extreme introvert kept me from seeing that. I may always struggle with being an introvert, but these days I understand that I can choose my own vision, and I do so consciously.

“Remember how weird it seemed when you first learned that a String in Java was immutable? Well, in functional programming it’s all like that. Everything is immutable.”

(From a discussion with a Java developer recently.)

“When I was very young, my spiritual awareness was limited to a foggy sense of the presence of ‘something bigger’ than me and my personal life. During grammar school years, I was intent on trying to discover this elusive something. I was convinced that ‘it’ was the primary source of life and of everything in the world. I hoped to end my spiritual confusion by understand this ‘source’ and clarify the meaning of my life. My method for trying to understand this fundamental essence was to examine intellectually all the reasons I could think of for the universe to exist and to try to envision what had ‘existed’ before the universe came into being.”

(A quote from the book, Zen at Work, which I found in a used book store yesterday.)

When I was young, I’d lay in bed at night, imagine traveling to the end of the universe, and then I’d remember thinking, “It can’t end, it must keep going, right? How can the universe come to an ‘end’ unless it’s a balloon, in which case there is still something outside of the balloon.”

It seems like there still aren’t many women in computer programming, but twelve out of my last eighteen doctors have been women, so that’s cool.

Zen Master Bon Haeng talks about feeling the pressure of being a Zen Master.

Although I had already moved around quite a bit by then, living in Talkeetna, Alaska ten years ago had a big impact on my current vagabond lifestyle. I used to walk into town and sit on a bench and watch 10-20 tour buses roll in every day with people 70+ years old, and many of them would have canes, walkers, and wheelchairs.

While I felt great that those people were able to see a part of the town, I also knew that they couldn’t see all of the town. For instance, they couldn’t go down by the rivers because it was a bit of a walk, and there was no access for disabled people. Walking by the rivers is one of the great things about being in Talkeetna.

As I sat there I realized that when you get to that age that’s going to be the only way you can travel, and soon after that you won’t be able to travel at all. More recently, when I was pretty sick the last couple of years I became even more aware that the clock was ticking. So I plan to keep wandering around as long as I can.

After watching The Heartbreak Kid on Netflix last night (which I learned was R-rated as I was watching it), I was reminded of the song Rosalita, by Bruce Springsteen. Here’s a great performance of the song from 1988 on YouTube.

Arthur: If I asked you where the hell we were, would I regret it?

Ford: We’re safe.

Arthur: Oh good.

Ford: We’re in a small galley cabin in one of the spaceships of the Vogon Constructor Fleet.

Arthur: Ah, this is obviously some strange use of the word “safe” that I wasn’t previously aware of.

(From The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.)

I made it eight minutes on the elliptical trainer yesterday. That’s pretty much a record since all of this mast cell disease stuff started becoming a problem in 2011/2012.

#The ComebackContinues

Presumably as a result of the MCAS I always feel sick (groggy with flu-like symptoms) when I don’t get enough rest, and I just read this comment from a nurse on the Mastocytosis Society page on Facebook: “Extra fatigue can cause a histamine release.” That seems to confirm what I have been feeling.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has found residual amounts of weed killer in 30% of the foods they tested. The story is here on HuffingtonPost.com.

Here’s a link to Jeff Bezos’ letter to Amazon shareholders, circa April, 2017. Possibly one of the most important phrases to me personally is his concept of, “Disagree and commit.”

I was driving in western Kentucky around four o’clock on Friday morning, and I was able to get in radio stations from Arkansas, Iowa, Chicago, Cleveland, and Atlanta. That was pretty cool.

As a nice Earth Day note, the Washington Post has this story, The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100,000 people.

I have no statistical proof of it, but my eyes (and sinuses) tell me that a lot of people smoke in Virginia, many more than where I live in Colorado. I had forgotten how much I dislike the smell of cigarette smoke.