Posts in the “personal” category

Moon in a barrel

I don’t know the origin of this “moon in a barrel” image, but I like it.

“I’m that one”

“I’m that one.” I suspect that anyone who has ever wanted to write a book knows this scene and movie.

The Book Thief

The Book Thief is a favorite story of the last few years. I listened to the audiobook (hence this image) while driving around the United States. I know some people complain that the story isn’t original, but the writing style is very creative.

Free yourself

I like this tweet from Kadie Luna. Free yourself, dammit. :)

Steve Jobs: Fox News has become an incredibly destructive force in our society

I remember reading this story where Steve Jobs was apparently friends with Rupert Murdoch, and Jobs tried to tell Murdoch that Fox News had become a destructive force in American society, and this might be Murdoch’s legacy.

It reminds me that when I first became a consultant, I was supposed to help sell a product named UnixWare from a company named Novell. Over time I learned that the product was crappy, and I didn’t want to sell it to anyone. So I learned the lesson, “Beware anyone that is trying to sell you something; if their morals are compromised, who knows what they’ll sell you.”

If you’re to believe Steve Jobs, this makes me wonder why Fox News would want to a destructive force in society. And like social networks, Fox News viewers are the product and their advertisers are the customers. (To be continued...)

Escape rooms (August, 2019)

They are called escape rooms. They sell an experience. The experience is escape, both literal and metaphorical. For around $30, you and a handful of friends/colleagues/strangers are “trapped” in some kind of space together and must collaboratively puzzle through a series of challenges to win your freedom.

The clock is ticking: You get 45 minutes, or 60, or 90, to escape, although if you fail, they let you out anyway. Usually, the game offers some kind of story to help explain why you’re solving puzzles in a room with a countdown clock.

Escape is big. There are, by the most recent unofficial count, at least 2,300 escape rooms in the United States.

~ from this vox.com story about escape rooms

My personal motivational speaker

I have my own personal motivational speaker. I discovered him on a trip to Los Alamos, New Mexico. (Sadly, the bookstore in Los Alamos where I found him is no longer in business.)

Making an “If I’m dead” video

A humbling thing about this MCAS disease is that I just took the time to make an, “If I’m dead, here’s everything you need to know about how to update this Drupal 8 website” video.

Hopefully I’ll still be around for Drupal 9 — or my own replacement for Drupal — but when I get sick I always wish I had done this, so now I have.