Etc.
Loose Canons
So yes, this makes two book blog posts almost back to back. (At least this one didn't sit around for over a week on my desktop--I just finished reading it last night.)
I'm not making it a habit, but I did want to mention Loose Canons because I'm friends with the guy who wrote it and would really like to get the word out. (No, really, this is completely unsolicited--if you know Chad you know he'd probably grumble at the idea of someone else writing a blog post about his work.)
The Loose Canons cycle is several years old, so--more or less quietly--he put it up on Amazon's Kindle platform for $0.99 for the heck of it. You don't actually need a Kindle--you can read it on your PC, Blackberry, Droid, fruitPhone, or fruitPad.
(This was actually the first time I'd read it all the way through, as sitting down to read it on my Blackberry is much more convenient than someone handing you a stack of papers and saying "what do you think of this?")
So, for less than a dollar, you get all this:
Loose Canons is a collection of 10 interconnected short stories which explore a world in which even the gods themselves are faithless and incompetent. Along the way, it encompasses humor, mythology, and questioning faith as less-than-heroic characters are tested--and found wanting.
- A church conducts interviews to find their new god.
- A god puts one of his priests to the test - and the cleric flunks miserably.
- A cadre of deities files a lawsuit against God for putting them out of work.
- Two gods set out to keep the secrets of the hamburgers of the deities out of mortal hands.
- The village idiot sets out to kill Time so he can live forever.
The world (multiverse, I should say) of Loose Canons is complex and somewhat twisted, while still being whimsical in a Hitchiker's Guide sort of way.
After losing all of his worshippers, Thoth, Lord of Knowledge, ends up flipping burgers at a fast food joint on modern-day Earth. Chanticleer, Lord of Storms, goes chasing after a demonic fast-food clown mascot who has stolen a secret hamburger recipe from Brahma's restaurant on Olympus (ironically called The Sacred Cow). Aurus, Slayer of the Undead, is stripped of his divinity wagering with another god on the faithfulness of his high priest. Eridain Calumna Spear-Thrower, chosen hero of the gods, gets caught in a spat between Time and Death.
Incidentally, I ran this post by Chad, and he wanted me to add this disclaimer: "I'm an equal-opportunity offender. You may also want to mention that I'm probably going to hell, no matter what religion you follow."
Also, Chad is working on a new book over the summer, a combination of dark fantasy and an even darker modern-day dystopia tentatively called Revolution.
What I've Been Reading - Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work
This is a book I happened to pick up off a sale table at a bookstore because it looked interesting (and was buy-one-get-one-50% off). Having become surprisingly domestic (for me, anyway) in the last couple of years, I could buy into the premise of manual labor as an essential part of the human experience, and I wanted to see the author's take. (I tend to enjoy reading books that develop to a conclusion half-formed ideas I already have--it makes me feel like I'm not crazy, while still requiring me to think.)
As a video-game-nerd-turned-software-developer (and yes, the former led into the latter) my life has been built around electronic abstractions. Yet I've come to a point where it usually doesn't make me feel as capable as putting my hand to an actual physical craft. (Having been programming for over a decade, part of that is that I know it well enough to be hypercritical--but I digress.)
In large part, the book is arguing against the growing "knowledge worker" business culture, in that it (in the author's view) often thrives on rules versus critical thinking, produces no tangible product, and cultivates no real skill or appreciation for a craft.
Parallel to this, he argues that we've become a culture of consumers, quick to dispose, ready to replace rather than repair--a culture based on the abstract rather than the concrete and physical. This changes not just the way we value our resources and possessions (the value of time versus money, if nothing else), but the way we value our own skillsets. Fixing and building just isn't worth the complexity, time, and frustration anymore--but the author is asking whether there's not something unquantifiable that we've left out of the equation. The author's argument sometimes feels a bit overstated but in my opinion he's not too far off the mark.
As a software developer, in fact, I feel like I'm caught between the two extremes. Programming has an element of craftsmanship, and as such it's not a predictable job that can be governed by strict rules. But it doesn't quite have a tangible outcome--not in the same sense that, say, woodworking or engine repair does. There is definitely a product being produced, but it is (or at least is perceived as being) infinitely malleable. As such, much of the author's respect for physical, (semi-)permanent finished products doesn't really apply--and those properties are central to his point. In some ways, our attitudes towards software can be more in line with the disposable culture that the author rails against. And, to top it all off, software is often surrounded by the culture that the author associates with "knowledge worker" jobs.
This is not to say anything bad about software development, because I enjoy it and couldn't see myself doing anything else. Rather, I think, it's a different perspective which can inform my own, and can remove some of the rough edges. It's an outsider's perspective--a safeguard against a vacuum chamber. And it's a reminder not to take things too seriously, because no hobby or craft is an end in itself.
The book's tone towards the "knowledge worker" culture in business also seems a bit dire, but at the same time I've seen the problem when I consider some of the unemployed and underemployed people I know. It seems that, if you don't pick a specialized field, go for an advanced degree, and network like crazy while you're in college, you're left out in the cold. With those options exhausted, there seems to be little demand for specialization and no obvious path to prepare yourself to compete for a job--it's mostly retail or general office work or what have you. I happen to be (extremely) lucky to have fallen into a career path where there's a clear, inexpensive path for an amateur to work his way into a professional career. I'm thankful for that, but it's also very frustrating to know that's not the norm.
But the book isn't looking at the macro scale, and as such, isn't offering a revolutionary solution. I'm not even sure it's saying that the system is totally and completely broken--only that we have taken a very one-sided mindset. The book is talking on a decidedly personal and philosophical level. Even so, it is not encouraging you to quit your job, mortgage your house, and set up some sort of repair shop.
Overall, it's definitely a book that falls into the category of "mental exercise"--books I might not actually go back and read or reference, but it challenges the status quo. It makes you question your assumptions and gives you a taste of a different viewpoint, even if you don't come out seeing eye to eye with the author.
New toy
So Guitar Center is having this big sale over Memorial Day weekend, and I stopped by while I was in Knoxville today...
Yes, it's your basic starter guitar/amp combo because I was curious but cheap.
I bought it knowing full well I might have to buy a $500 washing machine soon. (Turns out I don't, since I remembered I bought a service plan on the last one. I feel sorry for the pushy saleswoman at hhgregg that mentioned the "5 year service plan," because it reminded me of that.)
I was That Guy and asked the guy at Guitar Center whether they had one sitting out of the box (because obviously people going for the starter set want to try it out first). And I asked whether it was good if you're just starting to play electric (I meant "since I am not a complete noob, am I going to be sorry I didn't shell out a couple hundred more for a better one in a few weeks?" but I think it came out "hi, I'm too lazy to read the box that plainly says 'START LEARNING TO PLAY.'")
Yes, I feel guilty that I put the sales rep through all that crap, as if my decision to drop $129 in Guitar Center (where price tags often have four digits) was that important in the grand scheme of things.
Yes, I'm pretty happy with it.
Yes, I'm keeping it downstairs near the plastic rock instruments for now (because I don't really have room in my room, and I don't want to annoy the roommates.) And, yes, I love the fact that it looks just like the Rock Band 1 guitar.
Yes, I've done some fingerpicking on it, so I think I've probably earned the wrath of the rock gods already.
New photos but not much else
A few days ago, I posted photos from my trip to Louisville back in April and my trip to Indian Boundary last weekend.
It had been so long ago that I'd last posted photos to my Flickr account that I didn't realize the sync between Flickr and the Photos section on my site wasn't working. That's right, last time I had worked on the script, I'd left the debug flag on. So it was still being run, but all of those changes were being sent straight to my beta database.
Anyway, it does bring up something I've been considering, since is that the last time I posted a blog post was the beginning of Lent. It's been approximately two months since Easter, so add forty days to that and do the math. :)
I haven't really had anything to post. I've spun up so many little side projects recently I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to keep up with them all, so my blog has been low on the old priority list. Writing about programming isn't really my strong suit anyway, I've found, since usually either (a) I never think to blog small one-off tips, and (b) anything I do think deserves a blog post will be insufferably long. I could do it, but I think it's time, effort and, focus that, given my strengths, would be better spent elsewhere.
I have been tempted to write up short blurbs whenever I run into a movie, album, or book that I like, but being that I feel the main site is tied to me professionally I'm not sure if that's a good idea. (Then again, I'm softening on the idea that your professional image needs to be corporate and basically hide the personal side. I do occasionally find it useful to do some random writing, but given that whole "professional image" thing I'm not sure most of it would fit, and I can post them elsewhere.
I've also been tempted to shift into writing shorter "this-is-what's-happening-in-my-life" sort of "grilled-cheese" posts, but... what is this, Blogger or Livejournal? But seriously, it's not really the type of thing I think there's much interesting to tell, or at least interesting to other people. (And, let's face it, it usually it ends up morphing into a "dear everyone that ignored my invitation, here's why you should have gone" post. :))
Anyway, some possible thoughts of what to do with my blog in the future. Anyone have anything they'd be interested to see me blog about?
Lent
Last year was the first time I'd ever given up anything for Lent. I've just never been in a tradition that does that sort of thing. But last year I had a couple of friends who did it, so I joined in and gave up meat. I think it's a good experience to give up something voluntarily, for a lot of reasons--religious or not.
So this year I'm going to give up meat again. And having seen bits and pieces of it last year on Twitter, I'm also going to do 40 days of Water. The idea is that you drink only water for 40 days, and donate the money you would have spent on other beverages.
Last year I was actually successful in avoiding meat. This year... we'll see.
