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Computers make it too easy to demonstrate a lack of professionalism.  Everything is quick, and simple, and done for me.  I've grown up with the silly boxes and have been brainwashed into viewing them as benevolent, if not helpful tools.  In fact, I find that I even trust the things.  I must have missed the point of 2001, and half a dozen killer death robot movies.    I've been lulled into acceptance, and can just barely see the shadows of their scheme from the corner of my eye.

The computers don't need to start controlling everything, or take over robots and start trashing things.  They are much more subtle, and will lead us all into some sort of benevolent suicide.  In the course of one day, my computer at work has encouraged me to twice shoot my own foot.  First, I merged and compared a revised protocol for a collaboration with one of our customers.  I thought it would be nice to track some changes that I hadn't recorded.  Unfortunately, word decided not to take the text from one document as the basis of comparison, and the embedded objects from another.  So i looked like a jerk who ignored some critical review points.  Then flustered me circulated a "revised" corrected copy.  Only to click send, and glance down at a note sheet on my desk.  I should have incorporated some other changes as an output from a more recent meeting.  Now, I'm a certified spammer.

I say what I think, and do tings as they flow.  I'm not really an impulsive person, but I'm not one who spends a lot of time second guessing himself.  Computers make it too easy to get myself into trouble.  Click click, instant regret.   My self improvement robot demands that I slow down and pay more attention to the boring details.  I don't want to be a perpetual screw-up.  It's hard to feel good on a two strike day.  Fortunatley, professional life is niether baseball nor bowling.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 3:55 PM

 

The recent hubbub about flying spaghetti monsterism (http://www.venganza.org/), has me big eyed and longing to create my own internet fad / cult page.  

Back in the creaky early days of the internet, I almost did that - twice.  My Marxist interpretation of Peaches attracted some attention, including a German interview with the band.  The backwards x-files pages, was more successful and became fodder for local news broadcasts and at least one magazine article.

The attention was fun, and its nice to propagate silly ideas.  However, the internet has decided to fads and cults more lucrative with the availability of cheap merchandising.   I'd like to take my meager (by 1998 standards) html skills and cash in on craziness.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 8:47 AM

 
I've finished my north shore boogaloo, err project management training at Millipore's Danvers facility. (They tore down all of the training rooms in Bedford).

The class was quite pleasant, and it presented its material as a chain mail of common sense. It's amazing how much we over complicate our lives by not relating key information, and not taking a few moments to think. I'm guilty of procrastinating, or just running headfirst into stuff without having reasoned out every little step.

Now, I might know a bit better. We'll see if I can put it into practice and get myself onto a more interesting, or valuable project, while simultaneously trying to delay or cancel this little something I'm going to do for a customer. We won't be able to meet the same scope that the customer dreamt up (we have a "problem" with the "excessive" consistency of our product) and don't expect to see much interesting data arise from this study. Well, I don't expect to see it. I guess that still means that I can do a month of testing, and see a lot of similar results.

Anyway, project stuff aside, I really enjoyed my commute. I traveled out of the city on nice high speed roads, never below the speed limit and often 20 or 30 mph above it while maintaining progress with the flow of traffic. Route 1 has some nice curves that are a lot of fun at high speeds.
The north shore is rather pleasant, well illuminated and influenced by the sea. It was temperate, and generally pleasant. Yes 128 is poorly designed, with lots of exits and limited merging lanes. However, I found my driving experience to be quite pleasant. Especially in contrast to the folks who commuted from Westford, Bedford, and Jaffrey. Suckers. Of course, there was a lady from Newburyport who probably loved the commute more than I.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 6:26 PM

 
This was the worst survey ever. Every choice was the lesser of multitudinous evils.

Jazz is a real genre. Jam-band ought to be included if you call emo a genre. MTV can't sell it, but it generates much more touring revenue.

Your Summer Anthem is Speed of Sound by Coldplay All that noise, and all that sound, All those places I got found. And birds go flying at the speed of sound, to show you how it all began. You're out of your mind this summer, in a good way.

How wrong. I like the other single, that introspective one with the slow building peak (I bet Trey kicks himself every time he hears it) so much more. I also think that Coldplay is overrated, polished pavement. But I respect them getting some music with syncopation and creative time signatures back on the radio. Unfortunately, it all sounds gamma sterilized to me.

My real anthem for 2005 (using tunes on the radio)

Oh god... brain freeze. Shakedown street should count, it and Cayman review are the only two radio tunes I crank.... They just aren’t from this year.

I'm tempted to cite either one of those two John Mayer collaborations, but my distaste for his popularity seems to balance out the awesomeness of hearing John Scofield or Herbie Hancock on the radio.

I like the John Hiatt song "Master of Disaster". It just isn't really anthemic, at least not for me.

In all reality, this is a summer that I need a good song about a car, and clear channel has not elected to provide me with such a cruising tune.

I guess, Snow Patrol's chocolate is the closest thing to an anthem that I'm digging on the radio.

Man, that bites. I’ve listened to that tune since it was snowing.
posted by Ben at (1) comments 3:38 PM

 

I took the jetta in for it's 10k mile checkup.   This is an oil change, tire rotation, and a fluid check.  It cost an outrageous sum.  I'm looking forward to getting out of the warranty system, and will start saving my pennies for the $400 check up at 40k.  That better include new brake pads, or I'll be ticked.

In other news, I dined at the cheesecake factory for a good-bye lunch.  Steve the intern is on his way back to UNH.  That's a farewell lunch I can support.  

Now, I've mocked the cheesecake factory as being the most heinous type of chain.   Upscale chains scare me.  I'm not bothered by McDonalds and Wendy's proliferating and closing down greasy spoons and diners.  Low cost, low margin fare should be handled by some massive corporate structure.  It's just more efficient.  The problem arises when the chains go up scale.

The Cheesecake factory is an event restaurant.  People make elaborate plans, and ritualize trips to this over priced behemoth chain.  They don't go to downtown Boston try out Todd English's new place, or some exciting south end bistro.  They don't want the new, or innovative.  The masses are being trained to pursue the ubiquitous status quo.  In doing so, they rob the small business man of a meal with a rather high margin.

The careful planning of scattering Cheesecake factories in the major metros played out well, and raised the iconic status of the eatery.  Now they are spreading to every sprawled out shopping mall in the country.  I dined at the Burlington mall.  When I left cwru, Cleveland was cheesecake free.   We enjoyed Baker's Square pies as a gluttonous dessert.  Now there are 3 in the Cleveland Metro.    I hope that this bloated over expansion causes the factory to loose some of its mystique.  A common place meal, with a tasty desert.   It's a beefed up version of frendlies, with frillier decor and less reasonable prices (although the ratio between price and value is probably the same...  what happened to the prices on Friendlies' menu?)
posted by Ben at (0) comments 3:33 PM

 

Kate and I swung by the Portsmouth Brewery on our way up to the lake.  Our seasonal trip was again justified by excellent food, and tasty brews.  She also picked up a t-shirt, which told the world to have a cat.   Kate doesn't have any beer ware, and it's tricky to fond something with character and class.  This particular garment has a humorous illustration of hands thrusting a cat out of the front of the shirt.  The back offers a small detail of the Portsmouth Brewing company, and the name of the house brew standby - Black Cat Stout.

I've been to the Portsmouth Brewing Co a number of times, and haven't sampled the beer yet.  That was a silly omission, it's a pleasant medium bodied stout with cream chocolate, and coffee notes.  It was a splendid dessert beer, and was even better than the Belgian Double Wit. Mmm... phenols.  

Also, Kate and I both found the ale-house mussels (or whatever they call their beer steamed beasties) to be especially good this time around.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 2:42 PM

 

Why are my eyes all tight and itchy?  What sort of rabid, allergy have I developed amid this unseasonable heat and humidity?  There's little sense relating my irritation and overall decline in energy.  I still can't figure out how I can be exhausted for a week, sleep less than normal on a Friday, and feel full of vigor for a weekend only to end up back at work with a sloth on my back, and a poorly trained monkey on a bicycle trying to power my brain.

I think he's managed to light 1 and a half bulbs. The dim flicker offers no hope, and certainly little direction at productivity.

Our summer outing is this week.  It should be fun, but I suspect that I have a teleconference with some customers on the west coast right in the middle of the festivities.  That's fine.  I'll go for the free lunch, come back for the tc and head home.  I couldn't take much Frisbee anyway.  Despite my hippie leanings, I've acquired neither an interest nor an ability to participate in the typical active recreations of my sandal towed brethren.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 2:31 PM

 

I just realized that I had an awkward restriction on my comments prohibiting non-members to argue against my political beliefs.  I also seem to recall some veiled remark about someone joining to make comments, but never really put two and two together until now.  I feel like a jerk.  People shouldn't need to be an exhibitionist or a Google lackey to express discontent, or limp agreement with my slow trickle of ravings.

Now, I can delude myself into thinking that the lack of responses to post was due to lack of ability, and not interest.  Comment and give me validation.  Validate!  I pass.  Release me to the manufacturing centers of the world.  Launch my intellectual product.

Wow.  I'm loopy, and this stream of consciousness drivel is rather unappealing.

I need to read a bit more Kerouac before I sleep.  I'm re-reading Big Sur.  It's remarkable how little I remember.  So much of my recollection of Kerouac depends on the pace of my read.  If I get caught up into the speed of his text, I have tremendous joy reading the novel but seem unable to retain much.  This time I'm going through and savoring the diction of the first Kerouac text to lament his fame.   It is also entirely possible that Big Sur has sat on my shelf untouched for more than a year.

My real (weekend) reading book, is Thomas Wolfe's "You Can't Go Home Again".  It's a classic, and a clear influence on Jack. It's an interesting book, in that it's detailed and revealing look at America before and during the depression reveals a society that is very similar to what we have today.  The style seems to be an awkward transition between realism and the rabid narratives of Kerouac, and the novelists of the 60s.  Maybe Wolfe is a modernist.  I'm too far removed from school to remember the literary schools of thought, and who fell where.  I just remember, that aside from Carver, the modernists were terribly drab.  I'm enjoying Wolfe more than those selections.


posted by Ben at (0) comments 3:32 PM

 
I had an interesting experience driving home from the gym. Shortly after I pulled out of the lot, I spied a convertible beetle driving in the other direction. My chick car alarm went off, and I glanced over. The skeletal 18-19 year old was staring directly at me, and my car with some frightfully sexual longing. I like my car too, but it's not even the "new" model year anymore. The 06's are out and about. Also, I am 100% certain that the fact that the radio was playing constant craving had nothing to do with my interpretation of these events.
posted by Ben at (5) comments 9:48 PM

 

Senate Majority leader Bill Frist's public endorsement of stem cell research is a hugely significant political move.  Public support for stem cell research has reached a critical mass sufficient to swing public policy.  Mainline republicans are setting up camp in what has always been seen as a democratic issue.  Frist's break from direct and consistent support of the president's politics, restoring some independence to the branch of government.

I've always said that Bush's initial stem cell compromise was a brilliant political coup.  It recognized stem cell research as an essential endeavor, supporting existing stem cell lines.  However, it responded  to the fears and ignorance that can plague a democratic system.  Certainly, 2002 or (was it 3) was not the best time to unleash this starting technology on an unsuspecting and unprepared public.  Issues of abortion, and embryos are understandably sensitive.  There needs to be some dogmatic interpretation of the beginning of life in order to make these decisions.  This dogma is deeply rooted on both sides.  Yes, even the atheist scientists seem to be quite religious in their convictions that life has not begun sufficiently in embryos capable of donating stem cells.  Those who are opposed do so because of protectivist interpretations of their scriptures.  The bible doesn't explicitly say life begins at conception, but they don't want blood on their hands if they happen to be wrong.  

I appreciate both view points, and figured that the research needed to be done on a limited basis before it could receive wide spread public support and funding.  At the time stems cells were showing promise, but hadn't demonstrated their full potential.  Th research in this tenuos area show needed sufficient promise to justify the experimental use of materials which could, if they are not already, a living human.  I expected bush to revise his position during or shortly after the 2004 campaign.  Unfortunately, his biggest critique of Kerry was that the senator from Massachusetts flip-flopped on key issues.   It's a valid criticism, and a legitimate concern.  Unfortunately, once he levied those charges, Bush had to hold the line on all of his policies or risk becoming a hypocrite.  As the population benefited from additional exposure to stem cell research and the stem cell debate, a brilliantly centrist compromise shifted to the right and has started to acquire radical trappings.

Bill Frist decided to gamble his presidential aspirations (he's not Rudy Giuliani, he wouldn't win the nomination anyway) and move 20+ senate votes by revising his stance on stem cells research.  There's a good chance that the senate would have the votes necessary to overturn a veto.  This would allow Bush to keep from being a hipocrite, and advance legislation supporting the expansion of stem cell research.  It's a brilliant move because it creates a politically expedient solution to the stem cell issue.  It shows the movement of republican sentiments away from the religious right, to a more progressive foundation.  The party is better aligning itself with my ideals, as a yuppy, VW owning American seeking limited government.   I anticipate that both major candidates for the 2008 presidential election will support stem cell research, and that the out cry from the religious right will become increasingly quiet.

The ball is rolling.  That is the way the game is played.

It's also encouraging to see that a republican senate, under a republican president, can break away from the mechanics of party politics and deftly apply checks and balances.  One man's convictions should not stand in the way of progress, if the majority of the nation supports that move.  Under Frist's command, the majority of the senate will be free to vote in representation of their constituents and their hopes.  If there is fall out from the decision, most of it will impact the majority leader.   It's not like many republicans will worry about losing their seats to a democrat over an issue that has strong support from Dean and co.   I hope to see further senate action which is independent of the executive.  The strength of the US government lies in the fact that the system of checks and balances force compromise.  Unfortunately, party politics can tip the scales of the balance and abuse the checks for petty bickering.

posted by Ben at (33) comments 11:29 AM