[Official Video] Mary, Did You Know? - Pentatonix

A Quiet Drive

21 years ago, I went to the Hospital carrying a VHS Camcorder on my shoulder.   There, I captured footage of my firstborn, a sickly little babe born a month early, who had already suffered blood transfusions and having her heart restarted shortly after being born.   While there, I sang to her "Katie Sue, Daddy love you.   Katie Sue's my Darlin'."

Tonight, I set out helping her hunt for her first automobile.

My, how times they are a changin'.

I have more planning to do, and banks to talk to, and Insurance people...   There's no immediate danger of her driving away in a car she helped pay for.   But it will happen before August 23.

Daddy's little Darlin' has grown up.

Wow.   That went fast.

-dan'l

Whiny Day

So after I drill 8 holes through the concrete of my basement wall, someone bothers to tell me there's comething called a Core Drill that would neatly take a plug out of the wall of just the right diameter.

Can't break the plug loose, so I suppose I'm STILL going to go rent a core drill, but I. Will. Win.

Aaaugh!!!

Homecoming

Right about now, my son and his youth group should be hitting the Michigan border on their way home from Oklahoma.    I'm just waiting for their impending arrival in the wee hours of the morning.   They should be here by 1 am.

The group had a rough time getting to Oklahoma -- the new bus blew a tire, and then blew the spare.    They spent the night in a hotel waiting to buy new tires in the morning. :-)   The kids were thankful for the night's rest before arriving at the Christ In Youth (CIY) event at Oral Roberts University.

They worked on a service project as well while they were there.   I can't wait to hear about it.   Ryan had his phone confiscated -- all the students did -- except for about an hour a day.   This was to keep them focused on the conference -- a great idea!   My son is way too obsessed with that device.

CIY is an event that challenges High School Students to service -- to do good work in the world -- on a global scale.   In previous years, the students raised funds to buy wells in Africa for poor communities, to build schools and churches in India, and to pay for students to go to Bible college to become preachers there.   They've also collected coats and mittens for missions, fed folks at the homeless shelter.    It's a good experience, because it teaches them that people need love, near and far, and they need people to offer it without strings -- without expectations.

In a couple hours, we'll learn Ryan's challenge for the coming year.  We'll learn what he learned, and how he's changed.

No matter how his week went, or what challenge he faces, I'll still have my son home.   I'm looking forward to meeting him again.

Stuff Ryan Likes

Father's Day, 2014

Dan, Fred, Deborah, Ken, Don

Father's Day 2014 is winding to a close tonight, and I find myself one of the last ones up.   My family got me presents this year -- I told them I had all I wanted and needed, but to no avail.    They know I like to stop at Teavana in the local mall and sip at the iced blueberry bliss with pineapple.   So I found myself the owner of a tin of my favorite tea, as well as the German rock sugar that makes it taste so good.   In addition, they got me a tea steeper and a pair of new mugs.   Very nice.

Saturday we spent the day at Mom's place over north of Lansing.   Aunt Chris and Uncle Steve were there, and we celebrated birthdays and Father's Day.   Brats were consumed and quads were ridden, and the family had a great time enjoying each other.   Jim received all manner of grill seasonings.    Ought to keep his blood pressure up for a good long while.

Sunday we celebrated with Sue's Dad here at the house.    Her brother and Sister came, and we enjoyed more brats and dogs. We also celebrated Mom's birthday and Brother & Sister-in-law's Anniversary.   What a fine day we had for both days,  too.    Nice temps and a good breeze.   Sue's Dad gave me advice -- as he always does -- and I do well to listen to him.

Tonight, we went to my Dad's home on the lake.   My Dad is like nobody else.   I can't describe what he's like, because he's just Dad, you know?    He's generally quiet, but when he does have something to say, you best listen, because it's worth hearing.  I've known him to call and then just listen on the phone, waiting for me to speak.   It's good, though, because I often fail to call him when I have the time.  When we come over, he goes about what it is he's been doing -- And there's always something to be done.  He gives of himself to those who need.  He's retired and never been so busy in his life.   The dock was damaged by the ice on the lake shifting this year, and two poles were bent beyond repair.  The others he was able to salvage, but those two needed to be replaced.   Tonight, those new poles were outside his garage -- waiting for him to get the time to go wade in and put them on the dock.  He also took time tonight to show me his new garage door opener.   It has battery backup and a DC motor with variable speed.   Quiet as can be.   At 69, he installed it himself.   That's the kind of guy he is.   He can fix anything.    Just needs time.

Fred, 2011

Here's a few of the things my Dad says to me:

• Anything worth doing is worth doing right.
• Do it right the first time, and you won't have to do it again.
• Whistle while you work.   It makes time go faster.
• There's a place for everything.   Put everything in its place.
• Never try to take food away from a hungry animal.
• Name a hunting dog "Sue" or "Mike" and nobody will be able to call it away from you in the woods.
• Always cut away from you.
• You'll have to speak up, I've got beans in my ears.
• No matter how good you think you are, you need a relationship with Jesus.
• Outside everything that's outside everything, there is God.   He's big enough to handle it.
• The little oval of meat opposite the kidneys is the best eating on the turkey.
• You want some coffee?  I'll make you a cup!

My Dad was a die-maker for "Generous Motors" for many years, and it took a toll on his body.  His fingers don't move with the same ease that they used to.  Smoking, even though he quit 20 years ago, is still threatening his health, but he remains strong, both in body and in spirit.  His mind is as sharp as ever -- though he never attended college, he's one of the wisest men I know.    He came to posses skill and he possesses wisdom through living life, and I pray I grow up to be as wise as he.  I'm not 50 yet, so I still have time.

I have things I say to my kids as well:

• I love you.
• Sweet dream's love.
• Do it again -- with feeling.
• You're wearing my name out there.   Keep it shiny.
• You make me proud.
• Those aren't tears.   My allergies are kicking in.
• Find what you do that you love more than anything else, and get someone to pay you to do it.   You'll never feel like you're going to work.
• "Hey Mom, How can I help you?"
• Trust is earned.   Show me.
• Don't complain, don't explain.
• Never, ever, use a credit card.   Learn from Dad's mistakes.

I don't know if I'll be remembered as a pushy Dad, or as a Dad that set expectations high and was proud when my children exceeded them.   My hope is that latter.   Evidence is there that they are listening, because I have much to be proud of.

I hope they do too.

God has blessed me beyond anything I deserve, and anything I could imagine:
"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations forever and ever! Amen."

Shiny Widgets, Passing Fads

I'm a Software Engineer by trade -- developing embedded systems.   I've worked mostly on larger embedded systems like the computers that control large aircraft, but I also work on smaller systems, like a computer that controls a single display in a small aircraft, or a PC that controls a vehicle test system.   I've not really done the tiny kind of embedded systems like inside your microwave or your coffee maker.   Some developers say those are a lot more fun and challenging.   I'm learning.   I hope to get there.

I've been developing software for 30 years now -- and as you can imagine, we've seen changes.   Back in the day, the big discussion was whether to buy your PC at Radio Shack or call up Gateway.   Can I afford to get the larger hard drive?   Why bother?   You'll never use the *whole* 10 Mb.   You get the idea.

Even 10 years ago, the question at hand was "vi" or "emacs?"   Today, few know what those are and fewer remember how to use them.  Today, we're arguing over UltraEdit, SlickEdit, Sublime Text, Eclipse, or Visual Studio.   The number of options for tools we use to do our jobs has changed drastically.

E-Mail used to be the communication medium of choice.   We had "notes" forums also, for more collaborative chatting.    Today, there's literally hundreds of chat choices.   I was just getting the hang of using Google Hangouts to instantly interact with my team members, when today I was invited to "#Slack".   After 10 minutes with slack, I was liking it a lot more.  It has the ability to integrate with many of the other tools we're using, like GitHub and Jira.  I've installed it on my cell phone as well, and I can keep in contact with my project teams _even while on vacation_.   (Hey.   Wait a second...)

But when do we have to admit that there are too many choices?   The free software realm is HUGE and collaboration is run amok, so that there are dozens of potential solutions to the simple question of "how do I communicate with my coworkers effectively?"  I was told today that slack is a good alternative to e-mail chains.    But why do we need an alternative to e-mail chains?   What makes the older methods necessarily "bad?"

This is one of my concerns with the younger engineers I'm working with.   [In addition to my concern that I see myself as an "older engineer".   That one worries me more, actually.]   When is a tool "Good enough", and when is it better than always chasing the next good alternative to what I'm using today?   When we change tools like we change shirts, day in and day out, we necessarily incur cost -- the overhead of acclimatizing to a new tool.    Some tools take this into account and make themselves so easy to use that you don't feel the pain.   I believe this is almost always done at the expense of flexibility and features.   Simpler tools are simpler because they are simple.   They don't offer as many complex features, and only support the 80% most common needs, leaving the 20% unsupported.   And I almost always need the 20% because that's where the power comes from :-)

I read a story once about a lumberjack who entered a contest against another.   The first began swinging his axe with all his might, powering through the massive trunk as fast as he could.   The other sat down against his tree, dug his whetstone out of his pocket, and began spitting and rubbing, spitting and rubbing, polishing the edge of his blade till it shone with the sharpness of a finely honed peak.   At the halfway mark, he stood, raised his axe, and began powering through his own trunk -- at more than twice the rate that the first man, with his dull axe, was chopping.   The winner was the man who took the time to first sharpen his axe.

There's an advantage to taking the time to carefully select the tools that will make you productive in the development process.   This is the edge that makes the difference between a good engineering team and a great one.   However, once needs to be careful to minimize the impact of learning new tools, and not switch too often.    Sharpening the axe for too long may simply consume your advantage, earning you nothing in the end.

The corollary to this story is just as important.    There is *power* in keeping your edge sharp.   An engineer that plows forward using the same old methods and the same old ways without learning from mistakes and learning new methods and new tools may think it an advantage, since he/she is adept at the tried and true methods and familiar tools.   But as everything gets better with time, tools improve and change, and the engineer has to learn, improve and change as well, or he/she becomes dull with age.   We become unable to recognize the slow decline in productivity, because we don't recognize the leaps in progress around us.    Take time to sharpen your axe -- hone your edge.   LEARN from those around you.   But be wise enough to stop trying new tools early enough in the project to be successful with what you've learned.  Balance in life seems to be a running theme.   Balance is Good(tm).

Plan, Learn, Focus, Produce, Review, Change, Learn, Focus, Produce.   Lather, Rinse, Repeat.   Teach.

The Circle of Life.

Sing it with me.   Hakuna, Matata.  :-)

-dan'l

Book Envy

Escher - Hand Drawing Hand

I admit it.   I have Writer's Envy.   

I have a daughter who has written an entire novel, and I'm so proud of her.   I can't wait till she finally lets me read it.  :-)

I know people who write.   A few from YouTube -- back in the day.   I purchased a collection of short stories (for a steal, I might add) from one of them tonight.   If it's as enjoyable as Aaron's Intafada, A Bottomless Cup of Coffee ought to set well with me.   We shall see.

Last year, I had the opportunity to proofread a novel written by another YouTuber and his daughter!   That was a privilege, and I was thrilled to purchase the paperback tonight when I found it on lulu.com.   I'd read his previous 3 books, and was honored to be able to proof it for them.

So many have things to say and write down -- to entertain, to inform.  To captivate us and to repel us.   
Each writer uses their chosen voice to lift us out of this world, and place us in theirs.   I love it when I become part of the story in my imagination as I lift the words from the page and create the writer's world in my head.    But that's the key, isn't it?   Each writer has something to say to the world -- Somewhere to take the reader.   

I got nothin' but a desire.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying reading again.   Remember when I mentioned that CPAP?   One of the things that my exhaustion was taking from me was the ability to sit and read.   I had a button on my butt, and when the button was pushed, it was lights out.    Now, in the last 2 years, I've read more than in the 20 years prior.    I frickin' LOVE this.

I mentioned proofreading a novel.  Let me share that with you, because I want this young writer to be encouraged.   I want her to be surprised at the number of people that find her words and are welcomed into her world -- because I want her to NEVER EVER stop writing.   Lily Robinson is a young lady in Scotland, who lives near Edinburgh with her very creative father and her mother (who is not a writer that I know if, and is apparently camera shy).    S. James Robinson (so his book by-lines call him) is a public servant by day, with credits for writing several books, a film score, and a slew of music over the past what -- 40 years?   I met him as periurban, YouTuber.   Go ahead -- meet him at youtube.com/periurban.  He also posted videos of his young daughter, who at the time believed YouTube was a person inside the camera that her father often asked her to say hello or goodbye to.  "Bye-bye, YouChube."    So when he mentioned that together they were writing a novel, I jumped at the chance to proof it.   I'd read his previous works at Amazon, and enjoyed them.

I'm running on -- sorry.   Excited to share this.   So to be sure, run off to Queen of the Skies at Lulu.Com and purchase the book.   Come on back, because I don't think our story is done.   I'll wait for you.

{Intermission};

Back so soon?  I told you it would excite you.  Peri and Lily have created a world shattered, with portals to other wolds you'll never expect -- and one you'll find very familiar!   Though written for a young reader, the story is captivating, and the imagery vivid, so while you may find it a light fantasy novel, you'll thoroughly enjoy the tumultuous ride of Tiree.   Did you not buy the novel?   Go back!   Go back!  What were you thinking?!?!    

I'll have to write about the other stories I've been reading another time.   It's "tomorrow" and I need to be in a meeting at 10am.   So I'm late to bed.   Just had to share this book.

Thanks for listening to me ramble.   You are too kind, if you made it this far.  :-)