Monthly Archives: April 2010

Losing Lost

Posted on April 24, 2010 | 5 Comments

It pains me to say it, but I can’t wait for Lost to be over. Corinne and I have been watching the show since Season 1, Episode 1, but for the past couple of seasons we’ve been watching mainly because of the investment we’d already made.

But the one thing that can save this show for me is the final few episodes. If the concluding episodes are meaty and amazing, Lost will be selling box sets for the next 20 years, and I’ll be recommending them to my friends, kids, and even grandkids. I expect people will still be refering to shows like The Wire in 20 years (the way we still talk about Season 1 of Twin Peaks 20 years later), but Lost has the added advantage of being relatively family friendly. It could be the best-selling TV series ever to hit DVD.  

But since we’re talking about Lost, it’s only appropriate to bring up the alternate-reality scenario: That the show’s conclusion is an unsatisfying dud. In which case everyone in the world who wasn’t a Lost viewer will quickly find out from their friends that the show is not worth the time investment.  

I’m sad to say I think this is the more likely scenario. Continue reading →

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Posted in Uncategorizable

Looking down on everything

Posted on April 16, 2010 | 1 Comment

I swear, every single time I take a redeye flight home from the west, I tell myself it’s the last time. Even under the best of conditions, I usually hate flying, and I can’t sleep on planes, so redeye flights tend to result in 40-hour stretches without sleep. And if I’m taking a redeye, it’s usually so I can be at work the next day. I’m fine and functional once I get in my daily rhythm, but the mornings are awful.

Anyway, this isn’t a whiny post. The skies were clear this morning when my plane flew over Manhattan, and the view was amazing. The sun was up just enough to light the city, but the street lights were still on, so the whole city kind of shimmered. Even New Jersey was pretty (but only because I was too high up to smell it). I thought about taking a picture, but it wouldn’t do it justice.

Continue reading →

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Posted in New York Stuff

Theodicy and the Common Cold

Posted on April 3, 2010 | 3 Comments

Confession: I always chuckle a bit when I come across a mommy blogger writing about how she’s sleep training her baby, and how mother and child are crying in different rooms because of it. Heck, I chuckle when my own baby cries because she bonked her head, or stubbed her toe, or poked herself with a toy. “Laugh it off, kiddo.” I scoop her up and try to convince her that it’s not worth crying about, using a potent combo of distraction, vocal tone, and faux-violent physical comedy.

But my attitude and empathy have changed quite a bit in the three days since Bumblebee caught her first cold. Not to be melodramatic, but I’ve never felt more protective and more helpless, or more filled with love. It’s very strange–it’s just a cold, right? Am I that sobbing mommy blogger now?

Continue reading →

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Posted in Family Stuff

Rules of Engagement

Posted on April 2, 2010 | 1 Comment

I follow the SQL Server community pretty closely on Twitter. That sounds dorky, I know, but it’s an incredibly intelligent, passionate, and friendly/funny group of people (mostly IT and database administrators, or developers). I’m primarily an observer, but I’ve noticed very specific patterns in how this community responds to outsiders, requests for help, and breaches of protocol. And the lessons I’ve learned from this online community and others have influenced the way I think about relationships, both on and offline.

Like all communities, the SQL Server community has established social norms and best practices for itself. If you’re a DBA with a question, tweet about it using the #sqlhelp hashtag and someone in the community will probably respond to your request with help (either the answer itself, or a link where you can find the answer). I’ve seen extreme kindness around this hashtag, where the community will band together and spend an afternoon helping someone fix a bug or a piece of faulty coding, all in public, all on Twitter. Anyone that can jump in with a suggestion is encouraged to do so.

But there was a major kerfuffle last week around another social norm. Continue reading →

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Posted in Web Stuff