2021/09 Ship's Log

Last Thursday, I dropped Amie off at the Urgent Care with severe abdominal pain before picking up the boys from school. To our surprise, the doctor recommended Amie head to the ER so, instead of picking her up to take her home, we picked her up to drop her at the hospital.

Amie spent the whole night in the ER undergoing various tests to discover why her gallbladder was inflamed. By the morning she was expected to have it removed, but the day-shift contradicted the night crew and decided it wouldn’t be necessary. In other words, try again later 😕.

I took Friday off to care for the kiddos, reminded once again that caring for two young boys by myself is a herculean task; props to mama Hercules. We finally picked Amie up from the hospital in the afternoon.

The boys did well in her absence. Graham melted down when he realized mama wouldn’t “sit a w’ittle” while he fell asleep.

I’ve recently finished Derrick Bell’s short story series, Faces At The Bottom Of The Well. He was a civil rights lawyer who lived between 1930-2011, taught at Harvard Law, and wrote some of the most thought-provoking ideas about race in America I’ve encountered yet. The series ends with The Space Traders, Bell’s most famous short story.

Curious to see if economic conditions have improved since Bell’s writing, I looked it up on Pew Research Center and found 6 Facts About Economic Inequality. Looks as bad and worse than, yikes.

This weekend I spent a couple hours mapping all the tasks, goals, and ideas in my head onto paper. There are so many projects going at the same time it’s impossible to keep them straight in my head.

When my life gets this chaotic I live in a perpetual state of anxious dread. De-cluttering my mind by dumping everything on a paper reduces my anxiety by quieting the looping list in my head and ordering their priorities. The task count doesn’t change, but the items I must address this week is more manageable than the full list.

Today the city of Evanston blocks off much of Ridge Ave (a busy thoroughfare) for bikers to ride along. There are charities along the sidewalk and a live band in Ridgeville Park. Graham’s a little on edge and sensitive to all the people, but he’s enjoying the novelty of all the roads blocked off and police cars everywhere. Royal squeals with delight every time he sees a baloon.

We’ve been in such a fast-paced season, for so long, that I wonder if I’ve become addicted to the rush. I don’t ache for solitude as I once did. Silence has become more uncomfortable than before. It would be nice to separate myself for a time, to rest and remember that the world does not require me nearly so much as I may grow to believe.

A colleague of mine recommended this list as a refresher of what NOT to do in software development. It’s a good overview of the common temptations developers can succumb to as they write code.

Seven Deadly Sins of Programming

I’ve been wondering if an IRC channel would be a suitable way to enable real-time conversation with family and friends on the subjects I write about. Comments have been a bonus, but maybe it could be more? I’ve been enjoying a foray into Discord groups and wonder if a similar platform would be a useful addition. What do you think?

I’ve been listening to a Bible Project podcast about the theme of trees. They recommend a book on the subject called Reforesting Faith that I’d enjoy. Maybe I’ll come back to it…

I had first heard about OBS Studio from Scott Hanselman a few months back, but I guessed it’d have a learning curve if I didn’t already understand video and audio editing. Turns out, it’s simple enough that I could make a video in 15 minutes!

Don’t let the lack of screenshots deter you from checking it out. I think I’ll try it for a bible study soon, and for my September family update.

This bout of sickness may be the longest we’ve had yet. I’ve been sick now for nine days and have taken four sick days from work. Most nights I’m up multiple times with my coughing or Royal’s; last night for two hours between 0000 and 0200. Royal was finally getting better, then on Wednesday he spiked a fever and appears to have a second viral infection. Graham and Amie are doing well enough, but not 100%. We keep getting a little hope, then it’s crushed the day after. When will this end?!

We’ve been sick for weeks now. First Graham and Royal, which entailed waking multiple times a night and rising for the day between 5:00 and 6:30. Then Amie and I. Currently I’ve lost my voice, have fatigue, a wretched cough, and congestion since Thursday. Today is the second day I’ve taken sick time from work to recover. I’ve slept all night and through half the day. At least being sick at different times that’ll the boys has made their care easier.

What is this?! Bret Victor's Website

Looking for dinner table conversation tonight? Look no further than The Dinner Table.

The Tail End is a sobering post I discovered while perusing Matthew Kudija’s reading notes, specifically this book. It’d be worth creating a few of my own graphics to represent what’s left on my timeline.

Matthew Kudija has written notes for a list of books, astonishing for both its prodigious length and breadth of subject matter. Here are a few book notes that revealed books I’d love to read.

I know little about Bitcoin but am interested in economics and curious about this upstart monetary system.

The title drew me in. It reminds me of an invaluable book I’d read years ago (I don’t remember the title) that gave me freedom to not finish many books.

Nassim Taleb’s name keeps popping up. This looks like a great place to start with his work.

Since Matthew has written the laws down, I probably don’t need to read the book. But I would like to compare/contrast these with Jesus' style of power.

This would be a great way to continue my re-introduction with evolution after Adam and the Genome.

A story from yesterday:

In the morning, Graham came looking for Amie to tell her there was dog poop on the kitchen floor. Confused, Amie came over to look. Sure enough there lay a big turd, half-squished, in the center of the kitchen floor. She shrieked in horror.

The source was verified when we found the rest of the poo on Royal’s left foot. It must have fallen out of his diaper. Who knows how many places Royal’s foot trod between Graham’s discovery and his apprehension?

Graham maintains that it was dog poop. He’s in denial, poor guy.