Thoughts, Ponderings, Questions and Answers http://eric.abando.com/musings eric@abando.com (Eric Abando) eric@abando.com (Eric Abando) Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:39:27 -0700 loaded questions, biased methods, words and phrasing implying meaning and statements, couched and hidden in the process. jumping to conclusions, reporting of fact, but little facts, tips of iceberg facts, and then the attention is lost, and the giant flash that caught our eye, has moved downstream. how important are contracts, fine print, and things agreed to without reading, and hoping it no longer applies, or never thought of, so never bothered to check, and someone else needs to be responsible, the giver of the tool, not the user of the tool, the device, it's all very frustrating, well, maybe, just because i see an easier way, no better or worse, but easier. but always, picking your spots. pick your spots. find the battles worth fighting, finding the currents to ride, the waves to catch, since tidal waves, tsunamis, whirlpools and rapids, well, you need training, you need practice, you need the tools and the strength, so pick 'em, and dodge and weave, and it's boxing http://eric.abando.com/musings/index.php?id=1214 Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:39:27 CST full of questions, full of doubts, and worry enters, maybe for the first time ever, and settles in for the long haul. what ifs enter the fray, I wonders pop up. Hopes and dreams, now traveling companions on this long and decades long journey. The mind races along paths, branches, attempting to see around corners, into nooks and crannies, over hills and dales, through open windows and cracked doors, and it's almost too much, too many responsibilities, and there is a need to find the path, the street signs. the quick start guide, and have faith that the systems rights itself, teach enough to care, create, fashion a strong enough rudder, and paddles, and sails for boating life. And just concentrate on the tools, and put the tools into her hands, and watch her use them. http://eric.abando.com/musings/index.php?id=1213 Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:36:44 CST jumps in human computer interaction, from the large, to the infinitely small and personal, the mainframe and timesharing, to singular devices, from teams of support to keep a machine running, to never ever needing to know about anything besides the stuff you do on it, like email, books, photos, and music. The device disappears. No longer are you looking and interacting with a computer screen, but you see and handle your data, your items, the pieces of your digital life. the machine got out of the way. it's too bad open doc went away, since I imagine that would have been even sweeter, to deal with objects, without caring about applications. along with removing the machine, and though it sounds opposite to it, but more ubiquitous computing, a machine that goes everywhere, used everywhere, that won't be out of place. it really is the future, a dynabook, as dreamed by alan kay, to the point i wonder if they had smalltalk or squeak on it, would that finally be the realization? and i laugh at those that fear the loss of tinkering, and ponder what new levels of tinkering remain, as the ladder now starts on a higher step, and maybe the tinkering happens at the data level, at the interaction level, in the more social, in the higher level, the image, the sound, and hope and dream of the children's future, on the shoulders of genius http://eric.abando.com/musings/index.php?id=1212 Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:47:28 CST fear, fear from a glimpse, a glance, a wonderment of what is to come, what used to be, what never was, and how something so simple opens up so much, a reverse funnel, the spray setting on a garden hose, but that's all it was, a simple smile, but upon receipt a thousand questions, what, why, for what reason, and even with a newfound understanding, a realization, it still bothers, it still sticks, irritates, dirt under the fingernail, unable to shrug it off, and hopefully one day i will, i will return, and maybe that in and of itself is the reason, and the snake eats its tail. http://eric.abando.com/musings/index.php?id=1211 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:47:52 CST a chance occurrence, ships crossing, more like a random harbor drop in, and suddenly, 15 years doesn't quite seem like fifteen years anymore. and of course you take stock, you wonder at the differences, the changes, and hindsight is always 20/20, or maybe it isn't, it is when the assumption is that things have been learned, and regrets carried, while still being happy for the path you took, and the person you became, but knowing now would change doing then, and the temporal paradox manifests. but still, some things never change, and it must be nice to have that rock, the stability, and i wonder how big or small the world really is, to go 15 years, yet still moving within the same space, in some cases the same neighborhood. but still unable to converse, to bring up topics, to share, give and take, and all the snippets that show up later in my head, hours, days later, but do me no good now. never good, and attempts to determine the root cause won't solve the problem, just recognize the problem. but seriously. wow. small world. http://eric.abando.com/musings/index.php?id=1210 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:19:51 CST forgetting the reasons, even the assumed reasons, forgetting to draw the lines across multiple data sets, but when you do, with the graph paper, and the tabulation, and it all adds up. it makes sense. And I wonder if the theory matches up with the reality, if the assumptions fit the truth, and even if the truth itself, the memories are rememberable, and of course, it doesn't matter. it's just the past. no fear of being repeated, or at least the hope of not repeating, it would not be pleasant if it did. but since i can't go back and find out, and how i wish i had figured it out sooner, or if i hadn't been so gullible, i could have saved, a lot. i could have figured it out sooner, before it got bad. i could have realized, and understood, and used the initiative, taken the first step, instead of the passivity, and waited for the inevitable, dragging it out. but again, all in the past, and nothing like that in my future. http://eric.abando.com/musings/index.php?id=1209 Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:18:55 CST decade, 10, dix, and yet, missing the beginning, a whole gap, and I don't even think there were written records, and so can't remember the beginning, but knowing how it ends, and the days, the markers in between, the space in between, the filler, the filling, the creamy center, the chewy center, how many licks, but the good stuff, the real meat of the operation, and the highs and lows, from 22 to 32, almost entirely post college, and did I ever think I'd be here? did i think of the future, the year we make contact, to finally be here and now, without a flying car, a jet pack, or laser guns? http://eric.abando.com/musings/index.php?id=1208 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:41:06 CST