Gifted Slacker

I had Subway for lunch today, while I was out buying groceries. I rationalized it by thinking it would save me time slicing bread for a sandwich, after I got back to my place.

Wrong.

It was just laziness and, since the sandwich hit my stomach like a bowling ball, I’m even more sluggish than I was before.

Take a page from my book, kids: Don’t do Subway, because Subway always ends up doing you in the end.

I’ve finally been pushed over the line from my position that Tinderbox is neat, but I probably wouldn’t use enough of its features to justify purchasing it. Reading Mark Bernstein’s recent post about it completely changed my mind.

Go read that post.

Amazing isn’t it? I do that sort of thing all of the time, enduring much more pain than Mark went through.

My purchase will have to wait until I have the money, probably some not-so-insignificant time after I get out of graduate school in September. Unless, that is, I dip into my next financial aid check (No, I’m not really going to do that. Settle down, Mom.).

Note: Yes, I’m aware that there’s a trial version; however, I’m not a fan of becoming addicted to a piece of software to be thwarted when it comes to actually buying a license, so I’ll just wait.

The following quote is true of my programming skills to some extent. Definitely for my .NET skills and, to a lesser degree, my Lotus Notes skills.

Most people who perform a job over a number of years will become experienced non-experts, not experts.

The other programming languages I use are more well honed. And I’ve been applying more deliberate practice to my programming theory, though I wasn’t aware of the term.

It’s good to know that other people agree with my thinking on British (and USian, to a lesserish extent) drinking culture. Emphasis mine:

Gamers vote. Gamers buy newspapers. They won’t vote for you, or buy your newspapers, if you trash their entertainment with your ignorant ravings. Call them social inadequates if you like, but when they have more friends in World of Warcraft than you have in your entire sad little booze-oriented culture of a real life, the most you’ll get from them is pity.

From here.

Bill Hicks on Gays in the Military. (LA riots, hooligans, and poking fun at the English here.)

Bill Hicks is pretty funny, I can’t remember where I got the pointer but I first saw his marketing skit.

Here and, to a lesser degree, here.

Contrast, that is.

The previous article I posted about talked mostly about the evolving ethos at Princeton. One person they mentioned was Hobey Baker, a football legend and aviator. He was the epitome of conformance.

After graduation Baker went to work on Wall Street, but found it boring, so he went to war, where he was killed in an accident after the Armistice. I like to think that perhaps something that pushed him to excel bridled at his conformity and caused him to break out of it.

Dwight Eisenhower graduated from West Point the same year as Baker graduated from Princeton.

Eisenhower wasn’t exactly a conformist. He pursued a military career despite the disapproval of his family, and when he entered the academy he was one of the oldest in his class. He was also a friend and sometimes protector of the flamboyant George Patton (who graduated from West Point 6 years before Ike and Baker).

Patton revolutionized the tank corp. and pissed off a lot of people by doggedly doing things the way he thought (knew) best. He also believed that he was the reincarnation of one (or more) of history’s greatest generals.

Patton and Eisenhower were both conformist enough to advance in the Army (Patton less so than Eisenhower). However, both of them were individual enough to come up with war-winning strategies, and ended up ruffling quite a lot of their allies’ feathers.

On the other hand, Baker was a severe conformist his entire life, until he enlisted. His sudden divergence from his previously held-dear norms may have even contributed to his death.

I guess some (most) of us have to accept that we will never fit into a certain demographic. People who aren’t born to be Ivy-drones can have just as much positive effect on the world as those who are. They are just different paths; neither is better or easier than the other.

Reading this is making me horribly depressed.

In an age where everyone is becoming the same in mind and body, true value lies in individuality. I believe this.

This is a big reason I’m having (and have always had) so much trouble with school. I’m only happy to conform  if that’s my natural state on a matter. However, right now, I’m conforming more than I’m comfortable with.

The only `con` I endorse is confusion of the chaotic sort.

A couple of changes to the way I’ll be working are in order. From now on I’ll be checking my email accounts once per day, usually in the morning, and I will not be leaving Adium (AIM, YIM, GChat, Twitter) on during the day.

That is all. Thank you for your attention. Buoy-Boyee (The episode is no longer awailiable on YouTube).

Addendum: iTunes will also be turned off while working. It’s too much of a distraction for most work.

[Emphasis mine] There is a generational digital divide which means that parents do not necessarily feel equipped to help their children in this space – which can lead to fear and a sense of helplessness. This can be compounded by a risk-averse culture where we are inclined to keep our children ‘indoors’ despite their developmental needs to socialise and take risks. #

Can you guess what this quote is about?

America is a place where failure is not an option. If you mess up, you’d better sweep it under the rug and hope nobody goes digging. It’s a culture that bails out once successful companies (airlines, Amtrak) and not-so-bright people (ARM crisis) because its adults are afraid.

Anyway, the quote is from a report on children and the internet and video games. If people feel helpless and afraid of guiding their children through the oh-so-dangerous world of the internets, how are they going to teach their children to take measured risks in real life?

Eventually nobody will go anywhere or do anything because, well, something could happen! Which is kind of the whole damn point of living.