Month: September 2006

When the train starts to decelerate the natural inclination of the body is to bend backwards ever so slightly so as to compensate the force of nature which states that moving objects will continue moving in the initial direction due to the momentum as defined by the current situation.

The tar pit of software engineering will continue to be sticky for a long time to come. One can expect the human race to continue attempting systems just within or just beyond our reach; and software systems are perhaps the most intricate of man's handiworks. This complex craft will demand our continual development of the discipline, our learning to compose in larger units, our best use of new tools, our best adaptation of proven engineering management methods, liberal application of common sense, and a God-given humility to recognize our fallibility and limitations.

-- The Mythical Man-Month, by Fred Brooks (the very last paragraph).

There we were, running through the night not quite sure which way to go next but that was not the true essence of the problem of course. The most important matter deserving immediate attention was the fact that just over the edge of where we were running there would appear this unusual apparition of which we were not quite ready to accept. With only about fifty yards or so to go it was perhaps time to think matters over but this was to be to no avail. What was about to happen would happen anyway no matter how much one might perhaps wish otherwise.

This is more than likely the next auto I plan to drive in. After work this evening I took another spin in it for the second time, and I believe that this is the right car for me.

Mazda 5

I would say that the most important thing now is just to get on with things and see what happens without worrying too much in advance whether or not this or that may pop up unexpectantly or not.

This is the house in Los Angeles in which my son Lennart is now living.

Now is the time to learn more about CORBA, an interesting technology that has had its heyday already but a technology which my development team still uses extensively -- so I better acquire deeper insights while I can.

In case you were wondering, CORBA is the acronym for Common Object Request Broker Architecture

Just supposing for the sake of it that I happened to be walking too closely to the edge of the platform without realizing it and at that precise moment I inadvertently poked my elbow out two or three or maybe even three and a half centimeters (just enough) over the edge right when a speeding train decides to pass by swiftly onto the next destination without the slightest consideration about any angled obstruction that might be standing in the way making painful contact with splintering bones and other unpleasant ripping and crackling sounds, what then?

Hey Dad I'm still thinking of you even after all these years. Just imagine that today would have been your eighty-ninth birthday. That's pretty hard to believe. Still miss you very much.

Dad and me at the Nut Tree Inn (1964)

The thing about Bluemars is that although the playlist probably hasn't changed in over a year if not longer I still like to listen to it once in a while.

"Hello, are you on the air..."

Everyone is staring intently at the little display (4x3 cms) trying to make sense of things with squinting eyes that cannot quite understand what is happening, thumbs and fingers groping the buttons in order to cause interesting things to happen or not to happen, that tiny screen reacting to our deepest impulses (or not).

At least the human mind had never evolved in the first place with the idea that this is how things would be in the long run.

As mobile technology evolves with things advancing in quantum leaps every two years or so, human evolution which is based on centuries if not millenia have to turn sharp corners and adapt accordingly.

Curious what will happen in the long run.

Hey that guy sitting across from me was hacking and clearing his thoat the whole time much worse than I do all the time.

I thought that I was bad, but after sitting next to this person for more than an hour, even I the champion throat-clearer was getting pretty crazy.

Perhaps it is just a nervous habit, but is that a valid excuse?

This could well be your last stand
Hold the sunlight in your hand
Spread your fingers
Feel the sand fall through.

- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Highway Companion.

This is what happens when you let the mad rush take over your life. Unknown powers seem implicitly to displace what you were planning to do. But then again at the last minute you decided that there was not enough time in the first place to accomplish what you had intended. That's where the mad rush comes into play, so beware.

Five years on and I would rather not remember this awful day.

Time goes on.

All of it is very interesting when you think about how things were back then, how they were meant to be, how things ended up in the long run, those days of innocent childhood experiences and more. It is not so much what you expect to happen but rather what will happen in the long run let's be prepared no matter what happens.

So what if we get older. Does it really matter?

I think not.

No wonder I haven't been able to get my TDM400 card working after all these months of struggling.

You see, I had installed it in a vacant spot without Inserting the four-pin 12-volt connector into the white plastic slot on the rear of the TDM400P card.

(Dumb, but that's life)

So in order to celebrate this fantastic achievement I implemented a state-of-the-art (not really) dialplan. When you dial 611, you are connected to a sexy female voice that says 'hello world' and then hangs up.

The wonders of modern technology, you might say.

Whether or not you realize it just waiting on the platform behind me, that train just two tracks away from where you are sitting is barreling past at an unbelievable speed.

My initial estimate would be a slick two hundred kilometers per hour or so. The gush of wind first pushing me back and then sucking me back again attests to that fact.

All those kind folks enclosed within that speeding piece of metal have no idea of how fast they are speeding by, nor does a single passenger realize that on the platform there is this gray-haired observer trying to philosophize and think things up.

Everyone goes on with their own lives as if it all doesn't really matter, which is alright.

No one likes it when others die. But that is pretty much what is happening all over the world right now. The worst possible situation is having to die a violent death because of some unnecessary war or because of some rash act of terrorism or whatever. For some reason, we are becoming numbed and seem to accept things for the way they are. Like this is what was always meant to happen which is alright as long as it doesn't affect me and I can continue my own life without dying all of a sudden.

Now it is official after all these years. Meaning that as of yesterday I am now an official Dutch person, having acquired citizenship of this fine country in which I have been living for the last twenty-five years or so. Half American and half Dutch at the same time, an interesting combination I have to admit.

There he is again that guy I have been telling you about all along.

He is walking down the stairs and will continue his journey back up again and finally along the street which leads to the center of town.

After that I am not quite sure which direction he will choose, but that does not matter.

At least not for now.

What really matters is when I will see him again, that moment in time when our paths intersect.

This will probably not happen within the next few days, but more than likely I will see that guy again next month or so.

When that happens.