The Moonlighting Student

Thinking Beyond Summer Hiatus

June 29th, 2009 7:28 am —  15 views
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The evenings have been mild, full of relax and warmth surrounded by happy plants carefully arranged. We play tennis in the mornings and run whimsical errands during the day. These are the days of summer hiatus.

The hiatus lasts about the length of one semester. It’s a hiatus because when it is over I go back to school. What kind of crazy to think is that by next year this time I’ll have graduated as a Master of Science in Information specializing in Human-Computer Interaction1.

But summer hiatus isn’t real. It exists because I define it by periods of work associated with school. When school is over will I still consider summer a hiatus? I’m not sure. Which might explain why I’m thinking forward while at the same time taking stock of my current situation. My combination of technical skills with schooling in  information architecture, usability research methods, and design principles has me thinking seriously about what type of job I want to be doing 5 years from now.

As this perfect position forms in my head, I’m looking to the universe to help by doing it’s part. Mr. Vitale explains that while working toward a particular objective you should also be expecting the universe to do it’s part. While I work on my part, Universe…you do yours.

So I’ll enjoy what summer has to offer (calling it a hiatus for now), but I’m also thinking ahead, past school and the next couple years. I’m thinking carefully about where I want to be and what I want to be doing. Figuring out how is ongoing. Except now I’ve enlisted the help of the Universe.

Image: I picked up a few books this weekend. Looking for them to sharpen my thinking with new ideas and perspectives. The mood was elevated by spirits and bruschetta made with basil from our deck garden.

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  1. This title taken from a business card I prematurely accepted when SI offered them to students [↩]

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Essential Inner Workings

June 15th, 2009 6:52 am —  11 views
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cam shaft

Power Translator

After a recent visit to a doctor because of strange goings-on in my knee, I was reminded of my age and told to get more exercise. I knew he was right on both accounts. After talking with my chiropractor about the mechanics of my inner knee, I learned the real reason, mechanically, why my knee was doing what it was doing. The body makes all kinds of lubricants to prevent parts of it from wearing down. What we eat and how much we stress the moving parts has a lot to do with how our inner workings age over time. I doubt I’m telling you anything you don’t know.

After reading musings on age and growth at a familial blog1, I started thinking about the things that drive us to do what we do and the strategies we employ to go about getting what we need and want. A lot of people start with lists. Lists that outline steps necessary to achieve a goal. Maybe the lists help identify the goals to begin with as was alluded to in aforementioned blog post. When someone sits down and thinks about their goals, whether the focus is on short or long term goals is very important2.

Long term goals should matter more than short term goals3. Perhaps more important is finding a balance between short and long term goals. Some exercise is better than none. Saving some money is better than saving none. Having a few tomatoes on your salad instead none.

This picture is of a cam shaft taken out of my nephew’s car by my father-in-law. This piece translates the up/down movement of the pistons into the circular movement of a spinning shaft. It is an essential inner component of an engine. This picture made me wonder what types of essential inner workings are shared among us that translate interest or motivation into action.

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  1. A blog written by the wife of my wife’s first cousin. W. and I are also god-parents to their two children. [↩]
  2. Goals such as whether to find a mate, have children, get a masters degree, attend college, find a job, get a boat, find beer, go to the bathroom, or visit Paris again. [↩]
  3. Length of term is variable as per circumstances. [↩]

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Cultivating growth

June 4th, 2009 6:31 am —  16 views
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Vegetables and herbsA coworker made a remark the other day that problems don’t get solved until people are bored and annoyed by them. Something about this comment, made while fixing an annoying problem, stuck in my head. The degree of truth it held could explain a lot.

We can be told to work on a project, to follow a list of requirements or a design. That takes a certain degree of problem solving skills, but that isn’t what I’m talking about. There are different qualities that come into play when considering the paths to project completion or problem solving. It’s the difference between an auto shop returning your car repaired with maybe a paper floor mat, or returning it repaired, washed, with your receipt waiting on the passenger seat. The main problem is solved, but the situation as a whole is treated as the problem to solve so tangential details are given attention.

When a situation as a whole is treated as a problem to solve there are more variables that come into play. Whether they are dealt with might be related to how bored or annoyed a person happens to be. We also considered how everybody has different bored and/or annoyance thresholds that govern their instigation to take action.

Maybe cultivation is the encouragement of situations where others have the opportunity to be bored and/or annoyed enough to take interest in something. However I’m inclined to think this is only part of the problem of encouraging contribution, interest, and growth.

Image: Our young vegetable deck garden, taken about a week ago. Since then I’ve added two pots of salad lettuce…trying something new.

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To Be Parallel

May 13th, 2009 9:43 pm —  10 views
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sailing3A lot has happened since I last tapped my thoughts to the world and the more days that pass the harder it has been to find what to say. Not to mention picking a picture. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not throwing in the towel or anything. It’s curious to me how Twitter and Facebook have supplemented whatever social itch I was scratching by blogging.

I recognize the importance of working to articulate ideas. I recognize the effort it takes. People who write novels are to be revered. So true is the “every word is a drop of blood.” It’s not easy. Circumstance may dictate the message, but the tone and timbre are unique to the person tapping the keyboard.

Within the last month I finished my 6th semester of graduate school (two more to go)1. I received an A and an A- in the two classes I took. I flew to Fort Worth, Texas for a three day technology summit with my peers from all around the world. I visited my mother, saw my brother, went to Mackinaw Island, and bought a new computer. This one that I’m typing on right now. I switched to my old keyboard because the new teeny Mac keyboard was distracting and not fitting with my chair and setup.

Tomorrow is my first round for this summer’s golf season. I missed last week because of the Texas trip, but I’m looking forward to hitting the links tomorrow. A silly game, but a game not so bad.

I still puzzle over the differences between those that “get” Twitter and those that don’t. The division is obvious, but the realization distinct. Granted, this applies to a certain, perhaps limited, networked audience, but within that audience, where is your attention? Can it be distributed? How distributed? Humans and computers interacting, where are the limits?

To be parallel is to never converge or diverge. To always be perfectly aligned with something. With so many things having different alignment, finding that parallel among such diversity is the problem to solve.

Image: These guys were racing their remote control sailboats in a pond near the entrance to an industrial park on a road toward where I live. I happen to have my camera handy and pulled over to take this picture from a distance.

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  1. If all goes according to plan I’ll graduate next spring. [↩]

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My Twittered Life

April 16th, 2009 6:49 am —  32 views
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catsThe weather is turning toward nice with cool sunny days ahead. Hopefully I’ll get to step outside every now and then. Otherwise I’ll be in my basement office, tucked away in a corner of the back dungeon, hunched over a keyboard as my fingers play a crescendo that will last 11 days. Lots of thinking, organizing, and writing to come in the next week and a half as I wrap of requirements of classes.

It’s not like I haven’t wanted to blog lately. Funny how many times I’ve opened a window and stared at a blank blog post.

But look at me lately, twittering away in 140 characters posts. Let’s look at some of these recent tweets:

…My brain is ready for summer break but knows it is just an illusion. It isn’t really a break as much as a short delusion.

At nearly 140 characters, this was one of my first attempts at tweet poetry. Notice the superb rhythm and cadence. I was thinking about how summer has a totally different feel when it is sandwiched between two equally long (actually longer) periods of time of intense academic focus. Whether a person is in school, summer is just a season. Our minds give it more significance when washed with thinking from past and future.

…hanging out in the student lounge, folding brochures to hand out in class and eating some triscuits.

I tweeted this when, well…it says when. The brochures were for a group project I worked on called, Bblis. The lounge was busy. I noticed some classmates come in during this time that paced around a bit looking for a place to sit. Every seat was taken. There was room on the couch if this young woman would have been willing to raise herself from a prone position.

…sitting in class near an open window on the 4th floor…a squirrel just walked by on the ledge. i think i was the only person who saw it.

Just 3 hours prior I had been sitting in my online communities class and there was that event with the squirrel. Funny that I turned to Twitter to share it.

…is thinking about making some cinnamon rolls for Easter breakfast.

And this one was how I spent Easter morning. I treated myself and W. to some oven-baked cinnamon rolls. I took some heat for this one during a meeting yesterday wherein one of my co-workers (yet unconvinced if Twitter has any value to the world) took issue with the meaninglessness of knowing what I was making for breakfast. Then don’t follow me on Twitter I said…

And with that, I’m off to work.

Image: I took this the other day during lunch. The cats were happy and sleepy pinned down by the sunbeams.

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