Developing Usable Experiences

The challenge of being …

September 23rd, 2007 10:14 pm —  107 views

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I used to say to myself that I didn’t expect anybody to work harder than me…but I would expect them to work as hard as me. Sometimes I wonder whether this approach still makes sense. Everybody works at different paces, in different ways. Just because someone doesn’t work the same way as me doesn’t mean they aren’t working. My expectations are my demons and finding a balance is damn important…for myself and those that have to work with me.

Most of today was spent working on things that needed to be done. I did some reading, I mowed the lawn, I worked on some computer systems that underlie “interspike.com.” I watched a few innings of the Tiger game. I typed up a bunch of notes for a group. I reviewed my to-do items for the week and knocked out as many as I could…mostly those that really had to be done. As I was writing that I realized I should contact another group for my other class. I hadn’t heard from any of them since last Wednesday and we’re supposed to meet tomorrow to review what we have to deliver a week from tomorrow.

Plenty of time. That’s what I need to tell myself. I’m so adverse to things piling up I get myself worked up when I know what’s coming and don’t feel prepared…or prepared enough.

It’s all good. I’m just stressing for no good reason. But yeah, school is vexing. But so is work. So are neighbors. So is letting oneself be so easily vexed. I’m cool. I’m chill. I’m going to bed.

Image: When we left the group room we’d reserved on Saturday, I left this note on the whiteboard. An anonymous proclamation to others that they aren’t alone.

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The devil went down to Georgia…

September 22nd, 2007 10:43 pm —  355 views

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About a million years ago my father made my brothers and I a mixed tape while we were visiting him in California (yes, I said “tape”…I’m totally dating myself here). One of the songs was the title of this entry. I was watching the last half of Brokeback Mountain (still haven’t seen the whole thing, not sure I want to) and I heard this in the background during one of the scenes. I’ve always loved this song and know every word of it.

Some of the other songs from that mixed tape? Help me out Reverand…I remember the Eye of the tiger, Jukebox hero, Urgent (the great sax solo), Rosanna. Remember this Old Dog? Had to be 20+ years ago…

So yeah, today was totally a long day. My group met for six hours. We got a lot done. And yes, I’m still thinking it’s The Best Group Ever.
It’s late, again. W. has gone to bed…though I heard her upstairs just a few moments ago moving about. She’s not asleep yet.

I really need to crash. Blogs are crazy. I realized that people have been posting comments and they haven’t been showing up. Blogs like this one receive a crazy amount of spam as comments so the system queues them for moderation. I’ll pay closer attention. I like to hear from people, not spam bots.

Image: I took this picture during our group meeting today. We were all working hard. I was pretending to sleep. Who took this picture you’re wondering? I did of course. :)

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Watching the clock, looking ahead

September 21st, 2007 9:58 pm —  151 views

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As for looking ahead; who really knows? I mean seriously. If you had asked me 15 years ago if I thought I’d be where I am today, I would have had to answer, “I have no frickin’ idea.”

And that would be truth. Who really knows what lies ahead. You put your ball on the tee, you get out a club and line up your shot, then you take your swing. The factors that determine the path of the ball are many. The preparation for the swing is your entire lifetime up until that moment. Sounds corny maybe, I must be missing golf or something.

So I’m not sure I like the template yet. I could use some feedback. I think it’s better than the one before, but that isn’t saying much.

W. and I went to dinner at her favorite restaurant tonight (Carlyles). Our waiter was great, which was a lucky break. Getting a good waiter can be a crap shoot anywhere you go. We enjoyed ourselves and I got a chance to tell her how much I valued her support … yada yada. But I really do. She said nice things to me that sort of melted my heart. Almost like she can read my mind. She mentioned how proud she is of me and what I’m doing. And really, this means a lot when I’m up late at night reading articles on topics I can hardly pronounce. Words like that are good. W. is too good to me.

Just heard from a professor from last semester that I’d taken an interest with. He needed a code monkey and I needed some perspective. Not sure he got what he needed but I learned a few things about trust and caution. Live and learn you know.

Almost eleven. Time to wrap this up and hit the sack. I have to get up early to type up notes from a contextual inquiry before heading off to a group meeting where we’ll be putting together an affinity diagram. I should be sleeping but here I sit, blogging to a silent audience.

“Hello world.” (Nerds get the joke I hope. I crack myself up sometimes).

Image: I took this picture on my way home last night. Downtown Ann Arbor is pretty cool anyway. Even though it was dark there were tons of people around, going about their Ann Arbor ways. And yeah, it’s tough to take a picture from a moving vehicle through the sunroof.

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The Best Group Ever

September 20th, 2007 11:08 pm —  142 views

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Today was pretty exciting. And by exciting I don’t mean exciting ‘good’. I mean exciting like being on a roller coaster. And if you’re like me, riding a roller coaster is both fun and not-so-fun all at the same time.

First things first. If you happen to be a regular reader (I’m pretending they exist…work with me) then you probably noticed the template has changed. I’ve been meaning to personalize my blog template for some time. I worked awhile last night and stumbled on some things that made me want to pull my hair out (if I didn’t shave it all off of course). But I got some creative ideas from a nerdy peep of mine that helped me work through them. This template is based on “Brown”. A color that underlies who I am. I hope the Old Dog understands why things are the way they are in this respect.

It’s almost midnight, again. Sure, I want to go to bed sooner…believe me. But the only time I have to work on stuff, other than schoolwork, is on the days that I don’t have classes. So here I am, working on this chronicle of education and experience.

And yes, I’m in my Best Group Ever. Such a balanced blend of personalities. To be honest, I’m honored to be part of it. Last year I learned a lot about group dynamics and didn’t handle things as well as I could have. But I think I’ve learned from those experiences and am working to apply myself more effectively this time.

It’s after midnight now and I’m listening to Johnny Lang because he’s just plain awesome and Nina Simone is for when I’m needing something else.

A lot happened today that I’d love to share, and have tried to with W. but seriously, we haven’t had much time to connect lately. I hope to address this deficit by taking her out to dinner tomorrow and telling her how incredibly important she is to me and how much I appreciate her supporting this crazy pursuit of education I’ve got myself into. W., you’re the shix. And yes, I ask myself daily: is it worth it? I sure as hell hope so. I can’t be the submissive programmer forever. I want to redefine my role and this is going to take some work. Management doesn’t see it and culture doesn’t support it. But I think they’ll come around. Time will tell.

Image: I took this tonight during a group meeting. We’re working together and stuff.

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Another late night, crap.

September 19th, 2007 11:27 pm —  127 views

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It’s after midnight and that sort of sucks. I’ve been messing with templates to this blog for the last hour or two. I created a header of polaroid like images from the last year and the template that I tried to use was all wacked. So I had to revert to this one. But doggone it, I’ll change this template eventually. Maybe I can get CathieT.com to help me.

What can I say. School is the shix. Though I’m putting in ridiculous hours on reading, studying, drawing, desiging…I can feel that its going to be worth it. The things I’m learning are so close, so within reach, that I’m surprised I haven’t seen them before.

Not that I’m looking to do something other than what I’m doing. I really like my work. Mostly I like who I work with. The Waltzing Bear keeps me in line. When that changes, I suspect I’ll be ready for a change. But really, who likes change? We pretend we like change, but that’s bunk. If you’re happy you want nothing to change.

Like Nina says, “I want a little a sugar in my bowl…I want a little sweetness down in my soul…I feel so funny, I feel so sad.”

W. has a cold and has been running a fever. She’s a trooper and works through it. But with school and work, we hardly have a chance to talk about anything. I know it’ll pass, everything does, but geez. The pace is something else.

I should crash. It’s way later than I should be up. I’m tired and my arms are heavy.

Image: I took this in class tonight. The professor used an exercise I’d drawn the previous week to illustrate various points about design and critique…that’s it on the screen. :) I’m still not sure if he liked it or not but he made it part of his lecture slides so that’s something.

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