makeshiftmind

8:00 AM – 6:00 PM : pass the time at work listening to The Dark Knight soundtrack and playing the trailer over and over again
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM : drive to the Chesterfield Valley, feed my face, mentally prepare
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM : retrieve my pre-purchased ticket, stand in line and wait for seating to begin
8:00 PM – 8:17 PM : complain bitterly that the movie isn’t starting on time, and that the delinquents behind me won’t quit kicking my seat
8:17 PM – 8:30 PM : watch mostly lame previews that pale, PALE in comparison to the Batgoodness that will follow
8:30 PM – 10:30ish PM : suspension of disbelief; Batcycle envy

Some time ago, a friend of mine recommended that I read a short story by Kurt Vonnegut called Harrison Bergeron.  All I will say about the story is that it deals with the theme of equality in society, which is especially relavent to us because we hear the term “equality” thrown around a lot.  Anyway, I recently found the story online and thought I’d post it here for all to read.  It’s short, but profound.

If you vote for what you really don’t want, you are guaranteed to get it.

Because I’ve been listening to one of the greatest metal bands ever: Living Sacrifice. That’s right, they’ve come back to say “What now, contemporary christian music?? Bring it!” , and even though I’m not a Christian anymore, I can always enjoy me some LS. If you’re interested in treating yourself to pure awesomeness, you can surf your way over to their myspace page (may the Internets forgive them) and listen for yourself. Be prepared: THERE WILL BE BLOOD.

I’ve been doing a lot of interviews here at work lately, because we’re trying to find a few mid-grade .NET developers to augment our staff.  One thing that always surprises me is how little developers actually know about object oriented programming.  We typically ask questions like: “Describe inheritance.” or “What is the difference between an abstract class and an interface?”.  I’ve been trying to think of some new questions to ask, and as I was heading into work this morning, one popped into my head:

Q: What is Redneck polymorphism?
A: The ability to use any tool as a hammer.

Yeah, it’s not funny unless you’re a programmer.

I’ve heard about Technorati in the past but never really bothered to check it out. It’s blogging aggregation site that brings together information from a lot of different blogs and indexes it so you can search for things you’re interested in. Here is my Technorati profile.

…and do yard work today.  I have the day off, so instead of squandering it (my preferred mode of vacationing) I got out the mower, the trimmer, several yard tools, trash cans, and our ladder.  I had the front lawn mowed and trimmed by noon, and decided to tackle the clogged gutters and our miserable landscaping next.

I pulled the ladder around back where the lowest point of our roof is, and realized that to get maximum height from the ladder I’d need to open the gate to our back yard, which I did.  I positioned the ladder and climbed to the top rung (you know, the one that has that warning label on it informing you that it’s not really a rung), only to realize that the ladder was really too short for a roof expedition.  Nah, I thought, I’ll just hoist myself up.  I threw my work gloves onto the roof, took a small jump, and with no shortage of huffing managed to drag myself onto the shingles.  I was wearing shorts (bad idea) and scuffed my knee, which started bleeding, but it was manageable.  Then I looked down and realized…

I wouldn’t be able to lower myself back onto the ladder.  If I tried to slip over the edge feet-first, my weight would quickly pull me over and if I didn’t hit the top of the ladder just right, it would topple and I would hit the concrete.  Unacceptable.  My only alternative was to move over to the side of the roof where there was grass and slowly lower myself over the edge until I slipped off, hoping the soft earth would cushion the fall.

And that’s not what happened.  Instead, when I landed my right ankle took a nasty, painful twist.  I managed to semi-drag myself into the house, threw ice on it right away and elevated it to prevent swelling.  Even though there was a fair degree of pain, it wasn’t too unbearable, and I could lightly put weight on it so I was fairly certain it wasn’t broken.  There was minimal swelling and no discoloration, and while it remains uncomfortable and I hobble like a broken wind-up toy, I think it will heal quickly.

A few hours later I got a call from my friend Steve.  I told him what happened and he said, “Dude, what were you doing on the roof to begin with?  Geeks aren’t allowed up there.  For their own safety.”

I promptly agreed, and will play video games religiously until my health is restored.