Silicon Valley Redneck

One year on...

Been a year (less a couple hours) since I saw the news that Lex had died.

The wheels of official investigation grinding slowly, we still don't know what happened, beyond the NTSB's brief preliminary report and some scattered informal accounts giving additional details which may be spurious.

And meanwhile, I've utterly failed to follow through on either of the inspirations that struck within a few days.

Inspiration #2: come up with an awesome technical solution to the problem of landing blind in a low-budget plane at a field that doesn't have all the right equipment.  I actually did come up with what seems an entirely plausible concept; mass-produced, it would cost a few hundred bucks (plus several times that for installation), and I figure it would improve an experienced carrier pilot's odds in that situation from basically zilch to better than 80%.  Trouble is: it would improve Joe Cessna's odds to maybe 20%... and probably be blamed for encouraging him to get into that situation in the fist place.  So, not likely to be a viable product.

Inspiration #1: become more Lex-like.  Not in the sense of flying jets, or embarking on a military career (you wouldn't believe how many waivers I'd need, and I don't think they even have one for members of the risk-averse community), but....

See, here's the thing about Lex.  Apart from the interesting stories, he was a rare sensible voice in a mad world.  And: he had a sort of Personal Decency Field that was reflected in his comments section.  It's easy to keep a civil comments section when you have few commenters, or you allow only like-minded voices.  But Lex had an active comments section, and while it was dominated by military types, random civilians, including lefties, could participate civilly.  (As it turns out, the most persistently irritating contrary voice was actually a conservative in liberal guise, there to challenge prevailing assumptions.  Sounds suspiciously like a training tactic, but it also helped keep things less unfriendly to those who actually held views outside the comment-section mainstream.)

Another thing I notice is that, despite an active career in which he interacted with a great many people and held positions of authority over some of them, it seems that he never made any personal enemies.  De mortuis nil nisi bonum and all that, but I haven't heard anything negative about Lex in the past year, nor while he was alive either.  A possible clue: a rare post on something he regretted.  Once, as a young officer under a lot of pressure, he'd snapped at an enlisted man.  A momentary breach of professionalism and courtesy: this was his big nagging regret.

While it's true that I haven't accumulated much in the way of personal enemies, I've mainly achieved this by never being in a position of authority, not having a lot to do with people and their issues, and generally running away and hiding when things get personal or political.  This is the kind of stuff you can get away with when you're an engineer... but, if I'm to be an entrepreneur, I really need to develop the sort of people skills Lex had.

Inspiration #0, also not followed up on: do the analysis to support #1 in detail, and compose an epic post thereupon.  (Sort of the antithesis of Cosmo Lavish's obsession with the outward trappings of Vetinari-ness.)

It is better to be rich and healthy than to be poor and sick.

You've seen the three-option lists.  Quick, cheap, good: pick any two.  Things of that nature.

Then there are the sarcastic variants: Late, wrong, over-budget: pick any three.

Well, my desire to Do Cool Stuff keeps running into any combination of three constraints: time, money, and health.

But, come to think of it, that's not a choose-one or pick-any-two type of tradeoff.  The reality is: if you lack one, you'll end up lacking the others.

If I made more efficient use of my time, I'd have more money... and more available time... and I'd probably be healthier.

If I were in better health, I'd find it easier to put my time to productive and/or fun uses.

And, if I had more money, I could maybe take vacations, do fun stuff, and de-stress.

See how that works?

Well: effective this morning, I'm picking at the time and health sides.  I got through the morning routine in almost reasonable time, and got an early enough start on the day to get in a 5-mile hike.  By next Monday, I figure to be back on my proper schedule, i.e., up by 0430, out the door by 0630, and finish a 7-mile hike, with proper hills, around 0900.  Also: no sweets, unless in the middle of a hike or similar; cut back (again) on refined grain products; keep fresh fruit around for snacking on.  This afternoon, I reached a project milestone; what remains of the afternoon is cluttered with salesy stuff, but tomorrow I should reach a milestone on another project that's in the queue.

The money side... well, I need to start poking numbers into Turbot Ax real soon now.  If the answer comes up as expected, I'll need to pull a rabbit out of my hat before the 16th, what with last year's income having been more than it seemed like, and way too much of it having gone to unscheduled expenses not of my choosing.  Fortunately, I think I know where a wabbit may be found, and I should be able to buy myself some breathing room, at least, while the upstream cash flow gets itself sorted out (ah, life in the small-business lane).  And, by the end of this year, I really need to get my business status sorted out (having been kind of adrift, albeit sometimes lucratively so, since fall of '04).

Making a start on the resolutions. Ponderments to follow.

These past few weeks, I've been feeling a Big Important Post coming on, full of ponderments and resolutions.

Well, what with work, illness, distractions, and whatnot, that post isn't happening just yet.

I have, however, followed through on a couple of minor items.

Secondly, look over there on the right.  See, a whole new blogroll!  Now in alphabetical order!  Not much, true, but the old one was getting awfully long in the tooth, and some of those links had gone stale or even vanished altogether.  I probably dropped a few that didn't need dropping - this was a start-from-scratch list based on what I've been reading the last few days - so it'll be growing a bit.

Firstly, look over here, through my webcam.  Oh, that's right, I haven't got one.  Anyway: I got my spring haircut today.  From now on, I'll be keeping my hair at a reasonable length (which will disappoint Joy, who thinks I should have a ponytail).  Ergo, a cooler head, less grease, better efficiency.  And, with a cool head, I'll be more inclined to exercise more, and get in better shape (which is the biggest item on my list).

The next couple of weeks are likely to be a scramble, what with needing to do my taxes and come up with the cash to pay them.  So, Other Priorities get underfoot once again.

Anyway, there's a serious post to follow, eventually, and perhaps something of a change of direction.  Towards, maybe, having a direction?

Good advice, regardless.

Over at Lex's ongoing virtual wake, Jim Shawley linked to a post from a few years back on the importance of looking for the airplane that isn't there.  Just in case, on this occasion, it is.

A post that comes to mind from time to time, as circumstances crop up, and whose importance is by no means limited to aviation.

I've long been in the habit, sometimes laughed at by passengers, of looking for the car that isn't coming.  Looking to the right, for example, before turning left from Rengstorff onto Charleston in Mountain View, despite that fact that the westbound lane doesn't exist to the right of that location.

Well, there never has been unexpected traffic at that spot, but: the morning of this past Thanksgiving, I was headed off to Whole Foods in search of a pie, in my little Prius.  Down Mathilda (by whatever name) to Stevens Creek.  Light is red, so kinda coast toward the intersection in the right-turn lane.

Light turns green just before I reach the intersection.  Destination lane is clear to the right.  Reflexively stop anyway and look left for the car that isn't there...

...And a bloody great gravel truck comes barreling through the red light.

That pause cost me a couple of seconds, but I lived to have the pie.