Much as my best days are those on which I “learn a lot,” I find that some of my best days are also “totally scattered and almost devoid of billable hours.” In the last three days I’ve probably addressed ten problems for ten different people, and although I’ve billed out a good number of hours to a couple of clients, the majority of the others aren’t getting a bill at all. How do you feel when you’re in this kind of situation—is this extreme attention deficit disorder, or is there something useful to be learned from this kind of behavior? [Read more…]
Top sysadmin tools for iPad
Digital nomads, you can finally and really be the system administrator for your cloud (and other) servers from your iPad. Since December, each time I’ve left town, I have intentionally left my MacBook Pro at home in favor of my iPad. I found that just having a few specific apps allowed me to fully administer my cloud servers from the pad. Please note that a bluetooth (or other) keyboard is required for some of these apps to function fully. But generally I can do everything I need to when I’m on the road. [Read more…]
Tough days frequently end with “I learned a lot”
My “toughest” days are those I spend solving some completely intractible technical problem or other — days when I feel like I’m beating my head against a wall and the problem just will not yield to either intelligent analysis or brute force. The problem just persists, and I keep trying different approaches, and each one leads me a little way down the path but doesn’t solve the problem.
With luck, of course, each step yields some piece of information that ultimately contributes to finding a solution. But sometimes there are dead-ends.
The key to not becoming frustrated is to learn something from each step along the way. It might involve learning something new about the programming language, or maybe DNS infrastructure, or about administering Ubuntu, or about SMTP interactions, or about cryptography. Depends on the overall project, of course. What is ultimately “learned” might not even turn out to be relevant to solving the problem.
But the key is to step back at the end of the day and say “I learned something really valuable today, even if it took me ten times as long to solve this problem as I thought it would.”
My iPad’s cute little raincoat keeps it travel-ready
When I got my iPad and started carting it around everywhere with me, it first went into the big backpack along with my MacBook Pro (15”), and since I’m used to carrying 20+ pounds in the pack, adding the iPad didn’t bother me at all. It’s a good workout. And when I’m flying internationally, I take one wheeled bag and the backpack, so it’s standard-issue for me.
However, as I started relying more on the iPad for my mobile life, I realized that I could go without the full backpack[1. At least on business days. On weekends I trek around the city on foot, and I prefer to have some weight on my back just to get a better workout, as well as to carry a windbreaker, sweater and other supplies.]. So I checked at REI and found two items I couldn’t live without[2. I have no connection or contact with the manufacturers, bought the products at full retail, and can highly recommend them after months of use.]. [Read more…]
The Paris Metro you’ll never see
Without much comment, but with so much enjoyment (as one who uses the Paris metro beaucoup when I’m there — three times in the last 12 months)… the story of a subterranean world very few will ever see.
I would call them benign explorers and documenters of public territory (my words, of course) and certainly not terrorists, though I’m sure there would be hell-to-pay if they were caught by “the wrong people” and someone wanted to hold them up as examples of how poor security is. But they are urban heroes to me. 😉
I’m certainly not going to tell you the details, but I’ve done my own exploring of locked up places that I shouldn’t have visited (once freeclimbing up the side of a brick building at midnight with no gears, ropes or other aids, checking for unlocked windows, and picking locks), and I know the rush of being there with no intent to do harm but just exploring spaces that are usually closed off!
Perhaps you’re aware of the outcry among photographers (including myself) about rent-a-cop guards in the U.S. who try to stop you from taking perfectly legal and legitimate photographs in public places (most often near courthouses and federal buildings) — I have been stopped twice by these two-bit uninformed guards trying to keep me from taking photos because they believed there are federal laws prohibiting photography of federal or critical structures (even bridges). That’s not the same as jumping off the platform and running next to the subway tracks, but I couldn’t resist the comparison because it shows the paranoia that exists here in the U.S.
Also see my Art in Public Places articles, and the mixed-reality games I’ve made over the years since 2002.
[Photo “Ubiquitous | Paris 2007” from SleepyCity.net]
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