The Lighter Side of Absolute Zero

All stories have a climax, a high point. Most stories put this at the end, leaving only a little room to allow the reader to climb down off the metaphorical mountain. There is good reason for this: when the point the reader cares about is resolved, they lose interest. I cannot help but wonder how, or even if, that point was missed with the latest Batman movie (The Dark Knight). We just got back from seeing the movie and I thought the movie was over and wrapped up a good 20 minutes (or more, I didn’t check my watch) than it actually was. I spent that last bit just sitting there wondering why the movie was still playing and how I could have misread the signals. I’m not sure I did; either the climax came too soon, or I assigned too much importance to a minor plot point.

Did this ruin the movie for me? I’m not sure. It did leave me with a very different experience than with the first movie, and I will need to re-watch it in order to really judge it, now that I know how to watch it. I will have to conclude that for a first-time watcher who knows a little about the Batman universe, I thought the story was over before the director did, and that is probably not a good sign as far as I’m concerned.

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 8:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I’m starting a new job in a week and a half; it’s a work-from-home programming gig, and I’ll likely never meet my other co-workers face-to-face. It is a distributed office with people on three different countries. Early this week I received and email from my future-boss and he asked that I submit a two paragraph bio, presumably to be shared with the rest of the company so they might get to know me better.

So I’ve been trying to figure out just what to say in only two paragraphs, and trying to decide just how long I’ll make my paragraphs. Not to sound too pompous but like most people I’m rather more complex than just two paragraphs. I have three major passions in my life, a small handful of hobbies, and thirty-one years of personal history that may or may not be relevant. I’m at a loss for what to say in only two paragraphs.

Oh well. I guess this means they won’t get to know me very well from my bio. Maybe it won’t matter. After all, they will only read my words and hear my voice (or snores, as I’m sure to have some early morning meetings).

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 12:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Somewhere it has been mentioned that a step in improving oneself as a programmer is to make a list of programmers you admire and — that’s where I stop. I have been so terribly under-exposed to programmers, let alone good programmers, that I have been working in a near-vacuum the past dozen years. I’ve seen and maintained my fair share of bad code; in fact among my friends we constantly try to steal the “I have the worst code-base to maintain” award. I know what bad code looks like. What I don’t have exposure to is good code, and good programmers.

There are good programmers out there, ones far better than I, and I want to find some. I would love to work alongside at least one before I retire from this industry. My only question now is who are these programmers and how can I be exposed to their work? I’m open to suggestions.

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I had a period of time in my youth in which I was free, and I filled that free time with the study of God and the Bible. That time has come and gone; I am now a husband, a father, an employee, and a home owner. My time is scarce, sold to the highest bidder. Some part of me has been putting off deep theological study waiting for days when things will slow down and I will find myself with an abundance of time. What a fool I have been; I will likely have no such time until I retire or die, and I cannot wait that long to resume my studies. I shall have to study deep, but in short intervals. Maybe that will be enough, for now.

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I started watching Firefly again; this is my third time through it. It was not until this time that I have finally begun to see the larger story of Firefly, and what might possibly be the “real” story Joss Whedon was going for (I may be wrong, and he is free to correct me). Firefly is a story about River, Blue Sun, and the Alliance, and it is told through the adventures of the crew of Serenity. Sure the crew make the watching and the telling that much more compelling, and they give us something to watch, but at the heart of it all is this larger plot whose story is told as the smaller adventures happen.

I happen to like this style of story telling. It’s one I’ve seen in many different places, and one I would like to emulate some day. It does not detract from favorite episodes, which are self-contained, but adds to the corpus.

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)