Musing on Moving

Packing a house provides a unique prospective on life.

I practically grew up packing. Every four years we'd move from Indonesia to travel around America for a few months, and in sixth grade, I began moving countries four times a year (Christmas and summer breaks). When I graduated high school and moved to college, I moved almost all I owned to a dorm room, and each semester, I'd move it out and back again.

Each time I moved, I would think about how similar my life was to that of a nomad and how this life is only the beginning of an eternal journey. But this is the first time I've packed up a whole house. This is the first time I've moved while married.

This time is different. I now have a family to move (my wife and two dogs). I am the provider moving my tribe to more suitable lands. It's a difficult thing to describe, this feeling. I suppose I never noticed just how self-centered all my previous moves have been. I have never needed to find a place near a park or considered purchasing a vehicle based on children I won't have for years to come. I have never before been responsible for someone else in a move.

I suppose this is what it is to be a leader--to be a husband.

Windows 7, Snow Leopard, the Universe, and Everything

People are crazy. I just read through the comments on someones plug for Windows 7, and as always, bitter debate ensued. There were basically two camps: Windows users and Mac users. Each group consisted of mostly common users--people who use their computers for typing up reports, sending emails, or surfing the net (side note: since the internet is a series of connected tubes, I propose we call it the "inter-tubes"). Sprinkled throughout the mud-flinging were a few IT techs and network administrators who attempted (to no avail) to even the playing field one way or the other.

Windows 7 has been hailed as the end-all be-all of operating systems by end users who just suffered through Vista. In comparison, I'm sure it's breathtaking. It hasn't been out long enough for users to find the little annoyances and fatal system bugs that will inevitably arise. Already, Windows has released numerous fixes to patch up cracks in the media and security holes. In time, W7 users will descend from their high and they'll start complaining again--this is the nature of new toys. I'm not saying they'll be as unhappy as they were with Vista; I find that extremely hard to envision. Windows users will still be Windows users because that's what they're used to.

Snow Leopard has been the hottest news in the Apple community since it came out in August 2009, but Apple seems to be slipping from their white tower. Mac users often boast that Apple computers can't get viruses and don't crash. Ever. McAfee (anti-virus software giant) recently extended support for Macs (stupid move if they can't get viruses), and Snow Leopard, even without a virus, will delete everything you ever saved if you log in as a guest. My point should be made by now. No operating system is perfect--patches and upgrades are necessary. In the end though, Mac users will be Mac users, those bumper stickers are super-glued on.

Apple advertising is shameful. Mud-flinging has always been seen for what it is, and I personally sympathize with the PC guy--if only for the fact that he's made fun of time and time again. Microsoft did a great job with the counter campaign: "I'm a PC." They're not flinging mud back; they're just making Apple look like they don't like people.

The ironic thing: PC means Personal Computers. Apple computers are PCs. The least they could do is say "Microsoft" when they mean it, but that would give them away.

Now that I've sufficiently angered both sides, allow me to stereotype Windows and Mac users. If you don't fall into my stereotypes, you don't need to be offended, just sit back and chuckle a little as you think of people you know in either boat.

Windows users are the everyday computer users. Most haven't branched out to other operating systems, and if they have, they realized that the largest support base was back where they started. They don't want the job to get their hands dirty, they just want to get the job done. Windows is everywhere: schools, businesses, internet cafes, and coffee shops.

The large majority of Mac users I've met would kill for their Mac. The article I read that inspired me to write this called them "Mac fanboys," which is a good description. These are the fanatic Mac users who will comment mean things about me when I post this message. They have a great operating system. They have white Apple stickers on their car and warn people to stay away from their precious white machines. Their paranoia is justified. Don't hate or ostracize them, they're just in the minority--and know it.

If you're a Windows user, find a Mac user who's not overly protective of his machine and give it a try. You might be surprised.

If you're a Mac user, try out Windows, it's everywhere.

Both of you, find some nerd with Ubuntu and give it a whirl. You might be surprised.

Linux people are generally nerds, but it is true that Ubuntu is becoming very user friendly. The upside is that it's free and new full versions come out twice a year. Free. Linux people don't mind searching forums for the program they need to get the job done because there are enough nerds out there to make good programs and to test one another's programs. They're the outcasts, and they don't mind.

There will always be issues to resolve no matter what operating system you use, so before you get too old, try a new one. Don't just sit down, feel uncomfortable, and leave; ask someone to introduce their world to you. They might look at you like you've lost your mind, but hey, people are crazy.

A Poem

I wrote this poem to my wife while we were still dating. I think I wrote it down during some class that I found especially droll, and I gave it to her shortly thereafter. Today my wife returned home from a trip to her parent's house, and she brought this poem with her.

A Poem
by Robert Whiting (3/25/08)

Well I thought I'd write a poem
in a sentimental way
for your lasting entertainment
at the ending of the... hour.

If it rhymed, it'd be romantic
and it may just make you red,
so I'll modify these lyrics--
it won't sound nice when it's... spoken.

In a poem what's required
but an image or a rhyme?
If you liked it then most likely
I would sing it all the... day.

And I thought I'd write your kindness
into something sweet and true,
but my brain is far too scattered
to write imagery of... Becca.

I think this poem's finished
as your class comes to an end
soon I'll give you all this writing
and this poem you can... repair.

Return to the Code

I always figured that my last semester in college would be packed so full of classes and last minute giant assignments that I wouldn't have time to write a blog entry, let alone have extra-curricular activities.

So far, this semester is looking rather promising. Numerical analysis has complex topics, but they're manageable and interesting. Romans is intriguing yet predictable. World literature is a good introduction into what I might read after I graduate and have time to enjoy some classics, but for the time being, it is bearable.

Software engineering will actually get me somewhere in my career. We've already covered the basics of software design and testing--something I should have learned years ago. The midterm is in a week, and then the whole class will be working together on a grand project as a single company. In networks I'm learning how to watch networks and understand the underlying protocols. Soon, I'll be helping a nonprofit organization restructure their local network with the help of some other computer science majors (an opportunity never before granted).

After four years of ACM members prodding me to join, I finally joined. They showed me how to use Pov-Ray, and today they're doing a demonstration on swarm robotics. Ever since I tried competitive programming, my professors have been asking me each semester to join, and yesterday, I joined. My newly formed team finished two of the programs and successfully submitted one before the time was out. Why did I wait so long to actually get involved?

Work. Homework. Studies. How is it that college could get in the way of my learning so quickly that I missed out on the real learning? Class work provides the tools, but clubs and student organizations provide the hands on experience that make college worth it. Ironic that I pay the college so much and the clubs so little.

I have warned myself before, and I say it again, "do not allow school to get in the way of learning."

The Written Word

Throughout my life I've suffered at the hands of the English language. It may not be apparent in my final drafts, but translating the known word (ideas and concepts) into the spoken word of English (in the American dialect) and then into the written word can be a very frustrating process.

I can only assume that I am not alone in my thought process and frustrations therein. These frustrations rarely come to the surface in conversation because in this country we so frequently go through the grievous process.

I was blessed to grow up bilingual, and it is to my shame that I am no longer bilingual. In the language I grew up around, the known word still had to be translated to the spoken word, but the written word closely mirrored the spoken word. My parents sought to aid me in my frustrations by providing "The Phonics Game" to my tools of syntactic analysis, but there were so many exceptions and foreign words that had been left with their original spellings that the game only applied to an arbitrary half of the language that I needed to master.

I've known all my life that there must be some solution to this problem, and I thought, for most of my life, that it was beyond the bounds of the English language. It wasn't until I began to play with programming languages in my early years of college that I realized that the English language could be adapted to become an easily learned international language. I wasn't the only one to think of it either: Orson Scott Card referenced a language called Common in his Ender's Game series. Common, according to Card, is the "more or less phonetically spelled English language" used as a standard for international communication.

I believe it is possible to create such a standard and blend it into the school systems as the international language. With English as a phonetic language as well as the language of programming, science, and trade, other countries would more quickly accept it as the global trade language.

The English language has the most potential for such a shift (thanks to computer keyboards, no pun intended), but if the English speaking community does not make a move within the decade, Mandarin and Spanish will become the international languages. Mandarin because it is already spoken by over a billion people on the planet as a primary language, and Spanish because it is next in line behind English and quickly spreading throughout North America.

Planting and Watching

Narrative and insight

The dogs rudely escorted me outside this morning as part of their early morning routine, but it was too late, the towel in the kennel was already damp. It was nice to be outside though. The sun was just over the horizon, the birds still sung in desperate attempt to drown out the sound of the lawnmower my neighbor methodically pushed across his lawn.

I walked over to the front step and sat. I marveled at my plants. A week ago, I had completely given up on growing flowers there when I had pulled the sun-crisped sprouts from the ground. In their place I planted Green Pepper, Squash, Tomato, and Green Onion. The Squash and Tomato patches were teaming with little life, but leaves and bud above the rest stood a Morning Glory stock. The Green Pepper and Onion patches had no signs of life.

At first, I felt rather helpless. Nothing I could do would bring them to life if they have life; digging in the soil would only harm them if they did have life. After my initial feelings of helplessness had passed, I realized the error of those emotions. My task is to plant, water, and pull weeds where needed. I did that. My task is complete. I am not the judge of who sprouts and overtakes the others or who will climb the lattice or who will spread and provide fruit or nourishment for the others. I may never see the sprouts come out of the ground or the fruit ripen. My task is simply to plant as many seeds as I can, water the ground where it is parched, and wait for the One who has control to do His work.

Maybe He will even let me watch.

Extended Weekend for Extended Family

Narrative: Family ties and visits.

In-laws are still rather new and enjoyable to me (they also happen to be a large majority of the followers to my blog, hello in-laws). Feel free to insert your own variety of snide joke about in-laws and outlaws here. Mine visited over the weekend, and I learned a good deal from them.

My wife's sister, her husband, and two kids drove the better half of the day to spend the weekend with Becca and I. They arrived Friday after I got off work, and we all sat around our little folding card table for some wonderful soup. James (the 7 year old) quickly identified my xbox and strategically noted that he was proficient in many gaming systems, including my xbox. I hadn't realized until then how violent my games are, only the free arcade games that came with the xbox were age appropriate. I don't value games based solely on the volume of violence and bloodshed, do I? Game creators really don't make many challenging, strategic, interesting, story-based games in the 6+ category. He seemed happy to play Pinata-Land, but he did suggest that I purchase more age appropriate games by the time they return.

The two year old was interesting to watch over the weekend. I found myself constantly paranoid that he was hiding in some dark corner of my house pooping, but that really wasn't a justified fear at all. He had on a diaper. My puppy, Daisy, has no such restraint. His language was perticuarly interesting to me. How could so few words have so many meanings? In our last encounter, my name was distinguished from the other two-syllable words: "Ba-Bo." I have no idea how this was distilled from Robert unless you follow the mental thread that justifies squinting at my name and reading it while holding your nose with one hand and your tongue with the other.

James said that because he is Peter's older brother, he is the authority on Peter's language. He told me that "Ba-Bo" means "Better." I guess that makes me a good uncle by default.

We went to a free mini-carnival at a nearby park, and I threw the frisbee for Echo while the kids played on inflatable buildings and allowed clowns to paint their faces. James and I took apart a remote control car and put it back together (and I did my best to explain basic digital electronics to him in the short spans of attention he graciously lent me).

All good things must come to a close though, and they left Sunday afternoon after we built a fort in the living room with all available blankets in the house. Becca's dad called about then and asked if he could swing by and and spend the night, so my parents-in-law drove several hours to bring us a wooden table and that old TV with the vertical collapse problem.

It's been a good weekend, but I'm still exhausted. All that cleaning before hand. All that fun during. All those failed attempts to fix my TV with vertical collapse. It's time for bed. Goodnight.