Jim’s Brain Online

Posted by Jim at December 30th, 2004

So, the cats had a pretty bad day. How do I know this? Basically any day that includes a visit to the vet is a pretty bad day for a cat. This visit also included shots.

As a warm-up to bringing the cats to the vet, Kristen brushed the teeth of all five animals. They did not enjoy this. I know they didn’t enjoy it because I held a couple of them. Simon (a smallish black cat) made a particular fuss about things. By “fuss” I mean “drew blood.”

I learned later that one of the better techniques for brushing a cat’s teeth is to wrap said cat in a towel. Holding the cat in your arms is not a particularly good technique.

Bringing the cats to the vet turned out to be a task in itself. My strategy was to tempt the cats with food and then stuff them into the cat carriers before they knew what was happening. It worked up to a point. The cats did come when I put the food in their bowls, but they promptly disappeared when they noticed the cat carriers.

They were smarter than I anticipated, something which was less of a pain than it might be (we caught 4 fairly quickly), but still a bit of a pain. Ginger, the youngest and smallest of our cats led us on a chase throughout the house while Kristen and I ran around obstacles (the furnace, the kitchen table, countless children’s toys…) and coordinated our efforts. We reached success only after closing virtually every door in the house, finally trapping her on the basement stairway–and promptly losing her when we tried to put her in the carrier.

We got her in eventually, but not before I lost more blood. Ginger has not been declawed.

With Ginger in a carrier we were free to reflect on other matters–like the fact that we had 3 carriers and 5 cats. This meant that 4 cats shared carriers. It is safe to say they did not like this.

They stopped hissing and spitting by the time we got them into the minivan. At that point, it was time to start “Meowing In Fear.” I turned off the radio to cut down on the distraction while I drove.

Once there we had the cats weighed, something complicated by the fact that one of the cats had pissed in the carrier, meaning that when I tipped the carrier up to indicate the cats should get out I also poured cat urine onto the floor of the office. As an added bonus, I also discovered that 2 of the cats’ undersides were wet when I attempted to pick them up.

As the receptionist sent us into the vet, I overheard her calling for someone to mop the floor.

The visit itself went pretty well–even the shots. Unlike other times, Simba did not make an effort to bite the vet. He may be getting mellower with age. He didn’t allow Simon back into the carrier with him though.

The vet advised us to wash the cats that had gotten soaked with urine when we get home. We did. The moment we got home we rinsed their undersides with the sprayer in the kitchen sink. After that, they ran off to lick themselves dry.

We’ve seen less of them this evening than usual.

I don’t think they like us anymore.

Posted by Jim at December 28th, 2004

Every so often my imagination returns to the subject of my last master’s degree–sociology.

Recently I’ve been thinking about social movements and the internet. This is no big surprise to those of you who know that my master’s thesis analyzed the content of the Promise Keepers website. My recent thoughts are just some basic ideas about a barely remembered article by William Gamson. William Gamson is a theorist in the area of social movements and social movement organizations.

Social movements are a collection of ideas/perspectives (conservatism, for example) that people attempt to implement. Social movement organizations are the organized method of implementing the ideas (the Republican party, perhaps?).

When I was working on my masters, I got a look at an article Gamson had written about safe spaces, social movements and the internet. I don’t know if he’s since published it, but he was nice enough to mail me a copy after I discovered that he’d delivered the paper at a conference.

The gist of it was that social movements could use the internet as “safe spaces.” Safe spaces are places that movement members could create their perspectives, refine their ideas, and do it without constant interruption by those who disagree with their premises. There are safe spaces outside of the internet obviously. Feminists constructed them in the form of “consciousness raising” groups. Black churches probably represent safe spaces for the civil rights movement.

I’ve got a few anecdotal observations about how this works out in practice. The first is that unless you’re willing to password protect your discussion forums/website, your safe spaces will be observed by people who are not within your group. This makes them a bit less safe.

Secondly, you may not know that you’re being observed even when you are. I often read forums of groups that I don’t agree with. This ranges from people of differing religions, differing political perspectives (more right/left than I) to differing intellectual interests. I never bother to post because I don’t particularly like being excoriated by random strangers. I suspect that there are other people like me. This might mean that the ideas of new groups are being disseminated more quickly. It might mean that arguments against their ideas are being formulated earlier in the process. Probably both, depending on the particular example.

Thirdly, I’ve often noticed that (particularly in the political blogs) people who violate the assumptions of the core group get pretty solidly flamed. I doubt that people would be as nasty in person as they are in print online. It reminds me of the Reformation period when Calvin (and other scholars) would write pamphlets that included calling one’s opponents dogs, swine, and worms in the course of a theological argument.

I don’t know whether this sort of insulting, no holds barred argument helps or hurts the creation of safe spaces or is an inevitable result of their creation. One might argue that it encourages it in that it creates a shared experience of removing “the jerk” from the room. It might destroy said safe space if the group becomes too aligned to certain ideas and persecutes even small variations from them.

It’d be interesting to study the process of the formation of safe spaces and see if there are patterns in the formation and destruction of such groups–and if online patterns differ from offline.

Thinking about it makes me wish I were getting a Ph.d in sociology with an emphasis on social movements.

Posted by Jim at December 27th, 2004

A couple weeks ago my wife told me, “You should do that thing Nate does and write about the searches that lead people to your blog.” As of now, I am stuck for something interesting to say and have decided to do it.

From the “I Really Shouldn’t Have Written That, Should I?” Department
Thanks to an entry I once made, I appear to be something of an authority on cat urine:
cat pee
finding cat pee
why cats pee on things

And Ant Removal:
exploding ant
ants in the dishwasher
chalk ants
ants yeast
exploding ants -book -adapt

And Poison Control Advice For Pets:
cat was licking ant trap

From the “That’s What You Get From Putting ‘Online’ in Your Name” Department
online rpgs
driving games online that are not blocked
ad&d tome of magic online
harlan ellison online stories (Note: Harlan would sue me if I actually had some on this site…)
cookbooks online with pictures
deerslayer online
beavis and butthead online
online telekenesis test (Hint: If you have to take an online test to find out, you probably don’t have telekinesis)

From the “I Only Wish My Blog Were That Cool” Department
the human genome project the ethical situations
mysql html conference registration
menu for san chez (As in San Chez Bistro. A very good place to eat)
babylon 5 storylines
banning of mark twain s books in 1800 s

From the “Thanks for the Hit, But You Won’t Find It Here” Department
checking tires that have a thump in them.
parse huge files with sax java
lawn moves on your head to too (Er… Maybe you could be a bit more precise?)
pictures of a drunk person s brain \ (What’s the “\” for?)
fine ham abounds (Thanks Ed)
brother can you spare a dime sheet music
how to record steamed music to pc (steamed music?)
bed sheets that toddlers can t remove (They don’t exist. Trust me)
protecting christmas tree from pets (Likely a lost cause)
how to stop someone driving on lawn
9 princes of amber in ad&d
fix gas leak (My suggestion? Call your gas company. NOW)

From the “Probably Actually Found What You Wanted” Department
war phillipines iraq parallel

Posted by Jim at December 25th, 2004

With Christmas nearly over, we’re just about to begin the annual mulling over of what’s happened in the past year and what we hope for the future.

I don’t really set new year’s resolutions. I don’t like them much. I’m not sure why. I do, however, have goals and hopes for the new year. Last year I basically had three goals: First, to finish my grad school program. Second, to get a full time job. Thirdly, I thought it would be nice to start a web log.

Well, I did manage to start a blog. As for the first two goals… Well, I’m working on it. My master’s project is in process. I still have a lot of work to go. That being said, I am done with all my other classes. As for the new job… I’m still working on that one too. I’ve gotten some interviews though.

Was this year a good one? I’m not sure. There have been high points and low points. I still haven’t sorted out which were more important.

I’m also still sorting out what I need to do next. Obviously finding decent paying work is important and so is finishing my project, but what else? I’d like to connect with more people again. I’d also like to play more role playing games.

I’d love to get back to writing fiction. I’ve got multiple drafts of one novel that I had to stop work on due to lack of time (in the form of grad school and kids). I’ve got another novel or two that I’ve been daydreaming about recently. I’ve mostly been thinking about characters and setting, but I’m moving in the direction of a plot. When I do, it’ll be hard not to start writing.

There are a few programming languages I’d like to learn: erlang, lisp, ruby, and (on a practical level) C#.

I also wouldn’t mind learning more about graphic design, drawing, photography, and the various Adobe programs that help you do them. I’m interested in starting a webcomic too. I read enough of them.

I’ll concentrate on the practical stuff though. Paying the bills and fulfilling responsibilities comes first. Play later.

Still, the new year could be an improvement over this last year. It wouldn’t be too hard.

Posted by Jim at December 21st, 2004

Harlan Ellison’s been one of my favorite authors for a while now. Originally classified as a science fiction writer, he’s since recieved credit for his writing even outside the genre. Beyond getting published in appropriately literary compendiums of short stories and getting the occasional award, he’s also penned a Star Trek episode or two and consulted for Babylon 5.

I’ve been amused to visit his website every so often and even more amused to find that my favorite of his essays (The Three Most Important Things in Life) has been placed online.

If you’ve never heard of Ellison before and are considering reading him solely on the basis of my recommendation, be warned: His books have been banned. At least one teacher has been fired for using a short story he wrote as a class reading.

I’m not saying that the essay I link to above is particularly offensive, but, if you’re someone who gets offended by things you read and this offends you, well, it’s not my fault.

With the disclaimer finished, I’ll tell you a little (very little) about the essay. According to Harlan Ellison, the three most important things in life are:

1. Sex
2. Violence
3. Labor Relations

UPDATE (9/19/2006): For those of you coming here from this post, I’d like to note that I find Harlan Ellison’s public groping of Connie Willis extremely disturbing. Connie Willis is also one of my favorite authors and I have absolutely no idea what he was thinking.

Posted by Jim at December 18th, 2004

I put up the Christmas tree today. Kristen and I haven’t bothered with them for most of our marriage. It’s not that we’ve anything against Christmas or decorating for it, but we’ve got five cats. Cats take great joy in climbing on things (like trees), chewing things (like electrical cords) and in batting around small objects (like ornaments).

My general attitude has been that I’ll enjoy the holidays more if I don’t have to spend them protecting the Christmas tree from the cats, or, alternately, the cats from the Christmas tree.

Now though, we have kids and have experienced a growing realization that we are the makers of their childhood memories and creators of family Christmas traditions. Both Abby and Rebecca are pretty young and don’t really have a script of all the things that absolutely must happen at Christmas for Christmas to be normal.

That’s a good thing, because we really don’t have family traditions yet either. Basically, Kristen and I live within a short drive from both of our parents, and, thus haven’t had to develop any.

When I grew up, my family’s Christmas traditions were grounded in the following reality: we will not be home for Christmas.

My Dad grew up in Denver. My Mom grew up in northern Indiana. They moved to Holland, Michigan where my Dad teaches (political science) at Hope College. During Christmas we would either be in Colorado or Indiana.

Basically, we would have a family Christmas in Holland during the week before Christmas and then we would travel to a larger family gathering somewhere else. I’m not sure when we would put up a Christmas tree. It mostly seemed to happen after Thanksgiving, but not just after Thanksgiving. I think it was usually later than that.

The family meal for our private family gift-giving ranged from going out for to Ole Taco’s for fast Mexican food (when we were little) to fondue (in high school and college).

The core of what I remember about Christmas Eve and Day is being one of a crowd of children running around, exploring the basement, and playing throughout the house. That’s a memory that my kids probably won’t have soon–so far they’ve got only one cousin.

As my grandparents (both on my Mom’s and Dad’s side) have gotten older and moved into assisted living centers, they’ve stopped organizing Christmas. On my Mom’s side, the family doesn’t gather as a group for Christmas any more. My Dad’s side of the family may, but I haven’t been to Denver for Christmas in more than 10 years now, so I don’t know.

Now Kristen and I split Christmas Eve/Day between her family and mine, using the evening before Christmas Eve for our own family party. We’ve yet to set a standard menu. I’ve often made shrimp (marinated in beer and garlic), but I can’t see toddlers enjoying that–though you never know. I suspect that Abby and Rebecca’s ideal Christmas dinner would be a McDonalds’ chicken nuggets happy meal.

As for the Christmas tree itself, this year is the first year that Abby and Rebecca helped. They were very proud of themselves. Now I have to make sure they stay away from the tree. With the cats all I have to do is apply Bitter Apple and aluminum foil to appropriate spots near the tree.

With children, my major option for the moment seems to be shouting “No, no! Don’t touch!” as they do things that threaten to knock the tree on it’s side. That, I suspect, will be a truly wonderful Christmas memory that we will share for years to come.

Posted by Jim at December 14th, 2004

I took my last exam for the last class in my master’s program yesterday. I’m not done with my master’s project yet, but, (at least for the moment) the end is in sight.

Hopefully my grade will be okay. No reason to think that it would be bad, but as always, as I walked out I could already think of ways I could have answered certain questions better. I’m having the same sort of thoughts about the group project I also handed in yesterday.

Ah well. Whatever the grade, it was a good class. It was a bioinformatics class that dealt with a lot of topics I find interesting including data warehousing/data mining. We ended up experimenting with a lot of programs commonly used for data analysis–some of which are pretty buggy.

Now though, to concentrate on the rest of life…

Posted by Jim at December 11th, 2004

One thing I’ve been thinking about lately is the fact that I haven’t been seeing the people I want to see as much as I’d like. I’ve got a lot of social obligations, but between graduate school and the rest of life, I haven’t been seeing friends much.

For that matter, there are people I’d like to get to know better, but circumstances (i.e. grad school) haven’t made that easy.

I’m thinking of doing Saturday morning brunch on a semi-regular basis (once a month, say?) and inviting people, but planning for uninvited guests. Who would I invite? Dunno for sure, but friends, family, readers of this blog if they’re interested (if there are any that don’t fall into the first two groups…), and people from work.

I’d imagine it taking place around 10-12 am. That’s early enough that you don’t feel like you’ve missed breakfast, but late enough that I could get kids up and dressed.

At least that’s the idea. At this point I don’t even know if people would be interested. I’ve had similar ideas before, but haven’t mentioned it because I haven’t wanted to take on additional responsibilities (even fun ones).

Bearing in mind that there’s way too much going on during December, I’d probably start this in January. People might be up for some casual hanging around at that point.

Posted by Jim at December 10th, 2004

My life is undergoing some changes. As of Monday, I will have taken the last exam of my last class in my graduate program. I will still have to finish my master’s project, but that’s to be expected.

In January, I will begin telecommuting to work and caring for Abby and Rebecca part time at home (they’ll be in daycare 2 days a week). On the days that they’re not at home, I’ll be working on my project plus the 3 consulting jobs (plus the part time salaried job) I have going.

In a way, it sounds good. It’ll save money for one thing. It’ll also give me time with my kids, something that can be either great or taxing depending on their moods. In others (consulting work is not as consistent as I’d like), it’ll be a bit scary. With luck, I’ll either be able to find a full time job soon after or possibly expand my consulting.

I don’t really imagine myself as a small business owner so I’m kind of hoping for the former. If the latter, I’m going to have to seriously improve my sales and marketing skillset. Personally, I’d rather expand my code writing/system administration skillset.

We’ll see what happens.

Addendum: If you happen to need someone (or know someone who needs someone) with experience in Unix/Windows system administration, programming ability (php, java), database design (Access, Mysql, Oracle), or possibly graphic design, contact me. Okay?

Posted by Jim at December 8th, 2004

As someone who’s into writing and reading, I find myself thinking about plot and how to create one that people respond to.

There are a lot of ways to think about plot. There’s a famous book by a playwright (I think) that describes the 30 (or so) basic plots in all of literature. I looked at it once (Ed had gotten it out of the library) and was amused to find that I hadn’t thought of any that failed to fit within it’s templates.

One of my profs (Dirk Jellema, his specialties: ancient/medieval literature and creative writing) tended to describe stories in more general categories “character driven” and “plot driven.” He preferred character driven stories–something that he probably had in common with most English profs.

Character driven stories presumably focus on the lives of people and what they want to change about their lives. Plot driven stories focus on what exciting things happen next. For example: “Star Wars” is a plot driven story. “Bridget Jones Diary” is character driven.

I tend to focus less on whether a story is plot or character driven, but on another artificial distinction… I tend to think of it as “little story” vs. “big story.” It’s a distinction much like the one between strategy and tactics. Strategy being your overall plan for a war or a battle. Tactics are the best way to take a specific hill.

I’m generally better at the “big story,” the overall plot, and setting. This means I tend to get really excited about thinking how things work in the background of the story (the history behind what’s happening now or the magic system in a fantasy universe). By contrast, I need to work on expressing character traits, creating a mood, a consistent tone or a memorable place. That’s “little story” stuff. It’s the small details that make things feel right.

I’m not totally incompetent at these things, but could be better. People playing in role playing games with me have noticed this. I’ve more than once managed to create a major character’s background and understood his/her function in the story, but haven’t bothered to come up with the person’s name.

This has happened enough that some people who play with me start laughing after they ask me what a character’s name is, not even waiting for me to look stumped. One person in particular has noted that when I’m searching for a name for an unplanned for adolescent/young boy, I tend to choose “Tim.”

He’s right about that. I probably read “A Christmas Carol” too many times.

It’s little story stuff, though. I have to work on that more.