Last day of school
One of the things that has struck me about my time in the working world of computers is that most things that are somewhat interesting to work on never actually get finished. Not in the sense that nothing is ever accomplished, but that the end goal is a moving target. It often seems to me that the faster you’re getting to your goal, the further away the goal moves. Once something useful has been made, there’s always 10 “Wouldn’t it be great if it did this?” type moments right after. Software is essentially thought, and one thought breeds another.
This type of work is in distinct contrast to the type of work I was trained to do in school. Fill out a worksheet, write a paper, take a test, go to class. All the work you do in high school and college is totally discrete, with a hard deadline (for the less charming among us). I’ve been conditioned to do the best I can within some finite amount of time by our academic culture. Then I get out into the working world, and few deadlines are real. With programming, there’s always some piece of code that could be a little faster, or more elegant, or doesn’t really work they way it should; the temptations to do inappropriate work are many.
But today, for the first time since August 2003, I don’t have any work ahead of me. I am currently completely self directed! Exciting! I wonder how many Twix bars I can eat a day? I’ll be sure to find out. I don’t have a plan for taking on new work right now - I’m just going to let the cash flow. With luck, I’ll find a genie to do my bidding, then come up with some bidding to give.
I also got a new office chair today, so we’ll see how long I keep the mindset from the last paragraph before my cheapness guilts me into looking for contracts. Regardless of that, I purchased an office chair. I’m a 27 year old self-employed tax paying home owner. Not sure I saw that coming when I was throwing kegs off the roof of the Dell House. Here’s my chair:
Herman Miller, brand whores!
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