Category Archives: Daily Life

Well, Heck!

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I’m in the process of putting together a set of family yearbooks using Blurb’s software and printing services. I’ve done a couple of them, and they turned out quite well; today, I decided I’d go back to 1997, when I got my first digital camera, and redo an album I did then. Why redo it? Simply, because we’ll get better prints from Blurb than I did from my inkjet in those long lost days, and because we can make multiple copies.

Anyway, I’ve got all of the pictures; at least, I’ve got all of the pictures as they came out of the camera. But there are half-a-dozen or so pictures that I doctored to include my eldest (then eight months old) in odd places or at odd sizes.

They’re all gone.

I’m pretty good at archiving things I want to keep; I have files on my computer that go back to the very first computer I ever owned, a Kaypro 4 I bought in 1984.

Those early albums were done in PageMaker on a Windows PC. Some years ago, long after getting a Mac and discovering that PageMaker was no longer available, I guess I deleted them; and apparently I deleted the doctored images as well. I’m going to have to try scanning the pages from my old album…but considering the originals were edited 640×480 JPEGs, I’m not sanguine about the results.

Sigh.

Mary Nodded

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The song “The Little Drummer Boy” has been coming under a certain amount of fire around the Catholic Blogosphere this year, prompted by Shane MacGowan’s recent rendition (about which the less said, the better…and I’m a Pogues fan). A number of bloggers, notably Simcha, have expressed their dislike of it.* Not just of the various odd celebrity versions floating around, but of the song itself. Fair enough; no one has to like it.

But I like it. And I think I know why the various odd celebrities have recorded it over and over again. Like the Little Drummer Boy, they have no gift to bring that’s fit to give the king, and they know it. All they have is their music. All they have are the gifts God has given them. Should they play for Him? You betcha.

And the rest of us, we’re all in the same boat. St. Therese of Lisieux said that we don’t need to do great things for God; we need to do little things with great love. This is good, because next to the infinite majesty of God, little things are all we are truly capable of.

And sometimes, as we do little things for God with great love, perhaps He will do great things through us, things we could not have accomplished ourselves. Perhaps the ox and lamb really will keep time.

Mary nodded. Let’s play our best for Him.

Merry Christmas!

* Not to be banging on Simcha; she makes me laugh out loud on a regular basis.

A Week with Pomodoro

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A week ago I wrote about the Pomodoro Technique. I’ve now been experimenting with it for a week (actually, a week-and-a-half) and I’ve got some preliminary impressions.

First, it really only makes sense when you’re trying to manage your use of a large tract of time. On the days when I’ve been working pretty much entirely on my own, it’s been very helpful; I’ve gotten more done than usual, and haven’t had nearly as much of a slump in the middle of the afternoon.

Because you work in 25-minute “pomodoros”, with varying lengths of time between them, the technique isn’t as useful for managing shorter periods of time. If you finish a pomodoro, and you’ve got a meeting in twenty minutes, you’re not going to fit in another pomodoro before the meeting starts.

However, even if you’re following the technique strictly you don’t do all of your work during pomodoros. Before each pomodoro, you consider all of the work you have to do, and decide which activity to work on next. It’s natural during this time to add new activities to your activity inventory, to re-prioritize activities, and so forth. Then, when you start a pomodoro you’re free to focus solely on that particular activity.

The 25-minute interval often feels rather short; I’m often surprised by the timer going off. In a way, though, this is a good thing. In using the timer, you get practice at concentrating on whatever the problem is without worrying about what the clock is doing, which makes clock-watching less likely. I’m not going to start a pomodoro unless I think I have time to complete it; and then the clock can do what it likes.

So, all things considered, the Pomodoro Technique is proving to be somewhat useful. It does have one drawback—I was really tired at the end of the week.

Google Docs

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As you might or might not be aware, Google has a suite of office software called Google Docs. You can use it from almost any web browser; your documents are saved on Google’s cloud (you can also save them locally).

I’ve been rather skeptical of the whole Google Docs thing; on the whole, I like to have my files under my control. Yesterday, though, I was beginning to look for some help in keeping records for the Pomodoro time management system. By default, all you need is a pencil and three sheets of paper; but the fact is, I don’t want to carry the three sheets of paper around with me. Virtually all of the activities I do at work involve a computer (I write software; what would you expect?); and I do my work in a variety of places. I’ll always have a computer with me, but I might not have those pesky sheets of paper.

There are a number of Pomodoro software packages available; but a big part of the technique is letting your own needs and experiences drive the record keeping you do, which in turn lets you adopt the process to your own needs. The packages I’ve looked at (the ones that go beyond being a simple timer) are simply too inflexible.

I decided to try using an Excel spreadsheet. Much of the data the technique uses takes the form of lists; and since I can put anything I want in any cell, I can use any notation I like. It’s completely flexible, plus it computes statistics. Very nice. But, I work on different computers in different places. I don’t want to have to copy an Excel file from machine to machine. I thought about using a spreadsheet on my iPad, since I carry that pretty much everywhere I might be working, but spreadsheet usability is low on the iPad; even Apple’s own Numbers app takes a lot of heat.)

Then I remembered hearing that Google Docs is now usable on the iPad. And it is, sort of; you can enter data, but formatting and setting up the spreadsheet structure is a nuisance. But, I reflected, it’s available everywhere, right? So I tried it on my laptop—and wow. It’s not as powerful as Excel, certainly, but it’s plenty powerful enough for my needs. I quickly set up a spreadsheet with three work sheets, typed in my current list of activities, and I was off. It was readily available throughout the day; and it was a pleasure to use.

So call me a Google Docs user. The only time I foresee any problem saving Pomodoro data on Google Docs is if I’m going somewhere without web access; and in that case I can save the spreadsheet to my laptop as an Excel file, or use my iPad. If worst comes to worst, I can revert to paper for the duration, and enter my history into the spreadsheet when I get back.

Take a look, if you haven’t.

The Pomodoro Technique

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This week I’ve been experimenting with a time-management system called the Pomodoro Technique. I’m not sure I’m completely sold on it; but I used it at work three days this week, and it seemed to help me keep busy and use my time better. Friday afternoons are often especially difficult, but I kept busy all afternoon today, and got a lot done.

The basic idea of the Pomodoro Technique is that you focus on one thing at a time. First thing in the morning, you make list of the activities you wish to complete during the day. Then, you pick the most important one, and set a timer for 25 minutes. You focus on just that activity until the timer goes off; then you take a short break (3 to 5 minutes). Then you decide what the most important activity to work on is (it might be the same one), set the timer, and off you go. Repeat throughout the day.

A big part of the technique is how you handle interruptions. For example, suppose you’re working on activity A, and you suddenly realize you need to do activity B at some point. You add B to your list (either for today or another day), and continue with A as quickly as possible.

The 25-minute interval is called a “pomodoro”. The technique was invented by an Italian, Francesco Cirillo; and in Italy, kitchen timers are apparently often shaped like tomatoes. And “tomato”, in Italian, is “pomodoro”.

Cirillo has a book on the technique on his website; you can download it for free. There’s a newer, more detailed book called The Pomodoro Technique Illustrated, which is also worth looking at.

Go Fish

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A few weeks ago, tired of playing Uno over and over with my kids, I dug out a couple of decks of Bicycle Cards and taught the kids how to play Crazy 8’s. A few days later, I taught my youngest to play Go Fish.

Five minutes ago, my eleven-year-old, who delights in video games, came into my study to get a deck of Bicycle Cards so he could teach his friend how to play Go Fish.

I feel all retro all of a sudden.

Memorial Day

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My father, who passed away last summer, fought in the Pacific during WWII, as the Electrician’s Mate on a destroyer in Bull Halsey’s task group; he used to say that he was the only man on the ship who was willing to climb the mast. Which he had to, because there was a lot of equipment up there. His older brother commanded a tank in Europe, and participated in both the Battle of the Bulge and on Patton’s clandestine raid to save the Lippizaner mares from the Russians.

I have always admired their attitudes about the war. They were boys when the war began, and signed up as they were allowed to. They did intense physical training for the year or so leading up to that, knowing that they’d need to be in good shape to do well. They fought the war as assigned, and saw a great deal of action. They did their best.

And then, when it was over, they came home, and got married, had lots of kids, had successful careers, and just generally got on with things. The war was formative…but it wasn’t central. It formed them; but it didn’t define them. It was a job for which their services were required, and they did it like they did any of the jobs they took on during their long lives–with determination, perseverance, and all necessary skill. And when the job was done…it was done.

And for those who never had the chance to just generally get on with things:

Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them; and may their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.

What do you call a knight…

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The other day, my eldest asked, “What do you call a dragon who is knighted?”

The answer, of course, is “Sir Pent.” And then, what do you call a knight who never does what you expect? “Sir Prize”. And of course we’ve all heard of Sir Osis of Liver and Sir Loin of Beef.

This led to a variety of additional knights.

What do you call a knight who has won an award? Sir Tificate.

What do you call a knight who always gives up too quickly?
Sir Render.

What do you call a knight who studies science and philosophy? Sir Reebral per Suits.

What do you call a knight whose long and involved quests take him all over the countryside before he returns to his castle? Sir Kewitus Root.

What do you call a knight who’s excessively fat? Sir Kewlarity of Girth.

What is his brother’s name? Sir Cumference.

What do you call a knight who’s sure of what he knows?
Sir Ten.

An Announcement

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On April 24th, at St. Dominic Catholic Church in Eagle Rock, California, I will be received into the Dominican Order as a lay member.

At this point, most of you are probably scratching your heads, and saying, “Huh?” I can see that I’ve got some explaining to do—too much for one blog post. I’ll have to work on it over time.

To begin with, though, the Dominican Order, also known as the Order of Preachers, was founded in 1205 by the man we now call St. Dominic, a contemporary of St. Francis of Assissi. There are three branches of the Order of Preachers: the friars, the sisters, and the lay; it’s into this last branch that I will be received. In other words, I’m not becoming a monk, or a priest; Jane would have something to say about that, and rightly so. In fact, I’ll mostly be doing the same things I’m doing now: raising my kids, providing for my family through my work at JPL, and so forth.

But, I will be trying to live a Christian life in the Catholic faith in the manner of St. Dominic. I’ll have more to say about that later.

As I’ve said, I will be “received” into the order. This is a technical term—it means that I’m being accepted into a chapter of the Dominican laity to participate in the life of the chapter and to attempt to follow the rule of St. Dominic, but that I am not yet being asked to make any promises. This is a trial period, as it were.

Why would I do such a thing? I’ll have more to say about that as well; but for now I’ll simply quote the Blessed Mother:

…my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

More later. If you have questions, please feel free to leave a comment.