Gedankenstrom

I came across this page on MSNBC.com today, talking about msnbc.com's 10th anniversary, and it really spun me back - especially the main photo taken in 1997.  In the center of that photo are David Kaill (with the beard), and Brendan West (red hair, glasses). David was my boss then, and Brendan was my lead, and mentor. I joined MSNBC shortly after they launched, right around the time IE4 was in a late alpha release (if you were doing web work back then - IE4 betas were really interesting, all of the dhtml, css, filtering, remote scripting and more were launched along with it - all the elements of AJAX were born back then).

David Kaill was a great boss - he was so amazingly supportive and transparent, I knew from the first few minutes of my interview that I had the job (I found the job through an ad in the newspaper - no kidding). They were looking for a web developer that knew javascript, and I'd been experimenting with it for well over a year by then - he was so excited - it got me psyched, it was great. I really felt like I was stepping into the big leagues, having previously done web work at a small boutique house in Seattle (freerange media), and a dinky newspaper.

We were on Microsoft's campus in Redmond, and one of my first tasks was to create an "active channel" page for msnbc.com that would get baked into the release of IE4 (remember Active Channels? Push? IE's Channel Bar?) The result was this page (IE-only, yep). It was a slideshow that originally had a Realaudio embedded "Get Connected" song playing on load. I secretly removed that after launch, cause I hated it so much. Don't tell anyone. Looking at the source code from that page, I can see how far I've come, how sloppy it all was, how little I actually knew about what I was doing.

So if msnbc.com is 10, and I had two years of experience before joining them, that means I'm coming up on my 12-year anniversary of doing things online (creating, coding, writing, experimenting). That's just... a long time. And, oddly enough, I'm back in the Online News biz at the Boston Globe.

The Flickr Way

And - I'm amazed at how much there still is to learn. I've been reading Cal Henderson's book 'Building Scalable Websites', and I'm floored by the breadth and depth of knowledge in there - the number of things (systems, languages, methods) that I've only briefly used, or had barely heard of, despite 12 years of doing this... It's awesome, in the best, real sense of the word. I love to learn and do and make and build, and there's no end in sight - things get more powerful and simpler all the time, and I love to figure out how to make them all dance together.

It's a great feeling to have, to discover that you have chosen a career (without consciously choosing it as a "career"), and a dozen years later, you are still challenged, still valued, still having a great time, and still learning every damn day. My early days at msnbc.com were exciting in every sense of the word. Remember Derek Powazek's essay "stoked"? - I loved that piece. I identified with it totally, and it still makes me feel good reading it today.

I may not be stoked every day - working a 9-to-5 job and weathering a layoff or two tends to grind that right out of you, but I'm happy, and proud of what I've done, and look forward to the next 12 years.

I have a vivid memory of the Taco Joint down the road from me getting a new Asteroids machine. I had played Space Invaders before, but was never that excited about it - but Asteroids - that was a game! My cousin and I would pour quarters into it for hours. For weeks, we were to afraid to even use the thruster, but eventually took a chance, and got pretty damn good at it.

Then along came Donkey Kong - at the pizza place a block north, and Asteroids was old news. Donkey Kong was the most amazing, bizarre, frustrating and fun thing Evar! We had no idea what we were doing - even when we figured out how to play the game, we had no good idea what the story was supposed to be. Then there was the explosion of machines, but Asteroids and Donkey Kong will always be my faves.

At any given time, I recall being excited to go play one of the following games: Space Invaders, Asteroids, Donkey Kong, Tempest, Donkey Kong Jr., Joust, Pingu, QBert, Xevious, Defender, Robotron, Pole Position and Tron.

These days, it's PC games for me. Half Life 2 just can't be beat, even though I've played through the whole thing. It's a lot of fun watching my little kids get into games too - how good they are at them. Barbie Pet Rescue is actually pretty fun!

No, I don't have a nickname (unless you count "Papa"). I do, however have a lifelong battle against a particular nickname - "Al".

My name is Alan. I am a big guy. "Big Al" comes up so regularly, so easily... and I hate it every time. It's as if the nickname were genetically designed to make me cringe. I always correct people as soon as I hear them call me "Al", even without the "big" - I really can't stand it. It's just not me.

Oh, and it was totally hilarious when Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al" was in heavy rotation. Ha. ha. ha. It was funnier every time it came up, every time someone heard the song while in my presence and made some remark. Every time someone started singing the song when I walked into a room.

You can, however, still call me Betty.

Or, reflections from yesterday (Father's Day)

• Just because you are a Dad yourself, you shouldn't forget to send your own Dad a card for Father's Day (doh).

• A 3-year-old boy is an amazing amalgam of cute, energy, angst, frustration and potential. Not a baby, yet not quite a confident boy.
• Use caution when leaning over to kiss said boy on top of the head - he is prone to spontaneous jumping. Your penalty for forgetting this will be a fat lip and a crying boy, rubbing his head.
• I have not sustained this many consistent injuries since I was a boy myself. Parenting is a contact sport, always be prepared. When was the last time you were kicked in the jaw while reading a book? Happened to me twice last week.
• Grab moments as often as possible - make mental snapshots of the good moments, run through them a few times, cementing them into your synapses, these little ones get big so fast.
  
• There is nothing ironic, meaningful or sad about finding youself carrying a wailing child through a Wal-mart listening to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" over the store's PA. It just is what it is - reflection and judgement not needed.
  
• Never underestimate the power of misdirection and humor. When a child is stamping his/her feet refusing to go to brush their teeth, and you find yourself clenching, ready to put your foot down, step to the side a bit and tell them "Get in here and brush your nose right now!" Giggles have a good chance of chasing the grump away (at least for younger ones).
• When your young daughter performs her dance number at The Big Recital, apparently she will expect a bouquet of flowers afterward. Every other girl will have them. Your penalty for not knowing this tradition will be severe.
• When picking out said flowers for the next recital, be sure to remember to smell them first. Looks alone will not rescue your ineptness when it's discovered that the flowers are foul-smelling stink blossoms.
• That whole "I can't believe I just said that, I sound just like my Dad" thing? You'll get over it.
• There really is no better thing in life than when you walk in the door after work and are greeted by loud and happy shouts of "Papa's Home!", followed by energetic hugs and overlapping summations of the days events.
• Remember those happy bits when the boy pushes over a very expensive mirrored ball at the local garden store. Yes, they shatter in spectacular fashion.

Happy Post-Father's Day.

A goofy meme via Mena - Here are the steps:

1. Randomly pick a song from your music library.
2. Find the lyrics for the first four verses/chorus
3. Go to Google translation and translate the lyrics from English into German.
4. Take the new German lyrics and translate them into French.
5. Take the new French lyrics and translate them into English.
6. Post the NEW English lyrics and have people guess the original song

Here's my song (might be kinda easy):

The innocence of the children dormant
Equipped in the white
And slowly dreaming
All the time stops
My stages slow down and start to disappear
Thus, much with years filled my heart
I never thought that I would say these words

Moreover, we go
And more old man we rise
More than, we know
Smaller than, we show

Very first the mark I saw your face
I thought of a song and quickly modified the melody
Very first the mark I have affected your skin
I thought of a history
And precipitate, to reach the end too early

Oh remembers
A request not to modify

Thus, the case came
Thirteen years
A brilliant ring
And how I your names could forgotten
Air more in my throat
Another perfect lie erdrosselt
But it always believes in same

Myplace

Very messy, small dark developer cave of a workspace, 1/3-height wall cubicles. The racks on the other side of the monitor are noisy servers. Scifi robots and spacecraft on either side of my monitor. Bo-ring. You can't see my Mac, offscreen left.

Myplace2

The second image is an aerial shot of my building just south of downtown Boston. (Boston.com) The long building in front of it is the Children's Museum with the giant Milk bottle next to the waterfront. Also visible is the tea Party Museum with ship in the middle of the channel.

It's amazing how you can pick and choose which branches to traverse on your way back in time. My Dad has researched the Taylor family back to parts of England in the early 1600s and other families in Germany.

On my mother's side, there is one branch that hits a distinct dead-end - my Grandfather's Great Grandmother was a full-blood Native American named Wah-se-con from the Sac and Fox tribe (relocated from Michigan to Iowa/Kansas/Oklahoma). She married a French-Canadian trapper name Jean Rubeti and had at least two girls named Margaret and Sophie. Wah-se-con and Jean were killed in a horse-cart accident in 1851, and Margaret (age 6) and Sophie were then raised by Christian Missionaries in Iowa. Margaret was my Great Great Grandmother.

The Omnivore's Dilemma : A Natural History of Four Meals

Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dillemma", also my "Timex Alarm Clock User's Manual", my latest copy of WIRED, and a Barbie doll (my daughter's, honest).

The Omnivore's Dillemma will really make you think about corn in entirely new ways. My wife wants me to "shut up about corn already".