Update for 10/21/2018

Politics

🤔

Sunday Tim and I finished watching Active Measures (Hulu, transcript), a documentary about Russian interference in other countries’ politics. Of course, it was mostly about Trump. It fleshed out some of the info I’d been reading online and reminded me of the strange and interesting situation we’re in where a conspiracy theory is being promulgated by serious journalists and political figures.

Programming

🙂

As I expected, with my road trip coming up I didn’t get much done on my projects. But I was still able to listen. I’m trundling through my batch of software development books in text-to-speech. I finished Working Effectively with Legacy Code, zoomed through Debugging by David Agans, and started on xUnit Test Patterns. Debugging is a good book on solving problems in general, not just in software.

Music

😎

Friday I drove up to Wisconsin and made it to my brother’s place in time to join him for an orchestra concert. It featured organ pipes in a swoopy design, a demonstrative visiting conductor, an even more demonstrative visiting cellist, and a Tchaikovsky symphony I could sort of follow for once. Usually with classical music I get lost after the first minute or two. The concert reminded me that live music is a more intense experience than listening in headphones. It all added up to a much better time than I’ve had at symphonies in the past. Maybe my music appreciation is growing.

People

🙂

The main purpose of my Wisconsin trip was to attend my coworker’s wedding, which was a half-hour away from my brother. That was Saturday afternoon. The plan was to have it outside unless the weather was bad, which it was, so they had it in a barn instead. I’m not sure that was much better. But at least there were heat lamps and blankets. It was a lighthearted wedding, and it was good to get a sense of the groom, since I’d only met him briefly before. It was also nice to hang out with my coworkers in a different setting.