When Homestar Runner was still pretty big, the Brothers Chaps released a game called 20x6, a parody of anime and MegaMan. It's as awesome as you think it is. (Stinkoman is the one you're looking for, but the rest of them are excellent for your time wastagement needs.)
I had expected to write about 2016 in here, but I got distracted (natch) by looking at old Strongbad emails. I still think the children's book is the best one.
Maybe I should work backwards. It's only June, after all. Only. What happened to February?
The past few months have been busy if for no other reason than it appears the CEO of my company has something of an attention disorder. I'm at work on three different projects and have been for some time—although the projects rotate in and out depending on which one can be bumped down to #1d priority. All "lean" translates to in practice is "not enough manpower to get things done, and good luck finding your product identity." On the plus side, I'm still learning a lot, and the skills are very transferable. In some respects I'm a far more critical thinker than I ever was before: more apt to ask questions (I hope), to listen harder, and to conceptualize. More than ever I realize what a terrible terrible student I was.
One of the unexpected windfalls of my longer commute has been the ability to listen to more podcasts. While I've always found him a bit annoying as a commentator on Fox News, Conversations with Bill Kristol is surprisingly thought provoking and finally inspired me to read some of the classics. Lately I've been surprised at how accessible is Plato's Republic, although I would guess I'm reading pretty superficially. Alongside has been some of the Gospel Coalition, whose longer-form sermons and lectures can be good. The Help, Don't Hurt, the Poor talk was affecting in particular. I've also had the unexpected freedom to (re-)read some of Miłosz's essays in To Begin Where I Am. Because I am older and have read a little more, I think it's had more impact—although, like most books I read, I'm bound to absorb it more than I am to cite it. (For that I have to do better at taking notes.)
I also found the Essence of Linear Algebra on Youtube, and its sister set of videos Essence of Calculus. The former is better done, in my opinion, but both are worth the watch in the random ten- or fifteen-minute segment of time that I find at home. Surprisingly, I think these have also contributed to a more intuitive grasp of mathematics than I have ever had; this probably just shows how bad my grasp of mathematics has been. I think I'm probably slower than I was in my 20s in grad school—I'm certainly more fragile, in worse shape, and couldn't do 18-hour days for two years—but I'm also more experienced, and that would probably help me work smarter. (Somewhere my corporate-speak editor is cringing.)
So then.
This past month Char came to Pittsburgh for a road trip that brought her through DC; L, E, and I went down to visit with her, H, and D for a too-short trip through the Smithsonian Museum of the Indian, the Capitol building, the Library of Congress, and a brief stop at the Folger Shakespeare Library:
It is the little slice of heaven that I think we crave: the people we know and love all close by after time off. I suppose heaven will feel at least a little like a family reunion, but, I expect, the sort where you don't dread meeting everyone again.
I hadn't been to DC since the debacle against MSU in '98, and we didn't visit the Library then. It was a truly magnificent building with a lot of really interesting architecture and, of course, books. Jefferson's Library was in there: he had over 4,000 books and by all accounts was a prodigious reader. That, along with Harvey Mansfield's occasional spots on Kristol's aforementioned podcast, impressed upon me the political genius of some of the American founders.
May included, among other things, celebrating L's fourth birthday. It's hard to believe that this has happened at all, given how unlikely was her conception and the dangers of her birth. She still asks for me on the phone when L is talking to her, a surprisingly gratifying experience.
I also found a bee wandering around in the yard one day:
April, as we have seen, was Easter. I had Good Friday off, and that included a visit with the BIL, SIL, and L, with whom I spent some time in Longwood Gardens with E (L had to work that day). It was a gorgeous day with some good shots:
March was mostly weather, I think...and I have parts that I've been trying to scan for what feels like forever in the picture log.
February was a trip to Florida to visit aunts R & B. We three went, and so did E and C. It was a busy trip—mostly E's doing, I have to say, though I didn't find it objectionable. I hadn't been anywhere near Florida since our Disney trip for tournament team, and it was about the same. Our trip included a visit to the Kennedy Space Center, which was as cool as advertised. The engineering on the Saturn V and the rest of the space program was amazing. They had a sign posted that said that the Saturn V liftoff had enough horsepower to light NYC for an hour and fifteen minutes:
The rocket is disassembled in stages in the building:
Among other items, they also had the retired Atlantis space shuttle, including a good bit of wear and tear on the ceramic heat shields. (The job has given me something of a new appreciation for materials science.)
There was also a memorial to the Challenger crew there that was affecting for me.
No trip to Florida would be complete without some lake time, and R & B took us on a trip through Mt Dora and on a boat ride—a good time, to say the least, enjoying some of the natural beauty of the location:
This trip really straddled February and March. Which brings us back to January, which included some time at relatives for Chinese New Year, AKA Meat Fest:
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