7 posts from November 2007

Holly encountered this shirt while surfing the Penny Arcade website. She didn't understand what this was and I didn't know either:

The Golden Ratio?

If it's good enough for Super Mario...

I ran across a fun and interesting holiday charity that I'll be participating in this year: Mustaches for Kids. The way that it works is that I collect pledges from loyal readers such as yourselves and over a four week period, I'll grow a mustache. Should I make it to the end of the four weeks (with a mustache), I'll collect the pledges and deliver them to Chicago's Off the Street Club.

Next week (Nov. 19) is the kickoff meeting and I'll be taking and posting a picture of my cleanly-shaven face on this weblog. I'll post my progress each week with a new mugshot.

This is the first time that I've done anything like this, and my goal is to raise $250 dollars for the charity. If you'd like to make a pledge, please send me a note at mustache@aetherial.net (or any of the usual channels) and I'll add you to my pledge sheet.

This should be a lot of fun and a creative way to get my camera-shy mug online for the world to see. Make a pledge now!

Through the magic of RSS, I ran across an interesting blog entry titled "A Nerd in a Cave". The author describes "caves":

My Cave is my intellectual home. My kitchen is where I eat, my bed is where I sleep, and my Cave is where I think. Everyone has some sort of Cave; just follow them around their house. It might be a garage full of tools or a kitchen full of cookware, but there is a Cave stashed somewhere in the house.

This observation certainly hits the mark in my case. For those that have visited me, they all know that my current cave is the guest bedroom that houses my Mac and bookshelves. I spend more time in that room than the rest of the apartment (probably combined). It's certainly a nice cave, but not my ideal one. I spent a few minutes between Subversion checkouts and commits thinking about what my ideal cave would look like.

This is what I came up with:

1. My cave would be a smallish room (10' x 10') located in a basement or other subterranean location. Unlike the cave described above, it would not have a window. The underground placement is ideal because it is isolating both physically and mentally. No windows to the outside provide the opportunity to lose track of time and fall into The Zone. The underground isolation also allows my cave to be as quiet or loud as I wish.
2. My cave would be furnished with the following pieces of furniture: a large desk, two large lamps, two small lamps, a mini-fridge, a futon, and a large bookshelf. The desk is where I work. The lamps allow me to adjust the environment to suit my mood. The mini-fridge provides refreshment. The futon provides me a place to rest or think. The bookshelves house my "useful" books and geek toys (such as my Macross Valkyrie collection).
3. My cave would be designed such that I can exist entirely within it for short periods of time (2-3 days at most). For example, if I have a deadline to finish a significant project, I should be able to enter my cave and not exit until finished. (Some allowances may be made for bio breaks or getting some fresh air.) The futon provides me a place to crash when necessary.
   
4. The cave is designed to optimally support the following contexts: getting work done, getting thinking done, reading, and uncompressing. My personal work style is that I'm most productive if I can switch gears when working on a project. If I'm wrestling with a difficult programming problem, I often like to take a step back and let my subconscious chew on it while I read an unrelated book or watch some TV or a movie. I should be able to decompress without leaving the cave.
5. In contrast to Rand's cave, I don't want or need a window to the outside world. Isolation can be useful. Likewise, I'd prefer that my cave be slightly cramped instead of a bit too large. The rationale for a cramped space with no window is that it encourages me to go outside once in a while to get some fresh air, exercise, and clear my head. My cave exploits my latent claustrophobia by encouraging me to go outside at regular intervals.

So, in an ideal world, my cave would be a square room with 10' sides. The walls would be painted a dark color (maroon sounds nice) and the door would be in the corner of one of the sides. Facing the door would be a futon with two side tables with lamps. In the other corner on the side with the door would be an L-shaped desk where my computer sits. On the floor by the wall between the desk and the futon lamps would be the mini-fridge. Opposite of the fridge (and between the door and the other side of the futon) would be my bookcase. The futon would be arranged so that the computer monitor could serve as an impromptu screen for watching TV or films. Underneath the futon would sit a pillow and blanket for those times when I nap in my cave.

On the wall by the door outside of the cave, a digital picture frame is mounted that gives outsiders an idea about whether I'm in the cave, whether I'm interruptible, and how long I've been in the cave. Close to the cave (ideally in the hall leading to the cave) would be a bathroom for the occasional restroom break or shower. Those of you who remember my dorm room in Brown my junior year have already seen a prototype of this ideal cave. While that room was not the ideal shape for the cave, it did serve quite well as one when needed (Winter 2000). The cave described above is an evolution of that basic idea.