2004 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

The 2004 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta is coming up. I'm going to have to make myself wake up early enough to see them launch some morning.

Article by E. W. Dijkstra

The Humble Programmer

It was written in 1972, but is still an interesting read.

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

The MIT Press has the full text of SICP online. I should get around to reading it, since it is often referenced in certain programming circles. I suppose wanting to read it and work on the examples shows how much I've started missing Scheme since leaving graduate school.

Alibi Haiku Contest

Every year, a free local paper known as the Alibi has a haiku contest. I liked a number of them, but feel the winner of the Best Albuquerque Haiku sums up the driving style of many regions, not just here in New Mexico.

No need to signal.
Why should you exert yourself?
I can read your mind.
—Pamela Menter

For those undecided voters out there...

Fix America! Vote Robocratic!

Nifty blog listed on the Blogger Dashboard

Cooking For Engineers

I'll have to look more closely later, but the recipe grids are an interesting format.

Drat!

So, yesterday I proudly declared that "It works!" Eh, not so much. It turns out I did a little hack fix before leaving for the wedding next month, so the code kind of fakes it at one point. I'll have to actually make it totally do the right thing before handing it off. Bleh!

Smart pointers

I've been reading some code that makes use of auto_ptr and I think I like it. I knew smart pointers were out there, but all too often the code I need to use ignores many nice ideas like that.

It works!

So, I set up a little test script to see if I could break my code. (It's not for my big project, but a little side task that I had been putting off. This week, the big project is sort of on hold.) While I waited, I played a little Button Men Online and did some blog-surfing. (I'm really addicted to that "Next Blog" link.) Wonder of wonders, the program not only runs without crashing, it actually does what it is supposed to do! (It's sad when your expectations are low enough for that to give you a thrill.)

Of course, this means that the code is just about good enough to give to the guy who will actually use it, which is somewhat scary. It's sure to die in a horribly messy way as soon as someone is depending on it. I'll do some cleanup and try to reassure myself that all is well tomorrow.

Ouch!

It is so dry here lately that my lips have cracked. Generous applications of Chapstick have yet to improve the situation. This is an especially annoying situation for newlyweds.

"I love you, honey, but please leave my lips alone!"

There's a Blog in My Throat

I ran across this blog while waiting for some code to run today. I don't really know why I found it so enjoyable to read, but I guess it is because we all can identify with someone who finds herself crawling around her office in search of a dropped banana.

Other knitters on Blogger

I was blogsurfing today and ran across *tiny owl knits*. It's nice to see something like that amidst all the junk out there.

I really should post pictures of some of my knitting, too.

State Fair

I'm planning on going to the State Fair (a.k.a. Expo New Mexico) this weekend. I'm looking forward to eating my annual elephant ear, although I'll have to search for someone who sells them since this state seems to be funnel cake territory. We'll be taking a coworker of mine who has never been to a fair before and seems to not entirely believe my descriptions of the sort of activities that can be found there.

Back to work!

It is amazing how difficult it can be to regain your train of thought after taking a couple of weeks off of work. I know I was doing something productive before I left last month, but I've just sort of been puttering around the last couple of days, trying to get back into the groove. Mostly I've been reading over my code, trying to decide what to do next. At least I didn't leave anything major dangling while I was gone, but that also means that there isn't something quite as obvious to deal with right away.