Dan's House of Foo

Gone So Long

Yeah, it's been a long time now. One of my first impulses is to apologize; to do that annoying thing that way too many deadbeat bloggers like myself do when returning from a prolonged absence: talk about how sorry they are and how they're really going to start blogging more regularly now, ha ha, nervous laughter, hey look over there! Then the blog dies about six weeks later.

Then it came to me: apologetic blog posts are the "Under Construction!" signs of the '00s. Just like the horrendous "Men At Work" signs everyone used to have on their not-yet-complete (read: never-to-be-completed) websites ten years ago, blog posts about blog frequency are trite, annoying, not believable, and irrelevant. They add no content to the blog, and they only serve to annoy your readers.

So, I resist the apologizing impulse! Here's what I'm going to do instead: I promise, O internets, that I will not ever again apologize for not having blogged in so long, nor will I ever promise to blog more often. I'm a busy guy with a rich and full life, and this is how often I blog. Take it or leave it. Hear me roar. Or something.

Now, what I will do is talk about what I've been up to:

• Went to Israel for a week. We decided we'd attend a cousin's wedding at the last minute. Crazy hijinks! Jetlagged toddlers! Joy! Bliss! On the upside, I got to drive around the country in a little Hyundai Accent, and that was awesome. It's like you're in a video game. The right of way is not given in the Middle East, it is taken and then viciously guarded. In short: no one will ever let you in, ever. If you ever let anyone in, it will confuse them so utterly that they will actually physically get out of their car and come and yell at you for doing something so stupid and crazy, and messing up their whole day. Also: trucks are bigger than you are, and they know it, and as far as they're concerned, that's your problem. Also: I got to play with real live monkeys. Woohoo!

• After two appointments with physiotherapists and an orthopaedic specialist, all of whom were like "Meh, we have no idea wtf is going on with your knee, go see [the next guy up the chain with whom it takes six weeks to get an appointment]", I finally got referred to some excellent folks at Athlete's Care who specialize in sports-releated soft tissue injuries. They immediately diagnosed a problem with my popliteus, which, now that I know what it is, makes perfect sense given the symptoms I've been experiencing. Hurrah! After one treatment, my knee is significantly better coming out of seiza than it was. Hopefully this trend will continue.

• At work, I now get to oversee our transition to a next-generation SCM. This should prove really interesting, as I get to review/play with/molest such hip new foo as Bazaar and Mercurial. I do love getting paid to learn about new stuff.

• I have been given a date for my shodan ("black belt") test! To wit: next May, in Montreal. I had suspected it might be this coming September in Toronto, and I'll admit to feeling a bit disappointed that that didn't pan out—but really, it just feels very good to have an actual date nailed down, toward which I can now focus my training efforts. Just having the ambiguity dispelled is a huge load off my mind.