Just found out my buddy Krishnan Ganesan from Niraval is a backing singer in this video from a movie. It’s funny (La x 15)!
All posts by MattK
Welding
Did a little welding class last night. I got to practice Oxy-Acetylene welding one on one because no one else wanted to weld on a hot summer night in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Since it was just me I got to do more with the instructor and we did both brazing and actual steel welding. Tons of fun. My final project was a little Z-Z tea light holder!
Obstacle Racing
I did my second obstacle race last weekend and it was glorious. This time, instead of just being alone, I had a crew. I saw them at the beginning and the end, but it was good to have a posse! I got all the obstacles except three that I gave up (too early) on.
Mike, the guy in the sling, had his arm broken by someone’s knee in the race and KEPT RUNNING!
This is mostly an excuse to share some cool pictures.
I did great on time but next race I’m going for strict completion of everything. I should be able to do it!
Week 3049
Family
Celebrated a big birthday with Swale and it was generally a good time – minus some tears when the birthday boy insisted on spraying people with his water gun and got sprayed back.
Code
The owner of Cafe Hudson pointed me to an interesting post where the OpenStreetMap community has been around long enough that the movement of tectonic plates is a problem for keeping the maps accurate over time.
Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes – Crowbar
We all come from an explosion in the sky
One day there was nothing and the next there was life
Week 3048
Code
I had a comment from someone about my previous enthusiasm for Ditz, a distributed issue tracker. I still love Ditz, but it didn’t have enough of a community to keep it going. However, that got me to look at what’s current in distributed issue tracking and I’m really liking git-bug, which is very robust and good.
Not only does the command line work, but there’s a really nice terminal ui.
There’s a decent web view as well, but it seems to be view only.
Distributed issue tracking is great for people like me who sometimes write code without a network connection. You have your code and your issues to work on all in the same place! It’s probably terrible for project that have lots of non-technical commandline using folks working on them.
Week 3047
Family
OMG. I’m doing something right or Max is just having a better life. Last night he drew me these amazing cards.
Code
Not much motion, but I’m hip deep in some clever stuff around re-exposing imports from one namespace to another and our Python3 conversions. We are into the details here and it’s always a lot of grind.
Food
OMG. My dude Ian Sudderth threw a birthday party at Momofuku Ssam. It was more food than I could eat, more drinks than I could drink and I biked home so full my guts hurt.
Young Fathers – Shame
Okay, pride’s over, let’s get back to shame.
Week 3046
Grunting and Sweating
Amazing Trainer Christina, Deepa from work and I went to Obstacle Athletics on Saturday and had a lot of fun in their grown up playground. I got to do a lot of wall vaults and monkey bar work, ran up some wavy walls, balanced on beams and traversed long wall climbs. All were pretty cool. I also finally got to a place with a high rope so I could practice rope climbs!
Also finally got back to biking in! It’s beeyoootiful out.
Got to go to Georgia’s birthday party afterward and had a really swell time with my peeps there.
Politics
I’d vote for Biden over Trump – but I really think Biden will lose. He’s not even as exciting as Hillary was. There’s no reason to vote for him, just reasons to vote against Trump. Makes me wish again for Ranked Choice Voting. I’d love to see someone who has some enthusiasm get the nomination.
Skimmed the debates and it seems like Warren did great in her night as a real standout, committing to Medicare for all. On the second night, I didn’t check out as much but it looks like Biden’s skeletons are starting to become more known in the mainstream.
Family
Last week of school for Max Lazer! He’s coming out of kindergarten. I got to read a bunch of material that had never made it home before from him!
Max also has been back at his circuits and seems to have figured parallel and series circuits.
Zeezus on the other hand may have to go to a reform school.
Week 3045
Family
We did the IEP review for Maxwell and the school has agreed to defer to the CBST.
This means the Department of Education will take a shot at finding an appropriate school for him. If they can’t provide one, we will find one. The hope is we can get something within the school system, but if not, we’ll do what we need to.
Zelda is getting very verbal and very sweet. Last night she cuddled max and lay her head on his chest, and said she wanted to watch “my Mackie sleep”
Reading
The Fifth Risk was very good. Lost Gods lost me very early on.
The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Well, that’s terrifying. This is almost like Lovecraft in that the unknown unknowns are huge lurking civilization ending monsters. Oy vey.
I started reading Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi and it’s very powerful and sad. A lot of it reminds me of Maxie’s struggles. The surges and changes he experiences and the way neither he nor we are prepared or have tools to help him but we muddle through as best we can – they match this poor girl’s struggles. Sometimes I want to abandon a book because it makes me feel too much and doesn’t feel like an adventure, and I’ve felt that with this book.
Grunting and Sweating
I’m going with trainer Christina and my work partner Deepa to an Obstacle Gym on Long Island this Saturday before coming back for birthday parties in the park. I’m psyched to try some crazy monkey bars and experiment with new moves and obstacles. They have one of those American Ninja warrior pull up bar ladders!