Random Thoughts of the Past Week.

Over the last week, there have been some stray thoughts running through my head. Wikipad has helped me keep track of them (I don't know how I lived without this application before). Most of these things deal with the real world, little observations or insights, or things that just bugged me because I didn't and perhaps still don't understand them.

Software and Friends

This week, 2 people who know me personally, and one of whom has been a family friend for years, have been looking at medical software. They both know that I have been working quietly on MAHIN, getting prepped for some prototype work... Of the two, the one that has been the friend longest really surprised me. 2 years ago, he asked me about medical software, and I was already designing MAHIN, so I saw a way to pay for some of my silly human habits while doing so - and giving him something he needed.

I told him $3,000 TT - a little less than $500 US - and a month's work. He almost jumped up and down, saying that this was too much money. I was unceremoniously pushed out of the office. This year, he says he's buying some software for - get this - $6,000 TT. Huh? So I asked him about it, and he said that when I quoted $3K, he couldn't afford the $3K.

That explanation is missing something. What it's missing is why he didn't talk to me when he had the $3K, let alone $6k, to spend on software. So, after leaving his office (and hearing him talk about this software long enough), I kicked it around all week. I wasn't angry, but something bothered me about it. I figured it out yesterday as I was working on the table.

He was never serious about paying me for software. And likely he never will. Maybe a good friend, but a business liability. I do hope he gets the support for the software he buys, but I know it won't work well for him. Use of software down here, when it comes to medicine, lags the United States by about 10-15 years. This means that 10-15 years of screw ups that I got to see (and be a part of), and Doctors don't seem to know what they want from their software - or more importantly, what they need. Too many conferences and visits from pharmaceutical representatives (drug pushers) perhaps. Who knows.

It will all work out in the end. Some people just like bumpy roads, I suppose. And I'm not one to talk, considering the table...

Tables and Varnish

Working on the table has been fun, and has been a good way to take breaks from the PC while I've been thinking. Now - I don't have much experience with varnish or carpentry, other than a few odd things done in the past. Learning as I went, the table has been a fun project - mainly with the varnish, because I've never been serious about applying varnish to wood. I've found that it is an art and a science. And I've also screwed up the table a bit by adding too much varnish. By using too coarse of sandpaper.

It's not as smooth as I wanted. It's not as perfect as I had envisioned it... I certainly had the right tools for the table, and I did everything methodically and carefully. Still, I fell into the programmer trap - not leaving well enough alone. So while this new table is shinier than the one I am using right now, and has a hole for wires... it could have been better, and I know that now. The problem? I didn't know when to quit, when it was good enough. The truth was it was good enough a while ago, but by constant fiddling I made it less nice. Very humbling.

So in it's own way, it is perfect because it's imperfect. It reminded me to keep an eye out for 'good enough'... and now that I know what that is when it comes to a table, the next one will be better. But, that table will be used everyday once the varnish hardens over the next day or so. Why?

Because I built it with my own hands, and I'm proud of the scars it has because each one was a learning experience. I hope my friends feel the same about their software. :-)

Of Activists and Technology Activists

I've been involved with MobileActive... and when I made a mention of Odeo, Evan left a rhetorical comment about my not noticing from him last year at the MobileActive Convergence. Sure, I missed it then, but the fact that I did miss it doesn't mean I wasn't paying attention. Maybe I saw it and saw no practical use - I've gotten one message from one person so far, as it is. And Evan, if you're reading this, you might appreciate the humor in the fact that you didn't send me an Odeo about it. Huh?

But a lot of the MobileActive stuff seems centered around ringtones and elections, and that's all well and good, but I don't need ringtones and the infrastructure down here in Trinidad and Tobago is only beginning to allow for some things. Still, there's a big divide between the 'geeks and the tweaks', as I call it. Sure, I was involved with the Alert Retrieval Cache, but that doesn't mean my life is run by cell phones. A few people might be surprised to know that I had probably sent less than 10 SMS messages prior to the ARC. I hate telephones. Maybe that's the issue. Most people involved with MobileActive are in love with their phones.

My phone interrupts me, most of the time. A lot of the time, I pick it up and before answering it gauge the distance to the largest hard object. It's not really the phone I hate, probably... it's probably all the people in the world with licenses to talk and nothing to say. Or the 'look at me' syndrome, or the 'look at what I did' syndrome - the latter reminiscent of a child being toilet trained. Overhyper extroverts make me start looking for a tranquilizer gun.

Because of all of that, I've been remiss on that mailing list. The one message I asked over the last week (which I have re-asked twice) remains unanswered- 'is there a list of people on the site doing MobileActive stuff?' Maybe it's time to move on. I like solving problems, but my life doesn't revolve around everything to do with mobile phones. I'm not a political activist, and a lot of people on the list seem to be. And the few people who do want to do things want to pick my brains but not pay my bills. There's an object in the water around the boat, and I'm trying to decide whether it's an oar or a rudder.

And VoIP

3 people have contacted me about work related stuff in the last week. All of them wanted to talk to me on the phone using Skype and so forth, but that's all a bit silly because the best way to avoid confusion in software projects is simple: Email. That way it is written down, and there's no quibbling. A voice discussion about a project is fine, but to hammer out details, nothing except a Wiki or other form of a content management system comes close to email.

Oral Culture versus Written Culture

It boils down to how people like to communicate, I suppose. But for software and technical projects, written culture wins. It's that simple. If you want to talk on the phone, that's nice - but there has to be writing involved, especially with complex projects - otherwise I'd be on the phone all the time trying to find out what I forgot. I used to write paper notes all the time, but in 2 days I can write myself into confusion with a pen and paper. With a computer, I have an archive that I can search. I communicate with a lot of people. I communicate with so many people that I need archives to refer to.

Plenty more...

But I'm tired and need to crawl into bed. It's been a long week...