Category: Engineering Princess

Film – Ratatouille and Chuck and Larry

Posted on by boj Posted in Baby, Engineering Princess, Film

I am going back to work next week. Tomorrow is my last day alone with the boy. I am very anxious. Chris is doing great with the boy, but he is still eating only milk, so I hope he won’t mind me being away for a large part of the day. I will be home for lunch, but that’s it until the afternoon.

I am looking forward to having larger chunks of time to work on Thesis. I had trouble just piecing an hour here, an hour there. I hope the work goes well. I have an exciting project lined up with I get back. I am so tired now and it is not even 10PM. Yawn and good night!

Film – Sketches of Frank Gehry

Posted on by boj Posted in Engineering Princess, Film

Watching documentaries about people in my line of business (producing functional art) is always fascinating if for no other reason then to gloat about the eternal struggle for the beauty of the world*. Sometimes I get tangled up in details and hassles of the day that I forget that I have an opportunity to create something beautiful. I loved how the film showed the combination of requirements to conform and the 10% space for creativity. There is a crack, a crack in everything – That’s how the light gets in. **

In any case, even if the film did not inspire reflection (which it did), the bits with Julian Schnabel made me giggle like a schoolgirl. That alone is worth the price of admission.

* In The New Light – Laibach
** Anthem – Leonard Cohen

A quote!

Posted on by boj Posted in Engineering Princess

Like the tale of the sitar player asking Buddha how best to tune his instrument, therefore, we find the famous answer: “not too tight, and not too loose” as a good general rule for balancing formal process with informal practice.
[Tore Dyba, “Factors of Software Process Improvement Success in Small and Large Organisations: An Empirical Study in the Scandinavian Context”, ESEC/FSE’03, September 2003, ACM]

It’s the World, Dummy!

Posted on by boj Posted in Engineering Princess

After many years of reading the same opinions over and over I finally read an article that said something I haven’t heard before

I haven’t entirely made up my mind about the article, but I like where it is going. I wonder if the new wave in engineering culture is inevitable and coming, I would certainly like to see one.

Sorry for being more obscure than usual (strange but possible). I am not happy with the status quo but still haven’t quite put a finger on what’s wrong and how to change it. More to come for the remainder of my working life. The revolution is slowly struggling along. Ya-ha!

Fun in the sun

Posted on by boj Posted in Engineering Princess, General, Higher Education, Music

I wrote my exam on Tuesday and now I’m back to work-a-day-rest-at-night lifestyle. Though not for long since we’re hitting the airport on Friday. There is nothing like going to the opposite end of the world to put a closure on a semester.

Currently I am making a mixed CD for my work buddies. We were discussing the trend of iPod swapping with co-workers. We agreed that it was a great idea, but since I am the only one with the iPod, which isn’t even mine, we stuck with CDs. The rules are as follows: there needs to be about 20 to 30 songs with no more than 3 by the same artist. The idea is to put the stuff that you like, but also try and get many genres. I’ve put the following artists: Belle & Sebastian, Cibo Matto, Diamanda Galas, Emm Gryner, Liz Phair, Laibach, Magnetic Fields, Neko Case, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Organ, Patti Smith, Rufus Wainwright, Tegan & Sara and White Stripes.

There are some trends with the music that I’ve chosen that I haven’t noticed before. For example, there is a definite mellowness to the music I put on the CD. I am getting more mellow with age ;).

Whoop whoop!

Posted on by boj Posted in Engineering Princess

Last week’s Bob the Angry Flower cartoon struck a chord with me.

bob

We’re being strongly encouraged to attend our annual team building curling bonspiel. Last year I managed to avoid it because I had a class at that time, but this year I am not so lucky. I am afraid that not liking curling is not strong enough excuse. Why can’t we do something that I like instead of sports?