How'd that road turn out to the road I'm on?

It's been a busy travel time. I've spent six weeks on the road out of the last seven, five of them teaching, one of them tooling around the mountains with my chitlins and my honey, one of them fixing the f*g wireless at home and trying to get baby steps closer to preparing my taxes (yeah, look, don't even start with me). I'm tired.

It was like this, looking back. In real life I did all this in reverse order.

May 07 - San Jose, TCP/IP Administration
Apr 30 - Sacramento, Introduction to JCAPS
Apr 23 - Clean/fix what's broken, broken or getting dusty at home
Apr 16 - Eugene, OR, the old New Solaris 10 course for Symantec's Unix group (SA-225 rev C)
Apr 09 - A Death Valley trip that looped around the Sierras (Spring Break w/kids and my honey)
Apr 02 - Ottawa, ON - Teach the new New Solaris 10 course (SA-225 rev D)
Mar 26 - Burlington, MA - Observe the new New Solaris 10 course (SA-225 rev D)

It's a big time for "processing" for me, as the argot has it. The days are well done before I've delved into any words that I honestly imagine anyone cares to hear. Well, it's not that I think no one's interested. I'm not very interested much of the time. I get enough of it, and all the time. To put a phrase to it, there are no prophets from your hometown, and certainly none from mine. I'd like to read or hear a vision, an epiphany, a revelation, even a trivial but new insight, something I haven't considered before or even recently, and that's hard to get from myself.

I've also been in a deep, gratifying nerd power-dive, researching, scripting demos and building support resources for this JCAPS course and the SA-225 update. I'm also putting some of my experiment work, like this hack with Solaris Zones and ZFS, out there for interested parties.

Here's a thing: last night I was cleaning out the usual comment porn spam the cyberdorks put on Been Wondering and saw that the majority of hits for theday -- and we're talking tens of hits here, people -- was for this post. I cringe at most things I've written -- far too self-conscious and self-defeating to be a writer of any note -- but this to me seemed like it needed some clean-up and polish, and it could be a nice thing to remember. It was...nice, to go back for once and imagine a former self I'd like to know more about.

So I am writing in part to explain why I haven't written much, but mostly to answer one person who sent me this yesterday:

I faithfully read your blog although I seldom comment
on it, only because I usually can't think of anything witty to say.
Keep up the good work. I'd really miss it if you ever stopped.


Outside of personal letters, this is really the one reason I could ever think to keep writing: to touch someone I didn't know was (still) there, in this time or maybe even some time forward. Thank you for reminding me.

Comments

RandyLuvsPaiste said…
Thanks, Michael.
It just goes to show, ya never know, huh?
ttractor said…
Are you trying to win the thick-headed olympics? fine, I cede my silver medal in Self-Deprecation (no one wins gold, of course) to you. Holy flying doughnuts you've earned it.
SkylersDad said…
We will take whatever you care to share Michael, it is always worth the wait.

Hope everything is going well for you my friend.
GETkristiLOVE said…
I was having a good morning until I read about SA-225, Rev D. Thanks a lot you ruddy-faced twerp!
vikkitikkitavi said…
What Vikkitikkitavi reads:

"I've also been in a deep, gratifying nerd power-dive, researching, scripting demos and building support resources for this JCAPS course and the SA-225 update. I'm also putting some of my experiment work, like this hack with Solaris Zones and ZFS, out there for interested parties."

What Vikkitikkitavi understands:

"Blah blah DEEP blah blah blah blah POWER blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah PARTIES."
Unknown said…
Randy: One might know and find ways to forget. That's my particular condition, at times.

tt: God that's perfect: even if you could win at self-deprecation, declaring victory is grounds for immediate disqualification. Oh irony.

sd: Thanks man. :)

gkl: That's right, demean the messenger...

VTT: To paraphrase a common ally: Your alleged contempt for geeky hard work is beneath you, and thanks to hallucinogenic drugs, I see through you.
vikkitikkitavi said…
You misunderstand, mon frere. I only wish to 1) illustrate my own ignorance, and 2) get the name of your dealer.
GETkristiLOVE said…
But I read your blog to take a break from work topics. Don't do that to me again!