It's probably not what we think of when we say Awesome, but developing open-source software does change the world for the better, one person at a time.

David Wiley and a very brave crew have created the (now chartered!) Open High School of Utah. Why is this wonderful? "OHSU will be a completely online school (or “virtual school” as they
are sometimes called) that will use open educational resources exclusively." They, too, are building an airplane while flying it. I wonder what would happen if Olin decided to do the same thing. Perhaps not for the entire school... perhaps for one class to begin with, then spreading outwards. You'd miss out on some excellent classic texts (Horowitz and Hill, etc.) - what would you get in "return"?

Tonight was spent at Kdorsey's place with the companionship of some smoky black bean soup, chocolate cookies, and sparkling wine from Italy by way of Seattle (combined-birthday drinks for the two of us - the wine is from my aunt June in Seattle after the tasting we went to down at Pike Place, but wine is always best when shared). I found a shorter route to bike to work that doesn't make me feel like I'm going to die 5 times a second. And then and then and then I learned how to spin poi! It's wonderful how there are different ways of thinking about physical motions and rhythms of your wrists and body as the socks go flying around. You're (supposedly) doing the exact same physical motion, but it feels different in your brain, and that sometimes leaks out into how you're moving in a subtle way I can't yet articulate.

This week I am attempting the "9 to 5" experiment, and so far it's worked fine. To be completely accurate, today I did 8-6, and worked from home before lunch, and did a little bit of work after dinner, but considering my prior work habits, this represents a significant shift towards the attempt to try a normal schedule. Thus far I've learned that it... feels funny to try to tell myself to not think about work for a bit, since all the areas of my life tend to blend into each other, and I like it that way. It also tends to clarify what I want to get done and what I need to get done - today was a wonderfully efficient day - and makes me more conscious of the time I spend doing "work" during times when I'm trying to do things other than work (such as... eating, which is important too).

Delineating "work" from "nonwork" is a distinction I don't much care for (at times). I do what I love and I love what I do, so there shouldn't be any grumbly distinction between things I do for money and love and things I do for love - I should enjoy doing both. I do! At the same time, paycheck-stuff tends to get bumped to the top of the priority list. This isn't a particularly useful or coherent paragraph, and only serves to demonstrate my befuddled state when trying to articulate my relationships to the notions of "work" and "income." Perhaps the situation would be thrown into sharper relief if I had a guaranteed cushy stipend for life and could therefore choose to do anything with my time without financial consequence... I'll run with that thought experiment for a while.

(As you might note, the busier/more-occupied I get, the lousier my writing becomes. Meditation: another thing to try.)