Can't see the wood for the trees

Poll #14402 Can't see the wood for the trees

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 28

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I always assumed "Can't see the wood for the trees" meant

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Can't see the forest because I'm too busy looking at the trees
25 (89.3%)

Can't see what they're made of because I'm too busy looking at the trees
1 (3.6%)

Both at different times
0 (0.0%)

Deliberately ambiguous
1 (3.6%)

As above, but now you mention it, I think differently
0 (0.0%)

Other
2 (7.1%)

Comment:

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I always interpreted this one way, but a friend had always thought of it completely differently, and I realised, I couldn't remember if the times I'd heard it, my interpretation was clearly intended, or was just how I happened to hear it first and then it got stuck in my mind.

Dear Jack of 2012

Dear Jack of 2012,

Thank you for reliably using source control, including backing everything up to a remote repository. Thank you for writing unit tests. Thank you for using Python. Thank you for structuring the code fairly sensibly into different classes. This made it so much easier to pick up where you left off.

Thank you for starting to going to the gym. A year later I'm really enjoying it, even if it was hard at first.

I'm sorry you still had trouble getting things done. Thank you for not giving up even if it was difficult, it was massively worthwhile to have made slow progress rather than backwards progress since.

Maybe I don't thank you for things enough. So, thank you.

Love Jack

Dear world of 2012-2013

Thank you for, every time I blink, slowly reducing the amount of Python 2.7 I still have to use.

Love Jack

Steelheart (and to a lesser extent Alloy of Law)

Steelheart

Steelheart is Brandon Sanderson's evil superheroes novel. That says it all really. It's quite Brandon Sanderson-y. If you like saying "wait, this hole in the premise seems a bit like a plot hole, no wait, this is Sanderson, I bet it turns out to be an important clue later" and getting proved right, then this is a good book for you. It tackles several superhero tropes in a way that makes significantly more sense than how they're usually presented.

Did I mention the evil superheroes?

It certainly gripped me, I read it all in one evening.

But some parts fell a bit flat for me, it felt like he'd had a really good book but had to rush it a bit, though I find it hard to explain why.

Alloy of Law

See above, but with added, "squeee! mistborn continues after the end of the mistborn trilogy!"

GTD: This week

This week I have:

1. Refreshed my collection of blank pretty greetings cards. (Someone will eventually want watercolour rugby players, yes?)
2. Bought a second clothes horse[1].
3. Triaged all the old post which accumulated in the house move.
4. Tested I can log on to the VPN from home.
5. Tested whether my tile-based adventure game demo still worked. (Answer: as well as it did before, but it needs unbreaking.)
6. Closed more bugs than I opened.
7. Been hashing for the fourth time, and done four specific exercise things for the third week running (well, not yet, but I've decided to).
8. Doubted my estimate that I could write five interesting blog posts a week.

[1] COME ON BRAIN! How hard was it to go from "I don't have enough room to hang all these clothes" to "buy another one"? Well, I don't know hard, but it apparently took my brain years to think of it...

Pooh 20.5th anniversary dinner

Dear poohsoc alumni who are not on the mailing list if any,

The 20.5th anniversary dinner is confirmed for Friday 29th November, and if interested, you should inform the committee (or, specifically, Ed).

Love Jack