The universe has an uncanny way of rewinding… — A few weeks ago, I woke up one morning with Steve Winwood’s “Valerie” on my mind. Had it been in my dreams? I couldn’t remember. Yet, hours later with this earworm drilling into my brain, I had no choice but to listen to the track. “Hey Google, play Valerie by…

…but probably not how you’re thinking. — Thirty years ago, I was working as a software developer with an established company. The work was challenging and fun and the people were great, but sometimes the grind could get overwhelming. After a few years of ~60 hour weeks, I started taking notice of some things in the periphery…

“Party of limited government” — Yeah, right. — Today marks a red-letter day in American governance. The United States Supreme Court, after weeks of taunting and political tomfoolery, have released an edict saying that the women of America are second class citizens and should be limited in the choices they can make about their bodies. Only slightly earlier…

..and I’ll do it again — Last night, while scrolling through LinkedIn, I noticed that one of my colleagues has taken it upon himself to patrol the platform in search of anything positive or uplifting, or anything of a personal nature. …

…and other lies — If you’ve ever had the good fortune of asking a programming question on StackOverview, ExpertsExchange, LinkedIn, or even Medium and received the ceremonial bitch slap, welcome to the club. It’s becoming almost a rite of passage to have some “senior” dev on these platforms completely discount your question, focusing instead…

He’s Extraordinary — A few days ago, a YouTube video showed up with the Rockin’ 1000 doing a tribute to Taylor Hawkins, drummer of the Foo Fighters. …

If you start reading this, I beg you, please read to the end. This is a story that has needed to be told for a long, long time. — In 1985 I was a year out of college and just starting to get comfortable in my first post-academic job. Life was, as they say, nice, boring, and routine. My best friend Gary was a maintenance guy in my company. A quiet fellow, Gary was the one guy you could…

Shell scripting for fun and profit. — Okay. Maybe it’s not the cool, in-crowd sort of thing. I hear you; it’s old and hardly the most powerful tool in the box. Still, I feel the urge to say this loud and proud: I LOVE BASH SCRIPTING! While there isn’t much of a call for scripting in my…