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Okay, most of the people on this board know of me as the person who monitors the server, keeps things running smoothly, etc. I wrote the Christmas card list exchange tool (and v2.0 is in the works, believe me). I work on extensions and documentation for the TurboGears project. I've got, running at home right now, four computers. I've got a laptop with me (an Asus EEE 901).
I could go on, but, in short, I'm a geek.
Recently, I found another side to my personality, though, and it surprised me a great deal. It turns out I enjoy carpentry, too, and it's for all the reasons that make being a geek something that sucks.
When doing the geek thing, everything goes away and gets replaced. Nothing remains. In 2 years, all of the code that I've written is likely to be mostly useless, and desperately needing updates just to work on whatever the new technologies are. In 5 years, my code is almost guaranteed to be 100% broken, and needing total rewrites. In 10 years, it's probably totally useless.
Same goes for everything else geek in my life. Stuff stops working when I upgrade something else. It's fun to get the new stuff to fix all of that, but it still sucks to have to do so.
Carpentry provides something that will last. The same bookcase I build today can be used a decade from now. The same chair, the same desk, all of that can be used indefinitely, until physical breakage occurs. Sometimes even after that, if the break can be fixed.
It's odd to consider, but it's true: Two sides to my personality, two desires for my life. Each of them gets fulfilled by activities that are so different it's difficult to express the levels of difference.
Anyway, here's what I've done so far. Maybe it'll inspire some of you to try out some new things and find out some surprising new things about yourselves that you never suspected existed.
http://photos.icelus.tzo.com/v/Woodworking/
I could go on, but, in short, I'm a geek.
Recently, I found another side to my personality, though, and it surprised me a great deal. It turns out I enjoy carpentry, too, and it's for all the reasons that make being a geek something that sucks.
When doing the geek thing, everything goes away and gets replaced. Nothing remains. In 2 years, all of the code that I've written is likely to be mostly useless, and desperately needing updates just to work on whatever the new technologies are. In 5 years, my code is almost guaranteed to be 100% broken, and needing total rewrites. In 10 years, it's probably totally useless.
Same goes for everything else geek in my life. Stuff stops working when I upgrade something else. It's fun to get the new stuff to fix all of that, but it still sucks to have to do so.
Carpentry provides something that will last. The same bookcase I build today can be used a decade from now. The same chair, the same desk, all of that can be used indefinitely, until physical breakage occurs. Sometimes even after that, if the break can be fixed.
It's odd to consider, but it's true: Two sides to my personality, two desires for my life. Each of them gets fulfilled by activities that are so different it's difficult to express the levels of difference.
Anyway, here's what I've done so far. Maybe it'll inspire some of you to try out some new things and find out some surprising new things about yourselves that you never suspected existed.
http://photos.icelus.tzo.com/v/Woodworking/
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