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Earlier this year, I got an opportunity to work on an existing cloud provisioning automation effort that wasn’t going as well as leadership had hoped for. This was puzzling, as there is no shortage of scripting, APIs, and 3rd party tools available for automated cloud provisioning. Public cloud providers go out of their way in helping (for obvious reasons) corporations ramp up to their cloud offerings in an automated way. The platform teams that were tasked with this effort were also reasonably smart, motivated, and the goals they were shooting for felt reasonable and well thought out....

Our journey through life is a pathway created through the decisions that we make. Most non trivial decisions are costly and or impossible to revert. It is no wonder then that “undo” is a valued super power when working on complex software systems. The ability to reverse a decision completely (and without lingering side effects) in a given context is magical and godlike. Undo makes users of a software system more confident in exploring new features and options, as “undo” always provides a lifeline....

It took 2 tablets of 200mg ibuprofen and 30ml of dayquil to fight the flu. Total impact: miserable, tired, stuffy nose, headache, 2 days of missed work, self-righteous indignation, and a call with an advise nurse. The final amount of sweat and lifting of a dead weight from my head are signs of hope. Yesterday, after a nightly flush of saline spray and flonase (with a slight burning sensation the whole night), I was able to sleep till 4:20a or so....

2022 is the year of the flu. Multiple vaccine boosters and shots did not make much of a dent. So far, I’ve successfully navigated Covid in June, stomach flu again in June, and now going through a bout of cold/ cough/ allergy/ flu in December. Without the modern marvels of Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen, the headache and or suffering would be terrible. Flonase and Saline spray decongest the nasal passages. It feels blessed to live now, and not even 100 years prior....

Cavorting in union square is always nice, especially in the fall. Macy’s Christmas tree and the ice rink set the tone for winter festivities in the bay area. Nightly showers created a minty fresh city sidewalks, and the California Sun provided a dollop of sunshine. Luckily on this Sunday, locals prevailed, so the place was not chockablock with brusque photo shoots. Hunting for a restroom is always challenging, but we lucked out in Macys....

Despite our lives being so rich and full of color, I remember very little. Looking at old photographs enhances this feeling even more. How do we make our present more interesting and memorable? An off the cuff comment from my daughter is to have experiences that stick with us. I agree with her. I think the part of having an experience is to journal it along with pictures, so that you can come back to it later on....

Mindfulness is the practice of living in the present.

I previously discussed software feature scope in Quality, time, scope: pick any two. scope skōp noun: scope; plural noun: scopes the extent of the area or subject matter that something deals with or to which it is relevant. “we widened the scope of our investigation” Please keep in mind that we are addressing scope in a narrow sense of developing features for software distributed through the magical powers of the “zero additional” cost internet (after the recurring costs of connectivity, bandwidth, and access device)....

I have a lust-regret relationship with food. I love good food, variety, texture, spices, herbs, smells. Invariably, when I extend myself, I have the following regretful consequences: Weight imbalances that depress my fitness target Stomach upset that invariably happens Adding alcohol makes overeating worse Too much alcohol adds in hangover Changes I did to make this lust turn to love: Measure, measure, measure: I weigh myself daily, and make a note of it in my journal....

One of the corner stone value of my adult life, has been the old adage that “Actions speak louder than words”. The original saying is meant to convey that people’s action show their real attitudes, rather than what they say. Growing up, I was shy and introverted (I still remain that way). My childhood books (and maybe movies) led me to look up to the strong silent protagonist. I also mistook the saying to mean that I do not need to counter people’s assumptions, and that they would see and understand what I have to say by my actions....