Tales from the jar side: Completing the Kotlin Cookbook, VOCES8, and other thoughts
Welcome to Tales from the jar side, the Kousen IT newsletter, for the week of October 20 - 27, 2019. This week I taught online courses in Functional Java and Managing Your Manager, and works on the "QC1" edit of my Kotlin Cookbook.
Last one first. This week felt strange, in that it's the first week in a long time where I didn't spend most of my waking hours on Kotlin. I was under strict instructions not to modify the git repository containing the book (O'Reilly Media uses git repositories for their books and lets me write them using asciidoc -- major points in their favor) while the QC1 version was being prepared, so while I kept up with developments on Twitter, I didn't actually do any real work on the book until Friday.
That's the day the QC1 pdf showed up, with instructions for me to answer the handful of questions that were asked as well as check all the figures and code for any problems, among other things. I have to admit I was dreading that, not because I was worried about the edits, but because it meant dealing with Adobe Reader's comment capabilities, which can be exquisitely painful.
I was pleasantly surprised. The questions turned out to be easy, and even adding the comments and modifications I needed was straightforward. The real issue was going through the book page by page. After this short break, that carried some impact. It was the first time the book looked complete and polished, and I've always liked the look and feel of O'Reilly books. I'm even forced to admit that the content is solid, and actually pretty good in parts, which is about the highest praise I can give to anything I write myself. Even the jokes weren't all that bad. :)
In other words, we're actually on schedule to have the book released in the next month or so, well in time for KotlinConf...
... unless it isn't. Over the weekend the news reported that the Kincade Fire, the massive wildfire in Sonoma County, CA that currently spans over 50,000 acres, had spread to the point that one of the towns that needed to be evacuated was Sebastopol, CA. Sebastopol, in the heart of California wine country, is the home of the O'Reilly publishing company. I have no idea whether or not they're in any danger or if the evacuations are simply precautionary at this point, but I hope everyone there is okay. Even if the destruction is minimized, however, the power company has cut power to over a million homes in the area, and I can only assume the O'Reilly offices are affected by that in one way or another.
If this weren't such a tragedy, any resulting publication delay would be the height of irony. I did my part, reluctantly, to meet the deadlines, but to have the key event be a delay that the insurance companies will no doubt classify as an Act of God would be ... unfortunate. That all pales, of course, to people being in actual jeopardy, so like everyone else I'll be following Twitter for updates to hopefully hear that everyone is safe and sound.
Fellow NFJS speaker Brian Sletten managed to deliver his talks at event in Chicago this weekend. He is based near Sacramento, which appears to be out of the affected areas. Still, when he was flying back to California tweeted that both the normal ways for him to return home from the airport were blocked. I trust he'll make it, but my goodness this is becoming too regular an event.
And now for something completely different. Maybe I had too much time on my hands, but I've been thinking about the steady build up to the last main-line Star Wars movie, The Rise Of Skywalker, to be released in December. Tickets are now available, but like last year I'm going to wait until it's been out a couple weeks before I dive in. I'm hoping for the best but expecting to be disappointed, which seems to be a safe bet for every Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back.
The trailer looks good, but I learned my lesson about that long ago. The greatest movie trailer I ever saw turned out to be for the first Star Wars prequel, The Phantom Menace. Yikes.
It recently occurred to me, however, what a brutal impact the destruction of original Death Star must have had on Luke Skywalker. When Alderaan was destroyed in the first movie, Obiwan felt the impact in the Force from light years away. As he said, life creates the Force and binds the universe together. At the end of A New Hope (spoiler alert, but it's been over 40 years), Luke flies down a channel in the Death Star and uses the force to make sure he hits his target and destroys the entire station, killing who knows how many people instantly. That's not just an unfortunate tragedy, too -- it's directly his fault. Worse, he even used the Force to accomplish it.
I want to believe that had a huge negative impact on him. I want to believe that even though the movie ends with a celebration, that despite all that Luke was physically ill for days. I know the destruction of the Death Star was necessary and saved Rebellion, but I want to believe there was a price for using something so obviously centered on life to produce so much death, however justified. I want to believe he was violently sick, and vowed never to do anything that horrible again, and yet when subsequent movies forced him again and again to use the Force to destroy rather than create, that ultimately resulted in the withdrawn, bitter hermit we saw at the beginning of the The Last Jedi.
Of course, I'm probably overthinking it. I suppose that's what happens when you get old enough that you can't help but see the big picture, and how victories in war are still the results of war.
Finally, something pleasant. A few months ago, I was watching YouTube videos and their infamous algorithm suggested something good. It pointed me to an a capella group known as VOCES8, based in London. I shared a few videos with Ginger, and we were captivated. They sing a mix of classical and modern, ranging from Pie Jesu from Fauré's Requiem to A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square and everything in between.
I looked them up online and discovered that their current tour was actually going to bring them to a church in West Hartford this week. I immediately bought two of the best available tickets, and that concert was on Tuesday. The premium tickets let you sit anywhere in the first eight rows of pews, so we got there early enough to sit right in front.
The concert was wonderful. They sang pieces from Rachmaninoff, Bach, Sondheim, jazz standards, and more. The hall was packed with a very appreciative audience. We waited until afterwards and got a chance to meet them. We bought a book of their arrangements and my wife got all eight members to sign it.
I've reached the stage in my career where it's time to start thinking about what I want to do when I finally start scaling back, and fortunately I'm secure enough financially to consider what I really want (assuming the world doesn't disintegrate around me). I know one thing I love doing is finding moments of perfect beauty like we experienced Tuesday night. I hope in your life you also can find gems like that, where you can let the sweetness of joy flow through you, at least for a little while.
Last week:
Functional Java online at Safari
Managing Your Manager online at Safari
Turned in my final edits for the Kotlin Cookbook
NFJS event in Chicago
This week:
Prepare proposals for new online training courses
Complete any other requirements for the Kotlin Cookbook
NFJS event in Reston, VA
Write and revise sections of my Managing Your Manager book