Tom Edelson: Writing

An Invitation to Read About My Spiritual Journey

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:05:25 GMT

Actually, my home page at The Well has had, for some time, a link called "Notes on my spiritual journey". But the linked-to document was in plain text, and not so easy to read.

Now, there's a newer version up, in HTML, and the content has been revised a good bit, too. You can find it via the home page, or at http://www.well.com/user/edelsont/personal/my-spiritual-journey.html.

It offers some insight into the "Quaker" and "Taoist" parts of my self-description (in the masthead of this blog). It doesn't say anything about the "poly" part, but I hope to address that soon.

My Spiritual Journey may also be the only page on the Web with links to all of these Wikipedia pages (among others):

At first glance, my spiritual journey may look like a random walk. But there's some interesting scenery, and good mental exercise, along the way.

Categorie(s) for this post: About me, Philosophy, Quakerism, Writing.

Time for some holiday cheer. Or not.

Fri, 18 May 2007 22:29:06 GMT

Soon we'll be halfway around the wheel from the Christmas, er, winter holiday season. Seems like a good time to try to recapture that holiday spirit. To which end I've just published, on my home page at the Well, a [very] short story entitled "Christmas Among the Beasts"; you can find it at http://www.well.com/user/edelsont/xmas-among.html.

But now, let me tell you the story behind the story ....

The date: January 1, 2006. Toofus and I were talking about the holiday season that was then winding down. We pronounced ourselves largely satisfied with how it had passed for us, but with one exception.

We hadn't caught the "Christmas episodes" of any TV series. I don't know if they even still make these, but at one time, it was a tradition of which I became very fond. Even the most hard-boiled of crime shows would always, in its last episode to broadcast before Christmas Day, demonstrate a softer side, an awareness that there's more to life than hard-eyed men (and sometimes women) with guns. Or more precisely, they'd show that even the hard guys themselves occasionally remembered that there was more to life than taking, and punishing; that there was a time for giving, and forgiving. Even if it only came once a year.

And so Toofus and I set out to create an example of what we had missed. "Christmas Among the Beasts" was the result. I trust you'll find it suitably heart-warming.

Then again, maybe you won't.

Categorie(s) for this post: Writing.

Do I need "geek alerts"?

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:47:15 GMT

I don't want to scare away non-geeky readers. Does this mean that a post like Monday's "More on Moneydance Extensions" should have some sort of warning notice prefixed to it, something along the lines of:

Caution: computer jargon ahead. Readers who aren't into technical computer stuff may find this post uninteresting and/or incomprehensible.

What do y'all think?

Categorie(s) for this post: Blogging.

What I'm up to: April 2007 edition

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 19:54:06 GMT

These days I am testing the hypothesis that writing can be a basic part of what my future is about. By "writing" I mean writing English (some on computer-related topics, and some not), as opposed to "coding" (actually writing computer programs). I expect still to write some code, but perhaps that won't be the center of what I do: not as much as it has been for most of my career.

I know I can write; the hypothetical part is whether I can make some money at it, from time to time. That would certainly help; I'm not ready to consider myself entirely retired, yet.

Categorie(s) for this post: About me; Retirement.

Vitamin P

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 21:59:20 GMT

The previous entry, You can't get there from here, is a poem of sorts, so putting it together led me to remember the following [approximate] quote: "Studies show that most Americans are not getting their required daily minimum of poetry."

I wish I could remember where I read that, or where it came from, originally. Can anybody help me out with that?

It isn't always easy

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 18:19:36 GMT

Yesterday's posting, "On Social Change", was considerably the most ambitious piece of writing I've yet done as an entry for this blog. It wasn't completed in a single sitting. So the temptation to write something quick doesn't always rule; apparently I can put aside the worry which I expressed, over a year ago, in the posting titled "The Trouble with Blogging".

At one point yesterday, I thought I had the opposite problem: that writing something like this would be so time-consuming that I'd end up putting it aside before it was done. I'm relieved to find out that that isn't always the case, either.

Categorie(s) for this post: Blogging.

What I do

Sat, 26 Aug 2006 18:00:26 GMT

So what am I doing with myself, since I "retired"?

I consider myself to have two "callings": software developer, and writer.

Let me talk about the former for a bit, now.

At the moment, at least, I'd say that my three favorite programming languages are Perl, Scheme, and Java. (I wonder how many people there are who would pick those three. I suspect -- but not confidently -- that the answer would be "not many", because they're all so different from each other. )

Perl is the language I've worked in the most, over the last several years (which is to say, over the greater part of my time at SAS).

At any rate. My "focal project" at the moment is implementing a flexible backup utility as a Perl module. "As a Perl module" implies that this is not a standalone application designed for complete non-programmers to use: you have to write a Perl script in order to make use of it. But for those who know how to do that, it gives them a great deal of control over how the backups are done.

I'm writing this mostly because I want it. But I do intend, also, to submit it to CPAN (the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network), once it's done.

Categorie(s) for this post include: Retirement; Perl; Backup software.