I released MyTwitter 1.6 beta last night/this morning. A few minor tweaks that you can read about in the changelog. The main thing I did was ensure that it functions properly on the newly-released Wordpress 2.5. It does.
If you’re curious, Cal has a decent writeup about the Wordpress 2.5 release and things you should consider before upgrading.
In the morning before work, I head to the base of one of the towers in Seattle, head to my corner, grab one of the four comfy orange chairs, and sit down. Most mornings I try to get some Bible reading in, although I will admit sometimes I just sit there and doze or stare into space.
When you go the same place every weekday morning, you tend to start recognizing other people who come around a lot. In particular, there’s one homeless man I end up seeing most mornings who comes in and sits in the chair next to me. He’s usually wearing several layers of clothing (because the weather has still been cold here) and laden with a bag or two with his possessions in them.
Yesterday morning I saw him walking towards his chair and holding a box labeled “Mostly Muffins.” I assumed it contained muffins. On closer notice, I realized it contained scones. Cinnamon scones.
I looked at his scruffy face as he asked the question, “Do you want these scones?”
“Oh, no, that’s okay, I already had some breakfast.”
“No, go ahead, you can have them,” he encouraged.
“Okay, sure, I’ll try one of them,” I acquiesced.
“Here, have a granola bar, too. You can save it for later.”
I took the granola bar and put it in my messenger bag for later. I picked up the box of scones, tore a hole in the plastic covering, removed a scone, and proceeded to eat it. Twenty minutes later, I took the other scones with me as I left for work.
Not being able to eat six scones by myself, I shared them with my coworkers. They praised the scones and stated how delicious they were. I felt glad to share the scones with them. I never told them they came from a homeless man.
Events like this offer a strange view of the world. Typically, homeless people are considered the dregs of the society with nothing to offer. This man, who had received an excess of food, freely shared it with me.
I’m thankful.
I’ve upgraded to the newest version of Wordpress (2.3.3, not quite ready for 2.5 beta). 2.3 had some vulnerabilities so I’m doing the smart thing and closing out some of the holes. Even 2.3.3 has been reportedly having some issues recently and I hope Wordpress will fix the problems and not just ignore the issue in favor of finishing 2.5. Yeah, I want 2.5, but I want a stable version of the platform I’m currently on.
If you noticed the site had a bit of downtime earlier today, this would be why. I needed to update it as soon as possible, so I did.
Don’t feel bad that I’m not posting here often. It’s not that I don’t care about you. It’s just that you’re not worth my time.
Ziiiing.
More seriously: I’ve just been busy. Distracted. Not in a blogging mood. It’s a cyclical thing. I’m almost burned on TV and heading back into a heavy reading cycle.
Finished w/ the third book of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Currently reading through a true-crime book by Michael Connelly in which he chronicles a number of the major stories he covered during his years as a journalist on the crime beat. I’ve partially read: Isaac Asimov - “The Gods Themselves.” Soon I’ll be reading books by: Miura Ayako (a hard-to-find English-language translation of “Freezing Point”), Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner), Susanna Clarke (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel), and the first volume of the “Death Note” manga (original Japanese-language version).
I’ve got a couple more books sitting there, too, but I think this list is eclectic enough. Sorta. Let’s see… true crime, fantasy, scifi, manga. Ah, I know what I’m missing: Harlequin romance novels. Something about the pink covers throws me off. I mean, give me some good Jane Austen any day, but a modern romance novel? Never.
Did I give you enough distracting links along the way? If you’ve made it this far, you’re obviously afraid of tangents and really ought to just let loose and follow some of those links for once.
If you’ve ever wanted to go nuts on a rude customer, read “John Mayer, John Lennon And A Good Old-Fashioned Fistfight At 7 am In The Morning” (via @robertbruce). It’s a story about a man at Starbucks, waiting in line, and what he does to the incredibly rude customer in front of him.