Vista SP1 - seeking users
Posted by Brett Veenstra
I’m not sure if I’ll ever run VISTA in this decade… I haven’t even played with the beta’s… I recommend to friends and family to keep their Windows XP disk around.
Why? There are so many reasons, but maybe one of the biggies might be coming to an end… Read the rest of this entry »
TDD - A Workout Promise
Posted by Brett Veenstra
Ok… I’ve had enough. Uncle Bob nailed it:
Why don’t we clean our code? When we see an ugly mass of code that we know is going to cause of problems, our first reaction is “This needs to be cleaned up.” Our second reaction is: “If I touch this code I’ll be spending the next two weeks trying to get it to work again.” We don’t clean code because we are afraid we’ll break it.
I promise to Read the rest of this entry »
“Church” is broken
Posted by Brett Veenstra
Ok… so Bob’s latest thougths got this rant going, but this has been simmering for a while:
The modern church today is totally broken. Not, just a little, not just “not perfect”.. BROKEN.
The church should provide the following basic things: Read the rest of this entry »
You can and you should?
Posted by Brett Veenstra
Here’s a fun one borne right out of the work day…
Should you do something just because you CAN, or only if it’s your responsibility? We had a situation today where I thought I could fix something, and being the new guy, this is unusual. And being me, well, I just like being “the guy” to fix things…
I don’t think I’m a sycophant. Maybe I just use everything I do as my gauge for self-esteem. Maybe I’m an elitist snob hidden behind a nice exterior of manners… One thing I don’t have a problem with at work is apathy.
At home, it’s a little different… well, a lot different. It’s a grind. I still do care very greatly about what the kids will become, it’s just so much harder to actually work on that stuff - classic lack of knowledge AND skill.
Boo-hoo-hoo, what a crappy rant… do you find areas in your life that are hard to keep away from and others where you’re always looking for a way to do something else?
Frustration: Knowledge & Skill
Posted by Brett Veenstra
I recently changed jobs and while regular paychecks are certainly a boon, there is this great frustration with the current gig. I’m responsible for a large computer reporting system that delivers financial information at a very detailed level. Cool part: I’m an expert at the technology the system runs on; the part that sucks: I really can’t tell my left from my right when it comes to the information that actually sits in the system. I wind up asking questions that would sound like this in an everyday setting: “So why do you think that the sky is slippery when the roads can’t get you to eat?” Sounds crazy eh? Yeah, that’s the look I get from people everyday as I gain the knowledge about my system.
Have you ever felt this way… had a case of not enough knowledge and plenty of skill? How about the other way - no skill and plenty of knowledge. Take for instance anyone who plays “air guitar”… there’s a sprinkle of knowledge with no skill. Have you ever been “haggled” by a saleperson? Knowledge, no skill… skillful salespeople sell you without you ever noticing.
I think being an expert is knowledge intertwined with skill… this takes practice, commitment, failure, growth, and flat out time. Huh, kinda sounds like struggling with the Christian walk.
I think about times when I reacted too soon, knee-jerk like - was that a lack of knowledge or skill? My Christian friends might think that skill has nothing to do with our walk, but I like to think of the walk as a journey of a warrior. We have a king and a holy man to take our guidance from, but we still have to hit the dirt and struggle against the fallen world, ourselves, and the Enemy.
Are you frustrated? Check your skills and knowledge.