Dan Antion

You Can’t Hide from What’s Inside – #SoCS

Maddie wanted to sit. I wanted a beer. We compromised.

Linda G. Hill threw us a curve ball this week for her Stream of Consciousness Saturday ordeal:

“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is ‘point.’ Open a book on your lap, close your eyes, and put your finger on the page. Whatever you land on, whether it be a word, a phrase, or a sentence, write about it. Enjoy!”

I like to write these on my lunch hour on Friday. Unfortunately, my office is full of programming books. I chose “Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction” by Steve McConnell. I opened it to page 465 (random) and my finger landed on a sentence (revealed later).

Let’s see if we can “enjoy” where this takes me. Keep in mind, I’m already at 125 words.

If we were having a beer, you would be in a hurry to get your order in.

“Is it your turn to buy?”

“Uh oh Dan, you know why he’s asking right away, don’t you?”

“I do Cheryl, I do.”

“That’s great, you both know, but what’s the answer?”

“I think I bought last time. I’m sorry if that changes things.”

“Just my bank balance. I’ve been thinking about having bourbon ever since Thursday.”

“What happened Thursday?”

“Thursday was National Hug an Author Day, or something like that.”

“And you’re thinking about John?”

“Well, he put it on Twitter. Cheryl, get this young man a Corona and give me a splash of John Howell’s Bourbon.”

“Yes! Who’s selling from the top shelf? This girl.”

“She’s happy, I’m happy, I suppose you’re happy.”

“Well, I do enjoy a cold beer. I have to check and see if I can have more than one.”

“Check with whom? Your wife?”

“No, some Internet medical thing. I’m on antibiotics.”

“Why?”

“I had a root canal on Tuesday.”

“Here you go Dan, and according to Drugs.com, you can have a couple of beers, as long as you space the medication around the beers. Oh, and here’s your bourbon.”

“Thanks Cheryl. You’re going to get the selt…”

“…Seltzer and a glass of ice, yes.”

“I’m glad Dr. Cheryl says you can drink. Having a root canal is bad enough. Having it without alcohol is asking too much.”

“Agreed.”

“Don’t you two start agreeing again, you’re endangering your old married couple reputation. Here’s your snifter of seltzer and your ice.”

“You know, I just thought about it, but it’s fitting that I pay today, since you’re probably celebrating.”

“Celebrating? What am I celebrating?”

“The end of Daylight-Saving Time.”

“Ha ha – yes, you’re right, this is a time for celebration.”

“Makes no never, as far as I’m concerned. It is what it is.”

“Ugh…that expression…”

“Well, I tend to cut it short, it should be – it makes me no nevermind.”

“No, the other one.”

“It is what it is?”

“Yes, it never follows a good thing.”

“It’s just an expression.”

“It signifies acceptance of a crummy situation.”

“I’m certainly glad you can have two beers, because you seem to be all spun up over this.”

“It also reminds me of an old boss.”

“The ‘stairs don’t count’ guy?”

“The very same.”

“Scratching that expression from my lexicon.”

“When’s your next pill, Dan?”

“Seven o’clock, Cheryl.”

“Great. Plenty of time for another Corona to go fetch herself a lime.”

“Yeah, I think I can have one more.”

“How about you? You want to finish that and have another, or I’ll top that one off, on the house, if you like.”

“Music to my ears, Cheryl. I assume you’re OK with that expression.”

“I’m fine with that.”

“Hopefully, you will feel better tomorrow, or at least by Monday, I don’t see how the time change can affect a guy for more than one day.”

“It can. We have a physical relationship with the day – with time – and that does affect us.”

“Maybe, in your head.”

“From in my head, to this bar – they’re connected.”

“You sure about that?”

First book I saw in my bookcase.
“Enjoy” – Thanks Linda.

“I read it in a book.”

“You have a book about Daylight Saving Time.”

“No. I have a book about being a better programmer.”

“Every child’s dream. Let me guess, ‘Programming for Dummies’ am I right?”

“Funny, it’s ‘Code Complete’ aimed a little higher than dummies.”

“And this informed you, how?”

“The difference between internal and external characteristics isn’t completely clear cut because at some level internal characteristics affect external ones.”

“I don’t think that was meant to apply to humans.”

“Here’s your beer, Dan. And for the record, I think it does apply to humans. You can’t separate what’s inside from outside.”

“So, will you be in a better mood tomorrow, Cheryl, or doesn’t DST affect you?”

“I will be much improved.”

“Not a fan?”

“Nope. Reason number 86 for loving Costa Rica, no DST. If you put that glass down, I’ll give you a splash.”

“Thanks. So, how many of the first 85 reasons have alcohol in them?”

“At least two, Bavaria beer or a nice Cuba Libre.”

“Those both sound good.”

“You would like the beer, Dan, and anyone would like a Cuba Libre.”

“Too bad I’m drinking bourbon. I’m guessing that’s a rum drink.”

“Not a rum, Flor de Caña – Costa Rica’s own rum.”

“Here’s to brighter mornings, not to mention better programming.”

“Please don’t mention programming on Saturday.”

Today’s gallery features early morning shots from Great River Park in the morning darkness associated with DST. If Cheryl isn’t out hunting for a good Cuba Libre, she’s blogging here.

Looking south along the river.
The boat launch is closed. They will be removing the dock soon.
Arriving at work – sigh…
This was my ride. Perhaps the last Lime Bike I’ll see until spring.
I can cover over a mile on the Lime Bike in the time I have to visit the park.
Great River Park sits in front of the levy that protects East Hartford.
I pass these trees on my way to work. They are backlit by a series of street lights.
The Colt Dome across a stormy river.
It’s raining…again.
Looking under the Founders Bridge.
The bike lets me get a new view of the city.
The curved building near the right is the home of Phoenix Insurance – it’s called the “Boat Building”
The river was very still the day of my ride.
The walking/jogging path.
The Colt Dome
It’s dark in the park these days.
A Little morning fog.
Looking into the center of Hartford along the Founders Bridge.
Hi MiMi

64 comments

  1. Awww Dan. Now you’ve gone and conjured up mental images of sitting on the Manuel Antonio /Quepos playitas with a Cuba Libre and-I mean ORof course-😉 🙊 a Bavaria with the sand in my toes, the surf in my ears and the rolling waves less than a hundred feet away at our favorite little beach bar where you could walk up and grab a bite and brew from sunup to sunset and watch the squirrel monkeys play. Now you’ve gone and made me miss Costa Rica again. No DST!! I can even pretend you didn’t mention that book full of technical stuff. Lol Thanks for the memories. PS you can get Centennario rum here. We found it in Florida. The 7 or 12 is the best edition. John Lennon…reminds me. There is a wonderful film on Netflix right now called Nowhere Boy about his young life. It is most excellent. Maddie needs to being tissues though. 😏

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    • I hope you enjoy the memories, Cheryl. I’m sorry if you’re missing CR because of this, but your answers to my questions ended up playing into the conversation. That’s how #SoCS works in my little world.

      I was actually surprised to find something in a technical guide that I could work into real life. That book is almost 1,000 pages long. It was my first choice, because I’m using it to hold down a pile of magazines. I remember enjoying it, but I didn’t remember this line. I think it was a good place for my finger to land. Thanks for the comment and the link in your post.

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  3. 7 a.m., pitch black outside, pouring rain, and high wind. Then add that day to DST, and I definitely need a beer. If we ever planned a vote on not changing the time twice a year, I’d grab a lawn chair and be first in line to cast a vote to get rid of it. :-) We had dinner out with family a few weeks ago in PA, and during the conversation my husband said ‘it is what it is’ twice, and I was giving him trouble about it. He loves that expression, and I get tired of it. So, we pay the bill and head out. I take a few steps as I approach the bar area near the door, and there sits a man with a t-shirt and the back says ‘it is what it is.’ I stopped to talk to him, and we all had a good laugh. :-)

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    • That’s so funny, Judy, to run into someone wearing that shirt. My old boss would use that expression for the worst things, like when I would go to him with a problem I thought he could help me solve. He always accused me of wanting to accomplish too much. I would point out how we were wasting time, and how we could do things better if people would adopt some new technology and I would get “IIWII” and the conversation would be over.I swear, I would have liked it better if he had just said “Dan, that’s a stupid idea.”

      I truly wish we could just pick a time and be done with it. I prefer light in the AM, since I’m up early, but the changing is the real problem.

      I hope you (we) get to see some sun this weekend. If not, I hope we get to see some beer.

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  5. I love your early morning photos, Dan. The early hours seem to awaken your creativity. For some reason I am particularly drawn to the one with the stairs and the row of lights with halos. Thanks too for sharing the John Lennon song–it’s one that I had never heard before.

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    • Thanks Mike. I have a picture of those stairs from the top, with the flooded river covering the bottom steps. I was reminded of that when I took this one. I’m glad you like it. Sometimes, I include pictures that I like and I think “no one else will like this” – it’s nice when someone does.

      I am happy to introduce you to that song. It’s off “Imagine” which I think is one of his better albums.

      Have a great weekend!

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  7. I’m not a doctor nor do I play one on TV, but I’m of the opinion that antibiotics and beer, no matter how much, are a healthful combo. Also, you’re most clever to find something in a technical guide that works for this prompt.

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    • Ha ha – Thanks Ally. By the time all the comments are in, I hope to be able to say “4 out of 5 non-doctors agree…”

      Finding that sentence in a thousand-page book on improving your skill as a programmer seemed remarkable. I have new respect for a book I read years ago.

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  9. I’m all in favor of falling back for an extra hour of sleep or whatever. It’s and external condition that will help my internal state which in turn will hopefully give me more energy to get more done in the external world.

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    • As soon as I read your comment, I popped over to see what you had written. I think you did a great job! Working off a random prompt, with only an idea of where to go, isn’t easy, but it sure is fun. Thanks for stopping here and leaving a comment.

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  11. You take such great nighttime/very early morning photos, Dan. I love the reflections. ‘It is what it is’….I had read somewhere that that was the most disliked expression ever. I had a supervisor who used that expression always. Fortunately, he’s gone and, with him, that darn expression! Hi MiMi.

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  13. Great photos, Dan. Not easy to have a steady hand on the light and dark differences. I liked what you did with the prompt. Ran from the mechanical to the physical and kept the relevance. Also, thank you for the pingback.

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  15. Sounds like an interesting book, at least from the brief snippet you posted (and that was VERY hard to read). Is it written about a specific language or is it just a general-interest book about code-slinging?

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  16. Great post Dan. Really enjoyed the banter at the bar. Hope the root canal is healing on schedule….I’ve been down that road a few times. Compared to years ago, the procedure itself is less painful, but paying for it and the subsequent crown hurts like hell!

    I’m not a doctor, but I can’t imagine that a beer or two would render the antibiotic useless.

    Terrific photo gallery. Love the night shots and the beautiful reflections. And the photo of the trees that are backlit by street lights is really pretty.

    Hi sweet MiMi. Hugs to Maddie and MuMu.

    And I H. A. T. E. the time change twice a year. Pick one and be done with it!
    🔹 Ginger 🔹

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    • I agree, Janet. Just pick one. Dentistry is always scary when it comes to paying. MiMi says hi. Maddie pics on Monday. I had been saving the night reflections for a DST post.

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  17. Okay Dan — you have officially amazed me — writing around a random prompt from a programming book. Color me impressed. I love the phrase you chose from the book. Now you’ve taken it to a new level and made it profound. Terrific work. Mega hugs.

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  19. I’d take “real” stairs over machines in a gym any day :). Not looking forward to the extra hour because it’s an illusion any way. Still only 24 hours in a day last checked. Hehe! Boo to getting dark earlier. I prefer more daylight!!

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  20. “I don’t think that was meant to apply to humans” was so funny and an absolute killer sentence. Well, the whole conversation was that way, funny and interesting. A great dialogue, Dan.

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  21. I like the line you hit, not hiding from what’s inside. I think there’s something to that. I read this post yesterday morning and pondered it throughout the day.
    I did have a delicious rum cocktail last night, called Pacific Playland.
    I’ve got nothing on coding and way too much on root canals.
    Happy Time Change is Stupid Day :D

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    • Thanks. At first, I was t sure what I could do with it, but I like where it went.

      This was my very first root canal. I’d be happy if it was my last. I drank way too much rum the year I was in Georgia. I haven’t drank much since. Maybe it’s time. 50ish years should be long enough. No DST, it’s a good day.

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  23. I’m still trying to puzzle out the quote from your programming book. I can’t tell if it’s the fog in my brain or just my general lack of technical understanding, but …. I’m just going to nod sagely like I really ‘got’ it 😉

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