[Stupah on a hill]

Stupah on a hill © Christopher Walker / CC

I was out for a while. I mean really out. Like “out to lunch” out. I apologize to the people who needed me to be, well, in, while I was out. I’m back now. Thanks for waiting. You know who you are.

Here is a true story from a small company which shall remain nameless. No, I’m sorry, it shall remain unnamed. Of course it has a name, but the name is not part of this story. Hence, unnamed, but not nameless. Truly. In this company there was a company-wide announcement one Monday morning — it being a small company, with one product, where such things get announced company-wide — one Monday morning, not unlike this Monday morning — except, you know, not actually this Monday morning, but still — there was a company-wide announcement that the senior software architect was selling his house, moving to India, and seeking enlightenment.

I am not seeking enlightenment. Or Enlightenment. Nor even Enlightenment Part 1. When I feel the urge to seek enlightenment, I redesign my blog.

Speaking of which, but not actually related to, I redesigned my blog. Slightly. Subtly. Just a little bit. Less of a redesign, more of a realign. I have a footer now. I mean, I had a footer before. I’ve always had a footer. That’s not true. I’ve often had a footer. A footer has, at times, been had. By me, on my blog. This is one of those times. But now my footer has a purpose. A mission. It serves as a destination, a reward for those intrepid readers who find it in their hearts to scroll all the way to the bottom of the virtual page.

I have lowered my standards to the point that this pleases me.

That’s not the funny part. The funny part is that the senior software architect — the aforementioned one, who has announced — or rather has had it announced of him — that he is selling his house, moving to India, and seeking enlightenment — will continue to work, remotely.

My uncle worked in India once, many years ago. Decades ago, in fact. He was not, as far as I know, seeking enlightenment. He worked for a large American company. The job came with a house, the house came with a car, and the car came with a driver. And a dog — the house came with a dog. My uncle detested the driver. That’s not true. My uncle quite liked the driver, except when he was, you know, driving. He distrusted the driver. The driver drove like a maniac, to hear my uncle tell it, and my uncle, well, he probably drove like a maniac too, but his own mania was the sort of mania he trusted. You know how that goes. Do you? I do.

My uncle thought it was all very silly, but it was patiently explained to him that the job came with a house, the house came with a car, and the car came with a driver. And a dog. It was an all-inclusive package, right down to the dog. There was no shame in it. It worked out well as long as ignorant Americans didn’t fuck it up.

As I understand it, the aforementioned senior architect was not originally from India. He had spent considerable time in India, though, on an — and I’m going to take a wild swing here in the direction of an educated guess — incomplete — quest for enlightenment. Enlightenment Part 1, as it were. And now he will be going back to finish the job. On company time. Or, in and around — it’s not clear. Still… nice work if you can get it.

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Fourteen comments here (latest comments)

  1. Dude! u’re not making any sense. Took 2 pages to say something that could be said in 4 sentences? kept reapeting urself over and over. Jeez.
    anyway nice site, lacking color though.

    — tidiman07 #

  2. You must be new here.

    — Mark #

  3. I always need a little enlightenment when I code in Perl and get an HTTP 500 response code. I hate that. So I finally was enlightened enough to realize that I don’t need to code in Perl.

    — Devon #

  4. dude, u broke my expectations bi duing somthing differnt for once! i m confuzed now, plz halp.

    — Glen C. #

  5. Devon, the perl command line tool. perl command line tool, Devon. Why don’t you introduce yourselves?

    — Jesper #

  6. The footer looks nice though. I am from India.

    — akash #

  7. India was the dog’s name!

    — Dominic Mitchell #

  8. Why the copyright notice in the footer hasn’t been updated to cover 2007?

    Me, I try to find enlightenment in a bar with a fruit pastry, and milk, and coffee. Alas, that doesn’t always work.

    — Giulio Piancastelli #

  9. Devon:

    use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser);

    That is all.

    — Barry Price #

  10. I like the footer.

    — Robert Brook #

  11. Three things:

    I like the footer too.

    Robert’s name and website were filled out in the Name and Website boxes in this comment form. That’s a little surreal.

    I’m going to India for the first time next month to bring some enlightenment to software developers, as it were.

    — Matijs van Zuijlen #

  12. > That’s a little surreal.

    It’s a known caching bug. I’m looking into it.

    — Mark #

  13. > India was the dog’s name!

    Actually, “Indiana” was the dog’s name, but you get points for the reference anyway.

    — Mark #

  14. I’m a newcomer here. This post sealed it — I’m subscribing.

    — Klondike #

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