There’s a trend happening here… Notice I’ve been missing Tuesday. I think that’s because IPM is on wednesday, and I’m always scurrying to finish. I’m not scurrying because I’ve left everything to the last minute like I would have done back in the college years. No, I’m scurrying because I’ve been up past 12 the last two nights trying to get things done that have turned out to be a lot harder than I’d anticipated.
This week, and I’ve probably mentioned, that I had all the points plus a bug fix from last week. This bug was frustrating as it was a big one that in the moment wasn’t a bug–it worked fine. It was a future bug that experience would have told me would have become a problem.
I recall this particular day at one of my former jobs, when I was working diligently on, no doubt, an automation spreadsheet, when I found a wing of a bug on my desk. I made a wish and blew it away. Shortly after, there appeared a funny looking, small ant on my desk–or so I thought it was an ant. Ants don’t really bother me (quite the opposite actually, they amaze me; those tiny creatures who exist to do only what they are programmed to do), so I let it be. Perhaps, I blew it off my desk as well if it got to close.
Then it came back–or so I thought it came back. After about ten or fifteen minutes, I notice that my wall just 12-16” from my head is moving–there are lots of ants! That was probably the moment when i realized they were not ants, but termites; and unbeknownst to me, it was mating season. I look forward (as I’d been deep into my automation efforts), and realize there’s quite the swarm flying around my office.
It was now or never! I had to make a break for it to get out of my office alive!
While i tell lots of silly stories, this one actually has a point. You see, when i wrote this code that I thought was correct/sufficient–it was well tested and worked–I’d never before seen a shed termite wing. As soon as Micah saw what I’d done, he immediately recognized a termite wing on his desk, and guided me on how to treat and fix the issue so that I would never have to experience a swarm. This is called “Technical Debt”, and the prevention is to know your bugs and implement what I will call, Entomological Foresight.
To have–or to earn–Entomological Foresight requires either a great depth of studying or experiencing bugs, either of which takes years to master in computing or biological terms, but each experience gets you closer.
A biological example of this happened to me when I was, i don’t even know, three maybe four? We went to get pizza at a place (Maybe Quonset in Waukegan, IL)–funny, because I actually remember the parking lot and what it looked like next to my car under that big tree, but have no memorized vision of anything beyond that and maybe what the door looked like. When we got out of the car, we were swarmed by the 17-year cicadas. There were so many! They were everywhere. We had to cover our heads and run!
This was an experience that allows me to know that when the 17-year cicadas come, I should probably stay inside–this is also true of wasps of any kind and thus, I am a very inside person when it comes to summer.
When I wrote my code last week, i’d never–and still haven’t–experienced the wrath of a swam, and so I did not know it was incorrect. By allowing my mistake, Micah, rewarded me with knowledge and an artificial experience to help me remember that going forward.
Nonetheless, the fix for this took a lot of effort! Every time I got it right and moved forward with the next thing, my process would break. The repayment of entomology-debt, i suppose. As of Tuesday, I had finally and happily made some very good progress and had but one story left to complete. I was hopeful and feel confident, and thus I communicated optimistically.
Wish I hadn’t done that…
That next tasks–put all poker rooms into trello upon any change–seemed relatively easy. It was just a few requests. After a little while of studying & figuring out what existing function should make this call, I got stung! The trello cards were updating to my great satisfaction, but OMG!!! The poker room was also updating with the same information it had just given trello to update! There was a test for duplicates–WTF?!
Rex: We went to the “pizza store” for dinner tonight. While we were there, the owners of Rex & Leo’s daycare came in. Rex asked each of them “Mr. Troy/Miss Missy, how did you get to the pizza store?” as if he was amazed that other people that he knew could get to places that he’s been–that or that people from school didn’t only exist at school.
Then when it was time to go, he ran up to his friend Alex, and exclaimed with all of the excitement in the world that he was going home so that he could go poop on the potty!
Oh to be 3 without any life impacting entomological experiences.
Leo: I’m pretty sure that Leo is trying to reabsorb himself back into my body pre-birth. That’s really the only explanation for his behavior over the last week or so. He just so desperately wants to get back in or at least close enough to me such that we merge into one being again as we once were over a year and a half ago.
This kid wants to be held–by me–or sitting in my lap, and that is it. Except when we are sleep. During sleep, he wants to be on my belly sleeping–well i say that’s what he wants, but as I mentioned I’m pretty sure he wants to be one with me again, and laying on my belly is the best physics allows…