I’m curious to read that book that was reviewed in the Book Review this weekend re: robo love.  Anyone else see this?

I blog about this (in between bites of the bbq chicken sammich and yellow apple I packed myself for lunch today) because I’m thinking about how much I love thinking about databases.  (Likely influenced by something I read while noshing on cherry yogurt and Grape-nuts this morning.)  Which fields to create, how they link up, how boxes will talk to each other… I also like thinking about how fast querying these boxes has become, and how as a result, rendering targeted pages is much faster now than before.

• If gender equals female then wrapper equals fuchsia.
• Select 5 choose 3 sort display based on estimated revenue, descending.
• If inbound traffic search string is in Set A then display headline Q, else T.

How information hierarchy and architect-y is evolving.  How defining real business needs often doesn’t take place when a build is kicking off.

I think back to reporting queries that I was asked to run in Biz Objects in my first job out of school.  The Mistress Of Pushback, I often implored these peeps to provide me with the Why.  Why did I need to filter X then Y and sort by Z?  What business questions did we seek to answer?  What insights were we hoping to gain?

What is the point?

Perhaps what is complex and interesting about life is that the point is a moving target, or also a projection that we humans create, or perhaps the point n’existe pas.  And so while I agree with Seneca and goal-setting and productivity, I also acknowledge that in architecting the database schema that is one’s life, in considering life dreams, a bit of agility is required as these dreams shift and change.

So what is annoying in project management (scope creep!  change request!  over time, out of budget!  etc.) is oftentimes rather rewarding and enriching IRL.  We cannot program the outcomes of our lives, we cannot with certainty say what outputs we’re gunning for.  We must embrace and tackle each day and see what is to be gained from the process.  Input=time; output=wealth.  But not wealth of the material kind.

Wait, how the hell did I end up here?  Logotherapy, logorrhea, logorithm … algorithm … chicken sammich …

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This actually goes back to my tortured relationship with the wheel, see.  Being productive and organized and efficient is great when considering pursuits of capitalism.  But productivity and efficiency are measured by externals.

• How many widgets?
• How much faster are we closing deals this quarter vs. last?
• What is our ROI?

Externals are great when trying to add value in a capitalist economy.  But was not Marx a wee bit right when discoursing on man’s alienation-from-self that necessarily followed?  And is not a rigid approach to life, ever-directed on some external goal, the opposite of being centered?  The opposite of for that which makes us human?  Too bent on collecting these external measures of self-worth, we run the risk of losing ourselves in the slavish pursuit of the other.

• What is your net worth?
• How many square feet is your apartment?
• How many people have you slept with?

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So I love databases for the ways in which they aide us in achievement of The Capitalist Dream.  But I only love them for a finite number of hours per week.  The rest of my week, I would like to allow the ebb and flow and organic chaotic messiness of life to inconveniently carry me forward.  Where forward = more deeply into myself.  Where forward = more honestly amongst others.

These measurements of value-add that are crucial in the workplace, are they detrimental if they hold too much sway in my personal life?

I don’t know the answers.  I’m just typing aloud.
Output = DNE, n/0, i.