Sak
"Mind, n. A mysterious form of matter secreted by the brain. Its chief activity consists in the endeavor to ascertain its own nature, the futility of the attempt being due to the fact that it has nothing but itself to know itself with."- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
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Recent Articles
- Go With It
- Linux Identity: Base in OpenOffice.org 3.2
- Tip Jar
- Sak's Red Beans and Rice Mess
- Seattle Seasons
- Sak's Spicy Stir-fry
- Little Creatures
- The News, Spam, and Beer
- SF Hypocrite
- My Top 10
- Teriyaki Salmon Fillet
- Distracting Abstractions
- Bookliving
- Secrets
- Sak's Chunky Uhsghetti
- On Reading: Choosing Battles
- 030909
- Escape 01: Compiled
- Escape 01:11 Discovery
- Escape 01:10 Nightfall:Entrant
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- Observations (5)
- Questions (7)
- Rants (8)
- Recipes (4)
Tip Jar
03.08.10 13:06Section: Maps
Filed Under: Copyright - Sak, Vignette
“Hi. What can I get for you?” She said.
“Oh, you already have,” he said.
Seattle Seasons
02.11.10 15:00Section: Miru
Filed Under: Copyright - Sak, Photography
So this is what has become of our friendship? The only thing we can find to talk about is the weather? Yet when I emerged from my hole, which I do about as often as a ground-hog, I saw seasons.
[4] CommentsThe News, Spam, and Beer
01.18.10 13:45Section: Sak
Filed Under: Copyright - Sak, Observations
I’ve often boggled over how my friends were able to sit through an hour news cast and exercise what I saw as unnatural rigor at the disconcerting details of current events. Me, I’d get all pissed off and storm off after a taste. I figured if a taste was good enough, and I disliked that flavor, I’ll just leave the remainder of the plate and get on with my life, searching for more savory experiences. God-damned hedonist that I am.
[1] CommentsSF Hypocrite
01.11.10 20:37Section: Sak
Filed Under: Copyright - Sak, Observations, Rants
I am a hypocrite.
Yep, it’s true. I had to get it out, and admit it to the world. It’s a starting point, something to consider and work with, so that in the future perhaps I’ll be less a hypocrite about certain things. Today, my hypocrisy revolves around the Science Fiction genre. That’s not to say that I’m not a hypocrite about other things, just that the focus of this little babble is the topic of Science Fiction works.
My Top 10
01.04.10 14:52Section: Sak
Filed Under: Copyright - Sak, Observations
Toward the end of a period, a year or a decade, a number of articles typically appear that list the Top Ten Whatever. As a culture we review our recent history by such means; little reminders of what we saw happening during our lives over that certain period of time. Many of these things we witnessed together—the tragedy of 9.11.01, the first black president, the beginning of a war, or the iPhone. Some of them we experienced directly, as perhaps we knew someone in one of the towers who died back in September of 2001, or are someone serving in Afghanistan, or happen to be the owner of an iPhone. Since none of those applied to me, other than being witness to them during the past decade, I couldn’t help but wonder, as I do, what were the most significant events in my life, as an individual, during the last ten years. I pondered over what events shaped my life, for better or for worse. So I made a list.
[3] CommentsBookliving
11.17.09 16:43Section: Maps
Filed Under: Copyright - Sak, Reviews
I have to be honest: up until a couple weeks ago, I’d never heard of Jeff Vandermeer. Now, however, I’m glad to have. It’s surprising, too, given that Jeff is a science-fiction author, and I have something of an interest in that genre. While I’m not sure how much I’d get into a cop story in a land of mushroom people, after having experienced his other latest work, Booklife, I’m keen to give Finch a try now too.
On Reading: Choosing Battles
10.27.09 23:59Section: Sak
Filed Under: Copyright - Sak, Questions, Rants
A couple of books I’ve picked up recently haven’t settled well with me so I’ve been deliberating over the reasons why, and even whether, to give up on a book that I’ve started. There are so many books out there to read that sometimes it’s difficult to tell, even from a recommendation, whether any particular piece is worth the time. Not everybody reads the same way. I know some who read very quickly, scanning over certain aspects of a writer’s work that they are willing to forgive, while other readers may take their time, are very careful to examine every passage, every sentence, so certain details are important. In some cases, though, maybe there’s some mysterious element to the book that can’t exactly be pinpointed, something non-specific, but that leaves you a little dissatisfied. Do you slog through to the end, give the work its merits, and move on from a less than satisfactory experience to another hopefully better one?
[3] Comments030909
03.12.09 13:29Section: Miru
Filed Under: Copyright - Sak, Photography
So much of my time is spent looking at clouds, wondering what I see in the figures and shapes, and what I see I feel. None of it makes any sense any more than the weather, and its affect on me is what changes me, drives me, pains me. A subtle, frightening figure watching from a distance, or sharing my desk with me.
Linux Identity: Introducing Impress for OpenOffice.org 3.0
12.12.08 13:17Section: Driven
Filed Under: Copyright - Sak, F/OSS Projects, Published
Toward the latter half of the summer I began volunteering to help out at the OpenOffice.org project. I joined the documentation group, and then signed on with the OOo Authors to help out with the manuals, so I have been working on reviews of various chapters and contributed to a few sections. It’s a great project, and a fantastic group of people that really gives meaning to the idea of being a part of an OpenSource community.
Interface with anything.
06.23.08 19:58Section: Maps
Filed Under: Copyright - Sak, Essays
Several years ago I was hired to work for a small company that was just starting out in the Internet software business. The title I was assigned for this position was that of Web Interface Designer. At the time I didn’t think too much of it, partly because I was busy being swept away by the river of money and play that the big dot-com boom was creating, yet the idea of this title left an impression on me, and, as I’m apt to do with much of what I experience in life, gave way to consideration of its meaning. I knew what the “Web” was, and I knew what I was supposed to be doing as a “Designer” for the company, but the whole title, altogether, made me curious. My daily routine involved creating graphic elements, placing those elements in a useful and meaningful manner in a coded language that could be interpreted and displayed by a web browser to a visitor to the company’s website and the software that it was offering to the public. All of that can seem fairly complex to someone who doesn’t know anything about it. Yet what I wanted to understand more fully, was what it meant to interface with something, anything at all.
