Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder

04 Nov 2002, 15:14 p.m.

Very odd dreams recently. Sam Seaborn/George Stephanopolous in love…

Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2002 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.

Very odd dreams recently. Sam Seaborn/George Stephanopolous in love with me, chopping kale (Pauline Kael?) on a picnic with Garrison Keillor, that sort of thing. In other news, I am trying rather hard to figure out what I can do to make my Keillor intro special (tomorrow night). I joked with Leonard about playing bits from Dar Williams's "Are You Out There," but he didn't realize it was a joke, and became alarmed. A joke, Leonard! Just kidding.

Reading: UnTechnical Writing: How to Write About Technical Subjects and Products So Anyone Can Understand by Michael Bremer. The publisher is UnTechnical Press, and the book is good so far: useful tips and (as you'd hope) great style.

One of my coworkers has been using, explicitly and implicitly, a logically rude argument (summary of the concept) whenever we disagree. The manifestation I encounter: "I am older and more experienced than you, and therefore wiser, and it is simply not possible for you to legitimately disagree with me because I inherently understand all problems and situations better than you do." I find myself annoyed, and have to learn to not let it get to me.