My 2001 taxes, that is. The government is writing me letters about it.
I know. Geez. I meant to do them last year (right after I did my 2000 taxes), but my sister moved in and took over the
living room so I had to put that stuff away somewhere so it didn't get lost or destroyed. That's my excuse, anyway.
Taxes aren't terribly interesting. There wasn't much of a rush 'cuz the government knows it has more of my money than it
needs, so they're not going to send the gestapo after me. They do expect that you send it to them when they ask, though.
And while, I wouldn't mind terribly if the negligible interest I'd earn on the money from the return went to me
instead of the government, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. The money'll get to me eventually.
Today was cheesecake day. Meaning people at work made cheesecakes and some one prizes, but all were able to buy some,
proceeds going to the Food Bank. They had a 3 slices for $5 deal which, in retrospect, probably wasn't wise. I love
cheesecake, but 3 is silly. And just a little bit nauseating. I kinda new that ahead of time, but self-discipline isn't
my strong suit (you might have noticed). I couldn't get through the third, even though it was very good. I felt bad
throwing it out.
I'm probably going to have to work through most of the weekend. We're putting together a release candidate next Tuesday.
I don't think it's terribly necessary that I get everything done before then, but managers get all antsy about "process"
things. It's possible I might be able to make everything work by Friday, but I think I'll schedule that contingency into
my busy schedule.
Sorry Zelda, I'll have to save your sorry behind some other time.
I also went out for a long walk yesterday. That was nice. The path
through UW's north campus is still a mess, but other than that it was
quite pleasant. I also walked to work this morning. I thought about biking, but the tires are pretty soft. I'm going to
have to get a pump (having learned from my old bike that using gas station air pumps is probably a bad move).
I like walking. It gives me time to think about things. I've decided not to think about geopolitics again. I've come to
the satisfactory conclusion that yes, while the world would be a much better place if everybody did what I think should
do, that's not going to happen, and for my own sanity, it's best not to get worked up about things I can't do anything
about. I don't want to argue with people, myself especially. Not about things that people really care about. I could
tell you what I think about everything, but I'd spend another three days going over and over everything I've written in
my head. And if somebody said something like "But squirrel, the world doesn't work that way," you can bump that three
days up to a week while I compose a thousand stunning rebuttals.
So I'm staying out of it.
I know... if the whole world thought like that, nothing would ever get done, and everybody would just duck the hard
issues. The world isn't me, though. If it were, we wouldn't be having these problems in the first place. So nya.
The anime show was a nice distraction. It went quite well, except for one minor wrinkle I won't dwell on. And it was
nice seeing people again.
People make major decisions about their lives for the wrong reasons, I think. This leads to bigger problems than just
the individuals involved. To whit:
The world is not well served by everyone becoming a computer engineer or programmer. That's not to say they aren't
useful—they are. But when you look around and everybody is signing themselves up for a few narrow fields, little warning
bells should go off in your head. This isn't the path to wealth and riches.
Say you're a farmer. You're just starting out. For whatever reason, right now everybody wants apples. Look around: all
your farmer buddies are growing orchards to meet the demand. The farmers who had the foresight to plant apple trees a
years ago are making out like bandits. Even the crappiest apples are selling like crazy. Allocating your land to make
apples seems like a brilliant move. How can you go wrong?
The problem is everybody's doing it. And maybe the apple thing was just a passing fancy. It takes years to grow a tree
that will bear fruit. By that time, there will be more than enough apples to meet the demand.
That's how the market works. Competitive markets hate profits. You may get a temporary winfall when things change in
your favour, but people are quick to notice you're making money and rush in to get a piece of the pie, as it were.
I could see the signs when I was in school. People congratulated me on getting into such a hot field, but I never
expected to be
making $100,000 after graduation. I heard people saying how they'd take off to the US merely because making a measly CDN$
60,000/year just wasn't good enough. That still makes me angry, but I find some small consolation in the fact that those
people are now likely very screwed, if they're not already back in Toronto peddling their resumé.
The reason why I put myself through the hell that is university was because I really like this stuff. It's interesting.
I want to be able to do what I like, where I like and make a living at it. That's all.
Would I turn down fabulous wealth, if I happen to be that guy who lucked out and planted the right seeds at the right
time? No. Would I go looking for something like that? Maybe, if it seemed like an opportunity to do interesting new
things. Am I going to follow the herd, just because because somebody's dangling a carrot in front of it? No.
Good advice for anybody: do what you like. If you're motivated and innovative enough, you can make a living doing
practically anything.
![[Spring!]](/159/WEXRBVbGVE-206.webp)