Dave's Not Here

Vim vs Emacs
========

Just kidding! But I will share the best response I’ve ever heard to the vi vs emacs debates: “Vi is an amazingly powerful text editor. Emacs is a powerful programming environment, that happens to edit text files”

But I digress. I am adept at both vi and emacs. But, I prefer the auto-indenting, ease of window creation and movement, and flow of emacs. *_But_* — there are huge issues with emacs:
1. I have to carry around a .emacs everywhere.
2. I’m sick (and tired) of hitting CTRL-S to search, and screwing up ALL windows applications.
3. I’m enough of a dinosaur already.

Dinosaur Avoidance – Picking a new editor
————

Are there any new good editors out there? I mean, I was in love with Brief / Slickedit for the longest time . . . but, again: dinosaur. A guy at my office uses Sublime Text, and mocked my emacs. While I won on geek cred — was there anything to the Sublime thing?

So, before I started looking for an editor, I needed my requirements. And, I have many.

### Requirements for Dave’s Editor

In no particular order:

* OS Independent – I drive Windows because I have to. But, I’m constantly opening sessions into linux boxes. And, I do have a Mac at home too.
* Open Plugin System – toys are good to have.
* Good dark color theme.
* Notes / Todo package – The biggest reason I keep coming back to emacs is [org-mode](http://orgmode.org/). I need a way to take quick notes, and keep track of todos. It needs to be text based, but have helper keystrokes to rotate through tasks / etc.

And, some nice to haves:
* Free – Preferably (or at least cheap)
* Keybindings that work with “normal” stuff. (i.e. Ctrl-F to search, Ctrl-x/v/c to cut, paste, and copy)
* Console mode for when ssh’ed into a box
* Key bindings for everything, so I don’t have to grab the mouse.

### The Roundup

One of the things I like best about google are the two letters “vs”. So many people ask X vs Y, that when you type “foo vs” in google, you get all the known alternatives in the universe. So, after googling a bit, I came up with two contenders for editors:

* Sublime Text 3 – http://sublimetext.com/3
* Google’s Atom – http://atom.io/

Both were pluggable. Both were pretty. Here’s what I can remember about them.
[table]
Criteria , Atom , Sublime Text 3 , Winner / Notes
Speed , A bit slow to come up , Pops up instantly when loaded ,
Plugin System , Yes , Yes , “Sublime has been around longer, so it has more packages. Plugins are also in python, which is a plus.”
Good Color Themes , Yes , Yes ,
Free , Yes , No , “At first, I thought sublime was free. It nags, but is fully functional. They want $70”
org-mode Replacement , Unknown , PlainTasks , “Honestly, at this point, I had already decided on Sublime Text 3, so stopped looking at atom.io”
[/table]

Conclusion
———-

I’m now using Sublime Text 3. I love it. I even found a way to synchronize my settings across my different boxes using Dropbox. [Package Syncing](https://github.com/csch0/SublimeText-Package-Syncing) works great for me.

I’ll keep you posted if I find any other issues. . . . or if I move to atom.io as it gains maturity.

Brad, Amy, and I enjoyed a great pow day today. I had to host the video locally, because I wanted to add music. Add Facebook to my “list”.

Anyway, we did very few runs with names. Basically we went from pow field to pow field, and just crossed the “runs” everyone else was doing.

I’ll add a couple of versions of the video as they get uploaded . . right now, it may buffer a bit.

Large Version, hosted @frascone.com
http://frascone.com/Snowboarding%202014-DEC-29%20Pow%20Day%20-%20Solitude.wmv

Smaller one hosted @scriptonomicon.org
https://scriptonomicon.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Snowboarding%202014-DEC-29%20Pow%20Day%20-%20Small.wmv

It’s happened half a dozen times . . . at parties, office discussions, checkout lines. I, or someone who knows me, will mention that I hike up mountains early in the morning for a run (Dawn Patrol). And then I hear the four words. I always hear the four words.

“Is it worth it?” Or, from the funny guys, “Don’t they have lifts for that?”

It is just a simple four word question. But it is never a four word answer. How much time do I have? Do I really want to have this conversation? I mean, don’t get me wrong: I love to talk about Dawn Patrol. But, in a reward based society, people rarely understand.

I usually start out with the short response: “No”. Maybe I even follow it up with, “A two minute run is rarely worth a 90 minute hike”. But, that only causes more confusion: If it isn’t worth it, then why do I do it? Now I have to move to a longer answer.

“I would much rather climb a mountain, then spend 90 minutes on a treadmill. Plus, I get a free run afterward.”

That usually ends things. People even say, “Wow, that’s a good point, I should do that” But, it is still not the truth. It is worth it. It is VERY worth it. But, it is worth it in an almost indescribable way.

Picture this:

[jbox color=”platinum” jbox_css=”color: black;”]You drive up the mountain. The air is cold — sometimes VERY cold. You gauge the chill, and layer up. Sometimes your hands go numb at the car, while getting your gear ready. You pack your bags like an experienced Sherpa: Storage for holding ascent gear (skins, light gloves, hat, water, etc). Gear for the descent (Goggles, helmet, thick gloves). You make sure your headlamp is working, don your ski coat, put your boots on, and stomp your feet. You get your skis or split-board ready, and you hike across the parking lot to the base of the hill.

Finally, you click or strap in and start hiking. A single beam from your headlamp illuminates the white snow. If the moon is out, you can see the silhouette of the mountain. If not, you may be able to see the contrast of nearby trees and rocks, or you may just see your headlamp, bobbing along the path. Your mind relaxes, as your skins slap into the snow, and slide along, creating a rhythm with your heart beat and breathing. The hill is steep, but there are spots to rest. You do rest, particularly when it is steep and you feel like you are going to collapse. Most days, you are not cold — you may even ditch ditch your gloves, as the heat generated by climbing warms you up.

As the monotony of the climb drones on, the stress of life starts to melt away. You focus on your priorities, the trees, solutions to problems, the powder, your heartbeat, the trail ahead.

Then the magic begins.

From the darkness, shadows start to appear. Trees become defined. The black turns to gray, gray turns to light gray or white. You can see the mountain, the rocks, the trees and the snow. You even start to detect shapes and depth in what was once a blanket of white. The stars fade, and the sky becomes gray. You chuckle softly to yourself as your mind makes a “50 Shades of Gray” reference.

Later, color starts to appear. The sky turns from gray to pale blue. The trees start to show hints of dark green, and the white of the snow now starts to illuminate the mountain. You can clearly make out the shape of the mountain in front of you. You turn off your headlamp, since you can see now. (Or turn it to red, so people can see you). And, you continue upward.[/jbox]

Personally, I’m lucky. My climb is slightly west facing. The sun rises behind me, and, occasionally, it will light up the peak in front of me. It looks like the Holy Grail, depicted in a gold mosaic in old churches. The reflection is both blinding and beckoning. I sometimes stop, turn around, and think about how lucky I am. A mountain close enough to hike up before work.

[jbox color=”platinum” jbox_css=”color: black;”]You continue up the hill, as the colors appear. You hear snowmobiles in the distance as the resort workers start to check out the mountain. You finish your climb, but there is no fanfare. There is no excitement. This was not a touchdown. The beauty was in the climb, not in the destination. While you have arrived, now it is time for more tedium.

You strip off your wet gear: gloves, hat. Those are replaced by dry gloves, helmet and goggles. You remove your skins with fingers quickly going numb, fold them, and put them in your pack. You look around at what you climbed, surveying the height, and the views down the mountain. You put your skis into downhill mode, or put your split-board together for the descent, and you head back down.[/jbox]

Generally, the ride down is quick and uneventful. I have started skiing instead of split-boarding. I’m a pretty crappy skier, and this gives me practice. I generally get back down in two minutes on a snowboard, or 10-15 on skis.

Two or three times, in the last couple of years, I have had an epic powder run on the downhill. (I climb up a resort, since I go alone, and I’d like to be found if I get injured. So, I come down the areas where they are not doing avalanche control. Generally dark greens or blues) On those epic powder days, the run may have been worth a 90 minute hike, even to the people who like to ask that four word question. But, those days are rare.

So, to answer the question, in the most accurate way possible: Is it worth it? For the run: no. For the climb: always . . . let me explain . . .

I thought I’d create this post to tell on myself. Since I decided to Go Green, I thought I’d call myself out when I fail . . .

How long have I been good?
—————————-

Failure Log
————

* 2014-JUL-7 – Had to leave early to take kids to Swim Meet

I just decided to move my strength from Wendler 5/3/1 back to Crossfit. I think I’m going to start on Friday. But, to prepare, I timed my ride to the gym this morning at ~31 mins. So, changing shoes, etc, I need to call it a 40 min ride.

Giving time for a bathroom break, etc, I probably need to leave the house at 5:15 for the 6:00AM class. Crap. I may have to start setting the alarm even earlier!

I’ve decided to start bicycling to work every day, instead of just two days a week. So, today, for the first time, I biked to the gym, worked out, and headed into the office. It was much easier than I thought it would be.

I did drag ass a bit on my squats, and didn’t finish out my BBB, but, the heavy part was easy. Fitocracy Workout

All in all, I think I can do this, and kiss my car goodbye this summer. Hopefully this will help to remove my beer gut . . . . I’ll try anything, besides not drinking beer 🙂

I thought we could all use a little reminder of our upcoming festivities!

Heading to Atlanta:

[tminus t=”15-06-2014 13:45:00″ style=”carbonlite”]

And, heading to Cancun!

[tminus t=”23-06-2014 12:20:00″ style=”carbonlite”/]

About a year ago, I was traveling from Salt Lake City to Atlanta. Tammy and the kids had already been there for a week or two, and I was heading to meet them for a vacation. I decided to start my vacation at the airport, and visited the bar. And then ordered a drink on the plane too. I was also traveling very comfortably, in Birkenstocks and a tie dye.

So, there I was, probably reeking of whiskey, sandals off, leaning back, and I started to notice a couple of people next to me talking about a new book on trading stocks. One was going on and on about what a great system it was, and that he was so happy he had bought the book, and so on. Eventually, one of them glanced at me, gave a little smirk, and asked about my “positions” in the market. Then he rephrased, and asked if I had read the book. While I didn’t see him wink at his friend, I knew it was implied, “Watch me confuse this hippy”. Well, he did get my attention.

I glanced from him, to the book, and then back to him, and I said, “Well, it is not too often that altruism and capitalism intersect”. He gave me a stunned look. I could see the gears turning, “Need more time, too many big words”, they screamed. He finally muttered, “What?”, and I repeated myself. This time, he had clearly understood every word, but couldn’t make out the point, so he asked, “What do you mean?” I smiled, glanced at his book, and explained .. .

“I can only assume that the author of that book is a capitalist. He claims to have a system for making a lot of money “Working” the market. Yet, he has decided to share this with the world. Why? Is he also altruistic? Does he just want to better the world? Did you get the book for free?”

The stunned book owner uttered “no” before he could stop himself.

“So, he’s not altruistic — then, why is he selling the book? If he is just a simple capitalist, then he would want to keep his secret to himself, in case his method were blocked once exposed. I think it is more likely that he makes more money on the book sale than on the stock market. And, if that is the case, why would anyone take his advice?”

I think I heard him mutter, “Oh” as I leaned back in my chair, and started playing Sudoku on my phone.

Don’t fuck with hippies.