red echo

Last year Joe and I convinced management to let us distribute a command-line version of RbScript for Unix systems. We got the basic system working, but did not have enough free time to finish it. In the meantime, though, we added support for console applications to REALbasic 5.5. This morning, Joe spent half an hour putting pieces together and built a brand new version of command-line RbScript in REALbasic itself.

Somehow all those months of work on the Mach-O linker feel just a little less like wasted effort now.

Beautiful day in Austin. Sunny, clear, and a nice cool breeze. The planning meetings are going well, too.

Bizarre rockstar moment that could only happen at a geek conference: I'm walking down the street in downtown Austin, a few blocks from the convention center. I pass a group of random people walking the other way and hear, "hey man, nice compiler!". I'm flattered... I think.

The gym usually has one of its half-dozen TVs tuned to CNN, and I was treated to twenty minutes of George Bush's campaign startup speech this morning. They leave all the TVs set to subtitles and turn their sound off; the curious thing was, without the faux-folksy twang voice that makes him sound like a hack actor trying out for a Beef Council ad, the man doesn't sound that much like an idiot. He even got in a few cracks at John Kerry that were funny. I still disagree with just about everything he said, and his blithe misrepresentations of simple facts just make me fume, but it was strange to see a tiny glimmer of the otherwise inexplicable appeal he apparently has for so many supposedly sane Americans.

Bush chose to start his electoral campaign on the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. He hasn't much choice; he wanted this war from the start, he has been pushing for it and defending it for over two years, and now he doesn't have much else to show for his term in office. It is a personal matter: this is Bush's war, not America's war, and everyone knows that the only way to end the war and forestall the series of invasions he has probably planned for the next few years is to get the guy out of office. Today's protest was equal parts anti-Iraq-war and anti-Bush, because they are really the same issue. I don't know whether this will turn out to be a help or hindrance in the upcoming campaign; Seattle is one of those "liberal" urban enclaves where pretty much everyone opposed the war all along, so I can't really judge what the rest of the country is going to do.

In any case, the march was a nice pleasant walk from Capitol Hill down to the waterfront. It had the usual complement of signs with writing as sloppy as the thinking behind their slogans, obnoxious radicals pushing flyers for this or that revolutionary organization, inane chants, and off-topic embarassments that seem to converge on any public demonstration, but I went with a group of friends and ran into various acquaintances along the way, so there was at least some good conversation to be had.

The cops were out in force at the freeway overpass, defending the on-ramps in ludicrously excessive force against the peacefully strolling crowd whose terrifying radical message basically amounted to "Don't vote for Bush in November". I guess they feel like they can't take any chances since the WTO protests, but the lines of armored police armed with four-foot batons gave that part of the walk an oppressive feel. The cops were basically just there to direct traffic along the rest of the route, and some of them even looked a little bit less than unfriendly.

None of my group were particularly interested in standing around listening to speeches for an hour, so we bailed out after reaching the end of the march and went up to Pike Place for lunch and beer. We're all going to vote against Bush anyway; the point was just to get out and be counted, to help fill out the crowd so the news can remind everyone that we're still here and we're not going to shut up anytime soon. Bush may have gotten his war, but if we keep up the opposition maybe we can make him pay the consequences.

I just picked up a classical guitar book at Half Price Books. It's the Carcassi Classical Guitar Method - original copyright 1946! What a trip, to be learning from a book that old. Music is still music, though, and a $4 book full of arpeggios looks like just what I need.

I'm ready to declare "Somewhere out here", my latest song, close enough to finished that I'm willing to let it rest. It's about as good as I feel like making it. It sounds good, I like the mix, and the various imperfections in the recorded performance are minor enough to live with. I'm happy with it and ready to move on to the next project. I'm tempted to go back and finish "Technological Cavalry" now; I played it immediately after "Somewhere out here" and the vocals sounded muddy and muted by comparison. I don't know whether I need to re-record or just re-mix, but the track definitely needs improvement. An extra instrumental part would be nice, too. Of course, I'd also like to (finally) record the rest of "Not in my name"... and the list goes on.

The party went well. The turnout was a little lower than I expected, since illness and work obligations kept quite a few people away, but that worked for the best as I really didn't have enough seating to accomodate any more people. It seemed like a good mix; some of the pool people I see every week, some old friends I don't get to see very often. My guests seemed to get along well, and conversation rarely faltered. I am content.

I enjoyed playing host. I like being the center of attention every now and then, but it's nice to have a defined background role to fall back on. It suits my temperament, anyway; I enjoy the planning and preparation, and it's nice never to have to wonder "what am I doing here?".

It's only mid-March and I'm already suffering mountain fever. The sky is clear, the air is cold, and the Olympics define the western horizon. Living in the city, owning a car tends to cause more problems than it solves, but this is the one transportation challenge I have yet to conquer. My new apartment building doesn't even have a parking garage, so vehicle ownership is pretty much out of the question through at least the end of the summer...