Done yesterday (20091124 Tu)

[mdlbear]

1124 Tu
  * up 6:30; W=199.4; drugs, nose, teeth; coffee; dishes
  * pair up new headset
  | Headache due to less coffee than usual?
  * don't forget homework
  * bank.  Cash and deposits.  HSX deposit Roper's check.  Colleen has to
    endorse tax checks.
  * walk (to pond; running late)
    ! calm; no scrim.  Slightly annoyed at Android's browser.
    ! some catastrophizing, but no anxiety observed with it
  = new headset seems to work well; more comfortable than the Plantronics and
    seems to be attached a little more firmly.
  * book order arrived from Powells
  @ 74 Mesmerizing Slow Shutter Shots - Slow shutter photography - Gizmodo
  @ iPhone and Android Are Taking Over the (Mobile) Internet
  @ TI introduces the eZ430-Chronos development platform... and sports watch
    -- Engadget
    @ eZ430-Chronos Wireless Watch Development Tool
    @ The
      eZ430-Chronos is a highly integrated, wearable wireless development
      system that comes in a sports watch. It may be used as a reference
      platform for watch systems, a personal display for personal area
      networks, as a wireless sensor node for remote data collection, or
      simply as a watch.
  @ The Biology Behind the Milk of Human Kindness (NYTimes)
    In their new study, Dr. Rodrigues and Laura R. Saslow and Dacher Keltner
    of the University of California, Berkeley, looked at how two variants in
    the genetic code for the receptor might influence a person's capacity for
    empathy, as measured by a standard empathy questionnaire ("I really get
    involved with the feelings of the characters in a novel") and a behavioral
    task called "Reading the Mind in the Eyes." In it, participants looked at
    36 black-and-white photographs of people's eyes and were asked to choose
    the word that best described each subject’s mood. Uneasy, defiant,
    contemplative, playful? In a related measure of oxytocin’s presumed
    calming effects, subjects were also tested for how strongly they reacted
    to the stress of hearing a series of loud noises. 
  @ Wikipedia: Oxytocin
  * 2pm meeting at work: Mike -- went well.  
    ! productive
  @ The more I think about it, piracy, or any other unauthorized reproduction,
    just serves as quality control for your product. 
    (from technoshaman) The video is also awesome.
  @ http://bandcamp.com/ (from Sooj)
  * bath 11:30ish; bed ~00:15

A moderately productive day, mostly thanks to a meeting at work where a coworker who's moving to another group went over the software he's leaving us, in detail. It's all in well-documented Python, which will give me an opportunity to get more familiar with the language.

And a good insight, though I'm not entirely sure where it leads yet: I avoid different categories of things for different underlying reasons. I avoid financial stuff because it makes me uncomfortable to think about. I avoid social encounters because I'm uncomfortable when I don't know what to do or say. That's also part of why I don't learn languages. Some other things I just avoid because they're less fun or less interesting than, e.g., LJ.

So there's a clear distinction between things that make me uncomfortable (with at least two subcategories), and things that I just would rather not do. They'll probably have to be worked on in different ways. I'm not sure which will be harder: accepting a certain level of discomfort as I work my way up to the really scary stuff, or adjusting my priorities and managing my time so the disagreeable stuff gets done alongside the fun stuff. Donwannagrowup!

A fair number of links (see above in the raw notes); the most thought-provoking was this article in the New York Times about oxytocin:

In their new study, Dr. Rodrigues and Laura R. Saslow and Dacher Keltner of the University of California, Berkeley, looked at how two variants in the genetic code for the receptor might influence a person's capacity for empathy, as measured by a standard empathy questionnaire ("I really get involved with the feelings of the characters in a novel") and a behavioral task called "Reading the Mind in the Eyes." In it, participants looked at 36 black-and-white photographs of people's eyes and were asked to choose the word that best described each subject’s mood. Uneasy, defiant, contemplative, playful? In a related measure of oxytocin’s presumed calming effects, subjects were also tested for how strongly they reacted to the stress of hearing a series of loud noises.

Hmmm...