The Tale of Two CRCs

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,"

In the opening lines of The Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens sums up pretty well the life and times of DSTC and of its two CRCs: the CRC for Distributed Systems Technology and the CRC for Enterprise Distributed Systems.

Today is my last day at DSTC, bringing to an end my part in The Tale of Two CRCs. However, I can still be found at:

kerry.raymond@gmail.com (email)
http://twinparrots.blogspot.com/ (blog)
http://www.chapelhill.homeip.net/ (our home WWW site)
chat.world on ticker

We've had a lot of farewells recently and we've all said so many things, in public and in private, to individuals and to groups, that I have pretty much said all I have to say. But nonetheless, I'd like to say a couple of final special thank you's.

Firstly, to Rob Cook, who had the vision and the tenacity to create DSTC. Without him, there would have been no DSTC.

Secondly, to all of those people in the Architecture Unit and then projects Pegamento and Elemental, for whom our everyday working lives together was a constant joy and a constant inspiration for me.

The last chapter of DSTC is still yet to be written. I cannot say what will become of DSTC, its spin-offs, and the many people who were part of its story. But to finish off the Tale of Two CRCs, I can think of no better closing lines than those of Max Ehrmann's Desiderata:

"With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."

Capt Calico Jenny Flint, at your service!

Thanks to Anna, I have discovered my true pirate identity:

Calico Jenny Flint

Often indecisive, you can't even choose a favorite color. You're apt to follow wherever the wind blows you, just like Calico Jack Rackham, your namesake. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

In loving memory of Greystoke (1 Jan 1988 - 15 Sept 2005)

Our 17 year old cat Greystoke was diagnosed with bone cancer about 2 weeks ago. Since then, her quality of life deteriorated rapidly and we had to make the heart-breaking decision to euthanase her. Fortunately our vet (Indooroopilly Vet Clinic) are very understanding and they came to our home this morning. Greystoke died peacefully and painlessly on our verandah, the place where she basked in the sun most mornings of her life. She will be cremated and her ashes scattered in our garden.

Although we know we acted in Greystoke's best interests, it does not in any way diminish our grief.

Too many INTJs, or simply not enough

Well, Michael, Anna and I are all INTJs. Is 3 INTJs in a project too many or simply not enough?

Inquiring minds (or at least INTJs) want to know!

As for Tinni being an ENFP, well suddenly all becomes clear. "ENFPs often have strong, if unconvential, convictions on various issues related to their Cosmic View. They usually try to use their social skills and contacts to persuade people gently of the rightness of these views". So at last we have an explanation for all those emails about the sandwich toaster.

Following Anna's lead I too took the Meyer Briggs personality test

As I'd done them before, I was not at all surprised to find that I too am an INTJ.
To be precise, I am:

• moderately expressed introvert
• distinctively expressed intuitive personality
• distinctively expressed thinking personality
• moderately expressed judging personality

I think I must be mellowing in my old age; I think I was more "judging" last time I did one of these tests.

And, probably consistent with the personality type, I am very pleased to be an INTJ; it seems a very fine thing to be! I would be embarrassed to have discovered I was a "Where's the party?" ESFP, for whom "the mastery of logic, analysis and abstraction is usually difficult and wearying, and not very much fun". Frankly, what use is it having people like that at a party? What kind of useful contribution could they possibly make to a conversation about (say) meta-modelling at a party? I bet all they would want to talk about is Australian Idol; not only would they know who won, they would probably care! Not of course that I am in any way judgemental :-)

A great sadness overcomes our house

We've just found out that our 17 year old cat, Greystoke, has bone cancer in one of her shoulders. There isn't anything much the vet can do about it, so it's just a case of keeping her comfortable and happy for as long as that is possible (probably a couple of months).

Poor little cat!

New Orleans and flooding and looting

I gotta agree with Ricky

http://ttl.rickyrobinson.id.au/2005/09/02/hurricane-madness/

that it seems hard to believe that the looting and violence in New Orleans would have occurred in Australia.

Here's some more interesting commentary on the social side of this natural disaster:

http://www.iht.com/protected/articles/2005/09/01/opinion/edbrooks.php