About that cunning plan

Before I could figure out how to properly address the issue of going broke, I had to see when our latest fundraising schedule predicted that I would be able to write myself a paycheck. daerr and I played with the spreadsheet some more tonight, making two different, new versions that are based around a schedule of small, gradual investments rather than one really big one up front.

I now am confident that the best choice for me involves picking up a short-term, low-stress programming contract, something telecommutey. I have done these before, even relatively recently (crunching up voter-reg records for 2004 Ohio, sigh), and know that I can complete such work without giving up everything else that I'm doing. It's still enough of a time sacrifice that I wouldn't want to make a habit out of it, but that's the whole point; if Volity's cunning plan works - and I think it will - then I shouldn't have to do more than one or two of these.

So, it's http://jobs.perl.org for me. And updating my resume. (And if any of you have work that an expert Perl and web hacker can accomplish, given a deadline but a completely flexible schedule, please let me know.)

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I'm going to have to make a more detailed post in the devblog about this: we also had a great conversation about some concerns I have been having with how we're doing things vis-a-vis Gamut, based on both user and developer feedback, and my own observations about how the webby world has been working lately.

Upshot the first: I am suddenly keenly interested in making an variation of Gamut that runs as a Java applet, within the Web browser. The applet would really only need to be the SVG pane; everything else can be accomplished with AJAXified HTML. We can do this using tech and know-how we have now; it will just take time, and it will be so worth it.

I am increasingly convinced that, wherever reasonable, (things that run in a Web browser) > (things that you have to download, install, and run separately).

Upshot the second: Actually, nothing new, but we really need to press ahead with SVG UI development libraries now. And by now I mean now.

A little off-balance

Wide awake at 5 a.m. due to caffeine withdrawal backlash. I hadn't blogged about it yet, but an interesting thing I started doing a week or two ago was to successfully cut my coffee consumption down to one big cup a day (first thing in the morning) and keep myself on an even keel the rest of the day by guzzling green tea. This has actually worked out very well. I still gets my caffeine, but not enough to give me jitters into the afternoon or evening, and without all the gut-churning acid that comes with high coffee consumption. I haven't had any all-day crippling stomachaches since I started this regimen, which is wonderful.

Yes, up until now I've been suffering from occasional all-day crippling stomachaches for, oh, a year or two. I don't think I ever mentioned them here, probably because I didn't want to face up to the fact that this was almost assuredly a decade of massive coffee abuse catching up with me. But then it came to pass that earlier this month I was playing Wario Ware: Touched! on my DS and was messing around with a minigame that involves a cartoon Japanese grandmother drinking green tea and I thought to myself hmm, green tea, what a good idea. True story.

Yesterday, though, I needed to refresh my home tea supply but saw that Shaw's didn't seem to have any of the stuff I liked, so experimentally got an inexpensive mint-flavored green blend. It was dreadful, so today I didn't bother making any tea. And so it came to pass that I became dead tired at 1am, which sounds pretty good, except that I was woken up at 4 by a headache and an arm-ache. Yes, my right forearm hurt on the inside, on the blood or bone level. Or so it seemed, anyway; I theorize that the headache was actually reaching down into my neck and right shoulder, and in sleep-deprived confusion I wasn't sure what was hurting. Once I could think straight I figured I was probably dehydrated and, sigh, suffering from withdrawal, so I used two glasses of water to wash down two Excederins (these being caffeine-and-aspirin pills). And I think I was on the money because I feel fine now, but the pills roused me to full wakefulness, and here I am.

Long and short of it is that I today - well, yesterday - proved by accident that I have reduced my coffee habit, which is great, but my caffeine dependency remains strong. Still, I think I have made a net lifestyle improvement. Just have to be more mindful about it.