For me, perl started out as this programming language that I didn't like because schallee liked it. I had a boss in my summer-job days who liked perl though, so I was forced to use it long enough to realize its power, and now I sometimes joke that English is a second language to my first language: perl (yes, I am a computer dork).

TWiki was introduced to me as this web application that I had to get working ASAP on doublethink, because they fired the only person in The Company who knew how to keep it running. At first I didn't want to use it any more than required to in order to get the job done. Now it is an integral part of the way that I plan and keep track of tasks, and bits of information which needs to be taken care of. I can't imagine living without it, frankly.

(incidentally, TWiki is written in perl, so these things that we don't like at first but come to like tend to build on each other)

There are a lot of things like this, but now that I am looking for work I am actually thankful that I got stuck with TWiki in my last year or so at The Company, because it gives me something concrete to talk about when people ask me certain kind of IT related questions now that I am looking for a job. It really was a good experience, though it didn't seem like it at the time.

Now I am seeing other things that I'm supposed to know that I am sure I will be extremely resistant to adding to my tool set, mainly because they will be some amount of work to learn and (ironically) they aren't perl or TWiki or one of the many other technologies that I already know. Which ones will I later be glad that I know?

I put Photoshop, along with dark room experience and studio lighting on my resumé in part because I had some of that kind of experience, but mostly just for fun, because I couldn't imagine possibly ever using that in my job (which is a pity). Today I actually gave my resumé to someone and he was like "oh, they would actually like someone who knows a little photoshop in addition to all this computer stuff."

I was looking for this photograph that I took for B&W I at Dutchess in the summer of '03, and discovered that I couldn't find it on my web site. This troubled me somewhat, so I've decided to post it here. It's not really fair to post an old photograph without including some story though, so I will include some text to go along with it. Feel free not to read it, and just look at the pretty picture though :)

Teacher's Pet

I wasn't even going to print this one, but my teacher recommended that I did. I thought it was only ok, but I included it in my final portfolio because I knew that my teacher liked it. I thus christened the photo "Teacher's Pet." I was a bit of a teacher's pet in that class. She was a savage critic and grader, which is the best way to learn, but some of the students didn't appreciate her style. I liked her, though my grade was not of much concern for me. I was in the class to learn how to work in the dark room, nothing more. Although I didn't initially like it that much, I have come to appreciate it more over time.