Semantics

I came across the following quote recently, when reading an article about the Toyota recall woes:

…it’s too early to say whether quality has actually slipped, since today’s vehicles are far more complex than their predecessors, making more recalls inevitable…

I take issue with that statement, because … well, because to me it’s wrong.  Quality should be a measure independent of the complexity of something. How well something works, and whether it’s better than other comparable things. That’s pretty straightforward to quantify. Is it more difficult to achieve quality in a system that’s more complex? Sure, I don’t doubt that for a second. But can one use complexity to justify away poor performance? Don’t think so.

This ties in with discussions I often have with people, that end in a “Pfft, it’s just semantics” scoff from their side. Well, no – semantics is what it’s all about. You can scoff at whether I’m being too nitpick-y about the nuances of meaning, but semantics does matter. Without it, conversation would be pointless.

On a more practical note, that article (discussing the “sudden unexplained acceleration” being investigated on Toyotas, with accelerators apparently becoming stuck) made me wonder whether this is yet another small notch in the “humble manual transmission” column. Sure, a car with an automatic transmission also allows you to try engine braking or putting the car in neutral. But in a panic situation, you’re a lot more likely to do something you’re used to doing – and in my car, I engine break or coast on an almost daily basis. The premise and promise of the automatic, on the other hand, is that you rarely have to think of any settings beyond Drive and Reverse.

Continuing with that train of thought, I would love to take one of those winter-driving courses where they teach you how to maintain control of your car in all sorts of conditions. Obviously, in part this is because learning this stuff can’t ever hurt. But in part, it’s also because I would be very interested to know just how far a car can be pushed in certain conditions, and there’s no way I’d be trying to figure that out on, you know, an actual road. Maybe when my car is old and I’m not so over-protective of it.

WordPress was acting up yesterday when I was trying to write this and upload a picture, so sadly, no picture today.

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Fun weekend

It was such a fun weekend, I’ve finally been jolted out of my posting break. Maybe we need Josh around more (yes, even Josh came to visit!)

First of all, Friday started it off with a bang as we went out to celebrate Dan’s birthday and the Olympic opening ceremony. We coined the term “full-contact sushi” after a few misplaced and accidental bumps as people were reaching across the table for a piece of sushi. Good fun. The opening ceremony took forever, and I remembered why I almost never watch them – the 2 hours of teams filing through the stadium! We had to leave the pub to get home just as it was getting to the most anticipated moment of the show, since the boys just HAD to have cake at that exact moment. Luckily, we walked in the door just as they were lighting the torch.

On Saturday was Jen’s bachelorette party. What a good time! We started off the evening with a wine tasting led by a sommelier (yes, spellcheck, I mean” sommelier”, not “smelter”; no joke, that is the suggested correction), and accompanied by yummy foods made by everyone present. Karaoke was next, and I’m still debating whether to post the video of Boj’s… inimitable… performance. Jen had a checklist of things to do before we let her get married, and she got through most of them brilliantly – including getting 3 guys’ phone numbers. We tried to see how many more she could get, but for some reason she didn’t want to. Guess she somehow already knows that 1 fiancé and 3 boyfriends is too much to juggle!!

Today was Family Day, wrapping up a much-awaited long weekend. Since federal employees aren’t supposed to have families, Dan did not have today off. My plan was mostly to finish Breaking Dawn, the last of the Twilight books, do a whole bunch of errands, and watch the Olympics. I have to say I’m actually undecided on whether I like this one or the third book better. It was interesting to see some more character development, as well as vampire history explained. Far-fetched? Maybe. Not enough Jacob? Definitely. But a good 2-day read, anyway.

If you know me, you could probably expect me to have had a to-do list and schedule even for a day off. Dan kicked it off track first thing in the morning, when he didn’t leave for work on time. See, I had been counting on being woken up by him at 7, napping for an hour and a bit, and then getting up before 8:30. You know, to have time to be productive. Instead, both of us crawled out of bed by 10, and he eventually headed off to work. I even met up with him for lunch at the Sconewitch downtown, which is a wonderfully eclectic spot for a wholesome and filling lunch. I headed to Bridgehead to finish my book, where I finally threw my schedule out the window when I unexpectedly ran into Hubert, and I spent my coffee chatting instead of reading. Unplanned days can be fun, too! Yay for unplaned-ness!

One thing that frustrated me today was the bus. Or rather, the people on the bus. Seriously, people of Ottawa – you have to let go of the notion that you’re entitled to a 1-meter radius personal space circle on a bus. Go visit Europe, or Japan, or, hell, even New York, to see what a FULL rush-hour bus actually looks like.

Coming up – I still haven’t posted about the Alpaca Farm visit!

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Ultimate vs. the real world

In the real world, a conversation with a not-well-known guy which involves the phrases like

• “what nights are you free in the summer”,
• “do you have a boyfriend/husband” and
• “can I get your email to keep in touch”

would probably be considered a painfully direct attempt at a come-on. In ultimate, on the other hand, it’s the sound of a captain of a summer league team looking to replace female players (and willing to take their partners as a package deal). So yeah – I may have an option of playing on a Thursday team this summer. We’ll see.

Beyond a comic-relief post, that conversation also provided me with a sobering thought – summer season is SOON. Yes, I know it’s February, but now that there’s talk of ultimate in the air, May seems much closer. In all its frolic in the sunshine, sandals, and open windows glory. I’ll just have to remember that when I’m clutching my frozen-stiff fingers around the steering wheel on my way to work this morning.

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