A few things have happened recently which are worth noting here.

First, my project at work achieved a state of "technical success", which means that it (1) works correctly and (2) achieves its technical goals but (3) probably won't be accepted by its intended targets anyway. I am allowed to talk about it in general terms — for example, I can disclose that we were "applying compiler technologies like LLVM to JavaScript", specifically to improve its performance — but, unfortunately, not to disclose any particular ideas we had and implemented. Regardless, it's been shelved indefinitely pending an unexpected approval by the target team.

This means that I've moved on to brighter things (still at Apple, naturally); in particular, I am now working on the standard LLVM C++ front-end (clang-cc). So after a mere year of using C++ full-time, I have progressed to the inevitable terminal state of an expert C++ programmer, i.e. wanking about language specs and re-implementing the compiler.

I think I still really, deeply hate this language. It's an expert's language with naive pretensions of simplicity. It encourages the worst traits in experts (to endlessly obsess about minutiae) and punishes beginners (who can easily make terrible mistakes with no hint as to why). And even experts are continually blocked by the endless foolishness of the language, which invariably only lets you express three-quarters of what you need. Everything else — the awkward near-backward-compatibility with C, the explicit memory management, the primitive control structures — everything else is just an annoyance.

The result of all this is that I am strongly tempted to develop a dependently-typed imperative programming language with explicit meta-programming support. Unfortunately, working on compilers for forty hours a week really saps your drive to come home and hack on a totally different compiler.

Finally, I've started running consistently in the mornings — I've only skipped three days out of the last nine. This morning's effort was five and a half miles in about an hour, which is not terrible for having just started again.

A desperate life, as told by a Russian phrasebook.

I suppose this sort of thing is what twitter is for.

Overnight flights are not so terrible if you divorce yourself from all hope of fulfilling sleep. Had a notable if not deep conversation with The Woman From The Window Seat, a tech writer with family in Elisabeth. Shared the plane with Ali. Will crash somewhere in WEH in short order.

Yesterday I went sailing on the Bay.

We were invited on Saturday, which is the sort of notice for a weekday outing that seems reasonable only to people in particular circumstances of life. I scrambled to make it acceptable, succeeding mostly by virtue of having recently brokered progress through the power of other-uncompensated overtime. Cat didn't have the same luck, as the cowards treacherously scheduled a departmental meeting against our unannounced expedition. So it was me, a postdoc and three recently-employed persons. (The preceding sentence forced me to abandon the Oxford comma.)

Our boat was a 32-foot Catalina, for those who understand that, which is a set that excludes me. We gathered at noon, and finally set out from the Berkeley marina at two-thirty — it was that sort of day. Our plan was first to tack to Angel Island, then motor around to the Gate and jibe back home; unfortunately, with the slow start, the incoming tide, and the 25-naut eastward winds, that was mostly fouled. Instead, we tacked to Richmond, set aground to ease some suffering; that was about five-thirty. From there, we planned to tack further north to Red Rock Island, but we were becalmed, so instead we somehow decided to motor past Angel Island and then resume the first plan, which was fine except that we had low winds when we came east of Alcatraz, so we spent a long few hours there in the cold, with dark water and distant lights, puttering home on power. I eventually got home and dinner at midnight, and it would have been later except for combinator's generosity in giving me a ride.

The mechanics of sailing are very fun; it's a lot of running about on the boat, balanced with carefully-timed exertions, all required to make any progress at all. If anything, I regretted having so many people around to divide the labor. I came aboard knowing a fair amount about the basics of sailing, and I gained some good practical experience but not appreciably more theory; our skipper mostly ordered us about without explaining why, and maybe that was reasonable for a first voyage.

I spent a lot of time at the helm. Some of this was lifeless: the endless slow circles I cut there in the marina, keeping the M alive while she was prepped for berth, those memories Time can claim for herself, I do not need them. But Lady? Spare for me certain moments, if you will; leave me those minutes where I held my course straight at five nauts in the winds off the Gate, sailing down on Ghirardelli Square and past the searchlights of Alcatraz. Those are not times fit for the gods.

Cat and I have successfully relabeled ourselves as San Franciscans; specifically, we are nobs; in finer detail, we are at:

1650 California St. #24
San Francisco, CA 94109

Fortunately, this is a block away from an Apple coach-route, where operators stand poised to whisk me to the bleak desolation of Cupertino. Unfortunately, that requires 75 minutes in each direction, and I need to plan for a 9 o'clock orientation on Monday. Our network access will be quite limited until some unknown moment on the 2nd, so pray allow me to suggest contacting us via phone rather than email, should you require our attention before then; my number remains 412-654-2712.

I have said my farewells to the Portland State computer science department; all in all, I was able to say goodbye to most everyone I know there — particularly to Dan, Tom, catamorphism, Emerson, Rafael, Ki-Yung, Akshay, and Nick, as well as Tracy and some guy I actually didn't know at all, all of whom were at my gala event tonight, but also to Chuan-Kai, Rashawn, Andrew T., and Lois, whom I saw at various points earlier. I was interrogated about the circumstances of my departure and arrival; as I was also inebriated, this caused no offense, and so the evening passed well within parameters.

I suppose this is some sort of official wrap-up of our stay in Portland, so I will summarize. I have lost a PhD but gained a Master's; I have lost a professorship but gained an appreciation; I have lost two years and a half but gained two years and a half; and so it is time spent for a purpose, and I am content, and there is nothing left but to smile and reflect.

The preparations are almost set in place, so it is well to announce that Cat and I are moving over the course of the next week but one (that is, starting the 26th). As such, we will be saying goodbye to our favorite restaurants, bars, and (we hope) people. You, personally, whomever you may be, are welcome to come along if you happen to be/arrive in Portland this weekend; if you are an out-of-towner, we may even have space for you on our floor/air mattress.

As far as specifically planned events, the only thing on the schedule at the moment is a trip to the Horse Brass Pub of SE Belmont this Friday from 6:30pm to whenever. It is conceivable that we may later adjourn to somewhere else, and that games or cards or music might be involved depending on the proclivities of the attendees. But regardless, if you would like to attend, you are welcome to; if you would like to appear in Portland this weekend and do something else, you are also welcome to do that.

If you don't have my contact information, it is here: 412-654-2712 and rjmccall@gmail.com.

WASHINGTON - Campaign workers scrambled today to revise internal estimates and strategies in the wake of a new report from political consultant Dick Morris. Morris, an informal adviser to President Bill Clinton, predicted an Obama landslide, giving him 396 of 538 total electoral votes.

The response from McCain supporters has been enthusiastic, and a raucous crowd wearing McCain/Palin buttons spontaneously gathered in K street around lunchtime. Republican strategist Darren Brazschewski, a Baltimore-area landscaper, looked visibly relieved. "This is the best news we've had since... it's just really good news," he said. The McCain campaign has made no official response, but "spirits are high, and we're back to thinking we can pull this out again," according to a high campaign official.

Meanwhile, Obama supporters presented an upbeat take on the news. "We remain confident in an Obama victory in November," wrote campaign manager David Plouffe in a tersely worded email to the press. "We always expected this to be difficult, and we still believe that Americans are looking for a change from the failures of the Bush-McCain era."

Logicians caution voters not to draw hasty inferences from Morris's report. "Just because Dick Morris has predicted a landslide Obama victory doesn't mean that McCain is assured a landslide," said retired mathematician Martin Gardner. "Negation is not the same as opposite."

Morris's prior predictions include Condoleezza Rice's receipt of the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, a stiff Republican challenge to New York Senator Hillary Clinton's 2006 re-election, the victory of Howard Dean over eventual nominee John Kerry in the 2004 Democratic primaries, and a strong uptick in popularity for the Bush administration after its competent handling of the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

My quals committee asked me to resubmit the paper portion of my exam, which you may peruse at the point of this brave and desperate link. (4NM:256K)

Follow the white rabbit.

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