Death of a Blog Revisited (I had promised to get back to this...)
No. Not that kind. But the title admittedly was inspired by the inky one. I paraphrase one of his last blogs (sheesh rich - going out on a limb here but maybe my two or three ardent readers can remember the blog in question) - "Yes writing my blog does take a long time. Not so much the writing as I am a very fast typist. No, more so the conception, the turning over in the mind...."
Alright, reproduction not so true. That's why he's R and I'm rich p&s. Remember that blog?
This is about that very process of writing. Inspiration, conceptualization, interpretation, further cogitation, production and finally reevaluation and editing. Sometimes it becomes apparent in any of these stages that you have either, not proved your thesis, not conceptualized your theme fully, or, in my case, proved beyond a shadow of a doubt my own hypocrisy. Self-effacement is a bit embarrassing, sometimes out right humiliating but occasionally educational. Such is this story. One of my pet peeves in people is stubbornness - the oft-time perversely unyielding peregrination from conception to finality of a quest either real or imagined. Depending on the quality and timeliness of the outcome, the results conclude in strikingly similar behavior alterations. In the case of a positive outcome, stubbornness can justify itself as a pseudo-methodology. Meaning, like an addict, one tends to unconsciously associate a certain behavior with a positive feedback. Conversely, a negative outcome rarely has any affect behaviorally speaking. No one likes to admit that they are, by nature, stubborn or even that they are acting in a stubborn manner as pointed out by an adjutant in a single overt situation.
This isn't to conclude that stubbornness is always as bad thing. Sometimes one's intractability is an asset for example in the completion of a tedious nearly impossible task. But this example doesn't address my peeve.
For me, in a professional situation, stubbornness equates to a waste of my time.
About a year ago I hired a smart young, still in school guy I'll call Scott. We acquired him inexpensively, what can I say. In my opinion there are three character types that stand out in his category: The dolts, the burning-desire-to-learn types and the smart-asses. The "dolts" are destined to failure as are the "smart-asses" unless, of course, they're actually smart. Scott was somewhere between "B" and "C" - a good prospect to be sure. He's roughly half my age but He has worked out nicely to my fortunate credit with the powers that be. But Scott is somewhat stubborn. Being at least half smart sometimes precipitates that.
I fall firmly into category "C". Jury's still out on my intelligence. I do have a reputation for helping people in whatever they attempt while at work. This is a consultant's primary function after all. The client is always right no matter how asinine their requests might be.
See if you can't pick out the irony in the following brief dialogue from work:
Scott: Do you have a second to help me out with a piece of code?
R. Sure. (No, I really said this.)
Scott showed me a particularly convoluted section of code and explained to me what his goal was.
R: Yeah, I can tell you how to code this correctly.
Scott. Okay but am I doing wrong? Why won't what I wrote work?
Smart-assed R: Ahm, I don't really care. Here's the way to make it work (to achieve the goal's result).
There you have it. The abridged edition to be sure. Who is the stubborn player here? 'Tis I for failing to recognize a new way of accomplishing something but still wanting to save some time by providing a quick answer. I don't believe that I'm necessarily wrong when providing an answer born of experience but I chastise myself not being more open minded.
My conclusion: Both the dinosaur and the newbie are equally credible if, and only if, each can see each other's strengths. There will be another blog in here I surmise. Just for the record, I much more enjoyed, in life, being the newbie than the dinosaur. Comments?
6:39:51 PM 
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