Myself in Portrait ...ish

I cannot deny that Jam is really quite handy with a camera phone. This is the best pic of me ever. Drinks outside Planet Hollywood in KL was a fun night.
Poch sent Shane and I some pics of Friday's "boys night out" at Soda and I hear the video montage will be online soon. That can wait for another post.

Corollary in Passing

There is not enough matter in the universe to store enough information to completely explain the workings of the female mind.

The Clarity Paradox

There is not enough matter in the universe to store enough information to completely explain the workings of a single atom.

I read an article that explained this recently but I can't remember where. I think it was a discussion about information theory, all a little bit lofty for my uneducated head. My understanding of it however is that absolute clarity is impossible given the finite nature of the universe.

Explaining
Take Newton's laws and the laws of thermodynamics for example, long held as an elegant, concise yet complete explanation of matter and energy. Einstein's work on relativity clarified some apparent deviations from these laws at cosmic scale. Today, work continues on further clarifying thermodynamics and relativity, notably at subatomic scale. It seems that each advance in our understanding of the universe requires an exponential step in the information required to explain it.

The benefits of using more words to explain something diminish increasingly quickly.

Understanding
Most competent high school graduates have an adequate understanding of Newton's laws. Some university graduates have a handle on the theory of relativity but not as many as you would think. The greatest minds in the field have trouble making sense of matter and energy at the subatomic scale.

The more information that is applied to clarifying a concept the more difficult it is to understand.

It seems that clarity of understanding favours incomplete definitions over exhaustive explanations. Of course this is no revelation to many people as demonstrated by common idioms like K.I.S.S. and less-is-more.

OMG! Too Much work!

I hate it and I love it. I hate having so much work that I have to let someone down. I love the feeling that my skills are needed and appreciated.

I have too many bosses.
pro. I can keep asking different managers for something until I get the answer I want.
con. Work comes from every angle and everyone wants something different.

I have too many hats.
con. There is always something that should have been done yesterday.
pro. There are plenty of opportunities shuffle the work around and highlight my positive achievements.

Today had some of everything above.

In the end it is the people I care about that make everything else worthwhile.

The Opposite of Disappointing

I am now back in Brisbane after a "working" week in sunny/rainy Kuala Lumpur. The last week has been both disappointing and whatever the opposite of disappointing is. I anticipated a week of learning and extending my product knowledge with enough time left over to stay in step with my regular work via email. The reality was close to opposite of what I expected. I am struggling to think of anything I gained work-wise. The training was really quite awful and badly organized. With my after hours time I kicked off the week by paying a ridiculous amount for broadband at the hotel and then doing the email > research > email thing. I didn't get to use this golden connection for the rest of the week though because I was either too sick or too eager to get out of the hotel and do something with friends. It was the time spent with friends that made last week the most enjoyable time I have ever spent abroad.