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On this last Sunday I received a new calling in my ward. I'm going to be the Sunday School teacher for the 16 through 18 year-old youth. I'm excited, nervous, hopeful, and a bit scared all at the same time. This is big for me, that the Lord would call me to such a teaching position. I am very grateful for this opportunity!

On another kind of note, I have been scouring and scrounging for any time I could possibly have to myself lately, so that I can try and practice programming. As of yet I have had almost no time. Compared to when I was in high school, junior high, and elementary school I have negative time. Nearly every day back then I had the opportunity to sit down at my computer and program something. Now it would seem that things have become so complex in programming even that I have to learn something before I can do much. I want to become a good programmer, but everything in my life right now is very inhibiting to that end. I love programming, but I've been confused, lost, and tainted by my bad teachers that don't take the time to teach, the company I work for that is making me neurotic with quotas we're supposed to meet, and simply not being given the opportunity to shine and work uninterrupted for once.

I read in an article yesterday something that sparked my interest. If any of you have ever seen the movie Anti-Trust, then maybe you can kind of see what I saw when I read this part of the article. It stated:

"...Big companies think the function of office space is to express rank. But hackers use their office space for more that that: they use their office space as a place to think in. And if you're a technology company, their thoughts are your product. So making hackers work in a noisy, distracting environment is like having a paint factory where the are is full of soot.

"...One big company that understands hackers need is Microsoft. I once saw a recruiting ad for Microsoft with a big picture of a door. Work for us, the premise was, and we'll give you a place to work where you can actually get work done...

Now picture when Milo first walks in to see his new office. Sure it doesn't have a door, but it's surrounded with opaque windows and he literally has a place to think, where he's not being micromanaged, and nobody is breathing down his neck. What I wouldn't give for that. I'm just in Q.A. and find it plenty difficult to concentrate, where I have even less than a cubicle. I don't know if that has contributed to my distress or not, but I'm willing to make a bet on it.