[space] The Final Frontier

So, if you were a space that was supposed to appear in a message returned to you by a network, how would you be depicted in the documentation?

This was the big question of the day for me, my business owner, and my editors. Should it be a struck-through letter “b”? Or should it be something people other than developers would immediately interpret as a space–when just, you know, the thing that results from pressing the space bar when you’re typing isn’t good enough? The answer we alighted upon was this: [space]. My idea. I like it. I’m not a developer, but I sort of  understand why just putting a space in certain bits of a message doesn’t communicate what it’s supposed to, so this, to me, says, “Here there be a space”.

But it launched a debate. Apparently, in other documentation in the company the struck-through “b” is used, but no one I asked remembered that…until a decision was made, and I sent out an email to advise the affected parties. Then someone remembered. Still, my business owner liked [space], and decided that–for his document set, at least–we’d stick to it.

Since then, I’ve been looking for some sort of documentation outside of my company that explains why struck-through “b” is used, and if it’s an actual standard practice. If it is a standard practice, where is it standard? Programming? Technical documentation? What? I’ve simply never encountered it before.

In other news: Parched again today. Dehydration by documentation. More of same planned for tomorrow. Can’t wait till the editors get done with my document so I can get back to writing.

Life Redesign Update

I had a very healthy spinach salad for lunch today. It had goat cheese and tomatoes on it to start, then I improved upon it with mushrooms, chick peas, olives, cucumber slices, olive oil and a bit of garlic. Yum! I followed it up with yogurt, and later in the day an apple and some baby carrots. (We’ll see how well I digest the spinach.) Good lunch for me, but I still can’t really do too much activity-wise because my right leg is still in a lot of pain from when I slipped and almost did the splits at Target. Ow. Hopefully, the combination of long weekend, anti-inflammatory meds, and rest will give my body the opportunity to heal properly. I look forward to walking and starting Tai Chi. Now, if I could just get my left shoulder to heal, too, that would be splendid.

I’m still not planning meals or cooking, which was one of my big goals. I intend to remedy that this weekend. However, my mom is going to try one of my old recipes for our dinner Friday evening: Slathering honey Dijon mustard all over chicken breasts and then baking them with a pile of sliced fresh mushrooms (knowing my mom, she’ll use the canned kind, though). In my version, whole, small red potatoes and fresh green beans go in with the chicken and mushrooms. I believe white wine was also involved in the concoction to provide a bit more moisture. Unfortunately, it’s been so long since I’ve prepared that meal that I’ve forgotten what oven temperature I used. I’ll have to ask my mom what temperature she used. Anyway, I’m looking forward to her version.

I’m also doing a lot of visualization, otherwise known as daydreaming. A fine pastime that helps me envision the end results–even the incremental results–of my efforts to lose weight and get healthy. But, as Dumbledore told Harry, it doesn’t do to dream and forget to live. Imagining myself at a healthy weight, all fit and fabulous, is all well and good, but it’s pointless if I don’t actually do something to reach that goal in reality. That’s the hard part.

Oh, life. Why can’t you be more like the Matrix–without those pesky machine overlords and jacks in the backs of people’s heads. And bad dialog. And bad writing. OK, forget the Matrix. Why can’t life be more like Doctor Who, between the bits when monsters are trying to kill the companion? Am I the only one who thinks it would be awesome if Claudia or H.G. Wells from Warehouse 13 and maybe the Fargonator from Eureka were the next companions? …Oh. OK. That is just me. No wait! Noooooo…Dr. Stark from Eureka! I’d like to see the Doctor condescend to him! Maybe they could wander around the T.A.R.D.I.S. in towels.

OK, perhaps a bit too much visualization.