Topic: Writing

Awhile vs A While

Today while writing an email, I used the word “awhile” and then realized I wasn’t sure if I should be using “awhile” or “a while”. So, as I always do, I quickly looked up the definition for “awhile” in the dictionary on my Mac (which, using Quicksilver, is as easy as Cmd+Space -> “dic” -> Enter). I was very surprised to see this definition:

awhile: for a short time

I’ve always thought, and used, both “awhile” and “a while” to mean a period of time longer than a short time. So then I checked Google’s definitions:

awhile: for a short time
a while: a period of indeterminate length (usually short)

Wow, still very confusing! I dug a little further on Google, searching for a good rule that would help me remember which to use while writing. I think I finally found one:

awhile always means “for a while”
a while usually means “for a length of time”, and is sometimes accompanied by a preposition, such as “I left work a while ago”. You can also add adjectives to further describe the amount of time implied, such as “Its been a long while” or “Please wait for a short while”.

Now whenever I need to determine if using “awhile” makes sense, I can simply replace it with “for a while” and see if the sentence still sounds right. For example, “I left work awhile ago” would mean “I left work for a while ago”, which is of course wrong. I use a similar rule to remember when to use “it’s” and “its”; the former always translates into “it is”.

This entry was posted on September 10th, 2009 and has 4 comments. Join the discussion!

The day the Earth was run on Generators

Well, not quite the entire Earth, but it almost seems that way. I saw The Day the Earth Stood Still this weekend and I couldn’t imagine a more fitting movie for what we’re dealing with around here. We’ve been without electricity for three days now and living at the very end of a dead-end dirt road means we’re probably last on the electric company’s fix-it list. There are power lines strewn across the road and wires hanging from the telephone poles, big broken branches being held up by nothing more than a few thin wires, and entire trees toppled over alongside the road.

At night, the darkness is incredible. The full moon, the closest to the Earth it has been since 1994, is the only source of light around. Normally silent enough to hear a distant neighbor shut their front door, the night is filled with the sounds of dozens upon dozens of humming machines, each providing a little bit of that life-giving force to its owner. So often taken for granted, this electricity is not used for running televisions or computers or even for lighting the entire house, but instead for only our most basic necessities: heat to keep ourselves (and the water pipes) from freezing and for the small electric water pump that allows us to shower.

My hands smell of gas, my shoulder hurts from pulling the starter, my body is tired, and for the first time in a long while, I feel like I actually had a real weekend. The vast world of technology and the Internet seemed so distant — like a dream of the way things once were. Everything felt more real, and life, more difficult. Life should be difficult. Not only mentally, but physically too. If the entire Earth was run on generators I think people would have more appreciation for not only life itself, but one another.

This entry was posted on December 14th, 2008 and has no comments. Start a discussion!

Should I segment my blog?

Most of what I’ve read about good blogging practices relates to staying on topic and keeping content relevant to a particular theme. To grow reader subscriptions and increase repeat traffic, these “good blogging practices” say that to help readers feel the blog is an interesting resource, the blog should have new content that stays “on topic”. If readers feel the blog is an interesting resource, they are more inclined to return or to subscribe to the blog. A good portion of my posts (maybe 70%) are technology related and for someone interested in only my technology related content, I imagine the personal or “off-topic” posts must be quite a nuisance.

When I started this blog, I did it because I needed a place to write. I had lots of stuff I wanted to document; lots of solutions to problems that I wanted to share and make available to whomever may be searching (even if that person was myself, as has been the case many times). While I feel I write a lot of reference-worthy material, this is also my personal blog. It’s the place I write about activities, travels, thoughts, experiences, and ideas. As I begin think more carefully about what I’m writing, I feel myself being torn between mixing personal and not-so-personal content.

I feel that splitting my blog into two separate blogs (this one remaining my personal blog and the second being only for my techy reference-material-like posts) would allow me to be more creative and expressive on both topics. I won’t feel as though my techy posts are too long and technical (for a personal blog) and at the same time I’ll feel free to post as often as I like about more personal topics.

What do you think? Does segmenting my blog into to separate blogs make sense?

This entry was posted on November 27th, 2008 and has 2 comments. Join the discussion!

Energy follows thought

“Energy follows thought. We move towards, not beyond, what we imagine. By expanding our deepest beliefs of what is possible, we change our core experience of life.” -Jane Roberts

This entry was posted on November 8th, 2008 and has no comments. Start a discussion!

A Unique Perspective: College Campus

Today marks the first day of my twenty-six years of living that I spent time inside a college classroom and on a college campus. (There was one time I attended an Indian classical music concert with my dad at MIT, but I was young and barely remember it.) I’m taking the Introduction to C/Unix/CGI Programming class at Harvard Extension. As I walked around campus on the first day of class, I very quickly observed how different things felt from the “normal world”.

My perspective is probably somewhat unique in that I have been around business for as long as I can remember. My parents have always owned their own business and I myself just went through being a landlord for a few years and then lost all three of my houses to foreclosure. I also had my own consulting business going for awhile. Being home-schooled my whole life also meant that I saw nothing of the public school system.

The atmosphere of being on campus felt very unfamiliar to me — almost alien. I was only a few hundred feet from streets I had driven on every day for the past few years and yet I felt as if I was on a different planet. It’s a hard feeling to describe. As I stood there looking around, I could almost fool myself into believing I was in the middle of a utopian alien society where everything was about peace, harmony, learning, and knowledge. (Then I turned around, looked across the street, and saw all the money-hungry shops trying to buy your soul. I was quickly reminded that I am, in fact, still on Earth. Damn.)

As strange and different as the atmosphere felt, it also felt relaxing — like there was nothing to do except learn and relax. I was able to walk into a building and have instant access to dozens upon dozens of computers just waiting for me to login and start using them for whatever constructive thing I needed to do. Everything outside was clean and there were plenty of benches and places to sit.

But my perspective is flawed. The company where I work is paying for the class and I’m sure things wouldn’t feel quite as “free” and relaxing if I had student loans riding on my back. But that should say something for the current system. Imagine what society would be like if all education was free. Imagine the atmosphere it would create. People learning because they want to learn and because they can learn. Not learning because they want to make money and get an awesome job to pay off their student loans. No, learning because they want to create, explore, and evolve. Learning because it’s fun. Learning to learn.

This entry was posted on September 17th, 2008 and has 3 comments. Join the discussion!
← Older Entries