The fourteenth day of the 47th loop

I woke up a little after 7:30 and remembered that all night I had been dreaming about the new language—I had spent the whole night in my sleep studying the language. Amazing how a new pursuit can hook you.

Outside it was overcast, leaden skies, and there was already a hint of autumn in the air—too early. Still, warm and humid, just the way I like it.

I cooked porridge and had breakfast with my daughters. Sonya woke up early—the polar bears must have died. :) Usually in summer she struggles to get up by 10 if she does not have camp, but this was unheard of. I took Leah to daycare and then went to work.

At work it was one meeting after another. They showed us an interesting BPMN platform, and I liked it. I need to study it more deeply and play around with it. I discussed our product business initiatives with colleagues—much of it looks interesting and promising. The only unclear thing is where to get enough resources for all of it. We need to prioritize ideas very aggressively, because wanting everything all at once is a utopia.

While thinking about yesterday’s invention, it occurred to me to assemble a prototype on an Arduino base. I found all the chips I would need and now just have to order them. I already have some components at home, so I can start experimenting with those. Though I’m not exactly much of an electronics guy. While studying chip specifications, another thought struck me: what if the transmitter were just plain SMS? I began thinking about how to compactly pack data into an SMS and arrived at a simplified format I named CJON. I immediately described it and published an article in the Brain section, otherwise I would forget. I built a prototype data converter—it works, giving roughly 20–30 percent compression.

I talked a bit with Mikha, who was returning from summer marching band camp. He said standing for three hours holding a horn is not easy. Good for him, of course! My teenager is all in love. After rehearsal he stopped by the store, bought discounted sushi, and went to Bekka’s place, grabbing coffee for her mom on the way. Oh, they’ve lassoed my bunny. In the evening everyone at home went to bed early, while I spent two hours studying the language. Fascinating—let’s just hope the enthusiasm lasts.