Know Thy Brackets

Programming languages often use various types of brackets for grouping and delimiting data and code. It's no surprise that I'm slightly annoyed when people don't use the right terms for the different kinds of brackets. It makes for some confusing communications, and it has become a pet peeve.

So... as a canonical reference to everyone I know, these are the correct names. From this point forward, I reserve the right to use non-violent forms of criticism (including glares, scowls, smirks, and grimaces) if you do not use the right terms.

• ( ) — "parentheses" or "round brackets"
• [ ] — "square brackets", "hard brackets", or just "brackets"
• { } — "curly braces", "curly brackets", or just "braces"
• < > — "angle brackets" or "pointy brackets"

Why Yes! My Bus Did Just Hit That Car

I leave work anywhere between 4pm and 5:30pm depending on what I'm working on. I step outside, walk one block and hop on any of 6 different bus routes that pass by my office and go to the train station. Additionally, I can walk another 6 blocks and ride the light rail instead. Depending on how bad the surface street traffic is, this can be a good idea.

After today I may consider taking the light rail more often. I hopped on bus route 511 to take me down to the train station, but about two-thirds of the way there, the bus sideswiped a car (or maybe it was the other way around, who knows). It made an awful noise, and the bus came to a screeching halt.

There was some initial "huh"s from the passengers, but when the bus driver got on his radio, I knew I was not going to make it to the train station anytime soon. Fortunately, we were stuck on there for only about ten minutes before a kindly fellow in a fluorescent green jacket led us gingerly off the bus to safety on the sidewalk.

The bus system is pretty efficient during rush hour. We walked about a block-and-a-half and were picked up by another bus in less than 3 minutes. Overall, it was only about a 20-minute delay on my commute. Not too bad.

You must not know 'bout me
You must not know 'bout me
I could have another BUS in a minute,
Matter fact, he'll be here in a minute, baby

Downtown rush hour traffic in Seattle is crazy. There are a lot of cars, lots of one way roads, and many complex rules and signs that disallow certain kinds of traffic in certain lanes at certain times. I drove around in the fray a few times when I used to live in town, and it was super-stressful every time. I'll take my boring suburban traffic, thank you.

Buses, Trains, and Shuttles! Oh my!

Waiting for the buses to come get us

Penny and I live about an hour south of Seattle. However, when relying on public transportation (which is very good in the Seattle-Tacoma area), my commute is roughly 2 hours both ways and involves driving, walking, buses, a shuttle, and, of course, the lovely Sounder train.

Catching the last train out of Seattle (at 6:15) is similar to a game of Russian Roulette. I feel like I just barely make the train after the bus forces it's way through downtown traffic. Also, anything that can possibly go wrong with trains, train tracks, and people happens on the last train. For instance, a couple of months ago, we were told that the train would not continue past a certain point do to a "medical emergency up ahead". What that really meant was that someone tried to cross the tracks... and failed. Ewwww... and condolences.

And then there's today. Today we were informed at the stop just before mine that there was a "train crossing accident". Another "Ewwww". We ended up being stuck for about 45 minutes before they were able to reroute some buses to come get us.

Long commutes can be rough, but the time on the train belongs to me. I can read, work, play, or sleep for 45 uninterrupted minutes, twice a day, so I find it very relaxing. I could save a little time if I drove, but the added stress and costs are not worth it at all. Maybe one day we'll move closer to work; maybe we won't. Either way, I'm grateful for the awesome public transportation system here and that my employer pays for it all.

But please people, stop trying to cross over the tracks. In the person vs. train title bout, person always loses.

Movie Review: Bourne Legacy - 5/10

I finally got around to Redboxing The Bourne Legacy. I found it to be weak addition to the Bourne series, but it was entertaining enough as a rental. It started off a little slow, but after the first 15 minutes, the movie found a comfortable pace. The casting and acting were just fine, but the plot was a little shallow. The plot basically consisted of elements of Limitless and Knight and Day retooled to fit in the universe of Jason Bourne.

The ties to the Bourne series were weak at best. They threw the name "Treadstone" around liberally and showed a few of the CIA characters from the other movies. They could have made this a completely stand alone movie if they had desired, but carrying the Bourne name and taking advantage of the existing Bourne mythology is the really the only reason why this movie was interesting at all. The only bad thing about this approach is that unless you've seen the other Bourne movies, you will be confused about who some of the characters are, since they do very little character development or introduction for anyone except the 2 protagonists (played by Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz) and the antagonist (played by Edward Norton).

Another interesting thing about this movie is how it ended rather abruptly. There is a decent chase scene at the end, and after it's over, well, so is the movie. The two leads sail off into the sunset together after a little over a days-worth of interaction, with an empty, semi-romantic love connection fueled entirely by adrenaline and the traumatic experience they just shared. I bet their relationship lasts less than a week, but that they continue to send each other Christmas cards for life.

The overall quality of the movie good, but the story is really where it suffered. I gave it a 5/10 overall. It's worth renting if you've seen the other Bourne movies just to say you've seen all of them. If you haven't seen the others, you probably shouldn't start with this one.

Introducing My New Blog – Jeremy Writes Sometimes

Recently, I've been trying to recreate my professional website and blog for sometime, but I just can't find the time to do it. I've also been feeling that I might need an entirely different blog to write about personal, family-related, and religious things that would not be entirely appropriate for the audience I hope to engage on my professional blog. So for this blog, I decided to set something up quickly with Blogger, so I could get started writing sooner. So… I'd like to officially introduce you to my new blog, "Jeremy Writes Sometimes".

I bet you are wondering what kinds of things Jeremy sometimes writes about. It'll mostly be ramblings about my thoughts and opinions, my life, things that happen to me… you know, typical blog content, especially if it's a thought too long for Twitter (@jeremeamia) or Facebook. I will likely blog about life in the rainy Pacific Northwest, movies (my favorite), food, work and commuting, funny things my kids do, etc. I will probably also write a lot about religion, especially about doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). I tend to avoid political topics, though I'm pretty moderate in most of my political opinions and often apathetic.

So... if anyone reads this blog, I hope we will have good discussions on here. If not, this will still serve as a good journal and writing outlet for me. Since Penny and I are reading Hunger Games together right now, I feel compelled to end this post with "May the odds be ever in your favor", or as normal, pre-apocalyptic Americans say, "Good luck!"