I don't think I've ever told the story of how this site got its name. Bits and pieces, maybe.
I think it must have been my freshman year of college. I was chatting online with a friend from high school -- she'd graduated a year before I did, we'd gone to different schools and pursued different majors.
I was studying computer science and engineering; I wanted to be a programmer. She was studying English; she wanted to be a writer. And I was telling her why I thought that was a mistake.
It's not that I don't like English or writing -- you read this blog, you know I like them quite a lot. But it's tough as hell to make a living at them. I loved college but I also saw it as a means to an end -- and I thought she was wasting her time and money on something that wasn't going to get her any kind of work.
I explained that, rather more rudely than was necessary. I had it all figured out, as only a college freshman can. She called me an asshole. I retorted that I was going to be doing work I loved and earning six figures at it.
She said, "It sounds to me like I'm studying to be an artist and you're studying to be a corporate sellout."
It's been a dozen years. We're older, mellower, wiser, and things haven't turned out quite as either of us expected.
So was either of us right? Did my degree open up opportunities that hers closed off to her?
I don't know. Maybe I'll ask her if I see her at work on Monday.