In the dream, I was visiting a lab. Someone held up a printout. In the header, there were three sets of numbers (possibly one or more dates), flush left, centered, flush right. Each date appeared in blue and underlined, like an unvisted link. Each number was followed by a space and a lowercase-m. The lab workers speculated about this problem. I said, \u201cbring up the page and let\u2019s look at it.\u201d Somebody brought the page up on a small wall-mounted screen; everyone stared rather blankly at it. I said, \u201clook at the source.\u201d The keyboard operator hesitated. \u201cPress Ctrl+F4.\u201d Simultaneously, the guy next to me said, \u201cPress Shift plus (something) (something).\u201d \u201cOr that,\u201d I said. This guy may have been Lem from Better Off Ted. (A delightful corporate-science comedy. Cancelled.) As the others wandered off, I stepped up to the screen. The keyboard jutted from the wall. It was about the size of a netbook keyboard, although uniquely wide. There were not very many keys. A large area was taken up by some formulas \u2013 it looked like a tiny whiteboard on the keyboard. I couldn\u2019t find a PgDn key, so I used the down arrow to move through the code. \u201cHmmm,\u201d I said, surprised, \u201cIt\u2019s a literal.\u201d (An actual \u2018m\u2019 appeared in the source code.) Speaking to someone across the room, I said, \u201cI can show you how to fix this.\u201d She seemed unenthusiastic. Another person (Leonard from The Big Bang) offered, \u201cYou could use Room _____ upstairs, I guess.\u201d \u201cNo, I can show you here, now. It won\u2019t take 5 minutes. Fifteen at the most.\u201d I woke up.<\/p>\n
That last matter is the application of the Three Times Rule that developed years ago. Whenever I quoted to a client how long a computer-related project would take, Merri joked, \u201ctimes 3.\u201d Well, \u201cjoked<\/em>.\u201d It always took longer than quoted \/ expected.<\/p>\n This is the second keyboard dream I\u2019ve had recently (no real surprise, although the nature of the keyboards has been). Moreover, this is the third recent dream that could be job-stress related. Considering that I haven\u2019t worked in two months and don\u2019t plan to work for another four, it seems odd timing. Perhaps I\u2019m deep into decompression or my subconscious wants to remind me I\u2019m not missing anything. Except a paycheck. There\u2019ll be more, won\u2019t there? (Simpson\u2019s reference.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the dream, I was visiting a lab. Someone held up a printout. In the header, there were three sets of numbers (possibly one or more dates), flush left, centered, flush right. Each date appeared in blue and underlined, like an unvisted link. Each number was followed by a space and a lowercase-m. The lab … Continue reading Another Dream Keyboard<\/span>