Data Warehouse

I knew, even before anyone said anything, I was going to see you, Liz and Hannes, and I felt such joy, knowing that, and then, of course, there you were. And I knew I was going to see you more than once, and enjoy a lot of your wonderful, wonderful warmth and friendship, while I was there in New Hampshire. In fact, I was terrified, but I also knew this visit home was going to be an epic adventure, and oh how it was. My family is indescribably weird, but also perfectly amazing. I saw so much. So very much.

Arriving home, I was consumed with impatience to get on line, and make something of all that I saw - which I also worked to document, careful to keep that document somewhat spare and therefore, hopefully, to the point - to make of it, say, a document. But when I did start up the laptop, I had no idea what to do. I couldn't really do anything. I just had to think.

I needed a fluid way to transmit all these thoughts running through my mind, and all these images the experience had generated, and, of the various specific media, the obvious general medium being the Web, blogger remains, for me, the most fluid. It's definitely limited, especially because I understand it at such a superficial level, but its elegance gives it, for me, an effortless depth that's subtle but gives me the sensation of real possibilities.

Still, I needed to reactivate my account, something I hadn't done for a long time, because I was, for a long time, unsure how to use it, how to control it. Now that question was answered by circumstances, and I plunged in, once I got it set up, eagerly, and with a measure of confidence.

I knew, Liz, that you and I would have a chance to talk about computing, even though being determined that I would do that risked imposing, but then I have learned, through blundering efforts, a little about how to approach it, and then, too, I knew, and know, how open you are to it, to allowing it to be a topic of conversation. That shows, for one thing, how truly expert you are. You just live computing, and it's because, and also the reason why, you are such a true artist. It's wonderful. Plus, you're just such an open person. You and Hannes are rare experts in the art of living.

I even knew, Liz, you would choose some very advanced book on computing for me, something I would never find on my own, and give it to me, but when, as I knew you would, you did that, the book you chose for me exceeded all my expectations. The flight home gave me a chance to read the first two or three chapters, and I just felt transported. It was so aligned with being immersed that way in these wonderful machines, the air transport system, to which, in fact, the authors were insistently making reference. And I was thrilled, because the data warehouse, their descriptions of it, so perfectly describes what I'm working on. That's a huge conceit, to think that I'm operating on that level, but I do feel I am, in a way.

The book, operating as it does on such a high level, as you said, and also your comments, about not being able to do it on my own, which I eventually interpreted as meaning the same thing, about working at a higher level, in a programmatic sense, gave me, in my thinking, the idea of approaching it all at a greater level of abstraction. I feel it has proved effective. I'm aching for you to read the posts here, from yesterday - Wednesday, my first day back home - and this morning. I so hope you will agree that those posts do describe data warehousing. I was truly close to even giving it that name, without having heard the term, and this is for years. I'm fascinated by the idea of warehouses, like the shelves in an Amazon distribution center, and like so many other ethereal facilities, and I thought a lot about my goals as including an exploration of modeling physical warehouses in virtual reality. Still, I had not quite put the two things together into Data Warehousing. But then again, I feel I am onto something in the idea that physical warehousing and data warehousing are not, in effect, two separate disciplines. I feel, in effect, that that idea, the idea that that perspective may prove fruitful, that it is ultimately fundamental, is my own invention, though I won't be surprised if others actually are making the same connection - outside of my knowledge of goings on. After all, here is a whole world, the world of Corporate IT, which, until these last few days, only peripherally entered my awareness, and now I'm suddenly immersed in it, in a way, because these authors so embody that. (The German quality of this writing amuses me no end. I have strayed into not just any IT department, but a German one. I truly am a long admirer of the German engineering process. It's quite crazed, but, in an interesting way, esoteric, and produces marvelous results.)

I was, you see, confronted with the problem of how to send you an e-mail. Oh how wonderful. It simply would not do to put all the tumult of thoughts and recollections I wanted to disperse to you and others in an e-mail. Nor were my custom pages, never mind all their dynamism, up to the task. The stars aligned dramatically around Blogger. This is where I can offer you my material, and also share it, including these documentary notes about my work, with these other people who are so important in my life, Mom and Dad, who don't get to see much of this, and Martha, similarly, where she can take it or leave it, because I'm not entirely certain how she will, except that she is endlessly patient with me, and then my friends, and also people I respect out there, who I hope I may interest some day. And there's no pressure, in Blogger, because the posts will accrue, there's that hope. But I so fervently hope you will take a look at this material, and give me some more of your perspective about it all.