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Perl Cookbook by O’Reilly Media

Introduction

What makes a great—essential—cookbook for the kitchen? For some, a reliable no nonsense style is ideal, while others enjoy a pinch of history alongside the steps and ingredients. Physical cookbooks enjoy strong sales. Whether the volumes on your shelf are inherited or have been curated from your culinary life goals, a good recipe can make the difference between a delicious meal or a pile of uneaten disappointment.

First published in 1998, the Perl Cookbook became an essential part of my professional library. Written by Tom Christiansen and Nathan Torkington, and published by O’Reilly Media, the book contains many recipes written in the Perl computer language tied to a specific problem or goal. Various resources available via the Internet make it fairly easy to find examples of how to perform various tasks via different programming languages, but in 1998 it was a bit more difficult.

Perl Cookbook from O’REILLY

Currently available resources aside, the Perl Cookbook is as valuable today as it was when first published since the structure is clean and straightforward, and the range of solutions provides a wealth of Perl programming knowledge. Why wade through a big box store when you can get what you need from a well curated shop?

The Animals of O’Reilly Books

O’Reilly books sport distinctive covers featuring a variety of animals, one per topic. I’ve always thought the animal covers implied a sense of humor and creativity for technical topics that can be rather dry. The O’Reilly books I’m familiar with are written in such a way that they are enjoyable to read because of the focus of mastering a skill. O’Reilly titles have always been a joy for me, written in such a way that you can either get at specific information or provide a feeling of accomplishment if you devote some time and energy to a title. I miss walking into a physical bookstore and seeing rows and rows of computer books, promising to help me master everything from Cascading Style Sheets to Java. Alas, I’ve always been a bit better at buying books than reading them.

Here’s the list of O’Reilly animals: https://www.oreilly.com/animals.csp

Status: Revered Previous Resident

Revisiting the idea of cookbooks in the kitchen, the choices on the shelf often evolve not out of preference, but out of necessity. My wife is an avid runner, and I’m thinking more each year about how to keep my blood flowing freely, and so we own more cookbooks focused on heart healthy meals than we did a decade ago.

The Perl Cookbook has been an occupant of The Room of Many Things (TROMT) for many years. It vacationed in my various office and cubicle workspaces for years. I recently cleaned out my office space in anticipation of working at home for the foreseeable future (keep in mind I’m writing this post in 2020). As I lifted the Perl Cookbook and noted its heft, a thought occurred to me: I don’t write code in Perl anymore, and my edition is decently out of date. As I held the published tomb that helped me to at least act as if I was a Perl developer for a number of years, I stared at the boxes already filled with precious items. I thumbed through the book, paying particular attention to the sections addressing String, Arrays and Hashes, and CGI Programming. Oh and Pattern Matching — so much time spent just looking for patterns or excluding them.

And with that, I decided my Perl Cookbook would have to live forever in my memories. Thank you Tom Christiansen and Nathan Torkington for writing such a wonderful companion.

Related Info

https://fortune.com/2019/12/15/favorite-best-cookbooks/

http://pleac.sourceforge.net

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl_Cookbook

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Pearl Izumi Cycling Shoes

Introduction

Growing up in a region filled with uphills for every downhill, and lucky enough to have a mountain bike at at early age, I was set up in my teen years to embrace the sport of mountain biking. Fast forward to my pre-thirties and I decided it was time to buy my second mountain bike. If you’re paying attention to the lack of detail between first bike and second, you’ll easily pick up that I wasn’t a passionate embracer of the the outdoor biking sport. However, I did purchase a pair of killer shoes when I bought my second mountain bike.

My Pearl Izumis

I bought my second mountain bike and a pair of shoes that would allow me to ride it at Earth Traverse Outfitters in Knoxville, TN. I can’t recall the process of shoe determination; perhaps my great friend that found the killer bike for me helped.

Clip it! Clip it good!

I wish I could recall my first “clip in” experience, when I first tightened my newly purchased cycling shoes with the Velcro strips and felt the satisfying click of the mysterious technology lurking underneath my shoe, magically attaching to diminutive “pedals”. Clipless pedals (I’m not sure why they’re called clipless pedals since I’ve always thought of the process as “clipping in”) require a bit of confidence and commitment. You attach your proper shoe to the pedal via a vague pushing down motion and detach via a casual sliding out motion. I loved this setup, since I’ve always thought that the idea of being attached to the pedals in some way makes for a more efficient pedaling motion. Once you are committed, you need to be sure and understand how to detach yourself when needed. The only crashes I’ve had on my current mountain bike (keep in mind I don’t ride much) happened while I slowed down and for whatever reason didn’t detach correctly so I just fell to the ground.

The shoes, so old as they are, work perfectly. My own issues of detaching failure aside, there was not a moment that I couldn’t clip in or clip out. I’ve ridden in them and walked in them (I wasn’t going to always carry around an extra pair of shoes!) and never once did they fail me. Even though I’m an amateur I can detect brilliance with this mountain biking shoe.

Status: Revered Previous Resident

I’m riding the same bike but I’ve converted the clipless pedals to the more pedestrian flat pedals. My mountain bike has transformed over the years to a great off roader to a decent off roader / great urban hauler. I’m riding the bike more than ever, so it’s important to me to be able to jump on and pedal with any type of shoes I might be wearing at the time. So, it was time to give up the clipless shoes.

But why, if they still worked, were they booted from TROMT? It could be that one day I’ll look back and note that the shoe and pedals were ideal for one another, and that

Related Info

Clipless pedals, explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXgqsQlFDsA

http://pleac.sourceforge.net

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl_Cookbook

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Batman Shirt from JC Penny

Introduction

It’s not uncommon now for big retail stores to carry shirts featuring comic book characters. But in the late eighties, the selection was much more spartan.

For a brief bit of time I became interested in comic books, and purchased what I still think is a great Batman tee in 1988. I believe the artist for this particular Batman was Norm Breyfogle — still researching.

Batman tee

Like many old tees, this one rarely ever gets worn. I recently attended a Batman themed birthday party for a good friend at a community cinema. So while the tee is mostly stowed away safely in a drawer with other historical items made of cotton, it does get used on rare occasions.

Status: Resident in Good Standing

I have no intention of kicking this tee out of TROMT. It takes up very little space and it’s fun — for me — to break it out for the ultra rare event that requires its presence. If I run into you at a showing of Batman, you know what I’ll be wearing.

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Moosehead Bar & Grill Tee Shirt

Introduction

Like many of the items in The Room of Many Things, the details around the origin of this shirt are a bit fuzzy. The shirt knows when and from whence it came, but I need to do a bit more research. All posts regarding items in TROMT will be updated as new details reveal themselves.

This tee shirt is from Moosehead Bar & Grill, a restaurant in Chicago. I believe the restaurant is now closed. Located at (research), Moosehead Bar & Grill featured a variety of food and music. The shirt is fairly transparent now, as it was for years one of my favorite shirts to wear when performing gigs.

Moosehead Bar & Grill tee

Status: Safe in a Drawer . . . More to Come

I have no desire to get rid of this tee. I believe I bought it the first time I visited Chicago, and it’s been favorite attire for many music shows.

Research ongoing regarding this item.

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LANE Tennessee Vols License Plate

Introduction

As of Dec 16th, 2020 this post is just a stub. This license plate came with my first car, a 1984 Oldsmobile Firenza. I thought this would be a simple post, writing about the uniqueness of the license plate, but there is much to unpack here, including looking up some details related to Harry Lane, a Knoxville car mogul, and some details regarding my first automobile!

Lane License Plate

Here’s the list of O’Reilly animals: https://www.oreilly.com/animals.csp

Status: Undetermined and More to Come . . .

Considering this license plate is associated with my first car, it makes sense (as much as keeping old things makes sense) to give it permanent residence in TROMT. However, the location of this slim piece of metal is not quite clear.

Related Info

https://fortune.com/2019/12/15/favorite-best-cookbooks/

http://pleac.sourceforge.net

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl_Cookbook

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Shakespeare in Performance Book

Status: TBD

Shakespeare in Performance Book
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Hello Room of Many Things!