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Return of the Second Camel

by dthacker (Deacon)
on Sep 06, 2001 at 07:41 UTC ( [id://110487]=perlmeditation: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??

This has been a most amazing 24 hours. It started late last night when I had to move my car out of the driveway to let my wife back out her van. I parked my car on the street and figured I'd lock it later. And forgot. Though I was very tired last night, I slept poorly. My pager kept going off, and I felt like something wasn't quite right.

It seems my instincts were correct. This morning a friendly sheriff's deputy rang the doorbell and asked me if I was missing a briefcase. No, I said it was in....the car... and ran out to my unlocked vehicle. It had been thoroughly ransacked and my very ancient briefcase was missing along with my Camel, my Llama, and my RH CD's. The deputy had found my briefcase, my papers, and my CD's. He had even found my Llama book. But my 2nd edition Camel was gone. I thanked him profusely for the things he had found. He gave me a polite lecture (which I deserved) about locking my car even though I live in the suburbs and rode off.

I took a monk minute or two to count my blessings

  • I still had my car!
  • I had somehow managed to move my electronic leashes (cell phone and pager) into the house.
  • I still had my Llama.
  • My trusty briefcase had given me 11 good years.

    I went off to work and began toiling. I wondered what the thieves were doing with my Camel. I tried to imagine a car thief being excited about all the cool things he could do in perl. Nah, probably wouldn't happen. I realized that I actually was rather sentimental about the book. I remembered the time 3 years ago when I purchased it and brought it to work. One of my co-workers at the time told me that "Perl is a dead language! You're wasting your time!" He's now gone and been replaced by several happy perl enthusiasts. Perl has become the tool of choice in our department. I remembered how that book got me excited about learning and programming again, after being stuck in a very deep rut.

    I borrowed a colleague's shiny Third edition to look up some functions and started to plan my replacement purchase. Should I go to B or B & N? Amazon was right out. That patenting the 1-click method. Give me break! Fatbrain it is. Fatbrain from the PM link to give the monks some alms. And then the phone rang...

    My daughter had just gotten home from school. One of her friend's moms had found a bunch more papers with my name on them. And she found this book. It "was some computer book with..a..CAMEL..on..the..front..of..it" It was just too much. The only thing of substance that I had lost to the the thieves had been returned. I had such a silly grin on my face that my co-workers had to ask me what was up. They seemed kind of puzzled that I felt that strongly about a book. Ah well!

    When I got home tonight, I found a trash bag full of paper on my office chair. At the very bottom, still dog-eared and with my page marker on readdir still attached, was my Camel. Welcome home, old friend!

    Like many who travel the path to sainthood, I've had my doubts. Can this old dog still learn new tricks? Can a procedural coder ever grok OO? Will I ever understand hashrefs? I'll take this as a sign that I'm on the right path, even if I never attain sainthood. And I'll lock the car, too.

  • Replies are listed 'Best First'.
    Re: Return of the Second Camel
    by OzzyOsbourne (Chaplain) on Sep 06, 2001 at 16:52 UTC

      Because you loved the camel, you set it free. Miraculously, it returned, thus it truly belongs to you.

      Now, if you could just set those leashes free...

      -OzzyOsbourne

    Re: Return of the Second Camel
    by mrmick (Curate) on Sep 06, 2001 at 14:53 UTC
      ...the Camel came back, the very next day. The Camel came back, we thought it was a goner...

      Mick
    Re: Return of the Second Camel
    by synapse0 (Pilgrim) on Sep 06, 2001 at 13:26 UTC
      Ahhh, yes...
      More proof that Perl works in mysterious ways.
      -Syn0

      Good deal on getting your stuff back.. that rarely happens.

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