The Economist highlights how digital companies try to capture as much of our attention as possible.

As a professional who has a hand in these efforts to “get into people’s heads,” I have to constantly remind myself about the immutable finiteness of our waking hours, and the ways our industry works hard to coax you away from something truly enriching, productive, and healthy.

(Thank you for your small moment of attention.)

My daughter did almost the exact same thing as I did almost exactly two years ago.

More coincidence, but body language and genetics… there you go.

Last week on our vacation, I handed our four-year old daughter the spare camera at Mono Lake Vista Point. The sunset had turned the sky salmon, and while I was trying to get a panoramic shot of the scene, my baby girl was roaming about the lot taking pictures from her unique point of view.

Years before our daughter was born, Alicia and I occasionally went to Juan’s Place in Berkeley. It’s a local institution, and a favorite from Alicia’s days at Cal. 

Without any prior knowledge of this restaurant, our girl took a shot of this. 

So, a little over three weeks ago a pair of house finches built a nest atop a lamp in our patio and laid eggs. The chicks hatched. Beautiful nature thing.

And of course, the poop. The adult birds’ poop. Four finch chicks. Poop. Poop, poopy poop poop poo poopy poop-poop. Feed, poop. Feed, poop. This is day 18 and they are due to leave, like really effin soon.

This, of course inspired me to jot down a song. It is now in my brain, on infinite repeat.

(Sing this to the tune of “Desperado.”)

Oh the guano… smotes my olfactory senses.
Poop on lamps and fences, for too long now.
Oh, you’re a hard one
I know you don’t have your wings
These things that are feedin’ you
Will leave on sundown.

Don’t you draw that feline, birds
She’ll eat you if she’s able
You know the treetop is always your best bet

Now it peeves me this poopy nest
Rests upon our patio
But the chirps and songs are what we get

Oh the guano… it’s getting more fragrant
Just like a vagrant, it’s polluting our home
And freedom, oh freedom… well that means your wings a growin’
This poop is a walled fortress of black and white stone
Our walls are stained in two week’s time

The flies will show and the walls have grime
We’ll be cleaning… all night and day
Poo scattered everywhere, we cry out, “gross”
It’s not funny, it’s not going away

Oh the guano… smotes my olfactory senses.
Falls on our fences, stuck on the gate
The nest is strainin’ and there’s a speaker above you
Those birds better leave soon, before it’s too late.

Back in March 2012, I spent my train ride from San Jose to San Francisco writing a Space Invaders clone. Here are the results:

http://otanistudio.github.com/dominvaders/

The details on the how and why are here:

https://github.com/otanistudio/dominvaders/

Should I do more of these?