Procrastadabbler

Yesterday I took at look at my front garden and did some weed pulling. There is a pervasive plant that just creeps into the garden and covers everything. To pull it out, you have to find the stem and very gently ease it out until you find the root end. I finally got around to finding out what this plant it, and learned that it’s called (among other names) “gill over the ground” or “creeping charlie.” I also found out that it’s related to the mint plant (which explains its invasive personality) and that it was intentionally brought over to the “new world” by Europeans. It was used in beer manufacture before hops became common. It’s also considered an aromatic herb and in some areas a desirable ground cover. Hmm. Figures.

It’s been said that a weed is a plant that grows somewhere we don’t want it or that we don’t have a need for. So my decision now is whether to let this creeping plant into my garden to form a ground cover, or do I keep pulling it up. I think I’ll leave it be in some areas, but in others I think I want a bit more order.

The gardener (or homeowner) is always battling chaos. The universe wants things her way and we want things our.

I think data analysis is much the same. I’ve just finished coding and categorizing my data. I’ve come to some conclusions. I’m trying to create order out of the chaos of the human condition. We humans like order. We find it even when it doesn’t exist such as in the random splatter of raindrops on a sidewalk. We sort ourselves into categories: race, gender; political persuasion; food preferences; smoking/nonsmoking; you get the point.

And so I’m doing the same with my data and I wonder, are the categories really there or am I just finding them. And if I’m just finding them, is my analysis really more revealing about me than anything about the human condition or even just education, literacy, and technology?