This one seems like a real stretch now. Half the column is taken up describing a client and giving advice to other consultants. That's not what a Smalltalk I dioms column should be about, and it doesn't really fit. Not that the advice is bad; it just doesn't go with the rest of anything else I was saying.

The technical part still seems right on. I recently used MetaObject to extend tools for use with Gemstone, and it worked like a charm.

The other thing going on here was my shock at seeing myself quoted at length in an earlier Smalltalk Report. When I spoke at the first Smalltalk Solutions, I got pretty outrageous—taking digs at my friends and potshots at big companies. All this was dutifully reported, and it looked pretty stupid in print. I was both disappointed at myself for having said it, and disappointed that it was made so public. Well, so much more public.

The lesson for me out of all this is that if people are going to take what I say seriously, I'd better damn well take what I say seriously, too. That's tough to do without taking myself seriously, which would be fatal. Having four kids is a great antidote to ever feeling like you have everything under control, though, so I'm not too terribly worried.