Randall and I found that a relevant book (which is atually a collection of essays) is Paul Graham's Hackers and Painters.

"Different kinds of work have different time quanta. Someone proofreading a manuscript could probably be interrupted every fifteen minutes with little loss of productivity. But the time quantum for hacking is very long: it might take an hour just to load a problem into your head. So the cost of having someone from personnel call you about a form you forgot to fill out can be huge. This is why hackers give you such a baleful stare as they turn from their screen to answer your question. Inside their heads a giant house of cards is tottering. The mere possibility of being interrupted deters hackers from starting hard projects. This is why they tend to work late at night [...]"

I haven't completed it yet, Randall has. I'm hoping that perhaps I'll find some kind of relevant knowledge in it to make my family realize that interrupting me is the second worst thing in the world.

I figured microsoft might be immune, since the big boss is a nerd rather than a manager. Guess not.

I used to be a die hard Orson Scott Card fan until I learned his opinions on homosexuality, blacks, jews etc. He's an evil bastard beyond anything I was able to think possible for someone who wrote such unifying books.

The dichotomy between Orson Scott Card's fiction writing and his real-world opinions continues to amaze me. A lot of the stuff he's written is both weird and open-minded. Though, I have noticed a tendency for the latter to leak into the former of late: Enchantment had some issues about the Judaism of some of the main characters.

The article that shattered my ideal hero and sent me into a deep depression for days

http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2004-02-15-1.html

More of his drivil can be seen in rhinotimes.com

When they said he wrote sceince FICTION, I never imagined his books views were the fiction part (in his eyes)

I've read all but Crystal City. I can't separate the fiction from the man. I idolized him for most of my life. Having learned the truth about him just seeing his name makes it all a lie. It's more than just a book when it represents a false belief.

I love some Orson Scott Card fiction. I would never read his essays, having stumbled across a wee bit of one once. I think it's best to seperate his good books from his beliefs, to keep enjoying the books. I mostly get annoyed when he lets homosexuals creep into his fiction -- I'd rather he kept them out, since he obviously has no clue. (For example, whatever that awful latest Shadow's Game in Love book was, where everyone wants to get married and have babies, even the old gay man who has had a happy gay life.)
But do read Maps in a Mirror (please skip the essay on page 126, titled "Closing the Timelid", where he lets his hatred out) and Ender's Game and Pastwatch (his morals come across, but in a people doing good way, not hating everyone kinda way). They really are too good to miss.

I don't think there's any chance I'll ever make more than my father. Data storage expertise at his level will always be worth a larger six figure sum than I imagine myself pursuing. However, I also probably will not be a slave to my pager or have to fly far away at a day's notice. Not a bad tradeoff.