Competitive Crybabies

Beverage: diet coke

Toast: to the land of our fathers!

Joel and I were texting about our upcoming plans as the day wound down. I made a mild jape about that fallen beauty, the Queen City of the mighty Penobscot: Bangor, Maine. Now Joel is a fan of the burb, or at least he claims to be. Me, I don't think I could go back to the snow and those long, gray Februaries.

 

Joel also has great civic pride for Detroit, apparently. I opined that while Detroit may be the king of ruin and ludicrous criminal gambits, Dallas could certainly hold its own in the areas of murder, danger and everyday Southern gothic squalor.

My brother was quick to defend his home city's claim to worseness. Does Dallas have a city council president in hiding for fondling a teenage boy? An illiterate school board president who masturbates repeatedly in front of the superintendent?

No, no and no. The flat-footed desperation and lunacy-on-parade stories that Joel tells about the Motor City always crack me up. Go Kwame, I say. The stories here are generally shorter and more brutal. The cops are always killing people. But then everybody is armed.

I was starting to tell stories of recent Dallas mayhem, but you don't need to hear that, dear blog. Sufficient to say that gentle Bangor fared well in comparison.

 

So, snaps from just now. I liked how the ash held the form of the rolled tobacco. I never noticed the connection before. The textures on the ash are kind of fun, too if you can blow it up.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Gonna Fly Now

Beverage: Starbucks gande skinny vanilla latte

Toast: Here's to the kindness of strangers!

I was regretting the decision to go through the drive through at Starbucks again. The line was slow, the traffic on the street was backed up to the start of the hill. In cases like that it usually takes me a full light change to merge back in. It was a bad choice to come here. It was late and this would make me later. 

But now I was on deck and the person in the car in front of me reached out of the window up pay. 

I noticed because her bracelet was too tight and it pinched her wrist, creating the appearance of a baby doll arm. I stirred from my fog and paid a little more attention. 

I could see her face in her rear view now. Blonde, pleasant enough looking if in a reserved, square sort of way. Now she's beaming and laughing with the cashier, sharing some joke. I agree with Helen Gurley Brown: happy girls are pretty girls. Doll Fist looks good as she passes a credit card over and the two yuck it up some more. She was a tiny happy animated portrait in the car rear view amid the predawn blackness. I wonder idly that they are able to enjoy the brief transaction so well. 

Then she's off.

I pull in and the cashier has my coffee waiting for me. "Grande skinny vanilla latte?"Yup. I have my cash out and am trying to give it to her to hurry this along. But she is stubbornly refusing to take it.

"You're all set- the woman in front of you paid for you."

Oh ko? Now I'm laughing like my predecessor had been. "That's great" I declare "Can I pay for the person in back of me?" Sure you can! So I do and am off, laughing with the cashier girl.

As I go I wonder how far back the events had started and how far forward me they would continue. Maybe Doll Fist started it, but I don't think so. This was a parade of mild generosity that someone started and someone else would end. I guess only the cashier would know the whole story. Seems like corny crap, but it was nice move.

Expensive Ordnance

Beverage: can of Diet Coke

Toast: don't let the bastards get you down!

I am doing something I was certain I wouldn't: installing the Adobe Creative Cloud apps.

Adobe moved to a cloud model recently. That means you can't buy just the pieces you want, you have to buy the whole magilla and its a monthly subscription fee that runs around $350/year. I understand a lot of the motives behind it, but I'm not too psyched. I use Photoshop, Lightroom and Illustrator frequently, but the others not so much.

Nonetheless, I'm setting it up now. And I'm kind of ok with it. I've been feeling the crunch of the work transition lately and today I decided if no reason other than to get my thinking straight, that I should get my skills current. And at some point, Adobe would stop offering me the upgrade price.

So I bought a new tablet, upgraded the Mac and signed up for the Cloud.

Now, if only I could do something about my network...

P.s. it was 101 on the way home today. Ugh.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Breaking Bonanza

Beverage: H2O on the rocks

Toast: another day, another dollar

Some of my work chums have been going on and about Breaking Bad. You gotta watch it, oh its so good. Have you watched it yet? Whats wrong with you!

One of them is a sweet and innocent woman, not the typical demographic for drug crime shows. But she is bongo for it and goes on and on. I'm not that into the idea. Not the least reason being that I would have to watch a lot of it to catch up. Seems like a chore.

But I think of my friend and it would be nice if I watched it, so I plunk down in front of Netflix and dial in Season One, Episode One.

And I will say this: it's pretty good. Daring and out there. But I only make it through two episodes. The second one focuses on disposing of a body and doing a murder. When the gore burns through the ceiling due to a poorly-thought-out acid bath, I give a little exclamation.

But I don't watch episode three. I don't want to watch him turn bad. Especially not for fifty more hours or so. I can see how if you had started watching it during he original run it would hook you in.

But flip around in the Netflix search and find some Bonanza episodes. Here we go. Hoss has found an adorable stray dog but it is covered in ticks! Hmm. How will this connect to the angry guy who's in love with a girl Adam used to date?

Incidentally, Adam dated her for three years and "never got around" to asking to marry her.

In the end, good hearted neighborliness wins the day (after Adam kills the girl's oil baron dad in front of her) and they defeat the Texas Fever which threatened the herd.

I have to confess that I perked up at every mention of Texas Fever. I was sort-of rooting for my hometown fever. That and the silly dog that gave Hoss a hard time. What a fool I am.

Posted with Blogsy

Bees do it

Beverage: rum, coke and Malibu

Toast: Perseverance and Persistence

There's a family of wasps working on a nest on the ceiling above my deck. I spotted them when a friend and I were sitting out. A wasp was buzzing around us and she pointed him out.

It doesn't freeze inTexas so the bugs can live through the winter. I'd seen a wasp or two on the deck before and didn't really think much about it. Looking up and around then though, I saw a serious nest. We wimped out and ducked inside.

Maintenance cleared the nest out the next day, but a few weeks later, the wasps were back. They had built a new nest near the original spot.

My attack on the nest was a comedy of buildup, brief action and abject terror.

I fetched my broom from the closet and peered cautiously out the sliding deck door. The new nest was small; perhaps four wasps tending a small clutch of grubs. Or something. I couldn't really figure it out but something was up. But I sensed they knew I was there as they buzzed menacingly about.

I struck an attack pose with broom and inched in for the kill. This would be easy. I was able to get pretty close, and was sure I could kill them all and wipe out the nest in one move. I struck! But through some eldritch wizardry, the wasps floated lazily out of my reach just before the broom landed. The nest was obliterated but the adults got away.

I immediately ran back and hid inside. Still hopeful of killing the adults I brandished my broom and laid in wait. The wasps hovered in confusion about the spot of the old nest. I stepped out to attack, but again they floated away.

This exact scene has repeated three times now.

I starting to respect the determination of the wasps. Every week they would rebuild in the same spot, I would smash their home, fearfully retreat and plan fruitlessly to kill them. They would blithely fly away and rebuild a day or so later.

So, today I mixed a drink I used to enjoy with the gal that first noticed the wasps' existence and sat out on the deck to enjoy a mild summers day.

Posted with Blogsy

Bread on the Waters

Beverage: Kendall-Jackson Sauvignon Blanc

Toast: many happy returns

 

I had a crabby morning. I woke at 2:30am and never got fully back to sleep. My brain was replaying tapes from the call yesterday and i slept fitfully. I have a semi-recurring dream where i am driving my Mustang on black ice and i begin to fishtail. Last night I swerved hard at the base of a hill and was forced to turn around.

Several times in the morning I looked at myself in the mirror and contemplated calling in sick. It wouldn't really even be a lie. But I screw my determination up and go on in.

As always, moving around sets me right and I warm to a rare treat by 7am.

I get to do some work in Illustrator.

Not creative work, or illustration, just a series of complex templates. It's honest, if technical and exacting work. You have to stay alert as you do a long series of tasks. A grind really. And one better suited to one of my guys. He likes the details. I like the work. In the end I will give it back to him to double check, but for now the simple chore of a task that is clear cut and defined feels like a warm refuge from a world of phone calls, abstract ideas and process maps.

I click a mouse thousands of times over the bulk of the morning.

The rest of the day spins out.

Around 4:30 I run a report that goes to a wide audience. It's often an impetus for far-flung friends to email me back. This time I get one that says "Just got the snap. Love it. My pleasure."

I have no idea what this means.

And then I remember; a wise person went out of her way to give me good advice last week. This person is very smart and powerful, but not widely known for warm fuzzy career advice. The fact that she took the time to single me out and follow up on my behalf touched me deeply.

Up to then I had forgotten that I had the good sense to send her a custom photo with a thank you note on the back last week. This one:

The thank you for the thank you came like a dozen roses in winter. As a person who is sometimes rudderless, I have to trust the decisions I made yesterday pointed the ship in the right direction. It's always good to see signs that the sun is still on the East. I can't take much fish tailing.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Ping pong

Beverage: diet coke from the fountain at work

Toast: here's to the bastards!

In my days with my ex, she used to ask me "questions" that seemed a lot more like criticism.

"Why are you parking here?" she'd sneer. "Why did you do that?"

The implication was clear: you parked in a stupid pace. Let's hear how you could possibly explain this latest fiasco.

It made me defensive and angry. I felt I was constantly getting judged and not measuring up. Plus, asking a question you know the answer to to bait someone is dishonest. It led to trouble.

Later on a wise person explained to me that maybe the judgement was all on me. Maybe she really didn't understand why I parked there and wanted to understand. Maybe the question was just a question. Instead of reacting defensively, meet the energy the same way it was given. Ping pong the ball back over the net.

I parked here because the car next to the closer spot looks like the driver is reckless and the other spot the guy was too close to my side.

Pause. Oh. Ok.

I remember being astounded.

It's a lesson I try to remind myself of lately. The merger as put a lot of people in bad, defensive places and some are responding poorly. Today I sat on a conference call through lunch with people that I allowed to irritate me and disturb my calm.

The attitude they were spewing and the self-serving nonsense they were talking had me on edge. I sipped my drink and didn't say a thing.

The conflict is between instinct and grace. My gut is telling me this is happening and to stick up for myself. But another part reminds me of the difficult position they are in and that I should let it go. But my gut gnaws and reminds me that these are important times and other people in the same spot aren't reacting that way.

I have to respond, but without rancor.

I have to find a way to play ping pong.

But for now I sip my coke and think.

 

Posted with Blogsy

And Speaking of Rockstars

Beverage: diet Rockstar

Toast: let's get this party started!

I'm reading Zealot by Reza Aslan on the iPad.

Here's the premise: what do you really know about the historical Jesus? The actual guy? Even if you also believe he was God, there are a few things that we all agree on. Turns out those couple things tell you more than you might think.

He was a real person. He lived around this time, he had followers and he was crucified. Well, crucifixion was reserved for enemies of the state. Sedition or treason. The times he lived in are well-documented ad explosive. Like, the most turbulent times in the Middle East.

The Jewish rebellion against Rome that ended in Masada was about to happen and the place was awash in apocalyptic fever and murder. A series of would-be messiahs had arisen and been crucified before Jesus.

The historical breakdown of the events and the impact they had on Judaism and the whole region is exciting. He explains a lot of things like how the temple worked, the money changers, and the hierarchy of the culture that are lurking in the narrative, but not always clearly understood.

So you get the story of a poor guy from a backwater town living in a time of rebellion who becomes an itinerant preacher, marches into Jerusalem, trashes the temple and gets executed for treason. Then years later after the Romans smashed the rebellion, the gospels come along and are written in Greek.

It's a pretty swell read so far: snappy and briskly paced. I'm not very far in, but I'm curious how its going to swing around.

Worth a look.

 

Posted with Blogsy

The Eight Dollar Start

 

Beverage: Starbucks venti skinny vanilla latte

Toast: well done is better than well said.

Occasionally, I will swing through Starbucks on the way to work. I haven't really mastered all of the Starbucks menu options yet. To be honest, I'm not really sure how many of the words are pronounced. So, I tend to order things I know how to say and that don't lead to additional questions.

On different occasions I'll branch out, but the drive through has enough problems without misunderstandings because I said mochiatto wrong over the loudspeaker.

Well, this particular breakfast combination; sludgy coffee and a microwave sandwich costs the tricky price of $8.01. This of course is irritating because they never comp me the penny and I end up putting the .99 in the tip thing. So it's really a nine dollar breakfast.

You can see why I don't do this very often.

My mornings are generally pretty pleasant by the time I get to work. The crew isn't there yet so I get a little peace and quiet. Its a good time to do real work instead of reacting to things and people. Unless there is a crisis. Like there was on Monday. Then being the only one there works against me.

But this particular latte drink was peaceful. I worked on a problem. Part of it involved automation. I'm teaching myself some scripting here and there. You can see the code windowing the background. I'm not very good at it because I don't have the fundamentals. I can often make it do what I want by putting things together and trying different things. It's really satisfying when it works, but mostly it doesn't.

So this morning I made the decision to switch from coding to writing requirements. I couldn't write the tool I needed, but I could write the process and set the requirements for someone else to make the tool.

Lately work has been a lot about uncertainty and puzzles I can't solve. Merger and other changes have created a tense, unknown situation. It's tiring to be in an undecided state. I cant focus on that, i need to get things done. So this morning I wrote requirements and moved forward and sipped my nine dollar breakfast. And it was fine.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Drinking for two

This is Han Solo, frozen in carbonite.

Only it's not carbonite, it's just plain water. I bought it when we were in Portland with an eye towards giving it to Kate for her birthday. But then I thought it was awesome and decided to keep it.

It's awesome-er in concept than in practice. First, it's too large to be useful as ice; you'd need a pick to use it in drinks. It might serve as a jello mold, but that seems like a something for an occasion that doesn't come up around here much. Second, the ice is invariably too cloudy to make the subject clear. I've tried boiling the water first, but it doesn't help much.

So beyond this snap I haven't gotten much use from it.

But why are we talking about the novelty ice trays? Because ice goes with drinks, and thats the theme of this new blog. I don't travel as much as I used to and I don't take as many interesting snaps as I used to, but I thought it would be a fun way to chat at you a bit as I sipped a beverage of some sort. I thought I could capture a little bit of where I was and what I was doing at the time if you're interested. And it would be good to take more snaps, even if just on the phone.

So, here's a toast from me to you: to light! The mood, the air, the fuel of perception. If there's anything you've showed me it's to try and see. And that's the light and that's how I want to keep it. Salut!

 

Posted with Blogsy