It was another full-bore weekend of delight:
1) Friday night, had the boys over for scotch tasting and a movie. The scotches were all amazing, as usual, with the belle of the ball being a 21-year Lagavulin 21 that was sherry cask matured. It frankly tasted WONDERFUL. It's a rare beast, however... Will I taste another? Perhaps, but I'm better just for having tried this one for sure.
The movie was Tropic Thunder, which was so outrageously funny... due in no small part to the completely over the top performance by Robert Downey Jr. He COMMITTED to that role, and really made it. Every damn thing he said and did made me giggle. Tom Cruise was also great... Poor Jack Black was basically being Jack Black, which is usually good enough, but not when "Kirk Lazarus" was blowing our minds.
2) Saturday I took Isaac back to Edenborough Park, the multistory indoor climbing structure. Whereas 3 weeks earlier, he was more tentative, this time he decided to "own" the whole place. He led the way climbing to high levels and zooming down the slides: He got a few favorite "routines" in our almost 2 hours, and got so fast at climbing up and sliding down that I had to stop trying to keep up and take a "monitoring perch". He went all out in the moonwalk too, leaping around and giggling. Yes, he still needed me for a boost on a couple of the higher ledges, so I'm not completely superfluous, but this place is HIS.
Ran into the drummer of my high school band up in the structure - his son is about the same age as Isaac and we had just a quick hello before we had to pursue our kids in opposite directions.
Later that day, we had a visit from Yoshi, who has a life changing career opportunity to work for Pixar, and is moving to San Fran in a week. He had been working in Austin Tx at a game development startup, and their product is just getting ready to be released, so it's a bittersweet victory, but this is a ticket to the "big show" and we're all so happy for him. PIXAR!!! Best movies in the universe, and he'll be in there helping the artists, creating some new toolsets for them to use. Brilliant. Uncle Ant and his wife Candy also came along, and we had dinner at the Chatterbox (which seems to be doing quite well for themselves!) Poor Pamela missed part of the day suffering from a Migraine, but managed to pull it together for the evening.
3) Today my life belonged to Time Out Fitness: We're doing a big launch for BodyPump 69 in a week, and we were doing final technique workthrough, sequencing of who is doing what, coordination of wardrobes, and general tweaking. Over 2 hours of work, a LOT of it while holding loaded barbells, and also rehearsing with full energy. Which would be fine, except today was ALSO my 3rd attempt at taping BodyAttack. I think it went well - we discovered what the problem was last time... and I think it was a great class. I was completely wiped by the end, however, and am ready to be poured into a bucket like Odo from Deep Space Nine.
In my relaxed state, I was thrilled to find that Pamela had prepared Penne with red sauce and spicy sausage for dinner, which I devoured. This is on top of cleaning the porch and getting it all set up for "sitting out there" time. Since the kids had spent a LOT of the weekend running around outside, they were brittle little creatures who needed to be hosed off and put right to bed... which got done pretty early actually.
THEN the fun began: Time to box up all those Ebay sales and get the first wave of them out tomorrow! 9 packages ready to go today (the ones who have already paid...), one shipped last week... and 9 still to get paid for and ship. So far $500 in payments... waiting on another $175 from what has already sold. THIS IS AMAZING, and this will basically pay for our summer vacation. EXCELSIOR!!!
Allright, so I'm teaching BodyPump tomorrow at 6am, so it's time to hit the hay.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Operation S-Can continues
The first of my Star Trek toys just sold on Ebay. $72 + $10 shipping. For a toy I bought in 1995 for... $14, threw away the box, and let sit in a bin for 13 years. Not too shabby. Not all of them are gold: A lot of them will malinger at $5 and $10, plus shipping, which is still better than throwing them away.
It'll help pay for the replacement tire I had to buy today: you want to have a good spare in the trunk these days. (See last Thursday's blog on that) Very happy to have my complimentary roadside assistance for that.
On to Literature: My mom has suggested that I get into the James Patterson Maximum Ride series - about winged teens saving the world. It's apparently the new Twilight. So I'll be giving that a go. There are 5 books so far - I suspect it's a little less "big Arc" than Twilight and more "and another adventure with...".
Just finished a book by Bruce Sterling - The Caryatids. Sterling is a singularly frustrating author for me: He has such incredible ideas and a great head for the deeper macro causes driving the world he's describing. He builds great situations and backdrops. But he has a tin ear for dialogue and character: I never believe that any person in his stories is acting in a way I comprehend as a human being. It's as if he views people and motivations from a two way mirror without the benefit of audio and guesses at what their actions might mean, but misses the point entirely.
It doesn't help that the core of this book was four bickering clone sisters on a ruined greenhouse-effect earth who hate their clone mother (who is on a chinese space station) and a philandering man who loved them all... none of who acted with any shred of consistency.
An earlier book - Holy Fire - was similarly frustrating: Scientifically, it was a cool concept: A respectable octogenarian woman undergoes an age reversal process, and begins wreaking havoc because she begins thinking impulsively like a teen. There's interesting science to back that up (brain development in teens....), but written in such a way that really didn't relate. I wound up throwing the book down yelling "oh just GROW UP you pouty face". So maybe he did a good job. But it wasn't fun.
Maybe he shouldn't be writing for female protagonists... because I don't feel he gets them even close to right. On the other hand, maybe he writes BRILLIANTLY for female protagonists and I just don't understand because I'm not a female. I'm prepared to accept that possibility. But in either situation, the reading is not very satisfying to me. I'm moving him to my "not all that great for me" column.
Compare and contrast with Neal Stephenson and Charles Stross: They both work in similar veins, but both have a more fluid ear for dialogue and character motivation: I understand where people are coming from and why they're moving the directions they move in their books. It just feels RIGHT. Even when Neal takes for-freaking-EVER to get to the point sometimes....
Allright: Workout stuff. Shockingly, my second attempt at taping BodyAttack failed. A missing two minutes from the middle - I think my taping assistant bumped the red button while moving the camera. Sigh. Try three coming atcha Sunday.
It'll help pay for the replacement tire I had to buy today: you want to have a good spare in the trunk these days. (See last Thursday's blog on that) Very happy to have my complimentary roadside assistance for that.
On to Literature: My mom has suggested that I get into the James Patterson Maximum Ride series - about winged teens saving the world. It's apparently the new Twilight. So I'll be giving that a go. There are 5 books so far - I suspect it's a little less "big Arc" than Twilight and more "and another adventure with...".
Just finished a book by Bruce Sterling - The Caryatids. Sterling is a singularly frustrating author for me: He has such incredible ideas and a great head for the deeper macro causes driving the world he's describing. He builds great situations and backdrops. But he has a tin ear for dialogue and character: I never believe that any person in his stories is acting in a way I comprehend as a human being. It's as if he views people and motivations from a two way mirror without the benefit of audio and guesses at what their actions might mean, but misses the point entirely.
It doesn't help that the core of this book was four bickering clone sisters on a ruined greenhouse-effect earth who hate their clone mother (who is on a chinese space station) and a philandering man who loved them all... none of who acted with any shred of consistency.
An earlier book - Holy Fire - was similarly frustrating: Scientifically, it was a cool concept: A respectable octogenarian woman undergoes an age reversal process, and begins wreaking havoc because she begins thinking impulsively like a teen. There's interesting science to back that up (brain development in teens....), but written in such a way that really didn't relate. I wound up throwing the book down yelling "oh just GROW UP you pouty face". So maybe he did a good job. But it wasn't fun.
Maybe he shouldn't be writing for female protagonists... because I don't feel he gets them even close to right. On the other hand, maybe he writes BRILLIANTLY for female protagonists and I just don't understand because I'm not a female. I'm prepared to accept that possibility. But in either situation, the reading is not very satisfying to me. I'm moving him to my "not all that great for me" column.
Compare and contrast with Neal Stephenson and Charles Stross: They both work in similar veins, but both have a more fluid ear for dialogue and character motivation: I understand where people are coming from and why they're moving the directions they move in their books. It just feels RIGHT. Even when Neal takes for-freaking-EVER to get to the point sometimes....
Allright: Workout stuff. Shockingly, my second attempt at taping BodyAttack failed. A missing two minutes from the middle - I think my taping assistant bumped the red button while moving the camera. Sigh. Try three coming atcha Sunday.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Unfurling...
The weather has finally turned and the kids are going completely bananas. Isaac wants to be outside every minute of the day, and they're sort of oblivious to the fact that while it's definitely warm-ER, it's not actually WARM yet. Bella in short sleeves. Isaac running out the door, up the block, and splashing in a puddle in his socks. My challenge will be to let them love this weather WITHOUT them catching cold!!!
Sunday, with the melt just starting, the kids insisted on getting going on the swingset. Wyatt from up the block joined in (he's 6 months older than Isaac, and is a little buddy). They were climbing in the camper, sliding down the slide, working the swingset. All with a lot of snow and ice still around.
I took them over to the Convention Grill for some health food: Isaac went completely mental for a chocolate malt: He eschewed the spoon and went straight for the straw: He was sucking SO HARD I thought his eyes were going to pop out, but persistence paid off and he got it going. But then he chomped the straw and restricted the flow.... and came up with a solution: Pull out the straw and flip it to try the other end. Yes, this did somehow work, and yes, it did result in a LOT of malt on his hands. And yes, he did this flip trick about 10 more times. Dude was COATED in malt.
Bella actually did NOT eat much of her malt, but did justice to the corn dog and fries. She loves dipping fries into malts. Apparently tasty. I was working hard with these kids. The next morning, some neighbors commented that they'd seen me there - I had no memory of seeing them, and it's not that big of a place! They said I was obviously completely focused on the kids, and that it was good.
Tonight, I took the kids to the Burrito Store, and then they insisted I stop at the park near our house. They worked the playground equipment for 40 minutes, burning off energy and loving the outdoors. When I finally got them to bed, it was a little later than I was planning, so Bella and I skipped quickly to stories.
Somehow, we were talking about singing, dancing, and playing instruments. We agreed that singing plus one thing is pretty common (singing at the piano). And dancing and singing is easy. But dancing and playing the piano would be pretty ridiculous. Unless you had a big circular piano, and you danced in the middle while playing all around you. I loved that vision of Bella's.
Oh, and she made a grasshopper in class the other day: total invention on her part... I'll upload a picture soon.
Ok, a total random update, but there you go.
Sunday, with the melt just starting, the kids insisted on getting going on the swingset. Wyatt from up the block joined in (he's 6 months older than Isaac, and is a little buddy). They were climbing in the camper, sliding down the slide, working the swingset. All with a lot of snow and ice still around.
I took them over to the Convention Grill for some health food: Isaac went completely mental for a chocolate malt: He eschewed the spoon and went straight for the straw: He was sucking SO HARD I thought his eyes were going to pop out, but persistence paid off and he got it going. But then he chomped the straw and restricted the flow.... and came up with a solution: Pull out the straw and flip it to try the other end. Yes, this did somehow work, and yes, it did result in a LOT of malt on his hands. And yes, he did this flip trick about 10 more times. Dude was COATED in malt.
Bella actually did NOT eat much of her malt, but did justice to the corn dog and fries. She loves dipping fries into malts. Apparently tasty. I was working hard with these kids. The next morning, some neighbors commented that they'd seen me there - I had no memory of seeing them, and it's not that big of a place! They said I was obviously completely focused on the kids, and that it was good.
Tonight, I took the kids to the Burrito Store, and then they insisted I stop at the park near our house. They worked the playground equipment for 40 minutes, burning off energy and loving the outdoors. When I finally got them to bed, it was a little later than I was planning, so Bella and I skipped quickly to stories.
Somehow, we were talking about singing, dancing, and playing instruments. We agreed that singing plus one thing is pretty common (singing at the piano). And dancing and singing is easy. But dancing and playing the piano would be pretty ridiculous. Unless you had a big circular piano, and you danced in the middle while playing all around you. I loved that vision of Bella's.
Oh, and she made a grasshopper in class the other day: total invention on her part... I'll upload a picture soon.
Ok, a total random update, but there you go.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
The Electronic Bay
Operation "Clear 'em OUT" continues at the house: We've had a monthly visit from ARC (a good local charity). Every week we've taken another load of old clothes to Once Upon A Child, and we're turning old clothes into new ones for our growing kids. I have a trunk full of CDs and DVDs which I have every intention of taking to Cheapo soon... And we've agreed that Half Price Books is a terrible scam and a self perpetuating nightmare: Why do you never shop there? Crap books. Why crap books? Because they pay pennies on the cover price for everything, after making you wait for a half hour. A full bag of decent books - $2.50. REALLY? For that price, couldn't you have just eyeballed the bag and insulted us right away?
Today our adventures were two pronged - Shredding and Ebay. We have stacks and stacks of documents which we were in the process of understanding when Bella came along 6 years ago, and we have been randomly adding to that pile ever since. Well, it's getting organized now, and we are deciding that insurance cards for cars we haven't owned since 1999 are NOT crucial for us to retain. Nor are 10 year old insurance statements declaring coverage on our Artificial Insemination procedures. No, there's a lot of stuff we have been saving for absolutely no reason. SO WE'RE SHREDDING IT. Whrrrrrrrrrr. We've actually filled a paper lawn clipping bag with shreds. It feels great. Manuals for a TV I haven't had for 4 years? GONE. HAHA!!!!
As we were cleaning the basement, we "found" the bins with my "collectibles" from my toy hoarding phase of the 1990s. LOTS of Star Trek things. I also found a trove of old concert T-shirts from the 1980s. I was saving them, thinking that when I got to 40, I'd think they were fabulous and would knuckle a tear away and cherish them. I maybe even thought my eventual children would think they were cool. Well, here I am, and I'm not knuckling anything away. And I doubt Bella or Isaac will be particularly excited by Depeche Mode or New Order shirts. No more than I would have been jazzed to have a Kingston Trio shirt from my Parents, I guess. No, these are mementos but not memories. Plus, they're fetching a pretty penny on Ebay!
So I have 18 auctions up now. Search on my username - ppgwave - if you'd like to see some of the gems. I can't really keep my personality entirely out of the picture when it comes to Ebay: On the concert T's, I talk about how the show was. On one Star Trek ship that was frankly pretty poorly built by the manufacturer, I plead that the horrible condition of the unit is entirely because it was a crap item. On one I lied that the scuff marks on a fake phaser gun were from my using it on a secret mission.
My favorite so far is my Laurie Anderson Mister Heartbreak tour shirt from 1984. I wore that shirt at least 300 times since getting it, and it is practically transparent, but still legible. In the description, I hint that Lou Reed could make a nice gift to his gal pal Laurie A with this remnant from the past. Of all of the postings, this one already has an interested buyer. IN TASMANIA.
My one complaint on the process is that IT TAKES A LONG TIME to do auctions. I have extra auction software (GarageSale), and it still took most of the afternoon to put it all together. What a pain. Plus, I'll have to mail that stuff everywhere. Oh well. Better than just tossing it. The people who will buy these things will likely love them more than I am now. And if the experiment works, I may start to look at moving along my other "treasure trove" - my comic books from the late 1970s and early 1980s.
And with that, it's off to bed!
Today our adventures were two pronged - Shredding and Ebay. We have stacks and stacks of documents which we were in the process of understanding when Bella came along 6 years ago, and we have been randomly adding to that pile ever since. Well, it's getting organized now, and we are deciding that insurance cards for cars we haven't owned since 1999 are NOT crucial for us to retain. Nor are 10 year old insurance statements declaring coverage on our Artificial Insemination procedures. No, there's a lot of stuff we have been saving for absolutely no reason. SO WE'RE SHREDDING IT. Whrrrrrrrrrr. We've actually filled a paper lawn clipping bag with shreds. It feels great. Manuals for a TV I haven't had for 4 years? GONE. HAHA!!!!
As we were cleaning the basement, we "found" the bins with my "collectibles" from my toy hoarding phase of the 1990s. LOTS of Star Trek things. I also found a trove of old concert T-shirts from the 1980s. I was saving them, thinking that when I got to 40, I'd think they were fabulous and would knuckle a tear away and cherish them. I maybe even thought my eventual children would think they were cool. Well, here I am, and I'm not knuckling anything away. And I doubt Bella or Isaac will be particularly excited by Depeche Mode or New Order shirts. No more than I would have been jazzed to have a Kingston Trio shirt from my Parents, I guess. No, these are mementos but not memories. Plus, they're fetching a pretty penny on Ebay!
So I have 18 auctions up now. Search on my username - ppgwave - if you'd like to see some of the gems. I can't really keep my personality entirely out of the picture when it comes to Ebay: On the concert T's, I talk about how the show was. On one Star Trek ship that was frankly pretty poorly built by the manufacturer, I plead that the horrible condition of the unit is entirely because it was a crap item. On one I lied that the scuff marks on a fake phaser gun were from my using it on a secret mission.
My favorite so far is my Laurie Anderson Mister Heartbreak tour shirt from 1984. I wore that shirt at least 300 times since getting it, and it is practically transparent, but still legible. In the description, I hint that Lou Reed could make a nice gift to his gal pal Laurie A with this remnant from the past. Of all of the postings, this one already has an interested buyer. IN TASMANIA.
My one complaint on the process is that IT TAKES A LONG TIME to do auctions. I have extra auction software (GarageSale), and it still took most of the afternoon to put it all together. What a pain. Plus, I'll have to mail that stuff everywhere. Oh well. Better than just tossing it. The people who will buy these things will likely love them more than I am now. And if the experiment works, I may start to look at moving along my other "treasure trove" - my comic books from the late 1970s and early 1980s.
And with that, it's off to bed!
Friday, March 13, 2009
My Party With Isaac (Warning: Farts)
This evening was the Highlands School Carnival - a noisy confusion of excitement where Bella's elementary school is transformed into a, well, a carnival with games, prizes, moon walks, and general squealing mayhem. It is indeed the social event of the K-5th grade calendar. Our initial plans were to bring both Bella and Isaac along, and have one of us bail with Isaac around 7-ish.
Alas, Isaac has not been feeling well nor sleeping well, so I made an executive decision around 5pm to keep him home. I confess that for my own sanity this seemed a good option as well, and I looked forward to an early evening with him and a relaxing time watching Terminator and Dollhouse.
That was not to be.
From 5:15 to 6:15, we had a nice time in the basement watching SuperWhy and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He was glazey eyed, yawning, and chewing on his didda. Bedtime was right around the corner. So how to fill a little time? Ah, a BATH.
6:15-7:15 - Bath Time. Yes, it was an hour. He swam, laughed, floated on his back, sang, played with duckies, splashed, swam more, blew bubbles, giggled.... He was like popeye in a bathtub filled with spinach: He went completely crazy.
So I thought maybe he had blown off some steam and was ready for bed?
7:15-7:45 - dressing for bed, playing, reading stories, and the first attempt at bedtime. First farts detected.
7:45-8:00 - seemingly quiet, though some settling and cooing sounds.
8:01 announcement: "DADDY - I POOOOOOOOOED!!!!!"
8:02 - Entered room and was immediately overwhelmed with a grievous atmosphere. There was a POWERFUL STINK going on.
8:03 - Discovery: NO POOP.
8:04 - A toot so powerful, his feet actually left the ground. Several more followed. I took him out of the room to get some fresh air. He demanded to go downstairs.
8:10-8:30: Isaac is eating. Sausages with maple syrup left over from dinner, strawberries, crackers. He is voracious and very awake. Toots are beginning to subside.
8:30 back in bed.
8:45 - Bella and Pamela are back from Carnival. Isaac hears and is hollering his head off for Bella. Bella says hi.
9:00 - Isaac confirmed asleep. Now it's time for Bella.
Pamela and Bella had a great time at the Carnival: Bella won a gift basket chock full of art supplies and kits, which will lead to many great rainy afternoons now that spring may indeed be springing.
9:15 - After scarfing a plate of tortellini, Bella is in bed too.
9:30 - I finally get to watch Terminator. Taking a break to Blog, and then watch Dollhouse. I'll be sleepy tomorrow, but it'll be worth it.
Alas, Isaac has not been feeling well nor sleeping well, so I made an executive decision around 5pm to keep him home. I confess that for my own sanity this seemed a good option as well, and I looked forward to an early evening with him and a relaxing time watching Terminator and Dollhouse.
That was not to be.
From 5:15 to 6:15, we had a nice time in the basement watching SuperWhy and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He was glazey eyed, yawning, and chewing on his didda. Bedtime was right around the corner. So how to fill a little time? Ah, a BATH.
6:15-7:15 - Bath Time. Yes, it was an hour. He swam, laughed, floated on his back, sang, played with duckies, splashed, swam more, blew bubbles, giggled.... He was like popeye in a bathtub filled with spinach: He went completely crazy.
So I thought maybe he had blown off some steam and was ready for bed?
7:15-7:45 - dressing for bed, playing, reading stories, and the first attempt at bedtime. First farts detected.
7:45-8:00 - seemingly quiet, though some settling and cooing sounds.
8:01 announcement: "DADDY - I POOOOOOOOOED!!!!!"
8:02 - Entered room and was immediately overwhelmed with a grievous atmosphere. There was a POWERFUL STINK going on.
8:03 - Discovery: NO POOP.
8:04 - A toot so powerful, his feet actually left the ground. Several more followed. I took him out of the room to get some fresh air. He demanded to go downstairs.
8:10-8:30: Isaac is eating. Sausages with maple syrup left over from dinner, strawberries, crackers. He is voracious and very awake. Toots are beginning to subside.
8:30 back in bed.
8:45 - Bella and Pamela are back from Carnival. Isaac hears and is hollering his head off for Bella. Bella says hi.
9:00 - Isaac confirmed asleep. Now it's time for Bella.
Pamela and Bella had a great time at the Carnival: Bella won a gift basket chock full of art supplies and kits, which will lead to many great rainy afternoons now that spring may indeed be springing.
9:15 - After scarfing a plate of tortellini, Bella is in bed too.
9:30 - I finally get to watch Terminator. Taking a break to Blog, and then watch Dollhouse. I'll be sleepy tomorrow, but it'll be worth it.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Tweeting and such
Not sure why but I decided to fire up a Twitter account: These are little 140 word updates you can broadcast to the world. I have a client on my Blackberry, so I can tweet things like "getting lunch now" and all 9 people who follow my feed will know that I am, at that very moment, getting lunch.
I haven't really figured out why one would tweet, but I'm doing it.
Twitter has been in the news recently as a bunch of GOP senators got Tweeting on their Blackberries during Obama's Not-SOTU speech posting snarky little things to the world about what they were thinking. Doonesbury has been teasing on the Twitter recently too.
So now, I blog occasionally, I update my facebook status a couple of times a day, and I tweet. So who is really caring that I'm this connected? I wouldn't dream of calling up my hairdresser Warren to tell him my thoughts about the latest Depeche Mode single, but he gets my Tweet on the subject.
So look at this Twitter thing as an experiment. I will likely let this fall by the wayside pretty soon... But if you do care, I'm ppgwave on Twitter.
In other news, we had our annual "cold weather tire separation incident" with the Jag today. We've gone through at least one tire a year during a cold snap - the tire just wiggles off the rim. Cost of doing business I suppose. It says something about the stability control of my car that it was the SOUND that alerted me that something was amiss, while the car continued to handle perfectly, despite riding on a rim and a ribbon of rubber. Did I mention it happened going 65 on HWY 100?
We were a bit bedraggled today - Isaac decided that 4 am was a good time to wake up. He joined me in the shower for my 5am get-ready-for-bodypump ritual, and then wanted to go back to bed. But as I was preparing to leave, I still heard him. Since I wasn't teaching, I decided to relieve Pamela, took him up to the 3rd floor with me, and we napped for another 90 min (and he actually fell asleep). But this wasn't a good night of rest. We all needed naps, but Isaac declined his, so it was an early bedtime.
And it'll be an early bedtime for me as well...
I haven't really figured out why one would tweet, but I'm doing it.
Twitter has been in the news recently as a bunch of GOP senators got Tweeting on their Blackberries during Obama's Not-SOTU speech posting snarky little things to the world about what they were thinking. Doonesbury has been teasing on the Twitter recently too.
So now, I blog occasionally, I update my facebook status a couple of times a day, and I tweet. So who is really caring that I'm this connected? I wouldn't dream of calling up my hairdresser Warren to tell him my thoughts about the latest Depeche Mode single, but he gets my Tweet on the subject.
So look at this Twitter thing as an experiment. I will likely let this fall by the wayside pretty soon... But if you do care, I'm ppgwave on Twitter.
In other news, we had our annual "cold weather tire separation incident" with the Jag today. We've gone through at least one tire a year during a cold snap - the tire just wiggles off the rim. Cost of doing business I suppose. It says something about the stability control of my car that it was the SOUND that alerted me that something was amiss, while the car continued to handle perfectly, despite riding on a rim and a ribbon of rubber. Did I mention it happened going 65 on HWY 100?
We were a bit bedraggled today - Isaac decided that 4 am was a good time to wake up. He joined me in the shower for my 5am get-ready-for-bodypump ritual, and then wanted to go back to bed. But as I was preparing to leave, I still heard him. Since I wasn't teaching, I decided to relieve Pamela, took him up to the 3rd floor with me, and we napped for another 90 min (and he actually fell asleep). But this wasn't a good night of rest. We all needed naps, but Isaac declined his, so it was an early bedtime.
And it'll be an early bedtime for me as well...
Monday, March 09, 2009
Persistence
Bella had a class project: Persistence. Every kid in her kindergarten class was encouraged to pick something to do or learn, and stick with it. Then they were to give a short presentation on what they persisted in. Bella and I decided that her persistence project would be to build a big Lego set all by herself.
We picked out a big yellow crane kit with over 500 pieces, and over the course of 4 weeks, we spent over 8 hours building this thing. And by "we" I mean SHE did everything, but I did quality control: As she finished a step, I took a look and if there were things out of place, I asked her to look harder at the instructions... and if there were pieces that didn't snap easily, I might have helped once or twice. But that entire thing was built by her, with her following the directions.
She definitely had challenges - some days were hard to motivate, some steps were harder to understand, and some parts were sort of boring to assemble... but by Sunday afternoon, she put the last piece in place and held it up, with a big grin on her face. We had taken pictures throughout the process, and printed them all up. She glued them to a posterboard and wrote her story.
Today, Pamela brought the poster and the crane into class, and Bella was the star of the show. She radiated pride as everyone oohed and ahhed over her crane and poster - the teacher said she had never seen a kid do a project that complex, and that the bar is raised.
An interesting aside - one of the alternative persistence projects we thought about was learning to spell our full last name. Bella thought that wouldn't be much fun for persistence. All the same, on Friday she recited all 16 letters to me from memory. So she really did both projects. What a girl!!!
Isaac has been quite something these days too: He's really being a little boy, but he is maybe the most polite gentleman I've ever met. He always says please and thank you, and you're welcome. The other night, he was arranging his toy robots on the shelf, and wanted to switch two of their places. As he reached for one of the robots, he said "excuse me, mister".
We went to a sock hop this weekend for Isaac's preschool, and he spent several hours running around playing, and just a little dancing. But we had a few moments where he would be dancing at one end of the gym, then suddenly dart clear across the room to the climbing area. As as he scooted, his arms were out to his sides and his feet were a blur - I suspect that his toes were touching only every 4th step or so, and only then so as not to arouse suspicion.
On my own front, my tendrils are slowly unfurling, extending out into my network, and my next thing is cordially invited to present itself. We'll leave it at that for now.
We picked out a big yellow crane kit with over 500 pieces, and over the course of 4 weeks, we spent over 8 hours building this thing. And by "we" I mean SHE did everything, but I did quality control: As she finished a step, I took a look and if there were things out of place, I asked her to look harder at the instructions... and if there were pieces that didn't snap easily, I might have helped once or twice. But that entire thing was built by her, with her following the directions.
She definitely had challenges - some days were hard to motivate, some steps were harder to understand, and some parts were sort of boring to assemble... but by Sunday afternoon, she put the last piece in place and held it up, with a big grin on her face. We had taken pictures throughout the process, and printed them all up. She glued them to a posterboard and wrote her story.
Today, Pamela brought the poster and the crane into class, and Bella was the star of the show. She radiated pride as everyone oohed and ahhed over her crane and poster - the teacher said she had never seen a kid do a project that complex, and that the bar is raised.
An interesting aside - one of the alternative persistence projects we thought about was learning to spell our full last name. Bella thought that wouldn't be much fun for persistence. All the same, on Friday she recited all 16 letters to me from memory. So she really did both projects. What a girl!!!
Isaac has been quite something these days too: He's really being a little boy, but he is maybe the most polite gentleman I've ever met. He always says please and thank you, and you're welcome. The other night, he was arranging his toy robots on the shelf, and wanted to switch two of their places. As he reached for one of the robots, he said "excuse me, mister".
We went to a sock hop this weekend for Isaac's preschool, and he spent several hours running around playing, and just a little dancing. But we had a few moments where he would be dancing at one end of the gym, then suddenly dart clear across the room to the climbing area. As as he scooted, his arms were out to his sides and his feet were a blur - I suspect that his toes were touching only every 4th step or so, and only then so as not to arouse suspicion.
On my own front, my tendrils are slowly unfurling, extending out into my network, and my next thing is cordially invited to present itself. We'll leave it at that for now.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
A terrible idea
I got the thought that since my work is sales, and my sales are slow (and my morale is low) maybe I should check out a BOOK on sales - pick up some ideas.
Yeah, that was a terrible terrible idea. From what I can tell, the whole point here is:
1) You're not unique
2) You don't HAVE anything that's unique
3) The merits of your product are meaningless
4) The only thing separating you from everyone else is how persistent you are.
Unfortunately, I'd say that 2-3 years ago, what we were selling WAS unique and did have unique merits (that helped with sales). High satisfaction scores and a rare skillset in consultants. But flash forward to today and the skills are a lot less rare, our marketing scores are lower, and there's increased competition from all angles.
So yes, to just about everyone, I'm just one of a dozen people calling about the exact same thing.
Contrast that to when I was a guy DOING the work - that's where I got to be unique, where I had specific measurable value, where the clients were eager to talk to me.
I suppose these thoughts have been brewing for a while, but having sales strategy laid out like that in black and white really put it into focus for me. Add to that my trip to Dallas with 200 other salespeople from this company, and realizing this: These people are not my Tribe.
I have very little in common with them. I'm a doer. I have skills that can ACTUALLY make people's lives better, and I'm not really using them right now. For a while I hoped that by working on a more meta level (helping people FIND the people who will help them) I could spread good a bit further around. But it's feeling less and less like that is the case.
So I'm giving myself permission to explore what the next option is. To feel good about what I'm doing on a daily basis. To help clinicians and patients in a more direct way.
Actually, reading that Sales book probably WASN'T the worst idea.
Yeah, that was a terrible terrible idea. From what I can tell, the whole point here is:
1) You're not unique
2) You don't HAVE anything that's unique
3) The merits of your product are meaningless
4) The only thing separating you from everyone else is how persistent you are.
Unfortunately, I'd say that 2-3 years ago, what we were selling WAS unique and did have unique merits (that helped with sales). High satisfaction scores and a rare skillset in consultants. But flash forward to today and the skills are a lot less rare, our marketing scores are lower, and there's increased competition from all angles.
So yes, to just about everyone, I'm just one of a dozen people calling about the exact same thing.
Contrast that to when I was a guy DOING the work - that's where I got to be unique, where I had specific measurable value, where the clients were eager to talk to me.
I suppose these thoughts have been brewing for a while, but having sales strategy laid out like that in black and white really put it into focus for me. Add to that my trip to Dallas with 200 other salespeople from this company, and realizing this: These people are not my Tribe.
I have very little in common with them. I'm a doer. I have skills that can ACTUALLY make people's lives better, and I'm not really using them right now. For a while I hoped that by working on a more meta level (helping people FIND the people who will help them) I could spread good a bit further around. But it's feeling less and less like that is the case.
So I'm giving myself permission to explore what the next option is. To feel good about what I'm doing on a daily basis. To help clinicians and patients in a more direct way.
Actually, reading that Sales book probably WASN'T the worst idea.
Monday, March 02, 2009
A fresh week...
I am continuing my path to peacefulness this week, looking for the good things in life to focus on. Which is helpful when you're in Tacoma with a series of planned meetings and discover that two of them have been canceled without your knowledge. I have plenty of other things to do here. Plenty.
Sunday I took the kids to the Zoo for a change - Isaac was jumping up and down yelling with excitement about the monkeys, the dolphins, the fish, the bear... and cowering before the terror of the shark. Bella was eagerly showing Isaac just about everything. The Zoo was a bit quiet - lots of exhibits under construction (absent: Ring Tailed Lemurs, Gibbons, Dolphin Show), but some perpetually sleepy creatures were up and at'em for us: The Loris (slow and pygmy) and the Otters were fully active.
At the end, the kids suckered me into getting stuffed animals at the Zoo Store. Bella picked a plush wolverine (which was far sweeter looking than the real thing). She got a faraway look in her eye and averred "I love this wolverine as much as my doggy the dog. Not more, not less, but AS MUCH". Of course, last night, who was she hollering for in the middle of the night? Not wolverine. Doggy. Isaac got a little monkey which he loved deeply for around 8 minutes and then forgot all about it.
We had another family come over last night for Taco night. As usual Bella wolfed down 8 tacos plus dessert. In the night she called out that her legs were hurting - a sure sign that this food is going right into the growing factory. Anyway, the family has kids that worked well with Isaac and Bella, and there was a nonstop din of child mirth. We were concerned initially - the visiting dad had been laid off, and we were hoping for good things for them. By the time they arrived, he already had another, better job. So I'm encouraged that there IS work out there...
As I prepared to leave today, Isaac was pretty obviously aware that I was leaving for a few days, and needed a LOT of dad cuddles. We played airplane and wrassled quite a bit, and also had some quiet hugs. Traveling isn't easy on the family, and I'm so appreciative to them for supporting me... even when sometimes the purpose of the trip seems moot (like when people DON'T SHOW UP TO MEETINGS).
I've got a good networking dinner set up for tonight, and I'll be seeing Paul and Caesar tomorrow, so things are not a total loss....
On the plane today, they preboarded us in First, and then stopped boarding - the pilots were stuck at a different airport and we were going to be delayed for 45 minutes. So we were given the option - hang out on the plane and have some snacks and coffee, or deplane. We all stayed put (stand in the crowded gate, or sit comfortably and have a snack?). Not 2 minutes later, they announced they had found an "alternate crew" and we were going to take off as planned. I think that it may have actually been a thought experiment. I kept looking for people with lab coats and clipboards. Did we pass? Fail?
I'm off for the evening...
Sunday I took the kids to the Zoo for a change - Isaac was jumping up and down yelling with excitement about the monkeys, the dolphins, the fish, the bear... and cowering before the terror of the shark. Bella was eagerly showing Isaac just about everything. The Zoo was a bit quiet - lots of exhibits under construction (absent: Ring Tailed Lemurs, Gibbons, Dolphin Show), but some perpetually sleepy creatures were up and at'em for us: The Loris (slow and pygmy) and the Otters were fully active.
At the end, the kids suckered me into getting stuffed animals at the Zoo Store. Bella picked a plush wolverine (which was far sweeter looking than the real thing). She got a faraway look in her eye and averred "I love this wolverine as much as my doggy the dog. Not more, not less, but AS MUCH". Of course, last night, who was she hollering for in the middle of the night? Not wolverine. Doggy. Isaac got a little monkey which he loved deeply for around 8 minutes and then forgot all about it.
We had another family come over last night for Taco night. As usual Bella wolfed down 8 tacos plus dessert. In the night she called out that her legs were hurting - a sure sign that this food is going right into the growing factory. Anyway, the family has kids that worked well with Isaac and Bella, and there was a nonstop din of child mirth. We were concerned initially - the visiting dad had been laid off, and we were hoping for good things for them. By the time they arrived, he already had another, better job. So I'm encouraged that there IS work out there...
As I prepared to leave today, Isaac was pretty obviously aware that I was leaving for a few days, and needed a LOT of dad cuddles. We played airplane and wrassled quite a bit, and also had some quiet hugs. Traveling isn't easy on the family, and I'm so appreciative to them for supporting me... even when sometimes the purpose of the trip seems moot (like when people DON'T SHOW UP TO MEETINGS).
I've got a good networking dinner set up for tonight, and I'll be seeing Paul and Caesar tomorrow, so things are not a total loss....
On the plane today, they preboarded us in First, and then stopped boarding - the pilots were stuck at a different airport and we were going to be delayed for 45 minutes. So we were given the option - hang out on the plane and have some snacks and coffee, or deplane. We all stayed put (stand in the crowded gate, or sit comfortably and have a snack?). Not 2 minutes later, they announced they had found an "alternate crew" and we were going to take off as planned. I think that it may have actually been a thought experiment. I kept looking for people with lab coats and clipboards. Did we pass? Fail?
I'm off for the evening...
Friday, February 27, 2009
Keeping UP!
It was Portland OR again this week - filled with liquid sunshine ("rain") but nice nonetheless. My trip to Powells was fruitful, finding some odd things for friends and Bella. And the client meeting was also pretty good - looks like a little more work will be shaken out there, continuing to justify my visits... Better than Philly since I actually got two solid leads out of there. Also had a very nice visit with our consultants out there... a good meal and some fun stories swapped, though they are all feeling a bit nervous about the company.
Truth be told, the past weeks have been filled with a fair amount of stress. Not JUST the stuff at work (I remain not-laid-off for now), but finances as well. Having just done my taxes I've come to the grim realization that this new job, while fun, has not been anywhere near as lucrative as I had hoped: I've made only 2/3 as much in 2008 as in 2007 AND 2006... but somehow didn't ratchet down the expenses, so I'm in a bit of a hole. And if you haven't noticed, 2009 isn't looking like a banner year for people doing sales work. If I keep my job, I'll still not be able to make as much as I did the previous years. The dream just isn't panning out as I had hoped.
But I'm going to work my way out of this pit, one way or another. I have always kept as an ace in the hole my ability to DO work rather than just SELL work, and I see enough stuff out there to know that a Jimmy could definitely step out and be employed. Things are certainly not bad enough for me to "jump from" here - but there's not a compelling "jump to" option in place. Plus I have some bonuses due in May, so there's no incentive to leave before then. Add to this that my potential severance is several MONTHS, there's little incentive to leave without being PUSHED.
So my challenge is to settle into my level... make due with the income I DO have, work with what I can do in this job for a few months... Come to peace with the situation much as I had to come to peace with coming BACK to this company a year ago, after having quit them. All the while feathering my nest preparing for the next great idea/option. You hear me universe? I'm listening.
I can leave this stress a the door, not bring it home, and seize the opportunities. Give them 100% while there, and 0% while home. Write some music. Steal some time when on business trips to visit the Muir Woods. Eat some food. Practice my workouts. Play with my kids and have some laughs.
Speaking of the kids: Tonight it was revealed that at Bella's school they sometimes play Dance Dance Revolution during Gym class. Naturally I got out our dance mats and Bella and I cut a rug to "Butterfly"... With my training, she'll be the best DDR mover in her class. If we can get Isaac from dancing in circles around us.
For the non-Facebookers, there's a great meme going around:
CREATE YOUR BAND NAME & ALBUM COVER:
To Do This
1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 - Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.
3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.
Here is my masterpiece:
Truth be told, the past weeks have been filled with a fair amount of stress. Not JUST the stuff at work (I remain not-laid-off for now), but finances as well. Having just done my taxes I've come to the grim realization that this new job, while fun, has not been anywhere near as lucrative as I had hoped: I've made only 2/3 as much in 2008 as in 2007 AND 2006... but somehow didn't ratchet down the expenses, so I'm in a bit of a hole. And if you haven't noticed, 2009 isn't looking like a banner year for people doing sales work. If I keep my job, I'll still not be able to make as much as I did the previous years. The dream just isn't panning out as I had hoped.
But I'm going to work my way out of this pit, one way or another. I have always kept as an ace in the hole my ability to DO work rather than just SELL work, and I see enough stuff out there to know that a Jimmy could definitely step out and be employed. Things are certainly not bad enough for me to "jump from" here - but there's not a compelling "jump to" option in place. Plus I have some bonuses due in May, so there's no incentive to leave before then. Add to this that my potential severance is several MONTHS, there's little incentive to leave without being PUSHED.
So my challenge is to settle into my level... make due with the income I DO have, work with what I can do in this job for a few months... Come to peace with the situation much as I had to come to peace with coming BACK to this company a year ago, after having quit them. All the while feathering my nest preparing for the next great idea/option. You hear me universe? I'm listening.
I can leave this stress a the door, not bring it home, and seize the opportunities. Give them 100% while there, and 0% while home. Write some music. Steal some time when on business trips to visit the Muir Woods. Eat some food. Practice my workouts. Play with my kids and have some laughs.
Speaking of the kids: Tonight it was revealed that at Bella's school they sometimes play Dance Dance Revolution during Gym class. Naturally I got out our dance mats and Bella and I cut a rug to "Butterfly"... With my training, she'll be the best DDR mover in her class. If we can get Isaac from dancing in circles around us.
For the non-Facebookers, there's a great meme going around:
CREATE YOUR BAND NAME & ALBUM COVER:
To Do This
1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 - Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.
3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.
Here is my masterpiece:
Saturday, February 21, 2009
A date with Isaac
Longtime readers know that one of my rituals with Bella has been to have a one-on-one evening with her, getting dinner and then some sort of shopping (Guitar Center has been a favorite). Well, Bella's off at the Water Park, and Pamela was deep into her basement cleaning (we're now at the point of dusting off and evaluating detritus from our youths - diaries, keep. 5th grade health homework, no.)
So Isaac and I had a date tonight. He was well rested from a big nap, and we started with burritos at Chipotle. Like his sister, he loves the veggie burrito bowl. He's a bean fanatic. Afterward, we got hot chocolate at Caribou, and then off to Edinborough Park - an indoor playground.
We started in the gym with Isaac chasing basketballs around, and moved to the climbing structure. He was initially pretty scared of the big towers, so we played in the baby area for a while. That built up his confidence, and by the end, we were zooming down slides 50 feet in the air. He did NOT want to go, but by the time he was in the car, he had his didda and was getting very mellow.
It was a fun date, and i'm struck by how big of a boy he's becoming. We had pretty linear conversations, he's using a fork well, and we played well together. I look forward to getting to know this guy on more Dates. And I need to make time for more Bella dates too!
So he's asleep, and our original plan was to watch a movie, but Pamela's having such a good time looking at her documents (high school 'zines!) that we decided to keep it a mellow evening and I'm up here, about to enjoy the trashy goodness of Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" - episode 2.
Quick Fitness update: Surprise surprise, my tape for Attack had a problem with it, so I need to schedule a re-taping. Seriously, my phone mojo is leaking over to recorded images? Today I subbed for an instructor whose injury from BodyAttack really aren't healing, so I'm happy to help out. Then I stayed for BodyFlow (known outside the US as BodyBalance), which is Tai Chi, Yoga, and visualization exercises. I loved it, but man was it HARD!!! I actually cramped up a muscle holding a position. I think it would behoove me to keep working on those skills...
Time to kick back!
So Isaac and I had a date tonight. He was well rested from a big nap, and we started with burritos at Chipotle. Like his sister, he loves the veggie burrito bowl. He's a bean fanatic. Afterward, we got hot chocolate at Caribou, and then off to Edinborough Park - an indoor playground.
We started in the gym with Isaac chasing basketballs around, and moved to the climbing structure. He was initially pretty scared of the big towers, so we played in the baby area for a while. That built up his confidence, and by the end, we were zooming down slides 50 feet in the air. He did NOT want to go, but by the time he was in the car, he had his didda and was getting very mellow.
It was a fun date, and i'm struck by how big of a boy he's becoming. We had pretty linear conversations, he's using a fork well, and we played well together. I look forward to getting to know this guy on more Dates. And I need to make time for more Bella dates too!
So he's asleep, and our original plan was to watch a movie, but Pamela's having such a good time looking at her documents (high school 'zines!) that we decided to keep it a mellow evening and I'm up here, about to enjoy the trashy goodness of Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" - episode 2.
Quick Fitness update: Surprise surprise, my tape for Attack had a problem with it, so I need to schedule a re-taping. Seriously, my phone mojo is leaking over to recorded images? Today I subbed for an instructor whose injury from BodyAttack really aren't healing, so I'm happy to help out. Then I stayed for BodyFlow (known outside the US as BodyBalance), which is Tai Chi, Yoga, and visualization exercises. I loved it, but man was it HARD!!! I actually cramped up a muscle holding a position. I think it would behoove me to keep working on those skills...
Time to kick back!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Roller Toaster
It was another odd week work-wise. Philly wound up being somewhat unsatisfying. The people I've been cultivating there really aren't coming through with "the deals" as I would like them... but remain as nice and agreeable as ever. Which makes me want to leap across the table and say "THEN BUY SOMETHING!!!!!" But I'm not one for that sort of selling... yet... But by the end of the week I had some positive movement on some deals, so things weren't all bad.
One of the people we let go was a GREAT woman who we had lured away from another firm... and then fired after a MONTH on the job. I was just sick that she was on the list. Fortunately I heard that she chewed out the firer (my boss) good on the phone, and even put her MOM on the phone to give an additional helping of perspective. It was brutal, and it needed to be. Our company acted like fools.
But I'm sticking with it. I can continue to offer my perspective and to represent the best interests of the people who work for us. I will try.
With Anathem done I was flailing for something to read, and decided to try The New Yorker on Kindle. Here's the problem. NO CARTOONS. I'm sorry but I read the New Yorker for the Articles just like someone reads Playboy for the articles. The writing is good, when I read it, but basically I'm just looking for my Danny Shanahan and Roz Chast fix. So when they decided to put the New Yorker on Kindle without cartoons... well let's just say I unsubscribed. Really people.
So I downloaded another classic Neal Stephenson book - The Cobweb - which he wrote with his uncle and is a great techno thriller set in 1990. It deals a lot with the US/Iraq relationship, which almost 20 years later really takes a different tinge. I'm savoring the book.
It seems in the two days of my absence, Isaac had another developmental leap. Last night at dinner, we were offering food, which he would consider with an "ummmmmmm" then either a "no thanks!" or a "yes please!" The boy is nothing if not polite. And he and his sister are eating like crazy, growing perceptibly every night.
Isaac's other big development is that he's playing by himself... He has a set of trains and he puts them together, onto the track and around the town, making choo choo sounds. He can sit contently playing trains for quite a while, which is very fun to watch. This is in contrast to Bella, who has always enjoyed/needed a human element to her play: She always wants to play WITH, and used to consider quiet playtime to be a punishment. As she's got older, she's found pleasure in creating art quietly by herself, so I'm glad that she has something she can do solo. And her art (beyond the duck head) keeps getting wilder: She's working in 3d paper a lot now, with objects springing off the page on cut coils of paper. Her style is very amazing. We were flipping through her "quiet time" composition book and found wild geometric designs, pages of faces (lots of Isaac), some experiments with drawing tree branches, and some pages of color studies (bold blocks of color juxtaposed). I don't know where these things come from, but I love them all.
We're reading Mrs PiggleWiggle to Bella at night now, and she thinks it's great fun. And she's picking out words as I read it, pointing to them and trying them out. Which is only a little awkward because in the book, Parents occasionally spank their kids, which we're changing to "give time outs" on the fly. As she reads along, she can tell when we edited, but she hasn't challenged me on it yet. But I can see her notice!
This weekend, Bella is off for the weekend with her best friend Jenny to a waterpark in Owatonna. We were originally planning to go, but a combination of realizing wrangling Isaac might not be relaxing PLUS deciding to save some dollars in this uncertain job world led us to take up Jenny's parent's offer to take Bella along.
Pamela has been a demon around the house, cleaning and purging our crap. She's taken some well deserved breaks watching the John Adams miniseries from HBO, and tonight she'll be finishing it up. Then tomorrow, with no Bella and an Isaac who will be down by 7:30, I'm thinking it's time for Pamela to finally see Iron Man. ;)
We'll just see about that, won't we?
One of the people we let go was a GREAT woman who we had lured away from another firm... and then fired after a MONTH on the job. I was just sick that she was on the list. Fortunately I heard that she chewed out the firer (my boss) good on the phone, and even put her MOM on the phone to give an additional helping of perspective. It was brutal, and it needed to be. Our company acted like fools.
But I'm sticking with it. I can continue to offer my perspective and to represent the best interests of the people who work for us. I will try.
With Anathem done I was flailing for something to read, and decided to try The New Yorker on Kindle. Here's the problem. NO CARTOONS. I'm sorry but I read the New Yorker for the Articles just like someone reads Playboy for the articles. The writing is good, when I read it, but basically I'm just looking for my Danny Shanahan and Roz Chast fix. So when they decided to put the New Yorker on Kindle without cartoons... well let's just say I unsubscribed. Really people.
So I downloaded another classic Neal Stephenson book - The Cobweb - which he wrote with his uncle and is a great techno thriller set in 1990. It deals a lot with the US/Iraq relationship, which almost 20 years later really takes a different tinge. I'm savoring the book.
It seems in the two days of my absence, Isaac had another developmental leap. Last night at dinner, we were offering food, which he would consider with an "ummmmmmm" then either a "no thanks!" or a "yes please!" The boy is nothing if not polite. And he and his sister are eating like crazy, growing perceptibly every night.
Isaac's other big development is that he's playing by himself... He has a set of trains and he puts them together, onto the track and around the town, making choo choo sounds. He can sit contently playing trains for quite a while, which is very fun to watch. This is in contrast to Bella, who has always enjoyed/needed a human element to her play: She always wants to play WITH, and used to consider quiet playtime to be a punishment. As she's got older, she's found pleasure in creating art quietly by herself, so I'm glad that she has something she can do solo. And her art (beyond the duck head) keeps getting wilder: She's working in 3d paper a lot now, with objects springing off the page on cut coils of paper. Her style is very amazing. We were flipping through her "quiet time" composition book and found wild geometric designs, pages of faces (lots of Isaac), some experiments with drawing tree branches, and some pages of color studies (bold blocks of color juxtaposed). I don't know where these things come from, but I love them all.
We're reading Mrs PiggleWiggle to Bella at night now, and she thinks it's great fun. And she's picking out words as I read it, pointing to them and trying them out. Which is only a little awkward because in the book, Parents occasionally spank their kids, which we're changing to "give time outs" on the fly. As she reads along, she can tell when we edited, but she hasn't challenged me on it yet. But I can see her notice!
This weekend, Bella is off for the weekend with her best friend Jenny to a waterpark in Owatonna. We were originally planning to go, but a combination of realizing wrangling Isaac might not be relaxing PLUS deciding to save some dollars in this uncertain job world led us to take up Jenny's parent's offer to take Bella along.
Pamela has been a demon around the house, cleaning and purging our crap. She's taken some well deserved breaks watching the John Adams miniseries from HBO, and tonight she'll be finishing it up. Then tomorrow, with no Bella and an Isaac who will be down by 7:30, I'm thinking it's time for Pamela to finally see Iron Man. ;)
We'll just see about that, won't we?
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Phill-ay
First, an awesome quote from Bella on Monday. While helping Isaac paint, she said:
""Don't stretch your imagination too far. Otherwise you'll never come home."
No idea where that one came from.
I'm in Philadelphia, which is not quite as nice and fun in the cold, so I've been in the room doing work most of the day. Of course I made my pilgrimage to the Reading Market, and had a Sausage and Pepper sandwich (what, no cheezsteak? Eh, I'm not the biggest fan of those... Once a man has has a proper Italian Beef or Combo, the subtle flavors of a Philly Cheesesteak simply cannot compare)
On the flight today finally finished Anathem: A thriller based in quantum mechanics? Amazing. It really did take its time to get started, but as it took off, all of the laborious backstory was rewarded in spades. And it went places I simply could not have imagined. I love being pulled in a thoroughly unexpected direction.
Tried to watch the movie "Pineapple Express" tonigh - I'm pretty sure the movie would work if you were as stoned as the protagonists, but that is not where I am in life, so after 45 minutes I decided no further investment was warranted. Yes, there were some giggles. I concede. But not nearly enough to keep me going. Instead I watched the pilot of the new action thriller "Dollhouse" by Joss Whedon. A very creepy yet fun show with echoes to Alias and any other number of "who am I now and why am I shooting at this guy" amnesia plots... held together with a larger menacing story arc and very good acting. This one's getting added to the list provisionally (with Heroes and Fringe).
Allright, it's late out here and I have a day of meetings tomorrow, so this short update is OVAH.
""Don't stretch your imagination too far. Otherwise you'll never come home."
No idea where that one came from.
I'm in Philadelphia, which is not quite as nice and fun in the cold, so I've been in the room doing work most of the day. Of course I made my pilgrimage to the Reading Market, and had a Sausage and Pepper sandwich (what, no cheezsteak? Eh, I'm not the biggest fan of those... Once a man has has a proper Italian Beef or Combo, the subtle flavors of a Philly Cheesesteak simply cannot compare)
On the flight today finally finished Anathem: A thriller based in quantum mechanics? Amazing. It really did take its time to get started, but as it took off, all of the laborious backstory was rewarded in spades. And it went places I simply could not have imagined. I love being pulled in a thoroughly unexpected direction.
Tried to watch the movie "Pineapple Express" tonigh - I'm pretty sure the movie would work if you were as stoned as the protagonists, but that is not where I am in life, so after 45 minutes I decided no further investment was warranted. Yes, there were some giggles. I concede. But not nearly enough to keep me going. Instead I watched the pilot of the new action thriller "Dollhouse" by Joss Whedon. A very creepy yet fun show with echoes to Alias and any other number of "who am I now and why am I shooting at this guy" amnesia plots... held together with a larger menacing story arc and very good acting. This one's getting added to the list provisionally (with Heroes and Fringe).
Allright, it's late out here and I have a day of meetings tomorrow, so this short update is OVAH.
Friday, February 13, 2009
He goes to Eleven
After the hammer fall yesterday, work was strangely more tranquil. Even though we were all a bit down, at least we weren't biting our nails. I actually got a lot done... and snuck out for some lunch at a new Deli called "Mort's" in Golden Valley. Matzo Ball Soup was good, as were the complimentary pickles (one garlic, one sour, and a pickled tomato!). The pastrami sandwich was thick cut, tender, and piled several inches high, with a side of homemade chips that were scandalously delicious. A good deli experience really smooths over everything.
When I got home I was exhausted - five days of teaching in a row plus the added stresses got a bit tiring. So I tried to take a nap, but the kids were playing "sound like a bowling alley", so the noise kept me on the edge of consciousness until they just gave up any pretense of NOT being in my room and jumped right on top of me yelling "TIME TO GET UP DADDY!!!!"
We headed out to the Chatterbox pub for an early dinner... Isaac was in rare form: He was dancing like a maniac to all of the great 80's hits, and socializing with all of the other patrons. They have old game consoles there, and he would sidle up to any kid playing and try to "have a turn???"
The gentleman he is, when the waitress came by, he ordered a chocolate milk for himself and "Diet Coke for Mommy". On the way out the door, he bolted back to the table and stole a last sip of her Diet Coke. He looked unreasonably pleased with himself.
We're hitting spring cleaning early, and our manifesto is "no boxes, no hiding" - so we're going into ALL of the crap corners and finding things. Tonight it was the "spider room" off the basement where we had stored old toys and mementoes in plastic bins. The allergens were insane and we're all reeling... but it's been fun to find old treasures, and Bella can't believe some of the cool things we have. I've been checking Ebay and have found that around 10% of my "old" plastic star trek and alien toys from my binge in the 1990s are actually worth something, even in the non-mint condition they're in, so I'll be hitting the Bay.
The kids are asleep... Isaac amused me by calling me in after being in bed for a half hour: He had piled all of his blankets and toys in the middle of the bed, and had laid his pillow across the top, and was stretched out on top of it all. He was a good foot off of the mattress, and was giggling quietly. I rearranged it all and re-tucked him in, and he dozed off immediately. Clever boy.
And Bella picked out a book at Wild Rumpus today, and read it to me for bedtime. She's getting SO good at reading... and she was so pleased to have been able to read me the whole thing. She did it twice actually, then we had a good cuddle.
Time to curl up by the fire, read more Anathem, and enjoy a spot of Lagavulin to finish the week.
When I got home I was exhausted - five days of teaching in a row plus the added stresses got a bit tiring. So I tried to take a nap, but the kids were playing "sound like a bowling alley", so the noise kept me on the edge of consciousness until they just gave up any pretense of NOT being in my room and jumped right on top of me yelling "TIME TO GET UP DADDY!!!!"
We headed out to the Chatterbox pub for an early dinner... Isaac was in rare form: He was dancing like a maniac to all of the great 80's hits, and socializing with all of the other patrons. They have old game consoles there, and he would sidle up to any kid playing and try to "have a turn???"
The gentleman he is, when the waitress came by, he ordered a chocolate milk for himself and "Diet Coke for Mommy". On the way out the door, he bolted back to the table and stole a last sip of her Diet Coke. He looked unreasonably pleased with himself.
We're hitting spring cleaning early, and our manifesto is "no boxes, no hiding" - so we're going into ALL of the crap corners and finding things. Tonight it was the "spider room" off the basement where we had stored old toys and mementoes in plastic bins. The allergens were insane and we're all reeling... but it's been fun to find old treasures, and Bella can't believe some of the cool things we have. I've been checking Ebay and have found that around 10% of my "old" plastic star trek and alien toys from my binge in the 1990s are actually worth something, even in the non-mint condition they're in, so I'll be hitting the Bay.
The kids are asleep... Isaac amused me by calling me in after being in bed for a half hour: He had piled all of his blankets and toys in the middle of the bed, and had laid his pillow across the top, and was stretched out on top of it all. He was a good foot off of the mattress, and was giggling quietly. I rearranged it all and re-tucked him in, and he dozed off immediately. Clever boy.
And Bella picked out a book at Wild Rumpus today, and read it to me for bedtime. She's getting SO good at reading... and she was so pleased to have been able to read me the whole thing. She did it twice actually, then we had a good cuddle.
Time to curl up by the fire, read more Anathem, and enjoy a spot of Lagavulin to finish the week.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The hammer falls
Today was the day: Around 15% of our group was laid off en masse, and while I was not among the fatalities, some good friends were. The larger corporate entity which had eaten us 16 months ago had left us to our own devices for 14 glorious months, but come the new year decided enough was enough. Time to shape up.
As it often turns out, the cuts were made to a number, not to make a cost or revenue target as far as we could tell. All divisions had numbers to make: ours was 15%, but a sister group appears to have lost 25%. It could have been worse, I suppose.
So we the surviving are now in a position where sales are warming up, but we have no bench of people to sell. Several of the layoffs were new hires who we had worked hard to land, and I can only imagine this will speak poorly of us on the job boards, so recruiting will be difficult. Recruiting will be even harder since they laid off our two recruiters! So we're down 12, no viable incoming resources, and very little incentive for the current staff to stay, yet we have a 20% growth goal for our bonuses.
It's crazy. We're all trying to figure out what the year will look like. Hey, maybe it'll all come out fine in the end! Why not be optimistic? In truth, the past 15 years of my career have been a very smooth upward trajectory, with good things coming out of strange situations. I'm fully prepared to allow the next change to wash over me.
Fortunately, the rest of life is wonderful. Bella hand-made 27 valentines last night for her friends and teachers - each one slightly different, thought out for each kid's personality. It was an ambitious project! Isaac has been continuing his very two year old behavior, but remains adorable. His current quixotic quest is for Diet Coke: He's like the Trix Rabbit, coming up with schemes to trick mom out of her Diet Coke - sweetness, flirting, stealth, deception... it's all there. We do NOT want him to be drinking this stuff, but the sense of the forbidden is all the more alluring. "Can I some Diet Coke, Mama?" big eyes, big smile. That kid is TROUBLE.
I've finally turned the corner on the new Neal Stephenson book - Anathem has suddenly become a cannot-put-down page turner after a good 200 pages of "setup". Much more so than in my earlier update. It's ROCKING. The kindle accompanies me everywhere now. In other media, this weeks Fringe was an absolute brain opener... I'm so sucked into this series.... it's amazing.
Tonight we had a little birthday party for Darwin and Abe. Carrot Cake and Apple Cobbler. It was a wonderful little celebration!
It'll be an early night tonight: All the stress of work this week, plus I've taught a lot of classes and will teach again tomorrow at 6am, so this body needs some recoup time!
As it often turns out, the cuts were made to a number, not to make a cost or revenue target as far as we could tell. All divisions had numbers to make: ours was 15%, but a sister group appears to have lost 25%. It could have been worse, I suppose.
So we the surviving are now in a position where sales are warming up, but we have no bench of people to sell. Several of the layoffs were new hires who we had worked hard to land, and I can only imagine this will speak poorly of us on the job boards, so recruiting will be difficult. Recruiting will be even harder since they laid off our two recruiters! So we're down 12, no viable incoming resources, and very little incentive for the current staff to stay, yet we have a 20% growth goal for our bonuses.
It's crazy. We're all trying to figure out what the year will look like. Hey, maybe it'll all come out fine in the end! Why not be optimistic? In truth, the past 15 years of my career have been a very smooth upward trajectory, with good things coming out of strange situations. I'm fully prepared to allow the next change to wash over me.
Fortunately, the rest of life is wonderful. Bella hand-made 27 valentines last night for her friends and teachers - each one slightly different, thought out for each kid's personality. It was an ambitious project! Isaac has been continuing his very two year old behavior, but remains adorable. His current quixotic quest is for Diet Coke: He's like the Trix Rabbit, coming up with schemes to trick mom out of her Diet Coke - sweetness, flirting, stealth, deception... it's all there. We do NOT want him to be drinking this stuff, but the sense of the forbidden is all the more alluring. "Can I some Diet Coke, Mama?" big eyes, big smile. That kid is TROUBLE.
I've finally turned the corner on the new Neal Stephenson book - Anathem has suddenly become a cannot-put-down page turner after a good 200 pages of "setup". Much more so than in my earlier update. It's ROCKING. The kindle accompanies me everywhere now. In other media, this weeks Fringe was an absolute brain opener... I'm so sucked into this series.... it's amazing.
Tonight we had a little birthday party for Darwin and Abe. Carrot Cake and Apple Cobbler. It was a wonderful little celebration!
It'll be an early night tonight: All the stress of work this week, plus I've taught a lot of classes and will teach again tomorrow at 6am, so this body needs some recoup time!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Eh, work.
So of all the weeks to be in town, I decided to stick around for the week that the whole organization will be going through some major changes (which, until they happen, I will not commit career suicide by revealing) and it has everyone on edge, myself included. Not that I think my job is in immediate jeopardy, but I'm pretty sure some people who I see on a regular basis won't be around. Which is just AWKWARD. I've taken to having my door closed in my office, looking busy to avoid too many idle conversations. Ok, BEING busy.
Hopefully things will get resolved this week and we can move forward, better or worse, but out of limbo. Limbo is no fun. And you add that on top of the general economic malaise, and it's a mega funtime. So anyway, this has just been "on my mind" for a while and has dragged my mood down just a teensy bit.
Isaac, being both a mood reflector and a boy in the midst of massive brain development, has been a brittle terrible two, falling into sobbing fits at the drop of a hat. He's been taking too long to fall asleep, boycotting naps, and getting up early - the kid is a wreck. Bella is faring better, but exhibits classic older sibling tendencies of holding something away from Isaac for maybe 1 second longer than needed, leading to the collapse, and she just shrugs. Siblings - best of friends, worst of enemies.
Plus, destructor of technology has a new game: Hiding Netflix envelopes. We have no idea where our disk one of the Paul Giamatti IS John Adams is.
But it's not all bad: Bella and Isaac have a new play - she gives him piggyback rides, and he thinks it's the coolest thing in the universe: They both have such smiles on their faces! And I've loved putting them to bed AND being morning guy with them too... it's so worth it to be in town!
Also, we bought a kid's biography of Charles Darwin, and have been reading it to Bella: She loves the idea that he collected bugs and acorns. She's a little scientist in training, and I think she'll find a lot to identify with Charles. We'll be having a little 200th birthday party for him this Thursday. Pamela is Intelligently Designing the festivities. HAHA.
Fitness: Due to a problem with the tape, I have to re-tape my BodyPump assessment for the THIRD TIME tomorrow. Of course we're two months into the next release, but I have to tape the release I was trained on, so I rehearsed today in an empty studio, loudly coaching and encouraging my non-existent worker-outers. I think their form was very good today. On Sunday I'll be taping for Body Attack.
Monday during BodyAttack, I had a quite pregnant lady in class. BodyAttack is a very jumping/running based class, but there are a whole set of parallel alternate movements that are more marching/stepping. So I made sure she was doing the parallel, and she got a great workout, and it forced me out of my usual routine as well. As my fitness level has increased doing this class, I can teach the full hour at 110% while coaching, and it's important to remember the class isn't all at that level, and actually could get HURT if they try.
Fun coming up for V-Day: Pamela's mom is flying up for 4 days: Papa is off to a trade show over V-Day (the NERVE), and we already agreed to watch Jenny so that Randy and Jemae can have a romantic evening of Valentines, so we figured we'd invite Bam up to join the fun. And I'm thrilled - Isaac is Bama's boy, and I'll have some serious competition!
Don't worry about Pamela and me: We had that great escape to the Graves601 in Jan, and will have many more escapes in the months to come. If we can share our lives to bring happiness to others (Jemae, Bam) on that romantic day, that makes all the difference.
In geekiness: Both Fringe and Heroes have started back up and I'm in geek heaven. Both are completely delivering. Terminator starts next week. Then we have the Watchmen movie, the Terminator movie... it's all going to be amazing. It is a good time to be a nerd. But I do NOT watch Battlestar. I'll start them up maybe this summer during my travels (I can usually get 3-4 shows a trip - saves on pay-per-view for sure!)
In other geekiness, no I'm not buying a new Kindle - my new/old one works just fine. But the new model offers a lot to the newbie, so if you were ever on the fence for a kindle, just go for it. And I'm finally getting into reading the Neal Stephenson Anathem novel. I started it months ago, but it was a bit thick. Much like the System of the World trilogy, which I quit after 200 pages, only to love it a few years later. I had read 150 pages of Anathem months ago, and picked it back up, restarted it from the beginning, and it was instantly more compelling. Perhaps the Black Jack Geary pulps have worn me down and I was ready for something... thought out... and readable.
Well that's my polygeeky update. Go to Hulu.com and search for "I'm on a boat" for maybe the best laugh I've had in a week. It's amazing.
Hopefully things will get resolved this week and we can move forward, better or worse, but out of limbo. Limbo is no fun. And you add that on top of the general economic malaise, and it's a mega funtime. So anyway, this has just been "on my mind" for a while and has dragged my mood down just a teensy bit.
Isaac, being both a mood reflector and a boy in the midst of massive brain development, has been a brittle terrible two, falling into sobbing fits at the drop of a hat. He's been taking too long to fall asleep, boycotting naps, and getting up early - the kid is a wreck. Bella is faring better, but exhibits classic older sibling tendencies of holding something away from Isaac for maybe 1 second longer than needed, leading to the collapse, and she just shrugs. Siblings - best of friends, worst of enemies.
Plus, destructor of technology has a new game: Hiding Netflix envelopes. We have no idea where our disk one of the Paul Giamatti IS John Adams is.
But it's not all bad: Bella and Isaac have a new play - she gives him piggyback rides, and he thinks it's the coolest thing in the universe: They both have such smiles on their faces! And I've loved putting them to bed AND being morning guy with them too... it's so worth it to be in town!
Also, we bought a kid's biography of Charles Darwin, and have been reading it to Bella: She loves the idea that he collected bugs and acorns. She's a little scientist in training, and I think she'll find a lot to identify with Charles. We'll be having a little 200th birthday party for him this Thursday. Pamela is Intelligently Designing the festivities. HAHA.
Fitness: Due to a problem with the tape, I have to re-tape my BodyPump assessment for the THIRD TIME tomorrow. Of course we're two months into the next release, but I have to tape the release I was trained on, so I rehearsed today in an empty studio, loudly coaching and encouraging my non-existent worker-outers. I think their form was very good today. On Sunday I'll be taping for Body Attack.
Monday during BodyAttack, I had a quite pregnant lady in class. BodyAttack is a very jumping/running based class, but there are a whole set of parallel alternate movements that are more marching/stepping. So I made sure she was doing the parallel, and she got a great workout, and it forced me out of my usual routine as well. As my fitness level has increased doing this class, I can teach the full hour at 110% while coaching, and it's important to remember the class isn't all at that level, and actually could get HURT if they try.
Fun coming up for V-Day: Pamela's mom is flying up for 4 days: Papa is off to a trade show over V-Day (the NERVE), and we already agreed to watch Jenny so that Randy and Jemae can have a romantic evening of Valentines, so we figured we'd invite Bam up to join the fun. And I'm thrilled - Isaac is Bama's boy, and I'll have some serious competition!
Don't worry about Pamela and me: We had that great escape to the Graves601 in Jan, and will have many more escapes in the months to come. If we can share our lives to bring happiness to others (Jemae, Bam) on that romantic day, that makes all the difference.
In geekiness: Both Fringe and Heroes have started back up and I'm in geek heaven. Both are completely delivering. Terminator starts next week. Then we have the Watchmen movie, the Terminator movie... it's all going to be amazing. It is a good time to be a nerd. But I do NOT watch Battlestar. I'll start them up maybe this summer during my travels (I can usually get 3-4 shows a trip - saves on pay-per-view for sure!)
In other geekiness, no I'm not buying a new Kindle - my new/old one works just fine. But the new model offers a lot to the newbie, so if you were ever on the fence for a kindle, just go for it. And I'm finally getting into reading the Neal Stephenson Anathem novel. I started it months ago, but it was a bit thick. Much like the System of the World trilogy, which I quit after 200 pages, only to love it a few years later. I had read 150 pages of Anathem months ago, and picked it back up, restarted it from the beginning, and it was instantly more compelling. Perhaps the Black Jack Geary pulps have worn me down and I was ready for something... thought out... and readable.
Well that's my polygeeky update. Go to Hulu.com and search for "I'm on a boat" for maybe the best laugh I've had in a week. It's amazing.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
A JimVention
Look for my new idea: An online bank for time travelers looking to have a safe haven to come back in time, invest in a certain stock and have it kept safe for them for 1-400 years (during which time the stock appreciates and the time traveler returns to their own time a wealthy creature). We promise confidentiality, living away from fault lines and major military installations, and a sufficiently low profile as not to arouse suspicion of temporal police.
We could operate with special requests (have the investment converted to lithium solids at least 2 years prior to 2237, and store in a concrete lined bunker in mojave....? DONE). We'd naturally ask any time traveler to prove merit prior to opening an account simply by giving us an investment direction: If in one year the investment did what the traveler said it would, we will work with them. (and it's not like the time traveler needs to wait - they've got the machine, it's like two stops on an errand run.). Naturally, the "proof" tip is something we only invest lightly in to weed out the scammers (and for them to know we're not just looking for a stock tip and pack up shop... you do not piss off time travelers. They can go back and mess with you. Well, a version of you, as you'll see below). Our money is made by management fees on the REAL investments (plus a conversion fee for turning radioactive future-gold into Euros).
Now of course, the very act of going back in time and making this investment really breaks temporal cohesion and the "you" who would benefit from this is not the same "you" who made the trip (a branching universe is created once the past is changed, which is why even though people keep going back in time and killing Hitler, we still have the same past), but we could appeal to the altruism angle - SOME version of you in the future would be the beneficiary of this... and it could filter across the universes to create a positive uplift to your own universe situation, if not the direct benefits. Some sort of "quantum entanglement of investments" theory.
Startup costs are low, for sure... we just need our first investor to show up. I'll be at my fitness studio Time Out Fitness Monday February 9 2009 (or year -28 Global Singularity (beta), year -40 Singularity (Final), or Mayan Zero Year -3) at 7am Central Time, having just finished my class. I'll be ready to talk.
We could operate with special requests (have the investment converted to lithium solids at least 2 years prior to 2237, and store in a concrete lined bunker in mojave....? DONE). We'd naturally ask any time traveler to prove merit prior to opening an account simply by giving us an investment direction: If in one year the investment did what the traveler said it would, we will work with them. (and it's not like the time traveler needs to wait - they've got the machine, it's like two stops on an errand run.). Naturally, the "proof" tip is something we only invest lightly in to weed out the scammers (and for them to know we're not just looking for a stock tip and pack up shop... you do not piss off time travelers. They can go back and mess with you. Well, a version of you, as you'll see below). Our money is made by management fees on the REAL investments (plus a conversion fee for turning radioactive future-gold into Euros).
Now of course, the very act of going back in time and making this investment really breaks temporal cohesion and the "you" who would benefit from this is not the same "you" who made the trip (a branching universe is created once the past is changed, which is why even though people keep going back in time and killing Hitler, we still have the same past), but we could appeal to the altruism angle - SOME version of you in the future would be the beneficiary of this... and it could filter across the universes to create a positive uplift to your own universe situation, if not the direct benefits. Some sort of "quantum entanglement of investments" theory.
Startup costs are low, for sure... we just need our first investor to show up. I'll be at my fitness studio Time Out Fitness Monday February 9 2009 (or year -28 Global Singularity (beta), year -40 Singularity (Final), or Mayan Zero Year -3) at 7am Central Time, having just finished my class. I'll be ready to talk.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Wonderful Bella
1) Tonight Jenny was over, and the three of them were somewhat quiet upstairs for a while. Bella ran downstairs and asked "can I have some socks?" Why? "We want to make sock puppets." We pointed her to my sports socks drawer and told her to take what she wants. She ran back up stairs and we heard her exclaim:
"Jenny! Wonderful News! We can use my dad's SOCKS!!!"
Wonderful news???
2) Of course I had to tell her about my fun evening in San Fran with Al and Topsoil as I put her to bed tonight (see previous blog posting). Naturally I finished with "and there was a NAKED MAN" which led to lots and lots of giggles. At the end of the story, she asked the name of the naked man I said "Avi" which isn't right, but it's not far off.
She said "Avi? That's a strange name!"
I responded "You think Avi is strange? What do you think about Topsoil's name?"
She paused...
"Well soil means dirt, and dirt is a good thing. Add in Top which means best, and it works. It's a good name."
I have to admit she has a point. Nature girl is approving of the Radical Faerie naming, I suppose!
And that's the update. Bella is VERY happy to hear I'll be in town for 12 whole days before my next trip. Pamela too. I imagine Isaac would be too, if he had a refined concept of time. But he's just a boy.
"Jenny! Wonderful News! We can use my dad's SOCKS!!!"
Wonderful news???
2) Of course I had to tell her about my fun evening in San Fran with Al and Topsoil as I put her to bed tonight (see previous blog posting). Naturally I finished with "and there was a NAKED MAN" which led to lots and lots of giggles. At the end of the story, she asked the name of the naked man I said "Avi" which isn't right, but it's not far off.
She said "Avi? That's a strange name!"
I responded "You think Avi is strange? What do you think about Topsoil's name?"
She paused...
"Well soil means dirt, and dirt is a good thing. Add in Top which means best, and it works. It's a good name."
I have to admit she has a point. Nature girl is approving of the Radical Faerie naming, I suppose!
And that's the update. Bella is VERY happy to hear I'll be in town for 12 whole days before my next trip. Pamela too. I imagine Isaac would be too, if he had a refined concept of time. But he's just a boy.
SFO
Another week, another trip. This time to San Francisco, which is one of my favorite places. I had two good meetings, some "team building" with the onsite group, and a bit of time to wander around the city... Unlike my recent trips to Dallas, NYC, Seattle, and Boston, the weather was NOT unseasonably cold. In fact it has been beautiful. Finally.
I had lunch at Yank Sing yesterday - a wonderful DimSum restaurant. This is my 4th visit and I've finally got comfortable with the concept, and am no longer shy about asking for exactly what I want and not waiting for the carts. As always, the Peking Duck is something at on paper I would never eat (the fatty layer...), but in practice is flat out delicious. At the end of the meal, I surprised the hostess by saying "shi de hen hao chi" - it was delicious. Which strangely led to a fragmentary exchange in which I BELIEVE she was saying I reminded her of Alton Brown from Food Network. Very interesting.
On the language tip, last week in NYC I was riding an elevator and a couple came in having an apparent argument, hissing at eachother in french. I didn't react, but suddenly I head the woman tell the man "Tais-toi - il peut comprendre francias, hein?" (ssshh - he could understand french!) Again, I didn't react, but I though it was interesting to catch myself being referred to in the third person... All the more reason to keep my languages current.
I met Al and Topsoil for dinner last night in the Mission area, near the Castro. It was a very good Tapas place and we were coursed: I liked almost everything... Al had a funny comment - "there is no other food where the degree to which I hated it as a kid and the degree to which I love it now is as extreme as Brussels Sprouts." It was a wonderfully cerebral way to express it... Alas, even though I've seen some pretty innovative preparations of the Sprouts, they remain horrible horrible devils cabbage to me.
We got talking about a documentary released recently about an obscure 1960s popstar who still makes strange records and sounds like "Roy Orbison on LSD". Naturally, after dinner and a walk around the neighborhood (past Dolores Park, which was gorgeous), I was treated to a glass of scotch and a listening to said music at Al's place.
When we walked in, we were bemused to find that their houseguest (who has been there for a couple of months) had turned the heat WAY up, and was lounging around naked. Ah, San Francisco. He threw on a pair of shorts for a little while, but by the time I left, he was floating in the communal hot tub, lights on, naked again. They live in a little "secret world" in the Mission - only a garage visible from the street, opening up inside to 4 house/apartments and a small courtyard. And nakedness is just fine with everyone. I think Al has found a good place in the world for himself.
And the music listening... let's say the early 1960s stuff sounded a bit like Tom Jones with a Tom Petty accent, and the later stuff sounds like 1980s Nick Cave crossed with yes, Roy Orbison, but also a little Klaus Nomi thrown in for good measure. For my journey home, I had to put on some very energetic pop music to counterbalance the strangeness.
Im SFO waiting for my plane, which is substantially delayed due to mechanical issues (fix them, take your time), but life is good because as I sit here, on the muzak is Fake by Alexander O'Neal. That was a fabulous Jam/Lewis production.
I had lunch at Yank Sing yesterday - a wonderful DimSum restaurant. This is my 4th visit and I've finally got comfortable with the concept, and am no longer shy about asking for exactly what I want and not waiting for the carts. As always, the Peking Duck is something at on paper I would never eat (the fatty layer...), but in practice is flat out delicious. At the end of the meal, I surprised the hostess by saying "shi de hen hao chi" - it was delicious. Which strangely led to a fragmentary exchange in which I BELIEVE she was saying I reminded her of Alton Brown from Food Network. Very interesting.
On the language tip, last week in NYC I was riding an elevator and a couple came in having an apparent argument, hissing at eachother in french. I didn't react, but suddenly I head the woman tell the man "Tais-toi - il peut comprendre francias, hein?" (ssshh - he could understand french!) Again, I didn't react, but I though it was interesting to catch myself being referred to in the third person... All the more reason to keep my languages current.
I met Al and Topsoil for dinner last night in the Mission area, near the Castro. It was a very good Tapas place and we were coursed: I liked almost everything... Al had a funny comment - "there is no other food where the degree to which I hated it as a kid and the degree to which I love it now is as extreme as Brussels Sprouts." It was a wonderfully cerebral way to express it... Alas, even though I've seen some pretty innovative preparations of the Sprouts, they remain horrible horrible devils cabbage to me.
We got talking about a documentary released recently about an obscure 1960s popstar who still makes strange records and sounds like "Roy Orbison on LSD". Naturally, after dinner and a walk around the neighborhood (past Dolores Park, which was gorgeous), I was treated to a glass of scotch and a listening to said music at Al's place.
When we walked in, we were bemused to find that their houseguest (who has been there for a couple of months) had turned the heat WAY up, and was lounging around naked. Ah, San Francisco. He threw on a pair of shorts for a little while, but by the time I left, he was floating in the communal hot tub, lights on, naked again. They live in a little "secret world" in the Mission - only a garage visible from the street, opening up inside to 4 house/apartments and a small courtyard. And nakedness is just fine with everyone. I think Al has found a good place in the world for himself.
And the music listening... let's say the early 1960s stuff sounded a bit like Tom Jones with a Tom Petty accent, and the later stuff sounds like 1980s Nick Cave crossed with yes, Roy Orbison, but also a little Klaus Nomi thrown in for good measure. For my journey home, I had to put on some very energetic pop music to counterbalance the strangeness.
Im SFO waiting for my plane, which is substantially delayed due to mechanical issues (fix them, take your time), but life is good because as I sit here, on the muzak is Fake by Alexander O'Neal. That was a fabulous Jam/Lewis production.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
