Category Archives: Life

Lessons from life…

Posted on by

I had a bad day today. I mean one of those days when you leave the office that you don’t really care if you ever go back kind of days. I was angry, frustrated, and generally exhausted from the bureaucratic process that drives the federal machine. Actually, I thought I was having a bad day at that point. I also knew that someone I consider a dear friend and one of my favorite targets of merciless flirting was having surgery today.

It was a common procedure that should have been no fuss, no muss, over and done. At six o’clock I learned that it hadn’t been as simple as that. Somehow things had gotten complicated. All I knew at that point was that someone I care for was in trouble and I realized at that moment that I would have given anything to make things right. There wasn’t anything in the world I wanted more than to simply be there, as though just my presence would make some kind of difference. And in that moment, I would have given everything up just to be there and see for myself that she was alright.

I’m not going to sit here and type out a manifesto promising a life-long reordering of my priorities, but I will say that for the first time in a long, long time, my eyes were opened to the world beyond my own little slice of life and how perilous a blade it balances on. She may not be mine to win or lose, but knowing this chick makes me want to be a better man. I’m not there in body, but you can stand assured that I’m most assuredly there in spirit.

Fall back…

Posted on by

I just want to go on the record and say that this “fall back” to standard time thing sucks. We’re a post-industrial society. There is no good reason that I can think of that we need to rejigger our clocks twice a year. I’m up and rolling before the sun in both “saving” and “standard” modes, so my proposal is that the country gets together and just picks one. I don’t care which one it is, personally. Plus, there was some asshat on the radio on Friday saying that we should be falling back an hours and 20 minutes to account for the slowing rotational speed of the earth. What? Give me a goddamned break already.

Fortunately, the issue of how we account for time is in the capable hands of the brains trust we call the United States Congress. May God have mercy on our souls.

Ladies lying about in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government…

Posted on by

I’m generally considered a pretty smart guy, but I have never understood the thought process that goes on in the mind of chicks when they are making potentially life altering decisions. I’m a planner by habit as well as by profession and one thing I can say with a far degree of certainty is that “butterfly feelings” in the stomach area and how cute it was because he cried are generally not major planning considerations. In fact, I’d go so far to say that they are, in fact, a poor basis for any decision-making process.

Decisions of significance are made after careful analysis of the possible and likely outcomes, the severity of risks, consultation with subject matter experts, and a through “scrub” to make sure you are even asking the right questions. Without applying an overlay of logic to the process, decisions basically become “guesses.” And quite frankly, it has been my experience that life is far too short and time is far too precious to stumble from one point to another based on my best guess

I don’t mind dispensing advice; in fact I rather enjoy doing it. But please, ladies, when you ask, remember that I’m going to apply logical analysis to the situation rather than take stock in whatever butterfly effect you might be feeling. And if at some point one of you can explain to me what I’m missing here, please, please clue me in. I’m serious here people, I know there are a lot of you out there who read on a regular basis. I just want to understand what I am working with here. Can one of you dear readers enlighten me?

WTF…

Posted on by

Does someone want to tell me how the hell it’s the 30th of September already? I’m serious, goddamnit. Who the hell authorized this? I’m feeling a little bit like somewhere between moving and playing road warrior, I’ve somehow managed to miss most of 2007. I have vague recollections of doing things, but the actual coherent memories are few and far between. That’s probably not a good thing.

It could be a little foggy…

Posted on by

One of my oldest friends will be in town this weekend. Not to sound too much like a twittering school girl, but I’m like soooo friggin’ excited! We all get caught up in how serious and important we are. This weekend is about stripping off that veneer and being loose to roam the streets, hit the bars, and chase loose women (with apologies to his wife). I’ve needed this weekend for a while now. If any of the stories are fit to print, I’m sure you’ll see them here.

Returning to regular programming…

Posted on by

The last few days have been an effort to clear out the photographic backlog I’ve managed to build up. Happily, I seem to have gotten through all of the at this point, so I am free to get back to my first passion… bitching about random subjects here on the internet. It’s good to get back to basics.

My alarm system is obviously still on the fritz, my dentist is trying to micromanage my health, and it’s a pain in the ass to get a doctor’s office to return your call in this town. Other than that, just a typical early Sunday morning working through a backlog of mail and bills. As you can see, it’s another exciting Sunday on tap here on the banks of the Big Muddy.

August and Everything After…

Posted on by

I just found out that Counting Crows is releasing a “deluxe edition” of August and Everything After on September 18th… Lots of demos and live cuts on the second disk. I can’t actually remember the last time I went to a store and “bought an album,” but I’ll be getting mine on Tuesday. Because I’m a helpful kind of guy, you can get yours from Amazon.

The original release was a big part of the soundtrack to some of the best memories I have… I’m always amazed that everything around you can change, but the music always brings you back to a unique time and place. Listening to this will be like a chance meeting with old friends… OK, old friends from Berkeley… damned dirty hippy friends… but still, it’s just like Frosted Flakes, baby… They’re Grrrrreat!

Requiem…

Posted on by

I wandered out the front doors of the hotel this morning and looked across Pennsylvania Ave at the flags flying in front of the Wilson Building. It was early, I was nursing my first cup of coffee and cigarette for the day (damn Marriott anyway) and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why the flags were flying at half staff. It didn’t occur to me until 15 minutes later, over a bagel, that today was actually September 11th. Yeah, I actually had to do that math on that one… It doesn’t seem possible that it’s been six years.

It’s only on reflection that I realized the real weight of the day – What it’s come to mean in our history; The blood and treasure that we’ve poured out on the days from then until now; the schism that it has left on our politics in our collective effort to decide what September 11th really means. More painful, perhaps, is the indifference that most now feel towards those who waged unholy war on us on a clear morning that seems both cavernously distant and painfully close. We were not the aggressor, but the victim of a ruthless attack carried out by cowardly men on an innocent population. We’re quick to forget those minutes and hours that seemed to stretch out forever.

I went to see Lincoln tonight. It just seemed fitting somehow. But the words that stuck in my head weren’t those written to bind up our nation’s wounds. They’re still too fresh for that. All along my long walk tonight, I was recalling Churchill’s words from the frosted depths of the Cold War… “We have surmounted all the perils and endured all the agonies of the past. We shall provide against and thus prevail over the dangers and problems of the future, withhold no sacrifice, grudge no toil, seek no sordid gain, fear no foe. All will be well. We have, I believe, within us the life-strength and guiding light by which the tormented world around us may find the harbour of safety, after a storm-beaten voyage.”

Winston would have understood the 21st Century. Sure, we have different clothes and different music, but it’s the same old world. He’d tell us to never give in and to stay the course. He knew that the only way to defeat evil was to pummel it into unquestioned submission. Winston would have understood.

And then there was light…

Posted on by

And I saw that the light was good. I’ve been working on a couple of relatively simple outdoor lighting projects and I must say, am please with the result on both counts. Did some small spotlight work on the front. Nothing major there, but it highlights some of the architectural details fairly nicely. Of course I’m never going to be able to resist the temptation to tinker with the settings and angles in search of perfection. The back got new floods and a motion sensor. It’s like daylight back there now, baby. Add in the mowing and trimming and you can tell it was quite the exciting Saturday here, no? There’s really not so much other “stuff” going on at the moment, so if you came looking for my usual misanthropic rant, I’m sorry to disappoint. Worry not, though, as I’m sure it will be no time at all before I feel another one coming on.

Right back where we started from…

Posted on by

I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Fort Lee. When I was desperate to leave teaching and sloshing my way towards high-functioning alcoholism, Ft. Lee was my first step towards redemption. It was the place that restored my faith in my own abilities. Coming back to this place is a little like coming home to mama. It is one of those little pieces of geography that gives me a warm fuzzy. I am a firm believer that there are certain places, geographic locations that have a huge impact on who we become as people. I’m not going so far as arguing that geography makes the man (although there are some interesting theories floating around), just that it has an influence.

I’m sitting here 1000 yards from where Grant broke the rebel line at Petersburg in the last great battle of our Civil Way. After Petersburg, the worst of the conflict was over, though peace would come only after the fall of Richmond and the long march to Appomattox. After Petersburg, normal was still a long way off. There remained the struggle of national Reconstruction and decades of Jim Crowe. The Republic had endured the dark threat of disunion and although Gettysburg is remembered as the battle that turned the tide, it was Petersburg that finally broke the back of the rebellion. This is where the process of restoring faith in the Union began in earnest.

In so many ways, Petersburg did the same thing for me. There’s something about the symmetry that I like.