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On the verge of December
Tomorrow is December 1st, the beginning of the last month of the year. Sure went by fast. I suppose that happens when there is no time to be bored. A cousin made an observation yesterday, “Boredom is underrated.” So true…unless you’re actually bored. Then maybe it’s overrated.
This past week has been one in search of boredom … and not finding it. W. and I had most of it off and spent it around the house wearing pajamas and watching movies1. We did spend a good chunk of day at a tire place having new feet installed on our cars. But between trips to the grocery store, movie place, and feeding our cats, we enjoyed doing as little as possible. I did some reading, did a little (not enough) of my homework that’s due this week, and we put up some holiday decorations. The days passed too quickly and here we are, on the verge of December and work tomorrow.
Nothing wrong with any of this. Work is interesting enough and who doesn’t like the freshness of a new year? Only a couple more weeks left in this semester then a short break before I start another. Two more interesting courses on the horizon then it’ll be summer break. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. No point rushing things past faster than they’re already going.
Thanksgiving was uneventful. We made a nice dinner and talked to our families who were gathered up north. We went for a walk and talked about someday moving back up there or getting a cottage up north so we could be closer to friends and family. We’ve been away for a long time and wonder what would be different if we were closer to parents and siblings. Who knows what will happen. We’re both dug deep into our careers and hesitate to make any drastic navigational changes. But we think about it from time to time. Especially around the holidays.
Image: Taken while waiting to cross State St. while walking back to the parking garage on Tuesday after class. They’d decorated the inside of the arcade with lights and garland.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Our favorite was Juno. [↩]
No sense in worrying
A classmate of mine suggested Pandora to me today so I signed up and created a station based on Nina Simone. Otis Spann was just reminding me there’s no sense in worrying, and after thinking about it, I have to agree. The semester is weighing on me like a backpack filled with textbooks and bricks, so his reminder helps…a little.
Looking ahead, I registered today for winter semester. I signed up for a course on developing eCommunities and course on managing the IT organization. Should be interesting. First, I have to get through the two I have…and I will. In fact, I should be working on homework tonight. But after spending all day in classes, I decided to just chill and reflect.
Like Otis said, no sense in worrying. I’ve reserved time the rest of the week and this weekend to concentrate on final projects1
It was cold when I walked across campus early this morning. The sun was out, a blessing of sorts. Made the cold feel less cold…but it was still below freezing.
Pandora is playing me songs by Shirley Horn, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta Jones, Billie Holiday, and Madeleine Peyroux even. I’m feeling the melancholy. Sing it girls…
In a meeting the other day I pulled out my trusty cyber shot and found it deader than a doornail. I knew I’d just switched batteries so found this very odd. Today I charged the battery, verified it was topped off and set off. After taking pictures during the walk across campus, I was putting it back into the cell phone holster I use to hold it and noticed something interesting. If I put it in one way, the magnet from the holster flap was making it come on. Apparently the panel that drops down to expose the lens turns the camera on using a magnet and my holster was doing the same thing. Turned the camera around and all was good. No more worrying I had a bum battery.
Speaking of batteries, a wall clock in a computer lab stopped working about 10 weeks ago. I noticed this the first week and ignored it. After the third week I decided to put a sticky note on it saying “dead battery.” After the 7th week I took the clock off the wall and put it near a garbage can. This morning I remembered to pocket a AA battery on my way out of the house and resurrected the nearly disposed of wall clock. I figured it would take more effort to get the university to bring in a single AA battery than to do it myself. But then, I didn’t try to figure out who to contact so maybe it would be easy. But seriously, I tried to make it obvious. Usability fail.
Image: I took this from the 3rd floor window of West Hall today. Was looking for an interesting photo of campus and this turned out to be one of them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Which are going pretty well, all things considered. [↩]
Nothing is ever simple…like honey
You’ve probably heard the saying about how things that seem simple have hidden complexity. I find this to be true again and again. All you have to do is look beneath the hood to find a complex machine carefully burning a precise mixture of chemicals delivered through carefully engineered tubes that propel you to the store to buy food your body can burn in a similarly complex yet extremely precise fashion.
I’m learning a lesson about complexity and intuition at work. Having dealt indirectly with the complex for a couple years, I saw an opportunity to try to simplify. With the help from Red, we made solid progress. However, what was forewarned came to pass. Though I fought valiantly against a complexity that couldn’t hide under scrutiny, a more complex and discouraging complexity took it’s place. And it did so in the guise of something simple. Without contention, the solution was simple, elegant, and lean. But alas, a complexity more insurmountable than the previous took its place. So I acquiesce while fighting to find and embrace a better way. And I’ll find it. Turning the complex into the simple is what computer wizardy and artistic license is all about.
So tomorrow I’ll embrace the challenge while pondering how best to explain the shifting sands that don’t appear shifty to dancing Bears. But then, maybe I won’t explain it at all. Sometimes I talk too much and this tends to make the simple complex, daunting, and maybe a bit boring. I much prefer questions instead of answers. At least when questions are of the interesting variety.
Deadlines for projects, papers, and homework loom while my day job pushes me along like an avalanche on a mountain with no foothill. Pushing, relentless, unforgiving, and impersonal is the nature of this cold, iron-fisted avalanche. Though I work to stay ahead of it, I can always feel the rumble of it’s approach. Never a moment to rest and focus.
Image: The arrangement on my dining room table inspired me to reflect. Salt, a mineral from the earth. Pepper, grown from that earth. Vitamins aggregated from earthly sources. And honey; assembled through the effort of the many, intended for the preservation of the few. Simple yet complex.
Trying to stay on track
Not sure why, but I’m feeling cranky and discouraged tonight.
After a grueling day at the office, I spent most of the evening working on assignments and fussing with Perl scripts to spider and analyze text from web sites. It isn’t going as well as I’d hoped. I’m a little concerned about getting done what I need to and am fretting that I might not have as much time this weekend to work on homework.
Oh well, I’ll make do. Like always.
Probably shouldn’t blog when I’m feeling frustrated with my current position in the world.
I wonder why everything has to be so political, bureaucratic, and adversarial that so many spend too much time fearing saying the wrong thing or doing something outside the societal lines of cultural rule to draw recrimination, admonition, and condemnation. Sure, there are always limits to what is appropriate, like when an action causes intentional pain and suffering to another. But innovation and free thinking shouldn’t be constrained by misplaced intentions.
I have to remember to hold my tongue more or I’m liable to bite it off flapping my jaws so much. Cursed with a motor-mouth.