We’re under a collective fatigue. A lot has happened the past few months and this is the breaking point. Between the hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, an earthquake, events now called by cities, Charlottesville, Las Vegas, followed by trial by Northern California Fires and Hollywood Harvey and a time line of taking the knee.I felt…
Ace does not like me. This is a fact. Ace is a dog and every time he sees me, a barking frenzy ensues. He is not afraid of me. His tail is wagging, but his demeanor is more, let me get off the leash and see watch what happens. Ace has spoken barked. Someone mentioned to…
Assumed you’re always being watched. I know there are those bristling at the thought. From my 7th floor balcony I can see people in a parking garage 3 blocks away, see housekeeping enter and exit rooms at a hotel a block away and see inside which restaurants have a line before I go out to…
I hadn’t intentionally changed my order at Starbucks in 10 years. In March, the barista made me a vanilla latte instead of a chi tea latte and boom, for the last 6 months, my drink order has switched. Funny, it hadn’t occurred to me to try anything new. “Stuck in a rut” is defined as…
The song, Ain’t too Proud too Beg* has been on my mind and I’m not happy with the dictionary definition of beg which says to earnestly or humbly ask for something. Begging is pleading with a sense of urgency and fervor. It’s been informed by 3 generations in my family. I begged for Captain Crunch cereal…
I don’t associate vegan restaurants with decadence, but Souley Vegan, Monday through Friday, from 6:00 am – 10:00am, serves beignets and chicory coffee. It takes 11 minutes for me to run across the street, grab my fix and get back to my desk for a sugar and caffeine party. My party was interrupted on Friday.…
Houston is incomprehensible. The scenes of people fleeing with water above their necks, The narratives of people who fled Katrina, moved to Houston and are fleeing yet again. People have lost everything. It will take years and years of recovery. I’m just going to eat cake. I started a new job in February with a…
How are you doing? The clerk caught my eyes, and he knew I meant it and admitted, “I know I’m suppose to say I’m good, but I am tired. I have school, two jobs and I’ve not had a day off in 10 days.” With that, we could have a conversation. The exchange left me…
We’re getting eclipsed. There is a total solar eclipse visible in the US. For more than three years, I have posted a new blog post every Monday until last week. I posted eclipsed part one on Friday. After all, there are times to break the routine and do something different. When do you break routine?…
It’s about to get dark in the US. Over 7 million people will travel to specific sites and millions more will participate in local events. Participation and interest are optional, but, awareness is not. There is a total solar eclipse on Monday, August 21, 2017. There is no pain when you stare at the moon…
I hadn’t planned on anyone I know dying this week. I don’t have special powers or control over the universe to know when these things are going to happen. My reaction this week was not out of surprise as much as it was denial. She was just a couple of years younger than me. With…
No one knows where I am including me. I’m in a barely motorized vehicle that looks like an adult sized baby stroller attached to a motorcycle with Mr Lindht. The man at Wat Pho convinced me to take “easy way to marble temple” and then instructed my driver in Thai. As soon as we pull…
You are not stuck. Sure, people like to think they are, but they aren’t. You are not in the same place now that you were three years ago. Seriously, unless you have been in a coma for 36 months, you faced obstacles, changes, emotional turmoil along with moments of sheer joy and laughter. Honest reflection…
Oh crap, this is more than I bargained for; the path of obstacles. I lean back, avoiding a swath of swinging sticks close to my head when a several yards later I sounds of alarm force me to duck to avoid a bombing. When I finally reached the end and remove my shoes to go…
Stop it people. Stop it now. Accepting a Facebook friend request from Jaden K. Smith will not allow him to hack my account and the account of all my fiends. It is a hoax. I got warnings from six brilliant people. Why? When something supports our belief system, there is less of a chance we…
Part 1: The woman, already annoyed her Starbucks mobile order wasn’t ready, got a little more frustrated when the milk canister was empty and while her manner was respectful, there seemed to be a tinge of contempt as she shoved the container to the barista and brusquely said “out of milk.” Her look indicated she expected…
There is a thing I do, make white people comfortable. Survival techniques my parents taught me. Be well-mannered and respectful as not be perceived as an uppity negro. It does not matter if you are better educated, better read and more economically advantaged, just make sure ‘they”don’t feel it. Over the years, I learned, be…
A proper handstand is an inversion you can enter, hold and exit with control. I cannot do a handstand. Do not be fooled by this picture which depicts a point in time of one try out of eight. Trust and believe, I wouldn’t try this on the balcony of a confined space because I can’t…
So the bus passes by this woman waiting at the bus stop. OK, maybe the driver didn’t see her, but still, it is a bus stop. I think the bus driver should have stopped. The woman takes off and runs after the bus. She catches is when the bus is at a stop light and…
I look observant in the first few photos¹. Subdued for no particular reason; it was an open space and the alley was empty. Still, I just stood there for 35 frames until I extended my arms and smiled.A bird doesn’t fly without spreading its wings. It is much the same with people. Without stretching our…
For six years, I traveled weekly. One night, driving home from the airport, I repeatedly pressed a button trying to make a stop light change from red to green and I could not understand why it didn’t work. At least not until I go home and realized I tried to use the garage door opener…
Memorial Day – at times it seems we are trying to hard to forget what the day is really about. Which is rather ironic for a holiday that is all about memory. Memorial day is in honor of those who have died while serving in the country’s armed forces. Formerly known as decoration day, the…
Me, “It’s Marilyn Manson. Bo, “No, it’s Depeche Mode” Me, “It’s like one of the only two Marilyn Manson song I like, Your Own Personal Jesus.” Bo, “No, it’s Depeche Mode, I first heard it when I was in Japan., it was nuts, whoa, what is that. We’d walked by a bar where the song was…
Customer: “Are we going to finish on time?I am not seeing a lot of progress, but I am still paying the same amount every week.” Contractor: “Yes, we will finish on time. You don’t see a lot, but a lot of work is going into creating the base for the rest of work. If we…
Homeless, Broke and Ugly. It’s one of the panhandler’s signs from the popular spot at the intersection of the freeway, police station, cannabis shop two blocks from the place I now call home. One of the daily reminders I am out of the suburban bubble. There is a Starbucks in the building where I live…
Thursday was take your child to work day. While I work from home that day and did not see the display of kids in the office, every day I am privy to people bringing their “inner child” to work, i.e. people who use childlike logic to explain what something didn’t get done, to rationalized what…
This week, I got nothing. Nothing is ready for posting. Sure, I have three partial posts with great themes, a day of hooky, discussion versus decision and the feeling of joy when you find out, it’s not just you. So what? Nothing is ready for this week’s post. The last couple of weeks at work, I’ve maniacally researched, questioned and shown a new program is not ready for release. The implementation team discounted my findings.
“This development is agile and this release is a minimum viable product, like a cake with no icing. The icing comes later”
“But your cake is not baked; you have nothing to serve.”
Me, “Wait, you were pumping gas at 5:30 am and someone opened the door and stole your iPad off the passenger seat?” James, “Yes, and I’m in small remote town. David, “The security cameras that caught it, right? The police can see who did it.” James, “Not really, the image on the camera wasn’t good.…
Leaving to spend time with family and hospitalized for exhaustion. Recognize these as code speak? In the business world, an executive is “fired” but the reason is given as spend time with family. A celebrity parties to hard or has a drug overdose the reason is the half truth of hospitalized for exhaustion. This is…
There is that moment when I am barely awake and I want to stay in curled up in bed, but I need to go the bathroom. Need wins and I get up immediately. Today, the need is losing. I want to relax. I want to do nothing all day and sit on the balcony and watch the sunset. However,…
Crazy Time. Oh yes, you’ve been in it. A meeting goes on to long and people start talking crazy. Unfortunately, crazy talk has gotten confused with “innovative ideas” and “out of the box” thinking. If you watch small kids, when they get tired, but fear they may miss something, they do everything they can to…
The first beep made me laugh. The second beep, well. really? Someone blew his/her horn at me twice, apparently with the goal of hurrying me along so he/she could park in a space occupied by me and my car. Friday, I had fifteen minutes before I needed to leave for my next appointment, Perfect, I…
I hate “planning.” which is ironic since people who know me would raise an eyebrow and tell you I would plan my dreams if I could. I hate planning, but, I know it is necessary to get good results. I had an all day meeting this week and we spent a good two hours talking to…
There is a hidden camera. I need a new washer and dryer for the condo, there are three brands I will buy, yet, the salesman insists on the one brand I said I don’t want. This must be a hidden camera joke. Me: That is the brand I am replacing; I don’t want it. Salesman:…
I am sick and it’s from stress. There I said it and I meant it. When there are things I am slow to admit, I have to ask why. This discussion reminds me I am not imbued with super powers and an admission while maybe a little embarrassing is usually more helpful than harmful. Admitting, I am…
There are 6 people, one is playing a game on an iPad, another is answering email, two are having a conversation and in hushed tones, two are listening to one person speak. This isn’t a group of random people at Starbucks at any given time of day, these are coworkers in a meeting. Thus was…
I began the move into my new condo. The previous owners had their cleaners clean. I hired cleaners to clean and yet I still spent two hours removing a film a grease and a quarter inch layer thick of grim and dust off the kitchen stove. That was just wrong. But it was also, subjective.…
I have an address after 7 weeks of hotel living, I have the keys to the new place. Does it feel like home? NO, but I have felt “at home” this week. The laughter during and camaraderie at dinner with a couple of colleagues from Europe felt like home. Spending time with an old friend …
Ouch. This week, I will travel to a conference for two days of design and development, move to a new city into a new house, and find a new job or make significant inroads on the job search. A few people have observed, I have a sense of calm and centeredness and to my surprise,…
Sunday morning and ‘m in a hotel lobby trying to write but really stressing out about all the things I have to do in the next 10 days, like move and find a job. The universe is supporting me in this. I look out the window, I have a view of Mount Diablo Yes, I…
“Life is too short,” is an over used, misguided cliché of fill in the blank babble. At least from an analytical view. The average lifespan for American men is about 76 years and for American women it’s around 81 years. Not that short. You don’t know when you will die, you don’t know the day,…
Sheila, your year-end write-up doesn’t look like you did anything last year. I sent you an example of what to include but all you wrote was the area and the results, you didn’t include what you had to do get there. <FLASH> Yes, she was right. I didn’t want to seem like I was whining…
As 2017 begins, I question the word “worst.” Politically speaking, some say President Obama was the worst thing to have happened to the US, while others say president-elect Trump is the worst event in the history of the nation. The US is still a young country at 240 years old, still, to say something is the worst is to …
I have blogged weekly for 30 months and have published 139 posts. But this year has been different. A seemingly subtle shift happened 10 months ago, with my post about Apple versus the FBI. For 20 months, I’d pretty much avoided social commentary but there were all these thoughts demanding a voice. After that post,…
If you’d told me in 2001, when I moved into my house, people would recognize my kitchen and me from photographs, I’d not be able to imagine in what sort of world this would be possible. Yet, this year, I had 4 instances of people recognizing me from Instagram. Me and my kitchen yoga. I’m selling…
Move is to displace a thing from one place to another. That simplified meaning mocks me. Were it that simple, I’d be packed and done in 2 days,* Fueled with Dr Pepper and Lay’s sour cream and onion chips (family sized bag) I can power through mechanical tasks like painting a room, cleaning a house or raking leaves. The word…
Arghh. I have a huge project at work to finish in two weeks, I am selling a house and I’m trying to buy a house. Every time I open my mouth, there is this competition of all the things in my head trying to escape. My eyes are darting about and my conversation is punctuated with…
It’s the end of the year when I start to clear out stuff. In the past, I went room to room. This year, I’m using a new strategy, purge first. I mean a serious purge of gathering all like items in one place and starting to toss stuff out. When I finally got all my books…
Who you are in good times is what you want to be. What you do in challenging times is your nature. How you treat people in victory or defeat is your character. It’s easy to be your best self when things are good. Challenges fray nerves, shake beliefs and reveal truths. Is graciousness and compassion something you aspire to in either…
It was a spirited discussion of Trump versus Clinton with supporters on both sides. There was a moment when I just listened, observed and smiled; it was the coolest thing. This wasn’t some news program, debate or viral meme. This was dinner with a diverse group of friends having honest discussion. This was a group…
