I'll Be Home for Christmas

I've been house-sitting for a buddy of mine this weekend. Last night I sat and read a little of my novel while his family cat sat with me and enjoyed some company (read "you may pet me, now!"). It got me thinking: I really enjoyed sitting there in the living room, sitting with the cat. It felt like "home."

So I kinda looked around at my buddy's house and thought, yes this does feel like a home. It feels like people really live in the house I'm house-sitting.

Whereas my house feels like a warehouse. It feels like the three of us who live here are just storing our stuff and ourselves at this house. When the roommates give me trouble about something, I usually say, "I don't care, I don't live here." That actually seems to be the case.

This won't do.

So from now to the New Year, I need to start planning what I'm going to do to make my house feel like a real home again. It used to back in the day.

One thing that certainly needs to happen is all the boxes stored all over need to be "gone through." Maybe if we don't have isles (or random piles) of boxes, it won't seem like such a warehouse :)

And I bet I'm not alone in this. All the clutter from our lives may be stopping us from working on the next thing. Or it may be interfering with our Chi. Maybe we need to clear our minds and our spaces so that the next exciting thought or project can come along. Maybe we need to clear out our inboxes so new ideas can come, clean out our closets so the next fun project can start, or clear off the table so the next "family dinner" can happen. It's probably different for each of us.

But I know I'm a nester. It doesn't take much to keep me happy-as long as I have somewhere to be happy. But it takes more than this :) OK roomies, let's get started!

Title Reference: Duh! Bing Crosby, I'll Be Home For Christmas

...And Warm Woolen Mittens...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Tonight it snowed in Colorado Springs and made everything seem all festive all of a sudden. Driving home from dinner I saw the first neighborhood lights set up and it brought such a smile to my face.

I had to stop and take the picture to share I was so excited. I felt like a little kid again. As you can see, I had to fiddle with the camera a bit to get a good picture. And that got me to thinking:

It took several tries to get the image right. Fortunately, the camera allows a preview mode so you can check the photos before you commit to them. Wouldn't it be wonderful if Life did that too? Sometimes you've got to just put your effort in blind and hope that it works out the way you want it to.

Then, while you're messing with whatever you're doing, you've got to pay attention to what's going on outside of your efforts. Sometimes something glorious is happening just outside your view that you'll miss completely if you aren't paying attention. Sometimes you'll see an unexplored path which may lead to glory, or you'll see something that tells you "this is what you're doing this for..." Either way, you have to Look.

And you know, this started out to be a Thanksgiving Post, the obligatory summary of what I'm thankful for. And you know what, I'm thankful for a lot. Some things I'm thankful for them happening and some for them not :)
So, I know I may be happier than I am right now if things were going better or if the company was rolling in cash or whatever but I know I'm Blessed because (in no particular order):

I work with great people, people who share some of my most important dreams

That I have Dreams and I want to make them real

I've got great "kids" in my classes who challenge me and keep me going

I've got more "brilliant ideas" in my head than I could possibly ever turn into reality

I've learned that some take more time to mature than others

I've learned that it's ok to call for help. I don't have to do it all by myself

I've learned to communicate what I want so that the offered help is "helpful"

And that My Way is not necessarily the best way, but it might be a valuable starting point...

And I'm Thankful for our competitors, you know who you are, who challenge us and push us to do better work--and who validate that what we're doing needs to be done

And for our customers who make all the work worthwhile--remember, you are the cause of our work, not an interruption to it and we thank you

Though I'm not as "strong and staminous" as I'd like to be, I'm doing much better than might be true

The list goes on but you get the idea. It's been a great year so far. A hectic, scary year but a great year. I can't wait to see what's next!

And to Sam, Chris, Dace, Brandon, and Ralph, thanks for everything! You guys are the best!

Title Reference: Richard Rogers, Our Favorite Things: Christmas in Vienna

Is It True That You're a Witch?

Today a group of friends and I were sitting at a Panera tonight discussing paganism (what with Halloween/Samhain coming Friday). A random patron walked up and asked one of our members if she was Wiccan. She paused, wondering if she was about to be "saved." I jumped in sensing her discomfort and said "right idea, wrong religion" and she told the guy she was a Druid instead. The young man reached over the partition and handed her a piece of paper that looked very much like a religious tract. Turns out it was a folded over piece of paper with a hand-written note to read a book on Asatru. (early Norse religion) It was such a random moment but it was very interesting. I wish the guy had included his name on the piece of paper. I'd love to talk to him about the book after I get it.

Witchdom of the True (A Study of the Van-Troth and the Practice of Seidr)

Title Reference:

Bar Stool Economics

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten
comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would
go something like this:

The first four men, the poorest, would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man, the richest, would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day
and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner
threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers, he said, I'm going
to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20". Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other
six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that
everyone would get his "fair share?"

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from
everybody's share, then the fifth man and sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).

The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before and the first four continued to drink for free.
But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got
a dollar out of the $20", declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, "but he got $10!" "Yeah, that's right", exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University of Georgia


For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Winter is Coming

I love Fall. Back to School time, cooling weather, scrunchy leaves, knowing family is coming "soon," all those chores that mean "we're going to be busy at least until the mundane new year."

And Samhain is right in the middle of it all. I've long used Samhain as a void-day, not part of either year. I don't read emails or the news or use the phone on that day if I can help it. I try to step out of the world for that day, to be someone else, or just be more contemplative.

Each year I try to clear my inbox of projects, of bills, of piled up correspondence by October 30th. It's amazingly refreshing to feel that there is a day with no "duties" waiting in the inbox. This year I wanted to finish my house remodel but I know that's overly optomistic so instead, I'm expanding my clean out process. I'm preparing for my void-day by clearing out a couple closets of stuff that doesn't need to live with me any more. I expect to experience the same satisfaction of emptying my inbox and waiting to see what new thing will come to use that new space. There's something hopefull about that blank slate waiting to be filled. It's that same expectation that Back to School time has for me. I've got shiny new notebooks for information, and shiny new pixels waiting to make emails for me. I can't wait to see what will fill the space in my notebooks. I can't wait to see what fills the shiny new space in my Life.

[Interestingly, while I was writing this I came across this article on Witchvox which is about the same kind of thing from the Pagan perspective.]

Time for a Change

I went to work for one of the Presidential campaigns tonight. I just did data entry tasks but I processed a lot of papers. I was intrigued by the amount of voter registration forms I processed tonight that were for Republicans that were flagged as likely to vote for Obama. It was intriguing to watch the kinds of data that the campaign people were looking at.
But I'll definitely be back tomorrow. I enjoyed the group of people I worked with and the camaraderie was great. And the young man that mentored me was gorgeous so that was even better. It's definitely time for a change for me. Time to get out of the house and meet some interesting folks and use our brains together.
Now if David is as interesting as he seems, this'll be great!

There's a Fine, Fine Line...

Last weekend, under geas from the Universe, I made a List of what I wanted to achieve in the "near future." Amoung them was a set of requirements for a Lover. Since this weekend, this song from Avenue Q has been stuck in my head:

There's a fine, fine line between a lover and a friend;

There's a fine, fine line between reality and pretend;

And you never know 'til you reach the top if it was worth the uphill climb.


There's a fine, fine line between love

And a waste of time.

...

You gotta go after the things you want while you're still in your prime...

I made a List many years ago which was in my thoughts heavily when I made this one. I made the list and presented it to the Universe back then. And the Universe dutifully complied. I met Steve. He was exactly what I wanted. Except. He wasn't gay-or rather, he didn't want to be. I hadn't included that on my List because I thought well, duh, of course I want a gay man. But that's not how the Universe works. So I amended my List and resubmitted it to the Universe. And I got Ron. Who was "very nearly correct." Ron was quite the whirlwind. And I'm more of a solid grounded kind of guy--at least I was then thank you very much. We were together for a fair amount of time but it didn't last. I went back to the List to
try to amend it again but couldn't think how.

So now, here I am, with a new List. Waiting to see what happens. I'm older now (by definition), in fact, I'll be 42 in a few weeks. I hope I've grown up and hopefully have good things to offer my new Lover (thanks Hyperion!) I believe I do. Based on my List, he will, too :)

I'm happy enough on my own, but there are times when I'd like to share stuff with another guy. My buddy Sam and I have that kind of relationship. And it's almost good enough :) If he'd just put out once in a while, he'd be perfect for this.
But his wife won't go for it :) And I learned --and am reminded every couple years when I re-read The Last Herald-Mage--
that just because I don't have a great "love" to warm my life, there's no reason not to enjoy the "lesser" loves of my close friends. I do love you my friends, each of you.

Now I find out that Avenue Q is coming to Denver soon. Guess I need to find a way to go. I can take subtle hints from the Universe when required...

And now the obligatory geek reference: "6 by 9? 42? I always knew there was something funadamentally wrong with the Universe."

C'mon Get Happy

Tonight I went to see a new musical, My Favorite Things with some folks from work. It starred Shirley Jones, and Patrick Cassidy. Yes, *that* Shirley Jones.

It seemed so odd to see her still performing after all these years. It brought back some memories of growing up watching her in the Partridge Family.

The musical itself was very good, a retrospective kind-of-thing of Rogers and Hammerstein musicals from "Carosel" to "The Sound of Music." The four performers (two females, two males) singing "(What Do You Do About) Maria" dressed as nuns was wonderful! Each song got enthusiastic applause but by the end of the show, they hadn't sung the most obvious song "My Favorite Things." It seemed so odd, the curtain closed, the lights faded to black, and we started applauding.

Then the spots came back up and the four actors took their bows, then started singing "My Favorite Things." They got about a verse into then they stopped, the curtains reopened and the stage lights came back up and the Colorado Springs Childrens' Chorale was there, *they* sang "My Favorite Things" and "Doe Ray Me." It was beautiful, it moved me to tears somewhat.

I need to start getting out more. Life is about living. Not just working. I made a promise to myself this year that I would finish the remodel on my kitchen (going on for three years now), figure out what to do with the rocket company (that's another story for another time), and acquire a lover, all "little" projects that have been sitting too long. Tonight reminded me about my love of theatre. I wonder what other loves I can uncover in the next few months... stay tuned...

Title Reference: Duh! It's the Theme from the Partridge Family...

Welcome

“The most profound statements are often said in silence.” - Lynn Johnston

This blog is a reflection of random thoughts that do not belong in my more corporate blogs. In this place I will write about daily thoughts and epiphanies.

Happy 2008 everybody!