My wife dominates the Twitter landscape with almost 1,000 followers . . . “I have to say something to my followers about my son going to college,” she says. The boy overhears this and pipes in: “My only child is leaving for college in two months. Hashtag sadbutproud.” Read more →
Author Archive: Paul Epps
Fathers Day
The joy of Father’s Day is the joy of every day: the gift of being in the company of your children, and of living for them in the way you are meant to live . . . — Jeffrey Goldberg Read more →
I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own — a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. — Albert Einstein
Visibility and Feedback
Forgive my ignorance. How do increased visibility and tighter feedback loops manage and reduce risk? Get in your car. Drive to a winding road. Get up to a decent speed. Close your eyes for two minutes. Then come back and ask your question again. — Ron Jeffries, Yahoo Groups (kanbandev) Read more →
The Cloud
Opting Out
What we need is competition and a chance for people to opt out of the system. You talk about opting out of ObamaCare? Why can’t we opt out of the whole system and take care of ourselves? — Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) That’s a great question that I’ve wondered about for many years. For example, why can’t people opt out of Social Security? It seems to be in pretty bad shape. Why can’t I say to the government, “Do not take any Social Security deductions from my income. Let me keep all that money, and when I retire, you owe me nothing.” Why is that not an option? You might say, “Because you’ll screw it up. You’ll spend all the money now, and when you’re too old to work, you won’t have anything in the bank.” Why is that your problem? Read more →
Top Dog
All Politics is Local
California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a state spending plan today (June 16) that would have deepened the cut in financial support for the University of California by another $150 million for the coming fiscal year. — University of California – UC Newsroom In principle, I like cuts in public education funding, but since I have a kid entering the University of California in the fall, I applaud Gov. Brown’s commitment to high-quality yet affordable education via the UC system. Read more →
Graduation Still Life
Time passes. Listen. Time passes. . . . — Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood Unlike Paul Cézanne, I didn’t spend hours setting this up. I captured it just the way it looked when I came downstairs this morning. As one chapter ends, another begins. For the kids — most of them — the next chapter is college; for the parents, old age and death. Happy Thursday, everybody! Read more →
Do your work, and I shall know you. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
Help Me
I’m glad I don’t have a name that immediately makes people want to sing a well-known song at me. For example, I was just introduced to a woman named Rhonda . . . Read more →
Making Work Visible
Great post on Kanban. The balloon idea is genius! http://blog.flowkaizen.com/why-physical-card-walls-are-important Read more →
I Love L.A.
The best houses of all time in L.A. (Los Angeles Times) Historical or notable bridges in Los Angeles (Bridgehunter.com) Read more →
I will not hide my tastes or aversions. I will so trust that what is deep is holy, if we follow the truth, it will bring us out safe at last. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
Dilbert: New Server Names
I Don’t Need Anything
Pizza and Pessimism
“There’s a slice of pizza missing,” my son announces. When I got home from work, there were two slices left over from last night. I ate one and left one for him. “I calibrated my appetite for two slices,” he says. “The pessimist,” I say, “sees that there’s one slice missing. The optimist sees that there’s one slice left.” Read more →
Lasts
Last day of high school. Can’t believe it’s all over. No more “what’s due tomorrow?” The boy has a clock radio but he never sets it because he likes to sleep with the radio on. Yes, we probably should have made him get an alarm clock to encourage responsibility and self-reliance, but we didn’t. His mom and I have been waking him up for school for 13 years and this morning was the last time we’ll do that. Read more →
Shooting Hoops
I was thinking about my overall dad performance over the last 18 years. Did I do enough activities with the boy? My memory is playing tricks on me. I did do a lot of activities with him when he was younger, but as he got older, he did more things on his own and with his friends. MY GOD, WHAT IF I DIDN’T DO ENOUGH ACTIVITIES WITH HIM? “Hey, you wanna shoot some hoops?” I ask. “Okay,” he says. Read more →
I Recorded Some Songs on the Google Guitar
Ode to Joy Theme from Titanic Chords Broken Chords Read more →