More than 144 hours into Barack Obama’s presidency, the economy is still in recession, the country is still at war, and in many parts of the country it’s still cold outside. Citizens are growing impatient: Wasn’t President Obama supposed to bring change?
Not Knowing Things
But I don’t have to know an answer. I don’t feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn’t frighten me.
It’s a Pug Thing
That’s my dog in the top photo, sleeping in his favorite spot. The bottom photo I saw on Flickr . . .
Originally uploaded by ♥ellie♥
BKFF
The Man Happy in His Work
The man happy in his work is not the narrow specialist, nor the well-rounded man, but the man who is doing what he loves to do. You must fall in love with some activity.
Things That Pop Up and Poke You in the Eye
We’re discussing whether our organization will use a popup user survey on our web site . . .
“I propose doing the survey without the popups,” I say. “That’s why browsers have popup blockers, because people don’t like popups. A popup is like a poke in the eye. I don’t like it when things pop up unexpectedly and poke me in the eye. Whenever that happens, I make sure not to go back to that place anymore.”
Unfortunately, no one picks up on the “popped up and poked me in the eye” motif because I was then going to chide them for their junior high school mentality.
“I had a teacher who used to say that,” a young woman says. “‘It’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.'”
I say, “I used to work with a guy who said, ‘You can’t beat that with a sharp stick.’ Why would the stick have to be sharp if you’re going to beat someone with it? You’re really just looking for something with a little heft to it.”
The same woman says, “I had a boyfriend who used to say, ‘You’re not going to hold that over my shoulder, are you?'”
“You have abysmal taste in men.”
I wasn’t able to persuade the team to abandon the popups. The argument in favor was that a lot of web sites use popup surveys so how bad can they be?
I worked for a dot-com consulting company during the boom and bust of that industry. The whole thing was based on the notion that everyone else is doing it so it must be a good idea.
The subsequent implosion of the entire industry disproved that theory rather dramatically.
Since then, I try to stay open to the possibility that even though a lot of people are doing something, it still may not be a good idea . . .
Thus spoke The Programmer.
Scent of a Woman?
Semester Break
My wife is telling me that because Northwood finals are over today — Thursday — the boy now has a four-day weekend.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I say. It kind of makes sense to have Friday off, but why Monday?
“It’s semester break,” the boy says.
“Semester break?!”
“That’s right. It’s like the off season.”
The off season . . . it’s so ridiculous I have to laugh.
“Isn’t it nice you have a funny family?” my wife says.
“It’s like the all-star break,” the boy says.
Knock Knock
I Don’t Want to Die
When Zen masters die we like to think they will say something very inspiring as they are about to bite the Big Emptiness, something like “Hi-ho Silver!” or “Remember to wake up” or “Life is everlasting.” Right before Suzuki Roshi’s death, Katagiri Roshi, an old friend, visited him. Katagiri stood by the bedside; Suzuki looked up and said, “I don’t want to die.”
I Will Always Remember This Day
A manager in another department brought in pizza for the IT team today.
Someday I’ll be telling my grandkids, “Of course I remember the Obama inauguration. I got free pizza that day! Unfortunately, that was pretty much the highlight of his entire presidency.”
Dog Food Review: Wellness
I don’t like this dog food.
I will eat almost ANYTHING, including things that you normally wouldn’t think of as edible, like kleenex from the wastebasket, so if a dog food company produces something I don’t like to eat, they must really be doing something wrong.
— Lightning 
Hockey Moms on the Road
My 15-year-old son and I were at the Embassy Suites happy hour having drinks (me) and snacks (him) with some of the other hockey parents and kids.
One of the hockey moms was a really-hot-for-a-45-year-old redhead whose son plays for another team.
“I haven’t seen your son in a while,” she whispered to me. “He looks so different.”
“Yeah, he’s a lot taller,” I said.
“Not just taller. He’s a gorgeous young man.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
She spent the next hour chatting him up, asking him about features on her iPhone, and so on . . .
“Because she was drunk,” the boy said later.
She was kinda drunk, but that wasn’t the only thing going on. Her husband was sitting a couple of chairs away the whole time, surfing the web on his Blackberry, and never even looked in her direction.
I was talking to my son’s hockey coach between games when a hockey mom he knows and I don’t walked between us and hugged him.
“Excuse me,” I said. “We’re trying to have a conversation here.”
Then she turned around and hugged me. She smelled nice.
“You smell nice,” I said. “What is that?”
“Obsession,” she said.
She was wearing a lot of it. I could still smell it on my clothes two hours later . . .
Winternationals – Day 3
The Devil Dogs lost to the Quakes 1-0 in the semifinals.
It was a great game all the way. The Quakes goalie made three or four unbelievable saves, including one in the last minute where a shot deflected off someone’s stick or skate right into his glove, instead of three inches higher and into the net.
We’re going to check out now, save an extra night at the hotel, and head for home . . .
Update: The Quakes beat the West Coast Warriors, a British Columbia team, 3-1 in the final.
Winternationals – Day 2
Round robin games are over. The Devil Dogs — my son’s team — are in the Bantam Gold semifinals tomorrow morning. If they win, they’ll play in the finals at 1 p.m.
Unfortunately, they’re playing the Silicon Valley Quakes Black, the only team that beat them in the round robin.
You’d have to say that the Quakes are the better team. They’re faster and they attack every second — even on defense. The Devil Dogs weren’t ready for them in the round robin game. They fell behind 3-0, but came back to lose by only 4-3.
If the teams played 10 times, the Quakes would probably win 7 of them — but the Dogs still have a chance in a one-game do-or-die.
The Work is Its Own Reward
I’m playing hooky from our company meeting. The topic is how the organization calculates compensation, which I don’t care about because I truly feel that the work is its own reward.
In fact, I don’t even accept a salary. Most people don’t know that because I keep it to myself . . .
I Mentored Someone Today
One of the analysts in my group has an office across the hall from our department conference room . . .
Today he says, “There was a training class in there yesterday and they didn’t close the door. All the noise was coming right into my office.”
I say, “Couldn’t you walk over and say, ‘Do you mind if I close the door?'”
“Hmmm, I guess I could have done that.”
True story! — the problem was beyond his analytical powers.
I love my job but it’s not without its challenges . . .
What You Don’t Say
I just got an email from a co-worker with a wedding picture attached . . .
Thanks for the picture, I wrote back. I’ve never seen a happier-looking bride, except my wife of course.
She replied, That’s for sure…I really couldn’t of been happier for that moment…
What I didn’t say: You’ll never be that young again. You’ll never be that beautiful again. You’ll never be that happy again . . .
It’s Not News Yet
TORONTO (AP) — Howie Mandel has been hospitalized in Canada with an irregular heartbeat, his publicist said.
OH GOD NO! WHAT WILL BECOME OF “HOWIE DO IT!” THE NEW HIDDEN-CAMERA PRANK SHOW?!
Who CARES about this? Just let me know when he’s dead . . .
EppsNet Movie Reviews: Slumdog Millionaire
Good story, good music, brilliant editing and cinematography.
One of the things I don’t like about movies is that conflict, even in feel-good movies about love and destiny, is too often resolved with violence, whereas much of the dramatic tension in real life stems from the number of people you’d like to physically assault but can’t.
Rating: Four stars (out of five).