The Myth & The Majesty

Things that could (with true likelihood) happen in 2010: A trip to South Korea to visit Mia Sorella. A week's vacation in the Hills. Mt. Rushmore for the 4th of July. More kayaking in Wisconsin. Skydiving in Colorado. As 2009 draws to a close, I can't help but look back on a year that was, by all accounts, far too back-and-forth for me to feel any level of calm at the end. Plenty of relief -- but very little calm. This year I went to seven weddings. I spent two weekends just hanging out with my parents. I stood at Tower Hill in London; I looked up at the Empire State Building in the rain; I sat in a harnessed seat next to a new Australian friend, looking out at Las Vegas from 900 feet above. I sat with the parents of a friend who killed himself ... and a couple days later went to his funeral. I watched as several of my coworkers left following a round of layoffs, and I stressed out three months later when my own project was unceremoniously -- and quite unexp...

To Mom, Dad, and Mia Sorella -- happy New Year!

What an eerily quiet day.

Twelve Things On My Living Room Walls 1. A painted puzzle collage ... thing. 2. Photos I took of cathedrals in Russia, the onion domes colorized and the remainder of the pictures black-and-whited. 3. Prints of illustrations from one of the first editions of Pride & Prejudice. 4. A family photo from the continental divide in Yellowstone. 5. A shot of me in London with the Tower Bridge in the background. 6. A wine grape varietal table. 7. We-were-here shots with Tanya and Anya in St. Petersburg. 8. A picture with my sister and the Spoonbridge in Minneapolis. 9. My favorite shot of Mt. Moran in the Tetons. 10. A silver and clear clock. 11. A signed print of "xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel." 12. A small red shelf with a monkey candleholder on it. Well, I chased everybody out after some lasagna and a few games of Cribbage, and now I'm technically doing dishes. Okay, so my dishwasher is doing dishes. I'm waiting for it to finish. 2009 is nearing its end and as such, t...

Murphy struck with wild abandon this weekend and no one escaped unscathed. I lost my check card, my parents went to Minneapolis early, my brother left late, my sister missed her train to Beijing -- it was rough. That's just the immediate family. I have no idea how many friends didn't make it home for Christmas thanks to the weather. After a dozen or so I stopped counting. Shorty and I had an enjoyable, quiet weekend, punctuated by cable television, Megan’s snow shakes , and many games of Cribbage. All in all a relaxing weekend (except the nagging doubt that our parents would get out of the country in a timely fashion -- which they did). Now my sleep schedule is off and the eerily empty office doesn't help. Or the fact that I'm combing through data and reading old reports to prep for a site visit next month. Interesting, but certainly not active. And my back wasn't ready for me to sit still for another day. Not after yesterday's extended trip back. Pl...

'Twas the night before Christmas and in this family's home It was quiet and still, two of the kids left alone Christmas had taken a turn, unexpected and strange And the family was split with great geographical range These two had come home to celebrate with Dad and Mom Traveled good distance to partake in the calm But Mom and Dad had left early for their China flight Their original plan moved up by three nights. They did their own Christmas morning, quiet and swift Then said their I-love-yous, their see-you-laters and left They'd wait out the storm closer to the airport this way And must find happiness in being safe Christmas Day The snow started to fall and the wind to blow And they all realized this was how it had to go Only every twenty-some years would a storm like this strike They were lucky, really -- they could get out as they liked Now the oldest sat by herself, composing a [mediocre] poem Surrounded by all the comforts of home They were separated, sure, but they we...

How to describe today? Today marked the beginning of a really, really screwy Christmas weekend. Not bad. Not great, either, and certainly not what was planned -- but not bad. As many of you are well aware, there's a large storm descending upon the Midwest right now as we speak. I was quite excited to get out of Wausau when I did because I managed to avoid some of it and get home unscathed. A second stroke of luck -- Shorty made it back without issue after a late shift at work. He got back Monday, really early in the morning. However. Isn't there always a however? My parents are headed to Beijing Sunday morning to meet up with Mia Sorella for a week of fun and games and quality family time. Which was going to require them to drive up Saturday night and hang out in Minneapolis. Until this storm came around. There's enough concern over the possibility of the interstate closing between here and central Minnesota that they actually left this morning. For the next three days, the...

Every year I try to get at least one new Christmas CD, just to keep my selection interesting. Last year it was Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong; this year it was a compilation album that happens to include this song. Maybe I'm getting a little soft; maybe it's a Christmas thing. Whatever it is, I love this song. -------------- His Favorite Christmas Story By Capital Lights He met her up in Delaware in 1937 She was wearing red lipstick to match her pretty dress December 24th at a quarter to eleven That's when he finally gained the courage to ask her to dance. It was the night before Christmas, it was love at first sight The carolers sang as they danced through the night She was a small town girl, he was a traveling guy He never caught her name before they said their goodbyes A couple years later he was out on the road Having Christmas dinner in a diner alone When he saw a young waitress with a gleam in her eye Her favorite day of the...

**Christmas, Cool Table, Caroling & Cocktails** Last night's Christmas party was ... epic. Awesome. Fun. A little nutty at times. Not that there's anything surprising about that. Neub had the rather inspired idea of doing a formal progressive dinner, and as it happens, there are three of us who happen to live within two miles of each other. Starting around six last night, nineteen rather well-dressed people gathered at Neub's house for appetizers and cocktails. After a couple hours there, we migrated to the Admiral's house for an incredibly nice sit-down meal of beef tenderloin (stuffed with garlic and marinated in wine), wild rice with almonds and Craisins, honey wheat bread, roasted vegetables, glazed carrots, and a spinach salad with pasta. If anyone left hungry, it was their own fault. From there we headed north to my house for dessert, drinks, and one very large game of Pictionary. The last few people left around 2:30 this morning. I cleaned for a whopping fift...

I remember when I used to do this regularly. Just settled down for a midnight snack before I get back to work on my [incredibly messy] apartment. It's funny; my body used to keep these hours without my consent. Now I'm "all grown up" and usually asleep by now. Tonight, though, I have work to do. Things to accomplish. Things that should have been done days ago but are still staring me in the face, taunting me. And tomorrow night there will be lots of people here, including several who have never seen this place before. I don't want their first impressions to be unfavorable. I think my break's over. Have a good weekend, folks!

One of Those Days is drawing to a close ... This weekend is already looking much, much better. As long as I can get my place cleaned up in time for it to be invaded by a bunch of people tomorrow, that is. The good news is ... I have all night.

Three years ago today I was officially released from the hallowed halls of Mines. Yeah! It's been that long. Sure doesn't feel like it.

I know it's December, and I know that this happened in May. But for whatever reason, this picture keeps coming to mind ... Probably has something to do with my unshoveled driveway.

I have this one huge pet peeve with technical documents that only a few of you will truly understand. (If you're a liberal arts major, you might not even want to bother continuing to read.) This always comes up when it comes time to review bids, and I always get cranky because of it. Now it's time to rant. I like that you're trying to maintain some accuracy throughout your calculations. I understand that part of it. I do the same thing. However, when it comes time to submit a document, there is no reason to give me viscosity to six decimal places. Or specific heat. Or temperature. I will never -- never -- NEVER -- measure any of those values (or flow rate, or pressure, or density) to that level of accuracy. I am not running an analytical lab. I'm running a system with a variable flow rate. Not variable as in plus or minus 0.0003 pounds per hour -- variable as in plus or minus 30%. While it's great that you can give me such accuracy, I don't want to ...

Oh, how pretty ... There's a nice, fluffy layer of snow accumulating on top of that thin, treacherous veneer of ice already coating everything. Lovely. The temperature in this building is suddenly and rather inexplicably dropping. It's not encouraging. Oh yes. I'm feeling whiny today.

The true signs of a fantastic weekend: Having no plans, no set schedule, but enough to do so you don't get bored.

Days like today make me very, very happy I have a flexible job ... and a forgiving boss ... and new tires on my car ... and a sturdy shovel. Let's not forget hot coffee and fully stocked baking goods, leftover Chinese, and the ability to talk to people in times zones fifteen hours ahead of your own. Yes, I think it's safe to say I've had a good fake snow day. I got up ridiculously early (at least for me), got mostly ready for the day, and talked to Mia Sorella for a couple hours. (We were both definitely in need of some sisterly time.) My lovely moderately flexible job let me work from home today for the most part, which worked out nicely -- I got to shovel my sidewalks in daylight, at least. Plus I couldn't have left before the plows came through at 11:30 anyway, so I was doubly lucky I could work from the comfort of my living room. The evening is ending, and on a somewhat conflicted note. I've mixed up rolls for tomorrow -- that's good. My kitchen is clean, wh...

It's still snowing. And blowing. Through most of Wisconsin, really. That picture is how it's supposed to look at noon ... Yikes. Only a little daunting. I brought my laptop home with me so I can get some work done here -- which is good, because it's going to be awhile before my road is clear. Which means it'll be awhile before Sophie can handle the roads. Yes. It's a good day for coffee and document updates in my pajamas.

It's snowing! We may finally end up with some real cover ... Sorry. Can't help myself. If it's gonna be annoying cold outside, there should be snow to brighten things up.

Warning: Abnormal levels of bluntness about my life are contained in this post. ----- Hark the herald angels sing But not for us, my dear Can't recall a single thing We're celebrating this year Watch the clock and pace the floor Shut my eyes and slam the door Tear down the lights, we don't need them anymore... About this time last year, I wrote this post . It's a good post. Packed full of both reality and optimism, maybe even a touch of idealism. And it's sound advice, dangnabbit. You see, last year I was very comfortable with both my life and myself, which meant I was in a great place for dispensing advice. This year, I need to be taking that advice. This year, I seem to be stuck in the "acknowledgment" phase of single during the holidays. Revelry escapes me. The spirit escapes me. A good batch of fudge escapes me. On a normal, non-seasonal day, I'm still quite happy with my place in the world. I enjoy being able to come and go as I please, and I real...

I am, at long last, back online. It's weird to me that this thing that wasn't a part of my life -- or a part of the lives of anyone I knew -- only fifteen years ago is now something that is rather hard to live without. And to be honest, the last two months weren't so bad. In fact, the only reason I really wanted to get reconnected was so I could talk to Mia Sorella without freezing. Unfortunately, it's officially winter in Wisconsin; five minutes in front of El Local Coffee Shop was going to be more than I could handle. So here I am. After a bit of a debacle getting it connected (and a friendly and very nice tech support guy), everything seems to be up and functional. Just in time, really. This weekend I'm actually in Wausau and will be home to use it. Occasionally. Now for something completely different! Tonight after my usual errands, I headed to tango. On my way home, I realized that I didn't really want to drink the wine I had reserved for tonight. Maybe it...

It's been snowing since yesterday. Not a lot, certainly not heavily, but steadily enough to have flakes in the air most of the time and for pavement to have a fine layer of white. This morning as I drove back to work (I was in early so as to not have to stay till seven tonight thanks to an appointment this morning), some part of it finally sank in a little. It's December 4th. Christmas is only three weeks away. And ... I hate to say this ... It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. [I just cringed. I'm sorry. That was a terrible joke.] For the first time, my apartment isn't yet decorated. I haven't made any special food. Aside from getting my Christmas shopping done (which was actually pretty easy this year), I have done very little to acknowledge the season. It's distinctly possible that, for the first time in history, I'm feeling more like a Scrooge than one of Santa's elves. I'd like to be happy and cheery about it; I...

December 1st. Today is World AIDS Day. It's also the beginning of the last month of 2009 and the first day of many "official" countdowns to Christmas. So where are you this December 1st?