The Myth & The Majesty

All right. I've shared this photo almost everywhere I can ... Facebook. Text. Submitted to Jay Leno's "Headlines." But I haven't done it here. So I think I should. This is the current state of the BigLots! in Sioux Falls. It's certainly not the highest-quality photo I've taken, but I was laughing too hard ... and leaning across a driver. (We had to turn around and go back for a picture.) Go ahead and sound it out if you must. But don't overthink it. [Really, it's the exclamation point that gets me...] Cheers!

In the spirit of the season, so to speak, I give you ... today's xkcd. Sorry. I really can't help myself. (Clicking on it takes you to the proper site -- from there, you can get to the large version.)

I love snow.   Don't pummel me! I don't judge your weird preferences. Much.   In all seriousness, I should clarify -- I love snow in October, November, and December. By January, I'm ready to be done shoveling, scraping, and having to change socks because I can't seem to get a pair of shoes that stays waterproof all that long.   Although I've gotten more enthused about it since moving out of the house in central Wisconsin with 110 feet of sidewalk, 90 feet of driveway, and no snow blower. Yeah, by the fourth storm each winter that driveway just ... didn't get cleared very well. But I do love it. I love the quiet it causes, and the clean look of everything (on the first day, anyway), and the fact that the whole world looks brighter even when the sun is setting earlier. It's especially great on a day like today, when the temperature stays just above freezing ... so the snow lingers but I don't shiver all day. Good stuff.

As you may have gathered from my last post, I'm in the midst of some potential life changes. I've been slowly working myself out of a job here and that means that eventually, I'm really going to need a real one again. Of course, this would be easier if I was absolutely certain about what I wanted to do with my life. But like so many people my age, I haven't nailed down what I want to be when I grow up, even if I have a few ideas. But as the summer ended and I set aside my kayak and bike, started watching more Sportscenter (seriously, when did I become a Sportscenter watcher?! ... it's an autumn thing, I hope), and started working fewer hours, I knew it was time to figure that one out. It's time to be elsewhere. Past time, really. And so it is that I'm spending my free time crawling the Internet, searching job sites and specific company sites, looking for that Holy Grail of positions that (a) doesn't put me in an office 40 hours a week, (b) lets me...

How do you make major decisions? Do you talk it over with someone specific? Do you poll a bunch of people for opinions? Do you make lists of pros and cons? Do you flip a coin? I've repeatedly used that last one. Perhaps not the most sound approach except that it has the tendency to reveal how I really feel about something. I genuinely want to know. How do you make major decisions? 

Some time ago, I gave a three-sentence plug for one of my favorite spots in Sioux Falls. While my timing is a little weird (apparently they just got a rather negative online review), I'd already had this post in mind for when the weather turned cooler ... so I'll write it anyway. * I love coffee shops. Love them. I love the atmosphere, I love the excuse to sit and drink and read, and I really do love coffee. With this in mind, I have no real bones with Starbucks. Truth be told, without Starbucks there wouldn't be the same demand for coffee shops in the first place -- they were among the first to make a store that focused on coffee a "thing" in a lot of towns across the country, and for that I have to appreciate them. This doesn't mean Starbucks is my first choice. They're the McDonald's of coffee joints -- you go there if you want a really predictable cup of coffee, not necessarily if you want a really good cup of coffee. For the really good c...

... an xkcd re-post.   Hey, I know what I've been thinking about lately. Comic relief may be necessary.   Enjoy!