Crossroads

This week I started to receive emails at work related to my upcoming severance. I've known this was coming for over a year, but it's starting to get very real. This seems like a good a time as any to start blogging about this transition. That's assuming it is a transition and I don't decide to find a job. 

Flaming Alligators

I can juggle 3 balls. I can hold a huge beach ball. I can probably make a good attempt at juggling 3 huge beach balls. But if you throw a machete, a flaming torch and a live alligator at me then I'm going to drop something.

Toby

The sad news of Toby's death certainly give one pause for thought. He died doing what he loved, having just visited a place he loved. The sad connections to his passing are numerous: Lisa, David, Brooks to name but three. Yet that pause for thought makes me wonder how I'll die: watching TV, driving to work, sleeping, or some other waste of time. That pause for thought makes me wonder about what it is that I love doing: doodling, riding, walking in Willard's, hiking in the Green Mountains, swimming in Lake Champlain, viewing contemporary art, playing Settlers with my family or any number of other things. I guess I'd better start to make sure that there are more of the latter and less of the former to increase my chances that when I go I'll be doing one of them - and by the way it will make the time between now and then a whole bunch more enjoyable.

On napping

I hate it. I got tired today and decided to take a nap. I've done this very few times, my beloved disagrees, but actually sleeping rather than dozing is what I mean. It takes me twice as longto shake off the grog I gather from the nap. I hate it.

Powerpoint is evil

If you want to understand why I think Powerpoint is an evil invention intended to insult our intellligence and reduce even complex topics to a meaningless mush of inane nothingness not worth the the wasted ink it uses let alone the countless trees it kills, take a look at this wonderful graphic ,that my beloved just sent me, from the Washington Post which delivers a huge amount of information in an easy to understand diagram that can be printed on a single newsheet.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2009/02/01/GR2009020100154.html

...or if you prefer the office Satan

STIMULUS PACKAGE

• Total cost - $819 billion
• Top five areas of spending - health, housing, states, Medicare, tax credits
• Spending and tax cuts
• Peak year - 2010 - $236 billion
• Final year of spending - 2019

A wee dram

THis happens less than once a year, but today I left work feeling that way and what made it worse was that there was a drinking party leaving work at the same time I did. UNfortunately I had a committment to another group of people tonight so I dutifully left to comply with my first committment.

When what should happen but several of the folks arrive at that meeting (including my beloved) suggesting they all "needed a drink". So despite being totally out of character for this group, I pulled out a bottle of tawny port that had been long opened and an unopened bottle of single malt. I was glad that everyone seemed happy to join in having a drink but was even happier that no one showed signs of needing more than the one. I had not stopped to think that one of my friends might be a recovering alcoholic, although since we've gotten close over the last two years or so, there's been no indication of that.

Anyway - I had another wee dram after they left and it tastes great.

Why?

OK. Why am I starting this blog? I guess its my response to me wonderful wife who has become a very good blogger over the last year or so. I have an infrequently used blog that addresses my more spriritual thoughts. This one is intended to be the more 'stream of conciousness' blog that my beloved uses in her Always Asking Why blog.