Funny thing happened to me today in the elevator. It was just myself and a woman at the time when she asked me what my earrings meant. I was wearing pearl studs today, one of my favorite pair. I told her it only meant that I liked them which is the truth.
I suppose it’s rather unusual for men to wear pearl earrings. But I just wear what I like. Oddly enough, being able to wear earrings is one of the few advantages of being a black man in the US. Still, I suppose one has to conform to expectations even then. Needless to say, conforming is not one of my strong suits!
After seeing Avengers on Saturday, I was on top of the world. The next two days I paid for my hubris, LOL. Sick days are terrible, but not just for the pain and fatigue. In addition to that, there’s the humiliation and accusations of weakness heaped upon me by my sometimes Amazonian spouse! The other thing is being totally unable to play any games on this unexpected day off. I’m not really sure which one hurts more. LOL
There’s only one Chick-fil A in downtown Chicago that I know about, referred to here with a call to boycott it, and I’ve never eaten there. But I certainly won’t be going there now. As a Christian myself, I’m really tired of these so-called Far Right Christian groups and organizations doing hateful things and then claiming it’s all in the name of Jesus. The Jesus I know would be the last person to hate gay people. Heck, he’d probably be hanging out with drag queens today, just as he kept company with the outcasts of the world the last time he walked the Earth.
It’s quiet right now. I’m typing up this post while my wife is in the living room tapping away on her Mac. This is actually a pretty typical morning. No torrid romance or unbridled passion. It’s just living. Living our lives to together as we’ve done for quite some time now.
It might be fun to write a practical guide to marriage based on our experiences, but I don’t really think there’d be much to say that isn’t already obvious. I guess the main thing to take to heart is that most of the time, the quiet joy of being with the most significant other of your life is what you’ll experience. It’s not stagnation, nor is it boring. It just is, and it can be the greatest thing you’ll ever experience this side of eternity.
In all of the uproar over same sex marriage, I think the meaning of what marriage actually is, has been ignored. Making the vows before God and man to join your lives together. Taking on the world back to back every day. And sharing those quiet times of joy that words don’t adequately express. Wanting this is one of the most human things we can do.
No big surprises there really. There’s no such thing as anonymity or privacy on the internet. If someone wants to stalk you, really stalk you, they can find out who you are with a little digging. So welcome to the big time everyone, with some help from Google, we can all live the life of movie stars! Well, mostly without all of the money…
I just don’t get it. Everywhere I go in downtown Chicago I see people texting while walking. Head down, both hands on a smartphone with thumbs busily peck peck pecking away at a keyboard. These public text maniacs are totally oblivious to oncoming traffic and pedestrians. It’s truly a wonder I haven’t seen any of these textomaniacs killed yet.
Just a couple of days ago I was descending a metal staircase from upper Wacker Drive to the Columbus bridge below while a textually active woman was ascending said staircase and never once lifted her head from her smartphone screen. One slip and she could have easily plummeted to her death.
I cannot help but wonder what is so important or engaging to risk so much? I guess people just don’t think about this at all. Maybe the fear of being alone is so great that any risk to avoid such a fate, even for a few minutes, is worth it. Ironically, I often hit the streets to get out and away from people for a bit.
It’s interesting to note that a number of the panhandlers I encounter now have computer printed signs beseeching passersby for aid. So many people are talking on cell phones, listening to iPods, and texting, that verbal cries for help fall on deaf ears. Though I find myself wondering a bit about where these guys are getting their signs printed. It’s as if hash tags suddenly popped up in real life in a nice Sans Serif font.
One of the marks of a good weekend is that it makes it hard to get back to work on Monday, in a good way of course. I went to the 2nd KollisionCon this weekend, and while the con was somewhat smaller than I had hoped for, I had fun nevertheless. I’ll write more about that later. For now, I’m looking forward to getting back to work on both my development work and book writing projects!
During my last job, I had to get up pretty early for a 40 mile commute. My new job doesn’t require that, nevertheless, I’m still getting up early. So partly out of habit and part necessity, I found myself doing various other tasks before heading to the office.
Before I knew it, 7am had become the beginning of my Morning Power Hour! I’ve been doing everything from household chores and writing to publicity work for Science and Faith in Conversation. As a trained physicist and a Christian, the Science and Faith project has been of particular interest. So I’m happy to help out in any way I can. And yes, cosplaying scientists can be Christians too! Jesus hung out with a lot of non-mainstream people! LOL
In any case, my wife has been pretty happy with my increased productivity. So the Morning Power Hour is nothing but WIN!
One week into a new job and so far I am quite happy. I’ve returned to downtown Chicago and it feels great! My new coworkers are great and my work is interesting and I’m learning some new stuff. Right now I’m working on an Android app!
I spent a couple of lunches revisiting some of my favorite haunts. It almost brought tears to my eyes when I remembered that I honestly thought I would never have the pleasure of working downtown again, a permanent exile.
Well I have returned! Better than ever, in no small part due to my exile to the wilderness of the suburbs where, like in any good martial arts movie, I was able to heal and train under a great and skilled master to whom I owe great thanks.
The TV ads say not to drink and drive. And while I may have written a blog piece or two after a beer without too much trouble, anger is another matter. True, a lot of stuff gets written fueled by rage, but after nearly sending out a rage induced missive the other day, I don’t think it’s a good idea.
And a little reminder for the folks that just tuned in, there’s no such thing as anonymity on the internet! Anyone who really wants to find out who you are, can do so. Therefore, write like a celebrity. The whole world may be watching!
Google’s new foray into social networking, Google+, is where all the cool kids are hangin out now. Of course that leaves me out as usual, LOL. While my often cool spouse has received and invite and joined the party, I have not. She put me in one of her circles, I just haven’t received notification from the system which reportedly is currently at capacity for this stage of the roll-out.
I cannot say that I’m a big fan of social networking sites. As I have ranted here before, sites like Facebook just recreate the cliches and awkwardness that left me on the outs growing up. And what’s worse, many of my peers aren’t exactly internet mavens by any stretch of the imagination. As a result I tend to lean more towards Twitter than Facebook, where I can build an identity much less encumbered by the usual social barriers, and much closer to what I consider to be the real me. Or at least the real me in the context of the internet.
So why should I care about Google+? Because it seems to solve one of my biggest problems with Facebook. It allows you to group your acquaintances and friends in whatever circles you find appropriate and share with those circles only what you want to, without leaking. This leakage is why I’m so wary of Facebook. I have a lot of non-mainstream hobbies and interests that I’d rather not share with everyone I know either voluntarily as my own status update, or involuntarily through someone tagging a picture of me I rather not have tagged. I don’t expect complete privacy, but I would like a little more control.
I’m actually very proud of my hobbies and interests. They’re an expression of a large part of who I am. But I’d rather minimize the amount of trouble that may be caused by people who either don’t get it, or flat out don’t like it. I love many of these people dearly, but they really don’t need to know about the wig I just got for my Uhura cosplay last week. Much less spread that information to someone I’m doing totally unrelated business with.
I may not ever become a big fan of social networking applications, but they seem to be a fact of life now. So hopefully, Google+ is the next big step in their evolution.
I don’t think anyone starts a family with a mind to create specific traditions. Those just arise on their own as time passes. It looks like family puzzle building has become one of our family traditions. My wife has always liked putting puzzles together, but at our old home, it just never caught on with anyone else.
Maybe it was the ages of the kids, or perhaps the layout of the space. In our new place, the dining room lies between the living room and the kitchen. A couple of months ago, my wife brought back a puzzle from a Scrabble party and started building it on the dining room table. We just left the pieces there and with nary a word, people would occasionally stop to put some of the pieces together.
Everyone took part in the puzzle building activity. From the 10 year old who loves rules, up to the 17 year old who is generally too cool to spend much time with the rest of us! The puzzle became a place of pause and fun, a new family hub. Through interruptions for hot pot dinners and school projects, eventually the puzzle was completed.
Without even thinking about it, I brought out a new puzzle. I wanted to see if what I had witnessed was just a fluke, or if this was some fun we could continue to enjoy. I had received a Star Trek themed puzzle as a gift years ago, and had never really gotten started on it. Now seemed like a good time to tackle it and test if the puzzle bug had really taken hold.
After a slow start, the magic struck again! Once more everyone engaged in the puzzle building! From youngest to oldest once more joined forces to vanquish yet another foe! And as I write this, puzzle number 3 is already underway. So I think it is safe to say that puzzle building is well on its way to establishing itself as one of our family traditions!
I got a 40% off Borders coupon in my email today. Oh coupon, there was once a time when your delicate, ephemeral, digital presence would bring a sliver of joy to my all too analog heart. The anticipation of buying some as yet unknown manga volume at a significant discount made it hard to think of much else. But alas, those days are a fading memory. For little coupon, I have no place left to use you. T_T
