Football Epilogue

A favorite scene from "The Money Pit" . Sometimes feels fitting :) Calling weather in the mid-40°Fs (~7°C) comfortable seems absurd but that's the hand we've been dealt at the moment. At least it's warm enough to keep things thawing and to start out on some outdoor projects. I even had a tree cutting/trimming crew out this past week (I've got a recommendation if you need it) to take care of a few things including a branch that was significantly deflecting my power line, removal of an overgrown birch and trying to keep a couple of ash trees cleaned up and treated for ash borers as good as possible (although that may ultimately be a lost cause).  The tree work is one small part of the greater home ownership challenge I've been encountering. It seems it's near time to reset/refresh on most everything to do with the house. Starting with the trees, they seem to have been planted with the notion that they'd stay small-ish. Spruces and oaks were planted w...

Upping my writing "game" has been on my mind lately. One way to exercise the brain and spur some creativity is using writing prompts: story ideas generated by someone or something else. Using prompts are a supposedly a good way to exercise creativity, find some new inspiration, build some endurance at ye olde modern typewriter and just have some fun with; a sort of mental cardio.  The challenge for me is to break away from my usual flavor of writing, which is rather functional. I tend to write to sort out my thoughts and assign some structure to my perspective and my life. More functional and purposeful. That's fine I suppose, but writing just in that genre can be limiting. I at least like the idea of being able to write more broadly. Being able to do so would probably even help out the writing in that genre, both bringing new ideas and new diversity to my prose. Hence, in writing this paragraph I just rationalized the importance and utility in writing prompt exercises.  ...

As with my last couple of posts, writing has been a tricky endeavor. My head feels muddled and it's hard to linearize my thoughts in a manner conducive to a blog post. Still, I try. It's an interesting problem as there is a lot of stuff I want to write about, but there's enough thinking pulling me away from those items. In essence a lack of feeling centered and in the moment; preventing some level of agency in my writing. I'm not sure what to do about it, but to keep scribbling as best I can.  Heightened anxiety is the best I can attribute this state to. As much as I lament continued lamenting of the new job I think it is the reality that I am a slow adapter to change. Maybe this is a good opportunity to look back to other times I've had some big changes in my life. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) these times don't happen terribly often. Working backwards chronologically, the biggest next most recent thing was the divorce. It was a tough time, although I do...

Gimbal test print. All pieces printed nested simultaneously. I print, therefore I am...finding myself in an interesting mix of hobby and micro-business. Things started a few years ago and really had little to do with 3D printing and more to do with entrepreneurial curiosity and an easy point of entry. My dad, needing some somewhat consumable parts for a tool (pneumatic nailer) found that the only deal around was to buy a bulk pack of what he needed.  As a casual nailer he didn't need the remaining half dozen or so tips and asked if I was interested in trying to resell them on eBay. I forget if I had sold stuff on there by then or not, but had at least expressed interest on what's involved on the selling end. Amazingly, after putting the listing up the parts sold quickly and easily. This spurred curiosity to explore further. I found certain parts wholesaled easy enough to resell. Some did not, or at least access to distributor pricing was restricted to licensed tool dealers. The...

Ugh. It's been way too long since I've done some writing. Ultimately, it would be great to put in a couple thousand words a week. It's the same as exercising/playing an instrument/etc.; the more I do it the better I get and the better I feel. For me, writing has the effect of serializing my thoughts. It gives some manner of order, and priority to all the things buzzing around my metaphorical beehive. This is similar to making a list, but I find putting some prose to the thoughts adds some perspective and even some gratitude. So what's been going on lately? In a word: life. I'm finally starting to settle into the new job. I'm even starting to enjoy it. There's an entirely different set of challenges, however these challenges still rhyme with a lot of what I did at the previous gig. Now that I'm settling in, I'm able to start looking at side projects to augment my experience and pursue some of the academic interests I have. I'm happy that it's ...

Listen up you capitalist dogs! Your economy needs you! It's no time to be thinking about saving for the future! Real happiness comes from buying people things they don't need and will forget about within minutes! Let's not forget the real people who matter here, the shareholders. I'm not talking you and your pithy 401k nest egg. I'm talking the ultra-rich, the new-age aristocrats largely born into their privilege and taught nothing but "more is better at any cost". How can they buy their yachts, and more importantly maintain their political influence if you don't pony up? In the end their philanthropy, a mere midday shadow of their wealth, will save you. The pensions cut from their companies and their tax breaks have reached a limit, they must have more! They will remember you well as they curse you for not giving them enough. Remember, they are special among people and their spit has the value of gold as it rains on your grave. That hard fought nest e...

 I've been having a tough time finding a cohesive line of thought for putting in my blog. I tend to like some structure to what I write, at least a minimal amount of pre-planning. However, that's been tough lately. I think a part of it is the new job. It has me in a state of heightened anxiety as I learn my role. For me, this means results in a distracted level of focus. This is perhaps due to part of my brain waiting in anticipation for the next thing to do. There's also a continual mental inventory going on to make sure I'm not missing something. All the while, I'm not sure doing all the things I need to be successful in the new role or if I made the right choice in making such an abrupt career lane change. Ultimately, making the change was the only way I could find out. All that said, I am enjoying the vast majority of the new job. I'm getting to explore a new technology space that has me opening textbooks to refresh on my knowledge of quantum mechanics. It...