Category: grindstone

All about breadwinning.

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i know you’re watching

Stretched tight.

Mmmm hmmm internet.

I smell it on the horizon… wafting over from afar in scented waves.  Slightly coastal, faintly deep-fried, with a dash of burning rope and a hint of recent thunderstorms.  It’s vacation in Florida, and the smell is just the precursor to the faint strains of fiddle music, slow drawl and electric guitar that’ll begin to wend their way around my head as we fly 40,000ft over Birmingham and begin our final descent.

Monday when I got back to work after a week overseas, I went downstairs to the Starbucks for my morning coffee and was ecstatic to see they are already brewing Christmas Blend.  Man I love me some Starbucks Christmas Blend.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that, at work, the Starbucks is free… at least for the brewed, non-fancy, stuff; but I’m down there before 8am for the first mug and back around 3pm for an afternoon refresh (not “refresh” in the sense that it takes me from 8am to 3pm to drink my morning’s cup… however).  Sometimes I think about how good I have it at work… that place, despite being my prison, is aaaallll-right sometimes.

Switching gears.

A good buddy of mine recently uprooted his family and moved to Taiwan.  Unwilling, however, to give up American TV (presumably because it’s just so good) he instead bought a neat little modern-age wonder-device called a Slingbox that allows him to transmit a TV feed from anywhere in the world to anywhere else in the world.  So long as you’ve got TV service wherever the Slingbox lives, you’ve got that same TV service wherever you may roam.  In this case, the Slingbox was installed at our place.  It’s in the closet, it has a dedicated HD DVR receiver and my buddy graciously supplements my cable bill to cover the costs (as well as sponsoring me to the highest speed boadband package to assure the bandwidth required for high-definition streaming is available).

When the Slingbox is active, meaning my buddy and/or his wife are halfway across the world watching TV from the receiver in our closet, there’s a little upside-down U-shaped series of LEDs that pulses, chasing one another from end to end.  Sometimes, early morning here, I’ll walk by the open closet while it’s still dark and I’ll be able to see that light pulsing on the shelf, casting a flickering red light a small ways out into the hallway.  Every once in a while it pulls me in and I’ll stand there watching the thing pulse for a few seconds, knowing.  Watching the LEDs snake their way around that U-shape sometimes feels like second-degree voyeurism or something.  Somewhere, thousands of miles away, someone is watching TV that’s originating from my closet.  At that exact moment.

I know you’re watching… you can’t hide.

Goodnight.

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to do

Oh, and... thank God.

Note before we begin: Yes, I am playing with new themes.  No, they are not 100% yet so please pardon the dust.  Moving on.

Things to do before I leave for Shanghai and Taiwan:

Get a haircut. For my Halloween costume, I shaved my beard super tight in hopes it would help the faux beard and moustache stay attached. It didn’t. However, the transition from this short facial hair to my overlong already-needed-a-trim head hair is now too stark. When I go overseas or even to a customer domestically, I like to have a fresh haircut. For some reason, having a tight crop in the “fade” area makes the baldness on top appear a little more… “intentional” or something. Also, a nice close cut helps me carry authority and appear erudite when speaking. So says me, at least.

Wash the dress clothes. For a week now I’ve not had anything brown-based to wear. I’ve been cycling through the grey, black, and dark pinstriped pants coupled with the same three or so dress shirts that are un-wrinkly enough to wear. The problem started back when Sharaun was in Florida. Not that I rely on her to do my ironing, but she will occasionally iron all my dress shirts so that I have a nice stable of wearable items. Problem with sticking to blacks and greys means that I’ve also run out of clean black dress socks. I’ll need a range of colors for the week abroad. It’s important to not only come well-groomed but to come well-appointed also. Shockingly, I haven’t been to the Asia-Pacific region since before Keaton was born. Managing to dodge the love/hate bullet that is Asia travel for this long, I’d like to show up looking as if my station has improved since that last visit years prior. I mean, why not, right?

Get the big-trash people to come by the house and take away this massive pile of big trash that I’ve been storing alongside the house. We bought a new dining room table a month or so back, one that can accommodate a larger dinner party or maybe someday a real family Thanksgiving. I had to do something with the old table, so I moved it into the backyard. Some friends had indicated they might want it as a prop for a house they were trying to rent, to fill out the space and hopefully make it more attractive to potential tenants. I left it out there while we went to Mexico and the thing got rained on heavily. When I returned, it was literally a woody mush holding precariously to the shape of a table. When I tried to move it it fell apart in pulpy pieces, literally crumbling in my hands. I threw it back by the shed, along with the chairs, amongst a growing little pile of things I don’t use anymore (like my years-old Craigslist-purchased lawn mower and some large wood and plastic scraps from various projects). Time to move this off the property before the coming winter rains reduce it to even more of a mushy mess.

Call the floor guy. As part of the (now overdue) Q3 “home upgrade” item I try to include in each year’s budget, we’re getting hardwood flooring installed in the house. I bought the materials long ago, and have been delaying the actual install to work around various travels and events now for too long. I need to call our friendly Eastern European contractor and get the dates scheduled so we can have the things in before the holidays. We’re both pretty excited about the floors, and have also both become quite detached from the care of the current carpet – not even bothering to give it a clean post-Halloween Bash. We’ll also have him replace the carpet in our master bathroom shower/sink area (carpet in a bathroom, really?) with some nice large tile – since we’re doing “floor stuff” anyway.

Order some of those credit card “convenience” checks. To pay the floor guy. We don’t carry a balance on our single credit card; we pay it off every month. However, we use it almost exclusively as our preferred method of payment for as many purchases as will allow it. All this to accrue airline miles which we can use to shuttle around the USofA visiting our scattered friends and relatives (or for the occasional international trip to Oktoberfest in Munich, “cough-cough 2010”). Since the flooring install will be check only, and will be a substantial outlay, I can’t overlook the chance to net miles from the transaction. The card we have allows me to get one mile for every two dollars on checks (one-for-one on most normal transaction and two-for-one for a limited set). Yes, the checks impose a minimum fee for usage, but ultimately, doing the math, the miles are worth it. We typically end up netting between four and five free round trips per year, or enough for a family jaunt and some me-alone or Sharaun-alone travel to boot. Not bad.

Fix the walls. Again, as part of the Q3 “home upgrade” bucket, I had some wiring work done in the main room. Because most of the wiring had to run through external or hard-to-access internal walls, the work was somewhat invasive and required a good deal of drywall cutting. This leaves me having to go back and patch, texture, and paint the worked areas. It was worth it though, not having to do the work myself (I hate working in the attic pulling wires) and getting the surround speakers mounted attractively only the wall sans visible wiring. The last items on that Q3 list involve mounting the flatscreen and getting a custom entertainment cabinet built on the wall below it. In the end, everything will be attached to the wall with no wires to be seen. Should be a large improvement to the room.

Wow.  Gotta run.  Tons to do.  Goodnight.

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pop-up monsters

Monsters.Oh man I’m glad it’s Friday.

Thursdays at work are slammed.  8am to 5pm, every minute of every hour, including lunch, filled with meetings.  Some of them via phone, some face to face.  Got home at 6:30pm, ate some leftovers, went on a long walk with Keaton while Sharaun was at the gym, and by the time I sat down it was already fast on 9pm.

One morning about a week ago Keaton woke up and rambled on and on about “pop-up monsters” in her room.  From what I can figure, piecing together what bits and pieces I can understand, she had a dream about pop-up monsters that hide in her room.  Apparently, the pop-up variety of monsters are good at hiding, and they only pop-up when they hear you singing.  So, of course, singing alone in your room is out of the question, see?  I mean, if you sing the pop-up monsters will come out and scare you.  Each night now before she goes to bed, she asks me to look behind her bed, under her bed, in her closet, behind her dresser, and behind her rocking chair – just to make sure there are no pop-up monsters hiding.  Gotta watch out for those pop-up monsters.

Tonight I was reading a book to Keaton before she went to bed.  One one page there was a painted picture of a mother and her daughter sitting inside a house.  The was a fire on the hearth and through a large picture window you could see outside.  That painted sky was gray, the painted wind was blowing the painted trees, and it was dusk.  It was such a perfect illustration of Fall I wanted to crawl inside the page with Keaton and stay warm by the fire.  I guess it’s just my Fall-fetish… I can almost feel the season coming on and I just love it so much.  Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas… sweaters, hats, open windows and doors.  Man I love Fall.

Rambling now.  Goodnight.

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busted with spots of boon

Feast.Monday evening and I’m writing from my folks’ place up in Oregon.

One bright spot about having them way up north is getting to stay with them when work takes me up to the local sawmill up here.  Didn’t bring Sharaun and Keaton along this time as the visit is a quick one and wasn’t a good candidate for a weekend-buildout.

Yesterday you may have seen a spurious blog posted here for a few hours.  And, today, you may see the usable bits of that mistakenly published entry recycled here.  See, I schedule all my entries to auto-post at midnight on the day I intend to publish them.  Sometimes, if I’m fairly far along with a draft, to the point where I’m pretty certain I’ll be able to put the polish on it and make it a real entry, I’ll go ahead and schedule the midnight posting.  Occasionally, even being fairly well developed, I may not ever get to the polish and then subsequently forget about the scheduling.  Such was yesterday.

Sorry about that.

Today was the meeting that was the main motivator for me coming to Oregon this time around.  And, luckily, I scheduled other worthwhile activities tomorrow to coincide with the trip… because… today’s meeting, while having a couple worthwhile moments, was by and large a bust.  Well, I should qualify: Considering the sawmill-funded trip as a sawmill shareholder, today was a bust; considering the trip as an opportunity to do what “marketing” types do, today was a boon for “building rapport” with the customers.  I’ll leave it up to the shirts to tell me which of the two honors my salary more.

As I write, I’m listening to a record I “discovered” last Friday called Two Dancers by a British band called the Wild Beasts.  Not my typical kind of album, but I’ve become completely addicted to it.  It slinks and swaggers and the singer’s voice is high and odd… the combination works perfectly though.  The record isn’t out for a few weeks yet, but you can preview some of the leaked tracks over at the Hype Machine‘s aggregator.  I would recommend it, were I you.  Yeah, been digging on that and the new Mew record… finally some new stuff to listen to…

Oh man I’m sleepy.  Nothing much more to write today anyway.  I’m just going to call this a night and talk to you guys tomorrow.

Love ya, goodnight.

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working? working.

Conference room?Monday from the Pacific Northwest; greetings.

Even though I traveled all these miles to work here in Oregon, we left Saturday so we could spend the weekend with my family.  And, since the work event I came here to participate in is two all-day sessions Tuesday and Wednesday, when it came to going into the office Monday morning… I opted instead to work from my folks’ kitchen table.  So, odd as it seems, I crossed state lines to telecommute.  Not bad.

As a Springtime telecommuting perk, I took my afternoon meeting while laying in the green grass at the park downtown.  Keaton was playing in the fountains and on the swings and I was reclined lookin’ nerdy with my headset and cellphone talking about electrons and alpha particles and current densities and inductance.  Sure, I looked like a tool, but it was actually a really nice experience.  I was able to get some appreciation for just how cool the non-constraints of my job are.

I mean, I’ve always known I have a “flexible” job – being that the bulk of the work I do is less tied to one physical location and more tied to being “connected” via phone, e-mail and instant-messaging.  So, really, were it not for the goodness I derive from being at the building – the job is relatively decoupled from my three-and-a-half gray fabric cubicle walls.  Me, though, I tend to be a lot more productive when I’m actually at work… so I don’t take advantage of telecommuting as much as some might. On days like today though, it was a pretty sweet bonus feature of my employ at the sawmill.

Tomorrow begins the first day of the all-day two-day meeting I traveled here for.  Located at a hotel instead of at the Oregon sawmill, it’ll be the familiar cast of characters gathered together to make decisions.  I enjoy meetings like this a lot, when there’s plenty of time for academic pursuits in attempt to figure out the best options and you have the chance to meet people in person you may have worked with for years upon years.  Plus, I feel more important when people ask my opinion on things (and I actually have one).  So… that’s good too.

OK, I’m outta here.

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where ya been?

Tightening.Good for Friday.

This week at work I had two employees tell me, without first speaking to each other, that I seem “stressed” or “distant” and haven’t been acting myself lately.

Sure work’s been busy lately, and I’m adjusting to some changes in my team; having the count of those who work for me increase some 60% has forced me to realize I’ll need to alter my style.

Even still, I think I’ve been the same as ever.

So…

That was depressing.

So come on three-day weekend.

Goodnight.

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muted and distant

Wires.Thursday now and Aruba is closer than ever.  Let’s do this.

At work we’ve got these wireless headsets we all wear when we attend meetings over the phone. Most of our meetings are like this, “virtual” that is, as the teams we work with are spread all over the country and globe. So, if I’m not listening to music on my headphones I’m likely taking a meeting from my boom-mic earpiece thing. Either way, I have something on my ear nearly all day.

We didn’t use to have these nifty wireless things, used to be tethered to the desk by a line from the headset to the phone. Sometimes I forget how awesome the wireless ones actually are, and take for granted the freedom to wander they grant me. I can get about 50ft out of the thing before the connection back to the home base unit in my cube gets spotty. This works out great for ducking into a close conference room when a conversation becomes from-cube unworthy (happens often, actually). Additionally, it’s just about the distance from my desk to the nearest bathroom.

Now, my philosophy about using the headset in the bathroom has changed 180° over the past year. Previously, I was a staunch no-bathroom guy. I sometimes have this odd thing about taking an item into a bathroom, like just crossing the threshold somehow soils it. But, as I get older this concern continues to fade. Heck, it’s just another room… it’s only that people poop in it and not elsewhere. With maturity, I’ve broken down a lot of those notions… I mean I’m only using those paper butt-protectors like 75% of the time now (based on a very complicated need vs. time vs. concern algorithm that exists in my brain).

Anyway, I now gladly wear my headset into the bathroom (only for quick #1s, as I typically have my #2s planned a little better and the situation can be avoided altogether). It’s nice to not miss a piece of the meeting I’m on, and I’m not nearly as rushed to get back to the desk when nature’s call can simply not be ignored (coffee; I blame the coffee). And yes, the headset does have a mute button on it – so of course I utilize that. And, with that sentence now down I’m ready to type the paragraph that sparked this entire blurb:

Since the bathroom is at the working horizon of the headset’s range, I often get worried that, as the connection strains over distance, somehow the muting will be lost in the air. I often blow softly into the mic, listening for the sound of my own breath in my earpiece, to confirm I really am muted. For some reason, pressed up against the urinal with people bearing down in the stalls around me, I just panic that the distance is going to magically un-mute me and expose my in-meeting bio breaks to the world.

Hasn’t happened yet, but doesn’t stop me from irrationally worrying about it.

Goodnight.