Category Archives: Paul

September 12, 2015 · 22:26

New Desktop Art

When you feel like you’re standing at Ground Zero with all the bad karma in the world targeting your tired ass — MOVE!

Even if it’s just a tiny bit. Baby steps, if necessary.

While driving back from the hangar today my brain tried to cheer me up (stupid brain!) by reminding me of a few favorite memes, Internet affirmations if you will. Believing that The Muse was trying to tell me something, I pulled them together and merged them together in Photoshop for a new computer desktop.

Courtesy of Chuck Wendig’s excellent terribleminds site, some anonymous bit of wisdom that I keep close to my heart, and Frank Herbert, let’s see if this reminds me to be awesome. (I keep forgetting.)

Computer Desktop Art One

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September 11, 2015 · 23:06

If You Can’t Say Anything Nice – September 11

Adulting sucks sometimes.

One of the things involved with being responsible and mature is self-restraint. Discretion = better part of valor. Not screaming and “losing it” when you’re really frustrated and ready to punch a wall. Don’t send that email that lets everyone know how pissed off you are. Stay calm. EGBOK = Everything’s Going To Be OK.

Just an observation.

And, no, this doesn’t have anything (or at least, not much) with that significant anniversary today. It doesn’t help, I’m sure, but my plate seems to be full to overflowing even without that.

As children all of us were taught, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” I’m sure that was a key piece in preparing for that responsible adult crap in our future.

Isn’t this a nice, calm picture of a beach?

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Filed under Paul, Photography, Travel

August 30, 2015 · 21:58

The Muse Has Freaked Out

I don’t know if being really tired allows the mind to be liberated and free to wander into new territory, or if it means that the mind is collapsing and going off the side of the cliff completely out of control.

Perhaps they’re the same thing.

Tonight when I sat here begging my muse to give me some guidance and inspiration, it turns out that she might be on LSD. Or she’s pissed with me. Or perhaps she’s lost a critical neuron or two. Or all of the above.

Some day, when you’re tired and down and the muse is a fickle little minx, she’ll instruct you to strap a little light to your head and see what you can come up with. The goal is to make the stupidest picture possible. The sort of selfie that would be the bastard child of the Twilight Zone and Pablo Picasso.  While still keeping it a family website, of course. (Yeah, “of course,” we’ll go with that.)

Today’s that day.

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My muse, everyone! Let’s give her a big round of applause! She’ll be here all week. (Tip your waitresses!)

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August 19, 2015 · 22:42

Good Meetings

I had a series of follow-up meetings today in downtown Los Angeles. I talked about many interesting things with many interesting people. I feel good following those meetings. Let’s hope it was a good day for the (figurative) hunting of 400-pound elephants.

And, hey, more pictures of downtown Los Angeles!

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Keep those karma points coming, I need all the help I can get.

I swear, I’ll stop beating around the bush and tell you what this was all about. Real soon now. I hope it’s on a day of celebration. Real soon now.

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Filed under Job Hunt, Los Angeles, Paul, Photography

August 18, 2015 · 22:14

Twitter Milestone Mumblings

This happened tonight, as I became aware I was getting close to a milestone point on my Twitter usage:

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When in doubt – mumble.

Let’s hope tomorrow is a good day. We could use it.

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August 10, 2015 · 22:28

Random Photo For August 10th

  • Random number between 1999 and 2015 = 2006
  • Random number between 1 and 12 = 6
  • Random number between 1 and 31 (or 30 or 28 or 29) = 14

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Over time you’ll see this view in a number of my pictures – it’s from my office during the time period from 2006 to 2011. At the time this was taken we had just moved into these offices from another suite elsewhere in the same office building in Encino.

This was the first clear day and you can see the western end of the San Bernardino Mountains off in the distance to the northeast. The parking lot is for the private school that you can see across the street.

Over the course of five years there were some odd and interesting things that we saw happening in that parking lot. During fire drills the kids would all come out holding hands and line up in their respective spots, the teachers doing head counts to make sure everyone was there. A day when it was pouring rain and a woman had left the side door on her minivan open and I couldn’t get the parking lot guards to help or do anything about it. The time the parking lot guards threatened to call the police if I didn’t stop taking pictures of the trees on the side street. (It was spring, the trees were in bloom, and I was on a public sidewalk taking pictures of something hanging two feet over my head. I’m still waiting for the cops to show up on that one.)

As for that office, there were some odd and interesting things that happened there as well. Some good, some decidedly less pleasant.

But it was a more interesting view than it might appear at first glance.

 

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July 26, 2015 · 13:41

You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Til It’s Gone

That’s true on many levels for this trip, particularly on the big, critical, life-changing level and on the tiny, trivial, get-over-it level.

I’m the one dealing the most personally with the latter. Where I’m staying at the moment, not only do I not have wi-fi, or any kind of internet access at all, I also do not have any access to television. (I guess I do have limited access through my phone, but it’s not 4G, or even 3G, so it’s slooooooooooooow.)

That’s supposed to be called “camping.”

Contributing factors are context and background. When you’re off on a camping trip, mentally you know that you’re not going to have internet or television. That’s usually one of the reasons that you’re going in the first place. So while the absence of such things might be an inconvenience or a major change in your routine, it’s expected, even anticipated.

When you’re in a normal, household environment you have routines and things you’re comfortable with. “Comfort actions,” the equivalent of “comfort food.” These routines seem trivial – until they’re involuntarily absent.

This can happen if you have a power outage, for example. But when something like that happens you’re probably still at home, so you have access to other resources there. Books, magazines, working in the garden, schmoozing with the neighbors, going out to a movie someplace where they still have power. Whatever.

Now imagine that this involuntary removal of your “comfort actions” IS happening when you’re still in a household environment, even one you’re accustomed to, but a place where you have limited alternative resources. (As you might have guessed from some of the pictures over the last few days, I’m staying at my Mom’s house.) On top of that, add in that you’re there alone.

Big, empty house. Alone. Stressful circumstances. Those “comfort actions” would really come in handy.

After a long day, to relax at home everyone has their own routine. In our case it generally involves something on the internet (writing, surfing, social media) while having the ballgame or some other television program on as background noise. Or maybe there’s a show we want to watch and we put away the laptops and iPads. Or we can just watch a DVD or movie.

Without any of that, it’s jarring.

I can’t even go to the “how did they survive this pre-television and pre-internet” argument. I actually remember those days, and we did just fine because we didn’t miss what didn’t even exist yet. Our “comfort actions” in that time were completely different than they are now.

Dealing with the here-and-now, it’s a real pain in the ass soldering through the absence of those integral parts of our lives while in a setting that should by rights include them, and the almost total lack of any substitutes.

As Joni Mitchell said.

Naturally, we all adjust. I’m finding things to do on my computer that don’t involve internet access. I have a decent-sized chunk of my music collection on my laptop, so there’s plenty of music to listen to. I started finding treasure troves of family photos, all originals from the film days, so I went out and got a scanner. That should keep me entertained for a few nights.

But I still wish I had the Angels game on the television in the background.

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Filed under Computers, Entertainment, Family, Paul

July 20, 2015 · 23:17

Control Issues

In many ways, it would have been easier if I had just gotten a phone call that said, “Get on the next plane you can.” Then I would have been forgiven for simply casting aside most of my normal daily responsibilities and simply reacting. I might even have been expected to do that. Don’t think, just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

But in being asked to be there in a week and stay for an uncertain duration, my brain wants to somehow take that as a reprieve, a chance to retain some modicum of control. If I do this and that, then I can minimize the impact on my absence from the hangar for a couple of weeks. If I can get A, B, and C done, then I can minimize some of the impact at home on things I normally keep up on. Of course, with that “reprieve,” I can take on numerous additional tasks to prepare for the trip and be able to help more when I get there.

I can plan. I can make checklists and double check them. I can leave little yellow sticky notes all over the place. I can fool myself into believing that I’m on top of the situation.

Um, yeah, about that…

Again, in thinking about this as I write, letting my brain roam freely as my fingers roam across the keyboard, I realize that there are parallels in flight training. (I find that a lot if I go looking for it, and since flight training is a really good thing and an excellent model for situational awareness, multitasking, and planning, I like to think those skills can carry back over to daily life.)

When operating normally, the number one rule is to stay ahead of the plane. Wherever possible, anticipate what’s coming up next and be ready for it.

Travelling cross country? Know in advance during your planning phase what your route is, and where there are alternative places to land along the way if you get into trouble. If everything’s fine, know in advance where and when you need to throttle back and start descending. Have a list of the anticipated radio frequencies that you’re going to switch between as you travel, and as soon as you sign off from #1 and start talking to #2, load the expected frequency for #3 into the radio – as soon as you switch from #2 to #3, load #4, and so on. Know what your landmarks are or navigation points and know when to expect them.

Stay ahead of the plane.

But when things go catastrophically wrong, i.e., the engine quits or your fuel tanks are empty or you hit a bird or you’re getting ice on the wings… Then the number one rule changes.

Fly the plane!

You may want to find a way to get down and land ASAP. You may want to call for help. You may want to try to restart the engine or switch fuel tanks or something else. But while you’re busy doing that, you can lose control of the plane and turn a bad situation into a fatal one.

Don’t worry about anything else until you’re following rule #1 – fly the plane!

That’s the equivalent of being told to get on the next plane. You don’t have to worry about anything else – just fly the plane. Just react. Just keep moving.

But now, it’s like bad weather moving in when you’re flying. Those accidents don’t start off catastrophic, but they end up that way because they’re the result of a string of little errors that add up. Break the chain and the accident’s avoided.

Weather’s looking spotty? Divert to one of those alternatives you planned for. They’re looking spotty as well? Turn around and go back. But you need to get there and you’re pretty sure you’ll be OK? Famous last words. Now you’re in conditions you’re totally not prepared for but you’re going to press on anyway? Fine, but what happens when you get off course and start to run low on fuel? Worrying about the course and navigation and fuel and you don’t notice the ice on the wings, or the oil temperature rising? It’s okay, I’m in control, there are just a few issues to deal with.

Really?

One little thing at a time that add up, none of them critical by themselves, but in a string they’re a disaster.

So now I think that I’m maintaining some control by working like a demon to get days and days and weeks of stuff done in just four or five days. I won’t miss anything.

But if I do miss anything, I’ll have the tools I’ll need to handle them on the fly. I can do that because I’m connected via phone and computer and internet and finances and everything can be taken care of that way.

But if it turns out that small towns in Vermont don’t have 4G cell service and I find out that I won’t have internet access where I’m staying, well, that’s still okay because…

And if I find that something else is an issue then I’ve got a contingency plan, except that maybe there’s a problem there…

Somehow I’ll figure something out and just deal with it, which is great until…

Just. Fly. The. Plane.

Important to remember that.

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Filed under Family, Flying, Paul, Travel

July 8, 2015 · 23:31

Butter Bucket Brigade

I don’t just write my own blog here, I also read other blogs that interest me. One of my favorites is Musings From A Tangled Mind by Wendy Kowal. The subject matter is sometimes serious, sometimes lighthearted, and occasionally hilarious.

Yesterday there was a post there which discussed her mother’s use of “butter buckets” (my term) for storage of things other than the butter they originally contained. It rang true to me, since my family was also one where everything got re-used and re-purposed as possible. It also was hilarious because that apple didn’t fall too far from the tree.

My father used coffee cans, butter buckets, baby food jars, and so on for storing all kinds of things in his workshop. (With eight kids, there were a LOT of baby food jars!) I remember him finding a design in Popular Mechanics or some similar magazine for a rotating rack that used baby food jars to store miscellaneous small nuts and bolts. He built it, with end pieces about the size of a bicycle wheel, and the horizontal spokes between them about two feet long. All of the spokes could swivel to stay upright, like the cars on a Ferris wheel do. Each spoke was a piece of wood about two inches wide and a half-inch thick, with about fifteen baby food jar lids nailed to the underside. The baby food jars containing the small parts would be pushed up and screwed into position, then the whole thing would rotate to bring different racks of jars into use. Sort of like a cross between a Ferris wheel and a vertically-oriented lazy Susan.

At least none of those baby food jars held anything that might be confused with baby food.

When I read Wendy’s article yesterday I immediately thought of how I do the same thing as her mother, but I do it more like my father did. I wanted to post a picture in my comment on her article, but I couldn’t. so I’ll put it here!

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On the bathroom counter next to my sink are, from left to right: a red Solo cup (which is actually orange), a slot machine change cup from Paris Las Vegas (from our honeymoon fifteen years ago), two butter buckets exactly like those in the picture that Wendy used yesterday, and an orange Halloween candy collection bucket that was a Kids’ Meal giveaway at least fifteen years ago.

In those various containers are pens, notes, scissors, old toothbrushes (they’re great for cleaning things), car keys, small tools, parts for bathroom repairs, a flashlight, old MP3 players, loose change, old headphones, key chains, batteries… You get the picture.

My favorite item, no doubt because it’s the weirdest and most out of place, is the New Year’s Eve party horn sticking out of the Paris Las Vegas cup. You never can tell when you might need something in the bathroom to go phweeEEEEEETTTTTTTT to celebrate something or spook the dog.

Wait, that didn’t come out right…

(NOW do you see why Ronnie’s earned the title of “The Long-Suffering Wife”?)

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Filed under Castle Willett, Curiosities, Family, Paul

June 24, 2015 · 22:45

Random Photo For June 24th

  • Random number between 1999 and 2015 = 1999
  • Random number between 1 and 12 = 6
  • Random number between 1 and 31 (or 30 or 28 or 29) = 17

Sherman, today we’ve set the WayBack Machine about as far as we can go and still have digital photos. Given the pictures from that day, let’s use three instead of one. If nothing else, they prove that I have no shame.Image10

From the picture set, I’m guessing that the pictures were actually taken by my son, who would have been fifteen at the time. We might have still been in the learning curve phase with digital cameras.

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Yes, I was almost certainly using that tone of voice. In the last sixteen years I’ve tried to be more aware of when I start lecturing, and as a rule I think I do pretty well with keeping it locked up these days, but back in the day, a single dad with three teenagers, I might have occasionally had that face and used the “Dad voice.”

I just hadn’t realized now that, intentionally or not, I had been caught on camera doing it.

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Finally, the picture I was looking for.

This was before I met The Long-Suffering Wife, so I’m thinking this “cookie bouquet” was from my mother for some reason. (It almost certainly wasn’t because I had been good.) I was probably taking the picture to email to my father to show to my mother and thank her for them.

Looking back almost sixteen years, my hair was much darker, I wore it longer, and I had those stupid glasses. Still had the same kind of pen (Parker Jotter) in my pocket, still looked like me.

Laser eye surgery was one of the best moves I ever made. I hated the way I looked in those glasses.

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