I've had a number of conversations lately about movement, progress, stagnation and time. I think after two years of pandemic, which caused an absolute shake-up to all our status quo, go-go routines, people finally seem ready to figure out what the "new normal" is going to be. The problem is, many of us and our …
Tag: advice
How to Argue Well
I went to a friend's birthday party a few weeks ago and it was fabulous to see people and engage. While I wouldn't say I know this person incredibly well, we have played in the band together for years. She's also married to another band member and the band even played a short set at …
The Dam Breaks?
I have a confession to make, though loyal readers already know... I have not posted any new writing in this blog for a few weeks now. I broke my writing habit/commitment. I failed to live up to my own ideal. As you may recall, I had set the intention a while ago to publish SOMETHING, …
There Is Nothing More to Say
Here we are again on Monday night and I have no blog post prepared. This has been one hell of a week. I wasn't sure I could gather the strength to work today, but somehow I managed. The stress and news stemming from the Russian War of aggression against Ukraine, and the whole of Europe, …
Dog Training
Our house has been a whirlwind of excitement for the last 10 days or so. The first weekend of the month, we adopted a second dog from an excellent shelter here in our city. Just about 3 years ago, when my then elderly baby, lab-dachshund mix finally passed away at 14yo, I lasted in a …
Does the “Root Cause” Even Matter?
I've been working on data processing and software for most of my career. One of my best skills in my job is finding the root cause of client-reported data errors in our products. This means that even after a ticket has been created by client support and bounced around to multiple people in my department …
Racism and White Supremacy are Killing Democracy
Last week, in the days that followed Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, and the federal holiday created to recognize it, the US Senate voted on the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. While the vote on the bill was a tie (50-50, a party-line vote), the bill did not go to the Vice President to break …
Continue reading Racism and White Supremacy are Killing Democracy
What We Lose as Time Passes
We decided to watch the film Napoleon Dynamite over the weekend. For anyone who isn't familiar, well, I won't spoil it, and I'm no professional movie critic anyway (not that they know anything special). What I will say is that this movie really makes me think about all the examples of the past, times gone …
What January 6th Means to Me
I took the day off yesterday. I wasn't physically ill and wasn't on vacation. I didn't have other plans. I specifically took time to reflect on the state of my country, my government and my society in light of the first anniversary of an event that I consider to be the single most vile and …
Conjuring a Theme for the New Year
Happy New Year, dear readers! I'm not gonna lie; we all thought 2020 was bad and 2021 would be better, but at this point, it honestly feels like we've just been through one huge, horrible, double-length year of anguish and uncertainty. After all that, the holidays and typical year end frivolity just didn't feal right, …
Autisticoronapoliticalifragilisticexpialidocious 