We are all sick. All four of us! Fevers, congestion, the whole bit. We have never all been sick at the same time. This is Viral Convergence! I'm emailing Gareth at Jargon Watch immediately about this! It's bad enough when my wife and I are sick. Taking care of two young children when you can barely get out of bed is bad. But dragging yourself out to take temperatures, dole out Motrin, Tylenol, Pediacare, and, finally, Nyquil is really, really bad. There aren't enough different places to lay down and watch TV for all of us! My wife just wants...
Artistic Tendencies, News Outta My Control, Professional Auteurism / 28.01.2002
Reliving Ground Zero
Last week I took a trip up to NYC to see Ground Zero. I'd been wanting to make the trip for some time. And, after working on Dichotomy since September, I felt it was important to take the trip. They've recently put up a platform, about two blocks away from the site. You have to get [free] tickets at the South Street Seaport kiosk, about 7 blocks to the East. Many have mixed emotions about The Platform. Some see it as just another stop on a tourist's itinerary and are concerned about the carnival atmosphere at the site. Even though I'm...
Artistic Tendencies, Worker's Comp / 13.01.2002
A Review of Performance Reviews
It's January in Washington, DC. Nestled snuggly between The Holiday Season and The Tax Season in this town is The Performance Review Season! This is the period when all good federal government supervisors are "tasked" with evaluating the performance of their staff. Deadlines loom and are taken very seriously, so it's important not to procrastinate. Before I was hired, in my interview with our Administration people, I was asked what I would do if I had to fire someone. Since this was my first 9-5 job ever, and the only people I had previously supervised were my students, I only had...
Fairly Odd Parents-Past / 31.12.2001
The Day Before the Day After
New Year's Eve, 1972: it was one of those, uh, lonely New Year's Eves. No hot date and no hot party to go to. I was alone. So how to make the best out of it? Dad and his wife, Vera, were vacationing in Hawaii (sounds like they were "jetsetters" but this was an anomoly—they never traveled much). And they were returning at 11:59 PM, 29 years ago tonight! I decided to surprise them and meet their plane at the airport! Well, at least it gave me something to do. I always liked to surprise my father, afterall, he had liked to...
Idiosyncratic Celebrations, Worker's Comp / 21.12.2001
Finding More Than My Hat
It's ¡El Día Más Corto del Año Pero de los Días Está Consiguiendo más Largo y Soy Día Feliz! This is one of my most favorite holidays! Yes, it's the advent of winter (my second least favorite season) and I am not a cold weather person. BUT, the days are finally getting longer. The sun will not rise any later than it did today nor will it set any earlier. And I now have my personal equinox day to look forward to!! A few early winter discoveries I've made: First, I love these!! They make my feet feel toastie and keep me...
The planets were in perfect marital alignment yesterday! It was one of those days that brought out the best in my wife and I and proved just why we were a couple! I had volunteered to bring something to our office Christmas party. My wife said she'd be happy to make her famous brownie recipe. I was grateful for her offer for I had just planned to buy something. But I was concerned she wouldn't have time. She was planning on helping a friend last night and wouldn't get home until late. "No," she said. " It shouldn't be a problem."...
If you remember, I was consumed by preparations for our annual Leaf Blowing Festival. While the weather has been incredibly mild for a DC fall and it seemed more like May than November, the festival was a smashing success! We had a bumper crop this year and the dry weather made it a breeze to blow (it didn't make my allergies any easier, though)! The Closing Ceremony was attended by thousands. The roar of the crowd was deafening. It took a lot of work but it was worth all the hours of planning, raking, blowing, and showering off leaf dust....
Today is the 30th anniversary of my mother's death. It's amazing to think it's been that long and I'm now older than she ever was. I often think about how Mom would feel if she suddenly came back and saw how life had changed during her absence. She'd wonder what that "TV" was doing on my (and everyone else's) desk. When I'd tell her what I do with it and that my daughters have never heard of a typewriter she'd be amazed. The early days of television were to her as wonderous as the early days of the net were...
Spores, spores, spores! That's all we've been hearing about here in DC. And it's clear those pesky little things are harder to control than the CDC originally thought. It is making me just a tad nervous. But what's really on my mind this weekend are spores of another kind: mold spores! For the month long La feuille Souffler la Fête (or Festival De Soufflement De Feuille, depending on which web translation page you use), what better way is there to put a positive spin on my yearly encounter with my handy dandy leaf blower than making it sound so, well, so...
I've been working on a web project about 9/11 and have been totally consumed. You know that feeling? Total commitment to an idea and its realization. It's like the sports equivalent of the zone: you look up and five hours have passed since you last realized, well, reality. What a rush and mixture of emotions. I haven't felt this way in quite a while. But, with the sharp awareness that I lack the power to control the uncontrollable these days, this is my only alternative. All I've got is my creativity. It's the one thing in life where no compromises are...