You don’t buy time during the deadline.
Time is bought it during the body of the project, during the doldrums between the start and the finish.
Buy time when it is cheap and plentiful; at the end it is priceless, but no longer for sale.
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Saturn, Sleeping at Last, 2016
You taught me the courage of stars before you left.
excerpt from Saturn, by Sleeping at Last
How light carries on endlessly, even after death.
With shortness of breath, you explained the infinite.
How rare and beautiful it is to even exist.
I couldn’t help but ask
For you to say it all again.
I tried to write it down
But I could never find a pen.
I’d give anything to hear
You say it one more time,
That the universe was made
Just to be seen by my eyes.Maybe I was just in a maudlin mood, but I came across the lyrics and it just hit me hard.
Not so much for me, but as something to tell the kids.
However, I’m not sure I would. Maybe these sentiments are better left unspoken. They see themselves as the center of the world already.
Maybe like sex, drugs, and rock and roll, there will be a time and place for them to learn about this, but not now.
Hopefully I’ll be there to tell them, when it’s time.
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Every Frame a Painting, Taylor Ramos & Tony Zhou, 2014 – 2016
I just finished watching the now concluded youtube channel Every Frame a Painting.
You can ask only so much out of this free internet world and we were lucky to be given these little five to ten minute video essays from the perspective of an editor.
I’m not a film buff, but each of those 27 videos were great to watch. Now I gotta figure out what to watch while I take my blood pressure in the mornings.
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Faith in a couple hard drives
All my photos are essentially on two hard drives plus whatever is uploaded to carbonite.
Technically that meets the 3-2-1 rule, three devices, two different types, one off site.
But still, it does seem a little bit too much faith to put into technology.
But as a parent of two kids, when would I make time to print these out? What would be the opportunity cost of that?
As always, trade-offs.
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Starter
The good thing about a sourdough starter is that it forces you to make bread on a regular basis.
Or does it? You could just make pancakes or noodles instead.
But yeah, it’s been busy and I hadn’t been keeping up with the breadmaking.
So when I made a loaf today, it felt like relearning how to ride a bike.
You know how it should all work together, but the body and mind isn’t flowing smoothly.
Practice. It’s the game. Even when you got it down pat.
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Guessing the future
It’s not easy.
Sometimes you have to poke and prod a little. Not fun.
Maybe even a little unpleasant.
But I guess that’s the job.
You’re gonna be living in it soon.
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Discovery Museum, Las Vegas
The other day, we went to a free event at the Discovery Children’s Museum.
A couple years ago we had a membership to this museum, so it was intensely nostalgic to watch our daughter in the same space we used to frequent regularly, just a couple years older.
It seems to be a frequent theme on this blog, but it’s worth repeating. Single days crawl slowly, but time disappears fast.
As for the trip, the girl had just as much fun as before, but we found the place equally boring as before. We still prefer Springs Preserve.
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Chase Bank Parking Lot, Arroyo Crossing, Las Vegas
When you live in an area for an extended period, mundane places begin to pick up the residue of various experiences.
Last year (just around this time) we sold our little Mazda that we owned for nine years. I met the buyer outside of this bank because he was pulling his cash out from this branch.
This year, I met my new tenant to sign the lease and transfer the rent and security deposits between our two accounts.
Looking at it, you’d never anticipate major exchanges would happen in this little parking lot.
Until it happens.
Twice.
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One shovelful at a time
The way to fill in a hole is the same way it got there, a little bit at a time.
I can’t imagine this is an original thought, but I’m stealing it, cause I got a big project to review.
Heroic effort in this type of work is only enticing in the abstract, effectiveness is found in each little step.
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Upper back pain
I’ve had several bouts of lower back pain, usually attributable to various forms of physical exertion. However, I’ve realized that such events are always preceded with various forms of neglect or stress that allow the proverbial straw to do the final break.
But recently I’ve had a new twist – upper back pain! I suspect it was a mix of working on deadline without the greatest ergonomics and playing with my daughter as she sat on my shoulders at the park.
I’ve had various other forms of non-lower back pain, but of the individual localized variety, not this comprehensive regional stiffness and swelling that I’ve previously only associated with lower back pain.
In any case, I guess as I stumble past 40, I’m gonna after to take care of my back. All of it.