Exercise.
Stretch.
Walk a mile.
Blog.
Read a book.
Quit social,
And caffeine.
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Banging away at the machine
I had heard a rumor that each state employee has multiple licenses to install Microsoft Office on their home computers (beyond the web app). So last month, I took a moment to download the program, installed it, but ran into an activation problem. I still had access to the Office 365 webapp so I just forgot about it, until we were sent an email confirming the rumor.
The key was knowing for certain that I had a legitimate rights to the program. I’m not an IT guy by any stretch of the imagination, but I can mash keyboards, and I’m not scared about nerfing our home laptop. I went back at it, messed around with some settings, deleted some stray items, and got it to work.
Like kids in the 50’s grew up working on cars, I’m of the generation that grew up messing around with our PC’s, those 286’s and 386’s. There was a lot of time spent sitting in front of the computer inserting one floppy disk after another for a big installation. The computer is a black box, but not a scary one.
Once in a while, all that time in front of the CRT is validated. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the highest and best use of my time, but at least it wasn’t a complete loss.
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A new boss
The new governor is being inaugurated today.
From what I’ve been told, between being in Vegas and about eight steps down on the org chart, my own job pretty well insulated from state politics, which is totally fine by me.
The marriages of the previous two governors ended during their administrations, so while Nevada ain’t a big state, this gig is no joke.
So while I won’t be personally near the trials and tribulations of the new executive, between being a citizen in the state and the fact that my division is part of the executive branch, he’ll have an outsize influence on my life for the next four, maybe eight years.
Onward forth! Best wishes for the new administration! All the best!
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Trying to escape social
The hard part is social has crafted themselves to be a great feed of a interesting tidbits. Eating candy isn’t the best thing for one’s brain, but it’s awful hard to quit.
As I’ve been spending less time on Facebook (the New York Times article about how they were letting partners read messenger PM’s was a kicker) I noticed that I transitioned to Twitter, a platform I previously didn’t use outside of major national events.
So last night I took some time to dumb it down a bit. Partly to shape it towards Nevada politics (I’ll find out about big events in DC soon enough) and partly just make it less exciting.
The next problem might be that I will also have to stop mindlessly revisiting and refreshing the same websites as if it was 2004.
Ultimately I suspect it is a battle to train myself to prefer more substantive fare over the quick hits of news, gossip, and superficial interaction.
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Little Victories
Our boy is a happy little guy. He doesn’t hesitate to beam with pride over the smallest little things.
With a baby, it’s easy to watch them level up. Each little incremental improvement is quite obvious. Even with our daughter it’s still noticeable with all she’s learning from the world around her.
But for us growed up folks, how do we find our own little victories? And when we do, then we should celebrate them with a big toothy grin!
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New is Normal
When there’s a baby and a young child in the house, change happens so quickly it becomes normal.
It’s not that you get used to change, but that it just is the frame of reference. You forget yesterday because every yesterday is different.
One day he’s crawling. Next he’s sitting, and then propping himself up unsteadily, and then…. Meanwhile our girl is going through her less dramatic but equally drastic changes as she races towards her fifth birthday.
When every day is a new normal, does the word have any meaning?
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Lettering
I’ve always taken pride in my lettering. Architects (that can letter) usually do.
It’s a totally anachronistic skill, though it did pay for 2.5 years of my life in Berkeley, so it’s not nothing. Then again, that was also almost two decades ago, and it was an anachronistic skill then.
It’s not a hard skill one to learn, maybe ten hours at a drafting table and you’ll have it for the rest of your life, as long as you keep up the practice. Even so I would agree its a waste of young students’ time to force them to letter. There’s nothing practical to be gained from it.
But there is some value in being able to letter. Most of the time, my handwriting is either a god awful train wreck to a cursive-print when I’m dressing up a personal note card to a friend.
However, when I’m handwriting a something to another architect, I sit up straight, make sure the pen is seated correctly in my hand, take a breath, and I letter.
In those moments, what I say is less important than how I say it. Beyond the gesture of sending a handwritten card, my handwriting is signaling that I am part of the profession, part of the tribe, one of us. I am how I write. Here I am.
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Creating a little friction
I’m not yet ready to delete my twitter or facebook accounts.
But I have started logging out of them on all my machines. (The phone apps were deleted a long time ago.)
That doesn’t always stop me from logging back in and going down the rabbit hole. But occasionally it does.
I never turned on Amazon 1-click because spending money should never be that easy. I need to take that same stinginess to how I waste my time.
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Resolved (2)
There’s a lot of posts saying whether resolutions work, or most likely don’t.
The most interesting blurb I read came from last year’s cycle, when someone said they select just 2 items to work on for the year and hammer those two items.
I like it because it is a very narrow focus but there is still a little choice and variety. That said, I took that advice year and the results was mixed. I read my fair share of books, but I didn’t end up really doing much of a dent in the mound of paperwork that still needs to be sorted out.
But it’s a new year, so my two resolutions at home are:
- Keep up with this daily blogging thing for the new year. Ideally I’ll keep it going for the full year, but I’ll allow myself to reassess at the equinoxes and solstice.
- Exercise. Like the rest of America, I really need to get moving more. The tangible goals from this one are to get the blood pressure and my weight back down.
For work, it’s relatively straightforward. Just figure out how to do my job, learn to be a great client, and take stabs at improving the process when the opportunities present themselves. It’s all too new for me to have tangible goals aside from general basic self-orientation.
Well, here’s to 2019!
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Middle age privilege and problems
I started a more detailed year in review, but ultimately that’s most likely best kept to myself.
It was a great year professionally. I got lucky getting a job I partially deserved, but I hope I’m doing good work for the state so I’m hoping it’s starting to be earned.
With such a position, it’s a little easy to get one’s head inflated, but I constantly remind myself that people’s responsiveness to me is due to the position than who I am. After all, no one was giving me the time of day when I was in Houston trying to move out west.
Indeed, life has a way of cosmically balancing things out, with a body that is racing towards forty years outside the womb.
Well here’s to middle age privilege! I got an office with a door, and a yoga mat cause I need to stretch out my gimpy lower back that flared up over Christmas!