Relaxing Sunday

Its a fairly normal, relaxing Sunday here. The unbearable heat of the past few days is now tempered and eminently bearable. Birds are singing in the yard. There's many more birds this year after the native, draught tolerant garden with which we replaced the green grass has taken root. I've got 2-3 hours of work in my inbox. A meeting with India tonight. So I'm taking this short break while Hirono gets ready to walk to the best farmer's market in the Bay Area to write a blog entry.

OK, one thing isn't normal or relaxing. Every time Hirono makes any kind of noise or thump I'm running upstairs to see what is the problem. Alisa is literally knocking at the door and trying to get out. Meanwhile, Leia is doing her best to turn head down with her sister taking up all the room. Hirono's 9 months pregnant this past Thursday. Now that's not so relaxing!

Is there any remaining doubt

Is there any remaining doubt that the halls of power in the US are filled with evil people? Another way to torture. And I'm paying taxes for it. Awful and disgusting. Can I renounce my citizenship and still vote?

Interesting Union Out Here

The longshoremen's union were in the local paper today. As I was eating breakfast there this morning (venti 5-shot americano and some goat cheese I bought at the farmer's market right out front this very store last Sunday) I read it in the print version for a change. This story was on the front cover. There was a picture in the print copy of some protesters trying to turn back a truck driver at the entry to the port of Oakland. One lady's face looked remarkably like this person. She looked like she had healed nicely, which I'm glad to see.

It's good to see some strong people. I still wonder what can I do to help. Protesting a day is not a problem for me. I imagine if Adobe employees organized and took a day off to protest someplace. That would be perfectly cool; though, I'm sure the company couldn't sponsor it. Who knows, maybe they could. I'll have to ask.

Update: Grrr. I shouldn't post without proofreading. My grammar and sentence structure suck. --e

analysis please

I finally lift my head up from work and take stock of the news cycle. There's this noise going on about a tax holiday for gasoline. So I try to find out what is really going on and whether or not it would work. Instinct says that anything the GOP wants is probably wrong; but, let me look into instead.

So, I go to this AP article to see what is behind the noise. No luck. He said/she said nonsense again. So many people seem to realize that our traditional media sucks; but, it keeps going on. I believe I'm better informed than the majority of Americans at this point and I haven't owned a TV since college (and even then it was the frat's TV - though I just ordered a TV online to help with raising the girls.) I seem to get better information from the personal blogs I read than the news.

Is this surprising? Well, according to dominant theories in organizational science this is expected. It turns out the most efficient and accurate way of communicating is from one "friend" to another, where "friend" is defined as a trusted person with whom rapport has already been established. This is true within corporations. This now seems to be playing out in current events. Go figure.

Update: I forgot to the link to the article.

My Guardian Angel

Just like in college, Toast’s room was always a fun place to just hang out. There’s always an interesting conversation.

Today there was talk of prayer and the consensus was that prayer is a deluded pastime that is nothing but wishful thinking. I tend to agree. Meanwhile, I got religion today. There was a strange encounter at the train station. I think I met my guardian angel. First, I’m taking a break from work a bit and relaxing.

The purpose was to go to the gym; but, my meetings ran late and Hirono was coming home. So I went to meet her at the train station. While there a fellow began talking to me, baked out of his mind. He seemed to be lost. He had no cell phone and used his last change trying to call his girlfriend from a pay phone. She didn’t answer.

So I offered my cell phone and he proceeded to call. No answer. He then says what we need to add the area code. I add the area code and call. Fax machine. He then tells me his plan was to take the train to a different station and walk to a bus station. Turned out he was from San Francisco and had made it close to his girlfriend’s place but couldn’t really get hold of her. Asking him for his bus number we walk to the other side of the platform where there’s a bus map. The bus he wants to take stops right there at the station. He’s golden. And he’s on his way.

The occurrence struck me because the man reminded me so much of myself. His attitude is what I could be if I wanted to be relaxed, not quite like Toast. But he was fun to hang with like Toast. But I really connected to this stranger on some kind of out-of-phase thought. There was a strong sense of identification.

I’ll never see this fellow again. He came and left like he was my guardian angel making sure I’m still doing good in the world.

--e

A Doctor Making a Difference

Speaking of doctors, I went to get my pain medication subscription renewed today. What a great doctor. She's professional and does her job as she thinks it should be done; and, she has the best bedside manner I've ever met. She puts you so at ease and then starts asking insightful questions about overuse. Its not until she's convinced that your are not abusing the drug that she renews. This was the second time I went and each time she denies 2 in 3 applicants because they are just abusing the drug to the detriment of their own lives. Very cool.

--e

It's Getting Real

Today we had the baby shower for the girls. It was quite the bash, even though no liquor was served in consideration of Hirono. 89 folks got together for giving gifts, so our haul was pretty good.

Now I’m starting to get nervous. These girls could come out at any time.

The nursery is ready. We've got all our gear. Its really just a matter of cleaning things up a bit and finishing the kitchen remodeling. Man, I hope they wait three weeks before they come out so that we can finish the kitchen before they arrive.