Greetings from beautiful Boulder, CO
It's been a very long time. I've gotten messages form many of you and I'm sorry if I didn't get back to you. Life has been insane and my summer completely evaporated. In the past two months I've dealt with a Plutonium incident, written Congressional testimony, met with Congressional investigative staffers, become very well known (despite my best efforts) to the very senior management of my organization and traveled rather extensively. And oh yeah, tried to fit a couple of critical moments of personal time in there too. In the past three weeks I've gone from Maryland to Boulder, CO to Maryland to San Francisco/Sonoma to Maryland to Boulder, CO and tomorrow I'm heading back to Maryland then immediately leaving to drive to Florida. Next week I'll drive back to Maryland, then at some point in the next several weeks travel back to Boulder.
I've mentioned before that I work in health & safety. Suffice it to say that we had a major safety incident in June and life has not been the same since. I won't go into details but here is a link to publicly available information for those that may be interested.
In the midst of all the craziness I did manage to squeeze in a few days alone with my wife in Sonoma, CA to do the whole wine country thing. It was wonderful. I plan to blog a bit about it and share some pictures but it's going to have to wait.
I'm not back on a regular basis (yet!) but I did want you all to know that I'm still here and that I miss you guys. Until I can post again I hope you all are well and I will be back.
Namaste.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
My How Time Flies
Monday, July 14, 2008
Western Bad-Ass Quiz
Hopefully work will even out a little this week and I'll have a little more time to breathe but for now, a little quiz I saw over the weekend.
 | ||||||||||||||||||||
What Kind of a Western Bad-Ass are You? created with QuizFarm.com | ||||||||||||||||||||
| You scored as John Wayne You're a classic all American cowboy who does the right thing. When you're sober. Which means occasionally. You like horses, the outdoors, whiskey, hot tempered women, whiskey, and bourbon.
The drinking part's not quite right but I can certainly live with the Duke. |
Friday, July 4, 2008
Today We Celebrate...
Happy Independence Day!
It's the 4th of July here in the states I hope that everyone celebrating (you too Kitty, ya'll can celebrate being rid of us) has a safe and happy holiday.
I was away from posting regularly for a while, then just when I was coming back to it work started kicking my ass. I would love to be able to reap the benefit of making myself feel better by venting on my blog about it but it's not something I can really say anything about right now. Maybe later.
In the meantime enjoy this updated version of Henry the Fifth's St. Crispen's Day speech. Hey, it's from Independence Day. Those speeches always make me want to grab a sword...or an F-16. Be safe everyone.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Concert Line-up or Sage Advice?
A quick scan of the morning headlines turned up this gem:
At first I thought it sounded like a feud between two grunge bands. But NO! I began to read the story and quickly realized that it was set in India so, of course, the headline is meant literally.
Now I'm one to look for messages and significance in odd places and I just know that in this quote from Jugesh Oraon, a local village leader, there is sage advice and a glimpse into the meaning of life: "The elephants do not roam where camels are found." Especially smelly ones.
What more can I say? Namaste.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Arrogance Slapped
Arrogance
Ar"ro*gance\, n. [F., fr. L. arrogantia, fr. arrogans. See Arrogant.] The act or habit of arrogating, or making undue claims in an overbearing manner; that species of pride which consists in exorbitant claims of rank, dignity, estimation, or power, or which exalts the worth or importance of the person to an undue degree; proud contempt of others; lordliness; haughtiness; self-assumption; presumption. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
There are many negative traits that humans are prone to display. One (of many) that annoys me considerably is arrogance. There are far too many people walking thinking and acting like they are better than someone else. Far too many groups thinking and acting like they are better than others. Religions feed on this and exacerbate it by telling people they're special, they're chosen and therefore better than those who are not part of their group. Individuals display arrogance about their job, their intellect, their appearance, their sexual prowess, their whatever and they even gather together in cliques and groups with other like-minded holier-than-thou people. Academic institutions and exclusive clubs with their noses in the air. Sports teams doing childish happy dances in the end zone and hoisting that trophy for all to see. Countries do it too. The US certainly has caused itself some trouble by resolutely believing that we are the best and insisting that the rest of the world needs to follow.
Humility is sorely lacking. It's unfortunately about as common these days as sense and courtesy. There's nothing wrong with being capable and confident but confidence that isn't tempered with humility crosses the line into arrogance. If you want a fine example of the kind of quiet capable humility that I'm talking about go talk to a World War II veteran, or for that matter almost anyone that lived through that era and participated in the achievements of that generation. I doubt you'll hear much bragging.
One of the biggest, grandest examples of human arrogance comes from those who look into the night sky while contemplating our existence, the meaning of life and our place in the Universe and come to the conclusion that we are the only life to be found. Those that firmly believe that Earth was blessed by God and that life sprang up here and nowhere else. Ludicrous. Utterly ludicrous. A friend sent me this video yesterday. It helps to put things into perspective. It makes you realize just how small we really are and that maybe we should be displaying something other than arrogance. Humility maybe?
Ar"ro*gance\, n. [F., fr. L. arrogantia, fr. arrogans. See Arrogant.] The act or habit of arrogating, or making undue claims in an overbearing manner; that species of pride which consists in exorbitant claims of rank, dignity, estimation, or power, or which exalts the worth or importance of the person to an undue degree; proud contempt of others; lordliness; haughtiness; self-assumption; presumption. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
There are many negative traits that humans are prone to display. One (of many) that annoys me considerably is arrogance. There are far too many people walking thinking and acting like they are better than someone else. Far too many groups thinking and acting like they are better than others. Religions feed on this and exacerbate it by telling people they're special, they're chosen and therefore better than those who are not part of their group. Individuals display arrogance about their job, their intellect, their appearance, their sexual prowess, their whatever and they even gather together in cliques and groups with other like-minded holier-than-thou people. Academic institutions and exclusive clubs with their noses in the air. Sports teams doing childish happy dances in the end zone and hoisting that trophy for all to see. Countries do it too. The US certainly has caused itself some trouble by resolutely believing that we are the best and insisting that the rest of the world needs to follow.
Humility is sorely lacking. It's unfortunately about as common these days as sense and courtesy. There's nothing wrong with being capable and confident but confidence that isn't tempered with humility crosses the line into arrogance. If you want a fine example of the kind of quiet capable humility that I'm talking about go talk to a World War II veteran, or for that matter almost anyone that lived through that era and participated in the achievements of that generation. I doubt you'll hear much bragging.
One of the biggest, grandest examples of human arrogance comes from those who look into the night sky while contemplating our existence, the meaning of life and our place in the Universe and come to the conclusion that we are the only life to be found. Those that firmly believe that Earth was blessed by God and that life sprang up here and nowhere else. Ludicrous. Utterly ludicrous. A friend sent me this video yesterday. It helps to put things into perspective. It makes you realize just how small we really are and that maybe we should be displaying something other than arrogance. Humility maybe?
Monday, June 23, 2008
Rest In Peace George, And Thanks
There are those who are good at being clowns and there are those who can observe and produce social commentary. Those that make us laugh and those that make us reflect. George Carlin was a master of both. If ever there was a time when we needed to laugh AND be shown the absurdity of our lives it is now. We're going to miss you George. You have big shoes to fill and I don't see anyone stepping up at the moment.
Here are some of his routines on "Stuff", Religion, and of course the history making "Seven Words You Can't Say On Television". Enjoy.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)