Buddhist Loving Kindness Meditation:
May you be happy
May you be well
May you be free from suffering
May you be safe
Navajo prayer (part of ):
With beauty before me, may I walk.
With beauty behind me, may I walk.
With beauty above me, may I walk.
With beauty below me, may I walk.
With beauty all around me, may I walk.
life is more complicated than usual at the moment - so it hasn't left much extra time.
peace to all of you.
so, i'm working on my christmas cards, and thinking of a friend of mine in l.a. - davidicus - who loves perogies*, but used to have a hell of a time finding them. this led me to a yen for perogies with my dinner, so i made some.
and lo and behold, from the happy little thoughts, came happy little perogies.
not the weirdest moment i've ever had, but amusing (to me) nonetheless.
*perogy, pierogi, pirogi
oh yes.... as a side note - i'm on holidays for about a month. thought i'd have a little more time to ramp up the ol' blogging, but life is busy, so i'm not on a computer much.
here's both halloween pumpkins. nowhere near as scary as what is going on in the states today.
To all my amurcan friends......
ya... fuck.... i wish all y'all good luck with that.
wow... i thought the price of gas was bad. i just went to mail a small package (size 1 padded envelope, about 4"x8"x1/2"). i was given 2 prices:
standard mail: $ 3.75
express mail: $ 51.32
i had to have her repeat the second price, as she was trying not to laugh as she said it. makes me wonder, is it hand delivered by someone that looks like this* if you pick option 2?
i mention it only because the difference was so vast i was completely stunned by it. as you can imagine, i sent it regular post. i don't need it delivered in 5-8 business days.... 3-6 weeks suits me just fine, as it rarely ever takes that long between major cities.
heck, even regular mail to a friend in a tiny little town in mexico only takes 4 weeks.
*sorry grant, that was as close to a Jbunny as i could find for this post.
a while back, i picked up a was seal stamp that i thought was quite interesting, and probably not very common. i posted about it, as i was looking for a translation of the high german. my father in-law didn't learn high german, and could only partly translate it.
when i purchased the seal, the place selling it had a second seal, but at the time i didn't have the money (well, still don't but....) and didn't really realize the significance until much later. here is the first seal:
I believe I have mostly tranlated (or figured out) the text:
Staatliches Jahn Gnmnarium in Salzwedel
Staatliches: National
Jahn Gnmnarium: Jahn Gymnasium: Friedrich Ludwig Jahn School
in Salzwedel: Town of Salzwedel
So, this was likely the seal used for the 'National Jahn School in Salzwedel' during the Nazi rule.
the second seal, i later realized when i began looking into translating the first, had the coat of arms for the town of Salzwedel on it. this is what made me realize i should probably go back and buy it and keep the two together. thankfully, it was a not very interesting chunk of brass, and over a year later it was still exactly in the same place. I will mention that this seal does not have a handle, and it appears to have previously been mounted to something that was removed. Hence it is only a square of brass about 1/2" high - and thankfully easy to miss.
Konigl PR Gymnasium Salzwedel
Konigl PR: Royal Priviledged
Gymnasium: School
Salzwedel: Town of Salzwedel
This appears to be the seal that was in use for the 'Royal (Grammar) School - Salzwedel' as it was in 1918 - until renamed Jahn Gymnasium in 1931, and was likely the precursor to the seal above.
I would be more than happy to be corrected by anyone who has better knowledge of such things, as I've relied primarily on Google.
to my fellow canucks, i wish you all a happy turkey day.
to my american readers, you should hold onto that sentiment until all y'all catch up to us canucks ;)
to everyone else who stops by, i wish you a joyous day of celebration, whatever that may be for.
took wednesday off since the weather was nice, and headed to a small town an hour or so away that has a decent collection of antique stores. i don't usually buy much - prices are, well... antique store prices. but once in a while you find something you either just have to have, or the price is reasonable (because the person doesn't really know what they have).
it's also interesting because you can tell where my current focus is when i head out there by what i've bought. in the past couple of years, it's been tools mostly. this round was something different.
behold:
the Art Deco Swivodex Zephyr Glass Inkwell, with unspillable swivelling base. (mine didn't include the pen, but i've included the image so you get a better sense of it.)
Zephyr American Corp "Swivodex"
The price wasn't a steal (it was pretty much the average
can't really bring myself to talk about it yet. here's a hint.
good news: they didn't find anything.
bad news: they didn't find anything. *
great news: the next time anyone asks "what's up your ass?" i can honestly tell them "nothing!"
*what it really means is that after a year and a half of trying to resolve this issue, they've run out of ideas. so that while they didn't find anything wrong, they still don't know what is wrong. or, better yet, due to the 3 month delay to get a consultation with a specialist and then a 4 month delay for the procedure, and then another month delay due to a booking issue (they booked a day the doctor wasn't in...... wow, that gives me faith) the problem has just silently corrected itself.
And so begins day 2.
The joy of yesterday started at 5pm. The joy subsided enough by 11pm I felt
safe to go to bed. Although I believe it's a programming or data processing
term, I believe GIGO applies here. Garbage in, garbage out.
Drink every 15 minutes, you know every 15 minutes.
Today's joy just started. First cup of pinapple nausa down the hatch. Blah.
Yesterday it took an hour to kick in. Not sure about today. Nothing but
liquid under high pressure now.
Yes virginia, I'd MUCH rather be at work.
Now if you'll excuse me.....
Time for glass #2. :/
in this corner, 18 pounds of sucky, rub my tummy furball...... his name is xaos*. in this corner, well my weight ain't none of your damned business, but let's just say we're over 10x that of the cat.
but every once in a while, when i get deathly sick.... kitty seems to take the whole pack animal thing to heart. i come down with the cold from hell..... kitty gets a look in his eyes that says the leader is sick, he must die. and what ensues is 2 days of hissing and growling as he follows me around the house. i've had him chase me down the hall clawing my ankle one time. usually he gets banished to the library under his chair, and we exist in an uneasy truce.
and it's only me. my better half can walk into the room and pat his head, or scratch under his chin, and he'll purr and act like she's got tuna hidden somewhere on her. i walk into the room, and the ears go back, growling and the attack position ensues.
however, this time..... my son got in the way. the cat must have felt cornered - he leaped over the boy, landed sideways, and scrabbled to get his feet under him - scratching my son (and destroying his shirt).
so we had ourselves a little discussion about who was dominant male. i'll admit, at one point when i had the furry sonofabitch by the throat i wasn't thinking nice thoughts.
i'll tell you what an 18 lb cat is. he's one pound of fur, 3 pounds of teeth and nails, and 14 pounds of killing fury. i can honestly say that i may have won the battle, but i lost the war.
he got his back feet loose for 30 seconds. when i got his back feet back under control, i lost my hold on his neck. it's amazing how much an angry cat can maul you in a short time.
the next night he was curled up in my lap, purring as i rubbed his tummy. while i made plans to phone the doctor because while the scratches were ok, the bites above were already infected, and had that pleasant oozing, scabby look going on.
yes, those scratches are going to leave a scar. yes, the hand is ok.
no, i don't know who's dominant in this house. and no, i'm not really in the mood to put it to the test anytime soon.
*xaos, is the original greek form of 'chaos'. and just in case you're wondering, i do have a second cat. his name is confusion. when i say chaos and confusion rule the house - i'm not kidding.
need to buy more letters......
....wonder what life will be like once he starts at preschool.
and the best of the season to you, and yours.
well, another christmas has arrived, and i find myself once again undecided. christmas and i don't have a great track record.... they've included several deaths in the family, being left, and being close to death sick. i find myself a little melancholy for those reasons.
and up until that point, i am fine. but then come the politics of family christmas.... who is hosting this year? what do you mean you're doing christmas there this year!? what is the limit for gifts? when are you coming over here? why not?! things have gotten easier with one of the divorced parents moving out of country - one less house to make it to is that less stressful. if you can imagine, one year we made it to 3 major 'dinners' the same day, plus another 3 places over the two days after.
with our own family now... we are in a better position to define our schedule and start new traditions. for one... only one family house visit in a day. as for the others? well... christmas morning is ours alone now.
christmas eve? not sure if it's a new tradition, but tonight will be sushi and salad rolls. my snack at the moment is crispy anchovy. i don't think it will be a regular christmas eve tradition... but it's good for now.
a wonderful christmas and the best of the holidays to you all.
my son is a technology native. 3 years old. has his own computer; and can start it, log in, load his favourite game or website, and shut the system down (correctly). he also enjoys a wide range of dvd's and movies. (we have no cable, so are thankfully disney channel and treehouse free.... plus skip most of the general advertising.)
he also plays with play dough, and other assorted items like kids from time immemorial. including..... magnetic letters on the fridge.
now what's different isn't that he has the old fashioned magnetic letters (2 sets of 72), and the leapfrog phonics set of single letters, 3 letter words, and the lowercase letters - it's the message.....
www.sonywonder.com or www.disneydvdgameworld.com
here are some other samples.... unassisted samples just to clarify.....
actually.... what scares me is that i'm afraid i won't be able to keep up.
----------------------
on the off chance anyone is wondering what brought on the whole immigrant/native topic, here is the background:
a while ago, a friend of mine posted an entry about technology, and how agency executives are digital immigrants instead of natives.
"natives have never seen a world without the digital. they use it “natively.” if you grew up pre-CD, pre-mouse, pre-cell phone etc., you’re an immigrant."
it sort of riled me up a bit.... and i made the following comment:
what amuses me, is that the digital natives become helpless without the digital immigrants. those (meaning the vast majority of natives) who use technology and take it for granted, are dumbfounded and adrift when it doesn’t work. they also have no second thoughts about putting massive amounts of personal information freely on-line in social networks.i still stand by that, but have realized it's not completely true... i know many kids in the new generation are able to understand and fix technology. of course, all the ones i know are the children of parents who are technology immigrants and work in information technology.... who else teaches their 12 year old how to set up *nix networks, and would consider starting to teach their 6 year old SQL and Oracle?
the backbone of the system - those who concern themselves with operations, keeping things running, fixing that which is broken, and security are largely immigrants (at least those I know.)
it’s always amused me, that while I’m considered a “dinosaur” because I am of the “e-mail” generation (nay, I preceed even that) i am the one who is repairing the technology they broke.
i suddenly feel like playing the immigrant song at top volume from my iPod now.
friends, my apologies. i've been remiss in my posts lately. just a short update....
so.... the die is cast. i demanded to be demoted. it went fairly well i think - turns out it was somewhat expected. at least my direct supervisor didn't try to bullshit me. he admits it will take a long time to fix most of the reasons i am quitting this position over.
so i interviewed for another position - not one where i expected, but one i can live with. i've worked with the person who will be my new direct supervisor as an equal for 3 years now. the catch? well..... i'm "acting" supervisor until they can locate a replacement.
that's been a month now. officially, i changed positions on november 1st. what's changed? well.... nothing. as you can tell since i am sitting at work eating a re-re-reheated chicken chimichanga for dinner trying to meet a deadline some manager who went home at 4:30 picked.
happy? oh yeah... fucking ecstatic.
not to mention on top of cramming two major projects into a month, i now lose time in the interview process. yup... you guessed it - i'm expected to sit on interviews and help hire my replacement. the last 4 interview sets i went to, i was the only person to show up with a set of questions (which everyone then photocopied and took my best questions.)
is it smart having me on the hiring committee? maybe. sure, i'm responsible.... but i'm at the point of "breathing? can tie their own shoes? FUCK! what are you waiting for... hire them.
of course, i may have put them under the gun.... got the nag letter from human resources about overtime and holiday time that has to be used by the end of the year. so... i'll be gone during the month of december, and possibly january to boot to try and use all my time.
of course.... the fact that i'm sitting here earning time and a half on a project that has many more nights like this one isn't helping.
maybe i'll see everyone in march :)
if i don't have a stroke trying to get there :(
after starting the day barely able to walk in the doors at work or keep myself together, much less discuss anything with a co-worker (and not feel like falling apart - indeed, almost falling apart publicly), i am much happier this evening.
more details will be forthcoming, once i am able to iron them out from possibility/probability to actuality.
(no pills were consumed in the production of said happiness.)
