Scotland Errata
The camera on the new phone has the ability to take three separate pictures and then stitch the three together into a single panorama. It’s a slow process, but the end result is a photo which gives an entirely different perspective.
I’m in Scotland all week and I was successful in completely ignoring jetlag until last night. A marathon twelve hours of sleep and it appears I’m now on UK time which is just in time to return to home.
The Scotland trip is a recruiting gig. First, St. Andrews and then University of Edinburgh. All professional responsibilities are now complete which means I can begin to be a tourist. This means that I spent half the morning in the hotel fine tuning chapters for the book and then running out the door to fulfill my duty as a tourist.
The parents have an almost fanatical fascination with Scotland and have been here dozens of times. My exposure has been limited, but I can confirm it’s a friendlier vibe than London, there are sheep everywhere, and it’s clear this is where all rain gets made.
In unrelated news, Alex King tagged me for Pay it Forward Tuesday. A quick search of this meme didn’t result in much other than the fact that I’m supposed to tag another weblog that I’m fond of. I normally bail on these types of memes, but I read Alex’s site, I use Alex’s software, and Alex and I hung out which means he’s tightly integrated into my credibility network. It would be bad form to not pass this on.
Not sure if I’m supposed to do this on Tuesday or not, but I’m tagging Cabel Sasser. He’s the founder of Panic software. Updates to his weblog are infrequent, but the content he generates is a reflection of who he is. Eclectic tastes, perfectionist, and hilarious. He’s a must-have for your RSS reader.
Tomorrow, I’m back on a plane to the US of A. It’s business class which is probably worth a few pictures of because I’ve never been able to lie down on a plane. I’m going to be relieved to stop calculating the current time for multiple time zones and I’m looking forward to being able to recognize my breakfast, but I’m appreciating that each time I travel I get to digest a new perspective.
A Sticky Journal
The rules are simple:
- Take 20 minutes from your busy day
- Grab some stickies (or equivalent)
- And tell everyone what’s up
- Post a link with a comment (or don’t)
- Winner gets a copy of the book (but that’s not the point)
Tell a friend.
Chaz The Deer
I ran cross country for many years in jr. high and highschool. A daily longish run became part of the regular routine. I was unable to sleep well unless I’d chewed up some nearby trail.
Upon arrival at UC Santa Cruz, I found a gorgeous loop trail near the East Field House that I’d hit once a day. UCSC has tons of very friendly deer that casually grazed next to the trail. They seemed to always be in the same location each night that I ran, so I began to give them names: Frank, Phyllis, Fran, Frannie, and Chaz.
One night, I was in my second loop getting that familiar slight ache under my left lung that I ALWAYS got during my second mile of running when Chaz showed up solo in one of the familiar eating spots.
‘Hi Chaz’. Second loop.
On the third loop, Chaz was staring at me. It wasn’t one of those deer-eating-and-staring-at-me looks. He wasn’t eating. He was staring right at me. He wasn’t scared, he was trying to say something.
‘Hi Chaz?’. Third loop.
Fourth loop. Chaz is still not eating, Chaz is still trying to speak and it’s really hard to speak English when you’re a deer, so I stopped to give him time although I expected him to bolt.
‘Sup Chaz?’ Last loop.
He didn’t budge. Just continued staring at me. Saying… something. He was saying, he was thinking, “Dude, why are you running in a loop? There’s nothing chasing you.”
In that moment I realized that, ‘I hated running’. I hated the monotony. I hated the ache under my left lung and I hated that the deer thought I looked silly.
I walked back to my dorm and didn’t run again until this last weekend. That’s 10+ years.
As I’m become reacquainted with running, I remember the aspects that I like:
- Unlike hockey, which is the sport I replaced running with, the constant exertion results in a longer endorphin rush. This means that if I run in the morning, by the time I get my cup of coffee in Los Gatos, I have an endorphin and caffeine high. Total boon to drive-to-work productivity.
- I’ve been running the same route in the redwoods for a week. The N.A.D.D. portion of brain really believes I should vary the route, but I’d forgotten that running is about the details. Finding subtle hills and valleys in what looks like a flat road and adjusting your pace. Running on the inside corner of the road versus the outside. The same run is different every time I’m not a detail guy and this is a good detail practice.
- Most important, running is quiet processing time. It’s a part of the day where I am not sitting in front of the computer or a group of people and needing to either consume a flood of information or tap dance.
I hate tap dancing.
Thanksgiving?
A list of things I don’t understand about Thanksgiving:
- How I can’t peel my eyes off the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
- Why I didn’t think to turn the sound off the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade ten years ago.
- Why I always resist the walk around the hill my parents insist on doing, but always end up disappointed when we’re done.
- Why Thanksgiving dinner is so early and why I still snack incessantly throughout the day.
- How stuffing can look like dog food, but taste so good.
- How the pumpkin got such a good gig as the premiere Thanksgiving dessert when it’s a pumpkin. Ick. Ew. Bleh.
- How I swear I’ll never eat again after the dinner, but I’m always up by myself at midnight making a turkey sandwich and trying to find Mystery Science Theatre 3000 on the satellite.
Tough year ahead. I’m thankful for editors, friends, and family.
Happy Thanksgiving.
