Semantic Mather

Thinking...

2011-11-07T16:57:00.001-08:00

It's very difficult to make decisions. You get to a point where you have a gut feeling, you know it, you believe it, then you begin to doubt it. You begin the painful process of thinking. A while after you chew on the idea, the great idea goes by the wayside. What happened? Well what happened was you thought it out.

I'm tired of thinking. I think thinking has gotten in the way now for a quite a while. Thinking about this very idea makes me begin to doubt, think of how cliche this very notion is, but guess what? I'm tired of it. Thinking with your head reduces you to logic, a perfect rational creature. What am I not? What are people not? Rational. Listen to what people say, and listen to what you hear and think they're saying. Nine times of out of ten you probably going to be off a bit.

So what has thinking done for me? Well, for one it has kept me in one place for a while. Any momentum I've had recently has been when I stopped thinking and began to feel, and listened to the proverbial gut. Earlier this year when I knew things weren't exactly right at my last job, I had to seriously listen and acknowledge the physical sensation in my gut. I knew I had to do something, and I did. I was proud of myself. If I had listened to my mind, or just "thought it out," and I'm not so sure it would have turned the same way.

Let's continue. Thinking also puts a temporary stop on creativity. I'll put my hand to guitar, play something. The mind says, "oh no, that's not good enough. It's been done before." So what do I do? Seriously reduce my proverbial creative output waiting for the right set of conditions to be in place. Right sound from the speakers on the right day when I'm in a good mood.

I go through the day thinking about what I like and dislike. However, I find the older one gets the harder it gets to know directly what you feel. Do you like chocolate? Most people can directly answer that question. Yes, no, but very few maybe so's. When you think about your next choices, it all gets very gray. One feels safe, one can rationalize. Don't get me wrong, you need to think -- I do it all the time. But sometimes, you need to let non-verbal parts of you get their say too. When I overthink I begin to loose touch with myself.

Do you have a pet? Cat? Dog? I have 3 crazy cats. We got one cat recently named Sherman. We named Sherman Sherman because he's like tank. He's big, stocky, and he likes to walk into you with his little battering ram head. And when you pick him he purrs. He clearly enjoys his time with you. Sherman likes to be on your lap. Direct. He communicates to me without using words. "Oh yes, Doug, you have a very nice lap, and I like your company." Sherman isn't thinking if he's showing too much attention, and trying to purr because I expect him to. He's not that complicated. He likes to be on my lap -- that's it.

It get even harder when you coordinate your decisions with a partner or group. Now you need to coordinate your feelings, preferences, thoughts, which you may not even be positive about in the first place with another. Their stuff in their mind is changing too, and now changing even more in anticipation of you! What can a person do? Keeping it strictly to your brain space and thinking, you could be constantly adjusting your thoughts to what you think other people's thoughts are of your thoughts. This goes on and on, and then basically, you're stuck. Ooops. You get stuck in a loop. Over and over again. And again. Tired. How'd this happen?

Well, on days like this I'd like to thank the brain. And also on the fact are brains are kind of messy. We're smart enough -- we can think, put together some fancy ideas, but sometimes we hit some walls. Ouch. We're not so smart to realize we're stuck in this ridiculous loop! Especially when you're stuck in the loop with somebody else. Couple's therapy anybody? We just get stuck in these patterns thanks to our little brains. Sometimes I just want to remove it from my body.

So if I'm not using my brain, what am I using? I'd like to use my gut, or my intuition. They may be different, they may the same thing (I tend to think they're probably different, I was reading someplace, they are in different chakras). After all this time, I think you've accumulated enough experience where you don't necessarily need to actively think all the time. You can hopefully sort out the chestnuts useful from the garbage. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If it works more often than not, I think I'm good. There's just too much out there (not fooling myself this is just happening now to us in the "information age"), and it's hard to figure out.

So what am I do? (Besides finish this long post without pictures.) Continue going at it. What's it, you ask? Experiences, life -- accumulate and treasure those (even the bad ones), and put them to good use -- at some point. You may not use them immediately, but you may put them to use at some point. The brain has taught me one thing that's been useful. That thing is perspective. Having a brain gives me self-awareness to know I exist, others exist, as well as their other perspectives. I just can't forget that I am here, even when I'm surrounded my zillions of people and ideas floating about. I need to acknowledge and respect my feelings, yes, my thoughts, and yours too along they way. Just don't make it so complicated.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Back from Maine...

2011-08-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

Roz and I just got back from Maine, and again we had a really excellent trip. We got to see Chris, Chris, and Ruby, who we don't see enough of, and I actually get to spend real quality time with Rosanne too. It's trips like these where I get to take a step back and really get to appreciate what I have around me and enjoy life. While I like Maine (quite a bit), I'm not exactly sure if it's Maine itself that makes everything taste so good. I think it's being around people, focusing on the people you care about, and sharing and enjoying life with them.

While I fear this post might be a bit maudlin (maybe it's just me, but it seems like whenever I talk about more emotional stuff I feel a little naked, exposed -- I have need to wear another layer of clothing), I think it's important to reflect before the usual cycle of work (wash, rinse, and dry) begins again. I'm always asking myself if life is moving faster and why. I like to wear my little philosopher's hat now and then, and dig a bit deeper. Part of me wonders if this is just the experience we all feel as we get older. Some things we all experience, and maybe this is the case with me -- I'm no different. My other theory is life is getting more complicated, busy and noisy (hello constant world of Facebook). Here again, I say yes it might getting more complicated now, BUT I think I may have heard this before with folks times past. People always look back to the good ol' days when things were simple -- before TV there was radio, before industrialization there was make my own pencil in my backyard with my own widdling knife from own tree (blah, you get the picture). Anyway, at the end of the day it probably doesn't matter if life is getting faster and why -- it just matters to value the things you care about. It's been said before, but life goes by quite fast.

Roz and I are always looking at different places to move too (it seems like that's what we do, other post for another day), but it probably most important to look inside. As Rosanne mentioned today, it's the feeling we have when we're at all these places. We feel more complete as people, less stressed, and connected. While a lot of these places are great, it's really how we're feeling on inside that connects us.

We got to spend an awesome time with CCR (no, not the band!). I got to kayak and reflect with Chris as we hear the call of the loon, watch fine cinema with Chris, share a pickle with Ruby and relearn the power of "No" in conversation, and get to read out loud The Last Stand to Roz as we drive the open, tree-lined roads of Mid-Coast Maine. At this point I'm already beginning to have thoughts of tomorrow creep into my head, but before that happens, it's time for my own early mid-year Thanksgiving (had the pie at Moody's) -- thank you for an awesome trip this year!

Do Not Worry

2011-06-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy weekend, full of a lot of activities -- I'm actually surprised how much I (and we got done) this weekend. I'd like to start this post with a short passage from Hemingway:

"All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know."

I had picked up Movable Feast again after seeing Midnight in Paris for the second time. It was a great movie, and I heartily recommend it. Woody Allen really captured the beauty of Paris similar to what what he did for NYC in Manhattan, plus he touched on some timeless themes about how we live and we fulfill ourselves, be it through jobs, passions, higher pursuits, etc. I was very taken with the Hemingway character in the movie who spoke with a direct voice, full of insight coupled male heroic bravado. Anyway, in regards to the quote, I connected with it on the level of how do we actually say anything meaningful in life, art, music, or whatever. My brain at least is always thinking on some many levels, I frequently prevent myself from starting AND completing many things. I get sidetracked and ask too many peripheral questions. How do you stay focused? Something a 12-year-old could tell you, focus on the truth. Thank you Hemingway.

This weekend I also attended the Design for Drupal conference at MIT on Saturday. This was a big event focusing on the designer community (hence the name), engaging and to integrating it into the larger Drupal community. For those not familiar, Drupal is a VERY popular content management system-- essentially a tool that lets you manage your website without knowing fancy code. I had an excellent time there, and it's been refreshing so far with my new job to be in a position of actual doing. At my last job, I grew accustomed to what seemed like a million meta-conversations that seldom resulted in getting anything done. Related, it's been nice to focus on the facts at hand (website development, meeting new people). If you live in a sea of gray long enough, you begin to forget what the truth is.

After the excellent conference, Rosanne and I got to eat some dinner and we moseyed our way over to the Brattle Theatre to watch a classic. As you probably don't know, I've been focusing a lot more on film this year (yes the film as in the higher culture variety as some people like to make fun of me for,), and part of that mission has been going to great places like the Coolidge Theater in Brookline, the Dedham Community theater, and now the Brattle. We got to see a restored version of African Queen that was great. Some parts of the story I didn't totally buy (why did they have to sink that German ship if Boghart had a decade's worth of gin and food?), but the movie really shined in the interactions between Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. Good stuff!

Today was equally action-packed as we went to the Wilson Mountain Reservation in Dedham, the Arnold Arboretum, and also found a new friend. Walking all around the parks today, Rosanne and I made the obvious conclusion we needed a dog. How can you not walk a trail without a dog? That's what we thought too. Based on that, we visited the Angell Memorial shelter and the Animal Rescue League. Well, we didn't see any dogs, but we did bump into one fine cat. In one of the crate/cage things we saw this little guy named Russo. Russo had almost died when he was dropped off, as he was suffering from a serious wound. He was basically saved by the the emergency vet in Walpole (same vet we took Wyatt too last year), and has been recovering for the past two months. We met him, and he had the best personality. Just a few moments ago I was hanging out with him and he was purring like he's know me for 10 years. We really connected with him, and we took him home. The little guy's eight years old, and it felt to bring him home --welcome to the family!

Much Happening

2011-06-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

What better time to squeeze in a blog post than right before the weekend closes. Reading Roadielocks on a regular basis, I get to see my lovely wife share with the world with her verve and lively prose, so I will use her as an my inspiration for today's post (been a while).

Just a quick word of warning, this initial post will not contain photos -- so I'll be violating my own sacred code of blogging (thou shalt always have photos in thou post). Let's get on to it.

Yesterday was sports-theme day, as RL and I went to the Bruins parade in the morning/afternoon, and I also went to the Revs game by night. First, let's talk the parade. While I was hesitate about waking up early(ish) on Saturday, it seemed like a good idea to experience parade. Winning in Boston is big, so I really couldn't pass this up (one million people felt the same way). RL and I took the commuter train in, and I was hit by the fact it seemed like the entire student body of Dedham High was at the station. I never knew so many 14-year-old's were into NHL hockey. It could have been a lot of worse (basically got some bad jokes and fashion), we made it to South Station okay.

We plunked our buts over at Government Center as we waited for the Bruin's brigade show up with with Lord Stanley's cup. We got to see the Cup (held by Tim Thomas), and the whole Bruins team strut their stuff. It was nice that the pace of the parade was actually a lot slower than previous parades have been up here, so you actually got some time to process what was going on. I remember at a Patriot's parade everybody passed in what I thought was 15 seconds.

After the parade, RL & I got to walk around the city, hit the North End, culminating with a visit to the Common. Along the way we did to see one pretty funny event. After we left the North End, we snaked through the Bank North Center, and low and behold their was still major Bruins activity left to be had. We saw the Duck boats returning (now empty), but I also got to see this very TALL guy on this bike. I got to see Chara on his bike zoom by the Duck boats giving the some folks a pretty hardy cheer. Pretty cool! As RL mentions in her blog, this kind of got me motivated to get the bike rack on the ASAP.

Later on, we headed back to Dedham to see our friends, Curt and Marieke. I saw the Revs tie with Chicago with Curt (excellent company, frustrating game) and Rosanne got to see Bride Wars (I think) with Marieke -- a good ol' gender divide, boys do the sports, girls do the chic flick. Definitely a good time!

Today, we were able to resume our tour of religion by going to St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Dedham. Here were my takeaways in brief:

Nice people
Very white (however, most places around here do)
LONG mass (75 minutes long)
Seemed very similar to a Catholic mass with all the overhead and singing
Cool sermon on the holy trinity -- use of 3 musketeers to help explain concept
Too much book juggling, one second it was the Book of Common Prayer, then it was the hymnal
Everyone took the wafer (Eucharist) together at the alter -- seemed very communal, none of this one at a time business
Didn't like the alter was behind this ornamental gate, seemed symbol of some kind of hierarchy
Got to see an old co-worker unexpectedly, very nice!

We are already have visited a Unitarian church (written about in an unpublished blog post), so we need to figure out where we go next. I'm thinking the Shakers -- what do you think?

Af

Daily Repetition

2010-06-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

Just left Seth Godin's Road Trip in Boston, and it left me with a number of thoughts, but we'll limit it to a few -- we need to start somewhere. It's been a while (2009 really), so I can't move too fast now, or I'll get blog whiplash.

I'll be honest with you all, I have not read Linchpin yet, but I got a number of takeaways from today's event. Seth focuses a lot of on what he calls the lizard brain to talk about the primitive brain and it's subconsciousness that drives a lot of our instincts. We've inherited this lizard brain, and we've layered on top of it the cerebrum and cerebral cortex, higher brain centers where human cognition occurs. The big kicker here is that there is a constant conversation, sometimes conflict between the cognitive, rationale, "human" brain and the survival-based, reproductive-centric lizard brain. Why do we panic at presentations? Why do we get could caught up in a quick emotional tizzy? Why can't we think straight and more like Spock? Yes, it's the lizard brain.

The other takeaway I got today was Seth talking about the rigor of sharing his thoughts through regularly updating his blog. That kind of struck a nerve, especially relating to discipline and rigor since I haven't updated this thing in a while. Seth stressed not creating perfect content, but content that could have a positive impact on his audience. How many times do we focus on getting all 100% of the effort in, and not actually get anything done? I've been incredibly guilty of that, so here's to a first step (thank you, Seth, for a great seminar today and motivating a new post!)

Other news: this weekend I went to New Orleans, which was great, but I've been paying all week. My sinuses have been killing me, and I can't wait for a big nap.

A new post coming soon!

2010-01-24T19:43:00.001-08:00

In a few days, I'll be posting my first official post for 2010.

See you in a few days!

Cotton

I'm in a new band.

2009-05-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

See my videos on YouTube. It's a family band. It's good.

Where Have You Been Oh Cotton?

2009-05-10T07:29:00.000-07:00

Hi...it's Sunday morning, and Roadie Lox wanted to see my blog. Oh great, I said! I haven't published a post in say, 5 years. I definitely wanted her to see the blog again, and so in honor of a yearly post and mother's day, I say hello to you, Internet!

GOOD MORNING INTERNET.

Blog blog...where is the blog?

2008-09-30T19:53:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,
I'm losing my blog steam! I haven't been blogging as much -- it seems like I only have time nowadays to actually do something or blog. So where is the time going? House and work. These combined create bad blog content or no blog content. Booo!

Hopefully, tomorrow, I will post photos of our journey to Maine to see Summer Sweater and Personable. We had a great time, and I'll try to give some highlights of our trip to Portland.

Til tomorrow!

I'm going bald

2008-09-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

Today, I made the cruel realization that I am going bald. For the past ten years, I've been living in denial of this twisted fate. I thought I had received my Sisko hairline (simple receding), but after today's haircut I was greeted with the classic Spano look: a barren follicle wasteland. Yes, honey, I'm going bald.

I started asking myself when this started. Was it three years ago, two years ago, or was it actually the past 6 months when things took a turn for the worse. Three months ago I noticed those small tufts of hair that old bald people get. What are those things? Little pubic hairs? Why even bothering having hair when you just have those tufts?

I guess as a kid you think you can trick mother nature. Oh no, not me, silly fate. My hair will be good, and I will escape the dreaded inherit from your mother's father rule. I will triumph and prevail. I will have my hair. However, this triumph over fate and biology was not to be mine. Yes, honey, I'm going bald.

Other news...
Rosanne had insisted I blogged tonight, as I've lost some inspiration of late. What else has happened? Well, we did a few things this weekend:

* Had tasty donuts at Anna's in West Roxbury
* Bought cat food at Pet World (Kitty City)
* Went to Drew Farm orchard
* Went to giant estate sale in JP, bought magazine holder
* Got haircut/discovered I'm going bald
* Read about N-tier architectures
* Moved air conditioners that weighed 40 pounds each
* Watered the plants

I will post pictures hopefully tomorrow. Seeing Mogwai tomorrow night as well.

Good night!

Stooping to New Lows: Sleeping Cat Video - Wyatt

2008-09-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks to an anonymous commenter, we are today featuring Wyatt passed out on a chair. As I point out in the video, he's a handsome guy, and for an additional bonus, you get to hear me use my "jo-booboo" cat voice. (Is that how you spell that?)

Take notice, fellow thought leaders, I believe today I raised the bar some, eh?

Trying to sell stuff on Craig's List + Slater Mill

2008-09-13T20:15:00.001-07:00

Today has been productive. I've been sick, went to Slater Mill, tried to sell a dresser and also edit in Final Cut Pro. I had some successes and some - you could say - challenges.

First, I awoke feeling like the way I did yesterday: stuffy head, fairly woozy, and just plain slow. Every word that came out of my mouth seemed to be in slow motion. Things did not really improve much until early evening health-wise. That being said, I still had a good day with Rosanne going to Slater Mill in Pawtucket, RI. I'd like to say we went for historical considerations, but rather, we went because we just saw Slater Mill on Ghost Hunters, one of our favorite programs on TV.

The Mill

We drove down to RI, which is not too far from us. I must say Rhode Island, while very close to us, has its own special flavor. Everybody we saw was very nice today, but this had to be one of the most bizarre historical tours I have ever taken. First, there were only two employees today working the mill -- they would rotate from being at the door and giving the tour. Giving the tours, both guides had a simple earnestness that was very admirable, but done with a local flavor that gave it a very unique twist. Our first guide mentioned how if a 12-year-old boy started bleeding into a machine, he just had to clean up the blood, and make sure he could continue working. To clarify, she mentioned that this mill only produced white thread, so the red would not do and hopefully the boy would still have enough blood to finish the job. We got a lot of little historical facts just like that to keep the day interesting.

While learning about history, we were also seeing if we could capture any ghostly encounters. Frankly, the only odd thing we saw were among the living, but we could definitely imagine some young child spirits there, since children were basically the main workforce for the whole factory. The machines we saw were imposing and ghastly -- imposing for most modern adult men -- let alone for a small child.

All in all, if you are in the area, do check out Slater Mill. The staff worked very hard and we had a great time.

VIDEOS!

I'm going to try to include more video in this here blog, so please enjoy me drilling a hole in a piece of wood at Slater Mill. The drill is powered by water, by a very large wheel -- very impressive.

Craig's List

Since I got my new old dresser, I'm trying to sell my old dresser. If you talk to me in person, I often complain about Craig's List, and once again, I've been stung. I was waiting tonight for like 90 minutes for the purchaser to show up to no avail. I had to put the cats in their respective rooms too so they wouldn't escape during the transaction. So in addition to waiting, I got to hear the cats howl. Yay.

Cat on Table

2008-09-12T18:47:00.001-07:00

Tonight, Wyatt is playing the role of a table ornament...

Must Continue Blogging

2008-09-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

So I've basically lost some steam on the blog express. I was blogging almost everyday, but lately, it seems like I haven't had the time. I'm going to try to get going again with baby steps. So what's been going on in my life?

Tonight I made a taco bake from a recipe from my old place of employment, America's Test Kitchen. Most of their recipes never really turned out right for us (the Cook's Illustrated recipes take TOO much work), but for some reason this little taco recipe has always been quite easy.

Work is getting busier the longer I am there. I'm now currently dropped in the middle of the giant web redesign project. This is good. I was very used to be constantly busy at my last job, so I'm sort of getting my rhythm back.

Have a good evening.

Playing Catchup: Portsmouth

2008-09-07T17:51:00.001-07:00

Dear Readers,

I've been bad. Very bad. I have not blogged in a week. Other things have got in our way, like work, life, cats, my wife (kidding), and eating. This week, I overheard someone comment that blogging can sometimes become a full-time occupation. A good occupation though. It allows us to reach our friends, and let them know what's going on in our lives and keep up as our lives get more seemingly complicated and busy. In order for me to stay connected, I may try my hand with Twitter, thus, you can follow me through my day as I tweet. Lovely.

Anyway, let's go ahead to Portsmouth. Last Sunday we went to New Hampshire to see probably the hippest city in the state. Portsmouth does a nice job of combining cultural vibrancy, history, and shopping (huh?) in one small, cute package. You can walk around beautiful Victorians, see old Colonials (see the John Paul Jones House), and still pick up your foo foo coffee in a short matter of time. We had a great day.

Below, you will see my virtual photo tour with commentary.

Who is this grumpy man, J. L. Coombs? This grumpy man sells shoes that Rosanne bought later in the day.

I finally buy my pink flamingos for the yard. I was looking for the reissue of the original Don Featherstone design; however, these were definitely good enough.

The Friendly Toast Men. This eatery is full of cool, kitschy items for you to look at it as you consume.

Neon sign.

My chicken burrito. It was interesting because it had a corn salsa topping and olives in it. I may review this place in a later blog.

Rosanne's melt sandwich. It had ham, brie, and asparagus. Very melty.

John Paul John's house. JPJ wasn't just the bass player for LZ, he was also a mighty sea captain.

I was surprised to see lobster art in Portsmouth, as it seemed like Portland, ME, had cornered the market. This sculpture was downtown to greet everybody as they enjoyed the day.

New Hampshire is very interesting as it has its own state liquor stores. This store had cases of hard liquor and wine -- but no beer. I had to have my picture taken in front of this noble state institution.

Portsmouth Recap...

Anyone in the area I definitely recommend you check out this little place right on the border of MA, ME, and NH. I don't know if I'd stay for more than a day (it is small), but for those looking for a day trip this won't disappoint.

Poll Update
It seems as if we had a double vote on last week's poll, which basically ruined it for all of you. We're redoing the poll, and if the results are valid, I will keep or shave my beard.

Lots to add today...

2008-09-07T07:53:00.000-07:00

A lots gone on this week, some highlights include:

* Revs game at Foxboro
* Visit from Chris
* Another trip to Cathay Kitchen
* Brimfield Antiques Show with new dresser and gnome
* More housework
* The underwhelming tropical storm.

Real content later!

Thorny Bush Out!

2008-08-31T13:28:00.000-07:00

Breaking news...the bush is out!

More details later today.

Cutter Mattox

2008-08-31T10:46:00.000-07:00

The shrub is still up, and I'm just getting in from trying to cut the rest of it down. I called my father to see if he had any sagely yard advice about the situation, and he recommended we go with this thing called a railroad pick/cutter mattox/grub axe. I was relieved not having to buy a chainsaw, because as I much as I wanted to hear that mofo purr, I don't think I'm exactly qualifed yet to use such a device. Anyway, this large striking tool is helping us get some headway, and I think I will be able to remove this bush by 6.

Pictures later

Make a decision, so I don't have to

2008-08-29T10:28:00.001-07:00

Help me decide the fate of my beard.

VOTE

More organic waste

2008-08-27T18:48:00.001-07:00

I was washing our green leaf lettuce, and I found a surprise. What kind of surprise you may ask? I found a dead worm. This was pretty nasty.

Other news...
Still squeezing eye ointment into Wyatt's right eye -- we have 8 more days of treatment. Saw Bill Clinton on the DNC -- he's still an awesome speaker. After Bill, a woman from Virginia was going to speak, but the network felt this was a good time to cut to a commercial.

That's it -- a lean post.

Please vote for this week's poll -- your results will determine my next facial hair decision.

Removing the Thorny Bush: A Story Told in Pictures (8/24)

2008-08-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

We wake up early in the morning, drive to frickin' Home Depot and buy some tools to remove the thorny bush.

A view of our front yard. Thorny bush noted by arrow.

Rosanne helps clear the land.

The rubbish and organic waste we've created. We cleaned up the front corner of our lawn that was overgrown.

A girl with her tools.

Tools. Not being used.
(I enjoyed tilling the land with the device on the right.)

Leftover beer from the 30 pack we bought from the move. Still drinking.

This part of the lawn is full of rocks, which Rosanne is picking up.

We go to great lengths to dig up this shrub. We use a saw, a big shovel, and even trowels.

The moat we dug. Lovely.

Rosanne is glad we're done for the day. We didn't get the friggin' shrub out though. I called Home Depot to see how much it cost to rent a chainsaw. Yes, I said a chainsaw. It costs 60 dollars for 24-hours. We're going to wait on this.

We discover Sasha hard at work finding a new cat bed.

...to be continued.

Restaurant Review: Cathay Kitchen (Dedham)

2008-08-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

Restaurant Review: Cathay Kitchen
Downtown Dedham.

So I picked out our new local Chinese place. We ordered chicken with mixed vegetables, udon noodles with vegetables, vegetarian spring rolls, an egg roll, and some pork fried rice. In brief, the food was pretty decent for take-out, not really exceptional, but good enough to go there again. Really, how often does one have stunning Chinese food?

Rundown of the items:

Chicken with Mixed Vegetables -- had your classic brown sauce, good mix of vegetables. Grade: 82
Udon Noodles with Vegetables -- we weren't expecting what we got. I was expecting udon noodles with a light, clear sauce with steamed vegetables. In reality, the udon was served and fried lo mein style with minimal vegetables. If you're looking for healthy like we were, be warned. Grade: 75
Spring Rolls -- a tad greasier than I had liked. Grade: 79
Egg Rolls -- good flavor, not greasy, egg roll mixture wasn't a total mystery. Grade: 84
Pork Fried Rice -- pretty typical, but not bad. Grade: 84

It must be noted, I ordered a combo meal, and the amount of fried rice I got was insane. Also, the food presentation (not that I was expecting much or any) wasn't all that great, and frankly, was mediocre enough it would make some people falsely judge the food. On a more positive note, the staff was very friendly, and the establishment itself was very clean.

Chicken with Mixed Vegetables

Udon Noodles with Vegetables (Note browness and lack of discernable vegetables)

Rosanne's feelings about her meal (the udon noodles)

Overall conclusion: If you're looking for decent Chinese food in this area, you will be fairly pleased with Cathay Kitchen. Again, I wasn't blown away by my experience, but keeping in mind my expectations for Chinese food are typically low, I will return once again when I have the hankering for some kind of chicken or vegetable in the chef's special brown sauce.

Grade: 82

Taking Wyatt to the Vet

2008-08-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

Wyatt went to the vet today. I've told a few of you about this, but our fuzzy cat, Wyatt, has experienced some eye crust, gook, cheese -- you pick your word, but it's unpleasant. Rather than drive to CT, Rosanne and I figured there might be a qualified professional in our state, maybe even in our town. One thing lead to another, and we took little Wyatt to our local vet in Dedham.

The diagnosis was good.

I got Wyatt packed up in his pet mobile rather quickly-- it doesn't take much to get him in his carrier -- and we were on our way. During our drive, I got treated to his meow, which was more crow-like than usual. Once at the vet, we checked in, filled out some forms, and began waiting. The nice woman who processed our form remarked he was singing to us, and joked that he was a member of the Backstreet Boys (AJ McCatt?). I then wondered to myself if that was even a pop culturally relevant remark anymore.

Down to the serious business.

The tech came in, weighed him (8 pounds, which is good) asked me what was wrong, and then we waited for the vet. As usual, Wyatt was very calm and a very good patient. The vet came in and did a few things to him. First, she checked and cleaned his ears (lot of wax). She then checked his eyes. Wyatt, I guess, has conjuctivitis that was brought on by the stress of the move (see my other post on the secret costs 0f moving). She performed a procedure on him that involved her squirting this lime-green fluid into eyes that allowed her to check for any ulcers or damage to his cornea. She turned off the light, used some laser/light device to examine his eyes, and fortunately, determined he was clear of any eye damage. Good news, indeed. After she did this, she told me he would need an eye ointment to further clear things up, and showed me how to apply it. He'll be on it for 10 -14 days.

Wyatt after his great ordeal

All in all.

All in all, it was a very good trip, and we both had a good experience at the vet. Not to plug Dedham Veterinary Associates, but I'd definitely bring our cats there again -- they were all very nice and professional.

Tech stuff - Usability

Today I got to sit in on a phone call from a usuability expert. The guy sounded stoned. This individual took a long time to make his points, frequented with many "cool's."

Some takeaways for you:

Avoid the use of red for links and non-error content, as individuals associate it with negative feedback (error, bad, wrong). Not really new in the literature, but still something to think about in your daily life - design is all around you.
If you're going to have a lot of content on a page, don't make it hierachical, and do a raw dump of evenly-weighted information (think nasty html tables). Editorially control your content, and shape your voice by emphasizing certain elements (and not all) by using white space, planned typography, and a well-thought pallette.
Color means a lot. Plan your pallette thinking about your brand and/or the message you're sending to your audience.

Food
I'm tired of Chinese food. However, despite having eaten too much bad Chinese food, I will again be partaking in it. Tonight, I will be taking up the challenge of finding our new local Chinese restaurant.

I'll let you know how things go.

Prime Rib Video Clip

2008-08-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

To get richer media, I'm embedding this clip of Prime Rib in NYC. I believe we played to two people at this show. I never really like playing in New York -- the bookers always crammed 8 bands per night. Once, Mike and I bumped into the handsome guy from the show Northern Exposure with his hot European girlfriend in NYC. We told him we were playing that night, but I believe they went else where.

New father, Mike, digitized this clip. Again congratulations to Mike and Emily!

PS: You can find more clips like these on YouTube.

Pictures from the Move

2008-08-21T18:05:00.000-07:00

I am uploading pictures from the move. I'll be posting more when I can.

Please enjoy...

Sasha helping us move box spring in Newton.

Doug enjoying a peaceful moment with duct tape.

Day of the move we (actually Rosanne) get to drive this gorgeous truck. Notice my stick legs and lack of beard.

Now in Dedham, and after the storm, Frankie finds snails in our front yard.

Rosanne is tired and not as fond of our new neighbors, the snails.

Boy Chris and Girl Chris share fond recollections of their move a few weeks prior.

Super heroes all, the moving team takes a pose.

The young homeowners.

Lurkers needed...

2008-08-20T10:01:00.000-07:00

If you're a lurker, please leave a comment.

Thanks!

Thought Leader

2008-08-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

What is it to be a thought leader? The term seems to be coming up more often. Has information proliferated so much that we need various leaders of this sort to comment on particular domains of information? Is the information demanding some kind thought authority to organize it? Further, has information gotten so cheap that we're beginning to see it become some commodity (I'm quietly wretching at this sentence)? Lumping all information into one bucket is a bit shortsighted, but that being said, each of these thought buckets/domains has gotten so vertically developed they're all potentially suffering from the same symptom: s hyper-expansion of information without any means of ensuring some level of quality. (Hence, the need - and demand by the community - for these thought leaders.)

Other thoughts...
Dealing with change and culture at my job while trying to get a handle on our systems at an enterprise level. Writing about work and technical matters with a great deal of business jargon.

Other other thoughts...
Played my guitar. I'm enjoying my Boss CS-2 compressor. It doesn't kill the high-end of my guitar, yet still has some organic squish. I'm really digging it at this point. While I like my Barber Tone Press quiet a bit, I always get the feeling my high-end is suffering just a tad.

Cool Jazz

2008-08-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

Things I'm excited about (sort of)
* The local cable access channel plays jazz. (I don't even like jazz that much, but I like local cable access.)
* JQuery Conference in Boston. I haven't coded at all the past 12 months, but I've begun coding a bit recently. It's been out of practical necessity and also for fun. This should be a good time.
* Alfresco training in Virginia. If things go well, I'll be heading to ol' Virginia for training on Alfresco, one of the hottest content management systems out right now. I haven't been on a training trip in a while, so again, I'm stoked.
* Taking Wyatt to the vet. Rosanne hopefully found Wyatt a good local vet. We can figure out why his eyes have been so gunked up lately.

Last thought.
It seems like everyone's blogging again. Why? Is there some material reward? Chris (see from previous blog) mentioned he knew somebody who blogged because they wanted to be a thought leader. A thought leader?! Yes, I knew what he was talking about, and I quietly felt some shame. Did I want to be a thought leader? I started blogging again because it seems like blogging has more credibility than when it first started out as some kind of rebranded live journal. I hated live journal for its self-involvement and its "dear diary" vibe. Is blogging okay now?

I think we're at the point blogging seems to be a legitimate channel of information (though rough). There's been a wave of blogger personalities for a while now -- do i want to be one?

Anyway, thought leaders anyone?

Deadheads*

2008-08-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

Do we really know what we're going to do when we wake up? Are we going to do something great? Waste another day? Am I going to win the lotto? Am I going to wipe up more cat puke? Or am I going to garden? Well, today, was the day where fate chose gardening. Mrs. Sheridan (Rosanne's mom) brought up her gardening tools, and we set out to clean out a portion of our front yard. While the previous owners of our house did a nice job with the plantings, there were/are some sections that are a bit overgrown. While I was initially skeptical of Rosanne's need to level the land, I began to see her vision, and I got into her deforestation plan. With some strong shovels and steady hands, we were able to deweed and remove some unsightly shrubs.

Tomorrow, we head off to see Chris to celebrate his birthday. We're going to meet in Oquinquit, Maine, and enjoy the beach.

Proudest purchase: Buying SPF 75 suntan lotion -- I never knew it came in such a high number.

* In addition to referring to hippies, deadheads are the parts of plant or flower where the leaves or flowers begin to die or dry up. Removing deadheads improve th health of your plants. I remove some deadheads today.

Mood: Some sense of accompishment, yet annoyed (I have a summer cold.)

Some factual errors

2008-08-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

One of my readers has astutely noticed I lied to all of you. The pictures below are not from my move, but rather, the move of Chris and Chris. The sweaty looks and the obvious hardwork fooled me into thinking it was our move. Sorry for any confusion!

The Olympics.

I'm actually watching them this year. Kind of. I've been watching gymnastics and swimming right before I go to bed (don't have much choice, that's all NBC broadcasts). Overall, it's been engaging; however, I'm pissed I can't watch them in HD. I tried unplugging the coaxial cable when I reorganized our TV table, and I ended up breaking our HD cablebox. The cable was on so tight, I broke the actual jack on the box. Bad.

Other Comcast discomforts.
Comcast has been a pain in my ass. I don't normally bash them, as they seem to be obvious game for everybody, but they have really sucked the past week. First, they included two phone numbers in my work order which caused my installation to take an additional two hours. Second, the technician arrived 30 minutes after my slot ended (not really his fault if he's reading), effectively killing last Saturday. Third, once installed, I had to call Comcast to refresh my signal. Honest, I could go on...okay, I will -- one more. I then had to cancel the second phone number, and then have to explain more than I liked I didn't request the second number to cancel the additional charge. Comcast just has a really inefficient and balkanized structure that is incredibly evident when you actually need to get stuff done. The technician too had to talk to five people, be put on hold, and go through the seven circles of hell to finish my installation.

Next post will contain real photos from the move.

Happy Olympics.

The hidden cost of moving (with pictures)

2008-08-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

Doug and Mike share a guy moment on moving day

Trust me when I tell you that your stress levels will quietly creep up on you or your loved ones during a move. Living in chaos will eventually drive you batty. With that being said, please enjoy some pictures from the move!

More pictures...

Rosanne enjoying the joie de vivre of moving.

Also, to my loyal readership, congratulations to my buddy, Mike and lovely Emily on their new baby, Alastair!

New Haircut?

2008-07-28T20:32:00.001-07:00

I was mildly surprised today by the non-reaction to my now defunct beard. For me, it was a very big move to rid myself of the muskrat at the end of my chin. I got a few questions of "new haircut," yet nobody really zoned in on the beard.

Other news...I'm enjoying the new home in Dedham, and I'm getting very interested in vintage lighting. I really don't know how this happened - I'm normally into guitar pedals and associated boy toyz -- am I entering a new phase of my life? I do think if we didn't move into an Arts and Crafts-style house, I wouldn't be half-interested in this domestic pursuit.

Work has been good. Howvever, in my usual style, I'm trying to absorb the entire IT, business, and editorial infrastructure in a month, which as you may guess, it has produced a small amount of frustration. That being said, things are going very well.

I promise I will get pictures of the house up and my face in the coming days.

RIP -- Beard 2/12/2001 - 7/25/2008

2008-07-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

Beard has been shaved off. Why I did this I don't know, but I'm now clean-shaven. Pictures online tomorrow. In other news, I moved my 50 amps to the new house. I met my new neighbors, and discovered my neighbor's son also plays guitar. As she said, "My son saw that you had tons of amps."

Closing Tomorrow

2008-07-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is our closing. So do you think I'm packing? No, I'm stuffing my mouth with yellow corn Tostitos watching House Hunters, Designed To Sell (same thing). The episode I'm watching features a dude in Atlanta trying to sell his converted church. The personality/designer has recommended that this individual install a bar into his basement to maximize his value. Huh?

Pictures later...

Technology Teams

2008-07-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

I work with technology. But the more I work in technology, the more time I spend working with people. We have the all these great systems in place, but they are nothing if you have not built the following soft human aspects into them:

1) business intelligence or rules built into your code
2) some kind of UI for human beings to access your great box
3) processes for managing change

And in almost all cases, you can assume that everyone thinks they have steps 1 through 3 locked and sealed, but they always don't. I forgot the author, but s/he posited that the web's ease of use made everyone think they're an expert and that any change is a piece of cake. Result: CHAOS. And you have no infrastructure to support building intelligence into your technology because it's all assumed.

How do you manage change?
In larger, more mature organizations, you already have systems in place, but what about smaller groups? Smaller groups remind me of the primordial soup theory where you hope to god some lightening bolt hits your content group or some business users in the ass, and you'll some emergent process or organization. Nah, in reality, you need to reach out to people and effect change by shifting attitudes. Sans technology. By changing attitudes and perceptions you can put in the foundation of a functioning IT or technology group.

Links for your edification:
Life Soup

Here We Go!

2008-07-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

Every so often I choose to blog (like every three years), and the urge has struck me once again. I'm normally a very private person, so sharing on the web feels a bit odd. If I do write anything, I'm usually adopting some kind of persona, so I'm making a conscious effort this time at writing with some degree of sincerity and honesty. We'll see how long it lasts.

Initial tidbit of the day. Why Cotton Mather? I was named Cotton Mather in my college years for my great "moral fortitude." I earned this reputation for basically giving up light beer for a year. The sacrifices we make! The name stuck, and despite some disagreements I may have with dear Cotton's writings, I resonate with the clan's crabby New England persona.