A week ago my wife and I went to hear the Seattle Symphony perform some chamber works. It’s always a pleasure to hear the SSO because the level of musical competency is very high, and because the acoustics in Benaroya Hall are superb.
Naturally, at the end of the performance there was a standing ovation. It wasn’t absolutely undeserved; the performance was good. But at the curtain call for concerts and dramatic productions it is a reflexive action for the audience to rise to its feet and applaud vigorously for several minutes – whether or not the performance warrants the recognition. My issue with the obligatory standing ovation is that it is meaningless. It’s akin to an enforced gratuity in restaurants. I make a point of recognizing things around me that are extraordinary (I suppose you’d call me an affirmer); but I don’t lavish praise over every action accomplished by another human. Unconditional praise rewards every act as virtuosic… how can you possibly recognize true greatness if everyone gets the same evaluation? At work I ask my managers to tell me what I do well and to identify opportunities for improvement. For most people, balanced feedback is the basis of continuing to challenge one’s self to strive for growth.
While I recognize the skill of professional musicians and other performers, I don’t believe it’s necessary for an audience to automatically demand an encore or deliver a standing ovation. The more it becomes part of the ordinary end-game for every live performance, we lose the ability to provide recognition for truly extraordinary events.
The past few weeks have been unusually stressful and I’ve been working late, skipping the gym workouts and sleeping poorly. This has left me in a state of being (1) depressed (2) exhausted and (3) strangely creative. The general physical and mental burnout is a drag… I’m kinda flipped out and having a hard time concentrating… thus my brain is unquestionably gone to the “off leash” area and I feel inspired to write and record some music. Hopefully this weekend I’ll get some decent sleep, hit the gym and feel groovy enough to do something that creative spark.
In the mean time, it’s Friday and I feel like a zombie. Thank goodness for Starbucks coffee! If you find me in a catatonic stupor, please point me toward a latte. I will try to return to a semi-normal state next week.
Well, after showing up to get my wisdom teeth pulled, it was determined they really don’t need to come out after all. So I get to keep them – at least for now. Hooray for second opinions!
At this time tomorrow I’ll be exactly 2 wisdom teeth duller. I’m not certain of the precise effect of having my final two wisdom teeth removed, but hopefully I’ll still be able to remember important stuff like the lyrics to the lumberjack song.
I impulsively updated my installation of WordPress to v2.5 last weekend when it was released. So far it’s been a mixed experience. The interface is pretty, and there is some nice new functionality. But oh the boundless misery of the Flash-based image uploader… it’s such a widely reported issue that only three days after the official release WP has posted a “yes, we know, stop posting about it” message on the forums and closed the topic for further comment (!). Judging by the numerous subsequent bug reports and postings, the fix isn’t at all simple – and in many cases appears to be elusive. I have yet to get it properly working. Given the stability of the previous release, I regret having made the update at this point. I’m sure they’ll sort it out eventually, but until then… no images in my posts.
A few years ago I purchased a set of Husky brand socket wrenches from Home Depot.
Some worthwhile facts:
Husky tools are sold exclusively at Home Depot
These tools carry a lifetime warranty
According to the Husky tools web site, if you ever have a problem with any of their products, just return it to any Home Depot for cheerful no-questions-asked replacement
Last month I was using my 3/8″ socket wrench for the first time and it broke. It appears the internal ratchet mechanism had a faulty part that sheared off. No big deal… the wrench has a lifetime warranty, and it sounded simple enough to get a replacement.
My absurdist tendencies are always in play, even at the hardware store. Yesterday I attempted to return it to Home Depot and after waiting in line at the returns desk, I had the following experience:
read more…
Last Saturday I took my dad to his first ice hockey game. He’s never really understood American sports, and he is frequently subjected to watching baseball and football when he visits me. He asks a lot of questions, especially during baseball. None of it makes much sense to him, but he’s usually willing to watch when I’ve got it on TV. I happened to acquire three tickets for the Seattle Thunderbirds game through a friend, and thought it would be fun to take dad along.
It was a great game. We clobbered the Portland Winterhawks 8-2 and RW Bud Holloway scored a hat trick. Dad asked “why is everyone throwing their hats onto the floor?”Overall, a very fun evening. Hopefully dad won’t wait 84 years to catch his next hockey game.
I’m considering moving my site to another host. It’ll take some effort to round up all the content from my various domains, but I’ve found a host that appears to offer more for less… and who can argue with that? More to come…
My first job as a developer / PM was with a company called Bulldog Beach Interactive which was located in West Seattle. It was an amazing opportunity to learn about technology and business. For those of us who worked there it was an adventure and always a lot of fun. Four of us moved into a shared office together and worked as an interactive team (and improv comedy troupe). It began a close friendship among us and we have remained close to this day.
We all work for other companies now. But we are still great friends and enjoy getting together to continue the adventure of being creative geeks. Yesterday we had the crew over for a reunion / snack-a-thon, with spouses and children in attendance. I even dug out an old company t-shirt for the occasion. Here’s to the crew!
I recently made a wager with co-workers, and yesterday I made good on my end of it. I agreed that if our project got corporate approval and funding, I would abandon my usual all-black wardrobe for one day and actuall wear color (!)
It was a rough day, but somehow I managed to get through it. Every time I saw myself in a mirror I was shocked to see green and brown. Ack! My friends in the IT group all wore black as an act of solidarity, which was very kind of them. Color was traumautic, but it could have been worse… I’m sure glad I didn’t wager that I’d dress like Elvis.
