March 2005 Archives

I'm so glad that I'm not the only person who is consistently inconsistent.

Source: Time Magazine

Courtesy of Raymond Chen.

Anil Dash wrote about "The Blog Cycle". It was an extremely accurate description of the ongoing cycles in blogging. One commenter noted the only thing missing was the bullet point for people who write about the cycles of blogging.

We are all so un-original.

I would apologize if it weren't so altogether normal. It's time we all accept this fact and learn celebrate and embrace our un-originality. The rhythms of life winter, spring, summer, and fall are un-original, yet there is pleasure to be had in each season of life.

I missed celebrating my third anniversary of blogging on March 13th of this year. The first post was a little light on content. I think I've gotten a little more interesting since then.

I wish I could thank each and every one of you for stopping by to read my postings, at least those of you who aren't trying to jam spam into the blog comments. A special thank you goes out to the people who know me in person and read my blog but don't tell me that I am their guilty pleasure. I'm honored that you take the time to read about me and whatever I am thinking about.

For the 100's of people who find my weblog when they are searching for videos of Terry Tate "Office Linebacker" --- sorry I don't know where they are. If I could offer you a parting gift it would be the URL to those commercials.

I've been spouting off about spring quite a bit lately. My conscience was bothering me about the photos I have posted because they are from previous years -- much later in the season. The photos represented my thoughts but don't paint an accurate picture of what Minnesota is like at the end of March.

So here are some photos taken tonight. You can see the plants and shrubs are budding, but the flowers haven't paid a visit yet.

I love pussy willows. They flowers are small, fragile and subtle but they are a sure sign that spring is arriving.

Julie Leung had one of her brilliant "blog bursts" today.

When I hear about someone who lost someone precious I can't help but wish I could meet the object of so much love and loss. Who were they really, that they left such holes in those around them?

I feel like I'm a person warming myself by the fire of someone else's love. It's just so beautiful to read about or see such devotion; I can't help but stare at the dancing flames or the dying embers. I don't mean to be rude or intrude; it's just that love and devotion is so precious and rare, how can I not stop to admire it.

When Julie finished her entry about her brother, she talked about Easter and the hope present in the account of an empty tomb. Is there any bigger expression of the desire that death won't separate us from those we love than an empty tomb? Even those of us who struggle with faith or believe differently can see the beauty in the hope and the longing to not be separate forever from those who have died.

The memorial Julie made with her memories reminded me of a blog I don't check quite as often, Seraphic Secret. I stopped by today and felt my emotions swell when I read the following lines.

It's hard for me to read that quote. I read it and re-read it, honoring the father who has to live that quote. I can't begin to imagine it.

Julie also referenced Ayelet Waldman's article, "Truly, Madly, Guiltily" in the NYTimes in her post entitled "Different kinds of kisses."

Who wouldn't want someone writing about them that way?

So where does all the beautiful writing about love, loss, desire, and longing leave us?

Same place as usual.

It's raining in Minnesota tonight. The cold rain of this day will bring gorgeous blossoms soon. They'll fade all too soon, but the showy burst of color will help me forget the long winter.

I predict that this will be next big thing on ESPN.

World Beard and Moustache Championships -- You might want to book your air and hotel now before it's too late.

I'm not making this up, it was reported by National Geographic.

Seriously, who in their right mind would spend this much time grooming their facial hair?

Be honest, do I have a shot to win?

[Link Courtesy of boing^2]

Current song stuck in my head.

Tonight was so warm and so beautiful, a perfect night to take the kids to the park. I love going down the tallest curly slide with the kids. I was surprised none of the other parents were going down the slide with their kids. One mom laughed at me when she saw at the bottom of the slide. "You should try it," I said, "it feels like spring."

Going down the slide instantly transports me to simpler times.

For the second day in a row, I went for a post-lunch stroll without a jacket. Not only were the birds singing, but I saw the first sun bather of the season. Spring has finally arrived in Minnesota.

I love the feeling of the warm sun and wind on my face. While the last winter wasn't especially brutal, when you live with the cold, the overcast, and the darkness for so long, spring is especially appreciated. Winter has its own beauty, but to me it doesn't compare to the joys of being outside without the layers and the bulk. I love seeing the birds and ducks returning to Minnesota.

Reminds me of what my son said to me when he was just three. He had been entranced by the geese migrating south for the previous winter. In the spring when we saw a flock of geese landing in the stubble of a corn field near our house he said "Seeing these geese is like a present to me." He was right, spring and everything that goes with it is a gift.

Spring is reconciliation, hope, laughter, and dreams and all of it is a gift.

Last week when I was in Manhattan, I went to the Today Show with one of my co-workers.

It was kind of an odd experience for me. I don't really watch the Today Show, so didn't think it would be that exciting to see the set. I was happy to get up early and take a walk; the Today Show was just a pleasant bonus.

Then, as we were standing outside the cordoned off area, Willard Scott came out and started doing the weather and interacting with the crowd. I was completely energized to be so near to someone I had seen on TV my whole life. I didn't feel that excited when I saw Ben Stiller when last in Manhattan.

It was peculiar that so many people in the crowd were from Minnesota. I estimate that 1/3 of the crowd was from Minnesota. I wish I would have had the foresight to make a sign to wave around.

P.S. Sometimes who you go with is almost as important as where you go. Having an super enthusiastic fan of the Today Show with me made the whole thing way more fun.

I stayed at an older hotel in Manhattan this past week.

The room at the Roosevelt was much smaller that what I am used to staying in when I travel for business. Although the size threw me a little initially, I found that I really liked it. The scale of the room was very human and it had everything I needed close at hand. By the third day I found myself wishing my house were smaller.

The hotel was pretty nice. I love being within walking distance of my destination and it fit that requirement neatly. The only complaint I had about the hotel was the speed of the elevator. It might take 15 minutes to get to the lobby if you picked the wrong time of day. The first day I would pass on elevators that seemed crowded. By the last day I would cram myself in, no matter how many people were already in the elevator, since I didn't know when the next one might make an appearance.

How To Blog, by Tony Pierce. [Link courtesy of Julie Leung]

This probably won't amuse you unless you are or know some Lutherans.

Q. How do you know you are in Minnesota when you are watching Star Wars on the big screen?

A. When Obiwan says "May the Force be with you" the audience responds "and also with you."

We celebrate Easter today. I'll link to the archives for my thoughts about the movie The Passion from a year ago. So it's been a year since I last posted my thoughts on that movie. A year later I actually dislike the movie far more than I did when I wrote that review. In fact I would go so far as to say I wish I hadn't seen it. It freaks me out that they screen this thing at churches at Easter time now. I think when I wrote that review I was trying to like the movie since so many of my peers thought it was so important or good for people to see. Maybe I'll post a longer screed about the movie later.

It's funny how time changes memories and perceptions of experiences. Some happy fun things, like seeing The Gates in February, get bigger and more fun over time. Some tragic occurrences soften and lose their edge, some never lose their edge.

I went to Origami last night. I know, I already had sushi this week, why would I need to go again. I just wanted more fish, that's all.

The service was only so-so. For instance my deluxe sushi platter came without wasabi and the server dissapeared for a long time after serving my food.

Everything had a nice fresh taste. It was the first time I had octopus sushi. It was pretty good. I was a little afraid it would be rubbery, but it was suprisingly pleasant. I liked the tuna well enough, although the toro I had for desert wasn't worth the market price of 10.75 for two smallish pieces. The other standout fish was the salmon.

Jeannie, not big on sushi, ate the shrimp tempura, origami wontons, and the crab croquett appetizers. She seemed to like them all well enough.

For the price I expected more. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more sitting at the sushi bar. In the end I'm not raving about Origami. I'm going to try the other sushi restaurants before I go back to Origami, even though I know it's supposed to be the best in the Twin Cities.

I've suspected for a long time that word processors are eroding my ability to communicate in writing. Here is an article explaining "How Computers Cause Bad Writing."

I wish sailing was considered more newsworthy. Somehow I completely missed Ellen Macarthur's record setting solo sail around the world. 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds is the new time to beat.

While I practically salivate when imagining myself rounding Cape Horn or crossing the Atlantic, I can't fathom the intestinal fortitude of solo sailors going around the globe without touching land at these kinds of speeds. These folks are real rock stars to me.

Reminds me of a recent conversation I had with a friend. I asked him if he had any sailing planned. He said, "No, I put in a surround sound system." I am still shaking my head over that. How could a surround sound system be considered in the same breath as sailing in the real world on the real ocean?

Usually I'm the guy who sends the cool links. This week I got a really cool one from my co-worker who prefers to be known as "my favorite co-worker". Anyway check out this data visualization of baby name popularity, The Baby Name Wizard.

Here is the graph for my name.

Real Live Preacher writes in his piece "We Can Talk at Starbucks" about his daughter confiding in him about not believing in God. I was very impressed by his handling of the situation. I've seen similar scenario's played out in very ugly ways. For a guy is in the God business, he handled it very gracefully.

I'm sympathetic to his daughter. I think all people who love, hit a wall eventually where you don't feel it anymore. This can be in the context of faith in an unseen God or in the context of real flesh and blood relatioships, like marriage. What do you do when you hit the wall where you simply don't feel it? I heard an interview with a religious author who felt like this period of crisis was a gift. It represented the brink of maturity where you choose to do something even though you aren't overwhelmed by the romance and the feelings and the rush that you once had when it was all fresh and new.

I want to believe.

A lot of pixels have been spilled on the topic of gender in blogging. Lot's of people have weighed in. Here is a very small sampling.

• Rebecca Blood weighs in
• Shelley Powers, You are Hurting Us
• Jeff Jarvis, Blogging white male
• Stephen Levy, Blogging Beyond the Men's Club
• Dave P., "The problem with Blogrolls"

People have suggested many things to "remedy" the situation; some are interesting like removing blogrolls, others are designed to provoke and offend like labeling every link with gender and race.

Julie wrote one of my favorite posts on this topic, cutting right to the heart of the issue.

This speaks to the heart of the matter. We are all outsiders, stuck in our own local minima, unwilling or unable to see past our part of the curve and discover how much we resemble the rest of the sample.

While sympathetic to any person or group who is or has been historically downtrodden, I hate to listen to whining about how one group is more downtrodden than another. This is especially true when the discussion is dominated by digerati who are better off than 98% of the world's population. Please folks, it's not a contest. (Of course, I've read enough about gender politics to know that my attitude is easily written off as "that's what the powerful always say." That is an argument that is as useful as proclaiming that history is always written by the winners, so all history is basically wrong.)

I would like to mention that I would love to see tech conferences where gender is more equally represented. I don't know how to fix that as I don't send people to conferences, nor do I arrange for the speakers. Everyone should have an equal length line when they are waiting for the bathroom.

My blogroll is staying, mainly because it's a convenient way for me to be able to find out what my online friends are saying. I'll also continue my practice of linking to any authentic voice that speak to me irrespective of gender, race, ethnicity, orientation, political persuasion or any other self-imposed or other-imposed group identification.

So Young Joel wrote about Justice Scalia and the recent Supreme Court decision on the topic of the death penalty for juveniles.

Unlike Joel, I pretty much agree with Scalia.

I know this shocks my loyal readers.

Here is what I believe.

I'm not opposed to the death penalty in theory if it were carried out fairly. Since there are studies that seem to show the death penalty is always applied unfairly I would prefer it not be legal. I also see no justice in seeing the death penalty applied to people under some minimal age, probably 16. I also don't see the mercy in sentencing a 16 year old to die of old age in prison. BTW, I've always lived in states without the death penalty and I'm happy about that.

But my opinion about the death penalty is outside the scope of the argument that Scalia makes.

Scalia's criticism of the Supreme Court decision was because the court is making law, based on it's perception of "evolving standards." I, like Scalia, want the legislatures in each respective state to make laws not courts, especially not the federal courts. Then if the laws are lousy we can throw them out of office and get new people to make better laws. Scalia pointed out in a recent speech that it seems strange that anyone wants a world where laws are essentially made by nine unaccountable lawyers.

Now, if your issue is the death penalty, the court's decision was a win, but only because the current set of juctices favor your position. The next set probably won't favor your position. Then how happy are you going to be when they re-write your favorite laws. People on the current bench, like Justice Thomas, will be all to happy to have a conservative and activist court and will likely be achieving that goal in their lifetime.

Being a libertarian, I would like to see the maximum power aggregated in the smallest arena. So I prefer states to take up the important issues like when is it fair to apply the death penalty. If you can't convince your fellow citizens move to a different state. The further away the decision is made, the less power you have to influence it.

I recognize this anti-federalist sentiment places me squarely in a quaint, nostalgic minority.

The problem is that if one starts talking this kind of "states rights" talk the next thing you know you accidentally sound like some wild eyed Dixiecrat trying to keep the people of color out of public universities.

This issue, as well as the Terry Schiavo case, are really making me think lately. Here is the most incendiary thing I've ever said on my blog. I'll probably live to regret it.

How strange is the world when you have people who are desperate to keep Terry Schiavo alive and at the same time happy to bomb the hell out any muslim country and put juveniles to death? How strange is a world where people are upset that a cow, chicken, fish or sheep feels pain when slaughtered but are happy to legalize the purposeful ending of life of either an adult or an unborn fetus, a.k.a. a baby?

I love these "transparent screens" on flickr.com. I have to do this.

Vegans might want to skip this entry.

I've eaten both good and bad sushi more times and in more locales than I can count. Last night however was special.

The place I ate at last night Sushi Yasuda was simply amazing. Everything was incredibly fresh and tasty. I had a little bit of everything from eel to white salmon to mackerel to clams with everything in between. My friend Eric kept comparing the sushi to the human procreative process. It's the first time in my life I felt like this kind of comparison was even close to being warranted.

The atmosphere of the place was the perfect compliment to the food. It was spare, but with touches of minimalist artistry in every quadrant.

I don't know if I can go back to grocery store sushi. It might have been better if I didn't know how good sushi can be. Can I still be happy with the ordinary again?

It's an interesting philosophical question. Would you want to experience something just once, that was so sublime you would pine for it until you were laying on your death bed? Would you really want to know how good it can be, whatever the it is for you?

[TODO: Insert cliche here]

Update: I was talking about this concept with one my co-workers while we were waiting for our ride to the airport. He pointed out that he thought the really grand experiences in life really shouldn't ruin the slightly more mundane. After mulling it over, I'm convinced he is right. Whenever I have sushi, even ordinary grocery store sushi, it will be like an echo or a pointer to the sushi I had Monday.

This makes sense to me. With this attitude I can then fearlessly engage in seeking out the best experiences in life and carefully file them away in my memories. Future experiences which might be more mundane can be enjoyed on their own terms. I like this because it also prevents the ugly snobbishness I sometime hear, "Well, that's not real [insert noun like "Chinese Food" or "sushi"] therefore it can't be properly enjoyed."

So if you see me eating sushi from the grocery store and you catch me with a wistful smile, you'll know what I'm thinking about.

Today I skipped the usual taxi ride in favor of an unlicensed town car operator, who promised me a quick hassle free ride to my destination in mid-town Manhattan.

I have never in my life driven through city streets so fast. This includes previous taxi rides in New York and Mexico. The driver was amazing. He didn't even slow down when a bicycle riding guy was headed straight for us looking the other way. Somehow the bicycler managed to swerve just in time.

No one was hurt and I got a good fast ride. No complaints. I would try it again, but it's not for the faint of heart.

I'm writing from the airport, getting ready to fly out to NYC again.

I love getting to the airport in the dark knowing I'll be in some exciting new place by noon.

Recently I've written way too much about blogging and bloggers. Sorry here is another entry in the same category. If you don't want to read it, you can enjoy a picture from my sailing trip last year.

Last month I saw a post entitled, "I'm tempted to take up mountain climbing" by writer Ayelet Waldman. It was a little frightening as it talked very frankly about mental illness and hinted about Ayelet's own struggles. Ayelet has now stopped blogging and started writing for Salon. I don't read Salon much anymore because of the ads, but I saw a link to Ayelet's first article and I figured it might be interesting, so I clicked.

I read the article from March 14th, 2005 and was chilled to the bone. It turned out that Ayelet's post, this last February was quite a serious cry for help and wasn't simply a factual post about the dangers of suicide with people with a certain class of mental illness. Luckily her close friends and he husband understood the gravity of her February post and found ways to rally around her and help her through a very dark moment.

This was an amazing story to me. I've always joked about my blog being some sort of cry for help or a cry for attention. It's a relief to me to know that if I really did need help that my friends and regular readers might help me. I wonder if I would have the courage to be direct enough that people would understand what I was talking about?

Her recent Salon article got people to write in a lot of letters. Some were supportive; others criticized her for allowing her children to get dragged into both her mental health struggles and her on-line writing. I have some sympathy for both positions. Courageously telling the truth about the realities of life is extraordinary and beautiful to me. The other side of the coin sports children with all too weak shoulders growing up with the awful weight of wondering if their mother will kill herself or write an article about their next tantrum or misdeed. It's repugnant to me that children would have to bear the weight of the struggles and issues of adult life. The struggles of life will come uninvited to them all too soon, isn't it possible to shield them for a while?

In the end I'm just glad Ayelet made it through that episode and we still can enjoy her writing.

I'm also glad that my friends might read my posts and come to my aid if required.

So this couple came up with this idea that they should sell candles that smell like Jesus, basing the soon to be patented formula on an English translation of something written in Hebrew a long time ago, but probably not meant to be used as a candle making recipe book. Several news outlets are carrying blurbs: nbc10.com,wcco.com,yankton.net. There is no end of people who are making money with Jesus. If he comes back and finds out about this I think he is going to be pissed.

Now where can I order a candle that smells like me.

[Link Courtesy of b^2]

I love the impermanent nature of an ice castle. Castles are fortresses intended to project permanence and strength. But an ice castle (if not dismantled prematurely for safety and insurance reasons) simply melts away when the temperature rises. It's an excellent metaphor for life. Everything we build or accumulate that looks permanent eventually seems to fade, tear, rust, stain, melt, rot, or die. Funny how the impermanance of the ice castle doesn't take away from my pleasure in seeing it. For some reason at this stage in my life I seem drawn to impermanent, impractical displays of beauty even those with little practical purpose. I find myself entranced by impermanent beauty, flowers that bloom for just one day, fireworks that vanish in an instant, 7500+ Gates that just dissapear, quick smiles, knowing glances and shared laughter.

As promised, you can find the answer to the question "What's in my pocket?" on flickr.com

• What's in my pocket (Tag)
• What's in your pocket (Tag)
• What's in your pocket? (Group)

Julie Leung wrote praising difficult to categorize blogs. I loved reading this piece as some of favorite blogs, as well as my own, are somewhat difficult to categorize.

The press has recently jumped on the blogging phenomena, but mostly they seem to focus on blogs that are easier to categorize like the political blogs. Those blogs probably make better copy and are easier for journalists to write about. Personally, I just don't find the easy to categorize blogs nearly as interesting as the personal blogs. Reading personal blogs, with their varied topics makes me feel like I'm getting to know a real human being who has more than one thought or topic to talk about.

In the course of this piece, Julie quoted Real Live Preacher, a blog that Young Joel has pointed me to in the past.

Funny, I like the idea of being a surprise. I wonder what I would have to do to surprise people.

   CLEMENTINE'S VOICE
   What took you so long?

   JOEL
   I just walked in.

   CLEMENTINE'S VOICE
   Hmmm.  Do you miss me?

   JOEL
   Oddly enough, I do.

   CLEMENTINE'S VOICE
   Ha Ha!  You said, I do.  I guess that
   means we're married.

   JOEL
   I guess so.

   CLEMENTINE'S VOICE
   Tomorrow night... honeymoon on ice.

I was watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a second time and these set of lines caught my attention.

Did you miss me?" For such a tiny question, it seems pregnant with meaning.

When you hear this question you know the person asking the question usually wants to have been missed.

Sometimes the answer might be no.

No, I didn't miss you; I was busy.

No, I didn't miss you; life is easier when you aren't there.

No, I didn't miss you; I didn't even notice you were gone.

I don't think anyone wants to hear any of those answers.

Maybe one shouldn't ask the question unless one already knows the answer and is prepared for it.

If I ask "Did you miss me", tell me the truth, but only if the truth is that you missed me.

I got this on my first cab ride in NYC from JFK to Brooklyn.

Do I really have to keep it with me at all times?

One of the coolest things about flickr is the ability to annotate photos. For some reason people have been taking photos of the bags they carry around and annotating the contents.

So check out the stuff in my bag. Just to prove I'm not alone, you can check out what is in everyone else's bag.

Next week, maybe I'll show you what is in my pocket.

I came across an article on Senate rules, and how they could be changed. The article covers quite about of historical information about the internal rules of the Senate, and how they have changed over time. It's interesting to consider how rules about how the Senate conduct business, which aren't subject to much public debate, affect us all. I'm a big fan of the idea of letting bills and nominees come up for a vote. It's not that I really want the slim majority party to run wild, but rather I want to have a voting record to base my vote on. With rules and practices that prevent bills and nominees from coming to a public vote, we have less information to work with when it's time to vote. How can you say "vote for candidate XYZ, they successfully prevented a vote from taking place by invoking an esoteric Senate rule."

It's also interesting to consider from an organizational perspective how practices whether written or not can shape the institution's ability to perform its role. I would think any large institution, which isn't a strict dictatorship, faces this same issue in one way or another.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL OPTION TO CHANGE SENATE RULES AND PROCEDURES: A MAJORITARIAN MEANS TO OVERCOME THE FILIBUSTER

Don't get me wrong, thinking that I want 51 republican senators to control the Senate and run rough shod over the minority. I simply want visibility into the process. The rules and machinations which prevent votes on issues cover up the actual records of elected officials. In regards to the tyranny of the majority, I would be quite pleased if laws, especially those expanding the scope of the federal government, had to be passed by a 2/3 majority. Then no one party could control anything. That would require a constitutional change, of course.

[Link Courtesy of Powerline]

I am in love with quirky, off beat movies lately, especially movies that are somewhat challenging to watch. I like trying to figure out what is going on in a movie; it's more like real life. I can't even stand thinking about watching a typical Hollywood romantic comedy. I want something to think about later.

That is why "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" really worked for me. Most of the characters were so human and believable to me. I loved the whole concept of the movie where you take an idea like, "erasing memories" and turn it into a gorgeous poem about relationships, desire, love, pain and memory. (So different from say Total Recall.) I loved the narrative taking place in many places, where you had to wonder if they were in the characters head or whether it was real life.

It was great to see Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey playing such offbeat characters.

Occasionally when one checks voice mails you'll get an accidental message where you a cell phone in someone's pocket or purse calls a number accidentally. I find these little accidental messages fascinating. I always listen to the end, curious to see if I can piece together who it was or where they were.

Tonight the message included a long clip from "I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight" by Cutting Crew, circa mid eighties. Hearing that music from high school brought me instantly back to the eighties. Whoever you were that called me, thanks.

Julie asks the question "Is blogging a religion?"

I agree with her quite a bit, but I think I differ in some regards.

Blogging doesn't provide the purpose for life, but somehow in blogging I have spent time writing about what matters to me. In doing this I have discovered more about both my purpose and existence. This would also make meditation, journaling, balancing a checkbook, and compulsively scheduling things in a day-timer religions as well. Each of those can produce explanations of purpose and existence when examined closely.

Blogging may involve a belief that the words of the writer have power. Maybe the god in blogging is the human writer.

I've also read many breathless posts talking about how blogs are democratizing and revolutionary. I think more than one blogger seems to believe in the power of blogs to heal the world.

The written word is a powerful testimony that can speak from beyond the grave. While blogging doesn't explain where I was before I was born, it might explain right where I'll be after I die. After I die, I might be a collection of bits in a database that people can invoke long after my body has moldered away. I would also point out that there are major religions which are a little vague about where we were before birth. [Note to self: Make sure someone can update my blog if the unlikely even of my demise.]

Blogging and bloggers paint a picture and interpret humanity, but I wouldn't describe it as holistic. It's fragmented and reflects the fragmentation and diversity of at least the net-connected globe.

I think community and belonging is a spiritual need. I've certainly gotten that in spades from blogging, although I can't say it's shared with my family.

I loved Julie's thoughts on the subject, especially the notion that blogging is a container. I drew a picture of that idea once a long time ago. She is also right on when she says that blogging can be very spiritual and thus very different from from the expectations people have about the word religion.

I can't believe I didn't have to pay to read her writing.

A co-worker who prefers to be referred to as "my favorite co-worker" sent me this quote today.

While looking for an author to attribute it to, I found the following quote related to the topic of sobriety.

Both of these amuse me, albeit for very different reasons.

Looks like Young Joel is blogging now. I can't wait to see what Joel will write about.

I just finished up Riding Giants, a documentary about surfers riding huge waves. It was an amazing movie. It was both visually compelling and told a great story.

Having had the experience of being tossed around while attempting to boogie board in a six to eight foot break, I am so amazed by these surfers taking on thirty to fifty foot waves. Beyond the stunning eye candy of surfers riding the waves, the interviews with the people who pioneered aspects of the sport were phenomenal. The surfers they interviewed were able to talk about surfing with a kind of beautiful poetic reverence that really helped explain why so many people will sacrifice so much to sit in the ocean and wait for the right wave.

Seeing this movie made me want to get out on the water in the worst way, although I'll stick to sailing.

I wish I had the guts to pursue my dreams with the same single-minded focus these surfers displayed. When I am pursuing that dream, I hope I'll be able to catch that big wave or at least be willing to sacrifice myself in my pursuit of catching it.

When I went to NYC to see The Gates, I stayed with a friend in Brooklyn. Eric, our host, was kind enough to be our tour guide and show us around Manhattan. When I called Eric to talk about my trip he made it clear that he really wanted me to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. After our long day of walking around Manhattan we took the days last train ride from Grand Central to the base of the Brooklyn Bridge.

It was nearly dusk on that overcast gray day. We walked up from the subway and turned onto the bridge, walking across the East River towards Brooklyn.

The view of the city was muted thanks to the low hanging clouds. Once we had walked for a while Eric soberly pointed out the gap in the tall buildings where the World Trade Center had once stood. As we continued walking, the cables of the suspension bridge created this amazing perspective-warping grid that changed every few feet. It was a beautiful walk that had the smell of history about it. The fact that people had been walking and looking at these same iconic views since the 1880's gave the walk a strange kind of gravity.

A little further out, Eric gestured out towards the harbor and pointed out the Statue of Liberty. After a day of being overwhelmed by the largesse and seemingly infinite size of Manhattan, seeing that statue so small and tiny out in the harbor was thought provoking and a little breath taking.

Some days you see something in the distance that means more than you ever expect, stealing your breath away for a moment. Seeing Liberty so small and seemingly vulnerable was one of those moments for me. Liberty, the goal of all mankind, so far off and so fragile, that is the symbol of this age to me.

Jennie published the results of her survey on Significant Others and Blogging.

I wonder why a significant other wouldn't read their partners blog?

A few weeks ago I volunteered to write some restaurant reviews for North Woods Kitchen. My first review appeared today when Ruth published my thoughts about Hell's Kitchen.

Today I was supposed to record my inaugural podcast, but my partner in this venture had a bit of real life come up. Since I had the time set aside, I tried doing some recordings of my own just to become familiar with the process.

Hearing the sound of my own voice frightens me. I sound so stilted, so Canadian. I have no idea how you people listen to me every day.

Been there, done that, wore the t-shirt. It's temporary, thankfully.

I don't feel 100% comfortable blogging about my daily struggles in life, I'm glad that some people do, simply so I know I'm not the only one who struggles.

In the last year plenty of interesting things have happened on my almost daily walk with co-workers. Today's walk was more memorable than most.

[Photo courtesy of glt]

Just remember, don't ask me for something you don't want, if I’m in the right mood, I just might give you what you asked for, even if you are Canadian.

I was talking to one of my co-workers about my blog the other day. She confessed that reading my blog felt voyeuristic, as if she was spying on me by reading it. I responded by indicating that if she was a voyeur that made me an exhibitionist, after all you aren't sneaking into my room and reading this in my locked diary.

I've never had that reaction when reading other people's blogs, even people who post about very intimate matters.

If you want to stop feeling like a voyeur, stop lurking and leave a comment. If you really want to join the conversation, start your own blog. If neither of those appeal to you, remember I like talking about this stuff, so don't feel guilty about reading it.

The best part of the conversation was when she said that if I blogged about her, I had to refer to her as "my favorite co-worker."