Archive for December, 2005
The Science of Wine Making???
Posted by smokingpen in General Essays on December 31, 2005
There are some things that will always be exciting to me, and at the same time those same things will pretty much always be depressing to me as well.
For example, I am interested in the fermentation process. Alcohols, of all forms, are fermented and the distilled product can be used as a fuel or a fuel additive that helps make emissions much cleaner and easier to remove from the air. Beyond that there is something about the brewing and distilling processes that is interesting to me and as such reading and watching documentaries on the process can hold my attention for quite some time.
This does not mean I am interested in imbibing. Quite the contrary. Ive seen far too many people take in alcohol and mess up their lives. The process, though, is still interesting. Theresalmost a science to creating wines and alcohols of various degrees and percentages per volume.
Beginning With the Big Dig
Posted by smokingpen in Uncategorized on December 29, 2005
The Discovery Channel has a show on the Big Dig in Boston, MA and the engineering problems that took place during the majority of its construction. Granted, they arent done and I have friends who insist that the Big Dig will never be done, but the effort is there and the engineering obstacles that have had to be overcome are rather amazing. On top of that, watching the skyline and remembering some of the reasons I wanted to live out there, I kind of miss the east coast and the Boston area. This isnt a really great realization for me as I wanted to be in the Boston area, I had the opportunity, I had the motivation, and in a fit of spirituality and fiduciary restraint I moved back to Utah to explore school opportunities.
Dont get me wrong, I like being back here and I look forward to school at BYU. This is one of those things that I chose to do and I wasnt naïve in making that decision; however, watching shows that give a pretty good overview of someplace Ive come to really like makes me think about the changes that Ive made in my life.
One of those changes has been to quit working for Fidelity. Had I stayed in New Hampshire I am pretty confident I would already be a full-time Fidelity employee looking to make a lot more money in the next twelve months than Ive made at almost any other time in my life. And yet, thats not really the point, is it. Money has never been the motivating factor for me even though I realize, more now than ever before, how much life revolved around making money and being able to afford bills and life. Life doesnt have to be expensive but it does have to be paid for.
Missing New Hampshire and Boston and the east coast is not a bad thing. Missing life, that is what I am beginning to think is the problem. I am missing life.
Post-Christmas Update
Posted by smokingpen in Personal Entries on December 27, 2005
Tuesday night and I am sitting here realizing that I need to write something for the website and not really knowing what to write.
I was in Salt Lake to see Kimberly at the hospital and to drop off security badges at the security office for Fidelity. Not really sure how I feel about things. Dont know that I can go back to the hospital again, the experience today was different than it had been in the past and so much so that I am taken back by the notion. On top of that, dropping off the badges at the security office was anticlimactic and took all of ten seconds. Things are moving forward and are, as far as I am concerned, over.
Dropped some things off at Jareds house. Then drove south and have been working on my computer to take care of some issues that have come up. In some cases I am thinking that I may have installed something that is working against me. But the software I have running that is supposed to monitor things like that, and any new virus definitions, imply that this is not the case.
Who am I anymore?
Red and Blue Lights
Posted by smokingpen in Odds-n-Ends on December 23, 2005
This morning, on my way to work, I was driving along and was speeding (which is something I, admittedly, do far too frequently) when, suddenly (and unexpectedly) the blue and reds came on behind me. The combination of blue and red lights, though common, is kind of a difference when being pulled over. In New Hampshire the highway patrol and police use blue lights only; in Utah they use blue and red, which is what I am used to in most states I’ve been pulled over in.
When the lights came on I expected to get a ticket. The highway patrol officer actually overshot me by a quarter of a mile and to not make him drive farther than he had to I pulled forward. It was interesting, the experience. I normally watch the cars, see who’s coming on and getting off the interstate and this morning, since I really wasn’t in a hurry, I wasn’t really watching. The outcome was that I sped up to stop someone from passing me on the right (I hate being passed on the right) and I got nabbed, pulled over, stopped.
You’d think that there would be a ticket for someone doing considerably more than the speed limit – and normally you’d be right; but there’s more to the story than merely being pulled over.
Quantum Leaps
Posted by smokingpen in Personal Entries on December 22, 2005
Several years ago dad and I were driving around Provo, UT and we got to talking about some symposium he was attending at BYU on whatever CES was teaching in their Seminary and Institutes (the primary focus) that year. We got to talking and as a result of our conversation (stimulating I am sure) we saw a cyclist who had large bags on either side of the rear wheel. They appeared to be full and we started making guesses as to what the man was probably doing. It is not uncommon for me to make guesses about people and to do that on dates, though I am not certain I started making these guesses before this conversation though as a wanna-be writer I may have.
Anyway, there I was sitting on the train (see yesterday) and I was making a lot of imaginative guesses about the people around me. This isnt something I think about very often and not something I do as frequently as this post may make it seem. But, on occasion, I will look at people and imagine what their lives may, or may not, be like. The train, yesterday, reminded me of that conversation with my dad as we discussed what the man was doing and where he might be going and what his station in life mightve been. Theres a term for this, its called Quantum Leaps.
Now, there was a show called Quantum Leap starring Scott Bakula who went on to also star in the failed Star Trek: Enterprise. He would jump from one life to another, taking over a personsbody, and live their lives for a period of time as he helped to alter a negative future by solving mini-mysteries while he lived each persons life. In all cases he was naïve of the persons past and had to bluff his way through various circumstances. The character had to make many uneducated guesses about the people whose lives he inhabited.
Beauty As Opposed to my Beast
Posted by smokingpen in General Essays on December 21, 2005
When my alarm went off this morning I grabbed my phone (which is what I use for an alarm) and hit snooze. I kept hitting snooze for about an hour because I was deciding whether or not it was worth it (to me) to get up and actually go to work. To many this wouldnt be an issue, but I wake up tired, go to bed tired, and live my life in a state of fatigue. Going to bed, last night, I was so tired I was actually amazed that I made it home from dinner with the parents and some of my siblings. It happens. I seem to live my life tired.
At some point I found myself standing, naked, in the shower with the hot water running over my body. While standing there I was wondering how I got into the shower and why I was awake. Moreover, I was thinking about how I got to this point in my life where work mattered enough that I was forcing myself to get out of bed and actually go. There was a time, it seems not so long ago, when I wouldve just rolled over and gone back to sleep. Granted, Ive done that once or twice since landing back in Utah and at this job, but I have only done it around periods where I am already sick. I dont, necessarily, feel sick at present.
Since I was running late, this morning, I drove up to 100th south where TRAX either starts or ends (you decide) and waited for the train to show up. As I was standing there, a woman walked up in a light blue parka, the light blue was kind of a funky color, and I didnt stare, or really spend a lot of time checked her out, but as I thought about it I realized that I didnt really know whether it was a man or a woman. My preconceived ideas about people dictate that the look and character of the person suggests woman, but as I thought about it I realized that even though she was tall and was wearing a parka that suggested a woman (the hood was up and cinched tight) I couldnt really tell what gender the individual was.
Simple “My Life” Update
Posted by smokingpen in Personal Entries on December 20, 2005
I meant to sit down, yesterday, and write a review “Pretty Persuasion,” which I mean to update and will in the next couple of days since the review is sitting on my laptop computer; however, today, today I find myself back in training going over, some more, things I already know about. This week, it sounds, is on retirement plan loans. What this really means is that by next week (well, the week after) the group I am with will all be able to do all of the calls coming in. I, however, will not be among them.
That’s kinda what’s bothering me this week. I know I am leaving, they know I am leaving, and they have a pretty good idea (since I’ve told them) that I won’t be here to apply this information and yet I am sitting in training knitting, writing, updating my website and tracking a tent I ordered and had sent to my parents house for the Christmas weekend (bah-humbug).
The knitting, a couple of hours later, has stopped. Too many people were interested in what I am doing and the fact that I am practicing something like that makes the act of the process a little to conspicuous in my book. That doesn’t mean I won’t go back to knitting today, however, at the moment, I am not so interested in following the pursuit there until a bit later. Maybe on the bus south instead of writing. I haven’t worked on my book in a week or so and am having trouble finding the voice to carry on. It’s almost as though a dedication to shorter fiction is taking precedence in my mind. I think I may have found an area where I might enjoy writing; at the same time, some of those lessons learned through hard experience with my father seem to, mentally, be coming into play.
The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl – book review
Posted by smokingpen in book reviews on December 17, 2005
The other night I finished the latest book Ive been reading. Its called, The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl, and is written by Tim Pratt. This book is Pratts first foray into novel writing, at least, the first foray into writing and publishing a novel and I have to say I was very impressed by what I read. The book was really good.
Basically, the Strange Adventures of Rangergirl is a story about a girl, Marzi, who inadvertently opens a door into another world where a demi-god or an almost-god lives in captivity. The very act of Marzi opening the door changes who the gatekeeper of the door is and inadvertently Marzi becomes the gatekeeper of this particular portal. The previous gatekeeper was someone who you hear about throughout the entire book.
Marzi is the central protagonist the one point of view that Pratt seems to follow more than anyone else; however, there are several other key characters, most of whom you get to read what is happening from their perspective. First is Lindsay, Marzis best from her years in art school and who is now in graduate school at Santa Cruz University. Then theres Jonathan, a tall, dark and handsome type fellow who is broody but interested in the last works of Garamond Ray; Alice, Lindsays lover; Hendrix, the manager of Genius Loci; and then there is the ever talked about but never present Garamond Ray, an artist that disappeared during the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.