121510

Well, damned if I ain't back in the between swim of the great unwashed. Yeah, laid off again. Happens too damn often to too damn many of us. There's a nicely bitter perspective that nonetheless rings true- they don't really give a flying you know what about you, you as a person, you as a fellow human being, you as a committed element of the organization. Yea, verily, it was not all transcoded to 'Human Resources' for naught, now, was it? 'Personnel' actually has the word 'person' in it, so, hmmm, can't have that. Better that we adopt a philosophy of simply relegating our employees to patterns of spreadsheets and items on ledgers. And, once they're out the door, no need to look upon them further. Yeah, today's corporate joyride.

So, keeping those cards and letters flowing, and also keeping the budget in full view, something I really don't have any talent for- I'm more apt to not notice money, besides carefully marking out that repulsively unconstitutional slogan on the back of the bills....

And, before all this disaster, we had a great time in Rome, getting to mostly all the usual tourist haunts. Had a really funky hotel just off the federal building area near the Borghese. Comfortable little neighborhood area. Romans are immediately friendly folks, and most spoke english, but, you know, the stereotype is correct, you can simply speak with your hands for lots of things. Most singly interesting area we got to was the Trastevere.

071010

Where have we been? Some places worth remembering, others not, eh? Trials and tribulations, successes and failures. I'm still in discomfort from the surgery, healing wounds and tissues, reawakening limbs and senses, apparently not encapsulated in the insular numbness through which I was walking for so long. That's all quite literal, thank you. Any figurative quotient is a matter for some conjecture, although some would offer....

Whaddya know? May Day. Four weeks back from spine surgery- and onto the next phase, radiation treatments. Yes, a cancer. And yes, apparently, from scans and biopsies, nowhere else inside me. But, may you never have a doctor tell you they've diagnosed cancer- not a great start to the day. I'll get pics up one of these days, but May and most of June will be radiation-ville. When and if I get back to work is now in the hands of bureaucrats.

Meanwhile, been able to catch all the new Doctor Who. Listen to lots of radio. Learn about pain meds.

030710

Ah, the big red carpet Sunday. Personally, I'm camping out in front of the horror night on the Sci-Fi channel, possibly decamping from time to time over to 1000 Ways to Die on Spike. Now that's TV....

Let's hope Avatar comes away with precious little, and also little for Precious. Were it all up to me, Das Weisse Band would clean up about six Oscars. Well, I'll review it all later tomorrow. There'll be some controversy or other, maybe some gal with too much flesh, or not enough, revealed. A few swear-words bleeped out. The standard late afternoon in LA. Remember, they all get to go out with the rest of their evening, while over here on the rational coast, bedtime will fall behind us, giving us a Monday morning too early. Damn good thing it ain't spring ahead weekend yet.

020710

I've glibly used the 'cats vs dogs' scenario to describe gender differences sometimes. To me, canines are inherently masculine in nature, and felines are feminine. That makes the canine somewhat antagonistic to my own aesthetic, both physically and emotionally. It also offers me a quick, if threadbare, instant first-impression psychological template.

At the moment, I'm forbidden under my lease to have either. But, yeah, I'd need to have a special need for a dog, whereas I'd get a cat in a nanosecond if the opportunity arose, need be damned.

Now, I have appreciation for useful dogs. Hunters. Sleds. Seeing Eye. Sniffers. I also have appreciation for horses in their uses, although I likewise have no use for them.

I might sit here and say I'd have no use for a µ$oft program, but the world is not so kind to me that I don't encounter places and times where I need to use one. If I had my druthers, I wouldn't, which is why I have none in my personal technologies. I'm somewhat in awe of those who are able to release themselves of all yokes and install linux, because I know I don't know enough to be able to do all that I do do right now under a linux distro, although I've had moderate success with the latest Ubuntu I installed. And, the evolution of computing devices into even the merest of appliances bodes well for the instantiation of linux into all our lives most totally. MacOS is a unix variant, therefore I'm assuming the iPhone OS (sometimes called iOS these days) is as well. I'm still wondering why there's any reason to separate unix from linux, especially to one like myself, generally unable to delve deep, and in no hurry to need to.

010410

New year on. Comings and goings.
The usual suspects.
The standard sighs.

All of a once and awhile.
Small time for long ages.
Casting lines in murky water.

Every moment hurrying
towards its forgetting.
Simple discussions. Glances.
Nods and waves.

We begin again again.
Tracing empty memories
in unknown colors
under warming skies.

Always and never 'til
back and forth.
Were there armies poised
or shores ahead?
Explore. Expire.

Suddenly the air will soften
and edges mire.
Leading into fog
and trusting echoes.