I’ve made my peace with insomnia. I figure there are much worse afflictions to have, and getting an extra 4-5 hours of life out of the day isn’t too bad of a tradeoff. So I just kind of roll with it.
But when I wake up at 4am and can’t get back to sleep because Blondie’s “The Tide is High” is running through my brain… well, that’s just the universe being cruel.
I just had an absolutely wonderful conversation with a friend I had not talked to in almost two years. We have the kind of relationship where, when I picked up the phone, we immediately picked up almost exactly where we left off. What’s weird is that we’ve spent all of two weeks together total. Put this individual, Erin, and me in a room and we can talk for hours. Nice to have friends like that.
I’m back from the annual Sing show (which explains my lack of posting). The show was great and I’m very happy with everything (especially the fact that my parents got to see it! It’s been over 10 years since that happened). I’ll post more later after I do piles of laundry and sleep for a few days. I’ve said it before and I’ll defend it unto death: I have the greatest job in the world.
My friend Jason Cohen has some good thoughts on entrepreneurship and feeling like a fraud. Hey, that quote at the top looks familiar.
Just had an utterly fantastic and exhausting weekend building props in the shop. We build a very cool hanging prop, and second prop that was rather clever and neat, and a huge prop on giant wooden wheels. I can’t say what they are, but I will say that they took quite a bit of thought and SketchUp design (not to mention lumber). We finally finished tonight after a solid 14 hour shop day with a crazy 11th hour construction of a jerry-rigged cradle to hold the props securely in the back of the U-Haul trailer. It was crazy! My neighbors HATE me right now for running the table saw at 10pm, but we got it done. If you go to the show this year, come see me at the rail and I’ll give you the backstage tour and show you all of the amazing props.
“Enthusiasm is energetic, positive, generous, and social. It’s outward-turning and engaged. It’s kind of goofy.
Enthusiasm is a form of social courage; it’s safer to criticize and scoff than to praise and embrace.
There’s a dark tendency in human nature to mock or attack other people’s enthusiasms. It’s easy to make fun of ping-pong or Barry Manilow or Star Trek or wine-tasting — but why do it?”
Gretchen Rubin
She’s right.
People are more comfortable in the role of sarcastic, biting critic than in the role of open-minded enthusiast. I find the company of the critic tiresome. There is a difference between honest criticism in order to improve something (which is needed and even desired if it comes from a trusted source), and the kind of knee-jerk, cynical negativity that seeks to mock what it doesn’t enjoy. There’s too much of this in the world. Unfortunately, society takes a low view of the enthusiastic person much of the time. I say screw society. There’s nothing wrong or naive or simple about an honest, childlike “WOW!”. I try and consciously cultivate this view of the world, and privately get a kick out of saying it in the presence of people who think it means I’m not sophisticated.
The enthusiastic person draws other enthusiastic people to him or herself. And it’s a much happier place to live.
Related: Cory Doctorow’s excellent post “Too Much Time on His Hands”
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
As part of our Christmas celebration, Erin and I decided to break out the cookbook and make a feast. We decided to make it semi-Irish themed. It kinda got out of control. Here’s the menu:
Bushmill’s whiskey stuffed ribeye
garlic mashed potatoes
Aged Irish Cheddar herb biscuits
Bibb, bacon, and apple salad with camembert dressing
2005 Stag’s Leap merlot (wow)
and the Piece de Muerta-
Chocolate Truffle cake with ganache topping
From start to finish, dinner took about 6 hours. It’s just past midnight and we just finished up dessert and coffee. Everything was scratch made with a silly (but fun) amount of work. It was a blast spending all day in the kitchen together cooking.
The really crazy part was the dessert. Here’s the ingredient list:
Cake Mix
1.5 cups of milk
1 cup of butter
8 oz semi sweet chocolate (2 bars)
3 eggs
2 2/3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
Filling
6 tblsp butter
8 oz semi sweet chocolate (2 bar)
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
Ganache
4 oz dark chocolate (1 bar)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
It’s an asinine, appalling amount of sugar for one dessert, and if I had really read the recipe before starting I don’t know if I’d have made it. How is it? Divine. Eat my shorts, Cheesecake Factory.
We tallied the calories up for the whole cake. Are you sitting down?
10,707.
Ten thousand, seven hundred and seven calories! Each slice (1/16th of the cake) has almost 700 calories. I’m ashamed. Didn’t stop me from eating it, though.
Pardon me while I roll off to bed. Merry Christmas everyone.
*hic!*
The book I must own:
Many of us at Maker Media have had an interaction that goes something like this: You’re at a talk, Maker Faire, or elsewhere, and someone spirits you aside, like they’re going to confess to a petty crime or some marital indiscretion. What they want to whisper sheepishly into your ear is that they love MAKE, all of the excitement they see over open source electronics, and the cool kits we sell in the Maker Shed, but they have NO IDEA how electronics work, and the “beginner” books and resources they look at online zoom quickly over their heads and frustrate their efforts to learn. Ultimately, they find themselves too embarrassed to admit their lack of high-tech smarts or to ask questions (which is why they’ve taken you behind a dumpster to confess their ignorance).
I’m one of these folks. I really want to learn electronics, and have spent the better part of a decade getting a handle on the basics, but the self-taught thing never worked for me when it came to wires and resistors, which is odd, because I’ve taught myself a lot of other skills. For whatever reason, thought, electronics has never stuck. I’m hoping that when this book (eventually) comes out, it’ll finally get me over that hump.
Dinner tonight: Homemade brie-stuffed-crust artisan pizza with fresh basil, italian chicken sausage, fresh mozzarella, and roma tomatoes with a pear and walnut mixed green salad, and a wonderful bottle of Chalone Vineyards pinot noir. Life is good.
Just finished David Weber’s “By Heresies Distressed” (wonderful, btw). It’s relevant because, as of today, I have surpassed 100,000 pages read since I started keeping track in April of 2001 (100,017, to be exact). According to WolframAlpha, I’m reading an average of 31 pages per day (not including online or magazines… just books). At this rate, I will hit 1,000,000 pages on Monday, December 1, 2087- EXACTLY 78 years from today! Wonder if I’ll still have the blog then? (hi, future me).
This year I’m thankful for my health and the health of my family. Jobs that we love, a home we are happy in, friends we enjoy spending time with, and a great sense of purpose to our lives. But our health…especially our health.
One of the great parts of my job is that I get to listen to so much music, and so much different music, all the time. Bubble gum pop, classic rock, show tunes, R&B, Rap, Disco, and on and on and on. This year I will arrange over 120 songs for the show, and there’s just a silly amount of diversity in there. I never get bored of all the different music that comes my way, and I consider it a real privilege that I get to do what I do.
So tonight I’m walking through the grocery store picking up dinner while listening to yet more music for the show. I spontaneously started to giggle when I realized how appearances don’t always match reality. What you wouldn’t know if you had seen me is that the white ear buds stuffed into my ears were blasting away “There! Right There!” from the Legally Blonde musical.
Hey, I’m a happily married man, but what made me laugh was that I could never adequately explain to someone in the store just why a six foot tall, semi-burly guy with a beard, beat up leather jacket, manky old leather hat and hiking boots was listening to a Greek chorus sing “Gay or European?” and practically dancing down the soup aisle.
I love my job.
Thanks to my brother Ross (the keeper of the family calendar, I guess), I know that 30 years ago today our family arrived in Texas. We moved into a house in Plano and my brothers and I picked out our rooms. Pretty amazing that it’s been three decades.
Thank you to all active and retired soldiers. We appreciate your sacrifices.
time marches grimly, inexorably
toward a future of incontinence, dimmed vision,
and bad oral hygiene.
But even though he marks his day
with heavy boot and dour lip
I will run ahead, loose leashed,
and skip
For even though conscripted,
companion in his slow parade,
I still endeavor daily
to make him slip a grin on my behalf
Then, with Time’s true feelings thus betrayed,
before he can regain his stoic self
I will try and make him join me
in a laugh.
A really cool picture of my really cool brother, Ross. He just got his solo free fall skydive certification. Congrats, woth!
Long day in the saddle today, but it rained all day. Love it! I’m so happy the cooler, wetter weather is here. And I have green grass in front of the house! Who knew?
Today I am 40.
Today my blog is 6.
Wait… what’s that again? Forty? That’s funny, I don’t feel any different.
They say forty is supposed to be a giant transition- a huge number fraught with Significance and Mid-Life Crisis. That mortality slaps you in the face and makes you finally Wise Up and Get Serious. Some even claim that it’s something to shamefully hide as you try and convince those around you that somehow entropy doesn’t apply to you. BAH! I say. I’m forty. FORTY! And you know what? It’s a year better than thirty nine. I always thought thirty nine had a penultimate, timid sound to it, as if it was somehow ashamed to be so closely associated with, you know,that number. I, for one, am happy to see it go with its pansy milquetoast attitude. Begone, 39! I have no use for ye! For I am possessed of THE FORTY!
Forty has some authority to it. Some muscle. Forty says “I’ve been around the block and have seen a few things, so don’t think you can put anything over on me, chum”. Forty looks you square in the eye and doesn’t take any nonsense. Forty says that childhood is indeed truly over, but doesn’t have to be if you don’t want it to… because you’re forty. It says the best is yet to come (you have to listen carefully, though, to hear it- many people miss it). How old am I?
I’m FORTY! And darn proud of it. Thanks for asking! I’m actually fairly excited about taking on the next decade. It’s usually a little intimidating to look into a new year and wonder what’s going to happen (I’m not a big fan of January 1st sometimes), but for some reason the next ten years seems exciting to me. I feel like one of those floppy-skinned puppies that is finally filling out all that extra fur and those giant feet. I also feel like I have enough confidence in what I believe to not wonder if someone is going to laugh at me. Of course, keeping an open mind is important, and I feel like I’m pretty good at that, but I’m also stubborn enough to know what I think is important and when to stand firm on those things. It’s a good feeling.
I can so clearly remember a decade ago, turning 30 and feeling like 40 was such a long way away. It’s crazy how quickly the last 10 years have gone, and I have no doubt that the next 10 will seem even faster. That’s what everyone ahead of me on the Great Timeline says, and I’m determined to keep it in mind and savor every minute of the next 3,650 days. To that end, I’m considering some 10 year goals. I have a few things in mind but need to think a bit more about them. Nothing astonishing or anything if you know me, I’m sure.
But that’s the future. This is a time to look back on the last year. Here’s a list of significant events from the Milquetoast Year:
•The big event- Last October 4th Erin’s father, Harmon, passed away. Obviously this has had a tremendous impact on both of us. It’s not something that ever really heals, and the past year has been an ongoing process of coming to terms with the loss. We had amazing support from many friends and family members and we can’t thank everyone enough for it. It’s not a good memory, but it is a milestone, and it’s been a defining event for both of us. He is missed.
•Worked on a real live movie- In July I was able to participate in the production of Paradise Recovered. I was a one man sound department for this low budget feature film. We shot for a very hot week in Austin and two much cooler weeks in Indiana. A cast of about a dozen and a crew of not many more. It was 20 days of back breaking, sweaty, sleep-deprived work, full of all the inevitable conflicts and creative head-butting that happens on a movie set, but overall it was a fantastic experience and I’d do again. I even got a nice writeup for being the “silent sound man”. (Don’t worry, Andie, I can keep my mouth shut)
•Finally got a new truck- about a month ago I made the plunge and bought a new 2009 Toyota Tacoma. It’s a thing of beauty, it is. This is partially due to the fact that it’s the sexiest truck on the road (that’s an objective assessment there), and also due to the fact that I came from a 17 year old busted up wreck of a truck with no air conditioner, suspicious brakes, and a suspension system that wobbled as it rattled down the road. The old Chevy was a dependable beast (in spite of its age), but the new ride has options on the options and even gets better gas mileage. What a huge change! I still can’t quite believe that we own it. Sometimes (and this is just between us) I’ll go out in the garage, take a look at it and, well, just spontaneously take it for a drive. For fun.
•Built an entertainment center- which may not sound like a big deal, but believe me, it was a ton of work. After almost 200 hours over 9 months, we now have a solid wood quartersawn red oak Art’s and Craft’s style entertainment center standing proudly in our living room. It was a labor of love as I tried to put every bit of patience and skill in my limited experience into it. It has divided light doors, ebony inlays, and some rather clever center of gravity and wood expansion engineering (which you’ll never see, but I know those details are there). I still have to design and build the stained glass window for the lower middle section, so I guess it’s not “done” yet, but I’m rather proud of it:
•Partied- on New Year’s eve we were invited to a black tie party at a friend’s ranch. They’re building a chapel on the property and wanted to christen the unfinished building with a big New Year’s shindig. So we put on our formal duds and drove way out to the country. The highlight of the evening was when the host (a policeman) asked for all the men with guns (mostly fellow cops) to take a group picture. The result was a truly funny photo of seven tuxedoed gents all packin’ heat. Even the episcopal priest in attendance got into the act with not one, but TWO pieces (a pistol and a shotgun)! Erin’s comment: “gee, normally I don’t really like guns, but I feel rather… protected…. right now”. Yeah baby: Don’t mess with Texas!
•Traveled- a few months ago Erin and I took an epic road trip of almost 3000 miles. From Austin to Nashville to Cincinnati to Omaha and back. We cut out the Colorado loop due to me having to come back to work on the movie, but it was still a great two weeks (except for the rather tragic timing of being at Erin’s best friend’s house the day their sweet dog Sadie passed away). Erin and I love traveling together, love road trips, and love long vacations. Score on all three fronts!
•Saw Shakespeare in the park- I can’t believe I’ve never done it before, but I finally got to see a production of Shakespeare in the Park. While we were in Omaha Erin and I went with her friend Anne and to watch a great performance of Macbeth. It reminded me how much I enjoy the mental gymnastics of listening to Shakespeare. We sat on blankets in the park and devoured cheese, wine, and grapes, and thoroughly enjoyed the show. An added bonus was that Anne had invited her professor friend along who specializes in… Shakespeare! Lots of fun to sit and watch the play while listening to a running commentary from an expert.
•Picked raspberries off the vine- it’s been years since I did this, but while at Anne’s parent’s house in Nebraska City I got to pick and eat raspberries straight off the vine until my teeth turned blue. What a treat.
•Propped- this year I was able to continue my prop building by constructing a 12 foot tall grocery bag, 8′ long working grocery scale, and a giant set of produce sprinklers. It was a long two days of work but worth it to see the props on the stage. I love building props since it gives me another creative outlet, lets me work on Sing from a different perspective, and gets me out of the studio into the shop. Plus it’s hilarious to watch my neighbor’s faces as they drive by and see these gigantic props take shape in our driveway. Bonus: I’ll be working on many more props this year. Can’t wait!
•Built some small stuff, too- I continued building small Hirst Blocks castles and buildings from blocks I cast myself. These are usually multi-week projects since you have to cast the individual blocks and plaster pieces a few at a time (You can see my stash in the background of the picture below). Then it’s a laborious process to glue them together with hobby glue, then paint, weather, and detail the pieces, not to mention basing them and applying scenery. Why do this? Because it’s creative, relaxing, and fun. Do I need a better reason?
•Learned stained glass cutting- while I was building the entertainment center I decided I needed to put in a stained glass panel (alas, still uncompleted). I did a lot of reading online and bought some basic tools and glass and spent a few days actually making some stained glass pieces. It was a great experience working in a new medium and something that was tremendously fun. Another Maker skill!
•Spent another year with my incredible, compassionate, kind, and all around wonderful wife. I don’t say it often enough, sweetie, but your presence in my life is life itself. I love you.
So do I feel forty? Well, if “feeling forty” means feeling like a big kid who is married to his best friend, getting to go to “work” every day and work on stuff I love, and getting to build things I find fun and rewarding, then yes, I guess I do.
Forty.
Fantastic.
Powered by WordPress