Letting go, without the claw marks

This article (and the more complete story from The New York Times) describes a common problem - when we try to keep too many options open, we wind up suffocating the good options with just too much noise. If you have seven good options for things to do, you really have none. You'll spend so much time keeping the options open that you'll not complete any of them.

One of the tangible ways that this problem surfaces is in the clutter that fills our lives. It's doubtful that I'll need even one six-foot, two-prong extension cord. I certainly don't need the seven or eight that are hanging on nails or tucked in the bureau in the cellar. At most, I need one USB hub, but which one of the three should I keep? I never wear slippers, but that pair in the closet is in pretty good shape and may have been my grandfather's. It used to cost $100 or more a year to get 100MB of online storage. Now, Google gives me 6GB for free, so I can watch my usage climb to nearly 400MB because it's so much easier not to delete messages. Do I really need that email about the frost warning in September 2004? No, I don't. Did I just delete it? Of course not.

A dozen dog years

The temperature dipped below zero this morning and it's still only five above at this writing. This froze the snow in the back yard, making it easier for Marley to chase the squirrels away from the bird feeder. He has never, to our knowledge, caught a squirrel, but the exercise is good for him. Not bad for a 12-year-old dog. Happy Birthday, Marley.

He enjoys being outside and, then, in turn, he'll settle down in front of the fire, using the brick hearth as a pillow:

No one escapes Google, sort of

I haven't spoken to one of my cousins in nearly 25 years. We just haven't had much to say and have done a good job not saying it.

With a bit of Googling, I was able to find out where she's living. The map from Google suggests, however, that she probably still doesn't have much to say.

This week's RoasterBoy playlist

• American Masters . Pete Seeger | PBS ( Thursday, Feb 28 at 12:56 AM )

  American Masters . Pete Seeger | PBS

• The Torture Playlist ( Tuesday, Feb 26 at 10:03 PM )

  Your defense dollars at work. Here's a sample of some of the music that is being played to disorient detainees. Via Mother Jones magazine: The Torture Playlist

• Jefferson Starship - Blows Against the Empire ( Tuesday, Feb 26 at 09:09 PM )

  Hijack a starship ("it ought to be ready by 1990") and escape to the new Eden in space. At once grand and supremely silly.

• YouTube - Christina Aguilera "It's A Man's World" @ The 49th Grammy's ( Monday, Feb 25 at 08:26 PM )

  Brother Mike sent a pointer to this version of the James Brown classic .

• Fleetwood Mac - Albatross ( Saturday, Feb 23 at 03:22 PM )

  This is one of the sweetest instrumentals in my collection. And, it's certainly not to be confused with Monty Python's "'Course you don't don't get bloody wafers with it." Albatross .

• Me and Bobby Mcgee ( Thursday, Feb 21 at 10:23 PM )

  At one point in the early 70s, you could find three versions of this song on the jukebox: Gordon Lightfoot's/a>. iirc, this was the first one released. Kris Kristofferson (the author). He sounds drunk on this version. Janis Joplin's , the one that most of us remember.

• YouTube - Ian Tyson Sylvia Fricker Judy Collins "Someday Soon" live ( Thursday, Feb 21 at 10:14 PM )

  Wanna feel old? These videos come from an Ian and Sylvia reunion 20 years ago. They look ok, but the other performers, Judy Collins, Gordon Lightfoot, and others, were already betraying high mileage. YouTube - Ian Tyson Sylvia Fricker Judy Collins "Someday Soon" live Early Morning…

The shortest distance between two points is impossible

Sandra has gone to Chicago for a few days to visit with her cousin who is recuperating from back surgery. Marley and I drove Sandra to the Manchester airport this morning. We encountered some light rain and snow en route, but not enough to slow us down. The path to Manchester, somewhat north of northeast, required a zig-zag of north and east and even a bit northwest. Using Google directions, we arrived in good order and with plenty of time to spare. Her flight even arrived in Chicago a few minutes ahead of schedule.

When we worked for Digital, Sandra and I would regularly travel to the Nashua facility on Spit Brook Road, the first exit over the Massachusetts border. On occasion, we'd also travel a bit further, to Merrimack, for meetings or training. Southern New Hampshire, particularly in and around Nashua, is filled with strip malls and low industrial buildings. When the New Hampshire primaries were going on, the nation was presented with images of quaint small towns with a white-steepled Congregational church on the common. Those images are there, but you have to make your way past malls such as this:




















Leaving the airport wasn't as easy as arriving. The maze of roads and odd directions befuddled me and soon I was on a plain road with high snow banks, as though I was on a bodsled run. They'd received a lot more snow in yesterday's storm and in the storms before. I passed old farms and new McMansions. There was, as expected, the usual paucity of street signs. With the low clouds, it was impossible to get a sense of direction. I kept driving until I reached a roadway that had some directions. I briefly passed through Milford (where my father was born) and then bent back southeast so that I could go southwest again.

What we learn from the bottom of the box

As I've mentioned before, one of our winter project is to clear out our study. We've lived in this house for more than 25 years. Stuff related to household business, books, computers, and cute stuff winds up here. Those readers who worked with me may remember the fake coffee-spill-on-a-floppy-disk that I had in my office for many years. That kind of stuff filled half a shelf.

Yesterday I found an American Express business card, cut in half, with my name and my former company, Longview Consulting. The card dates from 1995. I did a brief stint, probably two or three jobs, helping people get set up with web sites, teaching people how to use the very primitive web publishing tools that were available at the time.

I enjoyed the variety of tasks and customers that came from these consulting gigs. What I disliked and what got me out of the consulting business is that I am a lousy salesman. In order to sell, you basically have to be willing to walk up to people and say, "Will you be my friend?" and then not get too dejected when they turn you down. In the consulting world, the ability to sell yourself is much more important than your technical chops.

BTW, I chose the name Longview because, at the time, a family named Long lived across the street from us.

Family athletics

On Sunday, we took Krista to trapeze lessons:



Last weekend, we attended a regional swim meet where Lily's team was competing and Adam was a time-keeper:





































This photo of Joe driving to the basket appeared in last week's Landmark: