Looking

We find things where we look for them.

~ Robert Brault

- - - - -

Last night I was being a little noisy. I was in the office at home and Leslie was in one of her satellite offices. She shares the office with me and she has an office at the kitchen table. She has another office at the dining room table. Occasionally she has an office in her library chair, and at least a few times she has had an office on our living room couch.

Anyway, I was glad she didn't come in and ask what I was doing. I didn't want to have to say, "I'm looking for my Carl Kasell air freshener." 

But that is in fact what I was doing.

Present

One of the most important ways to manifest integrity is to be loyal to those who are not present. In doing so, we build the trust of those who are present.

~ Stephen Covey

- - - - -

I once heard someone say that you have to beware of the people who talk poorly about others to you because they are talking poorly about you to others. Now that I think about it, I think two things:

1. That is probably true.
2. I think maybe it was Stephen Covey who said that to me since it's pretty close to what he said in that other quote.

Teaching

The secret to education lies in respecting the pupil.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

- - - - -

I think we are all teachers in almost every moment. I love to see the things that Leslie's grandchildren teach her. Like physics, thermodynamics, and aerospace engineering.

You thought I was going to say some crap like, "It's so beautiful how they teach her patience and how to see the world a new way," right?

No. 

History

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.

~ Abraham Lincoln

- - - - -

Leslie just asked me if I wanted to go see "Our American Cousin" at the theater. She said she got us balcony seats.

I said no because I know history.

(pause) 

Two follow up points:

1. It is possible that I made up the first part of this post.
2. Yes, I know we didn't get the Statue of Liberty until President Lincoln was dead. But I didn't have President Lincoln finger puppet.

(pause)

Dammit, but LESLIE has a President Lincoln finger puppet.

This post could have been better. I'll give you that.

Night

What hath night to do with sleep?

~ John Milton

- - - - -

Um... night is when most people go to sleep, John Milton. 

Sheesh.

Bouquets

There are always flowers for those who want to see them.

~ Henri Matisse

- - - - - 

I've never been one to really want bouquets of flowers. I like them and all, but if I had the choice, I'd rather have a bouquet of balloons. Hot air balloons.

Caterpillar

The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.

~ Richard Bach

- - - - -

Most quotes about caterpillars are not about caterpillars. They are about butterflies. As if being a caterpillar was not enough in and of itself.

I would argue it is fine to be a caterpillar. I'm more of a dogerpillar person than a caterpillar person, but if you are a caterpillar enjoy being that and don't worry about becoming a butterfly. 

Doughnuts

Whether you take the doughnut hole as a blank space or as an entity unto itself is a purely metaphysical question and does not affect the taste of the doughnut one bit.

~ Haruki Murakami

- - - - -

This place is called Holy Doughnut. Kirk took me there when I visited him in Maine last summer. I have been trying to decide if I can get back to see him and his family this summer. I have a lot going on. But when I think about all of them and how much I miss them and how much I enjoyed spending time with them, I think I will probably go back. And by "them" I mean these doughnuts.

Duplicity

Nothing more completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity, than straightforward and simple integrity in another.

~ Charles Caleb Colton

- - - - -

I think if fewer of us focused on being duplicitous and more of us focused on being don'tplicitous, the world would be awesome because an apostrophe in the middle of a word looks really cool.

Integrity

Integrity is what we do, what we say, and what we say we do.

~ Don Galer

- - - - -

Integrity is also a father NOT telling his daughter there is a baby kitten for her in a little basket when that is not the case. Or telling her there is a baby bunny for her in a little basket. Or that the basket is full of candy when that isn't true.

I could go on and on, but I think I will stop.

Also, I should add that David had integrity and didn't do those things. He told her the basket was full of invisible candy.

(pause)

That is a lie. I sometimes lack integrity.

Reflection

Never let your morals get in the way of doing what's right.

~ Isaac Asimov

- - - - -

It is okay to let your spatiotemporals get in the way of doing what's right. Or doing anything at all. Those things have both space and time qualities!

Also in trying to figure out what spatiotemporal is, I was directed to a geostatistics textbook. It's okay to let that get in your way too because I don't really understand what that is. If I'm going to let it get in my way, I need to be okay with you letting it get in your way, too.

Write

Write with the door closed.

Rewrite with the door open.

~ Stephen King

- - - - -

There are lots of things you should do with the door closed. I won't get into the details. I bet if you use your skills, you can figure a lot of them out on your own.

However, there is that one thing you keep doing with the door open and you need to quit it. Start closing the door.

You know what I'm talking about.

Knock it off.

Store

I went to a general store, but they wouldn't let me buy anything specific.

~ Steven Wright

- - - - -

Overheard in the grocery store...

"All three of my roommates have symptoms of the same disease."

"I need straws"
"We have straws in the drawer at home."
"I used the good ones already. Some were bad."

Cashier to bagger, "Sorry you're hung over, honey. You may never be able to drink rum again. When I first started drinking, I got sick on gin and now I still can't stand it - forty years later."

On this same trip, I also saw a toddler chewing on the outside of a spaghetti squash and two abandoned shopping carts.

The world is pretty interesting if you pay attention. Paying attention is usually more interesting than grocery shopping for me.

Toadstools

Does it follow that because there are poisonous toadstools which resemble mushrooms, both are dangerous?

~ Marianne Moore

- - - - -

No.

Knowing

Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; 

and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

- - - - -

So we never really know what is going on in someone else's life. Even if they tell us, there are things that go unsaid. Even if we see things unfold, we don't know how others are making meaning of events. Even if we eavesdrop, we don't know how what is said affects other people. Even if we watch people in secret when they don't know we're there, we don't know what is happening because we're too worried about getting caught.

Learning

Wherever there are beginners and experts, old and young, there is some kind of learning going on, some kind of teaching. We are all pupils and we are all teachers. 

~ Gilbert Highet

- - - - -

I think maybe the best teachers were not the best students. I do think that they may have been the best learners, though. Learning isn't always measured well in terms of how we assess students. However, those measures are pretty good at determining conformity and the ability to memorize stuff. 

That's not learning, though.

Snack

Danger is the snack food of a true sleuth.

~ Mac Barnett

- - - - - 

Leaves are the snack food of a true sloth.

Basket

Poetry isn't a profession, it's a way of life. It's an empty basket; you put your life into it and make something out of that.

~ Mary Oliver

- - - - -

I suppose the kinds of baskets we put our lives into are probably connected to the kinds of lives we live. Some people put their lives in laundry baskets, others in picnic baskets, still other in basketball baskets.

I guess Jesus probably put his in an Easter basket.

Sandcastle

Like a sandcastle, all is temporary.

Build it. Tend it. Enjoy it.

And when the time comes, let it go.

~ Jack Kornfield

- - - - - 

The same could be said of a snow fort except it is really difficult to enjoy a snow fort because it's so damn cold.

Camera

To me photography is an art of observation. 

It's about finding something interesting 

in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do 

with the things you see and everything to do 

with the way you see them.

~ Elliott Erwin

- - - - -

When I go out to take photos, I find that my mood shows up in the pictures. Like when I feel gray and rainy, it rains outside. Or when I feel snowy and sunny, it snows and is sunny outside.

Also, when I go out to take photos, I find I have total control over the weather.

Scary

Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend.

~ Sam Watterson

- - - - -

You know what is scarier than a black hole that sucks everything into them? A black widow hole - because all that other stuff AND it's a spider!!

Sun

Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth.

~ Ludwig Borne

- - - - -

The little boy stared directly at the eclipse for a while. Then he said, "Hey! Where'd the sun go!" 

Sadly this was followed by, "Hey! Where'd my family go?" and "Hey! Where'd my friends go?" and "Where'd my feet go?"

Market

I will say my days are spent solitary and somewhat lost in thought, and every single time I inadvertently wear my shirt inside out in public, I bump into my sister-in-law at the grocery store.

~ Douglas Coupland

- - - - -

When Leslie goes out of town, I sometimes have to force myself to go out and interact with the world. I mean if it's the weekend. If it's during the week, I just go to work and interact there.

However, I don't always like to interact with the world. Like the other day when I went to the grocery store and Lowe's. I needed some screws and bolts from Lowe's and some groceries from the grocery store. That's what I buy at the grocery store mostly.

While at the grocery store I ended up behind a slow couple (not old, just meandering along) who took up the entire aisle. I finally got ahead of them and skipped some aisles so I wouldn't be behind them. Then somehow they got in front of me again. Then when I went to the car they were parked next to me.

I got my stuff into my car first. When I went to get into my car I closed the door really slowly so the husband had to wait to get into his car.

I think they learned a really valuable lesson from that.

Water

Time itself comes in drops.

~ William James

- - - - -

The droplets of water hung in the air as if time stood still as if frozen in the moment as if captured in a photograph.

Treasurer

Should you find a wise critic to point out your faults, follow him as you would a guide to hidden treasure.

~ The Buddha

- - - - -

It seems right to me that the treasurer's last name would be "Green." Less comfortable with a treasurer who's last name is "Red." Or "Embezzler." 

If there was a guy named "Joe Embezzler" it wouldn't matter how good he was at treasuring, I bet he would have a hard time getting a treasurer position. On a loosely related note, "Earl Green" is Czechoslovakian for "Joe Embezzler." 

Oh the irony.

Oz

Just try and stay out of my way. Just try! I'll get you, my pretty, and you're little dog, too!

~ The Wicked Witch of the West

- - - - -

As you might know, Leslie and I went to the Wizard of Oz theme park festival a few years ago. It was not what I expected. I don't need to go back. I am glad I went so that I can say that I did that.

One of the things at the park was this sign. I guess this particular sign featured Toto because he's a primary character in the film. 

Also, I'm pretty sure that dog is dead by now.

Olives

Always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are. Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.

~ Marcus Aurelius

- - - - -

If I end my journey falling out of an olive tree, I hope they put this on my headstone. If I end it falling out of an apple tree I hope they put, "An apple a day - AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" on my headstone.

WONDERful

Active or ambitious women were not only rare but often evil. Wonder Woman flipped this paradigm by embodying the strength, assertiveness, and independence usually associated with bad girls and villains in a positive heroic light. The Golden Age Wonder Woman was a blatant rejection of the good girl/bad girl binary and even offered a critique of the good girl role. 

~ Tim Hanley

- - - - -

I don't think Aurora has seen the Wonder Woman movie yet, but she gets the Wonder Woman concept - that women can be strong and wear capes. She probably mostly gets the capes part right now, but the strong part is a seed being planted. I think it will pay off. 

Of course there will bumps in the road - like when her parents refuse to buy her an invisible jet or when they don't want to shoot bullets at her so she can practice with those wrist bands. They will just have to toughen up, though. Often strong women come from strong parents. 

Circus

Every country gets the circus it deserves.

~ Erica Jong

- - - - -

The other day I got a request from an organization I am a part of to be a volunteer. They wanted me to volunteer for an event with a circus theme. The needed people to be clowns or stilt walkers or caricaturists.

Well, we all know I wasn't about to volunteer to be a clown. Or to be around clowns. 

I'd like to have volunteered to be a caricaturist, but I don't draw very well. I think it would have been pretty funny, though. 

Instead I stayed home at watched "Rita" on Netflix.

(Also, this photo wasn't taken at an actual circus. There are clowns there, so I don't go to the circus.)

Evening

What a nice night for an evening.

~ Steven Wright

- - - - -

The other night I heard a radio show and there was a woman on there being interviewed. She was a radio astronomer. I would love that job. I like to look at the sky and I have some experience being on the radio. 

I think I'd call my show, "Oh, Look!"

Of course, I am also considering doing a show on getting spiders out of the house, a show on backseat driving, or a show on finding celebrity look-alikes in grocery stores (or maybe airports). I'm toying with the idea of "Oh, Look!" for the names of those shows, too.

I have a lot of plans, everyone. Wait. Not plans. I have a lot ideas, everyone. Well not a lot. I have four ideas, everyone.

Creative

We are all creative, but by the time we are three or four years old, someone has knocked the creativity out of us. Some people shut up the kids who start to tell stories. Kids dance in their cribs, but someone will insist that they sit still. By the time creative people are ten or twelve, they want to be like everyone else.

~ Maya Angelou

- - - - -

When I was a kid my Aunt Miriam and Uncle Paul had a big white swing on a tree behind their house. One time we had this great idea that we would spring the swing in a circle so the chains twisted it. Then it would unwind and the kid in the swing would get twirled around. It was great. We did it over and over and over again.

And then one time when it was my turn - after we'd each done this about a thousand times - the chains broke. I fell on the ground. That is when I hit it knocked the creativity out of me.

Fortunately, I made a full recovery. Oh and it was the wind that got knocked out of me. I think the creativity was fine. Of course it could have knocked a few other things loose. 

We'll never know if it was swing that did it or the time I fell through the stairs as a toddler onto the basement floor. That's where Bob Dylan got the idea for the song, "Knock, Knock, Knocking on the Basement Floor." Bob Dylan is also creative.

Love

My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now and we don't know where the hell she is.

~ Ellen Degeneres

- - - - -

This is one of my favorite photos of Leslie and Aurora. You can tell just how much Aurora adores her grandmother. I really, really love that.

I also love pickled herring. 

(pause)

There's no connection here. Just a blog post about a couple of things I love.

Green

You don't remember what happened. 

What you remember becomes what happened.

~ John Green

- - - - -

Today is a good day for a post about green. I guess that maybe Ireland used to - a long time ago be associated with the color blue, but now it's green. Before blue I bet it was mainly black and white because they didn't have color film then.

Thomas

He does not believe that does not act according to his belief.

~ Thomas Fuller

- - - - -

Also he does not believe if his name is Doubting Thomas.

Names

Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.

~ J. K. Rowling

- - - - -

So I saw on a web site a list of names inspired by food. One of the names they had was Caesar which they said was inspired by Caesar salad. 

Well, no.

Caesar salad was actually inspired by the NAME Caesar. Caesar Romero loved the salad so much they named it after him.

And I now there isn't canned cabbage in Caesar salad but I didn't have a photo of lettuce which is what common people use in Caesar salad instead of canned cabbage.

Trespassing

Respect the child. Be not too much his parent. Trespass not on his solitude.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

- - - - -

I wish my parents had abided (aboded? abeed?) by the saying above. Well, actually they didn't trespass too much on my solitude. They did NOT, however, respect my need to slam doors when I was a teenager. They showed their disrespect for my door slamming by putting strips of foam tape on the door frame to my bedroom.*

There is little in this world as unsatisfying as slamming your door and hearing silence. Actually, there is lot as unsatisfying as that - you just don't realize that when you're 13. Or whatever. Shut up.





* True story. They did that on my door and Erik's door. It was effective for them, but not for Erik and me. I guess they privileged their own needs for no door slamming over our needs for door slamming. Whatever. I'm over it. I hardly ever think about it any more. In fact, I thought the other day about putting foam tape on the grocery store dumpster for the grocery store behind our house. I thought that it might work. Then I realized that a dumpster lid probably slams with more impact that when I slammed my door. Especially after my parents put the foam tape on the door frame. 

Generations

A generation of men is like a generation of leaves; the wind scatters some leaves upon the ground, while others the burgeoning wood brings forth - and the season of spring comes on.  So of men one generation springs forth and another ceases.

~ Homer

- - - - -

A generation of men is also like a generation of leaves because when they fall from the trees it creates a sense of melancholy.

Bowl

I'm happy when I'm juggling, but I feel I've gone from like three balls to ten bowling balls. But that's a good problem. I don't really have a complaint about that.

~ Kirstie Alley

- - - - -

I think the history of bowling is fascinating. The fact that those who came before us used to roll coconuts to knock bananas and pineapples off the banana and pineapple shrubs (the plants were much shorter back then) is amazing to me. And then as time took away the need to do this for survival and it just sort of morphed into sport -- fascinating.

Also Kirstie Alley's middle name is - you thought I was going to say "Bowling" didn't you. Well, I'm not. Who would give their kid the middle name "Bowling"?!!  Her middle name is Louise. Of course who would give their kid the middle name "Louise"?!

Bridge

I would rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the man who sold it.

~ Will Rogers

- - - - -

I'd rather not be either of those people. 

Watching

The child becomes largely what it is taught; hence we must watch what we teach it, and how we live before it.

~ Jane Addams

- - - - -

The child stared me down with both suspicion and curiosity. Suspicious of what I would do next and curious as to why I would do such a thing.

I stared back at the monster feet things on the child's fingers. Just as she was suspicious of me, I was suspicious of her. We held each others' gaze for a while and then both got bored and went back to what we had been doing before.

It was a tense but almost completely uneventful exchange. 

(pause)

And they all lived happily ever after. Except for the monster with two missing feet. 

Do

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. 
I just watch what they do.

~ Andrew Carnegie

- - - - -

Me, too Andrew Carnegie. This also works with women and children and people beyond the gender binary, I have found. Regardless of what they say, people show you who they are by what they do. 

This reminds me of my friend Sara who would always say, "All we know after an interview is whether someone interviews well or not." I agree with that, as well. 

That's why I try to watch people a lot. I learn so much doing that. You don't even have to be up close to watch and learn about people. Like how I was ahead of Aurora and Leslie when I saw this. I really like this picture. I think it captures both of them pretty well.

I try to be quiet more than I talk when I'm watching people. Especially if I'm watching people through their living room windows late at night.

Silos

Studying doesn't have to happen in a silo. It can be a social experience. You can engage with your friends and family to find out the answer to a tough question or have someone explain it to you. You can also study anywhere you happen to be and on any device.

~ Eric Lefkofsky

- - - - -

I am all about learning in community. I think it is important to not purse THE answer, but to look at the answerS. I'm not sure there are all that many questions with one singular answer. I don't know for sure because I don't study everything.

There are cases where studying in a silo might be useful, though. Like if you're studying silos.

Stupid

Nothing is more confusing than people who give good advice but set bad examples.

~ Norman Vincent Peale

- - - - -

I think the word "hypocrite" came after Hippocrates was dead. If not, I bet the other philosophers taunted him a lot about being "Hypocrite - ees" or "Hippocrates the hypocrite."

Sometimes I bet they would call him "Hippopotamuscrates," too. You know how juvenile philosophers can be. Poets, on the other hand, can be Juvenal.

Anyway, I bet it's because of all that taunting that Hippocrates came up with the Hippocratic Oath. He'd get all mad at the others and have his feelings hurt. He'd feel like lashing out and attacking them.

Then he'd step away for a minute and take a deep breath. He'd say, "First, do no harm, Hippocrates. First, do no harm."

Then he'd feel better because he was going to be all famous in the future and lesser philosophers like Overcompensates and Hyperventilates and Discombobulates would be forgotten.

Shells

The shell is America's most active contribution to the formation of character. A tough hide. Grow it early.

~ Anaias Nin

- - - - -

When I see shells on the shore (a phrase I type but would struggle to say out loud), I don't look at a broken shell and think, "What is your story, little shell?" I don't think, "What adventures caused you to be broken and cracked?" I don't think, "What happened in your life, little shell?" 

No.

Instead, I think, "Ugh. That one is broken. It's not as pretty as these other ones."

Glasses

Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as an assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly promoted as a male schlemiel.

~ Bella Abzug

- - - - -

I personally have had enough of schlemiels being promoted. I don't need everyone to be an Einstein, but maybe we could have a few mensches promoted. Or womensches for that matter.

Backbone

Libraries are the backbone of our education system.

~ Karin Slaughter

- - - - -

I was listening to a podcast - Constitutional - you should listen to it. It's not as many episodes as I would have liked, but I suppose that is a compliment to the content and it is true that I enjoyed it.

Anyway, there was this Green Hat guy during prohibition that they talked about. He use to provide alcohol to the Congressmen during prohibition - as in they gave him a room and he kept the alcohol there and would run around and distribute it.

So there was this one senator who wouldn't let the Green Hat guy leave his alcohol in his office, but instead told him to leave it in a special room where he kept all his law books and legal documents and stuff. He called the Green Hat guy his "librarian" and would tell the Green Hat guy when he needed some "new reading material." I think all of that is from a series in the Washington Post that the Green Hat guy wrote.

I haven't fact checked that. A librarian would have fact checked that. A librarian also probably wouldn't break the law and distribute alcohol. The librarians I know are kind of big on rule following and stuff. I know that's a generalization. I don't know all the librarians in the world. And I don't know all the "librarians" in the world, either.

I pretty much keep to myself a lot of the time.

Change

I am playing with my Self, I am playing with the world's soul, I am the dialogue between my Self and el espiritu del mundo. I change myself, I change the world.

~ Gloria Anzaldua

- - - - -

This quote makes me giggle.

Is it because I am immature? No.
Is it because "I am playing with myself..." has multiple meanings? No.
Is it because - wait. It is because of those first two things.

Sculpture

Sculpture is the art of the intelligence.

~ Pablo Picasso

- - - - -

Really, isn't everything around us sculpture of some kind? Tables. Desks. Combination desk-tables. 

Toasters. Fire places. 

Pieces of clay or metal we craft into some sort of statue or figure?

I think so. I think everything around us really is sculpture of some kind.

Learning

We must merge our traditional sense of schooling with the real world. What we do in school must not insult the child's past but must build upon his past and encourage future learning.

~ Sigmund Boloz

- - - - -

I like this quote a lot. I have come to realize that some of the things I teach students already know. And some of the things I teach some students know better than I do. While I have always believed we are all educators, I also believe we are all students.

As I type this I am remembered of my elementary school days. NOT because my educational experience merged the traditional sense of schooling with the real world. NOT because my past a child went uninsulted. NOT because my past was built upon. NOT because that experience encouraged my future learning.

I mean, some of that stuff happened sometimes. But what I am reminded of is how I got the super student award one time. (pause) I think just one time. And one of the special things we could as super student was to clean up in the lunch room.

I think my parents sent me to school. Maybe they sent me to work and just called it school.

Anyway, I got that super student award one time.

Paths

Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.

~ John Muir

- - - - -

Take the path that makes sense to you. You know where you need to go and follow that path. Do whatever is pathological to you.

(pause)

Wait. No. That doesn't sound right.