Random Thoughts

It was a very quiet day at work. Fridays are usually slow days in my office. Most of my staff works at home and the few that are in the office normally work a short day on Fridays so it usually feels like a ghost town. Most of the day I simply kept to myself and pretended I was invisible. I think I was somewhat successful because few people approached me. I did accomplish some tasks but I was not overwhelmed with demands. Mostly I was lost in the musical world of my Ipod where I had created a playlist of "Desert Island" CD's. What would be some of my "Desert Island" CD's? Here's a partial list. I have many, many more because I am a musical fanatic.

•The Allman Brothers Band at the Fillmore East
•The Beatles "Revolver"
•Bob Dylan "Bringing it All Back Home"
•Buffalo Springfield "Retrospective"
•The Byrds "Younger Than Yesterday"
•Chicago "Chicago Transit Authority"
•Crosby, Still, & Nash's First album/CD
•David Crosby "If I Could Only Remember My Name"
•Donovan's Greatest Hits
•The Doors "Morrison Hotel"
•Genesis "Wind and Wuthering"
•Iron Butterfly "In A Gadda Da Vida"
•Jefferson Airplane "Volunteers"
•Jethro Tull "Stand Up"
•Jimi Hendrix "Are You Experienced"?
•John Mayall "The Turning Point"
•King Crimson "In the Court of the Crimson King"
•Led Zeppelin IV
•Moody Blues "In Search of the Lost Chord"
•Procol Harum "Broken Barricades"
•Quicksilver Messenger Service "Happy Trails"
•Robin Trower "Bridge of Sighs"
•Rolling Stones "Sticky Fingers"
•Santana "The Woodstock Experience"
•Spirit's First Album/CD
•Steve Miller "Anthology"
•Weather Report "Sweetnighter"
•The Who "Who's Next"
•Yes "Yessongs"

Every work day I try to come up with "Today's Awesome Thing" for my staff and co-workers. This was a short week for me but I did come up with a few things.

Working in an air conditioned office. It's only early June and we've already broken the record for 90 degree days. I've got to be honest. This kind of heat drains the life right out of me. On days like this all I do is leave my air conditioned house to get into my air conditioned car so I can drive to my air conditioned office. AC is one of life's great inventions and I don't care what it cost. If necessary I will sacrifice in other areas to pay for AC.

Summer rain if you're not having a parade or a wedding. I enjoy a nice, gentle summer rain, especially when it has been really hot. I know lots of people love hot weather and for some the hotter the better. Personally I prefer a good snow. Once in a while, even for the sun worshipers, a summer rain is welcome. It cools things down, and gives the outdoors a shower. If you are like me, and I'm sorry if you are, a steady rain outside your window can also be an excellent backdrop for getting lost in a really good book.

Friday's! Why do four day work weeks seem six days long? This week was mostly good until yesterday. When my wife got into my car yesterday afternoon she looked at me and said, "What's that all over your shirt"? It was at that moment I realized that sometime yesterday a bird pooped on me. Such is life. Some days you are the bird and some days you are the statue. As I sit her typing this I also realize that I have forgotten to put out my recycle bin today. It will be OK, though, because I now have an extra recycle bin for any overflow. During the last thunderstorm in my neighborhood, my street flooded and someones bin floated into my yard and so far I have not been able to locate the owner. OK, I've talked about bird poop and recycling. I can't think of any other awesome things.

A friend emailed me today, concerned that he hadn't heard from me and wondering if everything was OK. I appreciate that some people are occasionally concerned about me. My experience of most people, including friends, is that I never hear from them unless I make the effort to contact them. Occasionally I slip into my passive-aggressive dark side and think, "I am not making anymore effort to stay in contact with anyone. If I am important to them, let them do some of the work by reaching out to me". The good news is that I know that is passive-aggressive so I avoid being like that. This aspect of me is part of the downside of my personality. The truth is that I am a solitary person. I am not anti-social and I don't hate people, but I am happiest and most comfortable when I am alone. It does take some effort and energy for me to leave my solitude. To answer my friend, and anyone else who cares, I am doing fine, living my life and enjoying the simplicity of my current existence. I use the term "simplicity" loosely. My life is still a little chaotic due to the unfinished work of updating and remodeling my home.

I saw a creature downtown this afternoon that appeared to be humanoid but could have possibly been an alien from another planet.

While wandering around in Border's Books today I paid tribute to Dennis Hopper by finally purchasing a DVD of the movie "Easy Rider". This was a very important film during my young hippie days in 1969.

This is it for now. I'll be back when I have more to say. Peace to all.