She smiled, wanly, and we talked. Between "gigs" as they say. Your mind plays tricks on you when a long-term relationship ends. Actually, I've come to think my mind plays tricks on me most of the time, but that might be an age-related thing.
I got to thinking as we chatted, and even more as our chatting got more animated, turning into Chattering. I had a pet parrokeet once, which had a habit of Chattering. One of Jenny's cousins thinks that's where I got it from (the chattering, not the thinking part).
The thinking went something like this -- Thoreau said it beautifully: “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” Shakespeare had a slightly different twist, having Brutus say: "There is a tide in the affairs of men. which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries."
Well, easy to say -- HARD to do. The trick for each of us is how to know when to do what. There is a great little book making the rounds, called "Not Quite What I was Planning" which features six-word succinct (!) autobiographies. Such as "I stopped needing approval. Didn’t I?" Or "Found true love, married someone else". How about "Jumped out of perfectly good airplane."
We ended our Chattering with a hug. Hugs are hugely important. Grab someone near you and HUG THEM!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
new home
Well, new to us anyway. We're moving in TOMORROW! Ten months since purchase, nine months since the Easter soiree, six months from the first Menlo Park permits, and a long time since we've seen our "stuff" that we first put in storage when we sold our Park City home in early 2005.
And no, it isn't finished, but we are "going in anyway". One bedroom with a small bath, the guest bath, the living room, Jenny's office, and the KITCHEN are done. That's enough!
The dogs are looking forward to having a small yard. We're looking forward to having a drawer for the silverware and another for napkins.
If we could figure out how to post pix, we'd show you the place. Since we haven't mastered that little trick, call and we'll invite you over!
Love, Charlie
And no, it isn't finished, but we are "going in anyway". One bedroom with a small bath, the guest bath, the living room, Jenny's office, and the KITCHEN are done. That's enough!
The dogs are looking forward to having a small yard. We're looking forward to having a drawer for the silverware and another for napkins.
If we could figure out how to post pix, we'd show you the place. Since we haven't mastered that little trick, call and we'll invite you over!
Love, Charlie
Xmas signals
I was in Nordstrom's last week, on a Saturday afternoon about 3pm. I found a parking spot five cars from the main door (and had a choice of the sixth, seventh, and ... spots as well). You could have shot a cannon off in the third floor and not hurt anyone.
I was at Best Buy on Friday this week, me and fifteen staff. I found the TV I wanted -- $250 cheaper than the cheapest we found the week before, which itself was $800 off the "list price" (altho Sony had dropped its price $400 midweek). When I asked about a DVD player, they "threw in" the DVD and the 5-1 surround speaker set for another $50, ostensibly a $500 value. I took the deal. Then, they wanted $399 for the articulated arm to allow the set to move for better viewing, and $139 x 3 for the special cables that allow HD connections. None of these are discounted.
I objected, and said "why don't you give away the TVs and just become an accessory seller". The clerk laughed and said, 'don't you buy HP printers?' I recalled the time Kevin Kelly and I consulted for some unnamed Japanese manufacturer and said they should give away three big-screen TVs to every household in return for a $100/mo content delivery fee (ala the I-phones). They thought us daft, but even then (3 years ago) they knew that they could build a 52" set for $500 cost.
Margins are not what they used to be. Nor is the world.
I was at Best Buy on Friday this week, me and fifteen staff. I found the TV I wanted -- $250 cheaper than the cheapest we found the week before, which itself was $800 off the "list price" (altho Sony had dropped its price $400 midweek). When I asked about a DVD player, they "threw in" the DVD and the 5-1 surround speaker set for another $50, ostensibly a $500 value. I took the deal. Then, they wanted $399 for the articulated arm to allow the set to move for better viewing, and $139 x 3 for the special cables that allow HD connections. None of these are discounted.
I objected, and said "why don't you give away the TVs and just become an accessory seller". The clerk laughed and said, 'don't you buy HP printers?' I recalled the time Kevin Kelly and I consulted for some unnamed Japanese manufacturer and said they should give away three big-screen TVs to every household in return for a $100/mo content delivery fee (ala the I-phones). They thought us daft, but even then (3 years ago) they knew that they could build a 52" set for $500 cost.
Margins are not what they used to be. Nor is the world.
Xmas luncheon
Jenny regaled everyone. It was her 36th year of hosting her paternal family for a gala, this one with 81 attendees, 37 of them under 18 years (and most of those under 10). Irish Catholic families have a certain prolific nature about them...
She was peripatetic, coaxing the wee ones in song (with her best kindergarten teacher skills amply displayed), exhorting the oldsters to put their shoulder to the wheel in these economically challenged times, praising the staff who loyally support this noisy horde, and always on the move, with a light touch on the shoulder or a ready smile for the weary.
This was the twelfth year at the Fairmont Pavilion Room in San Francisco, and four of the helpers had worked all twelve years with us. Santa showed about 2:15 for the sixteenth year -- every child knows him by name, and he them. And the gifts he brought were smash hits -- one little girl proudly telling her mother that her mother was wrong when she'd said she was too young to get a cellphone -- that SANTA said it was fine, and in fact gave her one! The look on that mother's face was priceless, as Visa would say.
Consistency, loyalty, family, tradition... values that we think are worth nurturing. We are so blessed that this extended family takes time every year to bring their children and share them with us.
She was peripatetic, coaxing the wee ones in song (with her best kindergarten teacher skills amply displayed), exhorting the oldsters to put their shoulder to the wheel in these economically challenged times, praising the staff who loyally support this noisy horde, and always on the move, with a light touch on the shoulder or a ready smile for the weary.
This was the twelfth year at the Fairmont Pavilion Room in San Francisco, and four of the helpers had worked all twelve years with us. Santa showed about 2:15 for the sixteenth year -- every child knows him by name, and he them. And the gifts he brought were smash hits -- one little girl proudly telling her mother that her mother was wrong when she'd said she was too young to get a cellphone -- that SANTA said it was fine, and in fact gave her one! The look on that mother's face was priceless, as Visa would say.
Consistency, loyalty, family, tradition... values that we think are worth nurturing. We are so blessed that this extended family takes time every year to bring their children and share them with us.
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