Why I Blog

When it comes down to it, I really like hearing back from everyone. It's good to know that my experiences are--at least at some level--shared. And it's incredibly uplifting to hear words of encouragement just when I need them.

So, I wanted to take a minute and share a few of my favorite comments from my blog.

First, whenever I'm faced with a moral delima and aren't sure what to do, there are some words of wisdom that always seem to float to the front of my mind:



And sometimes, when I'm having one of those "what does it all mean" moments, I know someone in the bloop will always help me keep things in perspective:
(here, I think he was reminding of his earlier point)


And, of course, when things go right, I've always got friends that will share in my joy:


I love you guys.

Have you driven a fjord lately?

Walking through a large airport brings about strange emotions in me. In one way, I feel completely alone, but attached to everyone around me. We are all starting some kind of journey, but in a crowd of thousands, I'm the only one taking *my* journey. I like that feeling.



Next weekend, I'm making a "last-minute" 2-week trip to Norway. This is my first trip to that particular country, and I'm really looking forward to it. I've heard that it's a sight to see, but I'll let my Lonely Planet guide sum-up what I've heard from everyone else.

Norway is, quite simply, breathtakingly beautiful. No matter how many pictures you've seen, nothing can prepare you for that first moment that you stand amid the precipitous, overwhelming view of the Norwegian fjords.

This time, I'm flying solo--no boss or coworkers tagging along, so I'll be free to do and see whatever I want. But since I'll be staying in, essentially, a fancy bed-and-breakfast literally a block from the Norwegian Sea, I forsee a lot of sitting outside of a cafe--at a wrought-iron table perched upon a cobblestone street--wrapping my hands tightly around my coffee cup, trying to stay warm against the cold breeze I can see coming across the Norwegian Sea.

House of Te

My last bog post not withstanding, I really am happy at this particular moment. I've got my Tablet, reading and having some excellent tea in midtown.

Misconceptions

Why is it that everyone assumes that I have my shit together?

 

I have no fucking clue what I'm doing.

NetFlix, Pan's Labyrinth and Morality

Have I mentioned lately how much I love NetFlix?  The idea is brilliantly simple: take something people do on a irregular basis (rent movies) and turn it into a subscription service.  And much like the much-lauded TiVo, they don't stop at selling you a product/service.  They keep the experience going and that's what's drawn people in as fans as much as paying customers.

For example, when I first started with NetFlix, I noticed that the emails I got telling me that my next movie was in the mail always got the delivery date wrong.  They said it would arrive on Wednesday and it was there on Tuesday.  A simple enough mistake--I guess my post office is a little more efficient than they thought.  And how could I honestly expect them to accurately predict how long it would take the USPTO to deliver that little red paper envelope?  But then they did something simple--they asked me when I got my movie.  They followed-up with an email asking "did you get your movie on Tuesday or Wednesday?"  After telling them a couple of times they suddenly were able to predict, with almost 100% accuracy, when my next movie would land in my box.

Simple.  Participation.  Rather than spend time and money trying to reverse-engineer the government entity that carries around letters, they asked for my help.  They got great data and a more engaged customer.

Next, I got a completely unexpected and unprecedented email.  They lowered the cost of my subscription.  I don't know why, and I don't care.  It wasn't much--something like $.50 a month.  But when was the last time you got a bill where they said they lowered your payment?

Lastly, they are on the cutting edge of content delivery over the Internet.  They've introduced "Watch Instantly" where I can--you guessed it--instantly watch movies from their catalog.  I demo'd it at the office the other day and it took 30 seconds from the time I opened my browser until I was watching a DVD-quality episode from season 2 of The Office.  Oh, and it's free.

So, the other night I was watching Pan's Labrynth on "Watch Instantly".  (and with my Media Center PC hooked-up to my TV, it was honestly a better experience and higher-quality than if I'd rented the DVD)  I don't know if it was the Negro Modelo I was drinking, but I had an idea and am wondering what everyone thinks about it.

Is morality simply a combination of love and empathy?  Are your good morals built from a lifetime of reactions to situations that happened to those you love and an extension of those situations to those around you in an empathetic fashion?

Anyway, it was a thought.  Feel free to tell me it's a not-very-well-thought-out idea or even that's it's been thought of before and as quickly dismissed.  It just seemed to fit.

Offensive?

Ok, I can't even feign disgust. Robot Chicken is just too damn funny.

Back on Track

...got the A/C fixed.  Geez, what a pain.  But, for the first time in about 36 hours, it's below 80 degrees in the house.

Sun Bad

My A/C at the house decided to take a dive this morning... Looks like I might be in need of a compressor. (that's the best theory so far)

It got up to 95 in the house today and even during the heat of the Houston day, it was still cooler outside. Now it's down to a chilly 88 and I'm going to see if there's any hope for some sleep tonight.

Time to Put Away Play Things

Today I did something that made me very sad.  I've been putting it off for the last two weeks.  (to be perfectly honest, I've been putting it off for much longer than that)  I put away my flight bag.

My life is a series of unfinished goals.

Things were going well.  I was flying a couple of times a week.  I took all my ground school.  I basically knew everything I needed to know to get my ticket--I just needed to refine my skills a bit.  But then time conspired against me.  Travel.  Vacation.  Weather.  My momentum was broken.

Of all the skills I've learned in life, I've never learned how to regain momentum.  I'll start things at breakneck speeds.  I'll have as much passion as I can imagine having.  But once I reach the point at which I understand how something works, the momentum is stalled and I often can't restart it.  That's what happened here.

Aside: At least I think that's what happened here.  But after a little thought and looking back through the blog, I didn't blog any more flights after that bad landing.  I know I had a couple of flights after that, but I don't remember if I ever solo'd after that.  Maybe it affected me more than I think.  I know I still get a little chill when I think of it.

So, for the last couple of weeks, as you know, I've been seriously contemplating a move to Chicago.  And, as is my usual style, I immediately started planning down to the last little item.  I listed everything I thought I need to do to get out of here.  The first section on that list was to finish my pilot's cert.  I really want to get that done.

But after a day or two of consideration, I dropped that section.  I realized that it would put me farther behind both in regards to time and finances.  If I want to get my pilot's cert, that needs to be the focus.  If I want to move, that needs to be my focus.  Moving won.  I hope I was right.

So often in my life, the hardest part for me is not knowing if I made the right decision.  I often forget that it usually doesn't matter if the decision is right or wrong--just that I make a decision.  I need to learn how to make a decision and then make it work.

Not to be too dramatic, but, for obvious reasons, a great line from The Shawshank Redemption popped into my head this weekend and has been floating around since then:

I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain.