Category Archives: random thoughts

nice echo

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Every morning I go to headquarters to check the equipment for the uppitymucks. I have a well-tread path, and part of it takes me through the stairwell. Since I am there so early, I feel pretty confident that I am all alone. So I sing in the stairwell.

Right now Christmas Carols work. Other times I’ll sing Sinatra songs (the influence of my husband) or Danny Boy or some other such. The echo is really lovely. I wouldn’t really mind other people hearing me sing, but perhaps not everyone who is trudging to their cube wants to hear about how Danny Boy is being called by the pipes.

Now that the internet has moved away from me, this blog reminds me of that stairwell. It’s pretty unlikely that anyone hears what I am saying. In a way, it’s a nice thing. I can say whatever I want.

hard life lessons

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LOVE

It’s a hard lesson. Just because you love someone, it doesn’t mean they feel the same way about you.

You have to read their body language, and not just what you want to see.

WORK

computers will often behave in ways you don’t want them to. But you keep coming back.

..even when you thought you were done…

rearranging priorities

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Back–oh lord, more than 10 years ago–I noticed myself writing very very long emails to particular friends. I could get going on a topic and just not stop.

Eventually, I realized that this was not the right way to capture and convey this information. I started a blog. THIS was the right way to say something I needed to say. The internet, which gave me email, found a better way.

Now there is twitter and facebook. I’ve connected these social chatty machines, but now my blog is suffering. The internet got *in* the way.

Then again, what is this path I want to be on anyway? What am I trying to accomplish? It could be that facebook and twitter had arrived at the same time that I ran out of things to say. After all, my daughter uses up a lot of mental energy and that may mean my well of things to say ran dry.

Then again, maybe because I cannot complete a full thought easily in my regular life I really need this blog to help me get my thoughts straight.

Since I no longer have a huge reservoir of resources to drink from, I think I need to prioritize what I write. Facebook isn’t the place to have huge thoughts. It’s more or less a fancy chatroom or bulletin board. I don’t want to waste my energy on what amounts to SNACKING, little bites of not quite satisfying self-expression.

Not sure what this will end up as, but it’s time to take stock.

little boxes

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My husband sells little ships. Little ships come in little boxes. When you open the box and put the ship in the display case for your very own personal collection, you can’t just throw the box away. What if you want to seel it later? The boxes are important because the little ships are so very delicate you can’t even hand carry them without damage.

I knew this. I knew that Chris had to keep the boxes.

Today I went into the garage, thinking I could rearrange it a little to get pathways into the places I needed to go, And opening this box and rearranging that box gave me perspective.

HOLY CRAP we have a lot of boxes of boxes. I thought *I* was the one with all the crap in the garage. But I have decided it’s all him.

ALL HIM.

Because on further examination, I found another archealogical strata the predates the ships. There were boxes for delicate Audio Equipment that must be kept for transporting important electromagnetic speakers and precious turntable equipment.

There are empty boxes. And boxes of empty boxes. They are bursting out the walls!

This is a problem, and it goes deep. It may be time for an intervention.

the shoe fits

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I dunno. I like being plugged in, and i miss the heck out of my community college days when I had 3 or 4 command line email conversations going at the same time…

IM is such a rehash

…but the clarity of exposition that my blog allows is unparalelled. I have, on a regular basis, some thoughtS to sort through. And now that no one is even reading this blog anymore…

DEEP apologies and much love to you faithful few

…it is freeing to come here and expound. It’s a self-referential thing, you know? That I take the time to think something through here on this blog gives me a sense of finality. And I can have a conversation with someone about an issue, if I’ve blogged about it, and just reference my blog post in my brain. I always feel like jumping to the post and telling the person, “Read this!”

they never do

…and even if we get interrupted and I don’t get to finish my point…

is anyone else as annoyed by this as I am? I HATE it when I don’t get to conversationally finish my thought, especially when it’s a really good one [and all the really good ones are long so they always get interrupted], it sticks with me for days like a loop

…I feel better because at LEAST THE INTERNET KNOWS WHAT I MEANT

I love my blog.

a happy media medium

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You all know I do twitter. It’s right there on the sidebar. Most of my readers are my friends on facebook. Since I’ve started being active on Facebook (which is synched to my tweets) I have noticed a dive in  my blog readership.

Is it because my readers get their writtenbymurphy fix over there and don’t feel the need to come over here anymore?

NOW there is a social networking site at work that encourages us to join groups, “colleague” people, and have a work blog.

That’s a lot of virtual reality relationships to keep up with. It is worth it?

Well, I posted this on my work blog:

 

Health is catching

This story about how the company we keep affects us. This story talks about some studies that show being fat or smoking is influenced by the company you keep:

good behaviors — like quitting smoking or staying slender or being happy — pass from friend to friend almost as if they were contagious viruses. The Framingham participants, the data suggested, influenced one another’s health just by socializing. And the same was true of bad behaviors — clusters of friends appeared to “infect” each other with obesity, unhappiness and smoking. Staying healthy isn’t just a matter of your genes and your diet, it seems. Good health is also a product, in part, of your sheer proximity to other healthy people.

I have noticed that certain friends will be bad influences on eating choices, and we all know people who are downers to be around. It makes a lot of sense that our social network sets the levels of what is acceptable.

I’m not exactly sure how to use this information; should I avoid my friends who are unhealthy? Should I try to be the one who gives positive peer pressure? Maybe just knowing that unhealthy behaviours are not ‘normal’ and should not be emulated is enough.

It explains a lot about how the level of obesity that is common in America came to be. Watching old re-runs of television shows that show ‘real’ people gives a shocking example of how we have changes as a population.

Personal responsibility has a lot to do with our levels of health.

 Expounding further on the idea that social networks affect our health and happines…Maybe the more the merrier, huh? Maybe it is a good idea to just spew inane tweets and blogposts about daily unimportant happenings, for the very reason that people like to be included.

MORE BIGGER FASTER!

(again)

Saturday…Ahhhhhh…

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It’s gonna be a hot one, no doubt about it. But that means I’ve been granted parole from my outdoor chores.  I get to do whatever I want. Maybe I’ll paint my toes!

I’m getting used to life with my daughter. She’s a great person, now that I’ve gotten to know her. She’s usually up for running around town, provided she’s had enough sleep and food. She likes a good laugh, and is curious and interested in new things. She likes her familiar things too.

It’s been 7 months. It’s the new normal.