As the morning light crept into our room, my wife signaled to me, 'It's raining outside.'
Snuggling next to one another for warmth, both of us awake, we planned our day.
Our communication isn't verbal, but we think along the same lines. A silhouette of an ASL hand sign and a bit of one handed gestures. The light isn't enough to read by, but we can make out shapes in various shades of gray.
She had to get ready for work. I should start the coffee. Perhaps I should make her some eggs for breakfast. Comfortably warm under the covers, both of us knew we had to brave this Saturday.
The weatherman called for snow yesterday. There's another 50% chance this morning. My network of friends report flurries in Dallas and a dusting up in the Hill Country. In all likelihood we will get a drizzling sleet. Oh goody, icy cold and treacherous.
Nobody has cookie sale booths to attend.
No team practice or competitions.
Cars are in working order again.
Birthday cards got sent out.
There's a whole laundry list of things that we accomplished this week... including the laundry.
Does this mean today I will get a chance to sit down and (gasp!) write? I'm gonna try. Life happens. We all know this. Sure there are things that need to be done. Leaf raking. grass cutting. House cleaning. Repairs, projects and attention grabbing must-fix-now things. I have to actually fight for days like this where there is a six to eight hour window for me to bang away at the keyboard.
It's 9:30 and I made sure the wife had enough pressure to get her through the day. That sounds bad when I say it like that. Both her car and mine have a tire with a slow leak in it. The difference is her car tells her the tire pressure, I have to go about it the old school way, which is how I like it. Sorry, this last few weeks there has been numerous examples of needing exact gauges and reading devices. Thermometers, both for my truck and my brewing. Accurate tire gauges, alarm clocks showing the actual time.
The computer on her car may or may not be right about the tires. One more device to make a simple thing complicated. Or as my favorite Starfleet engineer would put it; 'The more complicated the machine, the easier it is to clog up the plumbing.'
I'm doing that one off the top of my head. Perhaps not the exact wording, but close enough.
And on a similar note Leonard Nimoy passed away yesterday. Star Trek was the first science fiction show that captured my imagination as a child. You can make the case that it was imprinted upon me at an early age, and you'll get no argument there. I've always been in awe of the way he portrayed one of my favorite characters, Spock. People I know have said they wanted to become doctors, scientists or engineers because they saw Star Trek as a kid. While I never had the impulse to dress up and regularly attend the conventions along with the hard core fans, I was and continue to be appreciative of the stories. Many of the concepts of the show carried over into life and I try to embrace those ideals to the best of my abilities.
People may think that's a bit stupid, but I don't agree. The farmer in Russia, a construction worker in Serbia, a longshoreman in Alaska, their lives are different. One isn't better than the other, simply different. They each have qualities that make life interesting.
Whatever we choose to be in life, try to be your best. If you want to be a woodworker, be the best carpenter you know how to be. Find something you like to do and do it passionately. Most of all, don't give up. No one hits a home run the first time up at bat. We all goof up from time to time. Don't beat yourself up. Get up, dust yourself off and learn from the experience. Most importantly keep trying to improve.
Snuggling next to one another for warmth, both of us awake, we planned our day.
Our communication isn't verbal, but we think along the same lines. A silhouette of an ASL hand sign and a bit of one handed gestures. The light isn't enough to read by, but we can make out shapes in various shades of gray.
She had to get ready for work. I should start the coffee. Perhaps I should make her some eggs for breakfast. Comfortably warm under the covers, both of us knew we had to brave this Saturday.
The weatherman called for snow yesterday. There's another 50% chance this morning. My network of friends report flurries in Dallas and a dusting up in the Hill Country. In all likelihood we will get a drizzling sleet. Oh goody, icy cold and treacherous.
Nobody has cookie sale booths to attend.
No team practice or competitions.
Cars are in working order again.
Birthday cards got sent out.
There's a whole laundry list of things that we accomplished this week... including the laundry.
Does this mean today I will get a chance to sit down and (gasp!) write? I'm gonna try. Life happens. We all know this. Sure there are things that need to be done. Leaf raking. grass cutting. House cleaning. Repairs, projects and attention grabbing must-fix-now things. I have to actually fight for days like this where there is a six to eight hour window for me to bang away at the keyboard.
It's 9:30 and I made sure the wife had enough pressure to get her through the day. That sounds bad when I say it like that. Both her car and mine have a tire with a slow leak in it. The difference is her car tells her the tire pressure, I have to go about it the old school way, which is how I like it. Sorry, this last few weeks there has been numerous examples of needing exact gauges and reading devices. Thermometers, both for my truck and my brewing. Accurate tire gauges, alarm clocks showing the actual time.
The computer on her car may or may not be right about the tires. One more device to make a simple thing complicated. Or as my favorite Starfleet engineer would put it; 'The more complicated the machine, the easier it is to clog up the plumbing.'
I'm doing that one off the top of my head. Perhaps not the exact wording, but close enough.
And on a similar note Leonard Nimoy passed away yesterday. Star Trek was the first science fiction show that captured my imagination as a child. You can make the case that it was imprinted upon me at an early age, and you'll get no argument there. I've always been in awe of the way he portrayed one of my favorite characters, Spock. People I know have said they wanted to become doctors, scientists or engineers because they saw Star Trek as a kid. While I never had the impulse to dress up and regularly attend the conventions along with the hard core fans, I was and continue to be appreciative of the stories. Many of the concepts of the show carried over into life and I try to embrace those ideals to the best of my abilities.
People may think that's a bit stupid, but I don't agree. The farmer in Russia, a construction worker in Serbia, a longshoreman in Alaska, their lives are different. One isn't better than the other, simply different. They each have qualities that make life interesting.
Whatever we choose to be in life, try to be your best. If you want to be a woodworker, be the best carpenter you know how to be. Find something you like to do and do it passionately. Most of all, don't give up. No one hits a home run the first time up at bat. We all goof up from time to time. Don't beat yourself up. Get up, dust yourself off and learn from the experience. Most importantly keep trying to improve.
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