Wander project time…

A good friend of mine asked me the other day about the prediction I made about 3d printers. His point was simply that I was 1/2 right. Sometimes, being half right is enough. In the case of 3d printing, the cost of the printers still needs to come down a bit. But the value of being able to make things is interesting. Well, it’s more than interesting. But the goal of today’s blog is not to dive into the technical reality of 3d printing. Rather it is to gear up for fun Halloween costumes! Yes, it is nearly the time of beggars appearing at doors asking for candy!

When I was a kid, I remember the week before Halloween was preparation. I went as various characters and, over the years, had a lot of fun. Our neighborhood was pretty safe, and other than a couple of houses with teenagers; you didn’t have to worry about what was in your bag (you always checked what the teenagers put in your bag. One year, they put lawn clippings in aluminum foil in the bags of children. I later met the parents of that house; they had purchased candy and had the kids too old to trick or treat pass out the candy. They ate the candy and gave us grass!)

As an adult, we lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, which was our single biggest Halloween. We lived in Western Hills; we averaged 100 kids a night on Halloween. We lived right across the street from an apartment complex. It was a very dangerous street, and I remember the police sitting at the crosswalk helping kids and parents cross on Halloween night. When we moved a little north in Cincinnati (no longer in Western Hills), the kids were old enough to go out. Well, the twins were old enough; our daughter had gone for two years before that. Halloween, such an interesting time of year!

,doc

wander project memories…

Legacy is a pencil mark on a kitchen door frame showing how tall a child is now.

When I think back to my childhood, many things stick out and remain memories. But, the time spent at my grandparent’s house is the time that resonates with me still. First off, the sheer fact that my grandfather and great-grandfather did most of the work on the two main houses and the cottages always amazes me. I am more destruction with a hammer than construction. Although, both my grandfather and father tried to teach me. I don’t have the mindset needed to be good at using a hammer. I am good at sawing things but not hammering straight.

I guess we are all given the tools we need for our careers. Or, do we evolve to our career because of our tools? That, to me, is the question that I ponder. Do we move to a career because we love what we do, or do we love what we do because that is where our skills take us? Does it matter in the long run the why of that choice? Or are we, winding through our life, destined for a specific role? I don’t think that last part is true. I think there are many things we can all do; it is simply timing, and timing is always a variable that applies itself when it chooses to apply!!!!

Anyway, inside my head for a weekend start. Sometimes we wonder within ourselves, and in that wandering, we may not find anything. For me today, I found a question but not one that I can answer. So, I throw that question into the universe. I do not expect or even want an answer; it is just that we have to push questions out. The question can sometimes make you forget what else needs completion. What else has to be done. It becomes less about the question and more about completion if you let the question drive you. So, out into the universe, darn question!

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wander project parenting….

Limits on speech, is not free speech. Or, you can say anything you want as long as you agree with me.

The concepts that make me laugh are often not the same as the ones that make me frustrated. Although I have to say as a parent, I have to laugh about some of the things that frustrate me or I can’t deal with it. Parenting should come with a manual. It is not a job that is easily done. No matter what, there is an impact, and you as a person have to consider that impact. I suspect when you consider parents and parenting, you have to stop. No two parents are the same, and no two children are the same; all of us are unique. Not the snowflake uniqueness sometimes heard; that always makes me wonder.

In that uniqueness, we find a path that is ours. We mix the things our parents give us, add what we learn, find it interesting, and build a human. That is the goal, the intent of raising children. It takes between 18 and 25 years for a human child to be on their own. However, many are released to fly before they are ready. Anger, frustrations, and other things limit their ability to fly freely. But, if we consider the animal kingdom, of which humans are a member, we are one of the longest child-rearing animals by a considerable amount. Why is that?

In part because our society is so complex. We don’t have one language. We have more than 140 languages. We have a world that changes and evolves rapidly with technology. We’ve created a new climate issue; the last species that ran into a climate issue like this is now gone—wiped out by a meteor 66 million years ago. We are a complex creation. It is so easy to let the simple implode around us. Knowing the complexity is more likely to win. But in the end, we have to take care of ourselves. We have to move forward, consider the next steps for us. The complex is there no matter what we do.

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wander project chasing the we journey…

In the land of nuance, the king fears the truth.

We are all on the edge of a journey. We always are; it, the journey, may never come. It may wash over us, filling us and carrying us away. Or it may simply flow along with us. Journeys are unique both to the path and the person. It is in choosing our path that the journeys that may yet be are sometimes revealed. But as the opening lines from “The Sound and the Fury” by Faulkner may signify nothing. Our journey may never start. For the Our part of that may never be. We, are not we, we are I. I am singular, and in that chasing journeys’ the singular is more realistic.

Journeys of we are dangerous and rare. A mob forms in our journey’s at times. Does a mob lose sight of the original goal, the original journey? Or does the mob shatter the journey from we moment into a series of I moments? For in the journey, there is no I if the goal was we. I read once many years ago in a journey to the self; we walk alone. In a journey to humanity, we walk with others. That difference is important, for there is no mob in a journey to self. There is only a mob in the journey to humanity, and the mob rules change that journey’s course.

I would hope we are all on a journey to humanity. I believe all people are. But the reality of my humanity and that of others is different. That creates a path that isn’t shared. A common path is what we need now. It is not the wide boulevard of humanity where all seek the same things. It is, in fact, a winding country road. Full of twists, turns, and potholes. Just enough in common that we are heading in the same direction. Sadly, now, in the world around us, that road is so much more narrow than it was. Perhaps no longer a country road now, it is simply a goat trail. A trail so narrow it is hard to see, no matter how hard we strive for common.

.doc

Wander project The Labrador Collective Presents

TLC, The Labrador Collective, is the name I’ve designated for the four dogs that live in my house. Even though 1 is not even part lab. Two are only ½ lab, and one is a full-bred Lab; they are all hunger machines. Perpetual motion machines engaged in the art of the act of and propagation of begging. I’ve included my latest videos below as a link. TLC shares their videos on YouTube! TLC has engaged a lawyer now in this breakfast dispute. They have an entire law firm focused on changing this huge issue. The law firm has notified me that changes are expected now!

Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe are not even charging the TLC to represent them. That is some serious pro-bono work! TLC is also going ahead with their project 2022 movie, “The Incredible Lightness of Not being fed.” Feeding time is between 6 am, and 7 am every day. It then happens again at 6 pm. There are several rules, such as do not feed TLC during a hooman meal. Hoomans, seeing TCL eating, will not be as forthcoming with Table Food. TLC feels that this limits their ability to acquire food, and in that process, it is an unfair hooman advantage.

A hostile workplace is what TLC’s lawyers told me. TLC’s lawyers also informed me that I would not be able to play or portray myself in the upcoming movie. I asked if they could get Brad Pitt to play the part of me, but I was informed by Cheatem (he was the only lawyer available at that time) that the casting of my role had already happened. I know, knowing how frustrated TLC is about feeding that I should have asked. But sadly, I did ask who was playing me. I was saddened to find out that my role in the new TLC movie was to be played by SpongeBob SquarePants.

TLC Presents:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgnmpV1teUs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3xfr-oqvBE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePGJYmRY8A0

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Wander project chasing light…

A wise man once said, “consider both sides to understand a problem.”

Light, that form of energy that moves faster than the human eye can see. Yet, the human eye sees because light has revealed what was there. Shadows, the absence of light, are framed by the energy of light. It is, of course, the second, infinitely small amount of time, less than the blink of an eye. But light comes in waves like the ocean. One passes, but the next is already there. In the troughs between the waves, there is a new wave of light as well. Constant, until it isn’t. We are seen by the light, shared by the light, revealed by the light we pause but don’t always consider it.

What is light, after all? Is it something we can express? Can we, in breaking down the spectrum of light, understand why the blend is created? The lower the energy, the redder the light. Or the lower the energy, the bluer the light? Does that matter to anyone viewing? It is a scientific measurement that matters only in the sense of that transfer of energy, or what is heat. “The sun feels hot today.” The sun is hot every day, but the angle of its rays changes. In the winter season, the rays strike the hemisphere at such an angle that they bounce back into space.

That journey could last billions of years. Can you hear Carl Sagan of NASA? Billions of stars, he said. But the sound reverberated, and comics heard billions and billions and billions odd Infinitum as many billions as there are stars. Still, his point was clear more stars than we can count. The night sky filled with light that, for the most part, is older than the face turned upward to see. Reach to the sky, capture a star in your hand and hold the light. What’s that you say, you can’t reach that high? Even on a ladder, you cannot touch the top of the sky? Light, that form of energy that moves faster than the human eye can see.

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Wander project my compass is spinning

A child losing something that belonged to someone else has 100 excuses why it happened. An adult says it is my fault.

I am chasing the essence of where we are. Where we are doesn’t matter as a modifier, it matters as a course originally selected. Suppose you select due north and end up going south. The path chosen isn’t the path taken. That is the essence of where we are. Are we close to the path chosen? Are we close to the way we choose? That is the eternal question that lies before us. Are we near our chosen path? Or have we veered off to a new path? There is nothing wrong with veering off that path originally chosen; it is simply the reality of course correction.

Is it time for a correction here?

Would we, if that correction appeared, understand it? Would we be able to look at a new course, and closing our eyes realize, yes it is harder. Yes, the new course goes in a new direction. But it is the course we need to be on. It is the right thing to do. Then, of course, we must debate the word right. Right is sometimes used to convey direction (it is easier for a car to turn right than to turn left). Right also implies a connection to the fact, a connection to a great truth. But right also conveys a gift given; you have the right to do this. A confused word, right.

The trail, the path has a natural rhythm. A cadence, if you will. Finding that cadence is more connected with the path than if we never find the cadence. But, we can still complete the path without the cadence. It just becomes harder, and the chance of failure becomes more dangerous. We are unbalanced without cadence. If we stumble and fall, the impact is less in cadence than missing the cadence. So we struggle to find the cadence. We struggle to align with the path we are on. For our paths diverge from those of others (and sometimes converge).

Is it time to change paths now?

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Wander project 1 zucchini yuck

This morning I woke up with hair like the famous picture of Albert Einstein. I sat down to figure out if I had got relatively smarter during the night. Practice makes perfect, and it does take most of the night to get a hairdo like that! I decided to test my intelligence and see if I had gotten smarter with my new smarter hair! Unlike Satchmo Paige, I was unable to be at the coffee pot before the light came on. (Satchmo was a legendary baseball player, of whom it is said he could turn out the light and be in bed before the light was gone)!

I was to be relatively disappointed. I was no smarter this morning than I was yesterday. However, I do now have to brush my hair! One of the things we’ve been doing lately is having Saturday date night. Last night we decided instead of going out for dinner, we were going to make various things. By various means other than my wife and I, I am not sure many couples would consider what we made dinner! We started the evening with bacon-wrapped scallops in the air fryer. That is one of my all-time favorite things to make, and we added our favorite cocktail sauce!

Then, we made zucchini. I wouldn’t say I like zucchini cooked. Yuck. But I do like it raw. So we had cooked zucchini and raw zucchini. Contrary to my father’s long-held and oft-stated, “Your taste buds will mature.” Which was his way of saying. Eventually, you will like zucchini; I wouldn’t say I like zucchini, Sam I am. Not in the box, not with a fox. I d not liked cooked in anything. But I do like the taste of raw zucchini. But, sadly, I liked raw zucchini when my taste buds were immature. So, sorry, dad, that didn’t pan out. We ended up making a Portuguese breakfast treat as our last activity. Normally we would watch a movie on date night, but we ended up cooking for 3 hours last night!

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wander project the pictures…

One of the things that bother me is this cheating claim. If there truly was a system set up to steal elections, then why did 2016 happen?

One of the things I’ve been doing lately at work is Fun. Am I’ve Been Taking Pictures from Travel of the past and Making Them My Virtual Meeting Background. It is fun in that it starts a conversation. It also gives me a chance to wander images of the past. There are so many pictures taken in a lifetime. At some point, we have to stop and consider the rate of those pictures. Not a system to rate the quality of post pictures. Rather a discussion of how many pictures people take in a time. My father, and before him, his father, were avid photography hobbyists. My grandfather took around 6200 pictures from 1958 to his passing in 1972. Interestingly, my aunt taught my grandfather and my father I take pictures.

Over a few more years, my father added another 26,000 slides to the slides taken by my grandfather. That gave us roughly 32,000 slides to scan. All of the scans and slides were quality pictures because my father threw away the pictures he didn’t like. At some point, probably around the time mom and dad moved to the many farm’s dads stopped taking slides and started getting prints instead. There were another 60,000 prints to be scanned. Miscellaneous and pictures that I took pushed the initial project of scanning to almost 120,000 scans. It seems strange now to look back at all those pictures and the scanning project.

But this is more about the rate of pictures, not the scanning of pictures. My grandfather, over 12 years, took around 500 pictures a year. My dad, throughout his photography life, was closer to 800 pictures per year. It should be noted that the picture rate is not a quality bar. It is simply the number of pictures taken. Additionally the last five years of Dad’s life, he had a digital camera. His rate of pictures taken then climbed to more than 1000 per year. So, all of that to talk about my realization of how many digital pictures I take in a year. I have 12000 pictures on my iPhone (I’ve moved more than ½ to offline storage). I have had an iPhone for around nine years. That makes just the rate of pictures with my iPhone over 1000 per year. In fact, in the last 25 years, my average picture rate per year is nearly 2300 pictures a year.

,doc

Wander project do and say, do matters!

In a democracy, the majority rules. The minority must build coalitions and work with others.

Yesterday I heard a story that made me smile. A conversation was shared with me that involved something special. Two people talking, the topic was where did you go to college. The answer to the question was Indiana University. Indiana University and the school of education. The question then was, did you know Dr. Andersen? The answer, he was amazing. I cannot tell you how much that meant to me to hear that. To know that the amazing person I knew was well seen as amazing by other people. I told my mom. Her response was something I will treasure.

If he were still alive, mom said, he would likely remember that student. The one thing my parents taught me was to try and be a good person. We are not always able to do that, but we have to try. You see, it isn’t what you say. My grandfather used to always say that to me. Over and over, he repeated it. But in the end, he was right. It doesn’t matter what you say. You can say anything. It matters what you do. Actions, he would say, speak louder than words. So these words on this page convey a message. My action remains to try to be a good person.

But the other message I got yesterday was those actions matter. I remember both my parents working hard to help other people. When I was a teenager, my parents hosted a wedding in our house for two Thai Students. They kept in touch with those students for many years. But they opened their home to people from another country to be married in a place that made them happy. My mother makes quilts now as a small business. Each of the quilts is made with love. But I cannot tell you how special it is to get one as a gift. We have five quilts hanging on our walls as art because they are that special.

It isn’t what you say. It is what you do.

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