90min

I had heard a little bit about these before, but KSDK did a story about ones in St. Louis.  I’d no idea that these were to be found here.

Basically, they are mysterious, cryptic pieces of art applied to pavement, and have been found all over North America, with some in South America and Europe.  They seem to reference resurrecting the dead on Jupiter, and somehow linking that with Stanley Kubrick’s 2001.

I don’t get it, but it’s interesting to ponder.  The best site I found for researching them was at toynbee.net.  They’ve got photos, a listing of location, some websites and a good bit of general information about the tiles, the man they’re named after and the process that appears to be used for making them.

Cool, weird, and kinda interesting.  I think I’ll search out the ones in St. Louis and see what the fuss is about.  🙂

1.5mi

Tonight was such a beautiful night, we had to take the pups on a walk. (Our pups — not the camper. She’s too little for that!)

I love this time of year. The nights are not too hot year, the humidity isn’t too bad, and the sunsets can be gorgeous. Given my choice, I’d have three seasons a year — summer would be the odd one out!

Last night, our dog trainer, Kris, dropped off precious cargo for Beck and I to take care of while she’s in Mexico… a cocker spaniel puppy!

Fergie (“I’m Too Sexy For My Fur”) is a little 3-1/2 month old sable cocker spaniel, and is one of Kris’ prized dogs.  It’s been a while since we’ve had a pup in the house, and I’d forgotten how rambuncious they can be.  She’s fearless, running right up to Molly and Emma without a care.  Emma is doing the right things, with low grumbles and a very tolerant spirit.  Molly, OTOH, is mortified of the pup.  Tonight, Molly finally stood her ground a bit and barked at the pup, but she’s still hyper-salivating and is not at all comfortable with Fergie around her.  Hopefully that’ll straighten itself out, as I don’t want Molly that stressed.
So for two weeks, it’s Becky’s Puppy Kamp, and I get to reap all the benefits!  🙂

Harriet set up a walk for St. Louis Berner folk today — what a glorious day for it!  The weather was superb, with a cloud-covered sky, and temperatures in the 60s.  The pups loved it!

I love getting around a bunch of these gentle giants.  I think I was set for life when we took Molly to the speciality in West Virginia back in ’02.  That probably ruined me for other breeds, although I still have a high appreciation for the big hairy dogs:  Newfoundlands, Great Pyrenees and Leonbergers.  Guess I like dogspit and dogfur, eh?

Anyway, the walk today was great, with more than a dozen of the big ol’ dogs showing up for a couple of hours of walking and fellowship in the park.  This is the first time we’ve had one of these events in about three years, and it was great to see Berners we hadn’t seen since then.  Folks even remembered Molly — she was laid up from her TPO surgeries the last time most of these folks had seen her — and asked after her health.

As all good things do, this event had to wrap up.  No fights, only a couple of grumbles from dogs getting a little too close for comfort with others — that’s a cool thing.

So Harriet, when’s the next get-together?  🙂

This morning, Beck and I met Don and Chris for breakfast at the Bread Co.  We’ve worked with both of them before, and when they worked with us, we’d have these fantastic lunches with a topic of discussion for the day.  The only rule in those days was that we couldn’t talk about work.

This morning was so reminiscent of those days.  We discussed poetry, photography, wood working, politics, safety on the internet, and loads of other topics — including the various kind of work that we’re each involved in.  I hadn’t realized how much I missed those mental gymnastics!  They both have terrific, grounded views of the world, and I really enjoy bouncing ideas off them.

Perhaps this should be a periodic breakfast meeting?  That’d be cool!

Last night, I went over to Stage Left to meet Leigh (owner) and talk about my upcoming exhibit.  While there, I tried a nice Sumatran coffee.  Delicious!

Now, I’ve decaffeinated over the last six weeks or so, and within 45 minutes I could feel the go-juice coursing through me.  I spent the rest of the evening doing photoprocessing and printing, and it just seemed like I was worked faster.

I love what caffeine does to me.  I hate what caffeine does to me.

I know caffeine is a stim, and I know it keeps me awake at night — I have enough problem trying to sleep without that added to the mix — but I sure feel like I’m firing on all cylinders when it’s running through me.  The challenge I have, as with almost anything in my life, is that it’s either “not at all” or “all the time” for almost eveything I do — there is no middle ground, no moderation.

So when I start doing caffeine, I do caffeine.  Not such a good thing.

It was interesting though to feel the effect of a good caffeinated coffee for a while last night.  Maybe I’ll just save the Real Joe for crunch times and deadlines.  Seems like a good “medicinal” use of the stuff, eh?  🙂

Mary just called to let us know that her and John’s baby came knocking just about on time!  Anthony John was delivered at 3.22pm today, and from what I understand, John, Mary and baby are all doing great.

This is a great blessing for them.  They wanted a child so very bad, and it’s just so wonderful that they were blessed with this child!

After a night full of coding on the photo side of the site, and some iTunes data manipulation, I went to bed, leaving my iPod charging in my office.

As is my habit in the morning, I checked my e-mail and the blog, and picked up my iPod out of the charging stand, dashing out of the house…. only to forget my headphones.  Ugh.

For most folks, that probably wouldn’t be a huge big deal.  However, I hadn’t realized what I was missing each morning in the office while I worked hard and grooved to my iPod.  The amount of chatter, inane and otherwise, is amazing and totally distracting to me.  From the time I got to work (6.30am), I’ve endured listening to too many conversations and too much to listen to.  From American Idol chit-chat, to conversations about one management chain or another, to just normal hellos….. wow.  I’d no idea how much of that I was drowning out in my music.

I guess I’ve discovered that I enjoy the solitude of my music in the morning as I wake up and get my feet under me.  What’s funny is that I keep thinking I wanna do that when I go photographing, and never do.  The rustle of the wind, the calls of the birds, and the sound of nature are all appealing to me.  I enjoy listening to the heartbeat of the earth as I tromp around in the great outdoors.

Then again, I’m decaffeinating again, so that could be impacting how sensitive I am to all the ruckus in the office!

I am not a morning person, nor have I ever been.  In secondary school, I had to catch the early shift of busloads of kids travelling to the schoolhouse.  This made for a daily epic battle that pitted my mother against myself to see whether I would get up in time to get ready, and make it to the bus stop in time.  While my sense of responsibility has gotten better — the Air Force did that to me — my desire to meet the morning is no greater than it was.

However….

Every once in a while, I catch morning, and I don’t want it to end.  So what is this morning that I bumped into again this morning?  It’s a sense, a smell, a song, an action.  It’s a tapestry of sensory inputs that somehow captivates me, at once both fleeting in their existence, but contrarily enduring in their impact.  This captivation is seldom repeatable on demand, despite striving so hard to capture it again and recreate its essence.  Somehow though, I find a way of bumping into a close relative of it on another occassion, and that is a good thing.

This morning, the event was launched with my drive through the countryside toward the office.  I tuned to Fine Tuning on XM (XM 76), and caught them playing “Autobahn” by Kraftwerk… the whole 23 minute electronic symphony.  Darla says that I’m a “tapestry of contradiction”, and the fact that I can reconcile driving through the countryside at slow speed with a mid-70s electronic masterpiece is likely a good example of that.  Once that familiar tune flowed from the speakers, I had to open the sunroof a tic and enjoy the 45 degree spring weather outside the truck.  And it’s then that I was struck with… morning.

I tried to find ways to extend the moment — driving the speed limit, stopping at Starbucks for a cup of hot goodness, and generally trying not to hurry through my travels this morning.  There was nothing I could do to extend the morning as far as I wanted — I had to head to the office.  Bad ol’ sense of responsibility.

I’ll tell ya, it’s frustrating not to be able to revel in this joy of discovery and observation when I bounce into it — the sense of responsbility rears its ugly head and interferes with the sheer enjoyment of the moment — but I’m glad that I have these moments every now and then.  I can see a day when my job will be to enjoy and revel in mornings and events like this, but until then, I will grab as much of the essence of the moment as I can, and carry it with me until I can reflect on it, and truly enjoy it.

Last night, Beck and I went to Laura’s wake.

This was such a familiar scene to me — it was so very reminiscent of Dad’s wake three-and-a-half years ago.  There were bunches of folks from the office — including a fair number of people that no longer work with us — there to support Suli, along with family and Laura’s friends.  It was hard to see the obvious pain on Suli’s face, but every once in a while, that broad smile of his would shine through.

There were little pockets of folks here and there, talking about Laura and Suli, remembering them happy, and her well.  We sat around with a big group and just shared good memories of the both of them, trying not to let the hurt show through too much.

This was hard for me to go do… so many things about Dad’s wake and funeral sprang back to the forefront.  But Suli was there for us during the joyous time of our wedding though, so the very least we could do is support him during this tough time.  And that’s really what it’s all about, isn’t it?  Being there for friends.  In the end, being surrounded by our friends and family is what keeps us sane.  With that in mind, Suli must surely be the sanest person in the world at this time.