4.22.2007

Holy Big Word Batman

Its unusual when there's a large word in a standard newspaper. Particularly those words which require a certain knowledge-base. In this case, the word was outside of my knowledge. I actually had to look it up. I can't remember the last time that happened.

The article? What the Killers Want - washingtonpost.com

The word? solipsistic




I spent the rest of the day doing yard work. And stalking stores for a Wii. We now have 14 bulbs planted, about 30 tulips coming up in back, a hummingbird feeder, a regular bird feeder, a bird bath (of a sort), and a freshly thatched front yard. Yesterday I cleaned up all the big sticks from the noreaster.

I miss living in a condo a bit with all the LESS work I had to do.

4.08.2007

Art and Context

Pearls Before Breakfast - washingtonpost.com

Interesting. I'd like to think I'd have noticed... although if I were on my way to work I probably couldn't stop and listen. But then, I actually have met Joshua Bell and have his autograph. It was from a master class with him I attended - not that I was getting the input into my playing, I was just in the audience.

4.06.2007

Work Stuff

I realize I haven't said anything about how my life's going lately. I've been swamped.

I've been working on my taxes, which are really complicated this year. And, for some strange reason, I can't find the one critical piece of paper the accountant needs.

I'm heading down to HQ next week. I'm hoping to finally have my annual review. Right now there's a lot of people moving around (over, up, down) in my organization right now. I know that I am being moved up a bit, soon. Just not yet. Which is frustrating. Because I still have the crappiest title in the books - Process Specialist. Everyone I work with has either 'IM Mgr' (which I had when I first started, or 'IT Project Leader' or 'IT Black Belt'. And I'm doing the exact job they are doing, except I'm doing it better.

I'm also refereeing a good bit, and fencing a good bit. Having a top fencer to train with is really nice. And because she has a great attitude about training, it makes it fun. When we bout, we're both laughing over our mistakes. Unlike where I was before where people started cursing as soon as they messed up - even in practice. She's also teaching her husband to fence. So the larger training group - we do drills and footwork every night before bouting - tends to be 3-5 very advanced fencers, and 3-5 beginner fencers. All of the fencers in between, tend to just bout. Some days we have about 20 people in our informal training class. The 3 core advanced fencers, myself, Kerry and Tom, all take turns leading drills and footwork. We occasionally have the beginners try out leading footwork.

The odd thing for me is, I cannot get hired for any national event except for summer nationals. I didn't work a single NAC. I got hired for college and local events, which pay a lot more. I made $200 reffing a SYC this past weekend where I only needed to work for 6 hours total over the 2 days. I was done by noon each day.

So Monday, I'm off to DC then Charlottesville then DC. Lots of people to see. It should be good.