Relative Something

Sunday has become my only day of rest from the demands of the day-job lately. It makes it much more precious when you only have one day off. At the same time, I find myself needing to be careful not to put too much pressure on myself to expect the day to provide twice the reward.

It is snowing again today here. Not yet the kind of snow that accumulates on the ground. More like the cosmetic snow to make it appear pretty outside. Minnesota is a place with something of a reputation for snow and cold, but there are many other states in our nation that experience greater accumulations of snow. Right now our current snow pack is getting old. It develops a crust and collects grime, losing a lot of its visual enticement. It feels wrong to hear that other cities to the east are receiving dumps of nearly 2 feet of snow while our landscape grows more crusty and grimy. Quite frankly, I’m just jealous.

Yesterday, Cyndie and I snatched a little weekend activity out of a Saturday which was also a work day for me, by going to see a movie currently released in theaters. We saw 127 Hours in which James Franco has the lead role as adventurous Aron Ralston in the story of his death-defying experience in a canyon in Utah. The viewing was intense and exhausting just sitting in our theater seat. The Director, Danny Boyle, deserves credit for accomplishing quite a feat.

Before I started writing today’s post for Relative Something, I found myself visiting my virtual community, Brainstorms, and it occurred to me that I often choose that destination as a priority, prior to writing. My energy there lately is being bolstered by a project I conceived to interview members for a weekly newsletter that features highlights of the discussions occurring. This coming Friday will mark the 13th anniversary of the creation of Brainstorms. Last week, I enjoyed the great pleasure of interviewing the founder to mark the occasion. Doing the interviews is an energizing activity that I greatly enjoy, but I think it steals some momentum from my daily process for this blog. It is unfortunate that my activity there isn’t able to translate to here.

There is no doubt that the depth and breadth of things I discover in my participation in the community discussions of Brainstorms greatly informs my writing, as well as pretty much every other aspect of my life. Heck, it took me all the way to Portugal and my great friend Ian and his family. It is one of the relative somethings that inspire me to share my take on things and experiences.

Today, just a few tidbits of a Sunday.

I worked hard yesterday to accomplish an improvement at the day-job facility. Pictures tell it all…

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When I was a much younger man, working for a mid-sized company in the 1980s and ’90s, there was talk of a move toward becoming ‘paperless’ in our business dealings. Over two decades later that ideal has yet to be achieved. Even though, as fast as technology has moved, with cell phones shrinking each time a new model is introduced, and now becoming dramatically more than just phones, we still have failed to achieve many of the goals that visionaries keep boasting are possible.

Well, sure, they are possible. There are houses that are completely computer controlled, down to the inventory of groceries. But how many people actually live in one? No one that I know. At the same time, there are still people that have VHS tape players hooked up to their televisions. As fast as technology appears to move, there remains a fair amount of lag for complete adoption of the latest and greatest by the masses.

At my current day-job, business is pretty strong right now and orders have been arriving in bunches. I’m afraid we are taking a significant bite out of the forests with all the paper we are going through. We are advanced enough to have computers at work, but we are a bit behind the new technology curve, using outdated software programs on hardware released around the turn of the century.

It is sad to think about how many advances in technology are being rolled out year after year, yet how difficult it is to implement them all in a timely and effective manner.

I’m left wanting to go out and plant more trees to compensate for all the business we are doing lately. How many months do you think it will be until the ground thaws?

As our local temperatures moderate, and we enjoy a brief respite from the biting freeze of the past week, I am feeling some appreciation for what a break in the weather can mean to others around the world. The news out of Nepal lately is revealing another bout of bad weather for flying up to the most dangerous airport in the world. It has again trapped tourists, and a group of climbers who had reached the summit of Everest, that are waiting to get back to Kathmandu.

I remember well the feeling of waiting in the Kathmandu airport for our turn to board a flight on one of the small Twin Otter type planes that fly up to Lukla. There is palpable excitement mixed with anxiety throughout the terminal as groups are quickly ushered out on the tarmac to board their flight. Then there can be a long time when nothing seems to be happening. In April of 2009, one group ahead of us ended up coming back when clouds suddenly obscured Lukla, forcing the pilots to turn around. My friends and I waited most of that day before being told to return to our hotel for an additional night. We would get up and try the same thing on the following day, fortunately, that time meeting with success.

But waiting on the way in is a lot different than on the way out. Going in, we had the planned contingency days to use up, in case of problems. Coming out, we had no such luxury. I doubt many trekkers do. You use all the extra time you can to acclimatize to the extreme elevation. By the time you return to Lukla after hiking or climbing, you are going to be worn out and very ready to return to the comforts of home, and probably out of days and short of money. On our trip, I recall a very strong desire for everything to work out as planned. I must have projected that desire with healthy imaging which helped to assure our success. That morning was clear and sunny for our departure. We experienced no delay.

My heart goes out to those tourists who find themselves socked in for days upon days in Lukla when they are wanting to be going home. It’s a great place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to be trapped there!

I don’t remember laughing as hard at a movie as I did last night watching Tina Fey and Steve Carell ply their trade in Date Night. Was it that I was expecting much less? Was it that the supporting cast lifted the movie beyond the usual product for this genre? Was it that I was a prime fit for the most logical target audience? Yeah, I think all of that contributed to my great pleasure.

Wow, was that a lot of fun. I don’t recall what I read or heard that had me thinking it failed to deliver on the enticement I felt the first time I saw the trailer, but I sure had that impression. I would like to think that this is evidence that I shouldn’t trust the reviews I hear about these kinds of movies being a disappointment. However, if I always choose to see for myself, I think I would end up suffering through more duds than gems. More often than not, I think the word on such movies is accurate. I think the surprise I enjoyed last night was an exception. A gem among the rest. One that more than lived up to my first impression that Steve and Tina could be darn good in these roles.

It’s hard to say what was more fun for me. I don’t know whether it was that the movie turned out to be better than I anticipated, or that I found myself laughing out loud so often in reaction to a movie.