Author: anthony Page 31 of 72

I’ve been playing a lot of video games – as I may have mentioned – while I’ve been on break, but I’ve also been doing a little work around the house. Mostly organizing – I’ve seen too many episodes of Hoarders to be complacent in my basement.

Hmmm… that would make a good name for a band – “Complacent in the Basement”

Anyway, I came across a box of things that had been moved along with me for years, but rarely opened or gone through. One of the items was a tiny box – maybe two inches by three – made of wood with a hinged lid.

The box is empty except for a note taped to the inside of the lid.

“Wade, I hope you find this little cedar chest as handy as I have for keepsakes & what nots in your room. I’m sure you have seen it many times, and I would like you to have it in your room for keepsakes too. Love, Grandma Minnie,”
Minnie was my great-grandmother on my Dad’s side. She lived in a small house that shared a backyard with the old farm-house where we used to live when I was a kid.

Minnie was sweet and kind – always glad to see my sister and I in the yard or over at her house for fried apples and Barry Manilow on her record player. She kept a beautiful garden and we would find her there throughout the spring and summer.

I don’t remember exactly when she gave me this box, but I can hear her voice when I read the note she tucked inside it.

So, as I get ready to start off a new year, I think back a little to the sweet lady who was such a fixture in my life when I was very small.

Thank you, Grandma Minnie, for this empty little box.

Full of memories.

The university has been closed for winter break since the 24th of December and while I’ve been spending time with family and playing a lot of video games – I mean, a lot of video games – I’ve also been keeping up with one specific part of my work email.

On all the webpages on our site there’s a link at the bottom of the page that says, “Contact Us” and it points to a simple form – which, in turn, sends an email to webmaster@uakron.edu

Now, I’m not the webmaster, but I do answer his email. Through the rest of the year, the webmaster email is just one part of what I do during the regular workday. But, over the break, it’s the only task I keep up with from home.

I answer all the messages that come into that account and reply to the individuals with as much information as I can and direct them to the appropriate areas for when the university reopens.

I feel a little like a lighthouse keeper – keeping the lights burning in my tower and guiding the lost into port.

I take it seriously too. The young woman with a question might be our next freshman. The senior citizen looking for a photography class might also be a donor. And the young man worried about his grades might end up enrolling in graduate school.

A little light in the dark and a friendly voice over the waves might make the difference. And even if none of those things are true – well, it’s still a good thing to be polite.

So, I do my little part and keep up with the emails. Maybe a small thing, but worth it.

Until just yesterday, I hadn’t seen the movie Titanic. I had seen bits and pieces occasionally, but resisted because it was so hyped when it first came out.

(1) The more something is hyped, the less likely I am to go along with it.

By contrast, (2) the more someone tells me that I can’t or shouldn’t do something, the more likely I am to try it. Not the really dangerous stuff, but the challenges that should be beyond me.

Actually watching the Titanic – and it was an okay movie, incidentally – prompted some self exploration. And the results were distributing.

A staggering chunks of the decisions of my life have been ruled by those two impulses.

I’m contrary. Aggressively so.

Politics, religion, sports, marketing. The polar bear jump. Foods – cheese and onions in particular. I’ve pursued friendships where it’s clear the other person is fine in letting things go. And I’ve distanced myself from people who try too hard.

The clothes I wear. The movies I watch. The computer I use. The things I believe. All ruled by being deliberately contrary.

And where nobody is trying to push me or dissuade me, I’m generally somewhere in the middle and just go with the flow. If I’m pressured one way or the other, I launch myself in the opposite direction.

I guess now that I recognize it, I can get a better handle on it.

Not sure why I got this way. And I’ve been racking my brain to try and recall if anyone has figured this out and used it against me.

It’s damn odd. Interesting, I guess, but mostly odd.

And I guess this explains why I’m almost meditation-level relaxed around like minded people – no one is likely to really challenge me and send me careening to one extreme or the other.

I don’t feel a sudden need to try onions again. And I’m still going to sign up for the Polar Bear Jump.  But I’m going to try and give a little more thought about things when someone really pushes me.

Went to a bonfire last weekend with some friends. We needed some accelerates to get the fire going, but there was soon a nice fire – though the weather was warm enough for short-sleeves. Great conversations, fun with the kids, and the invention of the smorsel:

1. vanilla wafer on the bottom
2. chocolate piece
3. 1/2 toasted marshmallow
4. vanilla wafer on top

I followed up with a pretzel and I’m pretty sure we should have tried to add that to the mix.

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I took my cat to a new vet and while he may still need his teeth pulled, the vet was at least a little more compassionate about it. Thunder even started purring during the exam – which made me feel a little better.

I’ve got a dental supplement I’m adding to his water and every other day I’m using a small syringe to squirt a dose of a steroid into his mouth to help with the inflammation of his gums.

It’s not going great. He doesn’t hate me and really doesn’t mind it, but can’t help fighting me. I’ve gotten better at keeping him restrained long enough to get his mouth open and give him the dose.

His breath is maybe a little better and I’m hopeful that he won’t end up losing all his teeth.

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Yesterday was one year to the day of my epic fall – what I’m referring to as my “obliteraversary”. I’ll admit to being a little nervous for the day, but the mild weather and no ice or snow meant I was pretty safe. I was at a barn party and had a chance to ride a horse – but decided not to tempt fate.

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I’ve been sick the past few… days, weeks? I don’t know anymore. It really hit me yesterday evening and I spent most of the day today in bed sleeping or near to sleeping. More cold medicine for tomorrow – just need to get through the next three days and then it’s time for a break.

It’s mostly work stress compromising my immune system.  I’d like to get back to the good old days of just doing the work of 2-3 people.  Wearing me down…

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I was running at full speed today – work, meetings, supervising students, working on reports, email – non-stop. Even lunch was a hurried affair, but not so quick that I would fail to notice my flash drive had slipped out of my pocket at burger king. I figured I had knocked it out of my pocket when shoving napkins in – except it was suddenly on the ground at my feet in the parking lot. Followed by a tube of chap-stick that slid through the hole in my pocket and down my leg to my feet.

I grumbled, transferred everything to another pocket and was on my way.

The hole, however, was matched by one in my tire. I found that when I left work and got the Low Pressure warning when I started the car. I took my new tire gauge to the tire that had problems before and sure enough it was very low.

And that would be because of the screw embedded in it. It was holding enough air to get me to the tire store where they charged me an arm and a leg to replace the tire.

I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a couple of things and nearly got run over in the parking lot by a guy who – when I shook my head and waved him off – gestured wildly and shouted profanities at me from the safety of his truck.

And the day just got to me. They usually don’t – things don’t happen to me and when they do I don’t let them become a pattern of bad things in a day. They are just things and there are video games to be played.

But today felt like the holes were not just in my pants and tires – they were in me and the fun had just drained away.

Except.

When I first learned how to make origami butterflies, I stopped by my friend Sue’s office. From a simple square of paper – because I always have paper – I quickly folded a butterfly while she watched. I gave it to her and wished her a good day as I headed off to start my own day.

She told me a few days later that she’d had it sitting by her phone and it had made her smile every time she looked at it through a very difficult week.

Which, in turn made me smile.

So, I decided that would be my going away present for her retirement. I found a shadowbox in white and made a collection of butterflies, then mounted them with pins. I used all kinds of paper with the silliest latin-sounding names and the end result looked like something a lepidopterist would envy. I signed the back, wrapped it up, and waited for just the right time to give it to her.

Today, Sue stopped by the office to visit our new space and get the tour. As she was getting ready to go, I gave her the present – complete with a card wishing her a Happy/Merry “Retire-u-mas”.

She opened it up – and promptly burst into tears.

Happy tears. 🙂 I gave her a big hug and then another hug when one wasn’t quite enough.

And that was what was important about the day. Not the hole in my pants or in my tire. Not the terrible meetings and frantic emails. Not the jerk in the parking lot. Not just being so dang tired.

I spread some joy today. Just some flat out joy. I gave my friend a meaningful gift that touched her heart and made her day.

I’m going to miss her when she retires and leaves UA – we’re all going to be a little less without her sunshine.

But, on this cold winter day, some butterflies took off and flew. Can’t ask for more than that.

Went to dinner with some friends of ours – and their Excitable Little Dude. While waiting for the food, we did some origami and talked about video games. He was nearly beside himself to get to talk to a grown up who understood – and was fluent – in his language of giant fighting robots and explosions.

I didn’t get to talk much to the adults, but that was okay – he was certainly entertaining.

At the end of the evening, when we were at their vehicle, he realized that it was time to go.

And he had so much more to tell me.

The conversation went into overdrive has he tried to recount all of his best Gundam battles and adventures. At the last moment, he switched over to Minecraft.

As he was being literally pulled into the truck by harried parents he grabbed hold of the door frame to tell me one last thing.

“One time. In Minecraft. I set the whole world on fire!”

And with that final pronouncement and a somewhat maniacal grin on his face, he relinquished his grip and allowed himself to be pulled into the truck. And off they went.
Yeah, I get that a lot. 🙂

I was playing a video game last evening at Jim’s house and he handed me his iPad to take one of those facebook/internet personality quizzes. This one was based on picking a color from a list of options for each question.

I paused the game, ran through it, and waited for the results. It ended up saying that I was awesome and that everyone should aspire to be like me. Or something like that – I may have paraphrased that a bit.

I turned to Jim and – fishing for a compliment – asked, “So, do think that was accurate?”

Not missing a beat he replied, “Would you like to take it again?”

I laughed so hard I snorted.

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I decided to upgrade my phone recently and decided today would be the day. So, over the past few days I had been exporting and deleting my photos and removing apps. I even cleaned up my old phone and found the original case.

Took it into the store and got a great deal on a new phone – went from a Galaxy S3 to an S6. Which is a bit like going from the NCC 1701 (from the rebooted move, let’s be fair) to the NCC 1701-D.

I got a wireless charging station, screen protector, and a case for free and saved a bit on my monthly bill.

The only problem was how long it took. It took a while to move over the photos – apparently, I hadn’t actually deleted them from the super secret recycle bin. And then the text messages…

Apparently, I had accumulated 9,000 text messages.

Yeah.

We all know I’m kinda wordy and I had had the phone a while, but sheesh – 9,000?

The clerk suggested I go get a snack and come back in a half-hour. I got a cookie and green tea from Panara bread and spent 5 minutes in Rue 21/Rue Guy before deciding again that I’m too old and uncool to shop there – then went back to pick up my phone.

Today has been re-setting up the phone and installing apps. It’s a cool phone and I’m happy with the purchase.

And those 2 hours being off-line?

[shudder]

I got invited to Jim’s brother’s house for thanksgiving. We got there a little late and pretty much as soon as we walked in the door, his brother was handing me a giant fork and a craving knife – and aiming me at the turkey.

Now, I don’t know if this was some kind of Guest of Honor thing or if I’ve somehow convinced his brother that I know everything, but putting me in charge of carving the turkey is a terrible, terrible idea. My knowledge was limited to about a 30 second video of a professional chef that I watched two days ago. Also, I like my fruits and veggies raw and meats heavily processed. I know, intellectually, that turkey doesn’t start as thinly sliced deli meat, but I’m just not equipped to carve it myself.

At least I didn’t have to kill it.

So, I dug in there and started working over that turkey. To my astonishment, I sort of got the job done. There was turkey to eat along with the rest of the side dishes and no one went away hungry or complained about my ineptitude. Huh.
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After lunch, Jim’s nephew wanted my help in installing mods for Minecraft. These are independently written programs that extend the gameplay of the core game and can do things like add in more textures to the blocks or new gear and weapons. It took a little bit, but I figured out what files we needed and where they needed to go. It worked and he was super excited.

On the one hand, it was pretty cool to figure out how it all worked and get things going – and he was, as I mentioned, super excited. And I mean SUPER EXCITED!!!!!!

On the other… teaching a Minecraft addict how to install mods is a lot like saying to cocaine addict, “Hey, have you considered trying crack?”

He spent much of the rest of the afternoon blowing up villagers with a 5 story tall mecha-suit. His sister and I played card games – my experience with the games was a pretty even match for her ruthlessness.

She’s 10.

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Jim decided that he wanted to go to Home Depot today for Black Friday to get a couple of mirrors for his living room. I figured I would go along since I wanted to pick up a couple of….wait….

Why is so dang cold in here? I’m sorry, but I just realized that my thermostat knows it’s Friday and I should be at work right now. BRB…

…anyway… Right – extension cords.

We figured, “It’s Home Depot – how bad could it be?”

Sigh.

The line waiting to get in was stretched the length of the building. We got there just before 6 and went to the back of the line and waited a few minutes before we were led – like cattle, perhaps – into the welcoming arms of commercialism and home improvement.

There were clerks at the door who provided wildly vague or inaccurate directions to anyone that asked. And despite them, we eventually found the mirrors. Jim picked out two and stayed put while I went after cords. We met up and went through the self check-out with very little delay.

I guess I expected the worst, but it’s a huge store and once people got inside they just kinda spread out. No fist fights over 50% off grills or throw-downs in kitchen tile.

Kinda anti-climactic, actually.