Harry's Ruminations

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Random thought I had in church yesterday: Lawyers and their derivatives (Judges, etc.) are the apex people of our society. There is no one more powerful, ultimately, than a lawyer in American society, because these are the people who mediate disputes between two or more equal parties. Without lawyers and a judiciary, democracy couldn't exist with our current code of laws--people would get frustrated and start killing one another, and society would break down. At that moment, I made a conceptual leap -- lawyers' preeminence is directly related to our society. That is, I think any capitalist democracy will have many powerful lawyers. I thought through other forms and flavors of government and derived the 'apex people' I thought would fall out of them: Society type apex individual Feudalism/Manorialism Ex: medieval europe Lord of the manor Beaurocracy Government workers Enlightened Despotism Ex: Louis XIV France court syncophants Fascism Military Corrupt Bureaocracy M...

There's something unamerican about being at work at 6am. Whitney and I heard a great sermon yesterday about how to balance work, God, and home, and one suggestion from a guy who worked 45-50 hours/week (like me...) was to go in to work early, so that he could come home at a decent hour. Mondays are traditionally my longest days, so we set our alarm for 5 am and I was in to work by 6:08. I've answered every email I had, updated our internal department webpage, made coffee, looked at our PE situation, scheduled meetings, and I'm about to fall over. This may take some getting used to. Anyway, having reached a lull after 2 hours of uninterrupted work, I wanted to blog. Haven't done so in many days, and much has occurred. Joey and I washed both our cars and waxed the MINI yesterday. He was an exceptionally good helper, and we had lots of fun in the 65-70 degree weather with the hose. Other good news: I got the garage rearranged so that I can fit both cars snugly insid...

Bill Randall has a Website . Not a blog, for he disdains these unstructured musings, a WEBSITE. :-) good stuff, especially the lists of films he o'ersaw at GSP for the past 4 summers.

Setting the stage, I write this blog as my darling Bella exclaims, "And by the way, it's NOTHING like 'Garden State'". Yes, this Cameron Crowe written/directed opus is long, unconventional, and dialog heavy, but Whitney and I both loved it, and any Kentuckian is sure to love it as well. Nominally, "Elizabethtown" is the story of a wayward shoe designer (Orlando Bloom) who lost his benefactor corporation "roughly one billion dollars". At the very moment he's going to ginsu himself, he learns his father, favorite son of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, has died. His mom's thrown into overdrive, his sister is a mess, and he--as oldest--must fly from Oregon to Kentucky to bring his corpse home. What follows is a non-conventional fish-out-of-water tale, shot in and around Central Kentucky, as our wayward designer finds life and love. Critics complain the movie's slow, predictable, but they miss the point: This movie is the flavor of Kentuck...

Left: Patrick & MarkG

...and joey got to drive it

My sweetie and Joey gave me a new Fuji FinePix S3100, 4 Megapixel digital camera!! this is what I looked like when they gave it to me:

Sordid details here Lesson? Some business models don't work...a free, muckraking newspaper in an apathetic town without identity, for example. Tim Woodburn is a hockey hooligan who blew into town in 1995 along with the Kentucky Thoroughblades, insinuating himself into our sports-radio scene when the team left. From there he started "Snitch," and apparently couldn't keep his mouth shut to investors, etc. A paper that I won't miss.

There's little in life that compares to coming out of the shower to find you wife, clippers in hand, having utterly destroyed one side of her son's head, and realizing that she must 'even it up'. It's a simple story really: Best of intentions ("Just a trim around his ears"), worst of possible outcomes (at this she says, "well, at least he's not bald"...never blog aloud...:-) ). Kid's a little short to starboard now. Port is well tapered, but that's because I seized the WWMD (Wahl weapon of mass destruction) before she could attack. Of course, this was a gut-check moment for Whitney. Whom did she love more: Joe, or Joe's hair. For awhile, I doubted. But now, minutes later, I'm certain: his hair. Later on, Joey appeared at the landing, a "hanger" on his finger. Bella sent him to bed, but he protested: "Aren't ya gonna clip it off". 'Neath her breath, she replied, "You don't want me n...

Harold needs a picture on his wall Harold needs a Christmas tree Harold needs to explore in order to learn and grow Harold needs a Chrismas tree, damnit Harold needs to come out of his shell and enjoy life Harold needs to know his true feelings Harold needs a frickin' CHRISTMAS TREE Harold needs a Christmas tree Harold needs a career Harold needs no one Courtesy Josh

Unlike This guy , I think my home has a new Mac convert. Whitney really likes my powerbook, especially its ease-of-use and its ability to 'instant on' from closed to open in 1 second. That's very interesting, because her machine is a top-notch Thinkpad R40, a total tank workhorse that I bought for her Christmas of 03. Last night she asked me to show her how to hook-up our digital camera and import + edit pictures...muhaha.

I get a free subscription to "Information Week," the softcore executive-digested version of "Software Developer" magazine. In this week's issue there's an article by Chris Murphy entitled "Speak Up for the IT Career," whose thesis is there's a huge market for talent in IT, but few young people wish to go into IT/Programming in college, so companies are forced to outsource. Telling quote from the article: One of the first IT courses is a beginning programming class, which involves hours on end alone at the computer. "It's a turn-off because people think that's all there is to IT, and there's a lot more than programming...I'd rather be in a team diagnosing problems, not in front of a computer all day." Let me rewrite this in a more familiar context: One of the first med-school courses is anatomy, which involves hours on end of looking at books and cadavers. "It's a turn-off because people think that's all...

What do you get when you cross two newlyweds with a 48 hours of uninterrupted together time? Sex? Nah...painting. The Devine Mrs. C hated her kitchen color, so I brought her flowers on Friday, made us some drinks, looked longingly into her blue eyes and said, "Honey, let's paint the kitchen." Trips to Lowes ensued, exhausting our last gift card and about $200 more, buying paint, painting paraphernalia, and painter's tape. After disembowling our kitchen/dining room, we set out binding it with strips of blue tape at each sensitive edge. Then we assaulted it with Kilz Primer, then another coat. Saturday came and went, and our kitchen was white, with a murky tinge of brown beneath. We awaited the morn, ripe for our final victory. Home from church, and I started the assault, when the catharsis came: "I don't like this color!" Angry words ensued, accusations, reproaches, and finally: "Go to Lowes and buy 3 colors you might like, then let's try...

In my readings through Exodus and Leviticus, Aaron fascinates me. Brother of Moses, spokesman for the Lord, father of four sons, first high-priest of the Israelite nation, this guy (basically) had more power and importance than any other man of Israel, yet he's a footnote. What was he like? How did he weather being a perennial second? The Torah doesn't give us much to go on for Aaron. So much of rich biblical history passes him by--the plagues of Egypt, the Exodus, the golden calf, the construction of the Tabernacle, Moses's law--and yet we don't see any of his motivation. WHY did he construct the golden calf when he knew it was wicked? HOW did he survive two of his sons being "consumed by the fire of God" (Leviticus 10:1-4)? Despite his deficiencies, the day-to-day spiritual life of Israel was his to oversee: Sacrifices, Sabbath observance, dietary restriction. Moses gave the law, but Aaron was the general that oversaw its implementation. The only pa...

The difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing. -- Michael E. Gerber Indeed.