Onwards and upwards

My day to day workload these days is about 104 things.
My own task management system means that I do not accomplish any of things, but nothing gets left too far behind. I guess you could say that I fail equally.
No spikes, no valleys.

That may not be a sustainable system.

You cannot outsmart crazy

So don't try.

The moment you try to outsmart the crazy, you are behind the eight-ball. Crazy is a moving target. Aim at it, and it's already moved on ahead.

So how do we prepare for it? How do we reject it? I think it is based on the idea that while you cannot outsmart crazy, it cannot derail you.

Keep going, don't adjust course based on craziness, and crazy will miss you.

There's some kind of metaphor... in the back of my head, for a thing that can only affect you if you look at it, and if you ignore it, is powerless to injure you.

Snow and driving

I am imagining a course for winter driving. REAL winter driving:

Lesson 1: Steering.
In a front-wheel drive car, you steer with the same wheels that you pull with. Therefore... The less you steer, the more power you will have.
If you turn early into a corner, you will drag the back end (the non-steering and non-pushing) end of your car through the snow. Click here and learn the late-apex turn

Lesson 2: Power.
Imagine for a moment, that you are spinning your tires. What happens when you give more gas? If you answered "magical pixies will give me traction", please buy a bus-pass. If you answered "the tires will spin faster", you win a cookie.
Lay off the damn gas when your tires are spinning.

Lesson 3: Braking.
You have more braking power when your wheels are turning than when they are not.


Lesson 4: Tires.
Snow. Tires.
That is all for Lesson 4
Supplemental Reading.

Lesson 5: Getting unstuck.
This will combine all the above lessons. You will learn to steer gently, accelerate very slowly, on good tires. Students who fail will have to take Lesson 6.

Lesson 6: Shoveling and Pushing.
First: Wear proper clothes. Hat, mitts, boots, coat.
Second: Take a shovel.

Any questions?

2010 reflection number 1

(I said number 1 in case there are more)

2010 was a year of recovering from mistakes and errors. Not a year of great success, as those came in 2009 for the most part, and not entirely a year of _making_ mistakes, although there were some of those, too!

I am significantly a better person than I was a year ago, but as always, that process has been one of constructive criticism, not one of being awesome. Being awesome has never resulted in me being actually better, compared to 'digging out' from previous mistakes

Dentist!

I am at the dentist for the first time in living memory. Pray for me!

Waiting

So SheWhoDoesNotHaveABlogNickname and I are waiting for the contractor to meet. Maybe we will fire him. We sure as hell will fire him if he doesn't show up.
That will suck.

House onwards

So the house project continues very very slowly. It's actually starting to seriously impact my karmic balance.
The future of the house is literally up in the air, which leaves my possessions, my space and The Boy's space and possessions up in the air as well.
I have done what homework I could think to do with the contractor, but his pace is now a major cause of worry. Without significant advances quickly, this reno could have negative consequences for the rest of the house.
I've done my best to treat the house well over the last few years, with mixed success, but I may have gotten in over my head on this one. And while it would be 'facile' to say that I'll learn a lot regardless of whether this succeeds, I'm not happy doing that with several hundred thousand dollars of house and home.
And I must also remember that maybe it will be just fine and will come together ish sha Allah.