20070423

Listening this morning to Joshua Bell's "Voice of the Violin" - excerpts of which are currently running at his website. Wonderful.

Sad news this weekend on the death of an older farmer in Iowa that some of us here knew - there was some kind of tractor accident. He was the dad of our kid's 'youth group' leader - his farm was typically included as a stopover during trips to Chicago, for an evening campfire and a day of hanging out around the farm. He will be very missed, some here are sorting out how to attend the funeral.

Beautiful cardinal at the birdfeeder.

20070421

Howdy do. Cloudy day.

Thinking I should pick up a Kurt Vonnegut book today. If the weather was better, I'd be thinking about a wilderness canoe trip. The book is much less expensive.

Studying "Novelty Requirement - Loss of Right to Patent" which is by nature a bit dry, though a good exercise in logic.

Wishing to spend some time building computer programs to deal with some of the manual data handling in my job. I think I know what needs to be done, but hard to know where the break-even point is in spending the time programming vs. just doing it. Usually the programming leads to a better understanding of the data, so can be worth it for that. If you like that sort of thing.

The ants are making their appearance, so alerts are going out around the house to not leave dirty dishes in the sink. These small stresses are usually managed ok, although I start imagining creative ways of dealing with the ants. Which I suppose can lead to a better understanding of ants. If you like that sort of thing.

And so it goes, and since I do like Vonnegut I might just go and get that book now.

20070418

Ten days gone by. Between A, B and C there isn't always time for J, H, and I, let alone the unexpected Q and Z, if you Scrabble what I mean. From that line alone you know I need rest.

The learning never stops.

20070408

Today a fellow musician sent this link of Joshua Bell playing for tips in a metro station in DC. I found it to be a fascinating experiment.

And now for the meme questions...(Annie asked me to write on the topics listed below, similar to what she has done on her writing blog).

How do you achieve balance in your life?

The basics - enough rest, good nutrition, exercise, time with family and friends. Taking time to recharge by playing music and writing is also important for me.

What is your biggest challenge in balancing your life?

It varies, but getting enough rest may be the biggest, followed by exercise - and the two are related. It comes down to setting boundaries on things like studying and handling work-related items.

What are your priorities?

Based on how I actually spend time, it looks like work is a hugely important priority. And it is important, in part because of a significant career change that's involving a lot of learning. But another major priority is playing music, which usually means playing either violin or bass guitar in a group with people that similarly need to take time to play. And another very huge priority is being available for my family - giving rides, talking, helping with homework...whatever comes up.

How have your priorities changed over time and why?

I went through an intense period of studying computer programming and database design. This was in part related to work but also was just letting my head work on something different. Prior to that time I used to study foreign languages, for much the same reasons. And now I study how people go about doing inventions - same story. I used to exercise a lot but this took too much time and was not what I would call balanced - 3 times a week is a good goal now.

What advice can you share to help all of us balance our own lives?

Try to not stress too much about keeping balance. It's not really very possible sometimes, depending on choices that have been made. I do like the idea of taking responsibility for choices and using good judgement whenever possible, especially when it's time to say "no." Nicely, but still needs to be said. And remember to breathe.

I guess part of the meme idea is to then tap someone else...I'll need to think about that part though.

20070406

Early rising.

Been a full week, pushed in some ways but good for learning where I need to set some boundaries. Otherwise things like writing get overwritten by other scripts.

In one of the bands we're doing 'You Raise Me Up' - I love the feel of that song.

More later.