Snippets of things that have crossed my mind this week… or this year… or my whole life.

Jaycee Lee Duggard

Arrggghhhh… that poor woman who turns up after being abducted 18 years ago. Thank goodness she’s alive, but jeez! Can you imagine what kind of emotional basketcase she must be… not only to have had to endure the physical torments of her abductor, but also being subject to his insane religious crap!! And then, as horrible as it must have been, to have it all, the only life she’s known for a LONG time, ripped away?!?!

I read some of the posts on the guy’s blog… the most “interesting” one being where he discussed how he can control sound with his mind, and how ultimately, he will use it for the salvation of the whole world. Um, no thanks.

Even though I’m not a parent, if this had happened to a child of mine and if I was given the chance to inflict punishment, I would definitely invoke the “eye for an eye” retribution in this case. I’d stick him in a small place in the middle of nowhere, have his only access to another human being when someone is raping him, create enough pain to simulate giving birth to two children, take away his access to drugs (which apparently, he’s done a ton of), and make him listen to something totally antithetical to his belief system blared over loud speakers 24/7. And I’d make sure he had a plentiful supply of sharp razors nearby, just in case he wanted to do us all a favor and rid the world of some trash.

If this were your child, and you had a chance to do anything you wanted to her abductor, what would you do?

During the relaxing and blissful time at the lake last weekend, we watched From Here to Eternity. Neither of us had ever seen it, although we’d both seen the famous scene of Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr kissing on the beach as the water came in over them. I suppose the reason that’s so famous is because it was so bold for its time. In reality, it is not the most important part of the movie, nor is their story line.

What’s interesting is that Frank Sinatra, Montgomery Clift, Donna Reed, and Ernest Borgnine are also leading characters in the movie, and I never even knew they were in it!! It’s actually a pretty good movie… unlike my opinion of Citizen Kane. Even though that is a wildly famous movie, I can’t for the life of me figure out why!

I received a call yesterday AT WORK from a recruiter. I thought it was in terribly bad taste for a recruiter/headhunter to call on behalf of one employer to another employer’s place. Found out from from our HR guy that the practice is actually quite common and not considered unethical in the HR world. It still made me uncomfortable. Go figure.

I’m happy where I work. I like my co-workers (and I think they like me), the pay is good, I’m respected in my area of expertise enough that I’m at least listened to, I am able to do several different kinds of projects so I don’t become too bored,  I have a degree of authority and responsibility as a manager, the company’s market share is solid, and the commute is easy.

So here’s the question: If you were in my position, where the positives far outweigh the negatives, what would it take for you to be lured away from your current job? At some point, even a significant raise in pay would not offset having to start over as the low person on the totem pole, the learning curve of a new place, not knowing the people you work with, etc. So what would it take for you to entertain the thought of leaving a place you enjoy working?

I watched a Backstory episode on GAC a couple of nights ago, and it was a very interesting piece about Darius Rucker, former lead singer for Hootie and the Blowfish. I really liked his voice when he sang for them and was interested to find out what he’s doing these days.

Turns out, he’s always been way more into country music than rock/pop. So now that he’s no longer with the band, he’s started to record country music. Yesterday, I downloaded his debut album Learn to Live. I’ve only listened to it once, but I liked what I heard, solid songs, but nothing that blows me away. The only thing somewhat disappointing about it is that there’s little to no resemblance to his  Hootie-days voice. I liked the rough, gravelly sound that he used to have, but heard only echoes of it in his country work. His voice in these country songs is much more mellow and subdued, not what I expected.

Based on the mostly positive reception he’s received already, and assuming he keeps up the good work, I can imagine a very long career for him in the country music world.

Most of the time, I can put a positive spin on the things that happen to me, the circumstances I find myself in. Of course, I can also put a cynical and cautionary spin on them as well. Most of the time, the spin depends on my mood at the time.

Last night, S and I were waiting in the drive through at Brewster’s. It was taking sooooo long for us to even move up in the queue, and I was getting impatient. A large crowd of people were ordering at the walk-up window, and I’m guessing they get priority over the people in the drive thru. (Harrumph)

So S and I are just talking, about the lottery, about work, about the upcoming weekend, and so forth. I made the comment that this was the longest wait I can EVER remember sitting in line for anything. I didn’t say it angrily, but simply as a statement of fact.

S said equally as matter of factly with a smile on her face, “But at least we’re together.” Well, call me a softie, but that just made my heart melt. And I realized, yes, we were together, and having good conversation, about so many things. And it’s rare that we are just sitting alone talking. One or the other (or both) of us is usually working or on the computer or something else that keeps us from focusing on the conversation.

I not only appreciated that she reframed that impatient moment of mine and turned it into a positive, but turned it into a moment of affirmation that she enjoys being with me. I can’t tell you how much that means to me. No matter how confident we are, no matter how much we like ourselves, it’s still nice to hear from the people we value most, that they value us in equal measure. I love moments like that.

I started off thinking that I was going to blog about color and light, and how, without light, there is no true “color.” But the more I thought about it and read about it, the more my stream of consciousness took me into some murky backwaters. The thought of trying to explain what I was thinking, and the implications of it all was almost existential. For goodness sake! I don’t want to write that heavy stuff on a Thursday night when the Golden Girls are on, and I’m SURE you don’t want to read it!

But while I was reading about color theory, I came across a couple of neat optical illusions (and thus the throwback to the creepy Doug “It’s an Il-LU-sion”  Henning from the 70s).

The orange circles are exactly the same color orange. Our perception of their hue is affected by their surroundings.

The first illusion is pretty straightforward and simple, but interesting nonetheless. See the caption for what makes it interesting.

The second one is really cool. I will explain it here, rather than in the caption.

(Well, the animation would not work when I published this. You can go here to see the effect, but you can read what to expect below. Sorry about that!)

There are twelve purple dots, and a every 1/10 of a second or so, a purple dot is replaced with a lilac dot in sequence clockwise around the circle.

If you stare at the cross in the middle of the circle for about 20 seconds, your peripheral vision will see this:

First, the lilac dot will become a gap, moving around the circle.
Then, the gap will appear as a green dot. (This happened quickly for me. I didn’t see the gap but for a second.)
Finally, the dots will disappear as if it’s “Pac Man” eating them up!

How cool is that!

I sat here for a while, trying to think of something to write about tonight… something profound and moving. However, I believe my brain is running on empty after a day of thinking hard at work. (If only there was a way to turning thinking and problem solving into some sort of caloric activity!)

Anyway, I couldn’t come up with anything, so I’m just sharing a couple of photos I really like, one in an Escher sort of way. These were taken a couple of years ago when I was visiting Nashville with Jane. We went to Union Station, a beautiful building that used to be a train station, now a hotel. I so much admire any architectural element that pays real attention to detail, from the stained glass to the sculpture to the carving in the wood. Granted, sometimes, the details are not seen, not really taken in, and one may wonder… why the effort? But when you look at a place like this, you realize that the details, seen and unseen, work together to make up the whole, and the effect is awe-inspiring. I feel the same way about the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC.

What man-made structure inspires you?