My Utility Belt… Err Bag
On July 30th, SysAdmin Appreciation Day, I was walking around New York enjoying the sights and silently complaining about my bag. For all practical purposes it is my man purse, my tech kit, and emergency ration container. SysAdmin day and the depths (and weight) of my kit made me wonder what everyone else had in their bag.
When Coding Horror posted What’s On Your Utility Belt I figured it was time to share my utility belt. It may hang around my shoulder, but hey, if I had as much money as Bruce Wayne I’d probably have a utility belt too!
The New York Times Is Bad Medicine
In my opinion there aren’t many people who would argue that laughter isn’t good medicine. Experience has shown that people often use laughter to try and soften an uncomfortable situation. When the dust settles after a bad situation or a stupid mistake, there is nothing like a good laugh to heal a broken spirit. If you happen to be blessed with a well rounded sense of humor you probably find the comics in the Sunday paper to be of exceptional importance.
How can a world renown paper like the New York Times not have a comics section?
My observation and opinion of the Times may be frivolous but a thoughtful and humorous comic can shed more light on the world better than any well written piece of dry reporting ever could.
Protected: Life Caught In Time
There are lives caught in time. My life progresses when the life of those who have died are stopped in time. There are no memories to be added to their life and there are only memories to forget.
Friday evening was the performance of the New Jersey Home School Association choir performance at Pascack Bible Church. It wasn’t my plan to go but for some strange reason I put it into my phone calendar the week before after it was announced. Friday arrived and I was surprised to see it on the calendar. Without any better plans, I went.
The performance was excellent, the young men and women were exceptionally talented. To say the performance was priceless would be and understatement. They sang with superb harmony, melody, and all the other musical terms that rate a performance. Most of all they sang with a joy and exuberance that made me smile.
Several of the songs really stood out to me. “Paru parong Bukid” was about a young girl in a new dress who was having trouble paying attention in church. The emphasis put into the music made me think about the conflict in her mind as she fought to not think about the dress but to focus on the church service. It brought to mind memories and thoughts that made me smile from ear to ear. The YouTube video doesn’t do the song justice but it is a good reminder of the thoughts and emotions the song stirred up.
“I Sing the Mighty Power of God” was a favorite song. It was sung with vocal skill and excellence. It was a marvelous opening to the line up of songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=PUE4tWrEscE
What does this have to do with Steve Lauzon? As I sat looking into the smiling faces of the young people performing I remembered how skilled and bright he was. He was about the age as most of those young performers before he cut short his own life. A life that remains in my mind but will never be any longer and will only fade as memories tend to fade.
Running With The Fireflies
Through the dark,
under lofty tree tops,
across the night shadows
cast by the moon and the stars,
I ran.
The temperature,
wasn’t hot or even all that cold.
Invigorating, it spurred me on.
I ran.
Everywhere,
and yet nowhere.
The fireflies teased me with light,
Left, right, no… straight ahead,
Keep up, run faster if you can.
I run…
…. as fast as I can.
Running With The Fireflies by Jared Bratu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.