Sunday found us acting like an old couple and taking off in the family carriage for a long drive to act, if nothing else, like we had some place to go, someone to see, or something to do, when in reality we had none of those.   After a good deal of jaunting around, supporting the gasoline economy by adding to the ozone layer, and checking out some wicked corn fields, we ended up at Beed’s Lake State Park near Hampton, IA, and let the munchkin stretch his legs.

His outfit, as it turned out, matched nicely with the playground furniture although I assure you that was not the intention, but proves that he is photogenic even when seemingly camouflaged in his natural environment.

The lake was glass-calm and not a breeze bothered the leaves of the turning trees above our heads as we walked hand-in-hand with our little boy between us, crunching the leaves underneath the soles of his sneakers and pointing out the flowers (wa-wah!) and various bugs (beeee!).     I could feel myself disconnect from the world as a whole and sink into the serenity of the moment, even a little, as my heart surrounded my wife and my son and hugged it all closely, if only for a sunset.

I rarely follow memes, and even more rarely do I participate in viral themes, but since I rather like Mark and his cute little family and the associated blog, I’ll bite on him tagging me to write seven things about myself.   This one’s for you, Mark.    Merry Cissmyass.

1.  Despite being a computer geek at heart, I am also a closet gearhead and rather enjoy doing my own car work.   So far, I have done oil changes, coolant changes, inner tie rod bushings, tire rotations, drum brakes, throttle body synch, and valve cover gaskets.   I drive a pretty wicked stick shift, too.

2.  Stories and commercials that depict Christmas toys that aren’t played with and are ignored in favor of something else flashier make me get weepy almost every single time without fail, even now.   (for instance, boy gets teddy bear until boy gets latest craze toy and tosses teddy bear aside).   As a child or teenager I’d burst out sobbing.

3.  I talk to myself all the time when I am alone.   I often sing songs to myself, under my breath, only barely making enough noise to hear myself subvocally.    If there is an interesting rhythm to the song, I’ll tap it out by clicking my teeth together.   I know that I am getting tired when a song gets stuck in my head and will not leave, no matter how many times I sing it through to the finish.   If I am not tired, I can usually get the song out of my head by “finishing” it.    If I am tired, this will not work, no matter how flamboyant I make the ending.

4.   I really wish I was a bass (vocally, not the fish).   I love trying to hit the notes even though I’ve been told it sounds something akin to a walrus orgasming.   That being said, I wouldn’t want the stigma that comes with being a bass, so I don’t mind my current talents….mostly.

5.  At home, I rarely use the restroom without picking up a book while doing so.    Even when I’m just taking a leak, I’m prone to have one hand on my junk and one hand on a novel.    After I’m finished, I’ve been known to stand in the bathroom, leaning up against the sink, and reading for up to an hour after, simply because I become so involved in the story.    Yes, I realize this borders on incredibly strange.   (for the record, I don’t mix up hands, so sanitation of my reading material isn’t an issue)

6.  I cannot stand the sensation of popsicle sticks or tongue depressors on my tongue.   The mere thought of it makes me cringe.   I have to be very careful when I get to the center of a popsicle or I’ll zing myself badly.

7.  I prefer to sleep with the covers pulled to my chin, inside flannel sheets, with several blankets on top, even in summer.   I’ll happily pay the electricity to have the room cold enough to pull this off.   I always sleep in just my skivvies so getting too hot usually isn’t a problem.    Thankfully, my wife likes sleeping like this, too.

There you go, seven things about me that you probably wish you didn’t know, but now you do, so you can’t erase it — kinda like watching a horror movie.     I sincerely doubt anyone that I tag will do this (because I’m not even sure they READ this thing, let alone will do it) but what the hell, I’ll try it…..I hereby tag Alynda, Bec, BillyGean, Shelley, Courtney, Lea, and Ben.   Good luck.

The car industry “bail out” issue is one that has been pressing on my mind of late and there’s many facets of it that I’m trying to consider and draw up conclusions in my mind.   None are very clear and I’m never completely certain I always know what’s best for the situation, but like most people, I’m forming opinion anyway.    The difference with myself, however, is that I readily admit that I may be taking the stance of a raving idiot.

Here’s some things I do know:

- Without extremely strict guidance as to where funds are used in the corporations, they will be misused.     Period.    Clearly the folks couldn’t properly use their own money; what makes us think they’ll use loaned money any better?     To paraphrase Olbermann, piles of cash sitting around are a bad idea.

- There’s loans to hold your current business open and keep it running, and there’s loans to restructure it into something better.    Everyone says it’d be bad to let them go into bankruptcy, but for restructuring?   I think that’s exactly what they need.    Telling someone to stop being bad or hold a gun to their head and see which method gets more response.

- I really, really hate unions.   Always have — I think they’re fundamentally unnecessary in today’s modern market.    And now we are going to (probably) see a prime example of why they’re a bad idea when everyone has to go along with the negotiated terms.    UAW Suckers.

- Letting these companies die scares a lot of folks, and don’t get me wrong — it’s a big deal.   But to be honest, I’m leaning more and more towards letting them die.    Yes, it’ll be extremely painful, but in the long term I think we’ll end up with something better than we will if we limp things along.   It’s like a broken bone — if you snap a bone straight through, when it heals it’ll be very strong, stronger than it was before.   But a “green” fracture that only bends or frays the bone takes longer to heal and is never the same again.    I think that can be applied here, and as painful and traumatic as it is, a clean break may be our best bet.

I worry — a lot.   We’re struggling big-time to make it right now, but if I had my choice, I’d rather dive into a horrific couple of years to emerge victorious and more productive than ever before vs. limping a broken economy along for the next 10 years.

Your thoughts and discourse on these reflections and any others are appreciated.

Dear, Gentle Readers,

Please change over your URLs, even though the old ones will work (for now), but this blog now has its very own domain!

www.philosyphia.com

And, for you with feed readers, my blog’s feed URL is here:

www.philosyphia.com/index.php/feed/

More postings to come this weekend/week; last week was full of sick me, wife, and kid, and tons of work, practice, and singing two concerts, so I went a bit slack on getting moving on these “Controversies”, but I’ll get back on that horse, honest!

Pens — what do they say about you?   More generally, what do your writing instruments tell others about your style, methods, and abilities?  A person once said to me that smart people only write in pen because they aren’t afraid of making mistakes.   Whether or not this is true, everyone seems to have their own favorite pen or pencil, yet they may not be able to say exactly why they are fond of them.

I’m an extremely picky bastard when it comes to writing with something other than a keyboard, and I generally hate it as my handwriting is a drunken chicken stumbling about and while I can write nicely, I usually cannot be bothered to actually take the time and hand wringing to do so.   I doubt not that I would get better with practice, but…c’mon.   I’m a computer geek.   Do you really see me picking up the quill and papyrus on a regular basis?

I remember throughout my life I’ve gone through, “pen phases”, jumping from one brand to another in a never-ending love affair with a particular type.   I’ve done the rollerball phase, the internal fountain pen fiasco, the ultra-super-mega-fine pens, mediums, black, felt, fiber, blue.    Usually this would be caused by me finding a pen I really liked and then getting only that one until I can’t find it anymore.  I would pine, fret, and weep for awhile, longing for the pen that was no longer, then like a lamb to the slaughter I’d find a new love and off we’d trot down the long lane of college-ruled notebooks once again.

Currently I’m using a Uniball Signo 0.7mm medium black gel ballpoint that I came to love at my previous employment and brought several with me to my new, where they do NOT supply the same pen.    So, I just found them online and ordered 20 so I had plenty to feed my habit for awhile.    It probably fosters more scribbling but is perfect for what I use handwriting for — notetaking, jotting down lists and variable names, making up to-dos for myself, and marking up copy.

I have always chewed on my pens which, to the untrained eye, seems to be be a bad oral fixation habit that borders on abhorrent.    However, to a like participant, the rattiness of a pen indicates the hours of musings, contemplations, and grinding of issues in one’s brain.    In short, it’s a percussive history of thought.    Plus, it almost always ensure that our pens don’t grow legs and go off wandering.

Pencils are a  different beast for me, as when I use them I often spend the majority of the time wondering why I’m not using a pen.   For writing, they drag so much against the paper that I feel sluggish, slowed-down, inhibited, and I can’t write with the flowing style I prefer.   That’s not to say that I don’t like pencils — I do, but for drawing and drafting, especially the harder leads that really make fine lines.   There’s nothing like the swish of a pencil across a blueprint, let me tell you.

But I do so little writing these days, preferring instead to whack the keys, where I can be both faster and more accurate.   Handwriting explicitly well has become something of a lost art due to those of the modern age, for certain.

What sort of tools best fit your writing needs and styles?    What do they say about you?