but…uh…

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Just taking a quick minute to send along holiday wishes from my dad’s house in Florida to all of you and yours wherever you may be.

The travels to Memphis, California and Florida in the last couple of weeks have meant that consistent internet access has been a challenge. I do vow to spend more time spewing forth here in the future so don’t delete your bloglines subscriptions just yet. I’ve got lots of fun stories about man bags and lost luggage, gift cards and holiday celebrations.

More bon mots to come…

No, I haven’t died. I’m still here but working like crazy to finish things before the holidays. I have lots of things I plan to write about here but I’ll get to those when I have more time. For now I’ve got just a few minutes while projects are rendering so I’ll do a brief bit of catching up.

I was busy before last week started but, in the interest of seeing if the candle has more than just 2 ends to burn, I decided to take on 2 new projects last Tuesday evening. Both were smallish and should have easily been completed before Saturday. Of course, both projects have now become bigger, more involved, complicated and just will not die!

The first was to make a simple 3 minute football video highlight package for my neighbor, Vanderbilt University, to show potential recruits how wonderful and hard hitting 2 win football team can be. Seems easy enough. But as these things tend to do, the ideas changed, more people got involved and it just got out of control. It’s now an effects filled extravaganza with hundreds of edits distilling about 100 hours of football into 181 seconds. If all goes well, I’ll be delivering the final DVDs this afternoon.

The other was a far more boring HTML image search application. At least it was. It’s now become a full fledged fuzzy-logic search engine for multiple databases (including ones that are decades old and malformed) that also happens to displays pictures.

At least I’m getting paid by the hour.

At 3 days we definitely need some sort of CNN news crisis theme music. Something heroic enough to give us hope but mournful enough so as not to betray the gravity of the situation.

As you can see, I didn’t leave for Nashville yesterday but I will today. I swear. For now, I’m catching up on my bloglines (which I HIGHLY recommend) at Otherlands and I came across this article on Wired which comforted me. It’s nice to know you’re not alone.

"Damned is the world that exchanges the possibility of dying of starvation for the certainty of dying of boredom."

I saw this written on the bathroom wall of the musty, Memphis used book store, Burke’s Book. While not usually in the habit of snapping photographs in public restrooms, I really liked this sentiment. There is just something so insidious about the ease at which people in the world, and particularly this country, are willing to trade away everything they have for a little "security" and "safety." They might as well be trading for Santa Claus and the tooth fairy. At least for those two you don’t need to rely on terrifying people to make them seem desirable.

As we move into hour 27 of no cable modem, or what I like to call "America’s National Crisis," the sense of loss is palpable. I’ve always been fascinated by competing cliches and no more than this pair:

1. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
2. Out of sight, out of mind.

When it comes to broadband access, or internet access of any kind for that matter, #1 is clearly the winner here. When easy, pervasive access isn’t there I realize how much I thrive on instant access to the resources provided by distant servers. The luddites in the world who feel that the internet is primarily for porn and bomb making instructions will never understand. I’m not sure I can even explain it. I can’t seem to have a thought enter my brain that doesn’t finally exit with some sort of action that would normally be accomplished on the internet.

• Hey! Is that the actress from that other movie?
• I need to get that used book for 1/2 off.
• What’s the number for customer service?
• Is that new movie getting good reviews?
• Can I really afford to go to the movies?
• Is it a new Arrested Development this week?
• No crushed tomatoes? I wish I had a recipe for a good pasta sauce without tomatoes.
• Is there a nearby place to get an oil change?
• How do you spell onomatopoeia?

I know there are lots of archaic ways to accomplish these feats (phone books, newspapers, Ken Jennings) but when you aren’t set up to use them, it’s more hassle than it’s worth. It becomes much easier to sit in front of the television and do nothing. Maybe it is just rationalizing being lazy but I don’t think so. Last night by 9pm or so I found myself contemplating going to bed. For a night owl like me it is ridiculous but what else can I do? It was sort of like Little House on the Prairie. There is only so long you can study by candlelight so you turn in early just like Pa and Half-Pint. In fact, I’d rather not have electricity and be warmed by the glow of my battery operated, broadband connected monitor. I know it seems silly to be sounding off on this considering I am sitting at Otherlands using their free WiFi while sucking down a latte but when comforts become necessities it hurts when they are removed.

OK, so I’ve been putting off making an actual post for months now. It’s not that I don’t have things to say. If you know me you know that is rarely the case. In an attempt to procrastinate, and a right successful one at that, I came up with the idea that I needed some big, glorious, history changing post to get things started.

Sure, that’s all crap, but it’s quite a handy way to avoid doing something. But times, they are a changing…

Tonight, Abby and I went to the Memphis "Blogger Bash" and in talking over my lack of posting with Peggy and Len I’ve decided I need to just jump in. A few posts from now, this less earth shattering post will have moved into the archives and I can join the world of the "blogosphere."

Wait a minute. Blogosphere? That’s such a dumb ass term. Blogosphere. Who the hell came up with that? What do you know? Turns out it was William Click. I don’t care if he does share the same name as my step father, it’s stupid and I refuse to have any part of it. Forget I said anything at all.

Nonetheless, it’s great to be here.

This may not be the sort of post to move the hearts and minds of the world but it’s a start anyway. I’d like to send out a heart felt thanks to everyone at Cafe Francisco for all of their inspiration and encouragement to actually get the dust off this site.

And a special thanks to Mick for the nifty yo-yo parting gift.

More to come. I swear.