Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Travel part 2: Shotgun

While in Mexico, I ended up being the navigator (lo, the responsibilities of being shotgun). Which, google maps does work in Mexico, but you have to get used to the roads. For example, you'll have a big multi-lane road and one of those lanes will split off into a side street that runs parallel, but right up until you are supposed to be on that road, it looks like it is all one road. And then before you know it you are on the wrong road because either you were supposed to get off or you were supposed to stay on and thank goodness there is more than one way to get somewhere and back tracking is an option.

I also have this tendency to look away right at the critical moment. Because, I want to see what I'm driving past and so if I'm the solo navigator, my mind just wanders too much. Fortunately, I had some help from the backseat (backseat drivers can be helpful!!) and my backseat driver had my back. 

By the end of the trip, I was getting better at navigating or asking people to have eyes on the map with me, but I still never made it without missing at least one thing (although not all of them ended up derailing us). Which, to be honest, feels like something for that life resume. And we made it okay and no accidents, so I'm counting it a success. 

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Travel part 1: Photos

While traveling for work about a week ago, I was taking pictures on the road and couldn't help wonder why we take the pictures we do. I mean, why was I taking pictures? Why was everyone else taking pictures? What were we taking pictures of and for who?

I took pictures of the scenery as we were driving from city to city. I took pictures of sunsets and hotel rooms and views from hotel rooms and hotel lobbies that were architecturally interesting and ancient ruins and things that were geometrically interesting and scenes that were different from home and interesting to me even though not necessarily aesthetic. And I tried to take more pictures of people, which is always awkward because I feel weird and shy about asking people to get in a group for a photo or to pose, but I did better this time at getting people (unposed). 

Who am I taking them for? Mostly me. I mean, sometimes I take pictures that I intend to share with the group (more of this when it is family events) but mostly it's for me. In part to see if I can become a better photograph but most of the time it is just me blundering around trying to get pictures of things I think are appealing. I doubt any of them will really have a lot of value in the long run, which of course I think about as an archivist, but should that stop anyone from taking photos? Whose to say?

Anyway, here are a few photos from my trip: 

Love a good bridge

Obsessed with how tight the housing is

I am also obsessed with the layers mountains create

Never seen a giant soccer ball before

Cool hotel architecture

I mentioned mountains, right?

Some nice geometry at Toltec ruins

Mountains. I wasn't kidding

Familiar to sights in my rural home state

Also familiar.

Cool historic cathedrals are always interesting

Cows on mountain roads. This is so reminiscent.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Climate change

I have a trip coming up soon and it will take me to warmer climes. Which will be lovely, because it's been cold here and even as I type this my fingers are somewhat frozen. (Yes I have heating. NO, it isn't the most energy efficient. Also it is loud.) 

But there is a dilemma. It is icy here, and hot there, and I really don't want to haul a coat (and sweater, and warm socks and shows) around for a week in a warm place. You get it, right? I mean, it's a terrible option. But also, the ride to the airport and back...one has to be prepared. Thank goodness for layers. 

Hope your dilemmas are equally insignificant.


Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Magic desk

I have been trying (periodically) for several months (a couple of years?) to clean off my desk in work. As a precursor to cleaning my office. I actually made some progress this week. For about an hour. And then somehow my desk filled up again. It's a magic desk but not the kind of magic I need. 

And, offices get messy, I get it--well, not my boss's. His is incredibly tidy, which is attainable if you spend most of your days in meetings, so there's that. But in my first 6 years I had 7 office spaces, so it was always a goal to be able to move my office in an hour. And I definitely can't do that now. So I hope I don't need to any time soon, because I have inherited a bunch of boxes and collections and this is what happens when you get into management but not high enough in management that you never get to do any of the work. 

That being said, if messy office means I still get to do the fun work, I will take it.

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Error

The other day when I was getting my laptop up and running at work, I got an error message that said, "System error: Invalid argument."

Now, I know I'm definitely not the first one to see this error, and also definitely not the first one to think that maybe we could use that warning in our day-to-day interactions. No lie, I am definitely considering putting it on a t-shirt. Especially in our current state of, well, civil insanity. 

And I'm not saying I'm exempt. As I have mentioned before, my motto should be, "Talk less, smile more." I have invalid arguments all the time. And, sometimes it would just be nice to have something pop up in the moment telling me, "Hey. Maybe take 5 and get your head together?" 

But I think that might require me to wear some kind of VR or AR headset, and I'm just not into that, so I guess I'll do what our ancestors have done for millions of years and just keep trying to be a better person without any computer assistance. 

Monday, February 12, 2024

Shorthanded

I have long fingers. Two of my co-workers are about 6 feet tall guys, and my hands are about the size of theirs. 

Over Christmas, it came up in conversation, and in comparing hand sizes, my brother-in-law noticed that my pinky fingers are short. Which I had never noticed before because honestly, think about it. How much time do you actually spend looking at other people's hands? I suspect not much, except maybe for a special someone or babies. 

Anyway, I fell and hurt my wrist, as previously mentioned, and got an x-ray. And when I looked at the results, it did say that my 5th metacarpal was severely short and the 4th metacarpal mildly so. Which, not expecting that in my x-ray report, but it was kind of fun timing. 

Also, it dashes all hopes about long fingers benefitting me while playing the piano, haha. 

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Smart stuff

 Everything is smart these days--refrigerators, dryers, toilets, vacuums. But there is one thing that is not smart that should be: elevators.

At work, if I push the button to go down, and the elevator is going up and has to stop on my floor anyway, (because someone is getting off, for example), it will still stop on my floor on the way back down. So I've got two options. I can stand there like a dummy and let the elevator go up and catch it on the way down. Or, I can get on, wait for more people to get on going down, and we all stop at my floor where the elevator doors open and no one is there. And I get to make the tiresome joke: "And this is the elevator picking me up...". (Or another popular quip people like to make is that it is the Holy Ghost. We do work in a religious institution). 

And every time, EVERY time, I think, "Why is it the elevator can't get information that no one is there because they got on when it stopped going up?" And I'm sure someone could argue that it actually makes sense in some weird elevator traffic logic, but it's hard to see how stopping at empty floors is efficient. 

So, if anyone knows anyone in elevator programming, could you see if they could make a smart elevator? Thanks.