Vy Blog

Election day head gravel

This blog is drifting.  Do you feel it?  I do.  I know it is and I'm conciously not doing anything about it except adding thoughts here and there when it appeals to me.  That's not how I want to run the blog, but it's what I have capacity for now -- to make room for the blog, the way I want it to be, would be to penalize other areas I'm not willing to penalize at the moment.

So, changes coming.  I know what I want it to say and look/feel like.  Just not yet.  Stay with me. 

Meanwhile, Election Day thoughts:

1) I'm glad the election is almost over, and that's saying something when a political junkie is talking.  I'm interested in both politics and government, and my instinct is that the former has nearly consumed the latter.  Interactions in the government are defined politically, and the political camps today are not just different, but openly hostile.  That's what's making the election cycle such a mess, and I'll be glad when tomorrow arrives because I won't have to listen to, "I'm Jack Toothpolish, and I approved this ad becuase Mike McWeatherwax is [earnest look added here] just too extreme and deserves to lose."

I don't necessarily have a quarrel with either party.  But if either party has a big day, I'll hate it if it gloats.

2) For unusual reasons, I've had the occasion to consider the ego.  If you look it up, the definition (under the context of my thoughts) is this:

An inflated feeling of pride in your superiority to others

You may pick up from my tone that I despise any kind of self-importance.  In fact, I'm not sure I hate anything more.  I firmly do not believe that a "healthy ego" is a prerequisite for success.  Confidence may be, but confidence and egoism are entirely separate.  Examples abound, but here's one: Warren Buffett, the most successful judge of business, the most successful investor, of any time or age -- and he's a normal human being.  The fact of the matter is that unhealthy ego is a shortcoming all its own, and my amateur psychology would guess it's a defense covering another shortcoming, which is lack of confidence, or lack of regard for others.  If you're good at what you do, that's impressive enough to me.  If your ego starts crowding the room, you're losing my respect.

Andrew Woolard pointed to a good post at Brand Builder about commitment and desire.  It was worth reading to me, because it hit me right between the eyes with the reminder to cut the crap.  At the end it asks if "brand you" is a happy brand -- in other words, do you love what you're doing and dedicate your energy to it?  That's a great reminder about how to orient your time, energy and effort.

3) If you're in the Portland area, you need to do some hiking in the Columbia River Gorge.  I went with three friends last week to do the Wahkeena Falls loop, a 5.2-mile round trip that starts at Wahkeena Falls, takes you up to Devil's Rest, over to Multnomah Creek, and down the creek to Multnomah Falls.  It's about a 1,400' gain in altitude.  Spectacular hike, one that I haven't done for several years.  We did it in two hours -- unanticipated consequence is a workout of muscles I apparently haven't worked in a while, even though I've been running regularly.

All cynicism aside on the election issue, if you haven't, get out and vote.  It's the most critical thing you can do in the life and operation of our country.

The stupid apostrophe

On occasion I get driven to distraction by something that's mundane to others.

An example?  All right.  The humble apostrophe.  And I'm not talking about the Frank Zappa album.

Primarily, the apostrophe is used to form a possessive.  It has other uses, of course, though we normal mortals usually just use it to show what belongs to whom.  However, along the way there developed a practice of using the apostrophe to designate certain plurals (e.g., "Mind your p's and q's.").

That type of usage somehow broke free of its bounds and spread like the zebra mussel in the Great Lakes.  Now I see this everywhere, and it's always frigging wrong.  This morning, on one of those license plate frames, someone had this: 

My son's are Eagle Scouts

Outstanding.  I'm an Eagle too, and though I don't remember a grammar merit badge, there damn sure ought to be one now.

I somehow missed National Punctuation Day last Sunday and wish I'd blogged on it then, but whatever.  It's never too late.  Just stop this.  Stop using apostrophes to indicate the plural.

Taco's are 50 cent's each.  Have your dime's ready for the cashier's.

See how stupid that looks?

[Breathing]  Rant over.  As you were.

What I've Learned

Life is a gift.  It comes with some things -- people, a few talents, some other features that vary person to person.  The rest is up to us as to how to fill it.

Happy people use their talents to find satisfaction.  They also make healthy choices and enjoy themselves.  Unhappy people ignore their talents, or let themselves be afraid of using them.  They make bad choices and poison themselves.

What uses up our time is what we choose to put into our lives by the day.

What I've Learned

Please, don't start any sentence with "I'm the kind of person who..."  You do that, I'm already rolling my eyes.  Telling me what kind of person you are isn't worth your opening your mouth.  Your behavior will very clearly provide that information.

What I've Learned

I know of no better way to make yourself a better, more informed, wise and empathetic person that to travel internationally.  It's unbelievably effective.  In fact, I would be in favor of requiring every American high school student to study aborad for at least a year.  Being an American, as great a privilege as it is, is a role too narrowly defined for the kind of world we're about to live in.

Corollary to the above:  Everyone should learn at least one non-native language.  Preferably two.