Sabbatical 2008 - Mid Course Evaluation

I'm on an extended vacation this year, thanks to Creo and Kodak, as my 15th year at the company and 50th on the planet.  It's taken about a month for me to relax enough to really feel that I have time to do things other than "be productive." Mind you, I did get a bunch of long-postponed tasks done, like fixing the drawer on the oven and other menial things that involve a car fetch trip and a couple hours, which seem hard to find time for on the weekend.

This year overall, I've endeavored to accomplish some other things I have dreamed of doing. My pickup band, Six Degrees, played a few gigs, including my 50th birthday party, and the Farmer's Market at Steveston, and after many years of being idle, had my Gibson SG Deluxe wailing away on solo's I practiced enough to play publicly, Play That Funky Music, and Sunshine of Your Love.

This summer I also finally mixed down our recordings of Sol's band Tusk to create a 4-song EP mastered and duplicated at Spin Digital Media. Our first CD!

I also had the chance to take a course on Jewish Mysticism from Rabbi Laura Kaplan, as well as having had time for several lunches with friends and old acquaintances.

This week sees the arrival of family from England, with 3 kids so we will have the pitter patter of little feet around the house for a while. Off to Tigh Na Mara for a quick visit...

For August: Clean out various caches of junk in the house, build my Peggy kit (thanks Wendel from Evil Mad Scientist), write an iPhone App...

Garbage is Anything You Don't Want to Have to See

"Give me a lever and I shall move the world" is a quote attributed to Archimedes after discovering the mechanical advantage afforded by a stick and a rock.

My brain is always looking for levers - small things that would create big change. Here's one: Make the price of oil $500 a barrel and see how fast alternate energy takes hold. Oops, too late.

Here's another: Make it illegal to move garbage more the 5 miles. Unworkable? You bet. People stashing stuff in nooks and crannies, smuggling garbage around in their cars.

Maybe the first will take care of the second...