Ramble with Me

Friends from a distance… May 27, 2007

I’ve moved around a lot. I mean a lot. I’ve lived in 7 states in my life: Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington. You know what the hardest part of all these moves are? Staying in touch with friends.

It seems impossible. I live in an area, make great friends, then move. We always promise to stay in touch, and occasionally do for awhile. But, inevitably, sooner or later, we lose contact…

How do you do it? How do you maintain friendships from a distance?

I’ve tried e-mail, I’ve tried IM, I’ve tried paper…none of it works for me..

It seems that you get engrossed in your “new live”, and lose the common connection with your older, best, friends.

The net result? Friends you’ve only known a short time. No close, deep friendships with people that know you well.

How do you maintain the friendships?

Puget Sound… May 25, 2007

I live in the beautiful Puget Sound area of NW Washington State. I’ve lived all over the country…Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Texas…never, ever, have I found an area more beautiful than here.

When I moved here with my family, I was expecting what everyone thought about the Seattle area…rain rain rain…

Yes, we have our share of rain. But quite frankly, most of the rain comes in the winter, and that’s no different than snow in the Midwest and East. It can be quite gloomy in the winter, but no more gloomy than other areas.

But the summers are spectacular, as are the spring and fall…and the winters when it’s clear are breathtaking. You look east and you see the Cascade mountains. You look west, and you see the Olympia mountain range (the range that makes up the big peninsula in the puget sound).

You look south and you see her…the most spectacular of them all, Mount Rainer. Nothing is more spectacular than that. You come around the corner of a road and suddenly in front of you is this huge mountain, standing on it’s own, snow covered, right in front of you filling your field of vision. Fantastic. Sometimes when it’s foggy or low clouds around, you see a layer of clouds at the base with the mountain sticking up above the clouds…giving her one of her many nicknames…the floating mountain.

The weather? The weather is cool but not cold in the winter…warm but not hot in the summer. We moved here in May from Dallas two years ago. When we left it was 105 degrees in Dallas. When we got here, it was 87 and everyone was commenting on how hot it was. It rarely hits the 90′s int he summer, mostly it stays in the 70′s and 80′s. Winter will hit low 30′s, but rarely the 20′s. We get some snow but not a lot. We live on a hill, so the snow may stay several days, but no longer. Just enough to enjoy it without getting tired of it.

The rain gives the area a lush green everywhere. We live in a home southeast of Seattle, in a nice little development built in the ’80s. We have towering trees in our yard (100′ plus). Our back yard is backed by a solid wall of green trees and shrubs…all natural from the green belt. Delicious wild rasberries grow in the mix. Just behind it, the quite sound of a creek flowing. Pushing thru the thick brings you to a small flowing stream. In the winter, the creek sounds loud and fills the evening quiet. In the summer, it shares the sounds with abundant wildlife.

We often have deer come and sit under a tree in our backyard. A family of raccoons walk by occassionally. Coyote’s can be heard in the background. And we don’t even live “out in the country”. We live in a development with lots of neighbors, all with the same view.

Hundreds of day hikes in the woods and mountains are around. Most of them follow a stream or river for some distance, large enough for a mid-hike plunge into freezing water, perfect for the kids. Many pass by huge waterfalls. Remember the falls at the biginning of the TV show Twin Peaks? This is Snoqualmie falls about 20 minutes from our house.

Along the path, mini waterfalls (2′-6′ high cricks) are commonplace.

Near perfection. We love it here. We have found our sanctuary.

We are finally home.

Starting Late… May 25, 2007

Well let’s see. I’ve been using the internet in some way, shape, or form since 1983. This was long before domain names were used. How many people remember e-mail addresses like this:

…!ihnp4!umn-cs!umn-phys!lee

Not many I’m sure. I’ve just dated myself.

Anyway, while early to the internet, I’m late to blogs. I’ll admit it, when I first heard about this new “fad” called blogs, that’s exactly how I thought of it…a new fad that would be over before it started (kinda like push-content from the late 90′s). I sighed, and just started waiting it out.

Boy was I wrong. Not only did it catch on, but it actually started showing value! It’s ability to communicate what people are thinking in a casual manner, rather than the ridged “create a website” manner, makes it appealing for just getting thoughts down on paper. Once a thought is down on paper, it’s suddenly available to the entire world to see.

Almost overnight, the amount of content on the internet increased dramatically, and the quality of the content was surprisingly high.

What finally convinced me that blogs were not something to avoid was earlier this year when I was talking to a co-worker. A new manager started in our company that we knew nothing about. While talking about how this new manager would work, my friend mentioned that he was reading this new manager’s blog for insights on him. I turned around and said “He has a blog? How did you know”. My friend simply did an internet search, found the blog, and had gained a lot of insights on this individual. I was now sold on blogs.

I could see it now. When considering whether to hire someone, I would now not only look at their resume, work samples, interview results, and references. But now I had one more avenue…their blogs. Could I actually get a feel for what a new hire would be like, how they’d fit with the team, what their work ethic is like, etc., simply by reading their public blog? I don’t know, but I’ll let you know as I explore this further…

It’s taken the last few months for me to go from “hey, these are useful”, to “hey, I need to do one”, to “ok, now I’ve started one”.

So, I’m starting late. So what. Better late than never. Good things come to those who wait. Patience is a virtue. There is never…ah, forget it, you know what I mean.

Now I’ve started…let’s see what happens next…enjoy.

…and to my next boss, I really am a great guy, so hire me…
…oh, and to my current boss…no, I’m not looking right now…