Welcome to the Cacomixl blog.
Went to the Flames vs. Anaheim game at the Saddledome (thanks Rich!) Although the slumping Flames played to a tie as usual, it was a great game, especially the 2nd period. Kurya of the Ducks is amazing.
This is good news. A new Boards of Canada CD is imminent.
Music has the Right to Children is one of my favorite albums ever. Wilderness, psychedelics, aliens, dreams, fears, bliss. All evoked instrumentally.
Something was making me uncomfortable, but subtly.
I sat with Rory at the computer, helping her with Photoshop. We talked, checked e-mail, browsed the web. Something other than the fact that I was hungry made me hurry upstairs; something heightened my urgency. I headed upstairs but I didn't even reach the stairs. I was stopped by a flood of water spreading out across the carpet, and the sound of the washing machine filling filling filling and not stopping. I had heard it. It registered but it didn't register.
So every towel in the house and one rented Rug Doctor (model "EZ-1") and several handwringing machine-dragging hours later, I discovered a burst hose. It had been grossly deformed by a bulbous pustule of water, but that's not where it broke, strangely enough.
Fun night.
Spent the morning with Nelson, Stephen, and Ken.
Lunch was almost the delightful Veggie House, but ended up being an Irish-ish roast beef smorgasbord at the James Joyce. Not the best place for a vegetarian.
Afternoon was spent with Intel boss Andy Grove, Martha Stewart, Head Yahoo Jerry Yang, Don Tapscott (the best speaker, and a Canadian, to boot) and Tom Peters.
It really did feel like I spent it with them, even though it was a video conference via satellite. My head is spinning with ideas and enthusiasm and the only thing I can think of is don't waste another minute.
No, there's one other thing: gratitude. A common theme today was how exciting it is to be alive, right here, right now. On the cusp of the greatest economic, political, and social changes since the invention of the printing press. To be a "player" in this incredible transformation. I'm grateful to be living here, now, with unimaginable opportunity.
I have this unfortunate habit of needing all the facts before I do anything.
Today, this habit bit me on the butt and made for some awkward discussions, justifications, and explanations. The bottom line is: No, I don't need all the facts before I can work with them. No, I'm not expected to be an expert on every project I'm asked to undertake. And geez, not everything warrants expertise!
Perhaps my desire to grasp every nuance, to explore every repercussion, is just a symptom of my innate tendency to procrastinate?
Aha!
Of my paralyzing desire for perfection?
Bingo!
I need to travel lighter. I can pick up things I need along the way.
I'm here at my web newbie friend Steve's, showing him the wonders of blogging! And all the benefits of having Napster on your system. I'm pretty sure he's going to get a cable connection after all this...
"It's hard to grow old with dignity when there's so much music to get excited about." - letter to The Wire, November '00.
Today I received the November issue of The Wire magazine. Six months of the year it includes free CDs full of the most fascinating and eclectic sounds. Tuvan throat singers, Balinese gamelan and Armenian duduks share grooves with drifting ambient guitar washes, Austrian PowerBook glitch, and Chicago post-rock. Plus when you subscribe you get 5 of these CDs from the previous year. What a joy.
This month's CD is called Brain on The Wire, courtesy of Brainwashed. It'll be in my PowerBook today...
