August 1999 Archives

Let me make myself clear: I can be an absolute idiot.

I lost my glasses this weekend in the ocean. I was wearing them and jumping waves and being very very careful right up to the moment I turned around to head back to the beach. A real doozy of a wave smacked me square in the back of my head and grabbed my glasses while it rushed past my temples. My glasses are gone.

Here's a little history: Last year, I used my last pair of disposable contacts. Not having a lot of money laying around, I elected to wait until my insurance said I could get a new exam and a set of lenses without paying (much) for them.

So I've been wearing my glasses exclusively for over a year now. I loved them, though. I spent a lot of money to ensure that I got a pair that a) would last me a long time and b) I would actually *like* during the full measure of that "long time."

So when the Pacific Ocean pulled my glasses off of my face and buried them beneath an incoming tide and a clearly (but not so clearly to my blurry vision) sparkling sand, I was blind and helpless.

Amy led me home (I'm not legally blind, but I wouldn't know a car at 100 yards from a bump in the road) and we called around. Ever try to find someone on the Oregon Coast who will give you an exam and a pair of disposable contacts at 5:30pm on a Sunday evening? It's a harrowing process.

But eventually, by some kind of grace, we found one optometrist with a cell phone hooked up to his office phone. He brought me in, did a bang-up quick job of checking my eyes, handed me a pair of lenses, and sent me out to make an appointment with my eye doctor back home. I could see!

So I'm back to wearing contacts. And I'm feeling pretty stupid.

I keep seeing these things that strike me as rare and wonderful, but I keep forgetting them before I can get here. I suppose everything has a season.

I'm off to the coast this weekend.

This morning I waited in the coffee line with a whole slew of people wearing matching coats and golf shirts. The coats were bright red, blue, and yellow. Each person had their first name embroidered over their heart.

At 7:30 in the morning, my brain is still booting up. I had no idea where these people came from. Their coats, I thought, looked like hot air balloons.

One of them took off his coat, and there, again over his heart, was an embroidered picture of a balloon. They were part of a huge ballooning company, stopping off for coffee on the cold, wet day of their company picnic.

I smiled at the gentleman who appeared to be the head of the crew. He would have smiled back (he was a jolly fellow) except that the man behind the counter called a drink's name.

"Double vanilla latte," said the man behind the counter.

The balloon man pulled his coat on, grabbed his coffee, and went outside, where the rest of his crew were sitting and laughing about something someone said.

So three days into the new job, I'm bubbling over with ideas, and I'm not sure how to implement them. The time will come, I know. So I am being patient.

I realized a long time ago that I'm part big-idea-thinker and part hands-on-engineer. I think that's part of the reason I love working on the internet so much. I get ideas and I implement them.

The process may be slower at work, but it will be essentially more refined. More steps to the process, more people involved in the process. I know that this will ensure a quality final product.

It is wet and cold today. Everyone is saying, "is it September already?" The wind is blowing through the Willamette Valley with a gentle but consistent force.

I think I'll go grab a cup of tea.

It is the middle of the afternoon in Newberg, Oregon. I grabbed lunch today at noon and then drove out into the (very accessible) countryside. There's something wonderful about working in an area that most people would consider rural. The commute sucks, but the scenery... oh the scenery.

The last few weeks have been outrageously hectic.

Amy and I bought a car. A brand new five-speed silver hatchback Honda Civic DX. We didn't get any special deals. We paid blue-book. And we're happy about it.

I started a new job on Monday, after finishing my previous job last Wednesday.

I helped Amy take a group of kids (rough ones, let me tell you) to the rock gym on Thursday. We drove a city van, which was nice. The kids loved climbing, and the day was a huge success.

I helped Amy take a group of kids (another group, even rougher) to the Children's Museum on Friday. This time, we used another of the city's transportation options: the city bus. The kids weren't excited about the traditional ethnic dance workshop (I was excited until we showed up and met the instructor, who I would nicely describe as "uninspiring"), and the day was full of fights, hissy-fits, tantrums, and utter chaos.

But now I am sitting at my new desk in my new office and I see the good potential of this new thing.