Perspective

Well, you’re alive and can be thankful for that. Then you can worry about finding any job.

~ Overheard while walking through a park in Ireland

The Irish seem to have remarkable perspective. For instance, while walking around in a park, I overheard a grandfatherly gentleman tell his young female companion the statement above. I can only guess about the backstory. Was she ill? Was he ill? Was this just the sharing of a lesson learned through many decades of living? Does the backstory even matter or is the lesson enough?

While traveling around Ireland, I was amazed by how everyone we met was friendly, engaging, and happy, and not in a superficial way. When I talked with someone, I felt as if the person listened to what I was saying instead of thinking of what he or she was going to say next. People seemed truly interested in the conversation and the shared story we were creating together. A thread of genuine curiosity underpinned every conversation, and each person seemed to embrace the advice of the grandfatherly gentleman who extolled the importance of appreciating life. It was exhilarating!

I also marveled at the public art we saw and the stories we heard. Walking around Dublin, you will see statues and architecture devoted to writing, music, and wit. I don’t recall seeing a single object honoring or glorifying war or military might or victors who forcably conquered others. Instead, the culture appears to place other things on a higher pedestal, and I love this the most about Ireland. Heck, their national symbol is a harp! Again, the Irish seem to know what to value and have the right perspective about life.

I miss Ireland, and the re-entry into the United States didn’t supply a soothing balm. Instead, I was jarred by the crass abrasiveness of the very loud, very obnoxious American in the airport lounge. He had not kissed the Blarney Stone in his life and was not given the gift of gab. Instead, his story telling was self focused and more of an assault on one’s ears than a tender lithe tale of ones adventures. Nope, it was a litany of “accomplishments” and what I can only assume to be “sharing of wisdom through his awesomeness.” Maybe I’m being too harsh on the poor guy, or maybe we could all use a bit more of the Irish perspective in ours. If an Irish cabbie can curse you from a place of love and make you laugh at the same time, then maybe we can be more welcoming and opening in our general interactions.

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In which I discover my inner geek

I left for a trip to California and discovered I am a geek, in the best sense I’m hoping. Work called me out west for my first visit to California. I had to visit one of our locations in San Jose, which was a nice sunny balmy 60F when I landed. The two hour time difference between home and the west coast didn’t seem too bad until I found my eyes becoming quite heavy at early evening. I rested, met my coworkers in the morning for breakfast, then realized I was in Silicon Valley. To an IT professional, it was like landing somewhere only to look around and have it dawn on you that you are in Disney World.

As we drove to the office, I began to shout excitedly “Oh, there’s Yahoo! There’s Intel, oh my gosh, was that Cisco?” My exclamations greatly amused my non-IT coworkers. Later, a counterpart at the office offered to drive me around to see the sites. I thanked her for her graciousness and then promptly asked, “Do you know where the Google office is?” Forget the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, or Lombard St in San Franscisco. I spent the next couple of hours driving around Silicon Valley taking in the sites of a bunch of IT company office buildings. Yes, I found Google, and you can google Goggle on Google Maps when you get a little lost, which we did. It was one of the best site seeing jaunts ever.

I did not, though, take any time to get in some fly fishing, which Italian thought was a bit nutty. The guy is great. He was encouraging me to extend my trip away from home so I could trek out to a remote lake or river and catch a fish. I was anxious to get back to my boys, plus, fly fishing without the guys just doesn’t seem right; not yet anyway. I did finish the Spey Valley socks on the flight.

From WIPs

They were an extremely quick knit, spanning a few hours over three weeks. If I had actually devoted time to these socks, they would have been complete a while ago. The yarn is from a small indie dyer and the base yarn is nice and squishy. The pattern supplies just the right amount of variance to be interesting but still works well with a self striping yarn. Overall, I’d knit the pattern and this yarn again, which is good, because I have more of this yarn in my stash in other colorways.

From WIPs

After casting off the socks, I picked up a shawl. This teeny tiny mess of lace weight yarn had been languishing in my knitting basket. It was feeling forlorn and looked sad when I packed it for my trip. It began to perk up though somewhere over the Rockies and slowly started to look like an unblocked piece of lace, still messy, but with some life and potential. I have to say, lace is a great plane project. It is compact and unobtrusive, plus the concentration required helps pass the time quickly.

From WIPs

Before I close out for today, I need to wish my goddaughter a belated happy birthday. She had the honor of turning three last week, on Inaguration day. The entire nation held a great big party for little Nay Nay (and Barack Obama. Nay Nay was nice enough to share her day). Happy birthday, sweetie!

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Leaving on a Jet Plane

I’m in Minneapolis again this week for a few more hours, which means I’ve been up here for winter, spring, and summer, so far. The differences between the seasons have been rather amazing. For my winter trip, the thermometer dipped down into the negative digits, double digits. My spring visit brought temperatures in the 50s and 60s. This visit has included 90 degree weather and today, the high is 71. It is beautiful and my coworker and I have tried to take advantage of it as much as possible.

We decided to actually leave work at a decent time the other night and headed to a local spot for dinner. A local team member decided to come with us and act as a guide. The three of us drove out to Lake Calhoun, a beautiful part of town. The lake is surrounded with separate walking and biking pathways and the paths were heavily used. As we strolled around the lake to the Tin Fish restaurant, bikers zoomed across the biking path, bathers waded in the beach, and families strolled along the walking path. The lake was also filled with people sailing, kayaking, canoeing, and paddleboating. I was amazed with all the activity on a weeknight and loved that people were outside being active. We headed down to the Tin Fish and ate dinner sitting by the lake. If you are ever in Minneapolis, go to Lake Calhoun, walk down to the Tin Fish, and enjoy a glass of beer and the fantastic food.

While in Minneapolis, I found the knitters at my company. My company has a knitting charity group called Project Warm Hearts. They knit for three local charities and my company matches their donated items with a cash gift as well. Plus, there is a yarn closet at work, so if you are in need of yarn, you can just pop by the closet and pick up a few skeins. I picked up some Sugar and Cream cotton for dishcloths. I’m thinking a dishcloth would be a perfect way to try out some doubleknitting. I did finish a hat while knitting away with the Minneapolis knitters and left that in the capable hands of the Project Warm Hearts coordinator.

Pattern: none
Yarn: Mission Falls Superwash wool
Duration: Started the hat on Monday morning on the plane, finished it on Wednesday at lunch. It is a man sized hat. The yarn is worsted weight, so the hat knits up quickly.

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