Thoughts From Eric Archive

Ah, three days in New York City.  Concrete and skyscrapers as far as the eye can see, the bustle and energy of several million people, the constant hum and the honking of taxis, blasts of pungent bus exhaust.  Isn’t it funny how the same things I find abhorrent, my wife can find so wonderful?  I could probably try stretching that observation into other areas of our life together, but that would be grossly unfair and (more importantly) not very funny.

The trip to NYC (which ended on Sunday) was undertaken so that I could speak at a conference along with Jeff Veen, Jeffrey Zeldman, and Eric Costello.  Unfortunately the conference was cancelled at the last minute, so no panel for us.  We got together anyway, along with Jeff’s wife Leslie (previously quoted on this very page), and spent a pleasant evening schmoozing and eating at The Noho Star.  I always like to hang with industry veterans in a social setting, because the conversation always takes interesting swings from shop talk to politics to gossip and back, wending a path through anything which takes the collective fancy.  These are smart people leading interesting lives.  What could be more compelling?

Kat and I also took the chance to visit with her parents, naturally, and to see some of Kat’s friends in the NYC area.  For the weekend, we drove up to Hartford, CT to see Peter and Celeste for the first time since their wedding last summer, and to admire their new house.  It’s funny how being fellow homeowners can provide all kinds of material for conversation, most of it the kind of thing we would have been horrified by not five years previously.  Yet there we all were chatting gaily about boring grown-up stuff like wall paint and hardwood floors.  I can only imagine what it will be like when we have children.

As for last week’s update… there is much to say, but not now.

• Tuesday, 8 May 2001 was published on Tuesday, May 8th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Travel category.
• There have been no replies.

Some dreams are at the last minute reborn; some die before they’ve had a chance to be born at all.

• Tuesday, 1 May 2001 was published on Tuesday, May 1st, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Personal category.
• There have been no replies.

I was going to post stupid stuff about how I don’t hear from some of my friends and colleagues these days, and then I changed the plan to whining about my life and how confusing it’s been recently, but when it gets right down to it none of this is worthy of complaint.  I’m just sliding through a moderate emotional trough and really should avoid posting until I’ve recovered.  In fact, this post was probably a bad idea, but too late now.  (You’re reading it, after all.)

As for recent events, our friends Jeff and Erin got married over the past weekend.  As all brides and grooms must be (according to federal law), Erin was absolutely beautiful and Jeff looked mildly panic-stricken.  The “rehearsal dinner” was held at our house on Friday night, and it seems a good time was had by all.  We saw some of Kat’s classmates for the first time since graduation, so there was a great deal to talk about.  Jeff broke out the mandolin and serenaded the crowd with such gems as Chinese People Don’t Eat Sushi and other original compositions.  Jeff’s mother was also kind enough to translate the Chinese writing on our many wall hangings and tell us the story behind some of them; thanks to her, we’re now sure that our artwork does not say things like “Simple Sketch I Overcharged Stupid American Tourists To Draw.”  We’d always wondered…

• Tuesday, 24 April 2001 was published on Tuesday, April 24th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the General category.
• There have been no replies.

We had more out-of-town friends staying at the Manor Meyer over the weekend, so I was sort of forced into a socializing/relaxation mode, which felt pretty alien.  No articles were written, no book material was cranked out, there was no class to check on, and no project deadlines were looming.  Weird.  I still checked e-mail, of course, but even on that front it was a slow weekend.  I was actually considering doing something productive like raking the yard, but then a cold rain started falling and I decided to goof off some more.  (Like I need an excuse as obvious as inclement weather when it comes to avoiding yard work.)

• Monday, 16 April 2001 was published on Monday, April 16th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the General category.
• There have been no replies.

I can’t say it any better than Tycho did over at the Penny Arcade this morning:

…when someone tells you that you can do what you’ve always wanted, and not just that, what you’ve always dreamed, and do it as your job, you start wishing that they’re right.  And you wish really, really hard.

Even when the wish seems dead, you fight to keep it alive, because it’s so damned hard to give up.  And you keep hoping that it’s going to work out, somehow, against what seem like all odds.  I hear ya, Tycho.  I can’t restore your wish any more than I could anyone else’s, but I hear ya.

• Monday, 9 April 2001 was published on Monday, April 9th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Personal category.
• There have been no replies.

So it’s the day after April Fool’s Day, and guess who the joke is on?  Anyone who believed George W. Bush’s environmental campaign promises.  You know, last time I checked Washington, D.C. was a coastal city, so it will be one of the first to feel the effects if sea levels do rise to any significant degree.  Apparently Bush is okay with flooding many of our national landmarks, damaging and perhaps destroying them.  Maybe he’s hoping that the sound of waves breaking against the Capitol building will lull Congress into a relaxed state, thus making them more prone to civility.  It’s so crazy, it just might work.

• Monday, 2 April 2001 was published on Monday, April 2nd, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Politics category.
• There have been no replies.

Kat and I just returned from the company retreat to Curaçao, which was quite lovely and very warm but also lacked Internet access.  There was also a distinct lack of stuff for me to do besides sit around, read books, and swim.  Sounds like heaven, right?  Wrong.  My head was in danger of imploding, to reference Babylon 5 once more, and frankly the island pace doesn’t suit me.  I don’t care how relaxed life is down there: it should not take fifteen minutes to screw up an order for three scoops of ice cream in a bowl.  I expect that level of incompetence to consume no more than five minutes, tops.

On the other hand, I did at long last learn to snorkel and got relatively good at it, so I was able to enjoy gliding over coral formations, minor shipwrecks, and brightly colored fish while the sun warmed my (SPF45 and T-shirt protected) back.  So I can’t say the trip was a total loss.

• Thursday, 29 March 2001 was published on Thursday, March 29th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Travel category.
• There have been no replies.

Not much new to say this week.  We had an out-of-town friend visit us over the weekend, which was really nice, and Kat and I have been discussing plans for home improvements this spring and summer.  It isn’t so much what we want to do as what we want to do this year, and what we want to put off for following years.  I’m also starting to assemble my thoughts on the subject of renegotiating my home finanacing, what with interest rates as low as they’re about to be.  Hey, if we’re going to be forced into a downturn by (insert your preferred scapegoat here), we may as well benefit from it in some fashion.

• Monday, 19 March 2001 was published on Monday, March 19th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the General category.
• There have been no replies.