The important things

I can get bummed out sometimes. A lot of the time it's related to being stuck inside (unexercised), sometimes it's because I see people I care about posting anti-vaccine crap. Sometimes it's because I feel behind on things.

Then I look at my family and all the rest falls away. Only happiness is left.

Happiness. Laughter. Love.

The Future

The future is just a kind of history that hasn't happened yet.

— Bruce Sterling

Robotic Cookie Overlords

Tonight as I was putting non-bake cookies onto wax paper to dry, I was thinking that it would be really cool if I didn't have to do this. Yes, it was mostly because my back was killing me and I was standing in our 3 season sunroom which was below zero. But think about it. A fridge that can know what you have in it and order replacements. Drones that fly purchases to your home in 30 minutes. A programmable robot that can make cookies in your own home. The smell of a small batch of freshly baked cookies, within an hour of thinking of it. Well, unless you schedule cookies to be baked or that robots truly become much smarter than they are and can anticipate human feelings and how to correct them. Imagine that - your smart phone figuring out that you've had a bad day, so by the time you get home there are some still-warm cookies and some hot coco waiting for you. Yum.

Now, I'm not the first person to think of a totally automatic house. Not even the bad things that could happen like Ray Bradbury's There Will Come Soft Rains. There can always be a downside.

But I just want some freshly made cookies.

Good times

It's that time of the year - time for reflection, family, friends, and staying in the warm as much as possible. Things are good. I'm having fun. Best of all, Alice looks good doing her toque and mitten power move.

Simplicity of the Star

At work they had a cube decorating "contest". I put up a single decoration and wrote a sign explaining it. I hope that I'll win.

And they came upon the cube seeking the decorations and they despaired because they could not find them. And lo, Jim appeared before them and told them to fear not, for a star adorned it.

But they could not see the star and grew afraid. To which Jim replied that to see the star of the holidays they only had to look for where stars are – in the heavens. So they looked up and were all like “but I still can’t see it” and Jim was like “it’s up there… no, to the left… my left… it’s on the light. Just look at the light.”

And they rejoiced at the tiny red sparkly star which symbolized everything that a tiny red sparkly star stood for.

With the joy of the holidays filling their hearts (which grew 3 sizes that day), they went on to vote for Jim’s cube in the decorating contest because they knew that was the right thing to do.

Everything is a spaceship

The other day Laura laughed when I drove through the steam coming out of a manhole cover. It might have been because I made a spaceship noise when I drove through it.

That's what I'm usually thinking about when I'm in motion. A ship navigating obstacles. Moving, timing things to be efficient, banking around corners. You know, the usual. I love walking through forested trails and I'm likely not thinking that I am a spaceship then, but I don't spend a lot of my walking time in the forest. Such is life.

So, if I walk by you and you think that you hear a "pew pew pew" sound, it's probably just the wind.

Captured the memories

Today on the radio I heard about a service called Soundportraits that will interview someone and capture how they remember events and relate parts of their life. I really like this idea. I wish that I had done this for my grandmother before she passed away. They provided a list of questions that they use for interviews.

Since I don't trust that these links will work for long, I'm going to paste the list here.

1. Tell one thing that your Mother taught you.
2. Tell one thing that your Father taught you.
3. What was your most spectacular fall or tumble?
4. What was your favourite present from childhood?
5. When did you really get into trouble as a child?
6. If you had $100 to give away, who would you give it to?
7. If you could have a perfect day, what would be in it?
8. Who has been kind to you?
9. What is your earliest memory?
10. What are you really good at?
11. What is the most beautiful place in the world... and why?
12. What is your pet peeve... what drives you crazy?
13. What was your best Hallowe'en costume?
14. When were you first on stage? How did it go?
15. What was the hardest thing you had to do yesterday?
16. What is the hardest thing about school or work?
17. What is your favourite song? Why?
18. What is your favourite food? Why?
19. What do you think is the biggest difference for children today from when your parents and your grandparents were children?
20. What is the most important thing about being a good friend?

I really like this idea.