Posts in the “personal” category

In celebration of 2/11 tomorrow: 2 + 11 = 1 + 12 and “two plus eleven” is an anagram of “one plus twelve.”

With two or three weeks left in the regular season, the Broncos were facing possible elimination from the playoffs. (A lot of people were saying it was “probable,” not “possible.”) But they kept working hard — “grinding,” as they like to call it — and won the Super Bowl. Never give up.

This quote/image about our “propensity” for certain behaviors comes from Pema Chodron’s book, Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change. Ms. Chodron oftens writes and speaks about “shenpa,” which I’ll describe as some combination of “things that trigger us,” along with how we react to those triggers.

I like this tweet by the Dalai Lama. One of my favorite phrases is facta non verba — deeds, not words.

This series of images that I put together from the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil reminds me of the haunted hotel in New Mexico.

“I think the big thing is don’t be afraid to fail. I think in our society today, Instagram, Twitter, it’s a highlight reel. It’s all the good things. And then when you look at it, you think like, wow, when you have a rough day or your life’s not as good as that, like, you’re failing.”

“Failure is a part of life. That’s a part of building character and growing. Without failure, who would you be? I wouldn’t be up here if I hadn’t fallen thousands of times. Made mistakes.”

“We all are human, we all have weaknesses, and I think throughout this, just being able to share that and be transparent. I know when I listen to people speak and they share their weaknesses, I’m listening. Because I can resonate.”

“So I’m not perfect. I’m not Superman. I might be in the NFL, and we might have just won the Super Bowl, but, hey, we still have daily struggles, I still have daily struggles. So that's where my faith comes in, that’s where my family comes in.”

“I think when you look at a struggle in your life, just know that’s just an opportunity for your character to grow. And that’s really just been the message. Simple. If something’s going on in your life and you’re struggling? Embrace it. Because you’re growing.”

~ Nick Foles, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, and Super Bowl champion

“I love you so much that I want you to be happy, even if that happiness no longer includes me.”

A quote from the movie, The Longest Ride. (Which, thanks to my illness, I have no memory of watching. I only know that I wrote this quote down on a piece of paper.)

Farnam Street has been an interesting blog lately, including this post about keeping a decision journal, and this post about the rules of the road of investing.

In other news, bbc.com reports that researchers have found a sprawling Maya network discovered under a Guatemalan jungle.

sixcolors.com has a nice pie chart that shows how Apple makes its money (hint: 70% comes from the iPhone, 7% from the Mac).

inc.com has this article, 21 questions Amazon asks its job candidates.

Finally, here’s a series of tweets where Alastair McAlpine “asked some of my terminal paediatric palliative care patients what they had enjoyed in life, and what gave it meaning.” (Highly recommended reading.)

fs.blog has two lists of book recommendations by Charlie Munger, here and here.

From time to time I write little stories that have nothing to do with programming or technology. This is one of those stories, so if you’re only here for the tech, you’ll want to skip this one.

As I stretched in Utthita Parsva Konasana, I took a break from my concentration and indulged in a moment of both reflection and forethought. For five days we drank tequila and sangria, swam in the warm ocean water, and even hiked in a Mexican jungle, but tonight it would be different: we would learn how to dance Salsa.

“Conscience, when it is flawless, is the voice of our soul, whispering in our ear.”

~ B.K.S. Iyengar, in the book, Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness

“There’s my mom when she’s little. She has my eyes; blue-grey, with flecks of panic.”

(Great writing from a favorite movie, In Your Eyes.)

Geno Auriemma shares his thoughts about who he recruits, and how he handles people who are sulking and always thinking about themselves. A favorite quote: “a tremendous appreciation for when teammates do something well.”

Heleo.com has a nice interview with Walter Isaacson, who has written terrific autobiographies about Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs. He also wrote The Innovators, a terrific retrospective of the invention and use of computers, and recently released a biography of Leonardo da Vinci.

In the article he says that a common thread of all of these great people is curiosity across disciplines.

“Look, I have no illusions, okay? I know that the life I live ... I know how it’s gonna end for me. Whatever. I’m okay with that. But I wanted you to know ... that when I do picture myself happy ... it’s with you.”

(Dean)

And it can dwell on moonlight glimmer,
On evening shade and loneliness;
And, while the sky grows dim and dimmer,
Feel no untold and strange distress —
Only a deeper impulse given,
By lonely hour and darkened room,
To solemn thoughts that soar to heaven
Seeking a life and world to come.

~ from Evening Solace, but Charlotte Brontë

If you ever wanted to see a panda playing in the snow, here you go.

“All of us have to learn how to invent our lives, make them up, imagine them. We need to be taught these skills; we need guides to show us how. If we don’t, our lives get made up for us by other people.” —Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wave in the Mind (Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and Imagination), 2004.

(From this Paris Review article)

Next invasive medical procedure is Monday morning. I have to admit, I’m not looking forward to this one, or what comes after it. But it needs to be done.

Back in 2009 I had a concussion. At some point after that I drove to Illinois to see my family. I was tired after the drive and fell asleep on my sister’s couch, only to be awakened by a loud noise. I opened my eyes and looked in the direction of the noise. A woman standing in the kitchen looked at me and said, “I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

I replied, “Um, that’s okay, no problem.” I didn’t know who the woman was, but she seemed nice, and seemed genuinely sorry for making the noise.

After she turned and walked away I looked around; I didn’t know where I was. My first instinct was to panic, but I tried not to. I thought hard, “Where am I? Who is that woman?” I also thought, “Who am I?,” but those first two questions bothered me the most.

After at least ten seconds of trying to control my panic and search my memory, it finally came back to me. I was Al, the woman was my mother, and I was at my sister’s house. The panic subsided.

I write this because of a dream this morning, and because I can only begin to imagine the fear that people with dementia/Alzheimers must deal with on a regular basis.