Link Roundup

I’m usually resigned to throw up these entries: they mean I’m too busy/lazy/drunk to give each subject the thought-filled entry it deserves. But usually the tangential ideas I have to accompany said link dissipate when the chaos of modern living interferes. Alas.

–Speech Al Gore just gave. Yes, the guy who ran for prez in 2000 (Amazing huh). The talk is right on. Pity the man’s charisma (er yes…lack thereof), doomed him from the onset. Ole Georgie has that killer smirk that made those heart-felt red staters swoon. Ironic the infiltration of “sound-bite” culture is what doomed Gore to begin with, which gives somes rabid-dog bloggers ammo (try focusing on the issues next time, big guy)

-I tested the monk class recently, mostly out of curiosity, but also in attempts to find some sort of mental reset button. You see, the past two weeks have been brutally taxing. I’ve basically become the last example from a slightly aging distopian vision:

...he also carries chains and manacles - his laptop and cellphone. Essentially he works twenty four hour days. His work is always on his mind, and he always must be prepared to perform intellectual gymnastics to debug the problem (under a time frame) to get things working again.

Anyway, back to the meditation – I’d give it props. There’s something to be said to reducing your thinking to a vision of roman numerals on a flat horizon, iterating with each inhalation. Unfortunately, it quickly devolved to Icehouse 40s and Aphex Twin, M83 and Modest Mouse.

What I need is short term memory loss. Then I wouldn’t realize I’ve been sitting in my cube for nearly twelve hours. Or waiting on hold with Microsoft for three. Or wondering if my cracked incisor is going to fall out cause I’ve had to cancel my dentist appointment twice already.

But tomorrow’s another day, another 3am page to reset the services, 6 am alarm clock, 7 am solution redeployment, and 9am followup support call. Let’s hope my dreams appropriately reset my conscience, and I have the requisite motivation and insight to eliminate these problems and earn my daily bread.