Untitled: Self Assessment Musing

Self-assessment really sucks
It's here that I must count my fucks

The grading scale is too complex
To reach your entangled(?) desk

Despite relativity,
I'm still into me.

Poem: A ___ in the current

Imagine, if you will, you could breath, submerged, without a gill And in floating around you might Find yourself without a light And so you begin to feel around But is there something to be found? YES OF COURSE! YOU JUST HAVE TO LOOK (is something you might read in a book) no way, jose - said the man in the song but we both know that he is wrong And so we swim the great unknown with speedy currents and dead zones Looking for a pride to ride - the stream to match a clumsy stride Despite your body pushing and swaying, your parents and what they might be saying, Your presence is needed now and quickly! But deviations make them sickly... Not to be deterred by the foreign rain For all that matters is inside your head.

Why I Marched

Hi,

I have been asked by a number of people why I marched in the Women's march this weekend.  It's a fair question that deserves an answer.  Here it is.

First and foremost, I marched out of respect for the men and women who have fought for the freedoms I enjoy as a citizen of this great country.  I understand the privileges granted by the Constitution are guaranteed only to the extent that we are willing to fight for (and to keep) them. Those privileges include my right to protest if I feel those freedoms are being threatened.

I marched because freedoms are actively being threatened.  This is important to understand.  People aren't marching because they "are sad they lost the election".  No. The millions of people that demonstrated this weekend were actively combating a real threat against their statuses as citizens. Hostile rhetoric towards women, Muslims, blacks, Mexicans, the disabled, the press, etc. is being normalized as an assault on the "politically correct" by "whiny liberals", but by allowing those comments to go unchecked, it severely hinders the political capital those groups have fought hard for. Phrases like "Grab them by the pussies", "they're rapists", "Liars!", etc.   normalize an ethnocentric view of America and castigates entire demographics.  It is a direct call to popular tendencies that demonizes people in order to win loyalty from an uninformed public.  This is truth just as much as the climate is changing due to human interaction. Even though we can't see it, it is there and many of the people marching understand that.

I marched to make it clear that I will not be caught up in populism. Just because I am a white male does not mean I need to act on behalf of all white men.  When my fellow citizen is slighted, so am I.  My demographic has been given a lot of great privileges of which I am very grateful. It is my responsibility to recognize that advantage and help others or risk that privileged status being challenged by others through violence.

I marched because greater things can be achieved by those who work together.  It is clear to me (and to our president!) that our focus should be internal.  America needs to work together to address domestic issues before we can reasonably be stewards of democracy worldwide.  That is what we voted for and I tend to agree.  The march helped make clear where a lot of Americans stand on issues of social justice: We will not stand for the the de-legitimization of any of our fellow humans. And while global Isolationism may be a temporary solution for dealing with other countries, we will eventually need to find a way to work with other nations or suffer their malcontent.

I marched to be informed. It is difficult to understand the viewpoints of others without getting out and hearing from them.

I marched because I needed to be reminded that people are overwhelmingly good.  The warmth I received from the smiles of the peaceful protesters re-invigorated this conviction.

I marched because I wanted to support my wife. Not because she needed me to, but because she inspires me to be a good citizen.  She was marching with or without me.

I marched because the future is female - and I'm OK with that.  I'm a man. I have a tendency towards machismo and can vividly recall times where I was overly aggressive when challenged in public.  In the age of easily accessible weaponry, perhaps it's OK that a man doesn't have The Button to press if his ego is bruised. With dwindling resources on this planet, it's clear to me that humans will need to shift from a "get off my lawn" attitude to inviting our diverse neighbors over for dinner.

I marched because I took history class. And while I may have only garnered a B letter grade, it doesn't take an A-student to see the threat of authoritarianism as real. We have a charismatic leader who demands loyalty and threatens "law and order" if it is not given. There is an assault on truth with retribution promised to those who don't see things his way.  This has happened before and while authoritarianism doesn't necessarily equate to Nazi-ism and fascism, it can easily slip a similar way unintentionally.  For this we must stay vigilant.

I marched because I have friends who don't understand why a man is marching in a women's march. If this post hasn't helped clear that up, I'm afraid I won't be to able explain this further without talking in person. I am happy to have conversations with friends and always welcome alternative points of view.

Finally, I marched because I am in awe that the Constitution continues to govern with relative effectiveness.  Sure there are laws on the books that could use revision, but I am astonished by the respect these living documents command.  I feel responsibility to help ensure that our government continues to be effective and I am proud to be an active participant in this great social experiment.

Why did(n't) you march?

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Poem: I have been woke

Poem: I have been woke

I stand woke at work
In the present state of pantless mediocrity
Observing others with far greater aspirations and means

In my wakedness
I understand our days to be
Brightly elucidating
Until I am born the meekest
And have completed my final trip around the Sun
To become the dream that is shared.

How many others? Rebel and Empire?
A trinity? A majority? All?

Must I wait.

Cold at my feet.
Sun on my face. Warmth.
Complacency less an option

Clothes would be nice, but...

My ego is yours and you know it.

Has it really been over two years since my last post?

BOSTON:  Apparently it has.

Not that there hasn't been any excitement - I just haven't documented it for the world to see.  Allow me to bring you (and future me) up to speed:

Sarah moved to Michigan where she spent some time as a career advisor in Ann Arbor.
I switched positions at Tutor.com to a Client Services Manager where I had library clients initially, then K12 and Higher Ed institutions.

Our company purchased The Princeton Review and my role switched to working mostly with K12 institutions.

A wild ride ensued with a lot of work, and a flirt with fame as I moved to California to part-time manage my cousins' music career. That is a story that could easily be made into a screenplay and I'd be happy to tell you it someday. I maybe even document it on the Internet for the world to read one day.  Maybe.

All of those events, plus many more lead me to where I am now, which is in Sierra Madre (Southern California) living in an apartment above my Aunt Kathy and Uncle John's place.  Sarah moved recently to Santa Clara (Northern California) where started working last month in a consultative training position with Adecco for Google Express.

Oh, and we are engaged to be married.

So yes, eventually I am going to move the 5-6 hours north to be with my future wife, but until then, I am pretty content having a place to call my own. It's right at the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains and I have the unique luxury of waking up to a view of the mountains and backdoor access to some pretty breathtaking hikes. It doesn't feel like the Greater Los Angeles area until I get on the freeway at least.

Lately, I've been focusing on work, organizing a wedding and an impending move north. Last week I was offered a new position "Director, Institutional Sales Operations - The Princeton Review & Tutor.com" which I accepted on Friday.  I am currently en route to Boston where I will be learning more about what that means. I feel good about that new position and look forward to making our contracting and sales processes more efficient.

I hope to pick this back up as I enjoy reading some of these older posts. 

Until next time,

Steve

I am a curse to the Tigers

Guys.

My curse of the Tigers is real and I now have the data to prove it.  The following statistics are representative of all regular season games since 1984 (the last time the Tigers won the World Series) where I have either been living in the state of Michigan or out of state.

The difference in my W/L ratio is almost 35%!  That's like saying the Tigers are likely to win 56 more games every year with me OUT of state than with me in state.   Since I moved home they are 4-6 which is almost exactly in line with my current trend rate (small sample size on the return, but the rest of the data speaks for itself).

Furthermore, here are my playoff stats:

Who wants to chip in to put me up in Florida for the next two months?

My analysis attached.

Goodnight.

I got a new camera (part deux)

Hello world,

Thanks for tuning in again.   I have exciting news to share which can really serve to benefit this blog.  Yes, I got a new camera.  As my old one is now five years old and my sister recently made me jealous by getting a new one for her birthday, I decided to invest in one for me.

I also got a new computer.  And guess what?  I am writing this from the air again.  Yup, I am currently on a plane from Charlotte, NC to NYC.  I have been traveling since noon today and it is now 9:49 pm. Needless to say, it has been a long day.

Why do you need a new camera, Steve?  Well, there are a couple of reasons.  First off, I don't need a camera, I want one.  I like to take pictures and my phone camera just wasn't cutting it.  Call me my father's son, but dag-nabbit, there is something great about capturing the world around you and sharing it with others.  Also, it will certainly keep me busy and productive and that's never a bad thing.

What are you going to use it for?  Another good question. I hope to use it to take quality pictures of my friends, family and anyone who gets in the way - that is going to be my main purpose with it.  Next, I hope to shoot a few creative videos.  I think I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but I have been wanting to stimulate my creative side a little bit more.  Keep that side of my brain working.  And while I did have the tools before, now I have awesome tools to create things on the level that I want to create them.  We'll see what happens.

Do you even know how to take pictures?  Ehhh... kinda.  But I'm learning and I'm learning quick.  It hasn't even been a week yet and I am already working on the manual setting and getting it to take pictures that I want it to take.  Obviously it is going to take a lot of practice, but I am really enjoying it and I think that enthusiasm will carry me to fun places.   A friend of mine who traveled to Italy with me once told me that she didn't know a person who used all of the functions of their electronics like I did.  I anticipate that quality of mine will carry on into learning how to shoot.

Are you going to take any classes?  Actually, yes.  I signed up for a Living Social deal on framing shots and I will likely take another one or two once I have a better idea of what I want to learn.  There is so much to learn about the camera, lenses, light, portait pictures, landscapes, etc.  I want to learn it all but I will take it one step at a time.

And you got a new computer, too, huh?  Yes.  Yes, I did.  And she's a beaut.  Nice and thin like a MacBook Air, but a little more powerful in the processing department.  She also has a SSD and a touchscreen with Windows 8 which I like for the novelty of it.  I will call her Schragacer. And she is gender neutral so if I refer to her in the masculine in the future don't be alarmed.

So that's that.  I guess I should name my camera, too.  I am working out a system to name, edit and share my photos.  I think it's going to have to be a multistep process.  I like the Flickr community the best, but Picassa makes it easy with the desktop app to upload and share pictures. I think I might go with that.  Maybe save Flickr for my pro-shots (hah.).

Here are a few:

Montauk Lighthouse, commissioned by President George Washington

 I was in Amagansett and East Hampton this past weekend visiting Sarah's cousins and attended the Am O'gansett St. Patrick's Day parade.  Pretty funny. They were billing it as the world's shortest parade as it went one block and ended at a pub.  You can see me in action here:

That's all.  Time to land.  Thanks for stopping by!

Winter Update

Winter Day at Bryant Park

9:54 AM ET, 6:54 AM PT

Hello future self and anyone who might be peeking.

As I am currently crossing into Nebraska from South Dakota on my way to Los Angeles, I'm back in the air with some time to write again. As usual it has been a while.  What's new? Well a good amount I would say.  Work has been busy which is a good thing. I have been traveling quite a bit already this year - I have been to Costa Mesa, CA (where I got to meet up with Smash!), Washington DC (twice), Hershey, PA, and now to Los Angeles.  It's not even March yet!  It almost feels like my days working for Free the Children. Almost.

Anyway, as of the beginning of the year our company has been acquired by another company so there has been a lot of work to do.  I feel good about the acquisition as it should allow for us to expand our product and really help bring added support to students.

As for me, I keep truckin' right now. Things are starting to click with my piano playing (did I tell you I started taking lessons?) .  I am about a year in now and can play many chords and scales if not many songs yet.  Unfortunately, all of this traveling has kept me from the keys and being able to practice.  I have tried using GarageBand on my iPad, but as you can imagine it's not the same.

What else is going on?  Well, the Harlem Shake videos are pretty popular at the moment.  I am a big fan. I wanted to create one with some friends over the weekend but no one was interested.  C'mon man!  You know you are getting old when the prospect of doing something just for the sake of it doesn't sound appealing anymore.  Sure I guess we are busy, but I really don't want to lose contact with that fun and creative part of my brain.  Related thought: I'd like to invest in a good camera and a new personal computer so that I can make stuff (videos, images, websites, etc) on the go just for the fun of it.  Alas, work takes a majority of my time and that equipment is not cheap! I hope future posts have more video/images/side projects attached to them.

I think that's about all I have for the moment.  I have to start thinking about our 10 year reunion.  My goodness. 10 years is a long time, but I can honestly say that the majority of friendships and people that I met during those four years have been the most stand-up group of people I know.  Our class was particularly awesome in that we minded our own business and got our work done.   I am excited to put something together to see everybody. Who wants to help??

Last thoughts before I sign off: 
**The latest Jack White album is incredible (listen to "Take me with you when you go")
**Technology is awesome - possibly as early as this year I will be able to control a computer without a mouse and Google Glass looks sweet
**And I want to see a few more concerts this summer.

That is all.