Kenny ://

Met one of my neighbors

I finally met my new neighbor. At the office. I think I've mentioned that there's allegedly a 10' alligator that lives on campus and is pretty regularly seen at the pond behind a fence that sits almost bumper-touching in our parking lot.  

Well, I finally ran into him. Better pictures when I see him and have a zoom lens with me.

I think I know what I look for in a city

I travel. I do it not for fun most of the time, though my traveling turns out to be fun, but usually for work. If I travel for fun, it's a road trip with the tribe, a camping trip, a bike-race trip, anything that I can do in a car. I love traveling, I hate the process of getting there. Kind of counter-intuitive, isn't it? I guess I'm high maintenance that way. 

I was talking to a few colleagues today, or yesterday, or the day before, I forget, and mentioned that I wasn't really that big on Boston the first time I went but the next few times it got better and better. Usually when I get to a city for the first time I either immediately love it or I immediately am non-committal.  I think I imagine myself living in a city the first 5 minutes I'm there. I look for small things - how quickly do taxis notice my hand up, how swiftly are the pedestrians moving through a crosswalk or how smoothly are they flowing down the sidewalk? Is there enough commerce in a particular city to support my lifestyle if I chose to move there? Is there enough access to outdoor activities to support that part of my lifestyle? Is there enough anonymity?

There it is, that's the one. Anonymity. Is there the opportunity to be somewhere where I won't run into someone that a) I know or b) knows someone who knows me?  I dunno why I like the possibility of blending into the white-noise, the background, so much. I think it's the voyeur in me, or the want to observe. I always hoped to be the next great American author, the next J.D. Salinger or the next John Cheever, which would require me to be a great, anonymous observer, but the truth is I love to people watch.

A common claim of mine is that if I could have one super power, and if I got to choose what that super power was to be, I'd choose invisibility. Think of the things I could write about if I could sit, unobserved, on some meetings you wish you were in on.  Think of those things.  

I think about them sometimes.

Thursday - ku

Yesterday is the
Day I miss the most just 'cos
It's the most recent.

I usually don't post about work but . . .

I usually don't say anything about work here but thought I'd brag about my new place.  There's a 'company gym' in the lobby with 24 hour access if you've got a company id badge, which I have, and which I've taken advantage of, there's an alligator (allegedly 10' long, which I've posted about already) who is fabled to be seen frequently on campus, and here's a picture of the open atrium of the building - it's 4 stories tall in the middle.  If you're from Memphis, this should remind you of the Raleigh Springs Mall. When it was cool (was it ever?).

So far I really dig the place. I'm surrounded by people who are much smarter than me which is always welcome. I thought I had it before but whoa was I wrong. This crew would beat James Carville in a debate.

Still haven't seen the alligator

I went to the company gym today and since there was no one around (it's Saturday, after all), I decided after the 7 mile run and 60 mins of lifting to see if I could find the 10' alligator that lives on my office campus.  In Charleston, apparently, there are a lot of gators. 

A lot of the city is marshland. When you look through real estate listings you periodically see something that says "deep water dock" which means the house comes with a pier and dock out the back door for your boat and the "deep water" means you live on land with your own private access to a water way that leads into a river going to the Atlantic.  That pier goes over the marshland that sits between your backdoor and the "deep water."  Pretty cool, but I think it'll take some getting used to considering the bodies of water in Memphis are toxic.  Mississippi River, Patriot Lake, Wolf River, etc.  I wouldn't drink out of ANY of those or eat anything that came from them if you gave me a golden egg-laying goose.  

Anyway, I didn't find the alligator but the pond around which it's most frequently spotted is in the picture below. Yes, that green fence separates my building's parking lot from the alligator pond and marshland.  I think what Charleston needs is an alligator wrestler. I need a camo muscle shirt, first, though.

Maybe it's just me

Today is the second time I've been on the East Coast when it's been raining. The first time was last Saturday - it relegated me to an hour and a half on the trainer for a bike ride (about all I could damn stand) and then some time in the gym.

There's something about the coast, or maybe it's me - it's really windy here. In order to get anywhere in Charleston, you go over a bridge because pretty much every part of town is separated by a bridge.  There are river inlets that separate everything. Those bridges, by the way, have to be HUGE due to the shipping industry. For example, we have the Ravenel Bridge, (link to bridge website) which is something like the nations largest or longest cable suspension bridge anywhere, which is relatively new.  These bridges have to be built really tall in order to accommodate the freight liner ships that have to get to the port out of the strong moving Atlantic. Here's a google maps shot of Charleston - see all the yellow that goes over a river? That's a bridge.  

 

So, back to today's rain. It's violent, it's really windy here, and the rain makes any attempt to stay dry an exercise in futility.  I think I probably would have caused riots of laughter in anyone sitting warm and dry behind a window while watching me dodge, duck, and dart to or from my car today in the rain if it weren't for the fact that EVERYONE was doing the same thing.  

They're used to it, though.  Me? I'm soggy and grumpy.

News resources and sources and their impact on National Politics

Please watch to the end of this very important message - it's only 1:07 long. 

(I borrowed this from Speener)

Teach an old dog new tricks?

I've recently relocated, joined a new company, moved about 700 miles and one time zone and think I've got a new way of thinking about learning.  

There's a saying that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, or you can teach an old dog new tricks, or something like that. I've decided that you're not teaching anything new, you're teaching a variation on something that dog already knows.  

Here's what I mean, I'm not an old dog by any stretch of the imagination but I'm not a recent college grad, either.  I've been in the professional world for 10 years now and just changed from the not-for-profit sector to the for-profit sector. I'm doing something similar to what I used to do but it could still be considered a "new trick" in the parlance of the cliche'.  Now, I'm not learning a new gig, I'm learning a variation of the same gig you can go to school to learn - consulting.  I would argue there are less than 10 tricks you can learn and that you just tailor that learning to your environment.  Know design? You can design for a trucking company, a telephony company, an agency, or a corporation.  Design is design.  Know systems? Same thing.  Know relationship/project management? Disco - same thing.  You just learn a new vocabulary, not a new language.  

Anyway, that's my fishbowl take on it.

Wed-ku:

Coffee ritual

Is about to stop for good

RSS Failed me

It's raining on the coast - I'm inside for the day

I've officially become no-longer-unemployed and I guess the week I was doing nothing, I really didn't appreciate.  I'm only an hour ahead of where I was, but I'm a morning person with an inability to sleep past 6:00 AM, CST, usually. Add to that that I set my alarm for 5:00 because I keep telling myself "Today's the day you're going to get your ass out of bed at 5:00 for a run" and that means I'm now getting up at 4:00 AM.  Ouchy. I'm sure I'll acclimate within a week, but being 'on' all day at the office is psychologically a little tiring. I'm sure that'll change, too. I'm not just learning new systems, software, processes, methodologies, vocabulary, directions, etc., but I'm also meeting dozens of people a day - there are more than a thousand people in the company I've just joined, not all at HQ, but still.  I think I've only met about 11 or 12 people, and am glad for that small #, but am looking forward to getting into the meat of what I do now - consulting.

There's something else, too, I have two job titles. I think one is for the external world and the other is for internal use - if you don't work for my company, I'm a Principal Consultant. If you do, I'm an Engagement Manager. Actually, I don't think it matters whether you're employed with me or not - you can get away with calling me either. I guess I'll know what to tell people when I get business cards but I like them both. 

I wonder if I can get two-sided business cards. 

Satur-ku:

"Ghost Adventures" is

The new Wayne's World on TeeVee

Dimwits chasing ghosts

On another note - if you get geeked out about design, you might like this link. Design comes from all sources and this one is a 25 min video about the map for the London Underground - an apparently simplistic, user-friendly, useful, and well thought out design.   

How I am spending my last day of unemployment

I'm in Charleston, which by the way is a lovely little town, kind of sleepy and easily walkable in the right places.

I spent a few hours downtown today just meandering and people watching and saw, in Marion Park (sp?) what have to be the two biggest damn dogs I've ever seen in my life. I didn't approach to find out what they are, I think bull mastiff (like the dog from "Turner and Hooch"), but have taken to calling them Thor and Odin. Big. Damn. Dogs. Dot. Com.:

Downtown Charleston is also home to I think at least three universities or colleges: College of Charleston, Medical University of South Carolina, and the Law School of Charleston or Charleston Law School or whatever it is. What's that mean? It means a combination of intelligent students mixed in with hungover undergrads wandering around in the sunlight looking for their cars from last night.  I am really looking forward to the Farmers Market downtown this weekend to get a full glimpse of that elusive creature, the hungover 19-year-old vowing never to do that again, while still wearing her harlot outfit from the night before wondering not only where her car is, but also why her friends left her and, "oh dangit, where are my keys??? Mom and dad are going to flip if I have lost my car. Again."

On another note, since it's my last day of unemployment I've decided to take a nap on the patio. Here's what I'll be seeing just before nodding off:

So many soothing colors. So many . . . 

I'm Kenny Allen and I endorse this message. 

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