I had dinner with a group of non-work friends tonight and we were talking about upcoming vacations. Some people are worried about missing too much work, some people don’t care. I laughed and said, ‘In the end, we’re all replaceable. No one should get TOO comfortable.’ They laughed. I said “Really. one of the first things my mom taught me when I got a job was that I would be amazing at whatever I set my mind to, but I was ultimately replaceable in a corporate setting.”

They seemed sad about that, but I didn’t mean that I was replaceable as a PERSON (for real, no on makes narcissistic camera faces like I do), but business is business. And the job I do, no matter how WELL I do it, could absolutely be done by someone else. Maybe it would take TWO people, and they’d miss the shit out of me, but I could be replaced.

You can be depressed about it, or liberated. Because if the sad day comes that you get the boot, there is a job out there someone else is getting booted from that needs a replacement. It’s all a big circle of life, full of opportunity. You just have to keep your eyes open.

Categories: Uncategorized

When I was 8 or 9 we lived in Zephyrhills, Florida for awhile. We actually lived there a few times, I don’t remember what installment this was from, my sister might. That’s not the point though. We were living at a dropzone called Skydive Phoenix, named so because it had burned down and was rebuilt from the ashes some years before (if you’re new to all this, my mom and step-dad skydive, check out some previous posts). I remember it was the height of the season because there were a LOT of kids. There were different kinds of dropzone kids, those that lived there and those that came out w/ their parents on the weekend - we were the kind that lived there. We knew all the ropes - knew the people, knew who would buy us lemonade, knew who would help us with our homework and knew who didn’t like kids.

I remember one particular weekend a young French girl was there. The other kids didn’t like her, I think because she didn’t speak very good English and it was hard to translate and play with her. They were being mean, not letting her play and getting frustrated. I wasn’t being particularly friendly either, and one of the adults pulled me aside. They said they weren’t sure about the other kids, but they knew me and I knew better than that. I needed to play nice. I remember feeling embarrassed, I didn’t get scolded very often. What was I *thinking* getting caught up in what the other kids were doing. I don’t remember apologizing to her, but I hope I did.

The power of crowds was a big realization for me, and one my mind goes back to (clearly). I like to think as an adult I’ve learned my lesson, but it’s still a conscious effort. I’ll find myself not raising my hand when I know the answer, or getting gossipy at work when I know it could hurt people. It’s much harder to be a strong individual when you’re riding the wave of what everyone else is doing.

I don’t have any big moral lesson here, we all know the RIGHT thing to do. I guess it just struck me how EARLY I learned that lesson and how I’m reminded of it, even now. My mom was worried I was holding on to a bunch of guilt, but it’s more of a ‘don’t forget.’

There’s safety in numbers, but it takes more strength to be just ONE.

Categories: R-R-Rambling · Skydiving · The Fam

These are links from my del.icio.us feed for May 4th:

• Yard Dog Gallery - Clint Griffin - I fell in love with these pieces in 2004, but had no money to buy one. I can't get them out of my head, I may have to track down the artist. They are maps of the world etched in layers of paint of weathered wood scraps. Simple, but so beautiful.

Categories: delicious

I keep having ideas for blog posts when there’s nothing I can do about it - like when I’m driving to work, in the middle of a meeting, or about to fall asleep (the second and third examples there often happen at the same time). I think “I should write this down so I can post about it later,” but I forget all about it, and the post never happens. I’ve heard some people carry around these things called ‘notebooks’ for ideas, I haven’t figured that out yet.

In the meantime, here is a short list of forgotten headlines that I hope to actually do something with at some point:

The radio game (and why Jef always wins unless we’re on a Classic Rock station)

My fear of blenders (and other items with blades and projectiles)

Vegetable garden project (it’s going to be a learning process, you might as well learn with me)

Learning Adobe Lightroom (oof)

My new camera (yay!)

Lastly, and clearly most ironic:

How it’s a family tradition to dream up ideas and never follow through with them

Categories: R-R-Rambling · Shutterbuggin'

These are links from my del.icio.us feed for April 27th:

• Gardening: Small Space (HGTV) - I like this freeform garden layout. It's hard to see from the article, the segment on the show was excellent.

Categories: delicious

This is my grandmother’s crab apple tree at my family’s farm in Wyoming.

Categories: Shutterbuggin' · The Fam

This is my dad and step-mom’s new Border Collie puppy, Echo. She is fuuuuulll of curiosity and ENERGY, as you would expect from her breed. She’ll run, run, run, play, play, play, jump, jump, jump, bounce, bounce, bounce, sniff, sniff, sniff, chase, chase, chase. And then repeat that with the other 23 hours 55 minutes of the day.

(She’s on a long lead here until she learns to stay in the yard. Shouldn’t take her long, she’s SO very smart.)

Categories: Uncategorized

I found this wall w/ some fellow photographers on Saturday and we killed a good 10 minutes laughing and taking pictures of ourself in shadows. It was all very Charlie’s Angels.

Categories: Austin-ish · Daily Photo · Shutterbuggin'