Last Parade - Trading your moments.

After all day Sunday of standing on metal stands watching and waiting for one parade Krewe after another, I finally got my last fill of parades. Visiting with my family and friends was enjoyable, but the certain misery of dealing with immature adults, jockeying for front row positions, & just being outside waiting...and watching nearly a whole day of my life get traded for a handful of colorful plastic beads, just didn't make sense. Probably just getting old some would say, others might say it was getting wiser! (or more careful of what I trade the moments of my life for)

I grew up on a major parade route, so I have many memories of chasing floats and enjoying the youthful joy of being mesmerized by the large magical parade floats since I was about 2 years old. It was an amazing joy in my life that I had attempted on a few occassions to transend into my adulthood, but it just never was the same. I have ridden several times in a some major Krewes and it is an amazing experience. When riding on the floats, you are the players, and not part of the crowd, the audience...you dictate the flow and the fun and from your seat every brief sighting of happy faces on the parade route is pure bliss. You don't witness the cussing, the jealous drunken brawls, nor the pushing and the bad attitudes. You don't always observe the drunken boyfriend and his bimbo shoving a little kid out of the way so that two grown, slightly enebreated adults can grab their fair share of plastic trinkets...and maybe for a brief moment this 38 year old girl can recapture her lost days of when she was 21 and maybe didn't have to try so hard. Fights, cussing, oh what fun...all over plastic beads, remind me this is something more, right?

I too am tired of trying so hard to realize that watching parades is a fun pastime and not just waste of time, a waste of nearly a half-day of my life...but in the midst of this bath of sour lemons, I did make some kick-a$$ lemonade! I took about 500 pictures yesterday and that was fun indeed. Captive, creative chaos all on digital media...the energy, the colors, the raw unadulterated joy was there, just all slightly less tolerable than ever before. So, these memories might have to keep me for a long time to come...

Cheers,
Andy

Promises & Progress

As much as I wanted to maintain my promise of updating this blog to myself on a more regular basis, nearly another month of my life has transpired since my last post. So, what in the world is going on in Andy's world?

Work on the network is in full swing now for 2008 and my department is actively managing a tremendous amount of activity, projects and deadlines. I only see this increasing as the year goes forward. Our short lived repreive in late December was just a mild tincap speedbump against this runaway data train. New technology, new designs, new projects... change is not only guaranteed, it is the norm.

One interesting project is our VoIP initiative. While we are currently obligated to use the Mitel IP platform (3300s and 5224 phones), it has still been pretty exhausting getting everything working 100%. From a remote branch perspective, all dialtone services are traversing our traditional data MPLS network. Our voice & data networks are uniquely subnetted, so lots of planning for MVAP, VLANs, QoS, and DHCP setups had to be developed. Greek to some, music to my ears....but in any case, it had to work & work well! Most of this complex & unorthodox design was not readily simple to configure. In fact, we were told by Mitel that our design may not work, but I think that negatively was largely predicated by the lack of understanding by the Mitel engineers rather than an opinion based upon experience and/or empirical data. In the end, it works and works perfectly.

So, where does all of this place Andy now? In a situation to relocate of course! Isn't that logical? :P

In the midst of the recent "buyers market" for homes, I am contemplating the purchase of a home on the Northshore. The prices are quite depressed, the interest rates are low (5.25-5.75%) --- so instant equity is assured and that means with slight overpayment of the mortgage, that 30 year note will be quickly dissolved. (Not that I plan to live there for 30 years!) - It will be a good thing, slightly more expensive, longer commute, but much nicer area in terms of QOL...

The skies actually get dark enough to still see the stars quite well at night!
Amazing!

Until next time,
-Andy

You asked me what I want this year...

Better Days.

Promises for a New Year -

I am the type of person that embraces design, structure, planning & raw empirical detail. That is precisely why I dislike the open-ended, often emotionally charged, short-lived compilations of "New Year Resolutions" --- They are far too arbitrary, both to create and to maintain, but I will succumb to the pressures of the free-range herd and list a few of my own aspirations for 2008. (OK - only 1)

1. Have fun --- keep smiling & enjoying life. :)

Become a better person, both to my friends, coworkers, family and the needy in our community. Continue to give back, volunteer and make at least 3 trips this year for my photography fun. Scheduled for 2008:(Costa Rica, Yellowstone, Galapagos Islands/Peru) - Simply keep on believing in the best that life has to offer and keep pushing myself for higher standards & better results. Take better care of myself physically, emotionally & spiritually. Update my blog with photos at LEAST once per week! :)

Love your family --- find new ways to show you care. Continue to care about people long after they have left --- be a true friend.

Just be Andy.

Labels --- just stick them everywhere.

Its funny. Life is... The way some people label you, define you, manipulate you, use you and then blame you for the entire process. It is natural --- people want to be happy and when that happiness is taken away for any reason, even personal choice, the grapes really are sour and you become their emotional dartboard. (Ziiinnnng! Duck!) --- I recently sent an email to a friend that was not responded to at all, assuming that my actions once again are sinister. I think instead of my actions being manipulative, I think they are concerned about being hurt with my inability to be ever-present. I enjoyed our time tremendously in the past, but I don't hold on nor look back, I am just here. If they don't want to be near me for whatever reason, then I am sorry for that loss.

It is OK and sometimes life is too domestic and if that is something that I avoid, then that is my choice. I am not EEEEEEEVIL (as my daughter would say....--- it is kinda comical when she says it) - I try to be a great dad to my children and I know I am a good person. I am just looking for something not too dramatic, not too controlling, something simple. I cannot say that with my wide variety of activities, hobbies & interests, (not to mention work schedule) that my availability wouldn't be an issue for most people, but I try to keep a healthy balance in my life.

I cannot claim to be all things for everyone, nor even anything to anyone.
I am just me, and if that is not enough for some to handle --- then I guess they will not have the chance to completely understand and enjoy me. Fun times should be OK just for the sake of enjoying life, not tied up in some sort of relationship puzzle or encaged with so many expectations. I considered each step completely and I tried really hard to be considerate of the situation, but if it is easier to call me conceited and blame me for your emotional failures, then feel free to continue...

All the best,
Andy


Lighter Notes AHEAD:
Another year is upon us....time for a Christmas post with pictures! :)

Turkey & Tranquility

Well, another month of my life has drifted by, and I am still here working away at keeping some of my life's more notable events from escaping the memory of time. :)

Here is a little post-Turkey roundup: Don't ever get a disagreement with your family just before Thanksgiving. (i.e. You might be spending it alone, honesty apparently equals solitude) --- Well, at least I stood firm on my position with my brother outlaw even if it cost me a fancy feast. My kids flew in and had a wonderful time, we had our own private Turkey feast, and I must say it was probably as equally boring and sublime as it was stress-free. (if that makes any sense) Definitely the most uneventful and forgettable, while at the same time being quite calming. Calmness just doesn't seem to match any memories of my overly complicated, hectic and frantic affairs of "turkey with 20", as it has been for most of my life.

Overall, the kids were great and I do miss them dearly when they depart. Sure, it is fun being fancy free and able to do just about anything I want all of the time, but I seem to find plenty of interesting ways to fill that time --- not too much of which is truly Andy time. So, I decided to work on that just recently.

I pulled out all of my Chinese calligraphy materials including my extremely rare 300 year old hand-carved Shoushan & Jade inkstone, which weighs about 20lbs and decided that it wasn't "getting any younger" sitting in its special padded felt and gold tassled Dragon case, so I fired it up and went to work. (I mean play) - The ritual behind calligraphy or Chinese brush-painting is not the goal but the process. Every single phase is important as much if not more important than the result, which any proper Zen student worth his raked sand, would confirm means nothing and results are to be forgetten and left in the past. No Mind, No Clutter, No Drama, No Worry --- nothing but clarity --- "no mind"

A quiet drop of water and a slow deliberate grind of 100 year old black pine, hand painted inkstick onto the silky smooth stone face is quite relaxing. The focus is centered on nothing else but the ink and the releasing of stress from life itself. Your thoughts, your rambling, your life is to become as pure and clear as a gentle stream - it doesn't think about where it is supposed to be or to go, it just is. That is the magic of this for me --- losing the drama of life and for a brief moment truly residing into the path of clarity, where no one's opinion, no one's thoughts, no one's voice is heard or even desired.

The strokes of the tear-drop bamboo brush glide with deliberate force across the rice paper canvas and "art is made" --- but it is the art created in the spirit that matters more than what dries on the canvas. I think we all need to find something that allows us to truly center, to find our peace, our own place for "no mind" ---

As I look forward to Christmas, I look forward to my children and the rest of my life to be unfolded. I know I need more time to figure this part of my life out and I just don't have the answers nor the desire to know the outcomes, nor the urges to look into the well of the past. I just want to be myself, be happy in the present and then enjoy what gets created on the canvas of my life.

-Andy

Over the hump......Hammond. :)

Wow. Nearly a month and half since last blog post... :P

"Bye-Bye, Hammond" --- It is a silly phrase that I say each and every time that any weather reporter (meteorologist) on TV says, "High of 74 in *Hammond*", "*Hammond* received .75 inches of rain today", "Low of 48 in *Hammond*" --- Ding, Ding --- Right on cue, Mr. Pavlov! "Bye-Bye Hammond" --- silly, wonderful phrase that childishly indicates my abdication of a 10+ year ownership of my primary home, my domicile, my past life. After Katrina did quite a number on it, I truly never thought I would ever get it back into proper shape, much less sold. It has always been a struggle to own, to maintain and to manage it due to the amount of acreage and then expense of the upkeep. But, I kept working on at it religiously nearly each weekend over the last two years. And....I finally beat that house! I finally overcame every last obstacle and when I finally sold that place, it was 10x nicer than when I had discovered it as a rough gem a decade before. It sparkled...it was a truly wonderful place... I cannot determine its future, but at least I conquered it in the present and set it upon a wonderful course.

I will never forget the property, the memories, nor the importance of that piece of land to my emotional, physically and spiritual growth. It's was all good at the end of the day. :)

So, with that finally behind me --- I had the proper mindset to regain focus on a bunch of other areas, namely my own sanity and my kids. I immediately made reservations and flew my daughter in for a late October visit. A few days later, I made additional reservations for Thanksgiving and Christmas for Katey and Nick. I look forward to having them come visit and enjoy a wonderful holiday season. I am now just determined to work on myself, finding more time to help others with volunteer work once again, enjoying my mindless hobbies, and just try to regain some of my lost strength. I cannot afford any strange drama, emotional strain, stress or anything counter-productive to where I choose to be. I know life is uncertain, but sometimes you have to make decisions about what you will tolerate inside your strange little world and what you choose to leave out.

At the end of the day, Hammond was indeed a catalyst for my own personal growth and I am humbly grateful for both the journey and the destination.