MeXscape

Back in Fort Worth, we bought Tasha a Giggle Ball. It's a sturdy, red, rubber ball that has one of those gravity whistles inside that makes a cute sound when you turn it over. We brought it home to her, and it was love at first sight. She kept the ball with her at all times. She loved Giggle Ball so much that it didn't get packed in a box with the rest of the dog paraphernalia. It made the trip to Mexico in the over-packed truck with us.

We have a large, empty lot between our house and the ocean. It has been wild and overgrown since we moved in. I have been known to complain about it, as it has been a source of hordes of ticks, some snakes, clouds of mosquitoes, numerous feral cats, and the crash pad of the occasional drunk. The brush has been getting taller and taller and blocking more of our ocean view. I have fantasized more than once of setting the whole thing ablaze.

Today is the first official day of Spring. I know your calendar may have told you different. Ignore it. It's wrong. Today is the day – the one, glorious day. You know that day each year. You wake up and can just smell it in the air, and then, you see that ultimate harbinger, that signal that Spring has truly arrived.

Since the start of my career in IT, I have excelled at what I do. I'm very fortunate in that I really understand all the little technical details, and can also explain things well in everyday terms to people that don't have a lot of experience with computers. From the start I have always quickly become the person that both my customers and my bosses know they can hand a problem to and trust that it will be resolved without any further worry on their part. This gave me great opportunities to advance my career. I often was given responsibilities or projects that would ordinarily be outside the scope for my position. This meant that when questions of advancement arose, I already had experience and a working relationship with the people in whatever group I would be moving to. In short, I guess you could say I was really on the fast-track to success.

The following two posts are about the exact same events. Unbeknownst to each other, both Chuck and I wrote about the same events at the same time. I was getting ready to publish mine when he gave me his to look over. After reading his, I decided to post them both.