Remember

I know that most of what I write here is pretty light-hearted, and it should be, given what this blog is.  But I want to begin with a somber note of recollection of the events of this day in 2001.  I don't think I'll ever forget, and you probably won't, either.  A writer whom I like and read regularly (he writes for a newspaper in another city) cited the Bruce Springsteen song "Nothing Man" as a fitting summation of today and what it means.  That song's lyrics say it better than I can.

I was fortunate in that I knew no one who was lost, met someone who was at Ground Zero that morning but escaped unharmed but forever changed.  But we all lost quite a bit that day.  And in our family, today's date has a different meaning, as I think I've mentioned here before.  Our daughter and son-in-law were married on this date in 1999, so it's definitely a day of mixed emotions for all of us.

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Think I mentioned that I changed jobs recently and am now a commuter most workdays (I have the opportunity to work from home a little bit of the time, but not continually as with my last position).  And I am continually amazed at what I see and experience with traffic on a daily basis.  Today, for example, there was a huge backup in the left-turn lane onto a street I pass, but don't use, on my way to the office.  In the six weeks I've been making this commute via this route, I had not seen this.

And I've also noticed that if I leave my home five minutes later than usual, it will cost me about ten to twelve minutes of additional delays, but if I leave ten minutes later, I would get there in about the same amount of time.  This appears to be some sort of Jedi mind trick, I think, and, since I'm still getting readjusted to the whole idea of commuting, I can't tell if this is normal or not.

I'm also having to get used to office neighbors.  The walls where I work (and I have an office, not a cubicle, which is a big plus) are not thin, but they're also not soundproof.  I inherited a fan and keep it running most of the time for white noise.  My original office was in an odd spot, with a corridor on three sides and an empty office that's used as a supply room on the other side.  Now, I'm in a bigger office, nicer furniture, etc., but I have neighbors on both sides and a conference room in back.  Way different.

And that's really it.  Things are ALWAYS different.  We say "same ___, different day," but each day is different in its own way.  Maybe not always in the best way, but still different.  That's what keeps things interesting, whether we know it or not!

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