If software development is similar to making sausage then yesterday was the day we were adding the pig anuses.

Dearest Samira.

Thanksgiving 2011.

Data cleanup scripts....seems just like yesterday we brought them into the world to only be releasing them in to production with the hope that they don't show up at your door in the middle of the night in the company of police.

Gods damnit

That was a busy work week.

1) People sure like to fetishistize Thanksgiving and Christmas.
2) Found I was self censoring myself on Facebook. Fuck that is what I wish I could post there.

INTO my heart on air that kills
From yon far country blows:
What are those blue remembered hills,
What spires, what farms are those?
That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again. -A.E. Housman

An event horizon

Stopped behind a school bus
picking up first graders
the Chekhov radiation
pulsed out as the kids,
and I don't use this word lightly,
scampered aboard.
I wanted to get out of the
car and join the parents
to wave good bye as the bus
drove away but that
would have been just weird.

Its going to take a little time to process this weekend.

Just 2 conversation tidbits.

"I had never camped until I met my future wife. She took me camping all over New England, except of course New Hampshire where there was a warrant out for my arrest."

"Honey, my blood sugar is 409. Can you bring me my insulin."
Later
"138, perfect! Lets make some smores."

"Labor Day 2011, Sitting by Grinells Beach with myfavorite girl . Watching flag rustling in the wind ,birds flying, sailboats sailing,power boats powering,fishermen fishing,swimmer testing the water some taking the plunge under pale blue sky.Memories only one person knows"

-Pop on facebook

All night?

Late summer still has my windows open
and could hear my neighbors
talking and laughing
last night before bed
and still this morning
when I woke up.

Foggy morning time travel

Woke up and
first thought it was Friday
and had to go to work
then
thought it was Sunday
and that the weekend
was flying by
then
realized it was Saturday
and was happy.

Don't trust anyone over thirty.

"Go ahead, push the button."
Click
"Done."
Later that day
Dame Judy Dench says
"Listen
to this song."
Helen Mirren calls
from the kitchen
"Coffee
is almost ready."
Gaia whispers
"Come
walk with me."

Eudaimonia

What would it take?
An acre?
The right tools?

A hand from the other side of the planet.

Friendly and
knowledgeable
he helped get
the job done.

No explanation needed.

Nearly every time I
talk to, or spend time
with my kids, their friends and better
half's
I come away feeling
good.

Ease into the day with some
easy evaporation.

Part two.

Work guy who, in his car, uses
the go straight lane
to get ahead and then cuts
into right turn only
lane at the last second
did it again this morning
but wait
in work he ran by
me in the hallway
to get to the coffee machine
first.
I could not make that up.
Luckily there is more
than one stall in
the bathroom so he
didn't race me there.

"That dream of getting it right,
the way other people have done it,
it's the dream of correcting the past,
and it's powerful and seductive but futile."
Cary Tennis

Heavy rain,
low glowering clouds,
followed by bright blue
sky with white
cumulus.

It is hard to write anything
about divorce without
sounding
bitter or Pollyanna.
There were struggles and wonders
before
and
after.

Past beyond reach

That ship has sailed,
Horses are out
of the barn,
the train has left the
station
and time paradox
keeps my
grandmother safe.

How to end a phone call

"Have to
go,
I have a headlight
ready to
come out
of the oven."

Ornery.

Red squirrel in
grey recycle bin this morning.
I don't need to be forgiven.
Screw that.
August is here
and the heart wants what
it wants.

Gift

Shared suspension of belief,
bandied, postulated
and burnished
makes my life
so sweet.

Fuel

Coffee,
Milk,
Peanut Butter,
Plain Yogurt,
Strawberries,
Spinach,
Carrots,
Casein,
Banana,
Chick Peas,
Chicken,
Roasted Peanuts,
Mild Cheddar,
Caesar Dressing,
Sharp Cheddar,
Water.

Social convention,
to each of us,
ignore
the little
balls of sin.

What did today mean?

acceptance first,
perhaps then
wisdom.

Straight jacket
of politeness
keeps the blood
from heating
in exchange for
the soaring sweep
of joy.

27

3 cubed
and he makes us
laugh and cry.
Challenges us
and supports us.
Feeds us
and makes us
think.
Loves us
and is loved.
Young man of the world
making it a better place..

New Theory

What I say
makes me.

Sweet mooch!

Lunch made
soulfully delicious
with romaine
from a friends
garden.
Putting to work
right now building
this cog of
the universe.

Darkness at my back door crowds around the 60 watt build, keeping company with moths. When I throw the switch inside to end the glow I can hear darkness bump into the door, simple semaphore, asking me back out to look at the half moon and listen to the honda click as it cools. Just minutes later I can think of nothing to say on the phone.

Night before the last shuttle launch

In bed,
awakened by a gentle
rain,
breeze rustling the
trees
quiet and serene.
Atlantis poised
with its countdown
in motion far
to the south.

First World Problems

I have to laugh for
being aggravated when
trash guys leave a
barrel in the middle of
MY driveway, forcing
me to get out of MY
car before pulling in.
For a moment
what a jerk.

Tides out

Outside my apartment
there is the faint whiff
of low tide,
not unpleasant,
just puzzling.

Frame of Reference

If I allow my frame
to widen somethings
become insignificant
and others
expand
exponentially.

I call dogs Buddy

When I meet them
when walking.
I suspect they
name me by smell
I prefer to imagine
alpha peppermint.

Thanks dad for the gift of your grandchildren.

Really

In my lifetime
there have been
space ships.

Women are from Venus

Overheard between 2 women this morning.

W1) I painted a patch on the back and really liked the color but now that a larger portion is painted it doesn't feel like home anymore.

W2) Awwwww.

Move along

The lid of grey clouds
shrouds the heavens
as if to say
to keep your eyes
on your work,
nothing to see here.

Not a zero sum

While I like to have
serene time to be
by myself, that just sharpens
the joy of experiencing
kids, which at
this point in my life
is anyone under 30.

Spring rolls into summer and
living is easy.

Hey Pop,
think of you every time
I see this sign.

One way out

One morning
I will
wake
for the last
time.

Sebago Lake
Not to damn hard to take

Bourgeoisie

Some people like to
clean before they leave
on vacation so they can
come home to a clean place.
I have done that
one better.
Have the cleaning people
come while I am
on vacation.

All right, this is a little smug

2 instances of driver comeuppance
this morning
a green camry using the left turn
only lane to blow by me
pulled over by a cop
and
a coworker using the go straight only
lane to get ahead of me for
a right hand turn
still managed to arrive
at his desk after me.

ChaChing

I just updated my GPS
maps....
at work!

What goes on at my apartment during the day.

Came home yesterday
and in the entrance
to some animals burrow
under my domicile
is a small pink spongy
ball with stencils
of hand prints.
Mating displays are weird
in the animal world.

Day started with a bang

3 song set lit a firecracker
under my arse.

Hendrix "Voodoo Child"
Cake "Nugget"
Zeppelin "Nobody's fault but mine"

going to be air
guitaring all day.

May the full moon light your life and its tides tug you to productive pools.

Bone to pick with Dr. Who

I understand there has to be a certain
suspension of belief when
watching the show.
So the episode where parthenogenesis is
used to create Dr. Who's daughter,
and she is a hot blond chick,
who exists the machine fully
grown as a young adult,
with a full set of memories and
fully clothed is totally understandable so the story
can keep moving and the reality
of what can be shown on TV.
But the fact that she is wearing heavy
eyeliner is
to much to swallow.

4 Chimneys at the Bedford VA

Treebeard

If we spot the entwives we will let you know but you might want
to rethink making that face.

GPS

I park so close to
route 128
where I work
that if I use the GPS
from that parking lot
to get directions
somewhere
it already thinks
I am on route
128.

Skunk Cabbage

To bad it stinks because I want to eat it.

Happy Gaia Day!

Don't be ironing board

Set up permanently,
for now,
in my bedroom
where I lay my shirts
warm from the dryer
not needing ironing.

Form and Function
Thank you Industrial Designers

Water tower at the VA in Bedford

Bike path conversations

1) Jez - "My boss is going to give me 90 dollars today," Me - "Sweet"
2) Met my landlord and he asked me how I liked the new shower head (I do) and if I was still working on Maguire Rd (I'm not).
3)Shot the bull phone conversation with Randy.

Little hawk

There was
perched on a low branch
a hawk, much smaller
than a red tail,
dark gray and when
flying away a horizontal white stripe
across the end of its tail feathers
could be seen.

Walking on your right of way.

2 kinds of work commutes on 128 this morning.

1) Blue Honda shuttling with a book on CD playing.
2) Red tail hawk snatching something out of the air
right over the median.

You could almost hear the trees pop this weekend.

Crap

No bird in the nest
last night
or
this morning
with
one egg left.

Null Hypothesis

Not a shabby lunch break
where a web comic
nudges me to Google
a research design
paradigm.

Sunny, beautiful and...wait...oh,oh

One egg left
with a small graveyard below.
No bird present for the
hour and a half it takes
me to get ready for work,
perhaps getting food.
Tonight will tell as the
bird has always been there
in the evening.

Egg count

Under a bruised sky

still three,

hope I don't traumatize

lumbering back

and forth.

Unknowable

A birds nest right outside
my kitchen door
holding 4 blue eggs.
This morning one was broken
on the ground.
An accident
or a practical calculation.

My sweet step mom

um dois tres,
ai, yi, yi

Automobile River

Thousands of cars steam by
everyday
borne on the man made 128.
some are cages of loneliness,
some happiness,
some dreary acceptance
and
some unknowable.

"The Giver"

By Lois Lowry

An excellent YA book,
Newberry Winner.
Great subjects,
great view point and
a little troubling.
Hope a young teen will
read and share their
thoughts.

Birds all happy and shit.

Why not walk an hour before work, like I am walking to work most of the way and driving the rest. Had fun doing that this morning!

Another lesson at 54 (who knew?)

Connected conversation is very important to me
(not related to length or content but to there being a spark in the conversation)
and my responsibility at my end of the deal.
When there is no spark there is a small wound,
a half step out of sync.

Voice mail riposte

Cut as a double edged sword.
On upstroke
"A beard hair in a cannoli
is disgusting"
I have a beard.
On down stroke
"But some cannoli in
a beard is delicious."
I am a diabetic.

Temperature crossover

Its official
on Springs Road
warmer outside
than
inside.

Rather amazing

In this small
hardscrabble
industrial park
shoe horned right
next to the continuous
roar of route 128
I see hawks,
herons,Canadian geese
and these cute little
lime green birds.

One end of a phone conversation

Overheard at work.

"I want to burn this weekend"
...
"Oh, It will burn if I get it hot enough"
...
"I love you"

Spring Snow

Like it.

Cylons can't be far away.

Sign seen on walk:

CAUTION
Unmanned Robotic Vehicles
Being Tested
Proceed with Caution.

Window Seat

what is the view like?

lite industrial, route 128 streaming by. They are working on the heating/air conditioning on the buildings roof across the way.

Lucky Wrong Number

Woke me this morning
in the absence of my
alarm going off,
asking if Kevin was
going to school this morning.
Smell of coffee at work
reminded me of morning
coffees at hotels spread
across my past.

Click

I had a meeting

about meetings today

where I learned

my eyes click

when they roll back in my

head.

Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs

Can be recycled at Ace Hardware,
but beware buying indoor
floodlights and
installing them outdoors.
If only all lessons
where so simply
applied.

Gastroenterology

Bunch of 50 plus old
men and women
all hungry and
empty
laying on gurneys
waiting patiently
having just had
a conversation with
the check in nurse
not quite like any other.

Blog

Work has thrown
elbows on its
way into my mind
and the automobile
commute dims the
clarity of thought.
Can't drive and
meditate.

The Mall


What was I being taught?
I don't have a clue.
Maybe,
as I fled,
that walking with
direct purpose to the
parking garage
people will move out of
your way.

Task Master Gone

February has left
us,
leaving us a little
paler and heavier
but
one can not help give
it the nod for
making
March look like
deliverance.

Dang

Coyote is chasing the
road runner
but its really about
the universe screwing
with the coyote.

Costco

Pillows,
Paper Shredder,
Listerine and
Peanut butter.
Let the fresh breath,
comfy sleep,
uncluttering and
yummieness begin.

No bricks in the wall this week

It is amazing how
much less traffic
there is on route 128
on this, a vacation school
week.

My place

Sees me off every morning,

Welcomes home every night.

Seven Weeks

There is this high tech
coffee maker at work that
makes individual cups,
pretty decent too,
which requires
replugging to get to
work. You replug and
listen for
the rumble which upon
ceasing the ready to brew
should flash.

Brownian snow flurry

is double exposed
over light Presidents
day traffic on Route 128,
it seduces me away from
Iteration 25 planning
meeting.

I am left wondering

If 10 years
of effort on all sorts
of levels while at excelergy
left any ripple across
the awning of
reality which has
meaning outside
the chatter inside
my robotic control
center balanced precariously
a top my neck.

40 degrees

Jimi Hendrix praises
foxy lady
(a bit possessively) as
day
brings mud,
optimistic birds,
snow melt and
ability to see cross
traffic turning on to
Great Road.

Poison in the kitchen

at 204 Second Ave
Waltham,
bagels,danish,chocolates.

February Thaw

The forecast brought
a smile when it
recalls a phone
call from California
with promises of forty today
and fifty later
in the week.

Work

Its what I have
right now.
So I will throw
myself into it
and see where
this leads me.

Haplogroup

On one of the straps
holding up the
suspended cieling
above my desk
someone
drew an asterick.

Early

Scooted out of the House at
6:45 am and traffic was
OK (Not speed limit but
above 45)
downside
jonesing for lunch
at 10:30!

Groundhog day

My landlord dug
out my trash barrel and recycle
bin from under a big pile of snow
and ice earlier this week.
In order to keep them
from re-internment
this storm they (barrel and bin)
have taken up
residence in my
bathtub.

Boot Camp Graduation

Brother and family
head out at midnight
to drive,
Pop and Samira
fly out the next morning
both beating the
snow storm.
My plan puts
me in a much more
precarious position,
uncle with an attitude.

204 Second Ave, Waltham

5 Swans
in a staggered V formation
flew overhead brightly
lit against a ceiling
of dark clouds.
Glancing down they
crooned
"Enjoy your meeting sucker!"

If it fits, it ships

Chock full of
Satsuma Mandarins
at Pops,
thin skined,
no seeds
burst with flavor,
our mouths hold sunshine
in the middle
of winter.
Thanks T and J,

Wicked

Cakes "Nugget"
on
"Fashion Nugget"

Change

I am naturally change averse
yet
I thrive best when things change
now
how to figure this out.

OK

That is a lot of snow.

Mind blown

Heard this question
this morning
and am left reeling.
"Where is Buddhas Dharma Body?"
Will spend some time
today researching on
bull shit magazine.

Go figure

I am 54
listening to
Led Zeppelin's
Whole Lot of Love
on my sons
iPod
and I am just
comming to an
understanding
of the double
entedre.

Curling

Temp is 5 degrees,
sun has been down
for nearly 2 hours.
On the sheet of the Stop an Shop
10 Canadian geese
are marking the house
waiting for the
skip to deliver
the hammer.

Zambezi

A dream that the river
had dried up
and I had
a satellite
picture to prove it

Lone canadian goose

Skiming a hundred feet
over route 128,
heading north bound.

Back roads not an option

A couple of inches of
snow, which make
a delightful walk,
make a 10 mile commute
grind for 2 hours.
Thank Giai for the CD book
"Salmon of Doubt", about
and including, Doug Adams
posthumous musings
to keep me sane.

Osprey owned!

Marked my territory
for the first time,
don't make me
defend it!

I would have hesitated to think

Life is taking
a turn
towards a lightness
of being
where new things
are greeting me
every morning.
Comfort of routine
lost with some trepidation,
taught to apply
that loss for
new wonders.

I am not going to

A stalactite of icicles
hangs above my
kitchen door.
Landlady warns I
should knock them
down.

Head monkeys not chattering

Just putting one step
in front of another.
Goat toes saving my bacon,
an occasional snow
plow to dodge.
Wind brings down
big plops of puffy snow
hitting me like a nerf
mortar.
Takes 5 minutes to
shuck winter attire,
hot coffee warms
my hands.

Today is the day I end my cynicism.

iPod

Random play delivers
up a little jem
this morning.
Herby Hancock's
"Chameleon".
Brings me right back
to college.

After a short absence

Crows are back in the
courtyard of LCC.
My inner Tippi Hedren
is alarmed,
my outer Rod Taylor
steps up.

02 Malibu

No more to be asked
a four seasons Shadowfax
a noble friend parting.

Its a puzzle I tell ya

What makes a typo
in an email become
obvious after hitting
the send button?

Can't help it.

Every time I hear Led Zeppelins "Immigrant Song"
I break out in air guitar.

Sodapocalypse

Suite 111 at the LCC
had an old case of soda,
ensconced in a bottom draw,
where a leaky can
spawned a moldy organism
that threatened
civilization as we know
it.
I thought "let it ride!"

Just Stuff

1) When exiting
a highway that leads
to another high speed thoroughfare
and a car comes right up on me
just before the entrance into
the curve and I slice my
way through only to
look back and see him
far astern.
2) Woman at
Lexington Corporate Center (LCC)
who uses the revolving entrance
door as a smoking chamber.

For Damn sure

Things are certainly
shaken up.
Change is a whirling dervish.
Pits drip,
heart palpitates and
irides widen.

New Moon

First of the new year
brings a perfect
storm of
sleeping late,
drinking tea,
listening to
the radio
and
reading a good book.

Dice thrown

After a lot of thought
the resignation comes
quick and to the point.
Choice to back out
is offered and denied.
I am jumping in
with both feet,
damn the torpedoes,
full speed ahead.