Mark L. Van Name's Blog, page 26

Just another friendly Las Vegas person

I was walking this morning from my hotel to the convention center, moving along well, minding my own business, and enjoying the people watching. At a bus stop ahead of me, a woman was dancing. She was about four foot nine, maybe two hundred pounds, and wearing skintight bright white tights and stretch top. The white fabric extended to her wrists and her ankles. On her feet were white shoes, and she wore short white socks. Her hair was bleached white, and it poked out from under a pure white ball cap. As I drew closer, I saw that she was in her late sixties or early seventies, and though she was dancing, she wore no headphones or ear buds; the music she heard came from inside.

She flirted with each man who passed by, and she offered each a chance to dance.

I went wide and opted not to accept the invitation.

Part of me wanted to know her story; part of me still does. Part of me, though, feared that even hearing it might draw me into a rabbit hole I have neither the time nor the inclination to visit.

As I walked away, I glanced back over my shoulder, and though she was then all alone, still she danced.

The best and the worst, all in one day

I flew on two planes today, and I ate two meals, and each pair yielded examples of the best and worst of travel.

The first flight went as perfectly as one could ask: I received an upgrade to first class, the plane left on time and arrived early, my row-mate was quiet, and I was able to finish a lot of work. I left the plane feeling better than when I entered it.

The second flight, by contrast, proved to be a nightmare. Though I had an exit row, the leg space was minimal.  I was by far the smallest of the three of us in the row, and my shoulders were definitely the narrowest, so none of us had any space. Rather than all suffering, however, the guy in the middle decided to launch an attack for the available space. He spread his shoulders and elbows into both me (aisle) and the other guy, and whenever we tried to regain any space, he'd raise his arms and push back. I didn't want to end up in a fight on a plane, and apparently the guy in the window seat decided the same thing, so we just took it and leaned away from the guy in the middle. By the end of the flight, I was so angry that it took all of my self control to exit the plane calmly.

My first meal was on the first flight, and it was a wilted salad flanked by a wooden piece of the Chicken of Great Despondency (patent-pending by American Airlines). I've eaten a lot of rubber chicken, but this was wooden chicken. Every bit of the salad was droopy and almost as sad and defeated as the chicken, but in a wet, wilted, go-ahead-and-try-to-eat-this-veggie-mush sort of way.

My second meal was dinner at the amazing é by José Andrés. It's very late, and I have to get up very early, so I must save the full review for later. Suffice for now to say that the meal was world-class, the staff's performance exemplary, and as a bonus, all nine of us in the dining room got along well, were foodies, talked and laughed a great deal, and generally made a great meal even better.

More on this meal later, but if you're in Vegas and can afford the time and cost--it's not cheap, but it's worth the tab--definitely check out é by José Andrés.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

is a romp with both snark and heart, a worthy successor to the first Guardians and about as close to a guaranteed good time as you're likely to find. Though it lacks the surprise of the first one--because, after all, we have seen these tricks before--its heart is stronger and the key cast members now feel more comfortable in their roles.

The storyline is fun, but what matters most is that in the course of it, each of the main characters grows and becomes more self-aware. Pratt's Peter Quill remains the center of attention, but this time each of the other leads gets to show change and growth. Michael Rooker's Yondu character is even more important this time than last, and Rooker makes the most of all of his screen time.

If you want big summer fun, go see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2--and for double the fun, (re-)watch the first one before you do.

PT doing good in the world: Gina's sabbatical video

As I've written many times before, I'm particularly proud of PT's sabbatical program and all the good work that PT folks do during their sabbaticals.  In this new video, Gina talks about her recent work with the Shepherd's Table Soup Kitchen.



I also worked at this place on my sabbatical, and it was a fulfilling and moving experience.  The people there feed anyone who shows up.  They do good work, and I'm glad we're supporting them.

Enjoy!

Delta Rae's new EP is out--and you need it

A Long and Happy Life is the name, and you can get it anywhere you buy digital music. Check out the title track--but do remember this is not a professional recording or mix, and the whole band isn't playing--and then get the EP.



Yeah, the marketing behind this EP is portraying it as country music, and I'm not generally a country music fan, but when it sounds this good, I am.  Plus, the intro to this song is pure heart.

These folks are awesome.  I love their music.  Check it out.

Confessing a guilty pleasure

I watch The Ultimate Fighter reality show. I won't try to justify it; I know it for what it is.

Go ahead and judge me.  I deserve it...but do it quickly, because I need to go see how the first episode played out.

Will the JLA movie be the one DC finally gets right?

I don't know, but at least this trailer makes me hopeful.



I am definitely there.

Mom

She would have been 84 today, and I would have called her to say, "Happy Birthday." It would have been another call on another day, because for the last few years of her life, I called her every day that I was in town. I would have had little to say to her, but we would have spent ten minutes on the phone, and I would have ended by saying, "I love you, Mom," something I spent over forty years not saying. I would have mocked the call a bit, shrugged it off as a duty, and even truly felt that way some of the time.

Had I known she was going to die, I like to think I would have appreciated those calls more, but instead I would probably have spent all my energy trying to stop her death and still not truly enjoyed the short talks we had.

Cling tight to the ones you love, folks, and appreciate them, and revel in how much they are so perfectly themselves, and see the parts of them you've never been open to seeing before, because all too soon we or they will be gone, all gone, and you will not get those moments again.

I've said before that I never danced with my mom, and to the best of my knowledge I haven't, but this Delta Rae song now always reminds me of her.



I love you, Mom.

One more TED 2017 takeaway: control screen time

Multiple sessions of this past TED focused on various aspects of our addiction to our screens, the smartphones, tablets, and PCs/Macs that dominate so much of our time. A lot of the data suggested bad, often seriously bad, effects from our need to constantly check in with our phones and other devices. The data is compelling, but even more compelling to me is that I definitely feel those urges and too often yield to them.

So, over the next year or so I hope to take more direct control of the time I spend staring at screens. Rather than check email at every opportunity, for example, I intend to relegate that task to scheduled times. I'm thinking of asking everyone at dinner parties to leave their phones in their pockets/purses/whatevers. And so on.

I'll let you know how it goes.

TED 2017 takeaways

Since the November elections, I have felt more determined than ever to stand up for what I believe in, to support the causes I cherish, and to refuse to be quiet ever again when someone makes a sexist, rascist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, or other hurtful comment around me. My time at TED only deepened that resolve.

I am going to think a lot about coaching and how it might improve my work and the work of my colleagues.

I am still gnawing at the edges of the creative process the OK Go folks described, but I'm convinced there's some goodness lurking for me there, goodness in both my writing and in my work at PT.

I'm definitely determined not to slow down, because there is so much for all of us to do, so much of interest and so much of aid to others.

This event also made clear to me an uncomfortable truth I routinely ignore: I need to find a way to carve time out of my life to lose weight, get in shape, sleep more, and generally take care of myself. This one will be the hardest to implement.

More resolutions will undoubtedly surface over the coming weeks, but a last one stands out still: now more than ever, we all have to take care of each other. We cannot rely on the government to protect us. We have to protect one another, hold tight to each other no matter the dark weights that threaten to oppress us, and we have to extend that love and respect to all. As a species, we need to learn once and for all that over the long haul, nobody wins unless everybody wins.