Kurt R.A. Giambastiani's Blog, page 51
March 3, 2015
Song of Spring
The spruce stood tall, a shadowed cone against the cold and dawning morn, a giant sentinel overlooking the crossroads along my route to work. Thebus rocked like a ship in rough seas as it rattledintothe intersection, fatigued metal complaining, whirring heater blastingair like a blow-dryer, but as we passed the ancient spruce, above the din, […]
February 25, 2015
Something…Wonderful
HAL-9000: What is going to happen? Dave: Something wonderful. Last night, as I was doing my taxes, something wonderful happened. Keep in mind: this is “wonderful” on a small, very personal scale. I did not happen upon the answer to problems in the Middle East or a cure for rampant stupidity. Nor did I find […]
February 23, 2015
Non-Oscar Movie Night
Last night was a first for me.Last night I didnot watch the Oscars. Frankly, I just couldn’t bring myself to care. The Academy Awards have no relevance to my life. They don’t affect my choice of movies one whit. The hype, the red carpet, the fawning, the sniping, it’s like watching a nuclear-powered high school […]
February 19, 2015
LPHBT SP
The team’s PO, PO P. O’Pio, was really PO’d when he found the POat the PO. I work in a perfect storm of acronym-happy industries: IT, health care, and insurance. They all justlove their acronyms and initialisms, and while I’ve never seen a sentence as bad as my admittedly over-the-top example above, I’ve seen some […]
February 17, 2015
Writerly Fun with Bill and Audrey
Writers…we often cast ourselves in the lead of our own internal dramas, but rarely does one of our number actually make it to the big screen in a leading role. A couple of examples I’ve seen in recent years areThe WordsandWonder Boys, in which Bradley Cooper and Michael Douglas were cast as the “writer.” (Ever […]
February 12, 2015
Pasta Freska and the Art of Prix Fixe
The restaurant business is difficult. Long hours, slim profit margins, physically demanding work…you really have to love it, because it requires dedication and toil. It’s also really easy to screw up. I am not a food snob. I’m willing to overlook a lot when I go to a restaurant. If service is slow, maybe it’s […]
February 10, 2015
Checking the Pulse
When I was a child, by far the worst verdict my parents could lowerupon my head was the dreaded, “We’re very disappointed in you.” Crushing, positively crushing. So, you’ll understand when I say:I hate disappointing people. I bring this up because, somewhere in the past week or so, this blog passed 400 subscribers and, frankly,I […]
February 5, 2015
Midnight Drear
My brainwrithes through dark hours Sheds dreams like snakeskin Leaves papered husks of unrealized wishes Draped across the curtain rod Rustling in the open-windowed breeze 
February 3, 2015
F-Bombing Seattle
Seattle is quiet. A littletoo quiet. Is everyone feeling what I’m feeling? I’m not sure. For the last fortnight, Seattle has been consumed by a building storm, a hurricane of Superbowl hype that brought with it an unexpectedstorm-surgeof ad urbeminvective. In sports, trash talk comes with the territory. Even asports-gene deficient bookworm like me knows […]
January 29, 2015
Redefining Teams
I guess I complain about meetings a lot. This morning, NPR’s Yuki Noguchi ran a piece on the overuse and misuse of meetings in Corporate America,and several of my friends immediately forwarded the link to me. Yeah. I complain about meetings. A lot. But then, I have a lot of meetings about which to complain. […]
