Here I An Still

So, tonight after work I turned off the TV, set a time, and dedicated an hour to reading.  I finished up a poetry book by Mary Oliver (who I always get confused with Jane Olivor) and then read a couple of pages in Josemaria Escriva's book "The Way".  For those who aren't familiar with him he was the founder of the Catholic Order of Opus Dei.  Both reads really helped me find the still point of the night. 

Today was a "come to Jesus" meeting at work, which was part of my stress load.  In our last block release I had two projects that I delayed because they were not ready for release. In my imagination I conjured a lot of sturm und drang for the meeting.  In fact though, it went very smoothly. I explained why I delayed the projects, the reasons for the delay, and the response from leadership was "okay, that makes sense".  I've got a good imagination and sometimes it gets away from me imagining negative scenarios. It is a trait I am aware of and that I try to counter with limited measures of success.

So, now that we are through the block release we just have to close on these two projects and then we can pivot over to the July block release.  I am sitting much better for the July block as the lead time is wider.  The last release had a very tight lead time - we know better, but periodically we can't avoid it and we suffer because of it.  Hopefully, there will be less suffering in this next block release.  Though, if you go back through this blog and read entries from years ago you'll find very similar entries.  It is a function of being a project management that you're always locked in battle with the inherent conflicts between resources and schedule.

Other than that, it was a nice day.  We've got a bit of rain coming in, but the afternoon was very pleasant, the bird tribe was very entertaining, and the day had it's bright spots.  Tonight is the latest episode of "The Expanse" so I am looking forward to watching it on DVR tomorrow.  I will probably save it for tomorrow night and then do my usual routine, which is to order pizza and enjoy the show.  Also, exciting of exciting - Archer comes back!  In you are not an Archer fan, or if you've never seen the show before, it comes with a high recommendation from me

On that note, I am going to wrap it up and call it a night.

Sharing: Sarah Bareilles "Vegas"

I heard this song for the first time today and I was very impressed. The artist is Sarah Bareilles and the name of the song is "Vegas". Here is a link to YouTube.

Sarah Bareilles "Vegas"

Hope you enjoy.

A Better Day

The rain is falling again and I am settling in for the evening. Today was better than yesterday, on a comparative scale. Work was pretty chaotic yesterday - it made the day pass quickly, but it was stressful. About midway through the morning I had to go outside and take a walk around the building to let some of the stress slip away in the rain, but it wasn't until about noon and lunch that I managed to drop the irritations and frustrations of the morning. Most of them were environmental - to much noise, to many voices talking at once in the office, to many discordant sounds.

It kind of amazes me how much environmental sounds can impact us - I would say that, for me at least, in the office environment and in the home, discordant sounds are disorienting. Fortunately, at home, I can usually alter the soundscape by dropping something into the stereo, by turning something on or off, by moving from one room to another. It is not quite that easy in the office, though, to a smaller degree I can do the same thing.

I wonder if there is any book or seminar that teaches a person on how to either create a soundscape or to improve thier soundscape? It seems to me like it would be a natural subject - though, I must say, I am not particularly a fan of new age style of music - I prefer my music with lyrics, since I tend to be so powerfully driven by the stories wrapped inside of songs. Though I like music, if I run through my list of favorite performers, it is often the lyrical content of their songs that attracts, holds me, and draws me back time and time again.

Two Musical Artists Discovered

Rae recommended Rachel Yamagata to me - I had never heard of her, but she has some excellent work. Here is a link to one of her songs on YouTube. This is a slow and delicate piece, but her work ranges pretty widely from the delicate to the passionate to the explosive. She's been added to the list of artists to explore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZJx0Y8J970

I was wandering around in Flickr and clicked on a link to this artist - Roisin Murphy. I've listened to several of her songs over on YouTube and I like her. I've added her to my list of artists to explore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2ITx5nDmV4&feature=related