(no subject)
Been meaning to update for a while. There are a couple posts in the queue, but for now a general update. I'm safely back home (after having to delay my return flight due to "blizzard 2" in Denver). My folks have a nice cozy place, so it was fine being snowed in. I didn't have the sense of urgency to get back home and back to work, as I did to get out to the family for the holidays. So sue me. ;-)
My lifecoach (I know, so California) suggested that some of the winter malaise I've been experiencing the past month or two was due to various things in my environment that I'm *tolerating*, but not actually addressing. Since one of those things is my broken TV, I'm now under doctor's orders (ok, she's not actually a doctor) to go buy a new TV. I'm starting in on research, given a nice head-start by composerjk. I'm also thinking about an Intel-based Mac, since most of the poker sites (and support software, like Poker Tracker) are windows-only. I'm hoping I can buy a Mac Mini, and use the new TV as a large monitor, and get a bluetooth keyboard/mouse. That should be cheaper, and just as functional as buying a new laptop.
This post was actually prompted by layer mentioning a dream. That sparked a glimmer of remembrance of a weird dream I had a couple days ago:
scene 1: I'm wandering around in an office building. It's clear that this is new to me (maybe my first day at this company), and there's some question as to whether I belong where I'm wandering. I think I'm in the HR area, and looking for some form.
I don't remember the exact transition, but...
scene 2: I'm sitting down next to a security post, and I have this device/puzzle in my hands. The guard has told me to solve the puzzle (it's a mechanical device slightly larger than a phone with a bunch of buttons in a single row), but I'm not even sure what the goal is. In the meantime, he starts asking me questions. I get the sense that they think I've done something wrong, and I think it's probably snooping around unsupervised in the HR area. I'm thinking "huh. I guess they're trying to keep me occupied with the puzzle, so less of my brainpower is available for thinking of a good lie. This must be looking for signs of stress like Joe Navarro [an FBI agent who just wrote a book about reading people] and the interviews to look for terrorists that El Al conducts." About this time, a woman sitting next to me confesses to some minor infraction, and is released (after some disciplinary action). But I start thinking "If I'm going to be a good poker player, I should be able to snow this guy." So, I start deflecting his questions by playing dumb about the puzzle, and getting really confused. I guess it worked, because...
scene 3: I'm on a raised platform, with a couple other people, facing a small group in front, and an audience beyond. At first I think it's some kind of court martial or tribunal, but then I realize it's a discussion panel, and I'm one of the panelists. It's clearly some time later, and I appear to be held in a position of respect. After some point is made by someone else, the moderator says "Oh yes, there's an interesting example. Mr. Hazen, a couple of months ago there was an incident when you first came on board..." I knew he was talking about scene 2, and started to worry that he was also talking about scene 1. I figured I had to preemptively guide the discussion, so started to again focus on the puzzle, and said something like "Yeah, what was the solution to that puzzle, anyway?" "And was the point of that to distract my conscious mind from the observation?" There may have been some silence between the two, because as I was starting to ask the 2nd question, another panelist asked another (seemingly unrelated) question, that I would never ask. "Given the theories of Keynes and Kubler-Ross [I don't remember the actual names], what do you think of...?" At this point, I interrupt his interruption of my question, and say "I was just starting to ask one more question. May I continue?" He nods, and I turn to the moderator and grinningly say "Given the theories of Keynes and Kubler-Ross..." Everybody laughed, and with the tension broken, I knew that my secret would remain unexposed.
My lifecoach (I know, so California) suggested that some of the winter malaise I've been experiencing the past month or two was due to various things in my environment that I'm *tolerating*, but not actually addressing. Since one of those things is my broken TV, I'm now under doctor's orders (ok, she's not actually a doctor) to go buy a new TV. I'm starting in on research, given a nice head-start by composerjk. I'm also thinking about an Intel-based Mac, since most of the poker sites (and support software, like Poker Tracker) are windows-only. I'm hoping I can buy a Mac Mini, and use the new TV as a large monitor, and get a bluetooth keyboard/mouse. That should be cheaper, and just as functional as buying a new laptop.
This post was actually prompted by layer mentioning a dream. That sparked a glimmer of remembrance of a weird dream I had a couple days ago:
scene 1: I'm wandering around in an office building. It's clear that this is new to me (maybe my first day at this company), and there's some question as to whether I belong where I'm wandering. I think I'm in the HR area, and looking for some form.
I don't remember the exact transition, but...
scene 2: I'm sitting down next to a security post, and I have this device/puzzle in my hands. The guard has told me to solve the puzzle (it's a mechanical device slightly larger than a phone with a bunch of buttons in a single row), but I'm not even sure what the goal is. In the meantime, he starts asking me questions. I get the sense that they think I've done something wrong, and I think it's probably snooping around unsupervised in the HR area. I'm thinking "huh. I guess they're trying to keep me occupied with the puzzle, so less of my brainpower is available for thinking of a good lie. This must be looking for signs of stress like Joe Navarro [an FBI agent who just wrote a book about reading people] and the interviews to look for terrorists that El Al conducts." About this time, a woman sitting next to me confesses to some minor infraction, and is released (after some disciplinary action). But I start thinking "If I'm going to be a good poker player, I should be able to snow this guy." So, I start deflecting his questions by playing dumb about the puzzle, and getting really confused. I guess it worked, because...
scene 3: I'm on a raised platform, with a couple other people, facing a small group in front, and an audience beyond. At first I think it's some kind of court martial or tribunal, but then I realize it's a discussion panel, and I'm one of the panelists. It's clearly some time later, and I appear to be held in a position of respect. After some point is made by someone else, the moderator says "Oh yes, there's an interesting example. Mr. Hazen, a couple of months ago there was an incident when you first came on board..." I knew he was talking about scene 2, and started to worry that he was also talking about scene 1. I figured I had to preemptively guide the discussion, so started to again focus on the puzzle, and said something like "Yeah, what was the solution to that puzzle, anyway?" "And was the point of that to distract my conscious mind from the observation?" There may have been some silence between the two, because as I was starting to ask the 2nd question, another panelist asked another (seemingly unrelated) question, that I would never ask. "Given the theories of Keynes and Kubler-Ross [I don't remember the actual names], what do you think of...?" At this point, I interrupt his interruption of my question, and say "I was just starting to ask one more question. May I continue?" He nods, and I turn to the moderator and grinningly say "Given the theories of Keynes and Kubler-Ross..." Everybody laughed, and with the tension broken, I knew that my secret would remain unexposed.