Thoughts In Grey

Meet Emiko!

Say hello to Emiko!

Also known already as Emi-Cat, Squeeky-Cat, Sweetie-Cat and any number of other ridiculous names as they strike me.

Chaos handled Clio's passing even less well than I did, and for a time I had him on Prozac because he was so miserable. After some time passed, and when I was done skiing for the winter, it seemed like a decent time to introduce somebody new to keep him company, or at the very least to keep his life a little more exciting and varied.

After a semi-exhaustive search for just the right not-too-active older female to keep him company, I found her with the good people at Stray Cat Alliance, where she had been known as Squeek. Her former keeper had been forced to give her up due to the loss of his home and never returned to reclaim her. Eventually she was put up for adoption.

I was not looking for another black cat, though in retrospect having two the same color makes it a lot easier to pick furniture and bedding that doesn't show their fur too much. In truth, I was looking for a cat very much not like Clio. Certainly I was not looking for another tuxedo girl, and even a black girl with very minor white markings felt a bit weird. But her personality grew on me right away when I met her. The paperwork and various other checks took a bit of time but on April 10th she arrived and settled into my bathroom for a slow adjustment process.

At this time she's about ten and in good health. She had one minor tooth problem that required an extraction (par for the course at her age) and a bit of arthritis in the knees (ditto) that I'm treating with the same supplement I give myself. She's more or less made the living room her own. I rebuilt my Ikea wardrobe/coat closet into a makeshift cat tree that she enjoys. It's now fully carpeted on top and I've added some other shelves to the walls around it for her to climb on. She seems to enjoy being up high and looking down. Chaos sometimes "pulls rank" by climbing up into my sleep area, getting up on the railing and looking down at her.

I had not initially planned to change her name. But over time it changed nonetheless. I still refer to her sometimes as Squeeky-Cat, but somehow the name never really fit. She squeaks from time to time, but is mostly a pretty quiet girl. After the tragedy in feline-friendly Japan, and considering my brother's affection for the place, going with something Japanese just seemed right. The name Emiko is -- like so many things Japanese -- associated with many translations in English. Smiling Child, Beautiful Child, Blessed Child, and Beautiful Blessing are many that I have found.

Emi was also my dad's nickname.

She's got odd quirks like any cat. She has a way of stretching out that involves putting one back leg up and out, almost ballerina-style. It's different from the normal stretches my other cats have done. My vet diagnosed that one: apparently she has a slightly loose kneecap, just like her skier dad. That straight-out extension helps them slide right back into place. She's weird about her food. I've learned that the canned food has to be placed away from other things because if there's any left when she's done eating, she will try to "bury" it with whatever else is around, just like a lion might do to hide uneaten prey in the wild. I was going nuts trying to figure out why she was constantly brushing the dry food out of its dish, when I noticed that if I fed her near a folded towel or piece of fleece, she'd claw at that and try to drag it over her food bowl too! Now I just keep the canned food away from anything that might be dragged into it.

Like any good girlfriend, she's figured out how to stretch out in a way that leaves absolutely no room for me on the sofa. With Chaos now sometimes willing to share some space with her, I am frequently forced to read elsewhere. So far she hasn't ventured upstairs much and hasn't slept on my bed. Chaos did work that out with Clio and I'm sure he and Emiko will work it out too, but I'm equally sure that when it happens the loser will be me. Clio used to like to tunnel in under the covers and Emiko seems to be a bit of a tunneler too. I wonder if she'll do the same thing?

In many ways, Chaos is still getting used to the idea of not being the only cat. He's always been difficult at times, a product of an early life that I suspect was never especially happy. He has good days, bad days, and days where he feels compelled to "mark" his territory when she annoys him. But it's improving slowly over time and sometimes he can be downright friendly to her, especially if I'm around.

Unfortunately, Emiko's not the same kind of catnip fiend that Clio was, and I'm somewhat at a loss for what to do with my rather extensive plantation.

Back! And smaller than ever

My last entry was sort of prophetic. I needed to make some changes and I did. Unfortunately, writing was one of the things I stopped doing. Over the years I've gone through many phases of reading/writing a lot and many of doing little of either. The past six months have definitely fallen into the latter category.

Big news for recent months, on which I'll expound later includes:

• A new feline companion for Chaos
• A week in the hospital for me
• 30lbs of weight loss, and more to come (hence "smaller than ever")
• Refocused career initiatives
• An increased desire to move. Not sure where, but somewhere. Away from L.A.

-mg

Making changes, some big, some small

Posted this on Facebook earlier, and repeating here.

I guess a bunch of people made a whole bunch of resolutions for the new year. I've never been into that, but here's some stuff that's changing right now or in the immediate future.

1. I'm going to say "no" a whole lot more. I've allowed myself to get way too pissed off way too many times as I've tried to adjust preferences to suit others around me, either because I said yes when I shouldn't have, or got overly enthusiastic about something or somebody when I should have known better to begin with.
2. In that vein, decided to skip the planned trip to Steamboat Springs. It's not really one of my favorite places to ski, and spending a lot of money on transportation, tickets, etc. just because the accommodations are free makes no sense. Better to save all that money and go someplace I want to rather than someplace that somebody else thinks I'll love.
3. I've listed both my Snowbird timeshare weeks for sale. Having large units doesn't make sense for my life anymore, if it ever did. I love that mountain, but it would be better to maybe buy a week or two in a small studio that suits my needs rather than spending the annual maintenance dollars on the bigger units, then struggling to find people who want to fill it up.
4. While I'm at it, I will be giving up one of my Snowbird lockers. In the old days when you could dash to the airport with a carry-on and 20 minutes to spare, it kind of made sense to have a locker full of clothes waiting. You can't do that anymore and I'm skiing other places more often, so want stuff accessible at home. I'll keep a locker for powder-specific gear I only use in Utah and check a duffel bag for the rest.
5. Changing my workout routine completely since it wasn't working. When I ski next year, I want to feel powerful again.
6. When my term as president of the Los Angeles Chapter is up at the end of June, I'll be backing out of UCLA Anderson Alumni for a while. After a dozen years of being involved and two years as president of the chapter, it's time to take a break. The chapter needs new blood and I need a new challenge.
7. Also, for the first time since graduating, not taking an active part in running my college reunion. I just don't get that much out of my association with Columbia anymore. Might be different if I were on the east coast, but it just isn't all that relevant where I am right now.
8. Looking for a job working for somebody full-time. I'm a great project manager but I'm really not much of a salesperson. Spending so much of my time on business development just really saps my enthusiasm. Once again, gotta live the life that's right for me, and I'm just not a salesperson.
9. HBO, Showtime and a bunch of other premium channels have been gone for a while because I couldn't justify the cost for the little I watched them. The DVR has been gone for a month and I don't miss it either. Now I find myself wondering "do I really need a TV at all?" Certainly, I don't need two of them! My office TV is about to be history along with about $10 a month in TW Cable fees.
10. Part of the cable TV savings have been invested in a Kindle and a new reading lamp. Much better use of my time I think. Which is a nice way of saying: less TV, more reading.
11. Cutting back on the red wine. I still love a nice red, but those nice reds do seem to have a way of finding themselves and their calories tacked onto my waist.
12. Some people are just pure poison and need to not be part of my life anymore. They've been pissing me off endlessly lately and leaving me in a rotten mood, which has in turn been poisoning friendships with others.
13. Done with Foursquare. The supposed benefits don't seem to exist. My friends know where to find me. People who aren't my friends don't need to.
14. Leaving my cellphone home a lot more, or at least turning it off.  A time may come very soon when I again don't have a choice, but right now I do.
15. Seriously working on my photography. As I've gotten more and more proficient with PhotoShop CS5, it's become more and more fun. Maybe a gallery show sometime in the future? There's a new artists-coop gallery nearby that might just be worth being part of in the future.

I think 15 is enough for now.

-mg

AT&T Wireless a lesson for tech mergers

This one came as a result of a conversation with an old friend on Facebook, in which he notes that he's had no AT&T Wireless service all day on Manhattan's Upper East Side. As he notes:

AT&T Cell Service non-functional between 12 and 8PM at my building today due to a tower that has been degraded since December 30th. 30% of the AT&T 3G towers on the UES are also degraded. The bad AT&T service in NYC has nothing to do with iPhones overloading the network---it has to do with horrific maintenance of their 3G network.

My own belief is that it goes far beyond horrific maintenance, to something that's been percolating for years, since Cingular (owned primarily by SBC) merged with AT&T Wireless as a part of the overall takeover of AT&T by SBC. Though the combined entity took the "AT&T" name, it was really a takeover of AT&T, which had become a horrific mess over the course of many years.

I've had a theory for some time, which says an awful lot about tech mergers and how difficult they are to manage even years after they are "complete."

The current AT&T Wireless pretty much came together from the forced union of the "old" AT&T Wireless (TDMA, non-GSM technology) and Cingular (TDMA, GSM-based technology). From the executive suite, this merger probably looked like it made a lot of sense because the companies tended to be strong in different areas.

But the problem of different technologies forced them to choose, and they chose the Cingular/GSM technology which was better and had a more robust upgrade path. Again, it made sense. "Old" AT&T customers were migrated to new phones on the Cingular/GSM side of the house and infrastructure was slowly repurposed from one to the other. The old phones and network hardware became obsolete.

What I've noticed though, is that years down the road places like NYC and SF where the "old AT&T" was strong are still having problems. Places like LA, where Cingular was a dominant carrierseem to be doing fine. While I have no detailed information to support this, it's as if the places with lots of "old AT&T" facilities are still struggling to catch up.

I suspect it's a lot more than just the technology. "Old AT&T" didn't have a reputation for a great workforce or corporate culture, which is part of the reason they were swallowed up. There are probably many more internal reasons.

But to me, the facts on the ground (or in the airwaves) suggest that years later we are still seeing the effects of a merger that turned out to be a lot more complex than the guys at the top would have had us believe. It's a cautionary tale for anybody who believes the pretty stories about how easy its going to be to merge two technology giants.

-mg

Venice Canals Holiday Boat Parade 2010!

I paddled in the Venice Canals Holiday Boat Parade again this year, my fourth of doing this. The first year I just tossed my kayak in the water and paddled around. Year 2, I actually decorated a bit and had a few people from SCOA join me in kayaks of their own. Last year, we tried to make a major SCOA event of it, with a decorating party in advance. Unfortunately, last year's weather didn't lend itself to much advance work, as the rain stopped only about 4 hours before the parade started.

This year, 82 degree weather ensured that the paddling and decorating would be great, but I was paddling on my own. At the last minute, my neighbor decided to dress as her "Mommy Whorebucks" character and tag along behind me on an inflatable donut. It was the second year in the red kayak, but this time I decided to re-re-reverse the order of things and put the Christmas tree on the back again. Still multi-denominational, but at least this way I can see where I'm going, even with the new, larger tree and better lights. Several people told me I had the best tree in the parade, which sort of surprised me because prior to two years ago I had never put together a Christmas tree in my entire life! As usual I was blasting Springsteen's version of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," because it's still the only Christmas tune I have available.

I was tossing candy to the kids at the many parties that line the canals and occasionally to people photographing me from the footbridges. I've apparently become somewhat of an institution, because some of them know I'm coming and are waiting for me. Next year I think I need to stock up with a bit more, because for the second year in a row I was a bit short at the very end.

It's interesting to see these photos, because from water level it wasn't obvious how spread out everybody got this year. In some of these photos you can't even see another boat, though there were about 50 in total.

I've been busy with work and other things, so it's taken a bit of time to collect all the photos. Two different people were taking pictures, and I have a set of "water level" images of my own. Rather than trying to make one cohesive story of these disparate sets, I'll present them separately.

First up, my friend Veronica's photos, taken from various points along the parade route:

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My friend Mary took a bunch too, including some overhead shots of me passing under one of the bridges and the last remaining partiers at James Beach later that evening. God, I need to lose some weight!

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And finally my own "water level view."

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 -mg

 

Christmas Eve 2010 Brief Notes

As I'm Jewish, this time of year always has me feeling a bit left out. So I'm taking it easy and trying not to think too much about anything too serious, which is always tough for me.

• Clio's death continues to rattle through my consciousness. I've gone back and forth about the notion of finding a new girl to round out the household, but for now am holding off. For starters, I just don't feel all that enthusiastic about another cat, and going to "meet" them has mostly left me depressed. More importantly, Chaos seems to be slowly coming into his own and I'm seeing a side of him that has never been there before. Getting to know him on his own terms seems worthwhile.
• Markets have been doing not much of anything. While the bubbleheads on CNBC find something to be excited about every day, the reality is that what little movement we've had recently is fairly inconsequential. Yet I'm feeling somewhat uneasy about the complacency that seems to be out there. Between Europe, our municipalities and the employment rate, there is stuff to worry about out there!
• As usual, the Venice Canals Holiday Boat Parade was a blast and I had the usual party before and after. Unfortunately, no other paddlers this year, but I got to go out there on my own anyway and my neighbor "Mommy Whorebucks" decided to dress up and directed me to tow her. The best part is that rather than the cold and rainy weather we had last year, it was over 80 degrees! Even in LA, paddling in a kayak in the evening in December in shorts is not really all that common. [Pictures below.] Over the course of the past four  years, I seem to have become an institution around here. Kids see me coming and start yelling that they want candy. Those post-Halloween sales pay off! 
• One of the more interesting things about the parade is that our local councilman, Bill Rosendahl, showed up to open the festivities. A few months ago his relationship with the Canals Association could have best been described as rocky. The fact that he was invited to open things shows how much the political winds have changed around here.
• Much of the change has been driven by the web, and most particularly by a lot of "citizen journalism" and discussion on our local info website, YoVenice! Formerly, others owned the agenda. That has changed, and fast.
• Since I've lived here, I've wanted to go out at dawn to capture some images in the neighborhood, especially in the canals. somehow I never have done it. Tomorrow should be suitably abandoned and empty for me to try, and maybe experiment with some HDR imaging as well. Sunday may be even better, with some interesting weather expected.
• Jon's back from Tokyo on Monday morning. High time. Got to head over to his place and plug in the refrigerator tomorrow.
• Annual garage cleanup has revealed some gems. It seems I have an extra set of Oakely sunglasses, two extra sets of snow goggles, a pair of old skis I really don't think I want anymore and a bunch of tools I completely forgot about. I don't even remember buying some of this stuff and suspect some items were just abandoned in my car, my locker, or some other location where it was forgotten.
• I've got a refrigerator full of food and am cooking slowly. Not so much because I'm interested in a holiday meal as that it's just feeling nice to do it. First time since Clio's death that I've felt like cooking much. Chaos seems to appreciate the fresh scraps.
• For some reason, I was so tired last night I couldn't even think of any grievances to air. Not going to let that happen again.

-mg