Impression of Oneself

Here's a humorous essay that I never get tired of reading... it's not original, but I like to think of myself while reading it. I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row. I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru. Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after work, I repair electrical appliances free of charge. I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me. I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to remodel an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the local supermarket. I have performed several covert operations with the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On week-ends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I am currently working on a life-size map of the world. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I know why firetrucks are red. I breed prize-winning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis. Impressed?

Jobs, jobs, jobs...

I have had a lot of jobs, but only one career: Testing Software. Other jobs I've had include Post Office Floor Mopper (age 12), Newspaper Inserter (age 13), Lawn Mower (age 12-present), Meat-Market Cleanup Dude (age 15), Grocery Sacker (age 15), Pharmacy Stockman and Delivery Dude (age 16), Radio Shack Sales Associate (age 17), Truck & Auto Parts Salesman (age 17), Radio DJ (age 18), Bank Proof Operator (age 19), Bank Teller (age 19), Wal-Mart Electronics Department Manager (age 20), Master Optician (age 21), Software Tester (age 22), Nurse Technician (age 23), Hotel Night Manager (age 24), QA Tester (age 25), QA Manager (age 31), Technical Project Manager (age 33), Church Administrator (age 37), QA Analyst (age 39-present)

You may ask, "what does all this mean?" My response: nothing.

A Weary Mind's Exhaust

I once was asked, "who are you?" I contemplated for a few moments, then answered, "I don't know." In truth, I can only tell you what things I like, what kind of work I do, what makes me laugh, what I look like, and how I see things. I can't tell you who I am - you have to decide that for yourself, I suppose.

The identity you construct yields decisions, attitudes, and actions that are the puzzle peices of your life, which fit together intricately to create a mosaic that is you. Every choice you make determines who you are... So, who are YOU?

In Pursuit of Success

This weekend, I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with my sons while their mother and sister were out of town at a ladies' conference in St. Louis. We visited one of the boy's friend at his house along with his parents, hung out at a military surplus store, and then went to a volleyball tournament to support one of my son's friends as she played a few games. We had a good time in all of that, but the story I want to highlight wasn't the sports or the army fatigues we saw, but the relationships we grew and friendships we deepened through it all.

I recall our conversation with my 15-year-old's friend (I'll call him Sam here), and am concerned that he has an all-too-popular mentality among that age group. Sam is convinced that he doesn't need to go to college, and further, he's trying to justify dropping out of high school. I stood there with Sam and my boys for nearly an hour on Sam's front porch trying to figure out a way to show him that education is important. He kept bringing up some invalid argument that he doesn't see success as the "previous" generation. Isn't success an individually-established intangible ideal of happiness? Webster defines success as, "the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors." Others, specifically our society, defines success as, "the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like." I don't necessarily agree with that. Perhaps it's because I don't really ever expect or intend to pursue wealth, position, honors, or the like. At-least to the point of making myself feel good.

I saw a quote one time by Benjamin Disraeli that really sums up the secret of success: consistency of purpose. If we have the will to be consistent for a purpose, then I believe we are successful. That doesn't preclude that we can't change our direction in life, and more specifically, our direction of success. John D. Rockefeller said that the secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well. Now, there's something to live your life by, Sam. But finish high school and reconsider higher education. The experience alone will prepare you for better things in life.

Can you define Quality? I can't either...

So... Blogging appears to be the "in" thing these days. Given that I am a cultured person that likes to fit in with the crowd, and given that I am an intentional quiet person by nature and a self-proclaimed intellect, I feel it is time to begin expressing my mind's exhaust on a blog such as this for the entire world to read (or, perhaps just my mother and two people that are bored at work and happened upon this blog over a period of a year). Thank you for visiting, by the way. It says a lot when a person stays on a site that might otherwise be passed by.

In today's blog post, I would like to raise the question of what Quality is. I read Robert M. Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," and was intrigued by the inherent inability to truly define quality. Pirsig resolves that quality is something that cannot be defined, but we all know when it exists. He created the Metaphysics of Quality (MOQ) to explain the connection between quality and morality with reality. Pirsig argues that the MOQ is "...a better lens through which to view reality than the traditional dualistic subjective/ objective mindset." Good, I haven't lost you yet... Hang in there, and you might just learn something about philosophy that could change the way you think, believe, and act.

"Quality," or "value" as described by Pirsig, cannot be defined because it empirically precedes any intellectual constructions. It is the "knife-edge" of experience, known to all. "What distinguishes good and bad writing? Do we need to ask this question of Lysias or anyone else who ever did write anything?" (Plato's Phaedrus, 258d). Likening it with the Tao, Pirsig believes that Quality is the fundamental force in the universe stimulating everything from atoms to animals to evolve and incorporate ever greater levels of Quality. According to the MOQ, everything (including mind, ideas, and matter) is a product and a result of Quality. Deep thought, isn't it? Intrigued? Good.

If you want to look into this concept more, wikipedia has a great starting point: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirsig