2015 UT Longhorn Run: An Old Runner’s Experience

 Life  No Responses »
Apr 212015
 
On an April 11 Saturday much nicer than it had any right to be, the threat of heavy rain fortuitously replaced by a cool misted morning, 2897 runners took to blockaded streets of Austin for the annual Longhorn Run.  Just over half were students, the balance made up of staff and public participants.  All appeared to have a splendid time. Continue reading »

2015 South by Southwest

 Explorations, Views and Reviews  No Responses »
Mar 282015
 
This isn’t the article I expected to write.

I wasn’t even planning on driving down to Austin for South by Southwest this year.  I’d been to the event in 2011 and 2012, and the second time was largely an exercise in frustration.  One year seemed to make a huge difference in the number of cars and degree of chaos.  So I swore off returning for that particular reason.  But certain things came together recently to compel me anyway, especially the invitation of a friend from Finland, so down I ventured. In some respects, I wish I hadn’t. Continue reading »

Armageddon is Relative

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Feb 232015
 
In my blissful pre-Internet youth, weather was a local concern and climate was something you only worried about at epochal intersections.  Like the Cambrian–Ordovician extinction event, which really sucked for trilobites but became useful to first-year Geology students millions of years later.

Today’s electronic immediacy though means everything is local and instant.  Geographic boundaries have been replaced by ideological ones that realign our interests and attention.  Thanks to the Internet, I can be a better neighbor to Timo the programmer in Finland than what’s-his-name who lives across my street.

But knowing each other’s news doesn’t necessarily put us on the same page. Continue reading »

2014 Reflections / 2015 Plans

 Explorations  No Responses »
Jan 062015
 
Last year was tumultuous in many ways, both general and personal.  Filled with the sort of challenges that make a society question where it’s at and an individual dig deep for strength.  Definitely a make-or-break run of 365 anything-but-boring days.  I’ll steer clear of the macro stuff for now though and just vent about my own situation. Continue reading »

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