Kirk blAug

This morning while running I came upon a tree where a couple of squirrels were apparently having a tiff over some sort of property. I imagine that the one whose hindquarters was stuck in the air left his stash of acorns to go for his own morning run. Upon return from his run, there was a stranger claiming his gatherings. That is when the fight broke out. The adversary, an innocent ticket taker at the local scamper-in theatre who just happened on the stash, thought he might help himself to an acorn or two. After all, here was a pile of acorns with no one around to claim them. It was certainly a pile that was intentionally placed by another squirrel, but where was that squirrel now? For all he knew the squirrel that left these could be dead. If that is the case, unfortunate though it may be, it would be a shame for all these acorns to go to waste. Besides, it is not as if the theatre pays its ticket takers anything that could be considered a living wage. His family could use the go

For about four months I have been without a device that manufacturers market and consumers know as a phone. I sold my iPhone 4S after getting a Nexus 7 (2013) with a cellular modem in it. I had long realized that since telephony works over the Internet through various VoIP services, I was grossly overpaying my cellular provider for voice services. Especially considering my lack of frequent usage of that feature. I had wanted to stop doing this. However, I believe that the cellular providers had also realized that VoIP threatens part of their business and so they had been reluctant to sell data without voice for a long time. I was interested in the iPod Touch or an Android equivalent with a cellular modem, but that device never came to market. That is, until cellular ready tablets started to hit the market. The only problem there was that the device was too big for me to feel comfortable using as a phone. Eventually tablets got smaller and phones got bigger. The Nexus 7 and the iPad

Just a quick one.

Occasionally while on a long drive I listen to podcasts. The other day while driving between St. Louis and Kansas City one of the podcasts I listened to was Penn's Sunday School .   +Penn Jillette  hosts the show with  +Michael Goudeau  and +Matt Donnelly  as co-hosts. Penn's Sunday School speaks on a variety of matters from the mundane to the absurd, but one topic Penn mentioned on episode 116 really made me think. I was thinking about it again today on this morning's run. "No one gets to choose their funeral" is the idea that Penn put forth on his show. This isn't the first time I had considered this. It was just the time it really settled in.  I have sometimes expressed ideas about how I would want my funeral. From an early age, saving my family from the funeral industry's exploitation concerned me. "You don't have to bother with a funeral and casket or any of that racket." I said to my family. "Just put my remains in a ba

I had not gone on an early morning run in far too long. However, today I actually got out of bed when my alarm went off at 5 AM. Therefore, today I exchanged my usual habit of going back to sleep for a nice run . One of my favorite parts about the early run is that I get to hear the world wake up around me. The birds start doing their morning songs. The mammals begin to make their mammalian noises. Rabbits and squirrels are running around searching for breakfast. It is a beautiful thing. Once upon a time, I ran with technology affixed to my body. I would attach my iPhone to my arm and listen to music or podcasts on my run. I understand that some people prefer to hear their "pump up" jams for motivation, but this is no longer for me. Now I prefer the sweet music of the world around me.

When I was a kid, I loved to draw. I was not too bad at it either. But over time I drew less and less. For the past many years I had not even lifted a drawing utensil unless it was to color with the kids or something. So I decided to start drawing a little bit again. I am really bad at it now. Much worse than I once was. But I am getting the hang of it again. Maybe soon I will start publishing some of it here. I feel like I need to get more in touch with my creative side. I would like to get to the point where I am intentionally doing something creative everyday. Whether it be drawing, making music, creating something from found objects, post on this blog, etc., that is one of my current goals: create more.

Had lunch with mom in KC today. It was nice of her to meet me half way. What a mom!

There I was, just sitting at the traffic light. I was in the left turn lane waiting for the green arrow. I thought to myself, "Funny. Green Arrow. Like I am sitting here waiting for a fucking super hero with a bow and arrow to appear." But then I wondered if maybe I was. Am I at an intersection in my life just waiting? Waiting for what I am not sure. But I can tell you one thing. There are a few options and I am not particularly fond of any of them. I can be sure as hell that some Green Arrow is not going to appear and fix my options. Of course the next thing that would happen was to be expected. The green arrow appeared and so I turned left. Whatever happened after that was another story. Was it the correct turn to take? I did not take the other turns, so I guess I'll never know.