Dreams: Floor and Wall

I’ve been thinking about home renovation a lot lately. That could be why the most memorable things about my last couple of dreams have involved the components of a buidling.

In the first, I’m watching this guy install wooden flooring. However, standing up in the middle of some of the boards are half pieces of circular saw blades. He talks about what a great deal he got the flooring. And the more boards he puts in place, the more the floor looks like shark fins are poking out of the floor and he’s surrounded.

In the second one I’m shopping in this IKEA-like store. I walk down this wide staircase to the front of the store where there is a large sliding wall. A yet when I touch it I realize that it’s actually made of dough.

Dream: Heist and Sink Holes

I dreamed I was part of a heist. All this money was lying around an office building, and I and a few other people were snatching it up. There was one point where someone was walking by the windows and I stopped what I was doing and started gesturing as if I and the other people were just having a conversation. I worried it might be a police officer, but it wasn’t.

There were these zippered packets of documents on top of a filing cabinet. And I remember taking them for myself because there was some valuable information in them.

Then I’m in my home. I look out my front door and instead of seeing a yard, street and parking lot, a deep crater had opened up between me and the other building . I wondered if this was a sink hole or an explosion had caused this. When I look out the front door later, the crater has widened even more, and I wonder what if anything is holding up my house.

Taught myself animated gifs

While doing my operating system class assignments yesterday, I discovered that Creative Suite programs had secretly been installed on the main computer lab’s computers.
Hello, unexpected fun.
So I’ve been teaching myself how to create animated gifs. This will help spice up my splash page assignment.
My first two efforts: Space Monster and UFO.

Inauguration and Inattention

Driving to school this morning, thinking about what a historical day this was and what could be the start of much needed change in this country, the last lines of “The Shawshank Redemption” came to mind.   Morgan Freeman’s character had all these things he hoped would come true.  And he just summed it all up with a final, simple statement: “I hope.”

There was an Inauguration viewing party in the cafeteria with free pizza and fruit.  It was certainly warmer than being outside in Washington DC.  And yet I wished I could’ve been with a more enthusiastic crowd.

There was some polite applause when Obama was introduced; and some after he was sworn in.  But I guess—Obama supporter that I am—that I expected more celebration, especially since most of the people in attendance were black.  Some cheering.  Maybe see a tear or two being wiped away.   It could be people had eaten too much pizza and were feeling a little sleepy.

And of all the places in the cafeteria to be, I had to be standing next to this black guy who turned out to be the biggest downer in the room.  During the twenty-one gun salute he told his friend, in a flat voice, “Man, he probably thinks they’re coming after him.”

Thanks, Eeyore.

But what struck me most was that during Obama’s speech about how our nation should move forward, fewer and fewer people were paying attention.  At one point a history teacher had to tell this one black woman to stop carrying on her loud cell phone conversation because the rest of us couldn’t hear what Obama was saying.

What kind of Bizzaro audience was this?

And I wondered how many people across the nation listened—really listened—to Obama’s speech.  For all the talk about embracing change, I believe these next few years will separate the ants from the grasshoppers.  Some of us will roll up our sleeves and make the necessary sacrifices and adjustments.  And others will just keep on with their stubborn, wasteful habits and gripe and refuse to make any necessary changes.

By the time the poem was being read, only three of us were listening.  And we were standing by the television in order to hear.  By the time of the Benediction only I and another person were there.

Later at home, I searched for an appropriate poem for my web design splash page assignment as the Obamas danced at the Youth Ball.  I opened Spoon River Anthology and the first poem I saw was “Robert Southie Burke”.

That was so odd to open to that poem on this day.  And I wondered if most people have looked deeper than the ceremony and pagaentry. Beyond the impressive surfaces and considered the substance of a word like “Change”. I hope there are more ants than grasshoppers out there.

I hope.

End of the Dungy Era

Just as I was getting over the Colts’ loss to the Chargers, Tony Dungy officially announced that he was retiring from coaching.  Even after hearing reports that he was at the front offices saying goodbye to the staff and players, some part of me wished for some last minute change of heart before the press conference.  I didn’t want the Dungy era to end.  I wanted him to lead the team to a second Superbowl victory.  C’mon, just one more season.  One more chance.

But there I was standing in front of the television getting a little misty eyed as he explained his decision.  It was all there.  The love of the game, the team, the city, his family.  How he struggled with it, not wanting to leave but knowing he should.  And as I listened, I started to accept and even admire how he came to his decision.  The fact that he had struggled with the decision meant a lot to me as a fan.

In a profession where career success is typically measured by the amount of rings acquired, the extent of Dungy’s numerous accomplishments are overlooked or not fully appreciated.  The fact that he wasn’t able to bring a second Superbowl Championship to Indy was probably the only shortcoming of his career and tenure with the Colts.

First of all, Dungy’s Colts were not underperformers, despite what a few critics might say.  (They’ve never forgiven him for that playoff loss to Pittsburgh.)  If all the playoff games were like the first three then an argument could be made.  However, the last three playoff losses, especially the Colts heartbreaking loss to Pittsburgh were close games that were one or two plays away from becoming wins.    Look at some of the man’s achievements:

The most consecutive playoff appearances by an NFL coach.

The most winning coach of the Indy Colts organization.

The first African Amercian coach to lead a team to a Superbowl championship.

The only coach in NFL history to lead a team to six consecutive seasons of twelve wins or more.  And that sixth season started off with a 3-4 record.

And there are other little achievements like being the first Colts coach to win at Pittsburgh in 40 years.

He’s also responsible for some of the most amazing come-from-behind wins in NFL history.  That’s because Dungy’s Colts were determined.  They never gave up.  He’s a teacher in a profession known for more for drill instructors.  I think of players like Dallas Clark and Jeff Saturday that thrived and became all-star players under Dungy’s calm, quiet leadership.  Manning benefited from having Dungy as a coach.

Dungy’s curse is that he was so successful that his high standard of achievement has been taken for granted, and what few statistics are lacking only become more noticeable.  The media couldn’t stop talking when the Colts started out the last season 3-4.   But winning nine straight and coping with numerous injuries to finish the regular season 12-4?  The media doesn’t make anything of it because it’s, y’know, Tony Dungy.  They’ve come to expect it.   

I admire Dungy’s strength of character.  I think of other famous NFL coaches known for their volcanic tempers.  How going to the playoffs ten consecutive years and only gaining one ring would have probably eaten at them and slowly turned them into tyrants, or even bigger tyrants than they already were.
He was a role model to be admired for the example he set and not merely judged or envied for the accolades he received.

I’ll miss him.

Dream: Tile, Bookstore, Girlfriend

Interesting dream this morning.  It started out with me in the restroom off this house and there was some discussion about tiling.

Then I was in a bookstore seated at a table with a Chinese woman and man.  They were talking Chinese, but they didn’t know that I understood them and that they were talking about me.  I confronted them about this, especially the woman because in the dream I was in a relationship with her.  I tell her I’m upset that she has these assumptions that I’m only interested in her looks and nothing more.

She’s apologetic, wanting to kiss and make up.  I carry her around  the bookstore, her legs wrapped around my torso.  I wonder aloud if our relationship really has a chance, mainly because of our age difference.  The dream ends with us sitting on these short stairs in the bookstore discussing our relationship.

Damn thy cursed playoff punting! Damn it to HELL!

And it call came down to punting.

The Colts lost  23-17 to the Chargers.  I’ve seen games decided by field goals, but never punting.  It was insane how Scifres repeatedly nailed the ball inside the 10 and the 5.

It limited what plays the offense could run and how they could maneuver, what with their backs repeatedly up against the wall.

(And the officiating crew turning a blind eye helped too.)

What made this so heartbreaking is that this wasn’t a season where the Colts came in undefeated until November or December.  This was the year of the Cardiac Colts.  This team started with a 3-4 record and won 9 straight to finish 12-4.  Games that came down to the last second.  Games the Colts won after being down 14 or 17 points in the fourth.

And they almost won this one too. 

But the punter had a career game.

Next year’s Colts will probably be missing a lot of key players.  I’ll miss Marvin Harrison if he leaves.

Resolutions: 2009

Looking back on my 2008 resolutions, I’m reminded of Mick Jagger singing, “You can’t always get what you want.  But sometimes you get what you need.”

Well, sometimes you can’t do exactly what you’ve resolved, but end up getting different and more important things accomplished.

2008 felt like a transition year.  Slowly, things are changing, mending.  There’s been stress and frustrations and less money; but also more possibilities now than at the end of last year.

Although no one ended up offering me money for my property so that I could move, my other wishes for 2008 have come true.

Obama became president.  And thankfully, as it turned out, John Edwards was not part of the ticket.  The Democratic Primaries and the Election took over a lot of my thoughts at times.

It seems grassroots support for green, sustainable living is growing too.  Although, still at a slower pace than I’d like.  Still, it’s amazing how a kick in the coin purse will motivate people.

As for my 2008 resolutions…

I didn’t get around to painting the porch or any other major home improvement project.  Most of the summer I had to work evenings as well as attend classes in the morning.  What time I did spend on the house was to make unexpected repairs to the roof and plumbing.

I didn’t really delve into Photoshop as much as I wanted and explore all the fancy bells and whistles that would help me restore old family photos.  I did, however, spend bells-and-whistles-ish time learning Microsoft Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint.  I’ve also begun to learn more about operating systems and get my feet wet with web design code.  In fact, it seems I have a knack for computers.  In class, others have regularly turned to me for troubleshooting document or spreadsheet problems during labs.  Sometimes even the instructor.

Aside from a Berger/Mitry mystery and “Cradle to Cradle”, I didn’t come close to reading twenty books.  However, I’ve been reading textbooks regularly; and perhaps the amount of material I’ve read (and reread) for assignments and research papers comes close to twenty novels.

And maybe textbooks are what I needed to read because it wasn’t until school that I learned how lax my thinking process had become.  One of the greatest things about last year was that I was able to engage in discussions and share ideas about the enviornment and politics.

I didn’t pay off the car.   If I hadn’t spent $700 getting my trees pruned I could’ve paid it off in December.  On the other hand, if I hadn’t then the windstorm that barrelled through Dayton in September would’ve removed those limbs for me.  And the damage to the back fence and my neighbor’s van would’ve cost more than $700 to repair.  Anyway, I’ll still manage to get the car paid off seven months ahead of schedule.

My credit card debt is only slightly below what it was at this time last year, but considering I used it to charge for things such as car and home insurance, getting it below the original balance is a good thing.

I didn’t consolodate all my VCR tapes and handwritten journals to hard drive storage.  To be fair, the video capture device got fried during a thunderstorm this summer and couldn’t be replaced until November.  I did manage to get rid of stacks of typewritten journal entries from nearly twenty years ago, although that ended up stirring up some unresolved issues that manifested themselves in some troubling dreams.

My Resolutions for 2009

Learn Photoshop
Learn CSS and Java Script
Blog more
Consolodate the rest of the VCR tapes.
Reduce my credit card debt down to three-fifths of what it is today.
Knock down some walls in this house
Learn to cook a new dish from scratch

Wish List

Learn how to install glass block.
Someone offers me money for my property, so I could relocate to a better location.