Copasetic Flow

Ever get the giggles? You know, where you just can't stop laughing? My dad is famous for contracting the giggles while driving cross country with his best friend to his own wedding. Neither one of them could stop and he and his best friend, who was also his best man, giggled all the way through the wedding much to the dismay of the clergyman conducting the ceremony. Today was one of those days. First, let me put things in context. I'm in India working with various customers this week. India is an interesting place. Among other more interesting differences, the safety standards that are in place in the US occasionally don't exist here. For example, a few billboards fell down onto people on the ground earlier this week. As I was presenting at one customer's site, we kept hearing large booms. Not just kind of 'loud' booms, no, these booms were shaking the entire building we were in. On our first break in the presentation, I asked what was going on. Anothe...

This is a few years late as the good old G&M is now shut down. But, recent dining events brought it to mind and I couldn't resist. The G&M was located on Lamar across from Book People in downtown Austin. It was a small cozy sort of place with a long lunch counter in front of the grill and small tables lined up down the wall. As you walked into the G&M you were greeted by Gus. Gus was the owner and proprietor and a permanent fixture. He had moved an executive's desk chair into the restaurant and sat at the front near the cash register. He always had a cigar in his mouth. Come to think of it, the G&M shut down not long after Austin passed their smoking ban. Bringing Gus a cigar always meant you'd get a little extra food on your plate or a little discount on your check. Visiting the G&M was always an entertaining experience. Eggs came one way, the way the cook wanted to make them. The waitress, (Gus's wife), was famous for saying, "How wou...

I'm doing laundry at the Wash-O-Mat, (no, that's really the name), in Boulder this morning. As usual, everything in Boulder is better! As I stepped out the front door of the laundromat, I was rewarded with a beautiful view of the foothills dusted in snow from our little storm last night. Coming very soon to the Wash-O-MAT will be DJ Chad Zygoat who, between 8 and 10, on certain nights of the week will be playing techno music to accompany comedy movies as you do your laundry. Sounds awesome! Everything in Boulder is a cultural experience! From the Wash-O-Mat it's just a few doors down to Marie's Cafe where I ate breakfast while waiting on my clothes. The cafe is excellent! You walk in through a set of drapes that divide the front door from the rest of the place and keep the cold air from rushing in every time someone new comes inside. As soon as your inside, you're greeted by the cacophony, (nickel word for the day), of this packed little cafe. The place is f...

All the people that read this, you guys didn't need me to tell you. You all do this all the time. Maybe I just needed to hear it myself! Do something nice for somebody. Go out and do It today! Offer to help somebody broken down on the side of the road. Maybe you don't know how to help. Hang out, keep them company. Offer to call for help. Maybe they don't need your help. But, you know what? Watch their faces when you offer! They'll light up a little, they'll be a little bit surprised, and they'll be a little bit happier. Pay attention to somebody that looks like they could use a little extra. Smile at a stranger on the street and say hi. Buy a round of drinks for an interesting group of people you've never met before. Enjoy that little adrenalin surge doing something new and different. Enjoy learning about new people; there will be something different about them. Write your grandmother a letter. Send it in the real mail! My dad used to tell me t...

This place is so cool! I was sitting at the Hungry Goat tonight working on another tech book during the weekly poetry reading. I'm not sure if that's a cognitive dissonance or an oxymoron, but that's what I was doing. Actually it's probably neither, but I've always wanted to use the word dissonance. Anyway! I was sitting at the front door working away. OK, I wasn't working. The trial version of Microsoft Office had expired and I was installing the new version, which was taking forever, so, umm... yeah... I was actually doing what I do best down here: watching the world go by. So, getting back to the story, as I'm watching the world go by, (accompanied by ranting poetry in the background), a woman pulls up on a classic Vespa and parks on the sidewalk. She's got a bob haircut, and she's wearing a white leather jacket, pink tights, and a pair of white go-go boots. For all the world, she looked like she was going to do an interpretive dance to on...