Random Thoughts from San Francisco

I just found this really great band, m83. They're like Air, but spookier. Check out Skin of the Night. I can't get this song out of my head. It totally suits my mood right now. Early fall, the sun is setting earlier, everything is .... dying. Like it should, because it's that time of year.

The run this AM was a gloomy, foggy run, again, set to this soundtrack. Sometimes, when I run past street people, talking to themselves or their imaginary friends, I wonder how different we really are. For all I know I'm making all of this up as I go along...the job, Lopa, the kids, Seattle, San Francisco. I might be some homeless bum, stinking of piss, shivering in my sleep. Even if I'm not, this life feels fairly hallucinatory at times...but I'll take it.

Working down here is kind of surreal because it feels like the reality of being a dad/husband has been suspended. All I do is work/work out. And, for 3 days at a time, that isn't too bad!

Last night I was walking outside of my hotel and I encountered a salsa band playing in the square. Apparently I love salsa music, and had forgotten about that love. Actually, to be more specific, I did love the music, but I also loved watching people dance. There were all kinds out there, old, young, skinny, fat, whatever, it didn't matter. They were all moving very gracefully. The beautiful women looked even more amazing when they were doing salsa. The fat old guys didn't look so bad either -- I think I might have stumbled on the fountain of youth for fat old guys :) Everyone was completely caught up in the music, enjoying themselves. I think I'm going to get Lopa to take salsa lessons with me for our 14th wedding anniversary, because it's a whole different way of relating that we could use in the middle of raising 2 kids, paying the bills, dealing with life, etc.

I love my job, at least the parts where I lose myself for a couple of hours while working on a hard problem. I feel like I'm finally getting disciplined about seeking simplicity. I had a fairly complicated solution to a problem today, and it felt wrong, so I chucked it and came up with a much simpler solution that was much easier to implement. That feels good.