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March 22, 2005
Sugar Time
A high pressure system is parked over Vermont, and it's been clear and warm during the days and cold at night for a few days now, and that means it's sugar time. Mind you, it also means it's mud time here too, but that's what God invented snowshoes for.
Speaking of wonderful weather, I noticed it's begging to smell again. When the weather first warms up you suddenly notice the scents all around. I don't think about it after a few days, but to me it's one of the signs of spring.
Posted by pgutwin at 8:32 PM
March 20, 2005
"Old" Redefined
I went for a long run yesterday (well, long for me anyway) and at about the halfway point of my run I saw someone running the other way (I was running along Rt. 117 just past the 287 interchange) but it was a bit far off and I couldn't make out the details. As we drew abreast I realized that there were actually 4 people running in a line. We waved at each other in the normal way, but it wasn't until they had all run passed that it hit me that everyone in the group was 60+ years old. Here I was all proud of myself for being out running at 7AM in a brisk 20 degree breeze, but it's quite another thing to be doing it at 65 years old with a group of like minded friends.
It is great seeing anyone while out running, but I really enjoyed being in the company of my betters, even if for a brief moment. I'm thinking that old means an age somewhat more advanced than the group I passed...
Posted by pgutwin at 12:37 PM
March 17, 2005
St. Patrick's Day
I was visiting one of my companies' offices in New York. Someone had left a box in the break room containing a few heads of cabbage and pile of potatoes first thing in the morning, so when everyone showed up for the meeting (and was getting coffee and a donut), the general joke was that it was hard to choose what to grab for breakfast: donut or cabbage. Further humor was mined from comments relating to the drive home that night, and who was riding with whom based on cabbage intake. It was all in good humor ‘till we began to break up and we made plans to head back. One of the guys grabbed a head of cabbage and some potatoes to take home – and pretty soon it was like Filenes’ Basement, only with cabbage and engineers rather than dresses and New Yorkers.
I’m still trying to get the image out of my mind…
Posted by pgutwin at 8:42 PM
March 13, 2005
I, Robot
I watched I, Robot last night. I enjoyed the movie as a diversion, and it did tickle my imagination: what if we could create machines that looked like man? What is the boundary between mechanism and “life”?
This morning in church, the Old Testament lesson was Ezekiel 37:1-14
Ezekiel 7-8: So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
Ezekiel 10: So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet-a vast army.
I was riveted during the reading of the passage. Ezekiel was writing about redemption and in this case it was about redeeming Israel’s faith. But Ezekiel (inspired by God) used the incredibly powerfully metaphor of raising dead bones to life. He created hope out of the whole cloth of death and loss.
But in Ezekiel’s world God was experienced as an external force. In fact the very message of this passage is God’s promise to put His spirit in His people. But demons were “out there” in the same way God was. Man was simply who he was.
The Gospel lesson for today was John 11:1-45
John 11:43-47 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
Here we see the same message: Life created from death. Hope out of loss. God, through Jesus is the master of life. But there is an ominous note in verse 46: “But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.” A group of men intended to thwart God’s will. This idea that men who worshiped God, but with differing ideology feel compelled to oppose God is completely absent in the Old Testament. In some sense, with the advent of God moving into men’s hearts, the potential for Satin to move into men’s harts as well became possible.
It’s not enough to know that a man worship's God: one must know how that man worships God. The possiblity that man can worship God incorrectly has been born.
And finally, in I, Robot, the same story of loss and redemption told using the metaphor of raising something from the dead, but with a terrifying conclusion: man has created “life”, and now must be responsible for creating good and evil in that life.
Clearly the possibilities the movie suggests are very far in the future, if possible at all. But the story and it’s challenges resonate today, and bring us face to face with the reality that as God moves from outside to inside, and from the heart to the brain, we must ask the question of how close we are becoming to God – not just in spirit, but in fact.
Posted by pgutwin at 9:43 PM | Comments (3)
March 9, 2005
Lexus Sales Meeting
I was walking past the meeting rooms last night of the hotel I was staying at, and one of the rooms was reserved for the "Lexus Sales Meeting". I was trying to imagine what was discussed there, but could only think it would involve pandering to potential customers' desire for luxury and status. It reminded me of a conversation I recently had with a friend - one to whom the purchase of any car is a cash transaction, and unlikely to influence his bank account significantly. We had touched on the subject of new cars when he launched into a diatribe against expensive cars, describing them as "an utter waste of money". I was impressed that someone of his means would even notice, let alone have an opinion on the true value of a luxury car. On reflection this idea seemed less isolated, and more a general trend in our society.
A number of luxury brands have been struggling, but the thing that caught my eye recently was Whole Foods Market's new efforts to kick the grocery business up a notch. Their concept is "food is fun", and they plan a Wall-Mart size store featuring a mix of food preparation and sales, raw, partially prepared, and fully cooked for consumption either on premises or at home. The key idea here is "try this at home, and here's how".
I think this will resonate well with people weary of the roller-coaster ride we've been on for the last few years (economy, war, etc.). The nation is hungry for comfort food, and the Lexus in the driveway just isn't doing it for folks like it use to. Not that we as a nation don't want nice things, but I suspect we're more interested in Target than Saks at this point.
So I think that it's a good thing if the Lexus sales team has to struggle a little to sell their product. Good luck guys.
Sent from: Paul Gutwin
Posted by pgutwin at 7:25 AM
March 7, 2005
Sailing a different race
One of the many lessons I learned while sailing is that your tactics change fundamentally when you are leading a race. You have to protect what you've gained, and it can vanish in the blink of an eye. What's really difficult is that you cannot afford to make any mistakes. The sailors behind you (and there are many) are just waiting for your mistake, and will step ahead of you. Once you loose the lead you have to shift gears - it's no longer about protecting your lead, but attaining the lead.
Under President Bush's leadership, the United States has lost it's leadership position in moral authority. It's gone - there's nothing we can do about that fact, except change our tactics. We won’t be able to regain our leadership by “vigorous assertion”, nor will we be able to regain it by criticizing our accusers.
There is only one way to resume our moral leadership position. It’s to change the way we treat the people around us. The Bush administration has to come clean on what’s been done, and change it’s policy. Until that happens, we’ll slip further behind.
Posted by pgutwin at 9:13 PM
March 5, 2005
Hold that thought
This is not so good: the FCC wants to crack down on people expressing themselves on the internet. This could be a problem, given the ideas that the brains over at the FCC have come up with (vis - "if you owned a computer, you'd have to calculate what percentage of the computer cost and electricity went to political advocacy").
The problem here is that the FCC is trying to use a capital-infrastructure model to "value" pure thought. This can only result in a horrible mess of rules, or an outright ban on free speech.
But after reading Rebecca's post on life in a friendly middle east country, I see it could be a lot worse.
Posted by pgutwin at 9:10 PM
NYPL Digital Library
The New York Public Library has recently put their digital collection online. This is a treasure trove of images from around the world. I've already spent way too much time looking at this fantastic collection.
Posted by pgutwin at 12:29 AM
March 4, 2005
Back home again
It turned out that my flights got somewhat messed up going out to San Jose, but at least I got there (3 hours late). So I slept fast and got up early to pound out yet another 14 hour day. There has to be a better way...
My rental car had an XM radio (OK, maybe it was Sirius), and I think I'm hooked. I kept switching between the "Jam Band" and the "Classic Jazz" channels, with some interesting stops in between. I actually sat in the car in the hotel parking lot just listening to the cool music. I gotta get me one of those.
I bumped into a former work associate on the plane back from San Jose. I really enjoyed working with Jay - he's a lot of fun. It reminded me that one needs to bring fun to one's job - it doesn't come by itself. I gotta get me some of that too.
Posted by pgutwin at 10:14 PM
March 1, 2005
Playing the air travel lottery
My plan was to work most of today and then fly to San Jose tonight for meetings tomorrow. This is usually a great plan, but the weather has messed things up pretty well. Why risk my meetings by scheduling stuff so close together? With the amount tof work I'm trying to get done, there's really no time to do anything else.
So the trick is to play the margin. If you go west late, you risk the first few meetings the next day (assuming one can get to Chicago). Going east is a lot harder - I can't do redeye flights, so I'm stuck with the early morning stuff.
So here I sit in the Burlington airport, waiting to see what my luck will be today...
Paul Gutwin
Sent from: Paul Gutwin
Posted by pgutwin at 6:05 PM