My work (which I am always grateful to have) has been a bit intense off and on lately. The bulk of my work is with a department of UCLA. The project manager from UCLA is part of a programming team of 4, 3 of us “meeting” regularly via the internet conferencing software “GoToMeeting”. We are in the habit of meeting via internet at least 2 times per week as we work through prototyping the current version of the software. GoToMeeting allows us to see each other’s screen and handles the voice conferencing as well. It enables our team who are in California, Tennessee and Montana to work as if we were in the same office.
Yesterday, we had our last meeting of the week. The meetings are mini deadlines as in we usually have agreed tasks for each to have completed and have ready to be shared or at least to the point where we have troubleshooting questions for the others. Sometimes, like yesterday, we spent nearly 2 hours working together on a problem where three heads are better than one.
It is exciting, interesting, frustrating and rewarding to work like this. And usually, after such a session, I need to be away from the computer for a bit and the house if possible. Yesterday, the time was right for a run to town for a few supplies. I stopped at a liquor store that I knew carried some unusual items to see if Rye whiskey was available. It was – in 5 different options.
I wrote On Whiskey and Words as a search for the source of a poem led me to a site that suggested what whiskey to drink while reading certain poems. The poem I was tracking down was “The Spell of the Yukon” by Robert Service and the whiskey recommended was Rye. Dennis McCarthy’s site named: Sippin’ Poems: a drinker’s companion to English Verse also had recommendations of whiskey brands for each type of whiskey. Old Overholt was the suggestion for a first try if one was a bourbon fan. I am. The store had Old Overholt and a bottle came home with me.
I stood the bottle on the window sill to wait for the end of the workday.
By the time, I stopped working for the evening, it was cloudy-foggy but still nearly 40. I poured my first shot of the rye and took it and my laptop to the front porch. A new entry from blogging friend Reamus was available. I had skimmed it earlier and decided it was the perfect thing to have along with my rye. It was. As I said to Reamus in an email, “I’m not sure if the words enhanced the rye or the rye enhanced the words, but no matter as it was a wonderful experience”.
Reamus’ posts are a vacation in words. His blog tag says: “This is about the things I see and wonder about traveling in a camper/van named La Coachacita, with a few words added when I am not.” “See and wonder about” – right up my alley! But more than just that, the things seen and wondered about are like paintings in words – sights and wonderings written about in that way that makes you feel as if you’ve also seen, wanting to see more and wondering the same things.
Yesterday’s post:
Cooperstown and a place called Rotterdam left me wanting to load up my motorhome and follow the same path. I read and sipped and got lost in the words and place and wonderings.
A previous post: Ninety Days in Margaritaville took me back to Key West, where I hadn’t been in 20 years and let me see it in even further past through the eyes of a young, hotshot, Navy pilot.
A good mix: Reamus and Rye.
