Necco Wafers. Yum.

I'm usually pretty good about impulse purchases, but the guy in front of me was taking so long I started scanning the candy racks. Chicklets. Dentyne. Interesting what olde tyme confections still abide. When I spotted the Neccos I actually smiled, picked a pack and paid. I started unwrapping them as I walked to the car and was enjoying, what? lime? as I pulled into traffic. What flavor would I get next? I carefully extricated the next wafer without looking. It was - I couldn't tell what flavor it was. But it was yummy. Later I Googled Necco and found they still come in the original 8 flavors: orange, lemon, lime, clove, chocolate, cinnamon, licorice, and wintergreen. As kids my neighborhood gang and I used to ride our bikes out to a Gray Drugs store (later Rexall?) and buy Neccos and bags of red licorice, jaw breakers, candy bars, and, when in season, wax lips, etc. It was nice to be able to touch those memories again.

Movin' On Up

I moved out of my cube Friday and into my new office. My office has a door - that's gonna rock. It also has a window. Excellent. Oh sure, it's a little rough around the edges - half the desk is missing, one file cabinet instead of three, no shelves, coffee-stained carpet. But no one likes a whiner. I'll just keep my work in neat little piles on the floor till they find the rest of my desk or get me a filing cabinet.

I've had my own office since 1988, so it was hard for me to get used to cubicle life. I lived near a "God bless you" lady. If she heard anyone sneeze in any of the 40 cubicles within earshot, she would say, "God bless you." To which the sneezer of course replied, "Thank you." no matter how annoyed. And you guessed it - three sneezes, three God bless yous, three thank yous. In the 38 other cubicles we waited, breathless, till this saga played itself out and we could resume our work. Part of my job is to review Safety Risk Analyses, and this was the environment they provided for me. My cube was surrounded by hallways on three sides, had one immediate neighbor, was across from a meeting room with no door, and sat under a paging speaker. I could concentrate for moments at a time without having to start the sentence over. Protecting public health and safety - from a cubicle.

So wish me luck. I will keep you posted (ha! nice pun) as more office furniture arrives and I begin decorating. Perhaps an arrangement of summer flowers there in the unused fireplace...

(Owww!!) Papa's got a brand new blog!

No, no, don't worry - not another brand new blog. I just felt I had to use this line once I'd thought of it.

I recently passed my one-year anniversary at my sucking-soul job ("soul-sucking" TM amancine, pat. pending.) I failed to actually wear a black arm band as I'd planned, but I took the occasion to switch my screen saver to show my record cover collection instead of my photos. This has resulted in my returning from lunch to find a gaggle of engineers at my cubicle, pointing and commenting on the LP covers. We are all so starved for grins at that place, all grim and earnest and such. It's refreshing to hear laughter. What next - will somebody bring in donuts or something?!

Time Enough

I have wasted most of my weekend noodling around with this blog or that. Fortunately it's been a dark and stormy weekend. Also, I've enjoyed messing with them, like playing with new toys. For a couple hours this afternoon I even had an animated My Little Pony on this blog. You had to use your mouse to brush her hair when it got tangled. Bet you're sorry you missed that one.

So yeah, two blogs for now. We'll see, right? But now I think I'll switch to reading for a while. I have this nice new chair here, with a little brown dog on it. I have a couple gift books I'm working on, plus I won $100-worth of books from Alibris last month. Plenty to read, and, for now at least, time enough.

Hello and welcome

The other day I asked myself, "If all the other kids started blogs, does that mean you couldn't?" Then Anne gave me some encouragement, so look out blogosphere here I come. May this blog entertain both reader and writer, at least for a little while.

Why "Sounds In Space"? This title seemed especially apt for thoughts sent from inside my head out to the Internets and on through the silent Ether. There are many things in space, but none of them are sound. So, although it's an odd name for an album of piano music, the cover art works well for this blog.

Today I am thinking about the Truth. Like how much to put into this blog. (Don't worry, not too much). Like how two seemingly opposite things can be true at the same time: half full / half empty. How things merely are until we decide what is true about them.

It's your game, the rules are your own, win or lose. - Steely Dan