Well, it’s amazing how quickly a month can come and go, and considering the past month encompassed the holidays, plenty has occurred.  However, if there is one type of blog posting that is nearly unreadable, it has to be the sort where the writer pledges to do a quick catch-up and spends 2000 words detailing how their cat reacted to the changing weather.  So in that vein, I will skip that and waste 2000 words talking about things I think, which is guaranteed to be equally boring.

1.  Let’s get this out of the way:  I really enjoyed watching the inauguration.  In fact I went in late to work so I could watch it at home with Leah and was not disappointed.  However, and this is a big however, I think that the date falling so close to MLK day is almost a disservice, and the talk of Obama fulfilling the dream is highly overstated.  In my mind that will occur when every kid in Alabama or the Bronx gets a fair shake at life and a decent education provided by the state, not when one man with a motivated and supportive family and an excellent education achieves the highest office.  This is a big step, and I do certainly think his presidency will have a positive halo effect which in time may lead in a good direction, but any talk of being “there” only does great disservice to the work which still needs to be completed.  I’d hate to see a reinforcement of racial attitudes being drawn across socioeconomic lines whereby we have “good” and “bad” minorities based on income and education.  Let’s realize that even with all our progress, it’s taken over two centuries, an unpopular war, a hugely unpopular president, a polarizing (female) candidate in the primary, and a financial disaster combined with a economically-challenged Republican candidate to place Mr. Obama in office, and then only by a few point margin in popular vote with most of the support concentrated in major cities.  Other than a hopefully buoyed sense of self and potentially renewed confidence, tell me, what has changed on January 20th for a young black kid in rural Oklahoma, where not a single county voted for President Obama?  To borrow a turn of phrase, the problems are deeper and wider than “a crisis of confidence”. I do hope that many dreams have been ignited, but I believe it will take continued action and the change of many hearts and minds to keep that hope smoldering.  Here’s what is what Cornell West had to say on election night.

2.  One thing I do hope the inauguration brings about it is an end to white people (like Ms. Couric) grabbing African-Americans off the street, shoving a microphone in their face and asking “how DOES THIS FEEL?!?!?”  I realize that we’re still at a stage when any discussion of race puts everyone on edge and very few seem to agree on how to do it sensitively, but this seems misguided and patronizing to me.  I realize it is historic.  I realize that many people feel strongly, especially those who lived through the civil rights movement, but talking to people you presumably would not have been talking to previously to try and capture a generalized view of a people group’s perspective that you didn’t care nearly as much about not long ago rings hollow.

3.  Tangentially, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is about 800 times better as a song in every way than “The Star-Spangled Banner.” If anyone wants to reopen the discussion about ending the use of an English drinking song with lyrics by a seventh-rate amateur poet as our national anthem, I’m willing to start talking.  Marvin Gaye was the only person who has ever made the song sound good, and he’s been gone 25 years.  It’s time to move on.

4.  Last note on the inauguration: I wasn’t displeased with Rick Warren’s selection to give the invocation because he is against gay marriage; I was displeased with it because he’s a light-weight as a teacher and theologian, and it showed.  The man has done some legitimately good things but I’m scared if he continues to be the prominent face of protestant Christianity in America.  The Rev. Dr. Lowery pretty much cleaned the stage and did a job more fitting.

5. Before all this craziness went down, I went to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics annual conference in Orlando for a week.  It was an interesting experience in a very large, very fancy hotel, and a very big change going from 30 deg highs to temperatures in the 80’s and drinking mixed drinks overlooking swimming pools and golf courses.  The conference itself was inspiring.  There are brilliant people doing amazing things, and it makes me reconsider how I want to attempt to mold my career.  On the other hand 95% of the papers were either garbage or irrelevant to all but five or six people, so there’s that.  I did get to hear in a CFD presentation on bicycle wheels that the spokes on a Zipp 404 contribute only slightly to the drag (yeah, right.  this explains why we still have wire based wing supports on airplanes) and that at high angles of yaw, a net positive force of 0.2 Newtons vertically (much less than a pound) could make me lose traction on the front wheel and crash.  Two notes to would be presenters, a) make sure your results pass a sanity check, and b) don’t try and bs smart people.  PS, Orlando sucks.

6.  I recall at some point in the past that I would have times when I had nothing to do, and would think to myself, “what should I do with this free time?”  That seems like an eternity ago.  Yes, it is my fault.

7.  Along those lines, it’s much easier to be an all-out, all-I-do is bike, racing cyclist, than one who thinks “I will reduce the number of workouts I do and reduce their priority while at the same time still expect to workout routinely”.  When you give your schedule an inch…

8.  When applying to college, the concept of being “well rounded” is highly lauded.  Now, for me, this implies that I need to lay off the ice cream, which I do, and also that I’m not particularly good at anything, which is true.

9.  Multitasking is at times a necessary evil, and people who can’t multitask are at a significant disadvantage.  However, if you’re concerned with your sanity, and with the quality of your work, multitasking can be your greatest hindrance.  Working in a serial fashion is often preferable.

10.  I’ve got personal finance on the brain because I’ll soon help teach a class at church on budgeting and finance.  This may strike you as odd because I’m not a professional in this field, but rather a bumbling engineer with a lot of excel spreadsheets.  In the process of preparation, I have come to the conclusion that it’s virtually impossible to plan on enough stuff breaking in your budget.  You will never, ever be disappointed in yourself for predicting higher than realized maintenance expenses.  When you have a car break, a computer die and major other expenses within the period of two-months you will feel much better.  Trust me.  Otherwise, you’re planned “savings” will never accumulate.

So there.