Ok, let's speak hypothetically for a moment. Let's suppose you liked cars. You love them as a matter of fact, had done a bit of work on yours and got fairly good at it. Your friend Joe says that John's Auto Repair is hiring an oil change person who also might be involved in doing tire work. You had changed your oil, your friend's oil and the oil in several other cars you just happened to be under at the time. You've never done any tire work but that's ok, you're a quick learner. So Joe sets you up with a telephone interview. John calls you up, right on time, asks you some questions about your work history, etc. and then starts asking you about rebuilding transmissions. Wait a minute, transmissions? Yup, John wants to know how much you know about rebuilding automatic transmissions in late model cars..not American cars either, European cars....top end jobs. Why is John asking you about transmissions when you're applying to be an oil and tire person...well, let's just say it is probably Joe's fault (and it turns out Joe would get a fairly big kickback if John hired you).

Let's speak on a related topic (hypothetically of course). If you're a recruiter learn the DAMN DIFFERENCE between a FRONT END WEB DEVELOPER and a FRIGGIN SYSTEMS ANALYST.

We now return you to my non-hypothesized life.

Thank god for This American Life. If you need to clear your head, find a new perspective, or just run away for a while go there--pick any show and start listening. It's radio, it plays on public radio stations in the U.S. and it's amazing. The only better head clearer I've ever heard was the RealAudio stream of live Paris street noise I used to listen to while living in M&A's loft. Late into the night, coding, chatting or whatever I'd have this stream playing. Funny, I was on a 56k line back then but I didn't mind it was that worth it. Like all things that are good, it's gone.

I'm in mad Perl mode again. I'm writing an auto-submit e-mail directory for Toronto in Focus. The basics are easy but god knows I can't leave it at that....bells, whistles and moonpies for all!

Speaking of song lyrics, this is a bit of Standing Outside A Broken Phonebooth With Money In My Hand by Primitive Radio Gods...I know what it means to me, what does it mean to you?

"Jan lays down and wrestles in her sleep
Moonlight spills on comic books
And superstars in magazines
An old friend calls and tells us where to meet
Her plane takes off from Baltimore
And touches down on Bourbon street
We sit outside and argue all night long
About a god we've never seen
But never fails to side with me
Sunday comes and all the papers say
Ma Teresa's joined the mob
And happy with her full time job"

I have a very associative brain. Songs, books, smells, conversations, pretty much anything I experience takes on a bigger meaning. For instance, I'm listening to Dave Matthews singing Satellite. It makes the world feel very, very large and me just a very small part of a much larger thing. On the other hand if you're in a relationship, especially one in trouble, Ani Difranco's song, Both Hands, can make you feel like you're wrapped up tight in the smallest of universes.

Smells bring about some of my sharpest. I know what cedar smells like and I can identify it at a thousand paces. I won't say "that's cedar", I'll tell you a story about Ohio's great amusement parks...the ramps up to the entrance of every ride is made of cedar planking and it's often wet. There is nothing better than the smell of wet cedar unless it's almond oil...but that's a story we won't get into.

The smell of anything being cooked with cinnamon can bring me to tears. My mother used to wake me on Sunday mornings with the smell of cinammon swirl bunt cake.

Finishing this today, had to walk away from it last night. I'm very visual but I always need it in context. Show me a picture of a mountain and I begin examining the picture not the subject. Show me a moutain and I'm yours forever *g*.

After writing that great piece about mind and body melding into a perfect unit to perform athletic feats of grace and strength--I skied like crap. Conditions were wonderful but I was a bit off. Bad rental equipment, bad frame of mind...you probably can relate. Other than my skiing the trip was wonderful. I like the people Leslie works with (it was her company ski trip), good food, lots of fun stuff (especially a hilarious scavenger hunt) and a relaxing hot bathtub after a day slogging on the slopes.

Got my first Gold Dollar at the theater yesterday....God I hope these take off, the British have had a pound coin for a long time, it makes much more sense.

I'm on mug #2 of this mornings Irish Breakfast Tea and feeling a bit introspective. The thought has been circulating in my mind that I need to write something about the body. Not some smug Salon sex piece but more like something they'd publish in Outside or Backpacker. Something along the lines of the body as a transport vehicle for the mind. It's really true, you know, that when you're doing something strenuous your body and mind become one with what you're doing, I know this mainly from cycling but from a few other activities--stop it, I'm talking about hiking, rowing, etc. not THAT, but it would be a good example. People who value the mind over the body (geeks like me but unlike me) don't realize that it's necessary to keep the carrier in as sharp of a condition as the data. With that in mind I'm going skiing this weekend which is the perfect activity for center-brainers. You can appreciate the mountain without skiing it but looking at it through the window of your car doesn't make you a part of it.

I won't bore anyone with the latest motivational crisis, lets just say it's not good.

Going skiing this weekend. Particularly good because it's on someone elses dime, that's always a plus. Might also get a chance to try out my new snowshoes--pics certainly to follow.