Journal : OpenRoadWorks

The last few days in Maryland have been downright scorchers - I think the temperatures were trying to push over 100 degrees farenheit yesterday afternoon before the rapid-fire storms tried to cool down the agitated air. I hear that storms more potent will roll in this afternoon and bring along a cold front that brings the temperatures back down into the low 80's, but I will wait until I hear the rumbling and see the light flashes before I believe it. In the meantime, I noticed a slight tingling sensation crawling up my back on my walk through the parking lot and into the office. It was strange until I looked up and saw that hot sun taunting me from above. Go ahead and turn up the heat - I'll sneak into the comfy air conditioning of the office building.

A couple of weeks pass before the dust settles - and only a moment before that proverbial dust gets kicked up again. In that moment, I find myself jotting myself a blog reminder note that my creativity is channeling into more mundane work instead of fantasy worlds and character arcs. Oh bother. Still, there is something vigorous and life-affirming about being busy. Maybe it is the fact that life validates itself when one is in motion; if there is not much save listlessness and inactivity, the concept of living loses its luster. Not to mention the way that time passes when activities fill the day. Finding balance between industry and creativity would be better, but I'm not going to complain with the vibrancy of the past couple of weeks. Errands related to weddings. A work trip to San Diego. Visits with some old friends around southern California. A whole bunch of gardening (imagine me the lumberjack!). Dinner parties, phone calls, and a precious few hours of sleep. These are the thi...

At 7am, Michael Putnam hit the first golf shot of this year's United States Golf Championship , better known as the US Open. For many golfers, their ultimate dream is to hoist the championship trophy as the greatest golfer of the land. For most, this will be a mere impossibility as they would never be able to place at the top of the PGA Tour rankings or win any of the major US amateur golf tournaments that award an automatic spot in the tournament. Still, there are dreams. I'll take Mr. Michael Putnam as an example. Thanks to the internet, I found out a few things about this upstanding gentleman that will certainly be lost in the grandness of this week's event: Michael graduated from Pepperdine in 2005 as one of its most decorated players He was a two-time All-American and Academic All-American in college golf He is originally from Washington state and attended Christian academies He qualified for the PGA Tour this year after finishing 17th on the money list on the Nation...

I used to write a bit more than I do today. During my 20's, I used the jet-setting consulting lifestyle to explore major cities within the US and a few European and Asian countries outside as well; along the way, I did some journaling which fills a few volumes on the bookshelf at home. Upon my 25th birthday, I committed myself to further uncovering the inner voice - that is to say, reveal the writer swathed in business suits. I ended up completing a few mini-pieces during that time on topics ranging from a visit to the New York Stock Exchange, a film review of Farenheit 911, other reviews on some movies screened at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and a series of poems capturing impromptu moments from time spent in New York City, San Francisco, Australia, Seattle, and Russia. Five years on from that goal, I find myself mortgaged and careered to death, with an upcoming big day swathed in groomsman gear. Fast forward five years from now, and who knows what the years in ...

Times are changing for families in China - at least that is what The Washington Post suggests in its recently-published series of articles on the subject ( link to the articles ). From sexuality to literacy, a transformation emerges that divides generations along simple conventional lines. The older generation has lived through the Cultural Revolution of the mid-1960's. The younger generation has grown up in a China where "to get rich is glorious" and to brim with Western sensibilities is the ultimate benefit of a social capitalist society. To say the two are extremes is not particularly groundbreaking, but I find the dichotomy fascinating when compared to the US. Where the Chinese practice a certain form of Confucianism in terms of collective family mores, the Americans are a bit more individualistic and self-focused. This is particularly insightful when considered against the backdrop of a United States that is growing its Baby Boomer ranks at a healthy clip, those chil...

Monday has arrived. Ring out the cobwebs and get chained back to the desk. Another week is upon us, and the countdown starts from the base of the steps. By the end of the week, I hope to assail the great impediments that stand in my way - namely, projects, presentations, forecasts, action items, crazy business requests, and email galore. By that time, I'll feel that I survived another ascent, just in time to take a breath of weekend and start climbing again. I only have a moment for the onslaught has already started; I need to start scaling some heights. Up the hill I must go, to whatever heights I can reach by Friday.

Google can waste your time. Case in point: I was noodling in my mind the idea of writing a short blog entry to encapsulate the feeling I have here on a Friday morning - pithy, oh so pithy - and I searched for an image to describe this feeling. Voila' - I'm transported into a blog that chronicled the trials and tribulations of last year's World Cup from the perspective of a couple of fans who witnessed the spectacle from the comfort of well-established UK media channels (BBC, who provided the image here of the Italy-Australia match last year, ITV, etc.). Instantly, I am transported back to last June. Newly arrived in DC (well, almost, but stay with me here), I was settling in to an apartment near my "soon-to-be-but-never-fully-realized-that-I-would-be-so-lucky-that-she-might-later-become-my-wife" girlfriend. I was settling in to a job that started to make sense after 6 months (I'm not quite there yet - and now another year on! - but that is another topic), and...