Sigmund Freud on the Irish

Ya gotta love this..\

"This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever."

- Sigmund Freud on the Irish

And here's an interesting comment (and coincidence, for me) that I found on Sheila O'Malley's Blog

From the introduction to a book of Irish short stories - intro written by Anthony Burgess (this is where I originally came upon this quote from Freud - which I had never heard before) -

"One of [Freud's] followers split up human psychology into two categories - Irish and non-Irish. The Irish, like the Neopolitans, are not sure what truth is, and they have a system of logic which defies logic. They have something in common with Chekhov's Russians, and it is no accident that many of the stories here will seem Chekhovian. I was taking a bath in a Leningrad hotel when the floor concierge yelled that she had a cable for me. 'Put it under the door,' I cried. 'I can't,' she shouted. 'It's on a tray.' There is a deep logic, or epistemology, there which is far from absurd. The Irish and the Russians have one way of looking at entities (the entity in this instance was a cable-on-a-tray) and the rest of the world another."

There is a sense that Freud had, too, that the Irish, when in psychic trouble, go to poetry, go to storytelling, go to escapism - they have no interest in picking apart their own brains.

Peering into Macworld

The idea of buying a Mac for my next laptop has been buzzing in my head for a while now. As an entirely practical matter the concept is viable since you can now run Windows on the thing through BootCamp or Parallels. What's even more intriguing is not having to run Windows. It's not really about the computer, is it. Definitely a life thing. It's all that such a change represents...

1. Apple has Buzz!. People camped out to get the iPhone. The only line in the Microsoft world is the Vista return line
2. Macs are the tools of artists and musicians so its only logical that owning one puts you in that group
3. It's beautiful, shiny and new. No Windows laptop is going to give you that little rush
   
4. It says I'm not from around here! Well, it would in the my world
5. It also says The change has begun and nothing sounds sweeter than that right now

This flirtation is just an act in a larger play that stages a battle between two forces.
In this corner, wearing black trunks, and weighing, like alot - is Responsible Man. Business owner, father, serious homeowner and all-round model citizen
And in that corner wearing, actually, no trucks. is California Dreamer, the blogging artiste.

Nasha Semya

Take the elevator down from a Moscow Hotel room. Walk gently through the lobby (remember you're holding a five year old). On the street take the car down the road for four years and here you are.

I know where we can get a large Mission Accomplished banner that nobody's using and we could certainly hang it in the upstairs of our house. Aly and Jack are safe and sound and sleep like angels. We left the orphanage four years ago today and two frightened people began a whole new world (come to think of it so did the kids). But now they thrive.

But that positive light filters through a gauze of exhaustion. We have never been so stressed out. Too much business, family, life. Too many notes. My whole focus lately to to find the creative solution to THAT problem. I just need to do one more clever thing.

Could Microsoft Become Irrelavent*?

I'm a a bit slow on the uptake so I may be a late arrival to this realization but I suddenly see how the use of computers could change in the very near future. The standard for many years has been to load up with Microsoft products in order ensure compatibility. Now there may be an appealing set of alternatives thanks to the convergence of 4 trends

• Web 2.0. The maturity of Web 2.0 means that there will be no down side to running applications inside a browser. We already see context-sensitive menus, drag-and-drop, and a host of other features once the exclusive domain of locally installed apps.
• VMWare. You no longer have to select your operating system based on the applications you run. Now you can run Windows in a Parallels session on a Mac or use VMWare on a Linux machine.
• Connectivity. I think we can now presume that Internet connectivty is always available so why do we need to save data locally? If fact, maybe the standard should be to save on the network and backup locally.
• Terminal Services. Looks to me like every OS sports a Windows-friendly remote desktop client. So if you were totally sold on running, say, Ubuntu Linux on your laptop but balked on your reilance on Quickbooks, a painless work-around could be to set up a terminal server that runs Quickbooks (and any other Windows-only program you fancy).

There is something very appealing about this model where the configuration of your computer is incidental to the data. The browser rules and connectivity trumps format.

*Can someone explain why the vowel between the l and v in relevent is not the same as in irrelavent. In fact the definition is \Ir*rel"a*vant\, a. Not relevant;

Day in the life

• Remote session to check new client's server. Not lookin' too good... 5 year old server- bonjour?
  
• Keep trying to set up Google AdWords. They make it hard to take your money
• Finishing up the head count for Terry's birthday party
• Piano tuner is showing up today. Kirk's a great guy but I won't be able to chat about our common ground
• Snuck in a bike ride mid-morning. 13.4 miles. My average is 14.1 mph - slower than shit but a lot better than it used to be
• FedEx delivered the 2 switches I ordered but where the H-E-Double hockey sticks are the 2 UPSs?
• Buying 5 servers from a video game company. Awesome deal and I've probably got 3 or 4 resold at a profile. Lovin' email
• Finally got the new client set up on Postini with his whopping one mailbox
• Speaking of Postini - it used to be so easy - set it up and people go wow/thanks. Now they're all. like, wait/problem!

no wonder i'm losing it....

Bachelor Fodder

Terry picked a heck of a week to go to Texas. It's one thing to be left with the basic care and feeding of The Units but this is the week when the schools cram in all the special events. Yesterday was Crazy Hair Day for Jack. Today was Aly's State Fair at 8:30 this morning. Tomorrow is Pajama Day and the next day is a birthday party. Underneath my grumbling, I suppose this increases my appreciated for the insanity of Terry's parental life. It'll be good to have you back, Terr. You are coming back, right? Terry? Honey? Hello?

It's been fun connecting with the video call each night. It's funny that such high technology yields such crappy results. Looks like the video from Apollo 7. The audio is scratchy and way out of synch. I guess today's video call is like cranking up the Victrola 100 years ago.

This is Day Three of my solo parenting gig and, surprisingly no one has perished, the kids have made it to school fully clothed, and I haven't had to call in supplemental support. On the other hand, it's a long way to Friday Night.

Russia Suspends Foreign Adoptions

I heard the story on NPR going to work the other morning. Russia has effectively halted adoption of children by foreigners by implementing a new registration policy for adoption agencies. We were already familiar with the real reason which is a growing nationalism that breeds resentment in this area. Though I'm beginning to understand what it's like to be ashamed of your country, it's impossible to imagine what the Russians have been through. But this is a bad sign because it places political and cultural idealism over compassion for human beings in need.

We got a little taste of this during the last trip in 2003 when our facilitator, Tatiana, got into an altercation with one of the caretakers at the orphanage. I remember the caretaker said, "You're taking away all our best children". Tatiana was very upset about this attitude because she knew that foreign adoption was the best (possibly only) option for these kids - especially the older ones.

According to the story the situation is now even worse with nearly 800,000 orphans overloading the system. They brought home the point that these children are not orphaned in the classic sense. Most of their birth parents are still alive. It's often the deadly embrace of poverty and alcohol that eventually puts them there as it did for Alyona and Serozha (Jack).

The thought of so many kids suddenly having far fewer options is heart breaking. To this day I think about the kids standing despondently in the doorway while we dressed our children for their trip to the US. What will happen to them?

It dawned on me the other day that our domicile possesses enough character and standing to warrant a name, if we wanted to go that route. This is dicey territory, putting a little sign in your driveway that announces to passersby that these are no ordinary digs - this joint's got a name, a proud name - Bumblebee Farm !
I used to live on a gentleman's farm with the unfortunate name The Snuggery. Please.
There are patterns that are generally used for naming a property. Combining an appealing word with a terrain word is popular - Hobbit Cove, Shepard's Glen, Windswept Farm, Sandy Cove. If you're lucky enough to have a name like Snow or Green you're pretty much all set with SnowScape or Green Acres. If you're a Rabinowitz, you'll have your work cut out for you.
We could always go with a suggestion made years ago for a farm I lived on - Sugrue-La, but at the moment we're down to two choices. Terry's inclined to go with Wise Acres while my heart is set on Rope's End.

Gym Nauseum

I've been going to the gym for about 12 years because I am enormously dedicated to losing 10 pounds. I think of myself as a sort of Love Handle's Messiah.

Every couple of years I decide to change gyms for one reason or another - too expensive, too inconvenient, or the weights are just too heavy (my friend Eric once wanted to piggy-back on an emerging trend with a product called Lite Weights). I made such a transition a few months back and did some quick research to find the facility that was the least expensive and closest to my house. I headed over there, took a nickel tour and signed up for the three month special. After I started going, I began to notice that I seemed to be the youngest member .... by a lot! There was a certain ego boost to moving the pin on each Nautilus machine from, like, 10 to 90 lbs but, on balance, it was a little creepy. I guess no one had bothered to inform me that the gym was associated with a cardiac care unit. That explains the No Towel Snapping sign in the locker room.

When that stint ran out I decided to move on and found an excellent fitness center nearby for a very reasonable $45 per month. Endless machines, flat-panels up the proverbial wazoo, and helpful staff. While I was filling out the paperwork to join, the proprietor noticed my age and said, 'Oh, your 56. You can have the senior rate of $25 a month"

So somehow I've gone from young buck to old geezer. The fact that I'm more jazzed about the discount than depressed about the age category speaks volumes. So I guess I'll see you at Denny's.

Banging Head on Wall Repeatedly Creates Interesting Rhythm Patterns

My need for musical validatation must be reaching Code Orange because I found myself heading out to Open Mike last night. Returning to these events is a bit like second marriages - the triumph of Hope over Experience.

I had heard of The Natick Center for The Arts but had never been there. I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful theater, big stage, and professional lighting. Future surprises would be less pleasant.

It's as if these organizers look for new ways to insult musicians while talking up their supportive environment. After paying the obligatory sawbuck I find out that this a one-song open mike. Say what? So my drive time each way will actually exceed my opportunity to entertain? Another galling thing: Though there is a staff of three, do you think anyone gets up to offer help in adjusting mikes or getting set up. Meanwhile the clueless sound guy obsesses over miking a 6 foot grand piano that clearly needs no amplification. And finally - no coffee or refreshment of any kind.

But there's another side: the performers. Not bad. Very bad! God inflicts 2 curses upon those who cannot sing.
No 1: No vocal talent
No 2: The inability to recognize No 1

So maybe one can forgive the event handlers if this is what they must endure each week.

It would have been OK if Terry had been there. It really helps to be able to give the tell-me-it's-not-just-me look. Alas, my only consolation was the rhythmic pattern of loose guitar case latches in time to my shaking head as I shuffled back to the car.