Gye Greene's Thoughts

Gye Greene's Thoughts (w/ apologies to The Smithereens and their similarly-titled album!)

Monday, February 29, 2016

Mom pocket knife

As you possibly know, I collect pocket knives.

When I was most recently in Seattle, my mom gave me her old Girl Scout knife:  it's just been sitting in her jewelry box for the last 30+ years.


I sharpened the blade, and also -- since the "awl" blade was broken off, and thus un-usable -- I had my mom's first initial and maiden name (the period-appropriate surname) engraved on the remaining part of the blade.


As part of my everyday carry (Google "Everyday Carry" or "EDC" for some interesting websites), I carry a pocketknife and a multitool on my belt -- such that I always have a blade long enough to cut an apple in half, and pliers.

(That is:  the knife must be long enough to reach the center of an apple.  So sometimes I have a "regular-size" pocket knife, plus a mini-multitool; and other times I have a small pocket knife, and a "regular-size" multitool.  In both instances, the multitool provides the pliers.)


I rotate through my collection of pocket knives and multitools, such that I carry each tool for at least three months, to impart my "mojo" -- so that when my kids inherit my things, I've actually **used** each of my knives and multitools.  I've been carrying Mom's pocketknife since 8 Feb.  I use it just about every day at work, to cut and core my apples (I usually have 2-3 a day).


--GG

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Thursday, February 18, 2016

But is it bigger on the inside

Saw this, as I was walking to the train station this morning.

My thought, of course, was "But is it bigger on the inside?"



The right people will find that mildly amusing.  :)


--GG

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Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Funnier if you're over 50

Never heard of that scandal.


Funnier -- if at all! -- if you were a grown-up during the Nixon era.


--GG

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Wednesday, February 10, 2016

What is character

Something occurred at work in the middle of last year (2015), and also this week, which had made me wonder "What is a person's true character?" and "Who is a person?"  So this blog entry tries to address that pair of questions -- possibly without a satisfying answer.


People tend to wear many faces, and have many facets:  the persona you put on at home is probably different than who you are at work.  And a person might have a jolly side, an irritable side, a kindly side...

Let's say that a person is actually fairly negative -- but he spends his time being cheerful, lively, and outgoing.  If the person is like that (in public) all the time -- is that truly how the person "is"?  If you behave in a way that contradicts your inner tendencies -- that is, you don't actually manifest your inner tendencies -- do they even count any more?  Is the way you behave -- for all practical purposes -- the definition of who you are?

I'm pretty sure that how you behave when no one is looking would count more strongly than how you behave when you know that you're "on show".  So if someone brings cakes and cookies to work all the time -- sure, the person might be generous -- but she might also be trying to "buy" people's friendship.  (So, I guess motivations play a part as well...)  But if the person also gives money to a panhandler (and doesn't think anyone that she knows is watching), or gives an anonymous donation and doesn't tell anyone about it -- just gives the money -- okay, that person is generous.  :)


I'll possibly come back and revise this.

But, I might not.


--GG



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Monday, February 08, 2016

Review of Moneyball

Before Christmas, a co-worker loaned me the DVD of Moneyball, which should appeal to data geeks (it did to me!!!). Somehow I never heard of it when it first came out.


I finally got around to watching it this weekend (sorry for the delay, LB!) -- and, Yep!  I like it!  (She predicted I would.)


It’s based on a true story (2002) about the Oakland Athletics baseball team, who was having a hard time competing against bigger teams with deeper pockets (e.g. they had about 1/3 the budget of the New York Yankees), and thus kept getting out-bid for the hottest players.

Basically, this young intern(?), who was an Econ major from Yale, worked out how to leverage the stats to buy the “undervalued” players in the game – and thus build a winning team of non-flashy players.


Good storytelling. I was compelled – and I’m not even into baseball! :)


I recommend -- as general viewing, for data geeks, and for sports fans.


Some swearing; not any sex or violence that I can recall.


--GG

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Sunday, February 07, 2016

Review of The Rewrite

Last night I rented -- and watched -- The Rewrite.  It stars Hugh Grant and Marissa Tomei. 

It's good to see Marissa Tomei in a movie again.  Hugh Grant basically plays “Hugh Grant”.

The premise is that Hugh Grant's character is a past-his-prime Hollywood screenwriter, who had one big hit about a decade ago, followed by a few flops. He can't get work in Hollywood, so to get some income he has to fill in at a New England university as the “artist in residence”, teaching a one-semester “screenwriting” class. His aim, of course, is to slack off and spend the time writing.

Amusing; entertaining; a few good lines. I laughed, here and there. Enjoyable.

Worth a watch if you generally enjoy Hugh Grant.

My basis for purchasing DVDs (yeah, I still buy the physical medium, if I like the movie enough) is whether there were any scenes that I can see myself re-watching over and over again. For this movie: nope. But a fun movie never the less.

--GG

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