Volcanic Personal Relations-Watch Your Step

I am constantly amazed at the mulitiplicity of views that people have of even the most unassuming human situation. One thinks that an issue is so obviously benign, but it turns out that there is some boiling caldron of politics or resentment brewing under the surface. There are hidden agendas, bruised egos, seething ambitions, and bewildering behaviour ready to overtake the situation.

It reminds me...

I was watching a special on the National Geographic channel about volcanoes and their volatility. Mount St Helens had been inactive for hundreds of years and seemingly it was an island of tranquility, but beneath the surface there was a bulge of molten lava pressuring through to erupt. There was a part of the show when the researchers had to be careful where they stepped or they would have fallen through the thin veneer of sold lava to the very hot liquid magma beneath. They gingerly tested every step of the way.

So say we all to the wisdom of treading carefully in all matters dealing with the human volcano.

The Job Transition

It has been 3 weeks since I started at Ball Aerospace. Ball is a nice place to work and I feel at home...a bit clumsy perhaps, but it is comfortable. I've had to reset my heart rate from high to medium. There is a deliberateness about this place that was not at Qwest, which runs a hundred miles an hour. Ball seems to run on its own rate.

My boss is very nice guy also and has gone out of his way to assist me in the transition. We spent the last couple of days meeting people at various Ball sites to meet and greet me. I am a bit humbled that these people take the time to meet with me and find out what I'm about. Interestly enough, I have encountered some people from my old days in Boulder at Ball. It was very good to see them and nice to be remembered by them.

It's only 3 weeks, but so far so good. I hope I can say that after 20 years.

Java Dung Coffee

Well, it had to come to this...Java Dung coffee. While there is no one more than who loves coffee, I have to say that this is the epitome of decadence. An article in a recent Denver Post article speaks to a coffee delicacy known as kopi luwak. This little delicacy is derived from feeding a civet (like a skunk) coffee beans and collecting the greenish-brown partially digested beans from the dung of this little beastie and grounding it up at $600/lb. They say that there is nothing it and I can believe that. Good to the last drop. Man, I like coffee, but this is ridulous. What's next Starbucks kopi luwak?

We have taken the coffee thing a little too far. I'm putting my foot down on this one.