This has been bugging folks at portfoliolongo.com for months! (Line 4 on Earth)
What a Hobby!
1
Category Archives: Cartoon
The Problem with Premature Conclusions
A blog post written by my friend, William Fisher, inspired this drawing. I encourage you to read it. William has a lot to say, and he always pumps up my head with images. You know the concept of “least or lowest common denominator?” William addresses our technical and cultural resistance to exploring and discovering the potential inclusiveness, simplicity, and universal meanings that lie therein. Where? At the symposium; but, is there a common gathering place, a common language? It’s as if we’re naturally or habitually inclined, ok, some of us more than others, to individuate, to pursue the greatest or highest uncommon denominator. Look, check out his blog. I’ll let you draw your own insights, but just don’t jump to any conclusions.
The Way of the Putt
A few months ago we rented The Way, the story of “a father (Martin Sheen), who goes overseas to recover the body of his estranged son (Emilio Estevez) who died while traveling El Camino de Santiago, and decides to take the pilgrimage himself.” I liked the story, but I loved the cinematography, especially the depiction of the enormous swinging incensor at the Catedral de Santiago de Compostela!
Macro- and micro-pilgrimages intrigue me. When you physically go from point A to point B, and in some cases from point C to point D and on and on, you’re not just sitting there daydreaming; you’re journeying, you’re walking, you’re crawling, you’re moving along a path, a way, which for some symbolizes The Path or The Way.
Are there practical applications? There may well be. Here’s one I’ve considered for years. Clearly, the ecclesiological and mathematical wrinkles would need to be ironed out, but that’s why God made focus groups.
In closing, let’s us reflect upon the words of Dean Martin: “If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt.”
Went to Costco. Now What?
I’m still recovering from my first trip to Costco. I needed a couple of Ibuprofen after carrying the crate of Ibuprofen to my truck, which, by the way, I needed to get my entire shipment home. However, that’s not what I’m recovering from. I just can’t get over the sensational impact of the size-itudinality and quanti-bogacity of that experience.
What if I had bumped into Pope Francis there shopping for the poor, pushing his own cart and not being hauled around in the decommissioned pope mobile? Damn right, I’d have given him a piece of my mind. “Che, pibe!” I’d have yelled at the Pontifical Porteño. “Go back and get that pope mobile, and load that sucker up!” But, who am I to judge?
For the Record: A Message of Hope, Rhythm, and Accentuation
On this the 1st day of Spring, Norooz, and our wedding anniversary I share a surprising bit of history to add to the record once and for all:
At Your Service: Reinvention 7.0
Click here to see the extreme version of the Swiss Army Knife.
Windshield Wiper for iPad
If it’s already on the market, please don’t tell me. Something Ann said over the phone this evening made me think of the concept, but I can’t remember what. As I sketched it, I thought of my father and how he would routinely save a half a meatball in order to sop up the remaining spaghetti sauce on his plate. Invariably, as Spring follows Winter, one drop of spaghetti sauce would land on his tie or shirt. If he were still with us, he’d probably need one of these:
Related products: The iLighter.
Taking Everything Personally: Tic-Tac-Mitote
As much as I try to embrace Don Miguel Ángel Ruiz’s Four Agreements, my mitote place me in situations in which it seems like there’s no alternative but to take things personally.
Wrinkle-Free?
This actually happened, and I actually said that. I wasn’t mean or anything, but I did go into the store, Lowes, with the exact model numbers that I had obtained from Consumer Reports. I ordered the other, less expensive set…the set that comes with wrinkles. Lowes delivered it and installed it; and they’re both working fine. I can live with wrinkles.
(Prices may vary depending on location. Batteries not included.)
Your Call Is Important…
Update on this 02/26/2014 post, thanks to my wife, Annyth, who generously shared with me this sobering and infuriating June 29, 2025 piece from The Atlantic, click here for the gift article. It outlines how “Endless wait times and excessive procedural fuss” is “all part of a tactic called ‘sludge.’” The author, Chris Colin writes, “There was a time when the happiness of existing customers was a sacred metric. CEOs saw the long arc of loyalty as essential to a company’s success. That arc has snapped.” Colin continues, “One of sludge’s most insidious effects is our ever-diminishing trust in institutions…Once that skepticism sets in, it’s not hard for someone like Elon Musk to gut the government under the guise of efficiency (My emphasis).”
As it is with all those unattended checkout lanes that were initially installed at grocery stores and the like, a previous topic here at portfoliolongo.com, so it is, I’m guessing, with most call centers.
