Enjoy – and be sure to have your volume turned on!

Every day, she would care for her garden, and share insights on what worked and what did not. All the while, she would speak of this one plant that she described would “eventually” produce an incredible flower. (Though I did not find it to be a particularly nice looking plant) She told me how it would flower only once a year, and that it would only last for one evening. Even more odd – that it would flower some time in the late evening once the summer sun had gone down and the evening had cooled. When ever she spoke of this, she was so excited, and I could tell that she truly loved this plant.

One evening, Jennifer came knocking on my door, and insisted that I come up to see something. It was late, but she was so excited, that I did not ask questions and simply followed her upstairs. When I got there, her prized flower had arrived. Just as she suggested, it was an incredible sight. It was a huge melon sized white sort of Tiger Lilly looking flower – only more full and with far more pedals. I had never seen anything like it. It was really soft to the touch, and its pedals were so delicate and thin that they were almost transparent. Even more incredibly, it made this tiny east bay balcony garden smell like a lush corner in Kauai.

It was at this moment that I really understood the magic of a garden. The beauty of this flower was fleeting, and sure enough, by the following day, it was gone. This crazy looking plant gave its gift in the flower – something that could have easily been missed by not paying attention. But nonetheless, it gave its gift.

This was a turning point for me and the choices that I make in my own garden. I now have a home, and far more space to play in the dirt. However, when I choose plants, I do so because I love its leaves or the bush itself. You see, it is the plant that I care for, see, and enjoy every day – and the flower is the plants way of thanking me for my care and attention. Thank you Jennifer – your passion for that random flower has given me so much, and to this day, I am pretty succesful in my own garden – and whenever my plants flower, I know that they appreciate my efforts.

Updating from one machine to another is always a treat – I chose the 24″ version because sitting in front of it is simply impressive. Additionally, the new machine can support dual monitors – so eventually, I will get another 20″ secondary monitor for my application pallets. While many folks utilize the various ergo workspace possibilities of CS3 – I come from the old school and like to have all my various tools open and readily available on a larger desktop for when I want to use them.

So Far I have really noticed vast performance gains. I do like the new OS… as well as the updated versions of the iLife suite of programs. (With a kid, iMovie cant be beat) However, the main benchmark, is in how much speedier it handles all my tasks using Adobe CS3. At work, I use a Quad Core Mac Pro – which is still much faster – but the new machine makes it MUUUUCH easier to work from home since the difference on web based image files is still comparable on both. (Not the case with the older computer)

Years ago, i created an icon of my machine which had been a staple that I have used on my personal sites for years – thus it seemed appropriate to create an updated verion in honor of the new tool in the toolbox. The new version is near identical, though thinner, more metallic, with a black apple logo, and black border around the screen – so while a bit pointless, this was a fun and quick update to make.

Tonight while walking outside to take out some trash – I noticed a very slight glow appearing on the edge of Mt Diablo. At first, I did not think much of it – We are very fortunate as to have a view of the mountain, and I enjoy many beautiful sights of both the moon and the sun rising over this tall East Bay peak. However this evening, I was amazed that I could actually see the moon move. I stood there for a moment, only to realize that I had never seen it rise so quickly.

I stood there amazed by the pace of what was in front of me. It was truly a remarkable sight! As I said, I have seen the moon rise before. However on this occasion, there was clear movement over the course of seconds, and in less then 2 minutes it went from no moon to a full moon over the mountain. This struck me as one of life’s little fortunes – if for no other reason but to point out how quickly time moves and how important it is to not take things for granted. It was a very literal display – Life comes at us fast, yet if we take moments, we can grasp enjoyment in even the quickest of fortunes. 

So I guess I will keep it at a minimum and just be glad that progress is occuring – if only in the fact that Hello world is the only thing I have to say.