Category: Personal Reflections

Lessons learned about life; pearls of wisdom I’ve gleaned through pain, failure and honest reflection

Poor Microsoft Publisher

Carl Setzer

A few days ago I disparaged poor Microsoft Publisher. Now, I really meant nothing by it. Publisher is a fine desktop publishing software package…for what it is. Far lower prices than InDesign for one. Also, if you’re familiar with Microsoft Office’s structures and navigation, the user interface will be rather intuitive. I’ve created posters, flyers, newsletters and postcards with it. Again, it’s fine for what it is. 

My history with desktop publishing goes back into the 80s and Pagemaker. For DOS. Iterated through a few programs to Quark. It was fantastic to do paste up work digitally. Everything in one file, delivered directly to a printer. Back then, it was mostly on Zip drives. 

I’m remembering the launch of InDesign. It was nice to have photo editing in the same ecosystem, essentially the same program. And very quickly, or so it seems, InDesign took Quarks’ lunch. (Ok, you can still order Quark)  so that’s the atate of the, as the cool kids call it, industry. 

So, Publisher is great, I’ve used it a lot. But I’m glad I have access to InDesign. And that’s all I got. 

Steel Magic Northwest is close to meeting their Kickstarter Goal

Carl Setzer

Steel Magic Northwest is a great local group (located in Edmonds) that provides access to music for a number of youth and adults. I know a number of kids, and adults, who benefit greatly. And they have a great time! The music is brilliant and the audience is having a grand time, too.

 

They’re using Kickstarter to fund their summer program, so I highly encourage you to head over to their site and give them a few dollars. They’re doing a all or nothing campaign for $3,000, and are at $2,910. Just $90 more dollars! Now, the campaign ends Friday (June 30th), so I (again) encourage…nay, implore you to head over right now and help this program do amazing for our community this Summer.

The Need To Write

Carl Setzer
Writing

Part of my brain is itching to write. Usually, there’s something to be said, though. “Oh, I need to blog about this…” coming flowing into my head.

Today, though, there’s just a need to write, to type. Oddly, I’ve spent all day in front of a keyboard, so why spending more time in front of one is compelling escapes me.

One thing I know I need to do to improve my writing: read. I don’t read plain ol’ books much anymore. And I need to fix that.

Sure, writing more is certainly important. But, well, pouring books into my brain is critical, too.

With that, I tried setting an alarm reminding me to turn off all electronics. And that’s just gone off. So, I’m going to wrap this up.

Time to grab a book, made of paper, and turn off this frantic world for awhile.

Thinking About Downtown Everett

Carl Setzer
Everett Logo

Yesterday I spent a little time walking right along Colby. I was struck by the large number of vacant store front spaces. Which surprises me, since retail space in the region is in high-demand. I guess we can see the upper bound of that.

Perhaps Everett is considered too far from Seattle. I find that interesting as it’s only 35 miles, 44 miles to Seatac airport.

There’s a great arts community up here, with the Everett Philharmonic, the Village Theatre and the Schack Arts Center, just to name a few.

Plenty of businesses occupy the larger buildings, banks, escrow companies, the offices for Snohomish County, and, of course, the City of Everett’s offices.

The city has an amazing amount of potential. I hope that the business community realizes it and helps Everett grow…and grow the right way.

Maybe that can Everett’s call to glory: smart and compassionate growth! Just a thought.

My Mother’s Day Weekend

Carl Setzer

​Spent the evening with my folks celebrating Mothers Day. I love that I’m physically close to them, so can keep an emotional closeness. Though, at times, it’s surreal to be back in Lynnwood, within sight of the home I grew up in. 

Many, many memories can and went. Stories told with my son, developing the generational connections. So much of my life took place right here, within a short drive of my folks’ home. So many transformative memories flowed through my mind today. 

Most of the day I slept. Fighting some kind of virus, wakefulness was elusive. 

Yesterday we went to the Reptile Expo at the Monroe Fairgrounds. Then down to the old Woodway highschool for the Edmonds Heights production of Addams Family. The reptile expo was cool, opening my eyes more to herpetological fans, and what they see in their fine scaled friends. And I thought the kids were wonderful. 

Now I’m on my couch listening to St. Mark’s compline service on KING FM. So many rich memories here. I was a member at the cathedral for many years. I’ve so many memories of the halls there. And many evenings, sitting in the darkened gnave. Surrounded by this microcosm of Seattle. Wealthy socialites, broke college students, street kids, the roughest-edged folks, all crammed into the cathedral every Sunday evening. 

The tranquility I’ve felt there has rarely been equalled. Someday I need to take my son down and introduce him to this ancient worship style. It holds deep meaning​for me. 

Wondering about negativity 

Carl Setzer

Why is it so easy to fall into the negative? 

To immediately assume the worst in others 

Gossiping and slander 

Embracing rage’s false power 

Robbing our future, that one does 

How do we build community?

When see our neighbor 

As invoked evil

Tonight’s Haiku: my silent call 

Carl Setzer

In this silent home 

Dreams start creeping into view 

Then they consume me 

Sustainable Living, Healthy Living and Suburbia

Carl Setzer

Yesterday was spent driving. Meetings in Late Stevens, Everett and Mountlake Terrace. Not at all uncommon. Though I travelled many miles, my body spent the day seated. This hit me at night: I just had to move. I did a little yoga, ran through taekwondo poomsaes, and was eclectic settle down. My body now expects some motion during the day now. 

My culture, my community, has evolved to minimize physical effort. Most energy expenditure gets deferred to our cars. Turns out its killing us. Whether the upswelling of type 2 diabetes or the obesity epidemic, our drive for inaction hurts us greatly. This concerns me. 

With this mindset: our obsession with speed. Faster! Faster! More and more in less time. Road Rage’s roots are herein. And those folks who get beside themselves in fury because someone is crossing the crosswalk, or being slowed by a cyclist; they’re deeply trapped in that mindset. Really, your blood pressure is going to soar into pathological levels because you need to wait ten seconds? 

I’ve wondered how society would look after healing this fracture. Well, first, we’d walk more. Or bike. We’d also have a rational engagement with time. Becoming unhinged over the most minor inconvenience is deeply unhealthy. 

As our urban areas are only going to get more dense, we need to start dealing with this stuff now. Or we don’t need to worry about North Korea nuking us: we’ll explode ourselves with self generated fury. 

Watch “BLADE RUNNER 2049 – Official Trailer” on YouTube

Carl Setzer

I’m really looking forward to the next iteration in the Blade Runner saga, based on this trailer. Visually amazing and a solid cast. The potential is solid.

PhD Comics, Sisyphus and Life In Academia

Carl Setzer

I’ve long enjoyed the work of Jorge at PhD comics. This one delights more than most…which says a lot, really.

I like them all, at one level or another.