Life Moves Too Fast

The past three months

Since August I have managed:

1) To hike Glacier National Park
2) Finish the house - furnishings and all
3) Travel to London
4) Campaign, vote and cheer the election of Barack Obama
5) Oh and take on a $4M project at work requiring all my waking energy.

That is all. But hope to be back now.

What in your home reminds you of your childhood?

On a similar topic as my post earlier about ‘getting old’, there are somethings you remember and cherish about your childhood as you get older. It might be a birthday memory, or a vacation, or a family heirloom. In my house growing up, there were a lot of cherished memories just surrounding the decorations my parents had. My Mom was heavily into acrylic painting and most of our house was filled with knickknacks my Mom had hand painted, for example.

One that I have particularly fond memories of, though, is the handmade cuckoo clock that hung in the foyer of my childhood home. Purchased likely on one of our trips to Germany, I believe it was in 1983, I can remember that cuckoo clock like it was yesterday. The many times friends would sleep over in the living room and how the damn clock would keep us awake, chiming and singing every hour. Or getting yelled out for winding it wrong. It stood proudly in that hallway for the last 20 years of my growing up in that house. And despite a few tweaks and repairs, my parents still have that clock.

So when we traveled to Germany ourselves earlier this year, I knew that for my new house, I had to find and purchase my own cuckoo clock. As I explained to @designerish, it was important that a clock be in my home as it reminded me of my childhood and my many travels.

On our last day in Germany, I made a ridiculous out-of-the-way itinerary to ensure we would visit the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) and to Triberg, the home of hand-made cuckoo clocks. We spent a good hour at the famous Haus der 1000 Uhren to select the right clock. I didn’t want something huge, and wanted something that was very well handcrafted and indicative of the detail these clocks are famous for. Each cuckoo clock is unique. Handmade by an artist and no two are alike. After a good hour, we settled on one we both liked, boxed it up and the next day carried it through three airports and home.

Picture of our clock at the store

A Renewed Interest in American History

In school, I was much more enthralled with world history. Upon traveling to countries such as Italy or Japan, a much more physical sense of ancestry or achievement over centuries was present. I mean when you encounter historical sites in parts of Europe, you may be looking at man-made creations that are 500 years old. In the US, the oldest structures are but half that. I never was particularly excited but American events such as the Civil War or the American Revolution. As a history buff, I hope I know more than the average American about our history, however, as of late, I have a renewed interest in learning even more.

Firstly, I will admit why. On a recent hot, hot weekend I decided I needed a PC game to pass the time. I started playing Age of Empires III. The game allows you to take control of civilizations (and their settlers and armies) on their conquests of the New World. In a twist, I have suddenly taken an interest in learning more about the original colonies and explorers who settled our country. It’s amazing to really step back and acknowledge all the great discoveries made here at home.

I’m guilty of doing a good bit of my reading through Wikipedia. I am sure false information is sprinkled in, but I find myself jumping for article to article through embedded links. When reading about Lewis & Clark, I got to reading about John Ledyard, which lead to a ton of stories about Spanish explorers. It’s never ending.

So, now that I got to thinking, is this the American History you think of? Maybe my interest is still not in post-revolutionary United States of America, but in the original settlement and exploration of our continent. While I found TV programs like HBO’s John Adams incredible, I still think I take a liking to older history, or exploration. I find it fascinating to read about people like René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle who explored much of the Great Lakes. He explored a part of my backyard and men like these would cover great distances on foot for the sake of discovery. Pretty amazing.

Living in St Louis, we take for granted the historical significance of our location in history. Many of our cities and roads are obvious reminders of our French ancestry. You need not travel far in our area to find a memorial or dedication. Heck, I grew up in Saint Charles, Missouri, the second oldest city west of the Mississippi. I have bar-hopped on Laclede’s Landing, which 200 years ago was a center of commerce and trade with our countries newly purchased land to the Rockies.

So, with that said, do not take for granted our great explorers, for whom we owe more than we know.

St Louis: Are We Loosing Our Spot on the Map?

It was 1900. St Louis was truly the gateway to the west. The city was the fourth largest in the country. We hosted the world at the Worlds Fair of 1904. In the two centuries prior, the cities location on the Mississippi River made it famous. We were a boomtown. Settlers by the thousands moved to St Louis from points east. It was an entrepreneur’s haven. But in the last 50 years, that all has changed.

Anyone who has traveled the world will agree that St Louis isn’t the fairest of them all. We struggle with our identity as a diverse city. Our climate does not fair well to our infrastructure. We suffer from the typical image of a once industrial city - gritty and crime ridden. Efforts are slowly being made to polish her up and revitiliaze its image, but it takes time. I grew up here. St Louis is my home. I have, though, traveled extensively and have considered leaving for greener pastures more times than I like to admit. But nonetheless, I am still here.

Over the weekend, our fair denizens were informed we lost another iconic company who called us home. Anheuser Busch, the worlds largest brewery by volume, has sold out. To the Belgians no less. The talk of the town for the past two months, we are about to loose another status symbol that St Louisans held proud.

As a kid, everyone I knew was somehow connected to McDonnell Douglas here. My father worked for them for almost 20 years. The company was St Louis. But with the changing times, so came buyouts to line the coffers of shareholders when Boeing announced its takeover in 1997. Within a few years, all but a few facilities remain. My father survived thanks to previous mergers, and while our economy struggled, we survived. A few years later, TWA was bought out by American and for anyone that has found themselves flying on a 50-seat jet to Chicago or DC knows, our global reach was severely impacted then as well. I remember as a kid boarding a 747 and flying non-stop to Hawaii and Germany from St Louis. Those were the days.

I won’t deny that I fear for our fair city. As our economy tightens, and corporations merge and move, in just 108 years since we were the fourth largest dot on the map we are being reduced to a spec. As a wordly guy, I am saddened by this.

The A-B news is front page here in town. It is the talk of the local twitterverse. Even the Today Show sent a correspondent to cover the news this morning. For St Louisans who have been through this before, it feels like another nail in the coffin. Fellow twitterer @CosmosGirl even tweeted that, although she is not directly influenced by the brewer, she felt St Louis lost a little more character following the news. That is precisely how I feel. I work for a stable company. My personal economic footprint will change little by the buyout. But my town, my home, will suffer. The philanthropic impact to our city could be the most visible. For a town already with a pockmarked image, we cannot afford less dollars being infused into our infrastructure and revitalization.

We must turn our focus now to all the great plans for the future. We need to understand and appreciate our city even more. Your image of St Louis may be dark, but take a stroll through Forest Park or our History Museum and remember and embrace our town for all she has accomplished. Plenty of corporations will still call this home, adding value every day. Our economy may change and the ‘family business’ practice may be a thing of the past, but if for nothing else, give our city some credit. She’s had a long history and a bright future.

While I routinely think about moving away, for the chance to experience something new, I secretly have deep roots here that no small force can extirpate.

Beautiful Time Waster

One of my favorite ways to waste time over lunch or while waiting around for something is to browse everyones uploads in Flickr. The single page http://www.flickr.com/photos will show you all the latest uploads to Flickr from its users at that moment. Due to the sites’ popularity, refreshing every 30 seconds will produce usually a whole new selection to enjoy.

It feels like a tour around the world, seeing a glimpse of peoples lives and the things they love enough to snap a picture of. I will typically try to guess where the picture was taken (geographically). Something about the raw pictures, uploaded that instance, is interesting.

Check out our Flickr photostream while you are there.