Temp Check 5/13

So, the WARMER tally sheet grows and grows, and looks pretty good, except for that bloody red streak down the A column. Occasional misses in any column can be blamed on the weather, or distractions, or lack of tool, or whatever, but that consistency can only mean one thing: a Gap problem.

In the beginning of the summer, it seemed I was able to overcome the Gap with some regularity. But then something happened; probably, I once again started looking at my work critically instead of enthusiastically, and what had been joy at having produced something became dissatisfaction with what I had made. As Coco would say, my inner critic has been getting the upper hand. I'll listen to her a bit more and try to get back into the swing.

By and large, however, WARMER is a go. The biggest joy has been to just read books for pleasure. The latest in the series has been Nate Silver's The Signal and The Noise, all about predictions and forecasting and probabilistic thinking from that guy who gets elections right. It was a great read: just enough math to make me feel smarter and lots of examples to help understand the concepts. For a statistician-wannabe (no kidding, right?) it was as much of a romp as an action novel, at least partly because Silver seems to get as much of a kick from it as I do. The Big Idea: Bayesian Thinking leads to better decision-making.

A added bonus to all this reading: I have been giving the bookmark that buddy Karmin gave me a real legitimate workout!

This week has also held additional duties work, some angel shifts, a dentist appointment, finding a lost dog, and a significant amount of socializing of the extemporaneous, impromptu, and pre-planned varieties. Sounds good to me!