J.P.

I’ve been watching a storm on radar march across the prairie since I woke up 1 1/2 hours ago. I snuck in a 2 1/2 mile walk before my iDevices started warning about lightning strikes nearby. As I arrived home I felt a few rain drops before getting inside.

As I type this the sky is forming interesting patterns and I see flashes of lightning in my peripheral vision. The wind is pick up in intensity. I’m starting to hear the faint rumbles of approaching thunder.

It’s gong to be a great day.

I know when some folks think of us that work from home, there are visions of people lying around in their sweat pants, laptop slung across their lap, while they are snuggled up in bed. Comfy, comfy, comfy.

In actuality, I have a separate office, with an office computer, phone, and desk. Being in my office brings me to a mindset of “it’s time to work!” and I get down to business. However, there are some things that make me more productive:

1. I can’t work barefoot. A lack of footwear tells my mind that I’m relaxing, and when I don’t have shoes on I am easily distracted.
2. I have to dress for work. I know some folks think I’m crazy for putting on a dress shirt and a pair of khakis, but when I work from home I generally wear something resembling what I’d wear in the office.

Getting into a work mindset, and dressing for a successful day, has been key for my working in a “virtual office” for the past five years. I wouldn’t change the experience for the world, because I am honestly much more productive doing my thing remotely.

I just have to make sure that I’ve dressed for the part.

I’ve been thinking a lot about ‘perspective’ this weekend. The motivation for this line of thought is not important at this time; let’s just say that sometimes life gives you a reason to think about the bigger picture.

And what have I been thinking about? What’s really important, I guess. We’ve had 18 months of unprecedented chaos from the highest office in the land. Despite this, we live in a city we love, have a nice roof over our heads, and we do things that fulfill us. Not everyone in the world has this luxury and that is something to remember.

Do screaming women in a restaurant bother me? Yes. Is it worth getting upset about? No. I might rage tweet once or twice about it, and I should probably stop doing things like that, but the truth is I will not change their behavior by throwing some sort of fit in public. And honestly, a nearly 50-year old man having a hissy fit in the middle of a restaurant is just as bad as the Screaming Trixies to begin with, so why add to the chaos? Roll with it and save the high blood pressure for something that is deserving of hysterics. Screaming women in a restaurant are not worth the energy.

With the bit of soul searching and priority seeking I’ve been doing in my head this weekend, I feel like I’m jumping into the work week more prepared than I have been in months.

The key to a successful life is this: do your best, do good things, and share your love. Love life. Find the reason to love life. That’s all you have to do.

Keep it all in perspective.

I don’t like Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House Press Secretary of the Trump Administration. I don’t know her either outside of what we see of her in the media, but I find her condescending, smug, and untrustworthy. To be fair, I compare her to fictional Press Secretary C.J. Cregg from “The West Wing”, and honestly, who can really compare to a character portrayed by Allison Janney? No one.

Twitter and its online brethren have been wild with commentary about Saturday’s National Correspondents’ Dinner, more specifically, comedian Michelle Wolf’s roast and monologue. I had never heard of Michelle Wolf until the brouhaha. She left no rock unturned. She took humor to the places we would have never dreamed of before the Trump Administration. She dug deep and she dug hard. I found most of it funny, but honestly, only when I wasn’t watching the video. When I watched Michelle do her thing I had a hard time seeing the reaction of the audience, including the various targets of Michelle’s monologue. This wasn’t a Dean Martin roast. Phyllis Diller wasn’t talking about Fang. This was someone taking roasted meat and using a well aimed slingshot, flinging this meat and squarely hitting their target. Hitting their target hard.

I have tweeted about Sarah Sanders too much. How does she sleep at night with all her lies? Her poor children. Why doesn’t the press corps just sit there and not challenge her on her lies. How can she stand there and state proven lies as fact while getting paid by the taxpayers. I have gone on and on and on.

But then I saw Sarah’s expression during one of Michelle’s jokes. And it made me sad. Is this really where we are in our country today? Have we abandoned all manner of intelligent discourse in our country? Are we reduced to vulgarity, screaming, yelling, and throwing out vile comments and remarks to get someone’s attention? Is this where we want to be?

I’m not disputing the content of Michelle’s message of her comedy routine, but I thought her delivery might have been a little harsh. I guess I come from a world where you don’t drop f-bombs at a black tie affair. But then again, I come from a world where government was something you could reasonably trust, and that’s all completely gone out the window.

Now, some are saying that Michelle attacked Sarah’s looks and that she went too far.

I like Sarah, I think she’s really resourceful. She burns facts and uses the ash to create a perfect smokey eye. ‘Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies.

Honestly, I found the monologue uncomfortable to watch and I can’t help but reflect that it’s the product of where we are in American politics today. Michelle’s humor was a result of what Tweeting would sound like In Real Life. People say these things, and much worse, on social media all the time. Hiding behind anonymity and not having to physically face their target. I’m very guilty of this.

But seeing the reaction of the person you’re lambasting while you’re saying it? Well, it makes me pause and become very aware of what my Tweets in the past would sound like if said In Real Life. At the very least, watching Michelle Wolf’s monologue at the National Correspondents’ Dinner has made me realize that I need to practice what I preach, and be a better Internet citizen.

I don’t dispute the content, but someone has to be the grown up in the room and start nudging the pendulum back to civil discourse and a celebration of sanity.