Labor Day | hittingthesweetspot by Bob Skelley

LABOR DAY WEEKEND BRINGS THE ANNUAL GARFIELD COUNTY FAIR PARADE – NARA – 552652 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The sun finally popped out of hiding on this Labor Day weekend. If it wasn’t still so hot and humid you’d think fall was upon us with the amount of leaves already on the ground from the wet, warm August we’ve had. But I suspect autumn will be here soon enough.
They say Labor Day weekend is made for barbecues. Well, since the sun has briefly made an appearance, it is indeed time to finally work in one cookout for the unofficial end of summer; before the rain gets here once again, that is.
The two springer spaniel brothers we are fostering has made the weekend extra special in spite of all the poor weather. We’ve been able to watch a few movies together and have had plenty of quiet time once they see we are settled down as well. These pups won’t be three years of age until December, so they are naturally rambunctious, but highly loveable. They help remind us of the things that always seem to remain the same. The unconditional love that our dogs have for us along with the constant unpredictability of weather are two of the things that don’t seem to change at all.
Watching movies as a family—mom, dad and our two pups is a study in irony. One of the movies we watched featured a plot that revolved around the contents of a DVD. Well, as I write this blog in the cloud, I am reminded of how quickly obsolete our technology becomes. I suppose if we were to consider the theme of this blog obsolescence or things that don’t change, then technology remains the same if only for the viewpoint that if you’re happy with the technology you employ, like the weather, just give it five minutes.
The love of and from our pets, however, doesn’t change in five minutes. The weather often does, but that again is a reminder of the more things change, the less they actually do.
We are nothing more than sheeple when it comes to our technology choices. I like towers and small form factors for my computing workstations because I need different devices depending on the task at hand. Towers are upgradeable and that doesn’t change. Tablets can be added on to with things like keyboards, but once you have purchased an iPad of a certain configuration that is what you work with indefinitely.
Now that Labor Day has arrived we pause to enjoy a day of non-toiling. Cloudy weather has a way of making us want to kick back more. Sunny days can make for more busy times and activities. Cloudy days are for watching. Sunny days are for doing. The grass needs mowing, but it’s too wet from all the rain. So, it will wait another day when it is drier and we will watch it grow some more today.
Years ago technology promised to make our lives easier and more comfortable. In some respects it has. As time goes on, though, it feels as if our hardware and software complicate things as an unintended side effect. We start putting things like “labor” back into Labor Day. I don’t think this holiday was ever meant for that.
Perhaps this post is indeed more about irony than anything else.