Tag: stars

Thank the Stars

Returning to normalcy, part 2

September 26, 2017

The second return to normalcy

Last time, I wrote about a return to normalcy in my private life. My dear girlfriend, the love of my life, returned home after several weeks traveling along the west coast of the U.S. Not that I would fault her for taking the time with her daughter. I just missed her, and I’m ecstatic that she’s home. But enough of my personal life. My business life is another story.

Thank the StarsSince early September, my business life has been in turmoil. And not just for me, but my teammates as well. The full weight of this storm rested solely on the team leader. Fortunately for him, and the rest of us, our senior leadership and officers recognized that we understood the seriousness of the problem and supported our efforts to resolve it.

We brought in specialists, vendors, and superstars to assist. Do you know what they all said? That they could find nothing wrong, nothing that they could find to cause the problem. In fact, they were all at a loss, considering we configured our equipment in line with what they would do. Frankly, they all said, they didn’t know what was wrong. All they could say was, start replacing equipment, one unit at a time.

So? We did. Everything we did, following all the suggestions of these experts, failed. We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars putting together this equipment, after spending almost a year researching and choosing the devices.

Relief came when using a loaner unit from a different manufacturer seemed to solve the problem. The resolution came out of nowhere, and if it weren’t one of our partners offering to loan us a device costing over $100,000, we’d still be fighting this losing battle.

Since Friday, we were crossing our fingers, believing the issue resolved, but worried it would return with a vengeance. So far, my fingers remain crossed, but I’m feeling much better.

Lastly, a huge thank you to my team leader, taking on the responsibility to lead the charge in getting my business life back to normal.

Life is returning to normal. Thank the stars.

Word of the Day: Empyreal

October 1, 2016

Word of the Day: Empyreal

Empyreal Lord
Empyreal Lord – PathfinderWiki

Definition

Empyreal

1: of or relating to the heavens or firmament : celestial
2: sublime

Examples

Night after night, the comet shone brightly against the empyreal tapestry of the sky.
“A jar made in Iraq, Syria or Iran, its shape is nothing special, but its color—an empyreal sapphire blue, a version of which will later adorn the domes of Safavid mosques—is out of this world.” — Holland Cotter, The New York Times, 24 Dec. 2004

Did You Know?

Empyreal can be traced back to the Greek word for “fiery,” empyros, which was formed from the prefix em– (“in,” “within,” or “inside”) and –pyros, from pyr, the Greek word for “fire.” When empyreal entered the English language—via the Late Latin empyreus or empyrius—in the 15th century, it specifically referred to things related to the empyrean, the highest heaven or outermost heavenly sphere of ancient and medieval cosmology, which was often thought to contain or be composed of the element of fire. In the works of Christian writers—such as Dante’s Divine Comedy and John Milton’s Paradise Lost—this outermost heavenly sphere was associated with the Christian paradise. Empyreal is now also used more broadly in the senses of “celestial” and “sublime.”

My Take

Noticing that Merriam Webster’s Word of the Day was Empyreal, impressed my soul. It’s a great word, one that I haven’t used in a very long time. I should. To me, it is an elegant word, conveying a kind of sexiness in its meaning.

I have got to figure out a way to incorporate it into one of my stories. Perhaps have Mona gaze at the night sky and appreciate its celestial beauty. Since I am a person, who relishes the star-filled the sky, imagining traveling up there, between stars, meeting new civilizations, and just appreciating what the heavens offer, as far back as I can remember, I travel the stars in awe of their beauty and danger.

Of course, when I did a Google image lookup, I wasn’t surprised on how many images it returned related to the word. Cool, eh?

Conclusion

What do you think about the word? What does it mean to you?

I may just look up the M-W word of the day on a regular basis and share it with you. Until next time, this is Richard Verry, bringing you the latest.

Word of the Day brought to you by Merriam-Webster.

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I Saw Stars

July 18, 2016

Good morning world. I’m looking forward to a new week that ends better than the last.

Why? Let me tell you.

Reflective in the title of this post, last Friday, I literally saw stars. No, they weren’t a bunch of five-star reviews of my books. One can hope. No, I didn’t see the stars of the night, sweeping across the sky. I wish it was just this.

Nope, I saw stars when I banged my head against a very large, low hanging pipe designed to carry conditioned air. I was straightening a set of small boxes that I was stacking, knowing that there four hundred similar boxes arriving in moments. Yup! I was at work, doing my job. Mind you, I knew the pipe was there. However, in that moment, bent over focused on my goal, I had forgotten it was there.

21193608 - starry sky in the village and orange sunset
Source: 123rf.com

Then I stood up and saw a galaxy of stars.

I wacked my head hard. The room around me went dark and I saw untold stars flashing behind my eyes. Think of a lot of mass against an immovable object. In that split second, as pain walloped my head, my brain bounced around inside my head. Expletives galore rang out as I fell to the ground, supported on all fours.

It was several minutes before I could stand up again. Bent over, recovering, I could only think, “Stupid, I knew it was there. Why the fuck didn’t I move first. ‘Stunad!’ (Italian slang for moron)”

Eventually, I seemed to recover and finished stacking the boxes. An hour later, sitting at my desk, my headache grew, despite the overdose of Tylenol I took to combat what I knew was coming. An hour after that, my thoughts stopped focusing and I knew I was in trouble. I went home early and called my doctor.

A short time after that, I’m in the Emergency Department at the local hospital being treated for a concussion. Oh, how can athletes play their sport with a concussion? It must be the millions they make doing it.

Me, I’ve been suffering everyday since. The headache hasn’t gone away, and I get nauseous getting driven to the pharmacy for meds. I’ve been planted in my recliner, getting up to use the bathroom or getting a bite to eat.

The treatment? Seven to ten days of rest and I can return to work when I am no longer symptomatic. Three days later, and I still am. It’s hard to concentrate just writing this post. Imagine what it would be like at work where my job is to sit at a computer and write code, et. all. Before I lose it, I’ll sign off and find my favorite chair and rest, doing mindless, brainless stuff.

All I can say is thank you to all my fans for reading this. I appreciate you.